Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

The ‘newbies’ on SL© have not read the multitude of previous posts, along with my own several articles….so lets revisit briefly.
Here are some ‘Dashcam’ photos from my own car. In the past I’ve left the registration plate untouched, but this could cause issues.

It is not for an individual/members of the public to take the ‘law’ into their own hands.
If someone is ‘caught’ speeding either by official camera’s or the police themselves, the ‘evidence’ has to stand up in a court of law if needed. Most speeding offences are ‘fixed penalty notices’, some drivers who wish to fight the case, then have to deal with the CPS, the crown prosecution service. Have their day in court and have to provide evidence.

(Click on picture to enlarge)
Most of us now who have installed ‘Dashcams’ do so in case of accidents, insurance companies now will in most cases accept this as ‘evidence’….it has of course its pro’s and con’s….what do you do with the ‘evidence’ if you were at fault?
I was contacted by a South Wales police force, who had my registration from their own cameras, asked me whether I had seen or had ‘evidence’ of a serious traffic accident which happened on the opposite carriageway a few seconds earlier. Yes I fortunately had the recording and passed onto them.
‘Dashcams’ come in various forms and software. Most have a micro SD card to store the video/and or audio. It has limited capacity, therefor after say 4 to 6 hours, will overwrite the previous ‘files’, I keep several SD cards.
There are a lot of outlets now selling Dashcams, including Halfords who will sell and make a very good installation job for around £200:00 – well worth it if you ‘think’ there are too many ‘idiots/boy racers’ on the road.
If you have ‘issues’ with speeding, our NHW will have our local police team ‘prioritize’ the area – remember the ‘limited’ resource our policing team have, they can not be there 24/7.

Yes very occasionally, there will be the ‘camera van’ along North Bank.
As previously published, but due to ‘cut backs’  there is now only (1) operational camera van, shared between 3 counties, and those who speed know this…..

Having been an original member of the group, we are kept very informed as to what is happening at our surgery. It is NOT a forum for complaints (There is a set procedure for this). However the group are very engaged and have made some excellent suggestions which the practice has taken up.
Here are the minutes of the last meeting.

PPG Minutes 110116

Excellent Notice Board – Maintained
by Peter Davies Member.

Dear Members & Friends of Whittlesey Street Pride.

Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world.   It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare.
  
Well this morning it was 6 degrees outside and all 16 of us felt that we were only 6 steps away (or fewer) from at least 6 pieces of litter.

Together we collected 31 bags ,a tyre, a stereo, a suitcase (with luggage tag attached!), a window frame and a large door.
I special thank you to Rob Boddington and Chris Nicholas who used their vehicles to collect roadside material.

Future Events.
Saturday 13^th February   10am  (PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE FROM THE PREVIOUS EMAIL)
Whittlesey Cemetery.
Meet at the entrance on Cemetery Road
We have been asked by the Cemetery Committee if it would be possible that we could help them to clean up again, as we did two years ago from around the graves and surrounding areas. This is the only date that is convenient for both groups.
Wednesday 10^th February  7pm
Whittlesey Street Pride Management Committee meeting.
The Meeting Room at The Manor Leisure Centre (next to the main hall).
We still have spaces for 2 new committee members. If you could give up an hour every couple of months to shape the future of Whittlesey Street Pride then you would be very welcome.
Wednesday 17^th February  7:30pm
Bi-Monthly meeting in Whittlesey Town Hall.
All members and friends welcome to attend.
Thank you to all who attended today.

Without your support there would be no Pride.

I look forward to seeing you at the next event.
Rob Kent.
Treasurer

OFFICERS
Chairman – Fred Mills                     Vice Chairman – Bernard Gray-Esson
pongofred1@sky.com                        mail@bandsge.plus.com
Secretary – Peter Davies                 Treasurer – Rob Kent                                              peterdaviesgb@aol.com                     robkent@usa.net

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Alan Hobbs    David Palmer    Margaret Palmer     Min Mean

Whittlesey Street Pride are a volunteer group established in 2008 as an environmental impact group. Since their inception, the group have removed in excess of 40,000+ Kgs of litter & rubbish from the town and surrounding villages. We have 9 Gateway projects, ranging from floral boats to plough gardens and adopted laybys. We are a community based group under the umbrella of Fenland District Council.

We are self-financing and are grateful to the many local businesses for their generous support and sponsorship.

Just to update you – the latest on the Whittlesey works is that they have slipped by a week. There was a problem with the temporary lighting gantries not being taken down in time for the roofers to start last Monday (18^th), however they were removed this weekend and the roofers should finish by the 7^th February.
The 4 weeks internal works will start from 8^th February. Therefore fingers crossed we are looking to be reopening the library either the 1^st or 2^nd week of March depending on when we can gain access to the main area and the internal contractors painting and carpeting the area we are using now.
I will of course update you with any changes.
Kind regards.

The Library is partially open at present.

Pauline
Cambs Country Council

Whilst I am fully sympathetic to Julian H, he is ‘missing’ ‘years’ worth of information regarding speeding issues at Pondersbridge. His best source to get ALL the information is from Cllr Ralph Butcher (His FDC & CCC councillor) Ralph was ‘engaged’ with a person called ‘Phil’ who had moved to Pondersbridge and caused absolute ‘mayhem’ with his ‘ideas’ to sort ‘everything out’ in Pondersbridge. One thing that did succeed was the implementation of a 30 mph speed limit.
Phils next quest was to build a cycle route from Pondersbridge to Whittlesey, claiming he had the finances in place to do it. Phil had ‘many’ other fantastic idea’s and lobbied our MP, councillors and myself. Phil wanted everyone to ‘fix’ the issues but somehow could not  get
(Picture RWT Photography)     directly involved himself (Bad back).

Cutting the story – Phil disappeared from Pondersbridge after causing ‘mayhem’ back to Manchester, where I am informed he is trying to do the same there.
So Mr Julian H on Streetlife© you are more than welcome to contact me, or meet up with me.
Speed Limits are primarily the Polices responsibility.
A few months ago, I tried for the umpteenth time to get the community involved in ‘Speedwatch’ – very successful in other parts of Cambs….
Shall I tell you how many people contacted me – NONE.

At Neighbourhood Watch we get regular information both locally and nationally.
The next planned meeting is on Tuesday 15th March at 7:00pm
at Whittlesey Town Council Offices on Grosvenor Road – All are welcome.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) is warning people of the dangers of Recovery Room fraudsters targeting former victims of Timeshare fraud. Recovery Room Fraud refers to a scam whereby fraudsters contact the victims of previous frauds, often by way of cold calling them, and claim to be able to recover previously lost funds. In July 2014 the Financial Services Authority (FSA) estimated that 30% of people who had lost money through Investment fraud would also fall victim to a Recovery Room fraud. When Recovery Room fraudsters target victims of timeshare frauds they usually claim to be a legal professional or a representative of a government agency (normally within the country where the original timeshare property was based) in order to legitimise the scam. The fraudsters know personal details about the victim and their previous investment which gives them credibility. They claim that the advanced fees requested are for ‘local taxes’ or ‘litigation costs’ incurred during the recovery of the funds. It is suspected that the persons behind Recovery Room frauds are often the same people involved in the original scams even though these crimes may have occurred years earlier. Initially, a small fee, typically in the region of £200-400, is requested by the fraudsters which they often claim is refundable as part of a ‘no-win no-fee’ basis.  The fraudsters rely on the victims seeing this as a nominal fee compared to the amounts lost, which often run into the tens-of-thousands of pounds, and therefore worth paying if it facilitates the return of their money. Once paid, various excuses are made by the fraudsters to explain delays in the recovery of the funds.  Subsequently, further larger amounts are then requested by the fraudsters.  Needless to say, no refunds ever materialise and no money is ever recovered.
Protect Yourself

• Never respond to unsolicited phone calls – if in doubt, hang up.
• Always check that the details of the organisation or company contacting you (such as website, address and phone number) are correct – the fraudsters may be masquerading as a legitimate organisation.
• Don’t be fooled by a professional looking website as nowadays the cost of creating a professional website is easily affordable.
• Be wary of any firms or individuals asking for advanced fees.
• Consider seeking independent legal and/or financial advice before making a decision.

If you believe that you have been a victim of fraud you can report it online: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud or by telephone: 0300 123 2040

See link for agenda for WTC Planning 27th January 2016

Planning-Agenda-27th-January-2016

Thanks to SR – Just in case of readers not being aware (especially those on Streetlife©).
Planning is now a shared ‘resource’ between FDC and Peterborough City Council and has been for some time.
Fenland still has its own Planning Committee.
See below.

https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-488/

Thank you Bruce for your latest. (R.G.)

‘Despite Sainsburys statement I have not and will not give up trying to deliver a scheme to Whittlesey that brings all the benefits that are hoped for. We do after all still have the planning permission.
I am pursuing Sainsburys legally and my hands are somewhat tied as to what I can and cannot say publicly, however I  intend to deliver one way or another as was my promise to the Town.
I am very dissapointed with our MP Stephen Barclay who fought tooth and nail for the Chatteris store and yet no input for Whittlesey despite several email requests which have  remained unanswered.’
Regards Bruce.
(Photo ©Wisbech Standard)

We might now expect a very lengthy legal battle, unless something is settled out of court.
Very deep pockets will be required on all parties.

See correspondence in regards to Whittlesey Primary School places and the need for future.
New Road School is planned for expanding. See link below….

160122 Whittlesey to Forum

Streetlife® Gilly B on 23/01/16

I really hope this is not true.
We had friends over for dinner last night and over the port, the talk turned to Sainsburys.

They live in Coates and I Was amazed when my friends husband said that a councillor had told him that Sainsbury wouldn’t be coming last June. Allegedly all town councillors had received an open letter from Fenland advising them that if the promised money towards road building was not paid by the end of June then that would give Sainsbury a reason to pull out. Allegedly the councillor said that they knew the money wouldn’t be paid because it simply wasn’t there!

I found this hard to believe but if it is true why do we need to spend our money on an enquiry?

RG I challenge the poster to name the councillor who quoted this.

I was not on the council in June so would not have seen or heard about such a letter. This is the first many of us have heard of such, maybe it is or maybe it isn’t correct…

Gilly B (hiding behind a pseudonym) has posted a lot of comments on Streetlife® now come good with the facts….who was that councillor.

         
Queen Street 1894                                                    Whitmoor Street 1920

There is for the observant, a cottage on Bar Street, called ‘The Locks’ the Whittlesea Museum is a good source for local history.
(click on picture to enlarge)