For many years the group have a Christmas ‘meeting’ which now consists of a ‘quiz’ and some nice festive food. The group is so fortunate to have very good friends and sponsors.
This year (a rest for me) the present management have organised another fantastic Christmas do at St Andrews Hall. About 25 friends and members attended and Chairman Fred Mills gave a good shortish quiz which everyone enjoyed……and they cleared up after themselves at the end.
As usual click on photo to enlarge.
Just returned from the WTC Planning meeting (Agenda posted 2 days ago) I the ONLY member of the public present – NO one from the StreetLife Forum?.
I advised the committee that I take the occasional photo and would be audio recording the meeting (Which anyone can do).
Towards the end of the meeting Cllr David Mason informed the committee, that he has been in telephone contact with David Mills the communications manager for Sainsburys.
Mr Mills apologised to WTC in the respect of not informing them (WTC) of notices prior to being released into the public domain.
Cllr Mason then asked where Sainsburys were in building a supermarket, Mr Mills initially came up with the excuse that there were access issues ongoing, however the Council, FDC and Cambs highways have all said that these ‘issues’ had already been resolved.
Next Mr Mills stated “ That” Sainsburys were also looking at the ‘viability’ of building a store in Whittlesey – Now that is the first time I and many others have actually heard the word ‘viability’.
We all know that ALL supermarkets are seriously re-assessing their build programs and in many cases have already cancelled some.
The ‘travesty’ a word I use often is that after 5 or 6 years of wrangling with various applications/developers we/all in Whittlesey have NO new supermarket now or in the immediate future. One the +ve side, I am a big fan of what we have, and whilst there is NO Big Bully supermarket – our local shops/stores have a chance of survival.
My disappointment being that NO one else attended this meeting, and like with many other council meetings only a very ‘few’ usual members of the public attend.
(l-r) Cllrs Windle, Whitwell, Mason + Clerk Mason, Clerk Jolly, Mrs Mayor & Butcher
Fenland District Council has at long last obtained a conviction for Fly-Tipping, it is their ‘first’ success… If course I realise there has to be good evidence in order to prosecute, in this case the lowlife came all the way from Huntingdon to dump their rubbish in our area.
Here is two photos of more Fly-Tipping which occurred yesterday along Benwick Road.
If you see anyone Fly-Tipping please report it to FDC, your evidence can be used to get a conviction. If possible take a photo, but do not approach the suspects and put yourself in danger, if you think you are in ‘any’ danger call 999
Lets find these people.
Rubbish, household items, and some asbestos piping….
Blighting our landscape and ruining our environment.
The Planning committee of Whittlesey Town Council meets tomorrow at 10:30 at WTC Offices – this because of the number of applications received just before Christmas.
Attached is the agenda.
From January, I hope that the Whittlesey Town Council Website will be up and running, and ‘everyone’ will be able to access, meeting dates/agendas/minutes etc.
As usual click on picture to enlarge…..
NHW meeting at Whittlesey Town Council Offices on Grosvenor Road, (The White Building opposite the ‘new bus station’) at 7pm (Use side door)
A lot of questions posed on Street Life® have been answered so many times at Neighbourhood Watch Meetings over the years.
Speeding/Speedwatch/Anti-social behaviour, Minor crime, Street Lighting, Cyclists on Pathways, Illegal parking, Inconsiderate parking and many other issues.
We don’t ‘always’ get things done, but at least the Police are made aware of our ‘local issues’.
We in turn can be the eyes and ears for our Neighbours and Community.
One ‘small result’ last week being a motorcycle semi-abandoned along Church Street, so much so, there was a ‘foot of leaves’ around it, – a quick check on the DVLA told that some of its documents were out of date, although a Highways/DVLA or FDC issue, a contact with our PCSO, had the ‘problem’ sorted within a day….The Motorcycle has since been taken off the road by its owner.
Now ‘we’ don’t always get such quick results – but at least on this occasion restores a little more confidence in our association with our local Policing Team.
It is hoped that our relatively new Sergeant will be attending tomorrow evening – it is an open meeting anyone can attend….Please come along, don’t rely on ‘rumour’ rely of facts.
The good weather tonight saw hundreds of people with many children enjoy the festivities around the Market Place. My friends and I did a bit of Litter picking but everywhere was pretty clean.
Nice carols played by the Salvation Army Band.
Part of the meeting, there is a CCTV report giving the Councillors and public a monthly update, at this meeting was the Police & Crime Commissioners outreach worker Emily Gutteridge.
In the CCTV report –
Incident 3 “28th October 2015 at 19:59 , The CCTV Team observes a group of youths possibly using an illegal substance whilst sat in the skate park at the Manor Leisure Centre. Police control is informed but all officers are busy at other jobs so unable to attend”
Councillors and the public are very concerned about this incident/report.
Having been involved with Policing/Neighbourhood Watch/Criminal justice system for many years, I fully understand ‘how’ the Police prioritise jobs……I would have thought this incident would have been fairly high on their Radar.
We have a ‘small’ team within Whittlesey, and of course they are not always around 24/7.
But I think incidents like this do no good what-so-ever in the publics confidence.
After my previous posts and ALL the comments on SL© about speeding along North Bank,
Here we are today, with the Camera Van waiting for the speeding motorist.
Like many good law abiding citizens, try not to speed at anytime.
Today I am doing 34 mph which if I had someone behind me – wouldn’t be fast enough?
The Camera Van had gone somewhere else an hour later, and guess what, I am doing 40 mph and the naughty lady in her BMW overtook me!
(Click on picture to enlarge)
Further to last nights brief update. As ‘most’ are aware, FDC approved this application last year. WTC decided due to public concerns to look into whether there would be any grounds to appeal, WTC have taken Legal advice (at a cost) as to their chances of taking the decision to a Judicial Review. At last nights meeting we were informed that although there were some grounds/issues which could be challenged, the advice was that WTC only had a 10% chance of succeeding in their challenge.
However all is not totally lost !!! – or is it?
We then heard that the alternative was to ‘Call in the Planning application to the Secretary of State, councillor Boden informed us that there were possibly 5 reasons that could be used/identified. Information on how the ‘Call in’ process works can easily be found by ‘Googling’ .
Now the big ‘question’ – even ‘if’ WTC decide to ‘Call in’ the application what can be achieved…..Nothing is the answer, and why….The best the Minister/Planning Inspectorate can do is to send it back to FDC Planning Committee.
Once an application has been ‘approved’ – even though at present not all the conditions have been signed off…..It is almost impossible to get the application over-turned….
So why bother then…..I ask….as I don’t know?
However all is not lost?
It is my understanding that when Showfields application was approved, there was a ‘lot’
of conditions placed upon them. One being the 106 agreements, they are basically designed to mitigate the impact that would arise from a development. Money towards. schools, transport and other services, with the size of the development, the 106 contributions would be a fairly large amount I would imagine.
This money then has to be ‘clawed’ back on the price of the housing.
Again not being an expert on these matters, the type of housing and development to satisfy
all the conditions – may cost far in excess of what profit there maybe in developing the site.
106 in many ways is negotiable and ‘we’ hope that FDC do not fold in, as they have done with other developers in vastly reducing the 106 contributions.
More tomorrow, further to earlier reports, at tonights WTC meeting, Cllr Boden advised the Council, that after taking Legal advice, there was only a 10% chance of succeeding a challenge to FDCs decision to grant planning permission to the Showfields site.
Therefor it is my understanding WTC will not be pursuing this route.
Showfields Promo
Probably the top ‘concern’ to us all. I ‘hear/read’ what the latest is in ‘SL©’ from the anonymous ‘Fenman’ – some valid points, but….Mr Fenman has either not fully understood the last 2+ years of arguments and of course Planning Law.
When (the previous Town Councillor) ALL rejected the application, FDC planning committee also rejected the application.
Mr Rose went to appeal. We had a very active SAG – Showfields Action Group armed with a war chest of £20,000 to fund the legal battle, the appeal failed and ‘we’ all thought it would go away for a while. Many previous applications over the last 30 years.
No Mr Rose and his legal team came back with an amended application which addressed most of the ‘issues’ for rejection.
FDC planners and committee had ‘little or no grounds’ given the ‘information given to them but to ‘approve’ the application. There was NO further £20K raised to fight the case
Months and months later, public meetings, WTC sub-committee, we/I hope to hear tonight at WTC monthly council meeting whether/if/maybe/not there is any chance (risks involved/costs) any ‘opportunity’ to challenge the planning applications decision process.
I am sure we are all waiting for some decisions?
Many people have all agreed on one aspect, the whole charade is – Who has the deepest pocket’ – and I would say given FDC’s record Mr Rose has the deepest pocket!
So every now and then it’s time to be a bit less serious – Now I have a story…It is called…
‘Esmeralda – The Emu – Egg’
‘Esmeralda’ came about around 10 days ago, born near Stratford-Upon-Avon, she is beautiful, emerald coloured and weighed 562 grams…. What will we do with such a colourful egg?.
‘Esmeralda’ is around the size of 6 large chicken eggs, so we decided to ‘Bake Off’ and make a very special Cake.
Connie (My wife) hasn’t made one of these for around 10 years!!!!…The cake is an Austrian ‘Gugelhupf’ (several spellings) …. some know it as a ‘Marble Cake’ Pic 1 shows the size of ‘Esmeralda’ sitting on a collectable ‘Sooty Egg Cup’.
We now need some serious ‘tools’ 
to tackle the job in hand….More Info
needed, and sure enough there are plenty
of helpful advice on YouTube™
Charge up the drill and make sure all the
‘bits’ are sharp enough to tackle the job.
Carefully drill a ‘pilot hole’ – not too bad..
Only ‘One Hole’ – this takes great expertise – the boy scouts always used ‘Two Holes’
It takes a lot of patience to get all the ingredients out….Next the ‘secret mixture’ for a ‘Classic Austrian Gugelhulf’
Sometime later – ‘Esmeralda’ is transformed into the ‘Classical Cake’ ours with ‘ Cocoa Swirl’.
Moral of the story could read……
Cake built from Australian Emu Egg
Cooked by Connie…Malaysian Chinese
For Roy of Austrian decent
My Grandmothers maiden name was’ Brandhoffer’
My descendants were the ‘Hapsburgs’
We will enjoy our very special cake.
Wishing all my followers and friends
A Very Happy Christmas, A Prosperous and
Healthy New Year.
Thank you for all your help and support.
Roy & Connie
(As usual click on picture to enlarge)
