Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Further to my earlier post. A very brief ‘update’ was given – there is NO update, other than Cllr David Mason writing to Sainsbury’s and getting very little response.
I see the ‘knives’ are out again arguing as to who to ‘blame’ for the ‘Supermarket’ fiasco.
What the electorate have to remember is that Whittlesey Town Council/Councillors are consultee only on ALL planning matters.

Yes there are 7 Councillors who are FDC Councillors as well, it is primarily the ‘7’ to debate/convince and lobby.
Irrespective of Street Lifers blaming who-ever and everyone , I believe that the ‘fiasco’/behind the scenes dramas/personalities – would make a very good TV drama or better still a ‘film’.
I am in love with NO Supermarket – they are commercial organisations in business to make money.
I have and declare I have owned shares in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons for many years – as a ‘small’ shareholder, the price of the shares I own are worth a lot less today than when I bought them.
Everyone knows that Supermarket retail business has changed dramatically over the last couple of years.
Martin B bravely sticks his neck out and believes Sainsburys will be built. Behind the scenes, I can tell you that the majority now believe that this will not happen.
I don’t know is my answer – business can change almost overnight, a new Chief Exec or CEO arrives and the whole ethos changes – it has happened before.

Dear resident,

We’re urging you to check your home security to help prevent a rise in burglaries over the winter months. Dwindling hours of daylight and the Christmas period often combine to result in more break-ins. In the three months from August to October last year, there were 569 dwelling burglaries in the county, compared to 628 during the following three months (November-January), a rise of more than 10 per cent. We are prioritising burglary as part of a new campaign called Operation Hunter and officers are combining prevention work with catching and putting offenders before the courts. As part of the operation, we’re also urging everyone to do their bit by taking precautions and making their home unattractive to burglars. Taking security steps at home and remembering to always leave your windows and doors locked is a great start but we would also ask people to keep their eyes and ears open and report any suspicious activity. Information we receive from the public is crucial and people should never hesitate to report something that appears unusual or suspicious. For more burglary prevention advice, see below or visit our web pages and online home survey tool at http://ow.ly/V6uf4 Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Regards,
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Branston

*Always keep doors and windows closed and locked or in a ventilated but locked position, even when they are inside the house.  Always check and lock doors with a key – never assume that just pushing up an internal handle will lock the door.

*Remove keys from window and door locks, but keep them in a familiar and safe place where all members of the family know where to find them in the event of an emergency.

*Never leave items such as keys, bags, presents and money on show through a window. *Consider the position of key racks or shelves next to a door and ensure that they cannot be reached through the letter box.

*Use timer switches to turn on lights and radios when you are going to be away from your house at dusk. *Consider the use of lights at the front and rear of your property that are activated when someone approaches.

*Consider the use of bolts and padlocks on side gates. Place the bolts at the top, middle and bottom of the gate, as just a top bolt might be easy to reach and open.

*A visible intruder alarm box can prove to be one of the biggest deterrents to an opportunist burglar, so consider installing a DIY or supplier installed system.

Next Neighbourhood Watch Meeting with Whittlesey Police in attendance will be at
7pm on Tuesday December 15th At WTC Offices – Grosvenor Road – opposite the ‘new’ bus stop.

This could be an extremely long post – but I’ll try and make it shortish.

All members of the WTC Planning committee were present ‘except’ for Cllr Alan Bristow who has ‘resigned’ (Planning). This leaves Lattersey Ward ‘unrepresented’ in the debate at council.
Only myself, Stephen Hodson and Michael Woolaston (Flood Warden) present from the public.
Mike gave a talk about the ‘on going’ concerns of flood risk at the Snowley Park development.

There was a presentation from Lou Mason-Walsh Principal Transport Officer CCC about ‘how’ decisions come about with reference to planning applications from the Highways Dept. There are robust guidelines (like it or not) in place. There was some good questioning from a couple of councillors, which (She) fended off very well.

Next came an update planning under reserved matters from David Wilson Homes in regard to some changes for the Snowley Park development.
FDC outline planning permission F/YR/14/0365 at land North of Snowley Park and Glenfields.
The revision is : amended documents received in relation to flood risk and drainage, highways, ecology and layout.
There was some tough questioning by (2) councillors and this turned into a ‘robust’ debate. Unfortunately as most know, this development has been passed by FDC.
There (is) as usual postings on Street Life regarding this – however ‘Most’ if not all the ‘Posters’ have not been to many if any of ALL the meetings – whereby this development was debated. I went to most – I agree to a certain extent that (we) in Whittlesey have been well stitched up by other none Whittlesey councillors, poor at times advice given by FDC’s planning dept and ‘inconsistent’ data from various government agencies.
‘Most’ if not ALL Whittlesey Town Councillors fought this development, but as Martin Curtis frequently states – ‘There has to be good planning grounds’ to refuse any application.
My views stated several times for this and the Showfields applications – that is/was a travesty for the whole of Whittlesey.
(Again as I frequently state we had a democratic election in May)

There was an update from Peterborough City Council withdrawing their plans to build (5) Wind Turbines at Willow Hall Farm near Thorney

There were updates on developments ‘Neighbourhood Plan, Taylor Wimpey and Sainsburys which I’ll cover in a while.

Naturally I have not reported ‘everything’ that was said in the 2 Hour meeting – if you are interested in hearing debate direct why not go to the meetings and hear for yourself.

Further to my correspondent reporting the knocked over signage (Post 23rd Nov)
Today he reports all is back in place and here’s a photo to show it.
So it is well done Cambs Highways for fantastic service.
Well done RB from Eastrea.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Whittlesey library has been in various locations in the past 50 years.
Home now is on Market Street.
Recently there were what was thought to be minor issues with the roof.
On further inspection it was found more serious – plus asbestos had to be removed.
Repairs were made in September and once completed the library staff worked very hard to get ready for the reopening. Once up and running – on the very day it reopened it rained heavily and water came through the ‘repaired’ roof and ceiling, damaging the electrics.
The Library is ‘open’ but only part of it is in use.

If you would like to become a friend of Whittlesey Library (FOWL) please contact Jackie at
friendsofwhittleseylibrary@aol.co.uk

I hope our councillors are aware and have made representation to Cambs Highways of the extremely poor state of parts of Broad Street

I know exactly what the next complains will be – Leaves – Leaves and more Leaves.
Well good to see today ‘Lilly S’ sweeping like crazy whilst his mate with the Vac hovered up a vast amount of leaves.
Of course if you have problems with leaves then report either to Fenland District Council or Whittlesey Town Council or better still your elected representative….

A Happy birthday to our good friend Nancy Goude, no telling of here age ? – a special occasion. Nancy like my wife Connie is originally from Malaysia, she met her late husband ‘Reg’ whilst he was in the army in Malaya. She and Reg were married for 60 years, Reg unfortunately passed away in June.
Nancy was well known in Whittlesey, she is a trained tailoress, and ran her business from home and Broad Street for an incredible 44 years.
Yesterday we treated her to a fantastic ‘Malaysian Dinner’ at the ‘Wonderful Patisserie in North London – a wonderful time we had.

Connie G with birthday girl Nancy G…

A605 going into Eastrea – from Whittlesey – Known to us as Eastrea ‘Dip’?
My correspondent has found ‘another’ important road sign on its back.
It is a good job members of the public are vigilant in finding and reporting issues.

Yesterday afternoon some vehicle could not get around the turn off the A605/Eastrea Road onto Whype Road, they demolished the 7.5 tonne toad sign and chopped the Street Pride – Flower barrel in half, naturally they didn’t stop?
My correspondent informs me that after he reported to several ‘agencies’ – Cambs Highways have removed the damaged signage.
Did anyone in Eastrea see anything ?

(Click on picture to enlarge) Thanks to RB

The Whittlesey branch of Rotary held their 19th Annual Quiz – last night at the Ivy Leaf.
A fantastic turn out by many regular teams.
We had (2) Street Pride teams and not only supporting Rotary but had a load of fun at the same time. We never expect to come anywhere near winning, but our team ‘B’ beat the ‘A’ team this year.
Last year Rotary raised in excess of £2,000 from the Quiz night, the proceeds go towards mobile classrooms to educate ‘local’ children about health, drugs etc.
Look forward to next year….

Received this evening, from Martin Whitwell Chairman Whittlesey Country Park.

Dear Country Park Friends,
I would like to thank all of you for your continued support through all the planning process, there`s no doubt that we would not be in a position where all the plans have been passed by FDC without your support, but where do we go from here? 

I take it that by now you all will have received a mail from David Mills of Sainsburys saying that the Whittlesey store will not be built next year, although not the news we all wanted at least we have not been crossed off altogether, and with this in mind I would like to ask you all to email the MD and CEO of Sainsburys to remind them that Whittlesey has not gone away and would still like to have a new Sainsburys Store and Country Park, in doing this the message goes to the top instead of being filtered out by people lower down the management structure.

Your help is very much appreciated let`s all make some noise to show Sainsbury`s how positive we all are in Whittlesey.
Email addresses of MD & CEO
David.tyler@sainsburys.co.uk
Mike.coupe@sainsburys.co.uk 

If any of you have not got the time to pen your own letter you can down load the attachment provided by us and just add your own name to it. 

Regards
Martin Whitwell
Chairman WCP

If you would like to support Friends of Whittlesey Country Park.
friendsofwhittleseycountrypark@yahoo.co.uk