First – At long last Whittlesey Town Council will have their own website to inform everyone of meetings, agendas and minutes. There is to be other information, and as with all websites takes time to develop. 1st of January 2016 is the launch date I am told.
Second – The offices at Vinpenta House (High Street) are being taken over by a company called ‘Lawgistics’ – they are a consultancy providing specialist Motor Trade Law advice.
I am informed they are bringing 12-14 employees.
Tonights meeting at WTC offices, was attended by 3 Councillors, 5 Business interests and 1 (myself) member of the public. A very useful debate on many aspects, including the setting up of a website and what ongoing work/costs might be involved. The promotion to get more local businesses interested in joining the business forum.
Whittlesey is an expanding town, with more housing a people living in the area.
Businesses have to promote themselves and have a voice within the town and I am very pleased to be invited to their meetings (They are open to anyone to attend).
The next meeting will be the AGM held on 20th January 2016 – more nearer the date.
Out of interest, brought up was the ‘Tesco’ grant money – which WTC are administering, here is the flyer below…. If your group has a project they think fits – then please get your application in…. Forms available from Whittlesey Town Council.
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Today and many other days, emergency vehicles wait at the closed crossing. This of course this has been happening ever since there was a crossing. But with the number of trains and their increasing in length, the barriers remain ‘Down’ for longer. Today another example, one day those vital minutes could mean the difference between life and death – this could affect us all.
At last weeks WTC meeting (again) only brief note was given to any update on the ‘proposed Bridge’ – Cllr Butcher informed the plans are being submitted early 2016 – although there has been some ‘slippage’.
I am not commenting whether or not the Bridge will happen/go ahead, I can only report what I have heard to been told.
We continue to wait….
Read within the document what the ‘New’ Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Alec Wood had to say when he delivered a key note speech to the AGM of Cambs NHW 23rd Oct.
There was a Q & A session afterwards.
(File is in pdf format/10 pages 494.5 KB)
At last some facts and sense re – bus service – Thanks I hope this puts an end to the rumours….
Further to my Council meeting update regarding Cllr David Mason trying to get a late night bus service restored. I have now spoken at length with Billy Wright (Married to Penny Morley of ‘Morleys Bus Co). I was correct in my article, in fact Billy has explained the several reasons their business suffered.
The late night buses running from Peterborough to Whittlesey, suffered several issues with vandalism, stones and bricks being thrown at their buses (Mainly in the Stanground Area), they also cut back their services, due to drivers not wanting to work later hours. Billy always had to be ‘on call’ in case of incidents and at the time when reported to the police- was not given a great deal of help or support.
Other reasons was they suffered from diesel theft on many occasions and their insurance doubled year on year.
The Morley Bus Co ran in Whittlesey from 1922 to 2005
I actually worked for John Morley (Snr) when I was at school. I worked Sunday afternoons on the Petrol Station/Pump on West End from 2pm to 9pm I was paid £1:00 for my efforts in 1967.
(remember a ‘Gallon of Petrol was 25p and you could get 8 pints of beer for £1:00)
Billy is still involved with Buses and informs me that ALL bus companies have to run like ALL businesses at a profit – If there is No profit – simples – Go bust.
Billy and Penny have been married for well over 40 years.
Pennys brother John Morley (Jnr) still lives in Whittlesey.
So now you’ve had the FACTS – no rumour or hearsay.
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(Top picture © Cambs Times)
Dave has ‘privately’ lobbied to stop closure of police stations in his constituency – good for him – but what about the rest of us ‘Dave’ you seem quite ‘happy’ to lobby saving your own – but the rest doesn’t matter.
He makes an ‘argument’ that there are savings to be made – sorry Dave where have You been for the last 5 years of cutbacks.
There are answers:
Do we need 43 Police Areas in England (Ex Police Authorities)
Do we need 43 PCC (Police & Crime Commissioners)
Do we need 43 Assistant PCC’s
Do we need 43 Personnel Departments
Do we need 43 Chief Constables
I can go on and on, yes there has been a ‘few’ services joined up between Cambs, Herts and Beds, but looking at some of my list there are ‘substantial’ savings to be made and I think these potential savings would more than pay for front line police officers.
See full story at the BBC Website
To see National Statistics of Police workforce England and Wales as of March 2014
Click Here
Another topic ‘very briefly’ touched on was Cllr Ralph Butcher informed the rest of the Councillors that ‘The Recycling Centre’ would remain open for another year.
It looks like this will be looked at on a year-to-year basis then?
The CCTV System report is somewhat not that helpful just a few statistics, this area is being looked into as part of the ‘finance review’ taking place at FDC.
There is/was a meeting at Fenland Hall today with Councillors attending – this has already been well documented in the Cambs Times© today.
I wonder if ‘we’ will find out what has been discussed – ‘behind the scenes’ as happens, but I doubt as NO Councillor is keeping the electorate informed on a daily/weekly or monthly basis….why don’t you ask them why? – Not everyone is a fan of Twitter® or Faceless Book®.
Of course another item discussed was the ‘Loooong’ awaited Whittlesey Town Council Website….Months and well over a year. I can inform the Council it takes about 10 minutes to get a website started and then just a bit of time and effort to update and maintain.
I have run my Shipping Company Website for over 10 years and this one for 5 years.
Lets move into the 20th century please, of course they did not mention cost?
My cost ‘ minimal’ 2 websites less than £100:00 a year with full redundancy.
We wait and wait as usual.
Cllr David Mason is admirably is still on his campaign for a better Bus Service at night time.
He updated the members on the normal NO contact/communication from Stagecoach. He is looking at another provider, one quoted over £200+ for an after 8pm service for a 12 seater bus which worked out at over £13 person single journey – I don’t think so.
By chance I bumped into David yesterday and informed him of my long term contact with Anthea Head of Decker Bus and my old school friend Billy Wright (Morleys Bus).
Decker Bus runs a near 100% School Bus contract with ‘some’ private hire and tours.
(WBS ) Morleys had to give up late night services one reason because of vandalism to their buses en-route to Whittlesey, would frequently be ‘stoned’ or have ‘bricks’ thrown at them – you can imagine what problems that caused.
Anyway I wish David every success in his quest – Good Luck.
Our Street Scene Officer for Whittlesey is Sally Mitchell, she is VERY Pro-active and in many opinion the ‘best we have had’.
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If I am here – I attend as a member of the public the town council monthly meetings.
Last night there were 3 members of the public for a planning application plus myself and one other who stayed the norm 3 hours of ‘debate’.
All 14 Councillors were in attendance.
Varied agenda, including a shortish presentation from Mr Rob Litten Executive Head Whittlesey Learning Trust. (Park Lane & New Road). He hopes to be here 10 years?
No one spoke at the Public Forum.
A couple (my view) controversial planning applications.
F/YR15/0920/CERTLU – This is the use of the Manor House for business use, it has been going on for some considerable time, some of the residents of Manor View/Portland Place are displeased with deliveries etc….WTC recommended ‘Refusal’
F/YR15/0933F – 6 dwellings on Church Street (Ex Garage area) – The big issue of course is ‘Parking’ I have to state I have at last heard Cllr Garratt admit that parking is an issue on the road of Church Street, several years ago he claimed there was No Issues…..
It is bad enough during the daytime but at night when all are back from work it is ‘horrendous’ – I have pictures and video of the dangerous issues, some of which have been posted here before..
WTC recommended ‘Approval’
There was a deviation from the agenda, which I am not that happy about.
Financial and tendering naturally should be discussed under ‘exclusion’ of the public – which I do not have a problem with, however to change an item within the agenda as the meeting is in progress should not be allowed.
If a Councillor (In this case Cllr Curtis) wishes items to be excluded, this should have been placed in the agenda and not changed during a meeting in progress.
The item concerning the ‘Showfields’ Legal update/costing of Legal advice.
I’ll post some more regarding the Street Scene Officers report – tomorrow….
At Neighbourhood Watch – we have access to our local police, we have a dedicated ‘phone’ number to report crime or issues. If you would like to be part of making your street/area safer, by being a ‘Better Neighbour’ why not become a ‘Co-ordinator’ – it takes very little time or effort. Contact me.
Here is the latest report from our Neighbourhood Team
Whittlesey Neighbourhood Police
After an extremely good turn out on Sunday, Armistice Day held yesterday saw around 100 members of the public attend to pay their respects
11:00 11-11/15 Connie G & Jeanne B
Fantastic to see our good friend Jeanne Beaumont who is looking very well for her 80+
Jeanne was recently presented with her long service medal for her voluntary work with the Red Cross, she has also given a great deal to the RNIB over the years.
Jeanne was a very active member of Street Pride and still helps to promote the group when-ever possible.
