Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

The 2nd event put on by Whittlesey Town Council started a bit quiet, with more councillors than public, but by 4pm things had livened up a bit, no quite packed out, but people, families enjoying a Sunday afternoon….and it stayed dry on this occasion…

The start got of on the ‘slow’ side…. 2:30pm

Things picked up, with ‘folk’ having a good time… 4:00pm

We know their are ‘some’ low life within our community, whether it be the ‘idiots’ who damage ‘flowers and plants’ – yer I am so tough bashing some plants up’ or those forever littering and dog fouling who do not clear up after their doggies… so now we have the ‘Heron’ shopping trolly which was abandoned near ‘Aliwal Lock’ I went and reported it to the shop – and today it has gone, well maybe it still had the £1 in it – I didn’t check…..

   
(Click on photo to enlarge)
My thanks on behalf of Street Pride to Mr Robert Gregory of Rose Homes (Whittlesey) – NO connection to the Rose planning application at Showfields, who very rapidly sent his ‘men’ to Church Street and repaired the damaged wall –  we have some fantastic support.

      
(Click on Picture for enlargements)
Yesterday afternoon (13th August) the usual ‘suspected ‘Truck/Lorry’ could not make a ‘Safe’ turning into Church Street…., this is the 3rd known occasion this has happened, and you can see from the photos the damage done.
Only this week – blow me down with a feather – the path has been resurfaced – this also has has some minor damage done to it.
I/we have carried out work on our ‘Rose Garden’ project for several years, and I know that on a nice day several dozens of people/children/prams plus a 94 years old man (Ex milkman) use this pathway, it is a Major Path in/out of the town.
So now we have to ask, is it only a matter of time, when some poor unfortunate individual gets caught on the corner as a lorry tries to negotiate it.
I have the answer but it won’t happen under the nanny FDC H&S rules – Many authorities use a great 2 ton iron Bell on dangerous corners – clip that at your peril and serious damage will happen to your vehicle (Money).

But as with the ‘illegal’ cutting down of trees at Otago Close – FDC’s enforcement does not seem to have any authority does ‘anyone’. Fortunately it appears that the latest issue with the owner building a fence on land he does not own – seems to have been resolved – mainly due to ‘People Power’

(Click on Picture for enlargements)

Fantastic results from the ‘A’ level students at Sir Harry Smith, congratulations to Headmaster Jonathan Digby, who deserves kudos for his motivation of staff and pupils,
the school has achieved very good results year on year….

Bit rich of Colin Gale who in his letter published in the Cambs Times© this week, goes on and on about ‘local’ issues should not be politically motivated – why then is ‘He’ standing on a ‘political platform’ – Labour for the upcoming Bassenhally election, Colin accuses councillors of arrogance – Colin as far as I am aware has NEVER attended a Whittlesey Town Council meeting – that a bit ‘rich’ using the term ‘Arrogance’.
Where does he, Mr Curtis & Chapman ‘think’ they are getting the #Bulk# of their votes from….their ‘Politically aligned friends !!!’ Naturally I and many others are pleased and happy that ‘someone’ has decided to stand against the Curtis factor, as said before at another cost to us the rate payer of Whittlesey – for the sake of open democracy which I all too often promote…
Colin Gale – stand on an Independent wicket…..or is that to difficult a ‘task’

The prolific avid writers on Street Life are at it yet again…. I say some!
The accusations that ALL councillors are corrupt ALL are useless and we need more police, it goes on and on….. where/what planet are some of these people been living on….
‘We’ have just had elections in May, I and a very few others made our stand, we were well beaten by the due democratic process, with a good turn out (66%). What about the (34%) that didn’t bother to vote, I thinks…many of the persistent complainants are in this group.
I stand/stood as the only ‘Independent’ as I am not politically aligned to anyone, the electorate decided to vote elsewhere and I’ve always accepted the results.
No faults, but again ‘some’ of the Street Lifers, perhaps do/did not realise that some councillors were elected unopposed – so ‘if’ they have so much compassion about our Town issues, why not PUT up or just SHUT up.
At least with the upcoming re-elections in the Bassenhally ward, Colin Gale and Dave Chapman are giving the electorate a ‘choice’ against the Conservative Martin Curtis, I don’t see any of the Street Life whingers names there – case closed…..

Got the email about the workshops being run by FDC on preserving wildlife.
It seems one department of FDC is showing how to conserve wildlife whilst another department is passing planning applications which are destroying huge swathes of natural habitat!
As one journalist would say, “you couldn’t make it up”.

From a regular reader….

With developer ‘Bruce Smith’ on his holidays until the 10th (We also) – I/we wait until his return to see if he makes any comment – Re – Sainsburys applying for changes to their application.
We wait and wait – come October or maybe before, will Sainsburys or their Agents commit one way or another as to whether they ‘will’ take up their options on even buying the land?
We wait and wait……
Continuing with waiting, it has been very quiet of late from Cllr Ralph Butcher the lead member on the Kings Dyke Railway Crossing Group, the last I heard was – All was going to plan!!!!! with still some £3 Million shortfall that Network Rail are supposed to cough up, small fry in comparison to what MP Steve Barclay is looking at for the Wisbech to March rail link….did I read correctly £100+ Million….
Whittlesey could have (2) Bridges and (2) By-passes for this sort of money….

I am carrying out a short survey into recent increases of House Insurance (Buildings) in Whittlesey. Initial feedback being quite a number of respondents are not declaring how far they live from ‘A Watercourse/River or Drain’ or if they live within 3 Km of a Flood Plain –
Most Insurance/Comparison Websites are asking these questions….
If answered truthfully, the quote X2 or even X3… I’ll post more when my research finishes.

Really…..Having seen the photograph of our two elected representatives for St Andrews/St Marys, and I having highlighted sometime ago the on-going issues of the Bower maintenance, although under normal circumstances, I would congratulate our two incumbents for their achieving a bit of a clean/clear up – However there is ONE Major omitment in the article – HOW MUCH DID IT COST….there was some discussion on a quote at a recent council meeting, however the public was not included in this part of the meeting. If this was for the same work I do not know. Maybe when I am back I’ll ask under the freedom of information act….? Just interested in how much Rate Payers money this was costing, as it could be a regular feature.
Carrying on in my Cynical mood…. Short Memories again some people have, or maybe my readers did not receive or see this document which was put out some months ago by Mr Roses Agents….Nice if you believe it….

Click on Pictures to enlarge….

Showfields Promo

Showfields Promo

The Whittlesey-In-Bloom group have worked tirelessly on many projects to enhance our town, Whittlesey Street Prides collection of over 40,000 Kgs of rubbish/litter removed along with 9 Gateway projects in the past 9 years. It is very disheartening to see wanton destruction of a project. I hope that ‘someone’ will be caught before they do even more damage.
Of course we can not point any fingers at any one group, but these ‘issues’ do seem to come about at certain times of the year!

Picture Cambs Times©

Cambs Times© @ 16:06 …
Sainsbury’s bid to open a store in Whittlesey looked increasingly fragile tonight after their late efforts to overturn “onerous” planning conditions were rejected by Fenland District Council
I can not count on two hands the number of times ‘we’ Whittlesey residents/public – rate payer/ex councillors/present councillors have tried to do our very best for what the town wants or is crying out for….over 4 years of issues after issues, block after block.
Planning problems after problems, Tesco’s/Cemetery Road, Tesco’s Station Road on and on, I’ve never so far other than Tesco’s at Fakenham come across such an issue.
Now ‘we’ had all thought ‘a’ supermarket is finally coming, with some much needed small business park and a very welcomed ‘Country Park’ – everything looks as though it could be in the balance again.
I feel extremely sorry for the ‘dozens’ of people who have promoted and worked hard over the years to get something our town needs….Will we be left high and dry again….
Are we just very unlucky – Planning developments don’t go our way and now a big question whether our out of town development will ever happen….
I’m quoting myself again…..and again…. I’ll believe it when I see the first spade for the foundations dug out, I hope to be there to take the picture!

ps….Tesco’s took up their option in Chatteris, only not to occupy the building when finished!…