Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Disclaimer: These observations are not the ‘official’ minutes of the meeting, these are supplied by Whittlesey Town Council, normally (1) month following the meeting and can be viewed on their website.
Other Business:-

Kings Dyke Bridge – nothing much to report than was published last week on this site.
It is ‘hoped’ that a detailed plan and costing will be done by September.
Kings Delph Layby – meetings have taken place between various stakeholders in respect of the Layby being used at a toilet by those parked there.
No money to do anything permanently – but a Portable Toilet maybe installed and financed for 6 months initially.
New Council Offices – All progressing – No budget as such has been set or agreed, awaiting detailed plans and costings. Invitation to local contractors and businesses to tender for the work.
Gravel House Corner -A somewhat overly lengthy debate 30 minutes took place on applying for a 40mph on Gravel House Corner took place – more to follow on this.

Click on pictures to enlarge..

Disclaimer: These observations are not the ‘official’ minutes of the meeting, these are supplied by Whittlesey Town Council, normally (1) month following the meeting and can be viewed on their website.
Agenda to this meeting was published on this site – 08th July
Present Councillors: Dorling, Mayor Windle, Miscandlon, Mason, Boden, Mrs Laws
+ County Councillor Connor.
Police Matters: Vistors on a boat were subjected to vandalism whist moored at the Manor/Bower which councillors were concerned about – the effects on tourism in our area.
Public Forum: Peter Baxter gave a short presentation on why a ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ has not been viewed or seen in the respect of the Kings Dyke Crossing.
he made it clear that he was NOT against a Bridge – but that all the correct procedures had taken place. Cllr Boden commented that not all planning applications of this type needed at SEA – but thanked Peter Baxter for highlighting his concerns – further investigations and answers required.

RG I asked our County Councillors present why after speaking about it last month, the lack of ‘Paint’ on all our zebra crossings had still not come about.
I then spoke on the subject of Councillors attendances – which is given below – that in the case of Cllr Garratt he had missed 8 consecutive full council meetings, many without any explanation – under The Local Government Act of 1972 if a Councillor misses 6 months of meeting he ceases to be a member of the authority – however in Cllr Garratts case he has attended ‘other’ meetings within the time frame. I said that by his extremely poor attendance, was an insult to the (his) electorate, a travesty to the Council and poor for democracy.
Cllr-Attendance-to-Meetings-updated-May-2018

‘Think’ I am pretty up to speed, being an electronics engineer who’s hobbies include web & website building, software and coding. ‘I’ receive on average 2 scam mails a week, even though my web provider filters most out before they get to me.
My antivirus, antimalware, and firewalls still these blighters get through.
These of course are the clever sophisticated ones – fortunately ‘I’ have never been ‘scammed’ or fell for the clever ones.
I’ve said before – there is ‘someone’ in Whittlesey who are scammed every day, be it door-to-door, be it telephone or be it web based.
Most of these people are too ashamed to admit they have fallen to the criminal and do not report the fact they have been robbed.
Here from yesterdays Scam Awareness session is a very good resource:
Available from Whittlesey Library / Learning Centre / Community Hub
The 47 page booklet (Free of charge) doesn’t contain ALL the answers but will equip most people with 99% of the information they need to be aware of.

You can also obtain copies by telephoning Cambs Community Protection Team on: 0345 045 5200

A good delivery of basic to moderate knowledge given by Cambs County Council to an audience of 14 people who attended this mornings ‘Scam Awareness’ session at Whittlesey Library.
One of the points brought to our attention was that only around 5% of those who have been scammed – is actually reported, and this is costing the economy £Billions…..
It was a worthwhile session even for those who think they are scavey.

Here is the agenda for this coming Wednesday evenings meeting. I understand that Country Councillor David Connor will be updating (if there is) WTC on Kings Dyke Crossing – I doubt if there will much more news other than I posted earlier this week after having spoken to Cllr Connor on the subject – I plan to attend….
Full-Council-Agenda-11th-July-2018

Now in it’s 2nd year, the Whittlesey Business Forum Charity Walk organised in conjunction with ‘The Fens’© magazine saw 133 registered and completed this morning 5 miles walk.
We managed the Watering Station on South Green Coates opposite ‘The Vine’ Pub – our thanks to them for loaning us their facilities. My thanks to fellow helpers Stuart Anderson and Sue Taylor who did a fantastic job on such a hot day.
Sponsoring the 4 watering stations was our Local NISA/Jamie Keshwara.
We had walkers from Malaysia taking part.

My – my how peoples memories are so short….Now don’t get me wrong Tesco’s™ initiative (as well as other supermarkets) are a great help to Community Groups across the country – but it was only a few years ago here in Whittlesey that the name TESCO™ was a ‘very toxic’ word to say the least..
Embroiled in a planning war with rivals Sainsbury’s here on our doorstep – lots of vehicles with rival Sainsbury’s™ stickers in their rear vehicle windows…..
It now ‘appears’ that TESCO is everyone’s friend – that is if you’re getting their money…..
If your organisation would benefit and you would like more information you are welcome to get in touch with me and I’ll pass the information to you.
(I or none of the groups on which I am a committee member have benefited from
TESCO’s grants)

Dear Roy G….
Submit an application now to Tesco Bags of Help, and you could get a grant of £4,000, £2,000 or £1,000 for your community project.

The Tesco Bags of Help scheme, administrated by Groundwork, is Tesco’s exciting local community grant scheme where the money raised by the sale of carrier bags is being used to fund thousands of local projects in communities right across the UK. Projects that bring benefit to their community will get the green light – these range from improving community buildings and outdoor spaces to buying new equipment, training coaches or volunteers and hosting community events.

I am approaching you as we are currently low for applications in your area* – so if you need a cash injection I recommend applying soon to secure your chances of being shortlisted for the in-store votes at your local Tesco store.
Good luck!