Tag Archives: spalding

Steppingstone Bridge Spalding

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Minor progress of sorts on the lighting issue, although sadly no actual light at the end of the tunnel, because it still doesn’t work!  At least I now know that it is a waste of timing asking either Network Rail or LCC to fix it.

I received a letter from LCC today, giving me some information on the situation regarding the lack of a working light on the bridge.  It would seem that, despite being the county council and actually having responsiblity for the footpath that crosses the railway line via this bridge, LCC can’t get any more sense out of Network Rail than the rest of us.  It’s difficult to believe that a company that relies so heavily on public money for its survival, can be so arrogant when it comes to addressing the concerns of members of that public.

Below is a copy of the letter I received today along with one sent to John Hayes MP. 

Bottom line is, if I can find £3,500, the county council is willing to install and maintain lighting on the bridge.  I will now be seeking some support from other Spalding members at the next Spalding Town Forum.  This support could be by tapping in to the ward budgets, or maybe by seeking some help from the Spalding Power Station community fund.  Watch this space.

Teenage shelter on the cards

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Had a meeting with some local youngsters, a resident and PCSO Paul Coupland on Friday night. The discussions were about providing seating for the kids to use when they are meeting on the open space area at Avignon Road on Wygate Park.

The kids also asked about putting up a fence around the open space to stop footballs going into the road. Although Christine and I understood what they were getting at, we didn’t think it would be possible to provide a fence that would be both effective and acceptable to the residents who live around the open space area. We did however come up with a plan to provide the kids with a teenage shelter that would give them an area to sit together and chat. Richard Knock, our hard working grounds maintenance manager, has agreed to take on the job and get it put in as soon after we have picked the right one for the job.

Although we blew them out on the fence, we were able to give the kids an update on the open space that will be coming forward as part of the next Kier development site, along with the Taylor Wimpey site that has recently been submitted as a reserved matters planning application. This area will be big enough for people to kick a football around with upsetting residents and without balls going into peoples’ gardens every 5 minutes. We also hope to be able to provide a set of goal posts and, eventually, an area of play equipment suitable for the older kids.

Little London Bridge

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Mock-up of London Road Bridge twinned

Whilst idling my time away on the sick list, I’ve been playing around with a few ideas for the ongoing problem of the junction at Little London, where London Road meets Cradge Bank. I’m sure the locals have a name for it, but I can never recall it! (If you’re a road map nerd, it’s the B1172!).

This should be a pretty straightforward crossroads, but a combination of the adjacent bridge, the very well used Hawthorn Bank close by and the busy BP garage almost opposite, make it a driver’s nigthtmare at busy times of the day. This is one of the major routes in and out of Spalding and given the new A16 to Peterborough, it can only get worse.

Looking at the road layout, courtesy of Google Maps, it’s obvious that it would take a bit more than a bit of adjustment to the road layout and nobody in Spalding would wish to see yet another set of traffic lights installed! At the other end of Spalding and crossing the same river, is a bridge known locally as twin bridges, so why not do the same at Little London? See the photo.

Opposition is awake, but not with it!

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It’s seldom a good idea to offer your opponent any free publicity.  However when they make inaccurate, ill-informed and in one case, a statement that would be libellous if it were made about a individual and not the council, they must be challenged.

I don’t know the person in question and none of my comments are based on an opinion of him as a person.  They only relate to the glaring inaccuracies in his election leaflet and seek to challenge the vague promises he has made – these are detailed in the italics below, with my responses in bold text.

All of his typographical and grammatical errors have been retained, to ensure that I cannot be accused of changing or censoring his words.

“………. I am your Independent candidate for the Woolram Wygate Ward.” 

The name of the ward is Spalding Wygate!

“The next few years will see more housing constructed towards the end of Woolram Wygate / Monks House Lane and this has an opportunity for great things, I would work with the developer to ensure maximum community benefit.”

The new development will be taking place on land at the Monks House Lane end of Wygate Park, nowhere near Woolram Wygate.

Negotiations regarding community benefits such as a very large area of open space, a community centre, along with land and money for a new primary school, all took place back in 2001.

“In addition there are large sums of money coming into the council from housing developments and the power station. Previous sums which should have been used to transform Spalding have been used to support the general workings of the council.”

“This must stop— money claimed for Spalding should be spent on facilities for all effected by the development”.

There are NO ‘large sums’ of money coming in from housing development.  All the benefits to come from development will be within the area being developed i.e. community centre, play equipment, large public open space area.

The money to be paid by the power station once built, apart from £100,000 for Pinchbeck parish council, has been identified for specific purposes within Spalding.

It is illegal to spend a financial contribution from a developer on anything other than what was detailed in the legal agreement.

The underlined accusation is particularly disturbing.  Not only is it completely WRONG, it appears to make an unfounded accusation of fraud against the district council.

“Those of you near the railway will have noticed night works to prepare the track for freight. These have the potential to cause massive disruption to traffic and an obvious potential risk for emergency vehicle access. I would work with the train companies to ensure this disruption is kept to a minimum.”

Concerns regarding the impact on Spalding are the subject of long term and detailed discussions with both the rail operator and the county council.  We have also raised our concerns with central government, assisted by our local Conservative MP, Mr John Hayes.

“I believe that the council needs change in order to properly represent local views and not be influenced by party politics and government directives.”

Low levels of council tax and weekly refuse and recycling collections are both Conservative Party policies we are proud to promote in South Holland.

Government directives are the basis for almost everything local government does and cannot be ignored whatever the council’s political colour.

“With building land becoming so scarce the green belt between Pinchbeck and Spalding must be preserved.”

Building land is NOT scarce in South Holland and we have a more than ample supply as detailed in the South Holland Adopted Local Plan.

The land between Pinchbeck and Spalding is not designated as Green Belt, a term used to protect green areas around cities from urban sprawl.  In Lincolnshire we call it open countryside.

Parishing Spalding  “There has been talk for many years regarding this issue. I support any measure that gives people more say in their neighbourhood and believe the small initial additional cost would reap huge rewards”.

As well as the so called ‘small initial cost’ (potentially £25,000 to £50,000), setting up a town council for Spalding would require a large increase in the ANNUAL precept charged to the residents, in order to provide ongoing administration, staffing and accommodation for the town council. 

No hint is given as to what these ‘huge rewards’ will be.

“Parish councils can apply for grant and lottery funding for major projects which the council legally cannot.  In addition the new localism bill will allow parish councils to challenge for existing service, resulting in an overall cost saving and improved efficiency.”

“The potential savings would protect us all form additional council tax rises and ensure that all services were run at maximum efficiency”

The district council is NOT prohibited from applying for grant funding from appropriate sources and assists many local organisations in doing this.

Any town council wishing to take over a council service would have to increase its resources to manage that service properly.  Much of the cost would simply transfer from the district council tax to a town council tax. 

“Many of you have children at the pri­mary school, I would welcome any form of partnership working with the school board and governors to ensure it gets the help it deserves”

School board AND governors? Or does he actually mean the Board of Governors?  The primary school already controls its own budget.  Given that its other funding is provided by the County Council, what exactly is the help it deserves from the district council?

“Ensuring the Green space between Pinchbeck and Spalding”

Ensuring it’s what?  This area is already protected by the development boundaries detailed in the South Holland Local Plan.

“Work with train operators to ensure minimal disruption to the level crossing”.

The train operators do not suffer any ‘disruption to the level crossing’.  It is the traffic crossing the level crossing that is disrupted when the gates are closed to allow a train to pass.  We are actively working with the county council to seek a long term solution to the planned increase in rail traffic through Spalding.

That Dog Won’t Hunt

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The Americans have a very appropriate saying for something that does not ring true, ‘That dog won’t hunt’, and given her dog walk analogy, this fits perfectly when applied to Julie William’s myopic piece in last week’s Spalding Guardian (Thurs 21st April).

She suggests that, apart from a few people, who through no fault of their own, have found themselves homeless, everything is all sweetness and light when it comes to the huge increase in population our area has seen since the previous government’s foolhardy throwing open opening of the immigration door several years ago.

Her narrow focus on the lack of law breaking, as proof that all is well, totally ignores the real concerns that local people have about the massive strain that has been placed on local services such as our hospitals, schools and doctors, not to mention our police and social housing. 

Even if it is only a few miscreants, their impact is significant and disturbing when witnessed by local people attempting to go about their everyday life, particularly in Spalding town centre. 

Local politicians, including John Hayes MP, would be remiss in their duty to taxpayers of all nationalities, if they did not make their concerns known and suggest that urgent solutions were required. 

John Hayes has been consistent and honest in raising these concerns over the years and far from being right-wing rhetoric, I think his words will ring true with many people, whatever their political persuasion. 

Indeed, one could suggest that only those blinded by their own political dogma, or maybe even by their embarrassment at being supporters of those who caused of the issue, would seek to criticise those now endeavouring to find pragmatic solutions.

Opposition, what opposition?

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I am very probably tempting fate with this entry and the skies will open tomorrow and a veritable avalanche of opposition campaigning will fall on my head! 

That are now only 17 days to go until polling day and there’s still no sign or sound of the opposition.  That of course, from my point of view, could be seen as a good thing. 

The flip side of my current good fortune is that the voters of Spalding Wygate don’t get a chance to hear how somebody else might think that they could do a better job of representing them than I have over the last 12 years.  They could also find themselves wondering what the point of voting was, when they have no way of comparing the candidates.  There is of course always the protest vote, or as one non-admirer put it, ‘I wouldn’t vote for you, even if the other bloke was a house brick!’ (I think he was upset about a planning application).

The other disappointment is, that if the opposition is what they call a paper candidate and has no intention of mounting any sort of election campaign, then he has given the electorate the false hope that they might be given an opportunity to make a choice.  Added to that, he’s also cost local taxpayer unneccesary expense, by requiring the district council to open a polling station in Spalding Wygate on 5th May.  Fingers crossed I’m right!!  Don’t forget to vote YES to Conservative and NO to AV on 5th May by the way!

To read more about the Spalding Wygate ward and the Conservative group go to:   http://southhollanddcconservativegroup.co.uk/3818/welcome

Wind turbine flicker is a problem

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Even the Daily Telegraph finds it difficult to resist the occasional Sun newspaper type pun when the opportunity presents itself.  In this case, ‘Flicker of hope for the wind turbine victims’ might seem slightly flippant given the impact on peoples’ lives this issue has.

However, not wishing to be churlish about this rare attempt at humour, I hope what they’ve reported is accurate and can be used as a guide for those of us wrestling with the issue of wind turbine development.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), commissioned a report that has come back with recommendation regarding the flicker caused by the rotation of turbine blades when the sun is low in the sky, especially in the winter months, which is often a time of the strongest winds.

Of course a report is one thing, the government updating their guidance is another thing altogether and we can all think of at least one or two government commissioned reports that were the subject of great fanfares of publicity, but then disappeared without trace.

The report recommends that wind turbines should not be located closer than 10 times the diameter of the turbine rotor disc, to a dwelling or office building.  Unfortunately, they also suggest a tolerance level where turbines can be put closer, with a distance of 500 meters as long, as long as the flicker doesn’t last for more than 30 minutes a day!  I suppose that makes some sense, given that the sun (or rather the Earth) is constantly moving, the flicker should at least move away from those being ‘flickered’ after a short period of time.  However, 30 minutes could feel a lot longer if you aren’t actually able to leave the room affected, as might happen in a workplace.

Here in the very flat lands of the Lincolnshire Fens, people are also concerned about the visual impact and unfortunately this recommendation won’t really help us with that issue.  Unlike many other parts of the country, turbines are visible over much greater distances and even when you do the numbers on turbine with a diameter of 80 meters (800 meters clearance) a turbine of that size will still be very visible to the local community.  In the case of the Fens, I also wonder if 10 times the diameter is actually enough.

Time for Co-op to show leadership on environment

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Yet again I find myself both frustrated and angered by the behaviour of some of my neighbours in and around Wygate Park.  As you will see from the photos below, a huge amount of alcohol related rubbish is being left in our public open spaces and much of it seems to originate from the Co-op shop in Clover Way.

I will be writing to the Co-op management to ask them to consider banning the use of free plastic bags and avoid the issuing of till receipts unless actually asked for by their customers.

Anglian Water proposals

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Back to the slightly unsavoury, but extremely important issue of sewage.  Many residents have been suffering with an unreliable vacuum sewage system for a number of years now, whilst others have had to put up with a pumping station that deserves an ASBO!

Anglian Water have been spending lots of money on temporary solutions and have now published their plans for a permanent fix.  Details of this can be  seen on their website – see this link:   Wygate Park Sewage System proposed works

So as not to leave out those residents who don’t have access to a computer, I will be delivering copies of the website info to all the effected houses on Wygate Park sometime this week.