Wednesday 23 April 2008

Public Service Announcement

The blog entry entitled "Time to Go" has been taken down for review.

It is not the intention of this site to display any inaccurate material.

Cllr Martin Curtis's response has also now been removed.

W.

Monday 14 April 2008

Ostriches

A strange snippet appeared in the Cambridge Evening News on 22.03.08. Hidden in the middle of an article about Cambourne was the startling line:- "the proposed carbon neutral developments in Cambridgeshire are at Mepal, Mereham, Hanley Grange, Alconbury, Six Mile Bottom and Denny St Francis, near Waterbeach."

The Government has tasked every County Council to identify sites to build new 'carbon neutral' towns. When Cambs County Council proposed Mereham, the ensuing fuss was heard a long way around.

But when did Mepal get sneaked onto the list, and why was no-one told ?

Despite falling within the jurisdiction of the neighbouring District Council, Mepal is less than 5 miles from Chatteris and shares parish boundaries. A new town with a target population of 20,000 would certainly effect Chatteris, and the Town Council should be have been consulted before Mepal was ever added to the list.

It seems to me that the Chatteris Town Council should be taking an active interest in this matter, as should the County Councillors for Chatteris.

Walt

Note: When the Government finally published the shortlist, the only Cambridgeshire site selected was Hanley Grange.

Monday 7 April 2008

Old Dogs ? New Tricks ?

I'm currently considering whether to take legal advice on suing the 'Cambs Times' for compensation for injuries suffered due to my falling off my chair laughing ! Posting the story "It's 'back to school' time for 40 councillors" on their web site without an accompanying health warning must surely be negligent ?

The steam rising from the collective heads of our worthy councillors on learning that they are going to be taught to be better councillors must be equivalent to the power output of your average Fenland windturbine !

Fenland is judged one of the very most deprived districts in the country, by almost every available social, economic or welfare indicator. It is clear to me that our district and county councillors "could and should do better" ! Many appear to fail to realise that it is both their job, and their duty, to fight for improvements. Being a district or county councillor shouldn't merely be a well paid sinecure.

I welcome any efforts at improvement, but wonder whether Fenland can be rescued by trying to re-educating its current crop of councillors. I tend to believe we would all be best served by sacking the lot and starting again with a new batch of younger, brighter, more energetic councillors, drawn from a wider range of life and experience.

Walter