Campaign for CCTV at Whittlesford Station

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I am trying to persuade National Express to install CCTV at Whittlesford Station. As it has recently won the franchise to operate at Whittlesford, now is a very good time to press for improved amenities. I recognise that for some the sight of CCTV cameras is unwelcome, and shows how "watched" we have become as a society. On the other hand, in certain locations, CCTV is recognised as an effective deterrent.

I have talked informally with British Transport Police officers, and the view they hold is that given the location of Whittlesford Station, and its growing usage, CCTV would be a sensible security measure.

My argument is that the station is a village amenity that increases Whittlesford's attractiveness as a place to live. Many families have children taking the train to school. The station allows us to be in Cambridge in ten minutes at the week-end, as well as offering a relatively good service to London. While it is a busy station at peak times, it is very isolated at night, because of its location. In the last 18 months there has been: serious vandalism to a passenger shelter, which was left for many weeks with all its windows smashed and glass all over the floor, damage to a number of bikes this summer, and, most recently, the ticket vending machine on the platform has been raided for its cash. Two months later, it is still wrapped in police black and yellow tape.

My concern is that these incidents add, little by little, to the sense that the station is a place to be wary of late at night, not a place where bikes can be left, and so on. I think that CCTV cameras in the car park and in the environs of the station itself would act as a deterrent and increase safety.

Getting ready for winter II

South Cambs' housing department says that it doesn't have the money to install central heating in the sheltered housing accommodation in Whittlesford, but there are other things that can be done to ensure the night storage heaters there are effective. I was talking to people living in the sheltered flats when we met up at the Macmillan coffee morning in Whittlesford (where over 140 people attended) after this came up a week ago, and I have now arranged for the housing heating manager from South Cambs to visit and see what needs doing: thermostats checked, wiring and insulation, and so on.

Mandate from the village - fight to save the Post Office!

Villagers turned out to a Village Hall meeting in Thriplow last night and voted unanimously to fight to save their Post Office.

We planned how to ensure that the arguments for shut-down would be scrutinised and challenged, and we agreed a campaign to mobilize people. The Parish Council and the Stores Association are united in this, and we had help and advice from people experienced in fighting other proposed closures. The Post Office Ltd publishes its material next Tuesday, and then we kick off. I spoke to the local papers gearing them up for next week.

There is no doubt that this represent a threat to the shop as well as the Post Office, the one being dependant on the other. The government says it supports sustainable communities, but here in south cambridgeshire, what we see is the government eroding communities: first Hanley Grange, now the threat to close a Post Office in a village where it would take you a day to travel by bus to the nearest village with a Post Office!

The threat to Thriplow's Post Office - Vox Pop

I have been out and about in Thriplow this weekend leafletting every house about the threat to the Post Office. I also talked to people and listened to their views. I spoke to young people parking up their motorbikes, people coming back from work, mums at the doorstep, families, people out gardening and walking their dogs. Everyone thinks the proposal is crazy, will really impact on those who cannot drive out of the village, and they are all up for a fight to defend the Post Office: petitions, placards, the works. The general view is that the Post Office hasn't been given a chance to get going, after its closure, and this action by Post Office Ltd cannot be based on reliable figures about volumes.

There is a public meeting next Thursday, 25th September, at 8 pm in the Village Hall. I'm telling everyone I meet, and its on my info card.
http://www.royston-crow.co.uk/content/crow/news/story.aspx?
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=Ea501Tz3q6A1&PBID=db7634d2-0a4e-49e7-adc0-4b439fa4d2c8

Thriplow Post Office back in the firing line!

Post Office Ltd have put the Thriplow Post Office on the list of possible closures - and there is six weeks to defend it. The crazy thing is that the Post Office and the village stores really are the centre of things, especially as they are run by a consortium of villagers who give up their time to staff the counters. Post Office Ltd trained up a postmistress earlier in the year - and now are looking to close down! So just when we thought rural communities could breathe after seeing off the Hanley Grange threat, here we are again!

Getting ready for winter

As the nights get longer and crisper, many of us reach out and tweak the thermostat and feel the abundant radiators in our houses take the chill off those autumn evenings. But if you live in sheltered housing and are dependent on night storage heaters, the prospects can be chillier, and sometimes more costly.

I have been contacted by the relatives of elderly people living in local council-run sheltered housing who wonder what can be done; concerned that their parents "don't like turning the heating up because it is so expensive." Council properties are often better insulated than private properties because of the monitoring that has taken place over the years. And I don't think all night storage heaters can or should be replaced, but they are an older technology that central heating, and they need more attention than they often get.

Earlier this month I attended a work-shop with council tenants exploring those improvements they regard as a priority. This was in the context of what might be affordable should the transfer of South Cambs housing stock take place. As well as issues such as increased warden services, and bathroom replacements, the issue of energy efficiency came through as well, showing that people are thinking ahead to the future.

I will be at the South Cambs Climate Change Working Group this week, and we will see whether these linked issues of housing, climate change and energy efficiency can come together, and keep the elderly warm in winter without costing, literally, the earth.

Water. water everywhere...

Well, not water actually, but a blocked drainage system in Mill Lane, Whittlesford, which threatened to swamp gardens on a hot day with some fairly unpleasant stuff. Anglian Water solved the immediate problem, and pretty quickly, but residents say this has happened a number of times. Contacted SCDC and spoke to the helpful Drainage Manager who confirmed there had been a number of call-outs. Put in a query with Anglian Water as to whether this recurrence meant that there was an underlying problem for them to get out there and solve.

Hanley Grange bites the dust!

Just back from the celebrations at the Red Lion, Hinxton, where there was a cake and drinks and lots of goodwill and merriment among all the people who worked hard over the last few months to see off the proposed Hanley Grange development. Andrew Lansley, our local MP, was there. He really rolled up his sleeves and organised us all, and lobbied hard with Caroline Flint, and the Wellcome Trust and Tesco, to make them see sense. It seems a very long time ago since I sat in someone's kitchen in Whittlesford with Andrew and we looked at an OS map and tried to make sense of this proposal.

Final thought: in a few years time, this will be back, in one shape or another, so the watchword must be eternal vigilance.