February already?

 The February Cranfield Express is published. Well done Peter, a man who loves a deadline. The deadline for March is 19 February

 

0845? Tomorrow

HMRC have apologised for making people call up, on "premium rate" 0845 numbers. But many organisations use 0845 to provide local call rates. Seem's there is some ambiguity about this. Which I shall be pursuing. Tomorrow.

Anglia Water

Here's one from from Anglia Water. Looks like its worth a look although obviously we think water should be clean and flow freely from the tap. I'd be interested to know Anglia's leakage percentage.




Have Your Say On The Future Of Water

We are writing to invite you to join in the conversation and have your say on the future of water.

This week we have launched our biggest ever public consultation to ask our customers about their priorities for the future of water services.

Water is essential for healthy living, vibrant communities, a healthy environment and a prosperous economy. We’re asking you to play a leading role in our five-year review with the water industry regulator, Ofwat. We want your help to shape the future of local water services – from what we should charge to how we should operate from 2015 to 2020.

Our vision is to transform the way we all value water and use it. That’s because this is the driest region in the UK and the fastest growing too. We are also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, so a lot depends on how carefully we use water resources and how well we secure future supplies.

On our website you can Discover more information about us and this consultation, Discuss your thoughts and ideas, and then help to Decide the future of your water services.

For more and information and to tell us what you think, visit www.discoverdiscussdecide.co.uk or you can call 08457 91 91 55 to request a paper copy of the consultation.

We would also value and appreciate your support in drawing attention to our consultation, which will be open until 10th March. Here's a link to the main consultation document, and some resources you may find useful.

We look forward to hearing from you.

With our best wishes,

Richard Gard
Head of Public Affairs
Anglian Water

Email haveyoursay@anglianwater.co.uk

Where did you say?

I'm out of the village and out of the county (Bedfordshire, which doesn't officially exist any more) to work in Hertfordshire. 

One of the presenters on R4's Today programme was corrected about the pronunciation of the Toten ("Toaten not Totten") the site of a new high speed train station. I love place names and the variations in how they are pronounced. Hertfordshire for instance should be written Hartfordshire to be phonetic. To the uninitiated it looks like Hurtfordshire. That's before you try to distinguish it from Herefordshire.  Hertfordshire, of course, is home to Ware, which has spawned "Where?" jokes since time immemorial. 

More locally, on family trips we have bored each other to death driving past Wyboston on the A1, waiting to see who would be the first to say 'Why not?' Or is it "Wibboston"?

On occasional visits to Brighton you can sometimes hear seaside station announcers saying that the Bedford train will stop at "Flitt Wick" (in addition  to "Harpington" and Harlington). The correct spelling kicks in somewhere north of East Croydon. Luckily here in Cranfield pronunciation has never been an issue. Nor has Bedford or Bedfordshire.

Sombre reminder

This Thursday is the 60th anniversary of the Norfolk coastal floods when 300 people lost their lives. Flooding is an increasing part of our way of life - much of it man made due to building and  construction of hardstanding. The Norfolk floods are a sombre reminder that we have to reverse this process. See this video of the effect of the floods at the time from the Environment Agency

Hatters storm through

Big big congrats to Blue Square Bet Premier League Luton Town FC. The  Pride of Beds Footballing overcame their "other" Premier opponents Norwich in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday.  They had already beaten Wolves from the second tier in the 3rd round. I don't pretend to know all the layers you have to come up through to even get to the first round of the FA cup back in the autumn but Luton seem to have got their feet well on the rungs of the ladder. Read about this immense feat on the BBC Sport site They play Millwall on February 16 who must be very beatable - just don't get complacent Luton.

Big win too for MK Dons just over the border.

Evans - your local butcher

Puff of the week. Evans butchers - practically on your door step with carefully reared stock and well prepared meat. A long time secret that is rapidly becoming less secret. Checkout their website

You may have to queue but that's because of the brilliant customer service and excellent products. Chris and his Dad are always keen to meet particular needs. It's just round the corner as you go into Shelton.

All mod cons

One of the ironies of windpower is the contrast with the rustic, pre-industrial revolution image of traditional windmills. And some of them disappeared more recently than you might think.  The black and white image below shows the windmill at what is now Longborns, from Mill Road (geddit?) in 1947.

The second image is the same view in 1965 and the third image is also 1965. I haven't checked the record for when the windmill stopped operating but by the 1960s its roof is in a state of some disarray. I'm sure if it had survived into the 1980s it would not have been knocked down but been reinvented as a characteristic yuppy residence with all mod cons. 

Photos from the Lord Archive

Dancing your socks off

But life goes on, turbines or not: 
The next big event at Cranfield United Football Club

Ballistic beat on facebook

• • 

    Saturday, 23 February 2013
  • 

    20:00

• Cranfield United FC, Crawley Road , MK430AA

• Ballistic Beat's first gig at CUFC - with a Soul/Funk vibe you will be dancing your socks off. Starts at 8pm. Entry £3 for non members £2:50 for members (with membership card)

  Contact trevor.dove@tesco.net

Green diamonds and red diamonds

I went to the FCC wind turbine consultation in the middle school, yesterday. I know I will disappoint some blog and M&S readers when I declare that I have no personal or aesthetic objections to wind turbines. But hopefully readers will hang in for the 'howevers'. 

I will not be able to see the turbs from where I live but they would be very obvious down Woodend Road when I cycle there. I also walk around Marston Thrift and periodically in the Peak District. So I agree there is a visual impact. At the first display I went to at Holywell there was a map with a 10 km radius round Brogborough and lots of green and red diamonds.

Green meant you couldn't see the turbs from this point and red that you could. There were two  greens in Court Road/Wood End Road and one red. Needless to say the red was the open road. I asked the FCC assistant why there were no diamonds all along the Spinney and eastern side of the High Street and Bedford Roads. His reply was, "Central Beds told us we didn't have to put those in. But we're were going to." 

Nice one. I bet they will all be red. 

I am concerned that in all consultation  sessions as much information as possible is available. The green dots on the map around the village suggest a certain invisibility. I also wondered what CBC thought it was doing advising FCC about the limited display points.

FCC makes a big point about commitment to renewables. Of course under current power generation regulation there is always a business case for this kind of installation  and if FCC could put a turbine on top of the church tower it would. I am sure.

What bothers me the most is the way the benefits of wind generation  are shared out. Everyone in the planet benefits from lower CO2 emissions and the landowner who hosts the farm gets a big wad of money. Personally I think everyone living within, say, 10 km should get a significant discount on their electricity charges. Then, at least there would be some pros and cons to work out. Land based turbines are cheaper than at sea and the connectivity is much more efficient. So the whole community should see the benefit.

The brickyards of the 20th century where polluting and unattractive but they provided thousands of secure jobs and funded homes, health and recreational facilities. A lot of modern technology offers none of these human spin-offs.

Almost lastly, we could be doing a lot more on making homes energy efficient including PV panels on all new houses with everything built to the highest environmental standards. This and past governments have been sweet talked by developers into not making them mandatory.

Definitely lastly,  we are running out of energy. Would the Marston Valers be happy to host a nuclear power station or be happy to reply on Mr Putin's gas supplies in the 2020s? One to think about. In the meantime we will try to put this application through the full rigours of an open planning examination. 

Whatever my own views Parish Matters will willingly host views  opposing the plans. That relies on them being non-abusive. At present I don't moderate comments which can be put up anonymously. But that would have to change if  unpleasant language is used. 

On the buses

We had a very productive and encouraging meeting with university environment officers, yesterday, about the Bedford and Milton  Keynes bus services which the University has recently commissioned and which are available for public use. They are drawing up a spec for a longer term contract and sought PC input. Roz Hatton from North Crawley Parish Council was also she present, concerned about the bus-less state of the village.

Gareth Ellis the Environment  manager noted the needs we reported for accessibility to North Crawley and for Sunday services to Bedford. He also was interested in ideas around services to Flitwick, a key local service area.

Odd bins

I think we are all up to speed in Cranfield on bins but just in case not here's the latest from CBC waste guys.

Adverse Weather Update- Waste Services                    Issued 25/01/13 AM

Issue

Adverse weather from earlier this week disrupting waste collections across the region

Effect

Waste collections are going ahead as scheduled today and where possible trying to clear any missed collections from earlier in the week.

Areas affected

All areas across Central Bedfordshire.

                       

CBC Actions

Across the region the waste crews are currently out collecting resident’s domestic and recycling waste. If these haven’t been collected from earlier this week were advising residents to continue to leave the bins / bags out and the crews will attempt to collect today.

There is a possibility that further collections may take place tomorrow in some parts of the South for any remaining roads missed, but hopefully these will be collected today.

If by Monday any domestic and recycling waste hasn’t been collected from this week residents can notify us by calling 0300 300 8302.

Fridays food waste collections in the North are as normal, however if your waste wasn’t picked up this week it will be on next weeks scheduled collection day with extra allowance made for any additional waste which can be left out in the corn starch bags.

All scheduled clinical waste collections are now up to date and continuing as normal.

All garden and bulky waste collections are still suspended. However if you have a ‘real’ Christmas tree you can place it next to your recycling or garden waste bin for collection next week.

All four Household Waste Recycling Centres in Ampthill, Biggleswade, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard are open as normal.

This information may change on a daily or even hourly basis. As we collect from over 110,000 households and accessibility is assessed as each street is approached we can’t provide individualised messages about when we will be collecting from specific streets.

Additional information can be found on our website and we will update our website, facebook and twitter as necessary.

Residents’ Actions

If your bin or bag has not been collected, please leave your missed bins in an accessible location for collection and we will collect it / them as soon as possible.

Cranoraks??

Right this is for the hard core Cranoraks out there, hunched over your PCs and smart phones and laptops and tablets who want deep knowledge and profound understanding. Full, I repeat full, minutes of the BCPC meeting on police funding. There is some interesting stuff  plus fire service material but I don't have time to process and repackage it all for easier consumption. En Joy and Deep Joy. 

Bedfordshire Councils Planning Consortium

Minutes of the Bedfordshire Parish Councils Planning Consortium Meeting held on Thursday, December 13^th, 2012 at The Rufus Centre, Flitwick at 7.15pm.

Alf Murphy-Chair BCPC; Hulcote&Salford PC      AM	Janice Green-Marston Moreteyne PC       JG
Ken Green-Chalgrave PC                                     KG	Hugh Roberts- Marston Moreteyne PC     HR
Iain Clapham-Lidlington PC                                    IC	Adrian Terrington-Sundon PC                    AT
Adele Moore-Lidlington PC                                   AM	Alan Headford-WSDS                                AH
John Harfield-Harlington PC                                  JH

Guests

Inspector Pete Nouch; Sergeant Andy Rivers; Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glenn Ranger; Area Commander David Fothergill.

           

1.    APOLOGIES

Fran Fry-Aspley Guise PC; Ian Pickering-Aspley Guise PC; Alan Bastable-Cranfield PC and CBC; Dennis Gale-Flitwick TC; Alan Shadbolt-Leighton-Linslade TC; Maulden PC.

2.    WELCOME

The Chairman welcomed Inspector Pete Nouch and Sergeant Andy Rivers, both based at Ampthill Police Station, to the meeting.

3.    DISCUSSION WITH INSPECTOR PETE NOUCH AND SERGEANT ANDY RIVERS.

AM begun by saying that parish councils were worried about police cutbacks, speeding traffic, HGVs etc. The following discussion took place;

a)    Co-ordination between the Police and Parish Councils.

JH asked if the police will still be co-ordinating with parish councils or if it would be the job of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Sgt. Rivers replied that it will still be the job of the police. Parish councils will have a police representative attending the parish council (PC) meeting every three months and receive the monthly crime figures. However he is not sure what will happen after April 2013 due to more changes within the force. The number of PCSOs covering the southern area of Bedfordshire will be reduced to 24. There will be more budget cuts in 2014/15. PCs should have received a letter regarding a possible financial contribution towards PCSOs. It appeared that, in fact, PCs had not received this letter so Inspector Nouch said he would forward it to the clerk to distribute to members. He added that 12 PCSOs and one Sergeant cover his particular area. All southern areas are covered by Kempston and Luton. Response times are only 1-2 minutes greater than before.

b)   Ampthill Police Station

A member asked if Ampthill Police Station was staying open. Inspector Nouch confirmed that it was as far as he knew. AT commented that the police were doing a great job but the job was becoming harder. Sundon is covered by the police station at Leighton Buzzard and no police representative had attended a parish council meeting for several months. Sgt. Rivers also covers Leighton Buzzard and he said he will make sure someone attends in future. Inspector Nouch said that the parishes represented at this evening’s meeting were all were in low crime areas therefore officers are deployed elsewhere. The police force is adapting and evolving all the time.

c)    Costings: Sergeant Rivers explained that a PCSO costs £51,000 of which £24,000 is their salary. Bedfordshire Police are looking for £33,000 to be paid by parish councils plus £280 per month if a car is used. Parish councils should have received a letter explaining this. Some parish councils want to fund their own PCSO. A review of PCSOs will be held in April 2013. AM asked about the cost of a Special Constable but Sergeant Rivers currently does not have that information.

JH pointed out that there is a legal difficulty for a parish council to fund any facility which is not unique to it. If that difficulty can be overcome then parish councils may be willing to contribute financially to fund a PCSO. There would have to be discussions between NALC, CBC and the police.

d)   Growth Area KG commented that this is a growth area, for example 7,000 houses are to be built north of Houghton Regis, therefore cuts in policing are not sensible. JG added that several new homes were to be built in Marston Moreteyne. Sergeant Rivers conceded that there might be a possible increase in anti-social behaviour, parking offences etc. He hoped that the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) would have more influence with the government regarding the cutbacks. Every year the police have achieved more for less but he suspected that crime would eventually rise. He added that PCSOs have changed their shifts to cover the times of highest crime incidents. Resources will always be deployed to areas that need them. Uniformed and plain clothes police cover hot spots in prevalent areas such as Luton and Leighton Buzzard. He reassured members that if support is required they would receive it.  

e)    Traffic Management Team.

In answer to a question Inspector Nouch said that the Traffic Management Team was relatively safe. However 10% of warranted officers will go. AT again expressed sympathy for the police. He said that Sundon will have 6,000 new homes and a new road, both of which will require more policing. He feared that public relations with the police will go down. Members were advised to direct any comments to the PCC. AM also suggested that any comments should be sent to the clerk who will forward them to the PCC.

f)     Funding. Inspector Nouch commented that Bedfordshire Police is poorly funded compared to other forces because of the way it is structured.

g)    Speed Watch. Sergeant Rivers looks after 43 parishes. The Speed Watch scheme is being encouraged and PCSOs are being trained to use the Speed Gun. Anyone caught speeding will be sent a letter to that effect. If anyone receives two letters Sergeant Rivers will visit them personally. As yet he is not aware of anyone receiving two letters. A list of hot spots is being compiled. Areas of concern will have someone come out to monitor the traffic.

h)   Truck Watch.  Companies whose drivers break the 7.5 tonne restriction are notified by the police following the first incident. The Transport Manager of an offending company is contacted if two incidents occur within the restriction area and the issue is usually dealt with in house. This approach has been very successful. Inspector Nouch said that the police had worked with Millbrook Proving Ground, which has been very supportive, whereby truck drivers are given a map of the route out of Millbrook.

AT expressed concern that once the Woodside Link is complete traffic will come through the villages. There has been a 7.5 tonne limit through Sundon for many years but it has been ignored. Sgt Rivers replied that there has to be police available to enforce it. Also foreign drivers effectively have a pass as it is difficult to prosecute them from the UK.

AM thanked Inspector Nouch and Sergeant Rivers for attending the meeting. They then left.

4.             DISCUSSION WITH FIRE OFFICER GLENN RANGER and AREA    COMMANDER DAVID FOTHERGILL.

AM welcomed Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glenn Ranger and Area Commander David Fothergill to the meeting.

a)    Introduction and Overview.

IC made an initial comment that the government will reduce the amount of financial support and asked if there would be a Fire Commissioner in the future. Mr Fothergill said that it was possible that the present PCC may have some influence on the Fire Service.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glenn Ranger then introduced himself and Area Commander David Fothergill. He gave a brief overview of the Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. The service works under various legislation acts including:

i.         Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004

ii.         Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The service holds consultations to ask what the public want from its service.

Brandon Lewis MP is the Fire Minister.

Within the UK there are approximately 50,000 uniformed fire officers. In contrast there are 40,000 police officers in London alone. However the fire officers are people of high quality and very efficient. There are approximately 40 applicants per post for the fire service.

Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service has twelve elected members from Luton Borough Council, Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. The service is a stand alone precepting body; it receives 40% of its funding from the government and 60% from Council Tax.

Mr Ranger then explained the service hierarchy.

Services are delivered by:

i.         Prevention

ii.         Protection-the service has a legal duty to inspect premises and prosecute if they do not meet the required standard

iii.         Response

There are 42 services in the UK. The Bedfordshire service has 500 officers plus 100 support people. Officers have a broad remit from attending road traffic accidents (RTAs), floods etc. The Bedfordshire Service is one of 15 services in the UK that are equipped to support police firearms officers. This is relatively new.

b)   Budget.

There are budget pressures on the service. At the end of 2010 the government announced a 25% cut in the national budget for Fire and Rescue Services. This equated to £3,000,000 for Bedfordshire representing a 10% cut. On December 19^th, 2012 the service will find out how much has to be saved-possibly £2,000,000.

Good governance and prudence has ensured that the service has been maintained. However there are challenging times ahead. 36 officers have already gone.

Calls are answered within 7 seconds, house fires are attended within 10 minutes and RTAs are attended within 13 minutes. But Mr Ranger pointed out that high standards cost money.

IC asked how officers would avoid higher pension contributions because of the reduced force. Mr Ranger said that up until a year ago the contributions were 11%. This has gone up to 12.5% for senior officers and will go up to 17% in 2/3 year’s time. Fire fighters will be paying 14/15%.

c)    Shared Services

Some services are shared with Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. IC asked if the shared services were expanding. Mr Ranger said ‘yes’. It makes sense in some areas such as IT departments. However if there are too many shared services the fire service becomes a regional rather than a local service.

JH made three points:

i.         He expressed surprise at the objections to a regional response centre because modern technology can pinpoint a location.

ii.         He asked how many retained officers there were.

iii.         He asked about water supply when attending fires. Some villages have problems with water supply at the best of times.

Addressing the three points Mr Ranger said that:

i.         Local control centres are efficient.

ii.         Off the 500 fire officers 150 are retained and highly trained. However it is harder to find retained officers now because the private sector is reluctant to release employees to attend fires etc. Two fire appliances are based at Ampthill and retained officers would need to be able to reach the station within a few minutes making it more difficult to recruit. The service needs to think of radical solutions. Mr. Fothergill added that retained officers are trained almost to the level of full time officers.

iii.         Mr Ranger said that water supply had been a long standing problem. Fire engines have their own water supply. Water carriers are available. If officers have to tap into the fire hydrants they can ask the water company to increase the pressure. They also have the authority to pump from ponds, rivers and swimming pools. Finally a relay can be set up to source water from miles away. He commented that he had never had an incident where water was not available. Mr Fothergill added that the service is looking for innovative ways to reduce water use. E.g. high pressure hoses and foam.

d)   Hoax Calls. 

IC asked about the issue of hoax calls. Mr Ranger said that these were a constant problem. There are around 2,500 fake calls a year and the service is working towards reducing this number. There is some scope for charging for a false alarm but it is a difficult issue. For the past 10 years the service has been able to have the mobile phones of serial offenders disconnected. The service provider will also disconnect them.

e)    Fire Inspection Certificates.

AT asked if Fire Inspection Certificates were still being issued. Mr Ranger replied that only high risk category premises were inspected now but it is too early to tell if this is detrimental. He has not seen an increase of fires as yet in non-domestic premises.

 AM thanked Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glenn Ranger and Area Commander David Fothergill for attending the meeting. They then left.

5.    ANY OTHER BUSINESS

a)    AM thanked all the members of the Consortium for their help over the years. 2012 had been a difficult year for him and he thanked Lesley Smith and Adrian Terrington for their support during that time.

b)   JH informed members that CBC has approved the building of 13 houses in a garden in Harlington which is right up against the Conservation Area. English Heritage had become involved.  One reason for the consent was that the houses were within walking distance of the station. JH criticised CBC saying that it regarded Conservation Areas as a land bank. AM asked Lesley to contact Nadine Dorries MP about this application.

6.    DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday, February 21^st, 2013

Meeting closed at 9.00pm