St Ives Matters

Welcome

Care about St Ives and the surrounding countryside? Got steamed up about a local issue? Read the articles below. You might find your topic already covered, or a new one to send the blood pressure monitor popping.

This website covers issues affecting our beautiful town. Become a Facebook friend and you'll get updated with new topics. And if you know of something worth investigating please get in touch via Facebook, or use the 'Make contact' page.

Conservative fake news in local election

What's happening to the old St Ives golf course?

St Ives Golf Club sold it's nine hole course on the Houghton Road for building development and moved to its new location off the Needingworth bypass in 2010. The great news was a big chunk of the land abounding the Thicket path would be preserved as country park for the benefit of the town. Nine years on a whole chunk of houses have been built, but the land allocated for the country park has been left to grow wild. Fenced off with ugly steel caging, it can't even be accessed by walkers. So what is happening? Read more...

St Ives members of the Nasty Party

Only too keen to get their mugshots in the local newspapers to trumpet their 'achievements', Ryan Fuller and Jason Ablewhite seem less keen when local journalists ask awkward questions or highlight inaccuracies. They're attempting to intimidate the editor of local free news sheet The Riverporter. The 'deadly' duo aren't averse to applying a bit of intimidation themselves, allegedly witnessed ganging up on an opposition Councillor who subsequently made a formal complaint about the incident. Read more...

PCC FACTCHECK : It's official. No more bobbies on the beat.

In answer to commentary about the rarity of seeing a police officer in St Neots, even in a car, and several attendees expressing a wish for more visible policing, what was our Police and Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite's response? The modern police force would not be returning to a "nostalgic era" of bobbies on the beat. Apparently community policing has become too reactive. But Cambridgeshire Police's own evidence shows targeted bobbies on the beat works. Read more...

PCC FACTCHECK : Paying more for less in St Ives.

Police & Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite is at it again. In the Hunts Post 10 January 2019 he's asking for an increase of £24 a year in the police element of our council tax. And in running a survey he's using the classic choice trick to get what he wants. Faced with increases of £4, £24 or £120 a year, he's hoping you won't be mean nor extravagant, going for his recommendation of £24. There's no option for a zero increase. Mr Ablewhite's choice of £24 is not driven by careful budget calculation. Read more...

PCC FACTCHECK : Bobbies on the beat in St Ives.

In the Hunts Post in December 2018, our Police & Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite explained the lack of bobbies on the beat was partly because 'a lot of crimes these days ... are cyber crime, which a lot of time will require officers to sit behind a desk and investigate.' When asked how many cyber crimes were committed in Cambridgeshire, Mr Ablewhite's office replied that he does not hold the information requested. Does that mean he doesn't know? And surely cyber crime requires skills beyond the ability of the average bobbie. Read more...

Local Conservatives are treating St Ives voters as fools
Local Conservatives? You'd be hard pressed to find any on the St Ives Town Council election ballot papers for Thursday 3 May 2018. That's because most of them don't have the courage to stand under the Conservative banner. St Ives Town Council has been successfully run by independent candidates ever since the local Tories attempted to sell off the much-loved Corn Exchange. At election time these independents come together under the banner of 'Independent for St Ives'. Read more...

Where are our police officers?

How many officers are allocated to police St Ives? You might think very few, based on visibility. It's infrequent an officer of any kind is seen around the town. Generally the view is of them flashing by in a police car. It is a truly rare event to see a uniform on the streets. So what's your estimate? A couple? Three? Based on a Freedom of Information request, the average number of officers allocated to police St Ives in 2017 was almost nine. Really? Where were they, and what were they doing? Read more...

What's happening at The Dolphin Hotel?

The Dolphin Hotel is a bit of a puzzle at present. In fact, has been for a while. Bought in February 2017 by newly-formed Cambridge Hotels, Ravi Gupta, Director and General Manager, promised major renovations, room upgrades and changes to the menu. Cuisine similar to TGI Friday's and Nando's were to be introduced, a sports bar too. Ten months on and changes have been somewhat underwhelming, ad hoc and, in some cases, amateurish. Read more...

£1.4 million cycle track
Driven out to Bluntisham recently? Then you may have noticed roadworks as you approach the village. Well, less roadworks than cycle track works. Lasting six weeks. The County Council have been gradually creating a cycle track between Needingworth and Bluntisham. The original estimate for the complete track was £420,000 when tentatively proposed in the 2006 St Ives Market Town Transport Strategy. The current estimate is £1.4 million to completion. Read more...

St Ives misses out on infrastructure investment
You might have read in last week's Hunts Post of Cllr Fuller announcing funds for a feasibility study into a new river crossing for Huntingdon. One of three studies for Huntingdonshire, the other two being a new river crossing for St Neots and improvements to the Huntingdon A141. With Huntingdon and St Neots getting such attention, you might wonder as you struggle to commute in and out of St Ives what improvements are planned for our own overstretched roads. Read more...

Another fine planning mess for St Ives
Every weekday morning motorists struggle to drive out of St Ives towards the A14. For anyone starting from the north of St Ives that battle is going to get a whole lot worse. Morrisons new supermarket will be opening early in 2018 beside the Marsh Harrier. Fast food providers McDonald's, Subway and Costa Coffee will be moving into new units to be built in the paddock just off Stock's Bridge Way. And planning permission has been granted for a new Aldi store at Compass Point. Read more...

Huntingdonshire District Council speculating on the property market
There was a rather stunning quotation from Councillor Rob Howe in a Hunts Post article dated Wednesday 26 July 2017. Headed 'Council builds portfolio as part of investment drive', Councillor Howe explained how HDC had spent £9,000,000 buying a retail park in Suffolk and an office block in Hertfordshire. The eye-catching quotation is 'So if Huntingdon went into decline we would lose a lot of money simultaneously...' The District Council are speculating on the property market? Really? Read more...

Building development plans
Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) have dropped plans for a major new development of 3,750 homes at RAF Wyton. The prime reason, money is not available in the short term to develop the required infrastructure. Developers have identified alternative greenfield sites much nearer to St Ives. The combined housing for these areas is estimated as 2,950. That's 4,000 additional cars per day onto the roads around St Ives. An additional 5,000 children would need schooling. Read more...

Make contact
If you want to get involved in a discussion about a particular topic, probably best to access the Facebook page and locate the topic you're interest in. That's where most discussion takes place, and you can add a comment other readers can view.

Prefer to keep your contact private? Thought about something that needs investigating? Get in touch via the make contact page.

Conservative fake news in local election

What an appallingly negative and untrue election pitch from Conservative Adam Roberts for the St Ives February local election to replace disgraced Jason Ablewhite. Whilst the other three candidates stick to saying who they are, what they've done and their plans if elected, Roberts repeats the lie that Independents on St Ives Town Council plan to 'flood the areas north of Hill Rise and Marley Road with more than 4,000 homes'. Hardly likely, given they opposed a recent planning application in the same area, to build 130 houses along Old Ramsey Road. To read the four election pitches, click here.

St Ives Town Council is currently going through a process to arrive at a Neighbourhood Plan. It's hypocritical of the Conservatives to criticise this, given they followed exactly the same path to arrive at their District Local Plan last year.

Just to show how idiotic Roberts' claim is, it was approved by Ryan Fuller as Conservative leader of the District Council. The same Ryan Fuller who's an 'Independent' on St Ives Town Council. In effect, Roberts is having a go at his own District Council leader!

So much for Fuller's declaration when becoming HDC leader in December :

'If I achieve one thing during my time as leader, I hope it will be to bring together our Huntingdonshire community and bring an end to the ultra-local form of town-based nationalism that is so often wheeled out to pit one part of our district against another'.

Fuller's bonhomie lasted all of two months.

St Ives members of the Nasty Party

Only too keen to get their mugshots in the local newspapers to trumpet their 'achievements', Ryan Fuller and Jason Ablewhite seem less keen when local journalists ask awkward questions or highlight inaccuracies. What's shocking is they've apparently roped in Huntingdonshire District Council's managing director in an attempt to intimidate the editor of local free news sheet The Riverporter. Acting as both judge and jury, it appears Joanne Lancaster has acted without gathering all the facts.

The 'deadly' duo aren't averse to applying a bit of direct intimidation themselves. The pair were allegedly witnessed in classic bullying fashion ganging up on an opposition Councillor who subsequently made a formal complaint about the incident.

The full article from The Riverporter is shown below, or you can read the article on page 3 of issue 36 by clicking here.

PCC FACTCHECK : It's official. No more bobbies on the beat.

Our Police and Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite, was in St Neots reassuring residents the local police station would not shut on his watch. Except when the sign goes up 'Closed due to lack of staff'.

There was commentary about the rarity of seeing a police officer, even in a car. Several attendees expressed a wish for more visible policing. Mr Ablewhite's response? The modern police force would not be returning to a "nostalgic era" of bobbies on the beat. Apparently community policing has become too reactive. In a classic bit of bluster and doublespeak, Mr Ablewhite said "...we need to create a preventative and cost-effective space." Anyone want to have a go at translating that?

Presumably that means a shift to more proactive policing. No better authority than the College of Policing confirms targeting visible police patrols on crime hotspots works. It also reassures the public.

Even Cambridgeshire Police's own evidence shows targeted bobbies on the beat really works. In 2016 a substantial drop in 34 Peterborough crime hotspots was achieved by the visible presence of PCSOs for just 21 minutes a day.

Mr Ablewhite has increased the precept by £24 a year to increase numbers by 50. That's on top of the 100+ added last year. All of these are 'local' police officers. Unfortunately there's little evidence they'll be seen locally any time soon.

PCC FACTCHECK : Paying more for less in St Ives

Faced with increases of £4, £24 or £120 a year, he's hoping you won't be mean nor extravagant, going for his recommendation of £24. Mr Ablewhite's choice of £24 is not driven by careful budget calculation. It's the maximum he can request without having to run an expensive public referendum.

If you opt for the cheapest £4 increase, in his survey Mr Ablewhite says there'll be a loss of 80 police officers due to 'unavoidable increases in cost, eg insurance'. Wait a minute... by his calculations £4 is a 2% increase in funding. Inflation is currently running at 2%. So how can an inflation matching increase mean a loss of 80 officers, effectively 8% of front line officers?

Mr Ablewhite ran a 'survey' last year to get a £12 increase (+6.4%) in funding for an extra 55 officers. So how is that going? Not very well for St Ives, it seems. For 2017/18 we had 2 police officers and almost 7 PCSOs allocated solely to St Ives. Currently there's 1 police officer and 7 PCSOs covering St Ives, Ramsey and everywhere in between. That appears to be a reduction in resources of at least 2.

At the same time Mr Ablewhite is proposing to decriminalise parking. In other words, less work for our police officers to do. Would we spot the difference? There's little evidence of any effort to solve the blight of illegal parking in Bridge Street and other areas of St Ives. One afternoon a week on an ad hoc basis to book everyone would make such a difference, but our local police can't even manage that. According to Mr Ablewhite, they're all tied up solving cyber crime.

The simple question needing an answer is this. St Ives & Ramsey policing area pays for 50 front line police officers. We have 8. Where are the other 42, Mr Ablewhite?

You can respond to the survey and opt for the £4 option by clicking here.

PCC FACTCHECK : Bobbies on the beat in St Ives

Our Police & Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite, is up for re-election in 2020. No doubt he'll be putting a good spin on his achievements. St Ives Matters will be keeping an eye on the veracity of his claims. Like the Facebook page to get future PCC Factchecks.

As an example, in the Hunts Post 14 December 2018 Mr Ablewhite gave the following reason for the lack of bobbies on the beat :

A lot of crimes these days that we have to try and deal with are cyber crime, which a lot of the time will require officers to sit behind a desk and investigate. This is one of the reasons why people may not be seeing as many officers physically on the beat, but doesn't mean they aren't doing their job.

Really? A lot of crimes are cyber crimes? So loads of Cambridgeshire police officers are sat behind a computer screen solving cyber crimes? Here is their own list of offences included under the heading of cyber crime.

Financial scam emails, computer hacking, downloading child pornography and extreme pornographic images, computer virus attacks, online stalking, harassment and bullying.

Surely those crimes need specialist skills way beyond the abilities of the average bobby. So how many cyber crimes does Cambridgeshire have? UK Crime Stats splits Cambridgeshire's recorded crimes into various categories, as shown below. There were zero cyber crimes recorded for the period July 2017 to October 2018.

Cyber crime must be a feature of at least some of these crimes. Having stated 'a lot of crimes these days ... are cyber crime', presumably Mr Ablewhite knows the figures. Or possibly not. In answer to the question, Mr Ablewhite's office replied :

The Commissioner does not hold the information you have requested.

When our Police & Crime Commissioner explains away the lack of bobbies on the beat, shouldn't it be based on fact? The rest of his explanation sounds equally dodgy, when he states further causes as vulnerable people in need of help or guidance, vulnerable health issues and a lot of elderly people walking out of their homes on their own and going missing. To read the full response, click here. Maybe the Chief Constable does know. Watch this space.

It's a puzzle where all our police officers are. The St Ives & Ramsey policing team cover an area with almost 5% of Cambridgeshire's population. Presumably we should therefore have about 5% of the front line resources. That's 50 police officers.

How many do we actually have? One police sergeant and seven PCSOs, total 8. Presumably some are allocated to areas with higher crime rates. But 85% of what we pay for? Maybe Mr Ablewhite can give us a better explanation before election time arrives.

What's happening to the old St Ives golf course?

St Ives Golf Club sold its nine hole course on the Houghton Road for building development and moved to its new location off the Needingworth bypass in 2010. The great news was a big area abounding the Thicket path would be preserved as a country park for the benefit of St Ives.

Nine years on a whole chunk of houses have been built, but land allocated for the country park has been left to grow wild. Fenced off with ugly steel caging, it can't even be accessed by walkers. So what is happening?

The agreed plan for the country park was finalised in October 2018, shown below. It lays out a rather attractive space in which some of the land has been recontoured. There are areas planted as dense woodland, native hedgerows, meadowland, a flowering lawn, even a boggy area. All sounds very positive. But progress seems to have ground to a halt.

The agreement between Huntingdonshire District Council and the developers, Barrett Homes, is for the owners to create, maintain and lease to the Council at a peppercorn rent a Country Park. Work was to start once half of the 184 homes for which planning permission was granted were occupied. That threshold has been met and work should have started.

Huntingdonshire District Council is currently considering how best to resolve the situation. The developers say the work is out to tender with an anticipated start date of 'around September 2019' and an estimated completion date of 'early 2020'. Apparently the delayed start is to avoid conflict between users of the Country Park and construction vehicles for the housing estate.

Sounds somewhat suspect. There'll be no users until the park is completed. Surely some of those metal barriers could be repositioned. Wouldn't access to the park be from the path heading towards The Thicket? Expect another St Ives Matters update in Autumn 2019.

To download a more detailed version of the plan, click here. For access to the planning application and all related documents, click here.

Local Conservatives are treating St Ives voters as fools

Local Conservatives? You'd be hard pressed to find any on the St Ives Town Council election ballot papers for Thursday 3 May 2018. That's because most of them don't have the courage to stand under the Conservative banner. St Ives Town Council has been successfully run by independent candidates ever since the local Tories attempted to sell off the much-loved Corn Exchange. At election time these independents come together under the banner of 'Independent for St Ives' to get their message across. At all other times they follow their individual consciences. Their strap line is 'Town not Party', indicating that unlike political candidates, they don't have to toe a party line.

Attempting to deceive St Ives voters in the Town Council election, all but two of the local Conservatives are also standing as 'Independent for St Ives'. Make no mistake, there's nothing independent about them. They even acted like sheep when completing their nomination papers to stand as candidates. Just filling in personal details such as name and address, the rest of the forms were finished off by Ryan Fuller.

That's Ryan Fuller, Independent for St Ives candidate for St Ives Town Council, Conservative District Councillor, deputy chairman of the local Conservative constituency association and parliamentary researcher for local Tory MP Jonathan Djanogly. It appears Fuller is the 'brains' behind the deception, if 'brains' can be applied to someone standing as an independent in the St Ives Town Council election whilst their name is plastered around the town under the blue Conservative banner for the District Council election. It is believed at least one candidate wasn't aware they would be standing as Independent for St Ives and was most unhappy when they found out.

The deception goes even further. A number of the Conservatives are standing on the condition they will NOT be elected. A waste of time and public resources? Not in local Conservatives' eyes. These 'paper' nominations sow more confusion for St Ives voters and dilute votes for true Independent for St Ives candidates.

Even 'honest' Conservatives standing for election (i.e. the two standing as Conservative in the St Ives Town Council election, and those standing as Conservative in the District Council election) are not innocent. John Davies, Jason Ablewhite and Angie Dickinson were all involved in proposing or seconding the candidates attempting to deceive.

And in this week's Hunts Post letter page Angela Bush sunk to new depths by claiming she is not a Conservative supporter and is standing as a truly independent candidate. Unfortunately not independent enough to fill in her own nomination form. It's one of those where she's filled in her personal details, the rest being completed by Ryan Fuller. Fuller also witnessed the nomination and proposed Bush. She was seconded by John Davies, one of the few brave enough to stand as a Conservative for both St Ives Town Council and District Council elections.

How toxic can the Conservative brand become? Maybe it's time to teach the local Conservatives to stop treating St Ives voters as fools. It's easy to avoid voting for them in the District Council election. Just don't put a cross against anyone that describes themselves as Conservative. They are John Davies, Jason Ablewhite, Angie Dickinson, Richard Bellamy and Ryan Fuller.

But they've made it much harder in the St Ives Town Council election to vote for what you want. Take the Independent for St Ives leaflet posted through your letterbox with you when voting to ensure you put a cross against the right candidates. Or print out the two lists below showing who are truly standing as Independent for St Ives candidates, and who should be avoided at all costs.

True Independent for St Ives candidates	Conservatives attempting to deceive voters
AYERS-WILSON, Angela DIBBEN, Nick DRYE, Tim D'SOUZA, Rianna HUSSAIN, Paco KING, Margaret KUCH, Roger Nicholas LUTER, Brian Cecil PALLANT, Jonathan Graham PEGORARO, Carla POPE, Philip ROWE, Daniel John SETCHELL, Mathew Craig TIDDY, John VALERO-SANCHEZ, Irene WESTRIP, Ron	AHMED, Mokbul BELLAMY, Richard Ernest BUSH, Angela Elizabeth CAMPBELL, Susan Margaret COOK, Patricia DAVIES, Lynn Margaret FULLER, Ryan HEWITT, Kathleen Avis HEWITT, Peter John LACE, David John Granville MOKBUL, Shariqa SMITH, Craig Thomas

Where are our police officers?

How many officers are allocated to police St Ives? You might think very few, based on their visibility. It's infrequent an officer of any kind is seen around the town. Generally the view is of them flashing by in a police car. It is a truly rare event to see a uniform on the streets. So what's your estimate? A couple? Three?

Based on a Freedom of Information request, the average number of officers allocated to police St Ives in 2017 was almost nine. Two officers and just under seven PCSOs. Really? Where were they, and what were they doing?

It's even more of a puzzle when you consider how many police officers it appears we should have. The population of St Ives is 2% of Cambridgeshire county's population. (17,100/849,000). Shouldn't we therefore have 2% of Cambridgeshire's police resources? Police & Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite stated his budget for 2017/18 is 1,349 police officers. Of these, 1,047 are described as local policing officers. And 2% of them is 21 officers.

So if St Ives should have 21 local policing officers, and we have almost 9, where is the balance of 12? Maybe there's a flaw in the calculations or logic. Maybe not. Sounds like a good question to put to Mr Ablewhite. See the letter below.

If you'd like know when Mr Ablewhite replies, view readers comments, be notified of any further updates, or view any future St Ives Matters articles, just become a friend of the Facebook site.

What's happening at The Dolphin Hotel?

Ten months on and the changes have been somewhat underwhelming. Most significant and welcome was an early swap of patio furniture. The introduction of a barbecue was good. Unfortunately, when it operated was anyone's guess. Other changes have been ad hoc and, in some cases, amateurish.

Repairs to the patio wall were a home DIY job. Legs on the new gazebo remain off the perpendicular. Children's toys turned the lounge into a play area. The original web site, the one that comes out top on Google, hasn't been updated since the new owners took over.

The biggest disasters are in staffing and the restaurant, with some poor ratings on Trip Advisor. St Ives Matters is aware of serious understaffing for a pre-booked lunchtime function for 80 in the Meadow Suite which took five hours to complete. One fears for wedding bookings, upon which the hotel depends for its existence. Complaints via the email address, even booking requests, have gone unanswered. This at a time when competition for diners in the town is at a peak, particularly with the opening of Wetherspoons' Swan & Angel.

The whole affair seems to have been managed more like a family bed and breakfast rather than a formal hotel. Relations or friends of Mr Gupta appeared to double up as staff, identified by their more casual attire rather than the standard white top and black trousers or skirt for employees.

Things clearly couldn't continue. The hotel is now stating it's part of the Best Western group and staff are undergoing a 'vigorous' training programme. The puzzling thing is this. The holding company, Cambridge Hotels, was in partnership with US based Aston Management Company, who already own several Best Western hotels as well as Holiday Inns and others in the USA. 'Best Western' is merely a marketing name, somewhat like Virgin. The change appears to be more of a rebranding exercise.

The Dolphin, with its idyllic location beside the Great Ouse and St Ives bridge, is too valuable an asset for the town to fail. One can only hope things improve soon.

What's been your experience?

UPDATE JANUARY 2018 : 'Major' refurbishment of lounge and surrounding areas scheduled for mid January 2018. Actually happened some time later, resulting in a few new tables and chairs and a lick of paint. All very uncoordinated.

UPDATE JUNE 2018 : News of many complaining regular customers simply being banned by the arrogant management.

UPDATE JULY 2018 : Food Standards Agency Inspector called in following a complaint about signs of a cockroach infestation spotted in the kitchen and associated areas. Was this a member of staff whistleblowing after no attention from the management? Scores on the Doors rating reduced to 1 out of 5, the lowest possible without being shut down. What he found was cockroach infestations in the kitchen, restaurant, function room and various other areas. No evidence of any food safety system or cleaning procedure in place. Food debris left lying around. No allergen advice for customers. To read the Inspector's report, click here.

To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.

£1.4 million cycle track

Driven out to Bluntisham recently? Then you may have noticed roadworks as you approach the village. Well, less roadworks than cycle track works. Lasting six weeks.

The County Council have been gradually creating a cycle track between Needingworth and Bluntisham. Started in 2014, it's taking a while to complete as reported in the Hunts Post. The current work is the most difficult, building a new cycle/footpath bridge over the old railway line, bypassing the road bridge as you enter Bluntisham.

The original estimate for the complete track was £420,000 when tentatively proposed in the 2006 St Ives Market Town Transport Strategy. The current estimate is £1.4 million. That includes almost £320,000 for the cycle/footpath bridge.

The Hunts Post article mentioned that a questionnaire the Council sent to Bluntisham residents (and possible Needingworth) got only 45 responses. Of those, 42 (93%) said they didn't use the route. About half of those said it was because it was incomplete.

Hardly an encouraging response to the questionnaire. Raises the question of how many cyclists are likely to use the new cycle track when it's completed. The Council must have some pretty substantial analysis to justify this work. When asked about justification for the cycle track, the Council pointed to the St Ives Market Town Transport Strategy.

The document covers much more than just the cycle track. Some of the proposals are currently or have recently been implemented in and around St Ives. In private industry nothing is spent without a robust cost/benefit analysis. No sign of that in the Strategy. There are targets, but no explanation about how they're arrived at. And since some of the proposals have yet to be implemented, there's little point in asking if the targets have been achieved.

The total spend estimate for all the proposed changes was £4.2 million in 2006. Presumably that is now nearer £12 million. Thankfully, the money for the Needingworth to Bluntisham cycle track hasn't come from County Council funds. The sources are S106 contributions from developers and funding from Central Government via the Integrated Transport Block. So if any credit is due it should go to the County Council for obtaining these funds on the basis of flimsy or non existent cost/benefit analysis. Nevertheless, some of the money comes from our taxes, and if there is money available, is this cycle track the best way to spend £1.4 million of it?

If 1,000 cyclists use the new cycle track on a regular basis that runs at a cost of £1,400 per cyclist. Pretty reasonable. But since the population of Bluntisham is just over 2,000, that's an unrealistic take-up. How about 100, one in twenty residents? That works out at £14,000 per cyclist. If we get down to 10 the cost is £140,000 per cyclist. That's a bit scary. According to the questionnaire, only 3 residents responded to say they currently cycle that route.

Do you think this is a good use of your taxes?

To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.

Make contact

Just pop a few details below and a response will be on its way soon.

Powered by 123FormBuilder | Report abuse

St Ives misses out on infrastructure investment

You might have read in last week's Hunts Post of Cllr Fuller announcing funds for a feasibility study into a new river crossing for Huntingdon. One of three studies for Huntingdonshire, the other two being a new river crossing for St Neots and improvements to the Huntingdon A141. All part of a raft of investments announced by the Combined Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.

With Huntingdon and St Neots getting such attention, you might wonder as you struggle to commute in and out of St Ives what improvements are planned for our own overstretched roads towards the A14 and Huntingdon. Guess what... nothing. So look forward for the foreseeable future to ever worsening congestion. In addition to that currently under construction (inc Morrisons), 400 more houses are proposed along Houghton Road and 75 at two other locations in the town.

You'd think with Cllr Fuller representing St Ives and being the HDC Executive Councillor for Housing & Planning we'd be in a good position to benefit from any available money. Ironic isn't it, that we're not even mentioned. All our five District Councillors come up for election in May 2018. All five are Conservative. Maybe a good time to send them a strong message. You can read the full list of infrastructure projects at this link.

To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.

Another fine planning mess for St Ives

Every weekday morning motorists struggle to drive out of St Ives towards the A14. For anyone starting from the north of the town things are going to get a whole lot worse. In addition to the occasional congestion from Tescos and M&S Food, Morrisons new supermarket will open early in 2018 beside the Marsh Harrier. Fast food providers McDonald's, Subway and Costa Coffee will be moving into new units to be built in the paddock just off Stock's Bridge Way. And planning permission has been granted for a new Aldi store at Compass Point, to open late 2018 or early 2019.

Any road improvements to accompany these changes and help cope with all the extra traffic generated? Don't be silly. Yet another example of development by stealth, enabling Huntingdonshire District Council and the developers to avoid any major expenditure on much-needed infrastructure changes. Add the risk of an additional 4,000 cars per day on the roads from potential housing development around the north of St Ives and you're heading for gridlock. Not just around Stock's Bridge Way, but also East Street and its access roads as cars try to find alternative routes to the Meadow Lane roundabout.

What can you do about it? The building of Morrisons, Aldi, McDonald's etc is a done deal. But housing development to the north of St Ives is still only subject to speculative applications, as in the case of farmland to the west of Old Ramsey Road. How about signing the petition against such development? We've got almost 1,000 signatures, but need a lot more. To sign the petition, click here.

To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.

Huntingdonshire District Council speculating on the property market

There was a rather stunning quotation from Councillor Rob Howe in a Hunts Post article dated Wednesday 26 July 2017. Headed 'Council builds portfolio as part of investment drive', Councillor Howe explained how Huntingdonshire District Council had spent £9,000,000 buying a retail park in Suffolk and an office block in Hertfordshire. The eye-catching quotation is in bold in the full text of the quotation as follows.

'We took some advice three years ago when we launched the commerical investment strategy that said at the moment Huntingdonshire District Council has investments in a basket of properties around Huntingdon and it would be advisable to spread the risk by investing in other types of properties in relatively local districts, not in Blackpool or in Scotland.

So if Huntingdon went into decline we would lose a lot of money simultaneously, but at the same time we don't want to neglect our local area so investing in our local area is clearly important.'

The District Council are speculating on the property market? Really? Over the last three years £25 million has been 'invested' in commercial properties. They recognise it's a risky thing to do. How sensible is their answer, to invest in other parts of the country where they have even less understanding of the property market? And what expertise does the Council have in this area?

A risky investment strategy meant many Local Authorities caught a cold in the 2008 Icelandic Banks crash. There's also much concern about where the current trend for speculation in the property market will leave them. Vince Cable, former business secretary, is quoted as saying

'Local authoriites have a long and inglorious history of gambling in the financial and property markets. In some cases they may succeed, but there is a very high risk of bankrupting their local authorities. What is so bizarre, so shocking, is that they are investing in property in other parts of the country. It makes no sense whatsoever.'

The email text below has been sent to Councillor Howe asking for more information. Watch this space for the response.

Dear Cllr Howe… A Hunts Post article dated 26 July 2017 stated HDC had spent £9 million purchasing commercial properties outside the district. You were quoted in part as saying ‘So if Huntingdon went into decline we would lose a lot of money simultaneously…'

It came as something of a shock to read HDC are speculating on the commercial property market. Even more bizarre the answer to spreading the risk is to buy properties in other parts of the country where there’s even less understanding of the local market. Could you advise the following information. If a Freedom of Information request is required please confirm.

1. What expertise does HDC have in investing in commercial properties in Huntingdonshire and in the rest of England?

2. Please supply details of properties HDC have bought as part of their commercial investment strategy, including their location, cost and current status (e.g. currently fully occupied and paying rent, partially occupied or unoccupied).

To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.

Building development plans

HDC have dropped plans for a major new development of 3,750 houses at RAF Wyton. The prime reason, money is not available in the short term to develop the required transport infrastructure.

Developers have identified alternative greenfield sites much nearer to St Ives. These are Gifford Farm, highlighted yellow in the above image, and farmland to the north of Marley Road, highlighted blue. The combined housing for these areas is estimated as 2,950. That would introduce an additional 4,000 cars per day onto the roads around St Ives. An additional 5,000 children would need schooling.

An application has already been made for the first 'nibble' of land outlined red in the above image, being farmland to the west of Old Ramsey Road. This proposes no improvements to the transport infrastructure. It is likely further development will be of a similar fashion; little chunks at a time, each one singly not warranting any infrastructure improvements. UPDATE FEBRUARY 2020 : The planning permission for this development went all the way to appeal and was refused. To read the decision, click here.

There is a great risk St Ives will find itself saddled with almost 3,000 extra homes without changes of any kind to infrastructure. No road improvements, no extra schools, no doctors’ surgeries. None of the infrastructure considered for an RAF Wyton development.

What can we do about this? There is strength in numbers. Sign the petition to support the view shown below. You can do so anonymously and also add a comment to voice your personal view. Currently there are almost 500 signatures. Every single planning application for the land will objected to, citing the strength of feeling indicated by the petition numbers and the comments made. And the St Ives Matters Facebook page will flag up every application with a link to enable you to object directly. Make sure you're a Facebook friend to get automatic notifications.

By signing the petition you express support for the following view.

That major new housing in the St Ives area should be a managed development of the RAF Wyton site, including transport and other required infrastructure.
That any proposed developments at Gifford Farm and to the north of Marley Road should not be approved.

To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.