Tag: Wisbech

Selective landlord licensing – the devil in the detail

07:21 Thursday 21st January 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Peterborough has been reviewing the results of a consultation on whether to charge landlords in parts of the city hundreds of pounds to license their properties. It was an attempt to crack down on anti-social behaviour and unscrupulous landlords, but it proved controversial and provoked allegations of racism when the Council carried out a consultation on the scheme back in 2013. The scheme was deferred again in September last year, only a week after it was put back on the table, and then re-introduced again a month later in October 2015. My producer Dave Webster joins me now. So Dave, how was this scheme actually going to work?
DAVE WEBSTER: Well it’s called selective landlord licensing, and initially it was only going to apply, or it wasn’t going to apply to all landlords in Peterborough, just the ones that have problems in the Gladstone, Millfield, New England and Eastfield areas. Now landlords would have to fill out a form registering the property, that’s for an initial five year period. There was going to be a fee, around about £600, but after consultation with various associations and letting agents, that was dropped to £50. Detractors claimed it was racist, unfairly targeting Asian landlords, who are prevalent in the target area. It would mean additional costs would be passed on to tenants.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And so why was it thought that a scheme like this was needed?
DAVE WEBSTER: Well in short it was designed to try to improve areas of the city to deal with anti-social behaviour, poor quality rental homes and criminal landlords. They’ve been introduced by other councils already. The Government gave the local authorities the power to introduce these licences back in 2006. For example, they’ve had a scheme running in Margate for the last five years. They’ve prosecuted twenty landlords who hadn’t applied for a licence, the maximum fine being £20,000.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And since 2013, this has been a bit of an hokey cokey of a Council policy in that it’s been in, it’s been out, it’s been suggested, it’s been deferred. What’s happened now?
DAVE WEBSTER: Yes. A highly controversial policy. For example landlords queried why the scheme was only proposed for one part of the city, and not make it pan-city wide. back in September last year we reported that councillor Peter Hiller made the decision to defer the scheme. He’s the Council’s Cabinet member for Growth, Planning, Housing and Economic Development. Now in a statement he said that a change to Government legislation in April meant that the Council now required approval from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to introduce selective licensing into the target area. So the story is not over yet Dotty. It needs to be signed off by the Secretary of State if the target area contains more than 20% of privately rented homes in the entire area controlled by the Council, which in this case it did. So then a month later in October last year it was put back on the table would you believe it. The aspiration is it will change the quality of life for private tenants. .. Lisa Forbes is the Chair of the Peterborough City Council’s Scrutiny Committee, which met last night to talk about these plans. Morning Lisa.
Continue reading “Selective landlord licensing – the devil in the detail”

Wisbech rail line one step closer

17:41 Wednesday 1st April 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

SAM EDWARDS: It’s been announced that £10.5 million of funding has been unlocked for the Wisbech rail scheme. It was news announced today by the Conservative candidate for North East Cambridgeshire Stephen Barclay, who of course has been the MP for the constituency for the past five years. Wisbech would be reconnected to the national network by restoring the line between the Fenland town and March, in turn linking it with Cambridge, Peterborough and Ely, as well as many other places across the United Kingdom. Chris Burton is the vice-chairman of Railfuture East Anglia.
Continue reading “Wisbech rail line one step closer”

Wisbech 2020 Vision gathering pace

17:48 Friday 13th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS BERROW: Detailed proposals aimed at bringing about the wholesale regeneration of Wisbech and its surrounding area have been published. The project is called Wisbech 2020 Vision. It’s a twenty nine point action plan, and it was launched in January 2013. Now the idea is to make Wisbech a good place to work and a nice place to live. This morning there was a meeting to review the progress that’s been made so far. Steve Count is Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, and I asked him what progress has actually been made.
(TAPE)
STEVE COUNT: It was a good news day. There was a whole raft of things that we were able to update people on. I think the big one that most people have been talking about is getting the railway line back to Wisbech. The progress on that has been very good. We’ve completed a GRIP 1 Study and a GRIP 2 Study, and we’re now commissioning and underway with a GRIP 3 Study. And these are the hoops that we have to get through in order to reopen a railway line that will link Wisbech with the national rail network. I think one of the things that people have realised now is that it’s not just good for the people of Wisbech, it’s good for the people of March, Manea, those that are along the line towards Cambridge. And also there’ll be benefits for the people of Cambridge, because if you look at the house prices in Cambridge which I think are quite a bit above £300,000 average, and just over £140,000 is the average prices in Wisbech. If we introduce that into the travel to work area for Cambridge, it’s going to be fantastic news for everyone.
CHRIS BERROW: Infrastructure is a problem in Wisbech. What other problems does it face?
Continue reading “Wisbech 2020 Vision gathering pace”

Wisbech gardeners collect prizes at Anglia in Bloom

07:49 Thursday October 16th 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Wisbech is in the hat for a top prize at the Britain in Bloom Awards later on. The town has already won in this year’s Anglia in Bloom awards, picking up the Large Town prize. Now it’s up against the rest of the country. After their success among the towns in the east, our reporter spoke to some of the winning group at the award ceremony.
(TAPE)
GENTLEMAN: Well we won the Best Large Town.
LADY: We’ve won the Best Conservation Area. And we’ve won an award for the Age 12 to 18 Schoolchildren.
GENTLEMAN: Best Environmental Display.
LADY: Best Environmental. Yes. So boo to all those people who say Wisbech is not a really really nice place to live.
Continue reading “Wisbech gardeners collect prizes at Anglia in Bloom”

Cambridgeshire MP calls for Network Rail to be opened up to scrutiny

09:20 Friday 5th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The MP for North East Cambridgeshire Stephen Barclay wants David Cameron to confirm when Network Rail will be accountable to the public. At the moment it’s not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and according to the MP, with £34 billion added to the national debt this week from Network Rail at a stroke, that needs to change. So what do you think about giving a company billions of pounds, when there’s no way of finding out publicly how where or when the money is spent? Well Stephen Barclay is here. Stephen morning.
STEPHEN BARCLAY: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: It’s almost inconceivable that can be right.
STEPHEN BARCLAY: It is, and I think it’s a matter of time that those paying their rail fares will want to see this done quickly. It’s not just the Freedom of Information that we need opening Network Rail up to, it’s also to give the National Audit Office unfettered access. At the moment, the National Auditors have to go through the Rail Regulator, which creates a barrier in terms of the scrutiny that our public money is under. So I think we do need to let the public have access to information, and really open up the challenge that informed people in the community, particularly those with a knowledge of railways, or engineering, someone who perhaps has had a lifetime as an engineer, allow them to start looking at some of the infrastructure projects, and see whether we can deliver them in a more cost-effective way.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. It’s almost like it’s been all done behind closed doors, with billions and billions of pounds of our money.
Continue reading “Cambridgeshire MP calls for Network Rail to be opened up to scrutiny”

Richard Taylor – the right to report

08:07 Wednesday 6th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: A change in the law will bring local politics into the 21st century. That’s according to Eric Pickles. The Local Government Secretary assigned a Parliamentary Order allowing the press and public to film and digitally report from all public council meetings. It’s hoped this right to report will bring an end to some councils’ resistance to allow filming, blogging and tweeting during meetings. Well earlier the Leader of Hunts District Council Jason Ablewhite gave his reaction to the news.
(TAPE)
JASON ABLEWHITE: We welcome these changes as a council, although we amended our constitution over a year ago now to allow filming, to allow tweeting, and to bring our council well into the 21st century, ahead of this new legislation.
PAUL STAINTON: Does it mean now that all councils have to allow it, without having consultations or anything else?
JASON ABLEWHITE: I think they should. At the end of the day local democracy, local councils, should be able to be transparent, if people want to come along. We live in a whole new era now, where people tweet, social media pages. Most councillors now, regardless of age, have a social media page. Lots tweet on a regular basis to get out to a wider audience, and to glean views. And I think it’s only right that we move into the 21st century and allow this sort of thing to happen.
PAUL STAINTON: One political blogger though from Cambridge once had a bit of trouble filming a district council meeting in Huntingdonshire, didn’t he? Is that a thing of the past then?
JASON ABLEWHITE: (LAUGHS) He certainly did, and I fully support the actions of the Chairman at the time, because it was totally unprecedented for somebody to turn up at a council meeting, plonk a tripod in the middle of the floor and start filming the proceedings. There was nothing in our constitution to allow it. And as a result of that we had debate about it, we had round discussion about whether it was appropriate, and we decided then, well in advance of this legislation, that actually we’ve got to move into the 21st century, and actually this is part and parcel of the modern day.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That was Jason Ablewhite from Hunts District Council talking to me earlier. Well the blogger he was talking about, who set up his tripod and his camera, was Richard Taylor. He’s a citizen journalist who’s reported from council meetings right across Cambridgeshire, and come up against I think it’s fair to say a bit of resistance Richard.
Continue reading “Richard Taylor – the right to report”

Wisbech Transport Consultation

17:18 Tuesday 17th June 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[S]UE DOUGAN: A consultation is taking place today and again on Friday at Wisbech on future transport plans for the town. It’s a chance for local people to share opinions on everything from road congestion to the return of a passenger railway. We’ll speak to Simon King who’s Chairman of the Bramley Line Group in a moment. They have long campaigned for the return of the March to Wisbech rail line. But first let’s talk to Jeremy Smith. He’s Transport and Infrastructure Strategy Manager at Cambridgeshire County Council. Jeremy, hello, good evening. There’s a lot for local people to look at and consider. Which proposals and ideas in particular would you like to hear opinions on?
JEREMY SMITH: Well obviously the railway line is one of the big things that are on our agenda at the moment. And work the County Council has done indicates that there may well be a good commercial case for the opening of the line. And one of the key things that will enable us to push that forward with Government and the rail industry is a good response, a good level of support from local people. So we really need to know whether people want this to happen.
SUE DOUGAN: Have they said that to you today then? Have they ventured an opinion one way or the other?
Continue reading “Wisbech Transport Consultation”

Waiting For A Train

17:57 Wednesday 20th March 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The Times newspaper today published it’s list of the thirty best towns to live in Britain. The top three were Alnwick in Northumberland, Arundel in West Sussex, Cranbrook in Kent. And down at number twenty four is Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. Yes, Wisbech named as one of the thirty best towns in Britain by the Times newspaper. Jonathan Farmer moved there, moved to Wisbech in 2000, and was Mayor until recently, and he joins us now. Hello Jonathan.
JONATHAN FARMER: Hi there.
CHRIS MANN: What’s your reaction? Continue reading “Waiting For A Train”