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Saturday 5th March 2005
The activities of Lincolnshire County Council are a
closed book to most people despite its overall control of roads, schools and
libraries, the police and fire brigade. Spending budget is £527 million
(2003-4), the council has 77 elected members, all of whom are paid through a
system of allowances, and has a staff of more than 12,000 people making it the
biggest employer in the county. Bourne has two local councillors on this
authority, Ian Croft, the leader, (Bourne Castle) and John Kirkman (Bourne
Abbey), both seats due to be contested at the local elections in May.
This authority accounts for 80% of our council tax yet little is heard of its
proceedings which are rarely reported by our local newspapers because committees
and councils meet in Lincoln, thirty miles away, which is inconvenient and
expensive for reporters to attend. The public is therefore left largely in the
dark.
The situation is however changing. A close examination of events will give a
clearer picture of how the county council operates and the dissatisfaction
apparent with the current regime. For instance, did you know that the council
employs 42 lawyers yet has still spent over £90,000 on outside legal advice in
the past ten years? Or that a set of controversial events in recent months has
squandered over £1 million of public money including several unlawful payments
to former officials? All of this is important at this time when the council tax
for the coming year is being determined and of course, it will again be going up
by around 5%.
A new web site is now keeping the public up to date about what is going on at
Lincolnshire County Council. The Orchard News Bureau is the county’s independent
press agency specialising in local government and devotes its pages to a Hansard
style reporting of the council’s day to day business, cold hard facts without
embellishment, and you will find it instructive reading. Councillors will in
future have their interests revealed, whether they have business or personal
involvement that might influence their decisions, and every debate in the
council chamber is reported.
I commend this extract from Friday 25th February as an example:
Senior politicians and officers at
Lincolnshire County Council have less than a month to prepare for the
publication of a national Audit Commission probe into the running of the
authority. An official investigation into the council could result in civil
servants being parachuted into County Offices in Lincoln, to take over the
management of certain departments or services. But the public and backbench
councillors will have to wait until the end of March to learn the outcome of the
ongoing Corporate Governance Inquiry into Lincolnshire CC. It is believed that
direct intervention will only happen if the final CGI report concludes that such
action is necessary to turn around any "failing" departments, or even to strip
councillors of their powers to run services.
What the local newspapers are saying: Contrast the
content of this web site with that of County News Monthly, the county
council’s official newspaper delivered to each home at an annual cost of
£354,870, and you will realise just how much information you are being denied.
The front page story in the March edition tells us that an extra £44 million is
being spent on vital services in the next financial year but it does not tell us
the total budget, how many people the council employs and how much they are
getting in salary increases. “If you want more information, please telephone or
email”, says the report, which I did, seeking answers to these questions, but I
have not received a reply, despite the duty of the authority to do so under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act which came into force on January 1st. I
put similar questions to the council’s public relations unit, which probably
compares in size with the legal department, but those too have been ignored. It
is little wonder that the public has become disenchanted with local government
and regard it as a gravy train for those it employs.
The dilemma facing the town council over their choice of meeting place is
highlighted by the Lincolnshire Free Press which reports that Ted Kelby,
a 79-year-old pensioner, is insisting that as he can no longer reach the public
gallery at the town hall because of ill health then an alternative venue should
be found (March 1st). This does seem to be a drastic solution to suit one person
but he has the latest legislation under the Disability Discrimination Act of
1995 on his side and as this states that access must be available for the
physically handicapped, then the council may have to hold its meetings elsewhere
to accommodate him.
It is surprising that Mr Kelby is persisting in this demand because he is a
former councillor of some standing and so will know the expense involved in
implementing such a move which will inevitably fall on the council tax payers of
this town. We all have sympathy with the disabled, and I speak as a
septuagenarian who is no longer as active as he was. But it is a fact of old age
that life will never be the same as it was in years past and so we should trim
our sails accordingly because physical equality has passed us by and we are
never again going to pursue those energetic activities that we did in the past.
Not for us playing soccer for Bourne Town or joining the Thurlby Fun Run. Mr Kelby told the newspaper that it was his hobby to attend meetings, and it is
indeed commendable that we old folk should have a rewarding pastime, but to
insist that the entire town should foot the bill for it not only seems to be
taking things a little too far but also attaching too much importance to his
presence at council meetings.
There is still a great deal of unrest among tenants over the forthcoming
development of the town centre, according to The Local which reports that
compulsory purchase orders for some of the required properties have not yet been
ruled out (March 4th). Dissatisfaction was evident when the Henry Davidson
Developers Ltd, who are to carry out the £27 million project, met home and shop
owners this week to discuss the work for the first time but their main concern
was to appeal for unity. Managing director Scott Davidson said that the scheme
could be completed by October 2007 but added: “The timetable assumes that
everything will go according to plan and there are many things that could get in
the way and slow the process down but it is deliverable. The key element is the
acquisition of land. If we get this done soon, we will be able to move forward
more quickly.”
It is also reassuring to know that the developers have promised to retain the
old grain warehouse in Burghley Street after concerns by conservationists that
it was excluded from the plans which were on display at the town hall last week
and there were fears that the red brick and blue slate building dating from the
early 19th century might be pulled down. Brynley Heaven, a contributor to the
Bourne Forum, wrote on Wednesday 23rd February that he had been in contact with
the developers and had received a reply from Andy Radford, associate director,
saying that the warehouse was safe in their hands and would be converted into
flats. Brynley added: "The plans exhibited at the Town Hall exhibition were
misleading in this respect and should therefore be disregarded on this specific
site."
The property that began life as Bourne’s first department store has a new
owner. The premises on the corner of Willoughby Road and Victoria Place have
been standing empty for the past twenty years, used only as a storage facility,
but has now been bought by Sally Lewis who plans to move her Attica business
there from Cherryholt Road later this year. The original store on this site was
opened by John Branston in 1860, selling a wide range of goods including
household linen, curtains and fabrics, boots and shoes, men and women’s
clothing, candles and groceries, and soon became the biggest retail outlet in
the town, surviving a big warehouse fire on the night of Thursday 28th October
1908. The Stamford Mercury reported the following Friday:
On Thursday evening a serious outbreak of
fire occurred on Mr Branston's premises in Eastgate. Mr Branston occupies a
grocery and drapery premises in Eastgate and just opposite the entrance to the
shop is a warehouse in which is stored brushes, candles, firelighters &c., on
the ground floor and heavier goods on the top floor, which included on Thursday
last a box of boots which had not been unpacked. Mr Branston was returning home
on Thursday evening when he noticed a volume of smoke in the vicinity of the
premises and on arriving home found it was issuing from his warehouse. On
opening the warehouse door, the volume of smoke burst into flames. Buckets of
water were immediately thrown on the flames and with some assistance the fire
was extinguished before it spread to any of the adjoining premises. As it was,
considerable damage was done to some of the stock in the warehouse by fire and
water. The loss is fully covered by insurance.
Mr Branston also built a pair of houses next door in Willoughby
Road that bear his initials and the date 1900 and he lived in one of them in
retirement after handing over the business to his only son, Thomas and in 1909,
he built the present premises of yellow brick and blue slate, the same materials
used for a terrace of new houses erected in the Austerby a few years later. A
stone plaque on the front records the date of construction together with his
initials TEB while the name Branston has been picked out in mosaic in the front
doorway. The business was sold in 1913 to George Bett who moved from Stickney,
near Boston, and also became one of the town’s leading citizens, making a
significant contribution to local affairs as a member of Bourne Urban District
Council, being elected in 1923 and becoming chairman twice, in 1928-29 and again
in 1936-37.
When he retired in 1946, the business was sold to Messrs L and H Hayhurst who
remained there until 1970 when the building was bought by Geoffrey Worley, a
former RAF serviceman, who used it for a furniture retail business known as
Kinnsway and it has remained in his family ever since, the clock dial over the
main entrance bearing their name. The shop closed 1985 when the firm moved to
new premises in South Street, now run by his twin sons Barry and Michael, and
the Eastgate property has since been used for storage although an application to
turn it into flats was submitted to South Kesteven District Council in 2003 but
the scheme did not materialise.
The new owner hopes to complete refurbishment work on the interior of the
building in the next few weeks and be ready for opening in May with the addition
of a restaurant and a private flat above. The shop is smaller than her
present premises but has many desirable features including Victorian wood-panelled
rooms, fireplaces and period doorways and windows. “It is a spacious and stylish
old building”, said Miss Lewis, “the biggest shop in Bourne until Budgens opened
and I plan to retain as much of the original as possible.”
It is scarcely believable but yet another application for a fast food
outlet in Bourne has been submitted to South Kesteven District Council. This
column discussed the issue last July when we carried out a survey which revealed
that there were 32 establishments in Bourne selling food and drink which seems
to be abnormally high for a population of around 15,000 and at that time, two
more were in the offing, a takeaway in South Road and a café and bar in North
Street.
The latter application was subsequently withdrawn but since then there has been
a proposal to open a takeaway in Abbey Road and now comes yet another to convert
the premises at No 64/66 North Street, formerly occupied by BDR Agriculture Ltd,
into a food outlet.
The town’s present shopping centre is fast become devoid of real shops and
occupied instead by estate agents, banks and takeaways that generate a great
deal of late night noise and litter and it is hoped that those who are planning
the new town centre will learn the lesson when allocating spaces for incoming
businesses.
While walking down North Street we spotted a tell tale yellow notice
fixed to a lamppost, one of those plastic-covered forms issued by the planning
department at South Kesteven District Council announcing that changes are
imminent in the vicinity and inviting objections from anyone who disagrees. This
one informed us that it is proposed to demolish No 32, a building within the
Conservation Area, and formerly occupied by Bourne Jewellers, business premises
that have been empty for almost a decade.
The former tenant moved out in 1997 when the windows were boarded up, attracting
graffiti and fly-posting, and a mural of multi-coloured patterns was used in an
attempt to alleviate its unsightly appearance but, as one resident commented,
the painting was “hideously unattractive” and the experiment failed leaving the
shop a blot on the street scene and the subject of continual complaints, both
from residents and visitors who regarded its unsightliness as bad for the image
of the town and for trade.
The decay became so advanced that the floors were secured by scaffolding poles
and part of the roof became open to the elements and in the autumn of 1999, the
Stamford Mercury carried a front-page story and pictures proclaiming "Boarded up
Bourne", a description that embraced other properties around the town, and
although most involved in this unsightly scenario have been sold and restored,
this shop has remained derelict. Development will therefore be an asset to the
appearance of our main thoroughfare.
It has a long and distinguished record in the business life of the town centre,
having been used as a shop for almost two centuries, and its present appearance
belies a past prosperity. In February 2003, it was hoped that this dilapidation
would soon be at an end because a local businessman, Michael Thurlby, bought it
and announced his intention to bring it back into the commercial life of the
town.
His past efforts have already breathed new life into old buildings across the
street where he successfully turned Smiths of Bourne from an ancient grocer's
shop into a modern public house with a sympathetic restoration that enhances
North Street and it was hoped that his new venture would be equally successful.
But this is obviously not to be. The yellow notice tells its own story that
another of Bourne’s old properties is destined for demolition, to be replaced by
new shop units.
Thought for the week: The conundrum we face is whether
there is a lack of public concern about the level of council tax levied by
Bourne Town Council or a general acceptance that the council can undertake any
expenditure regardless of the effect on it. Is it contentment with all that we
do or is it apathy? No matter what the answer is, it may well be put to the test
in the months to come because of the costs of possible relocation of council
meetings and expenditure for work associated with the cemetery chapel, which
among other matters, are likely to be expensive. – Councillor John Kirkman, a
former Mayor of Bourne, commenting on the recent decision to increase the salary
of the clerk to the town council by more than £7,000 a year, despite warnings of
the financial consequences, Tuesday 1st March 2005.
Saturday 12th March 2005
A lesson is to be learned by town and parish councils
throughout the country from events this week at Pinxton in Derbyshire and it is
that the people will take only so much before they rebel.
The headstones in the village cemetery are being checked for stability, a survey
much the same as that being undertaken here in Bourne, to decide whether they
are safe or likely to fall on unsuspecting visitors. Such accidents are
extremely rare and a lightning strike is more likely, yet the Health and Safety
Executive, which has been ridiculed in the past for some of its sillier excesses
and is behind this particular piece of nonsense, requires every council in the
country that administers a burial ground to expend time and money on a safety
inspection that has become known as the topple test.
Official instructions are manna from heaven to some local authorities and so it
has been at Pinxton and earlier this week, relatives arrived at the cemetery to
tend the graves of loved ones to find that 127 tombstones had been laid flat in
one day. They were angry, very angry indeed and there was an immediate protest
meeting at the cemetery attended by more than 100 villagers whose relatives and
friends are buried there. Parish councillors turned up in an attempt to appease
them, to explain that they were only carrying out orders. But their explanations
failed to defuse a very explosive situation and on Wednesday evening, a public
meeting was called at the village hall and practically everyone turned up. It
was a stormy confrontation and villagers threatened to take legal action over
the damage to their tombstones but the parish council has now decided that it
was in the wrong and are discussing ways to finance their reinstatement and to
ensure that all others are safe in the future.
This is the way it should be, as I suggested in this column when the topic was
discussed on 4th October 2004. Bourne Town Council now faces the same situation
if the current survey produces a similar result. Some stones in the town
cemetery in South Road have already been laid flat by maintenance staff when
they were deemed to be dangerous in years past but the present survey will be
the subject of far more stringent conditions and will therefore affect a large
number of memorials, even modern ones as at Pinxton.
There are other sound reasons why this survey should either be discontinued or
the consequences of it handled with more discretion. Councils, especially those
at town or parish level, have a particular duty of care for the people they
represent because this is their first point of contact with authority. It is
therefore up to their members to protect the community from some of the more
ludicrous decrees from national government and not be sucked into the morass of
officialdom.
The cemetery administered by the town council is a quiet and peaceful place that
contains 150 years of the town’s history, an archive of those who went before.
Last year, a working party was appointed to assess the safety of the tombstones
and it recommended that £10,000 be set aside during the present financial year
to pay for carrying out remedial work on those which were found to be unstable
but after a lengthy debate, councillors rejected this advice and decided that
relatives who are still alive should foot the bill, otherwise they will be laid
flat. In view of the Pinxton affair, councillors ought to reconsider this
decision as a matter of urgency.
Meanwhile, the true extent of the damage to the chapel of rest in the
cemetery as a result of past neglect by the town council has now been revealed
and remedial work will be much higher than originally expected.
Details of a recent report by a firm of structural engineers indicate that poor
surface water drainage has penetrated and weakened the walls, so reducing their
ability to support the heavy stone slate roof. The plaster inside is crumbling
on both the walls and the ceiling and the metal-framed windows are rusting
badly. The building has no insulation, heating or mains water and the mere cost
of retaining the outward appearance and continue with its present use would be
around £80,000. This would pay to solve the water drainage problem, strap and
underpin the walls and a new roof of a lighter material but of similar
appearance to the present one.
These details are given in the town council’s newsletter for March 2004, due to
be published later this month, but it also reveals another dilemma facing the authority. There is a
need under the existing health and safety regulations and the Welfare at Work
Act to provide adequate facilities for cemetery employees. “Their current
facilities are no longer acceptable and the council has to make adjustments”,
says the newsletter. “Warm running water, toilets, rest and changing rooms, are
statutory necessities. The cost to provide these will depend on their exact
location as the cemetery is not served by the public sewerage system. Land for
further building work is limited as the cemetery has been well utilised for
burials and it makes sense, if practicable, to incorporate the staff facilities
into the overall plan. Rough estimates indicate a cost of £200,000 to convert
the chapel building to perform all of its present and needed requirements.”
The newsletter also tells us why subsequent meetings of the council were held in
private when deconsecration of the chapel was under discussion last year. “An
office for the cemetery supervisor had been created by the council in a corner
of the chapel and as such use is not permitted within a building that is subject
to the legal effects of consecration, it had to be deconsecrated. This
information was only found out by the council some four years after the office
had been created. The order of deconsecration [signed on 1st December 2004] does
not stop the building being used for ecclesiastical purposes.”
We are satisfied to hear this explanation but hardly think it a reason to hold
meetings in secret and refuse to say why because the result has been gossip,
speculation and misinformation. It is a grave error to regard the public as
being dim and even untrustworthy and they should not be treated as such by local
authorities and an acknowledgement of this ought help rescue the town council
from similar situations in the future.
What the local newspapers are saying: The public inquiry into proposed
housing development at meadowland surrounding The Croft in North Road which is
due to begin on Tuesday dominates both of our main local newspapers and The
Local dramatically describes it as “the final showdown between developers
and townsfolk” (March 11th). The newspaper reports that our M P, Mr Quentin
Davies, will be present and he and the town council have called for as many
people as possible to attend and demonstrate the strength of feeling against
plans to build new homes on one of the last open green spaces in the town. The
report adds: “People power in Bourne was amply displayed at the informal hearing
in October when the government inspector ruled that public feeling was so great
that he cancelled the meeting and called a full public inquiry.”
The mayor, Councillor Mrs Pet Moisey, told The Local that councillors had
formulated their own strategy for fighting the house building but press and
public were excluded from the special meeting when it was discussed because “we
are keeping our cards close to our chest and have no desire to warn the
developers of our tactics”. They do not appear to have any worries on that score for, having read the
submission, I found it extremely hard to follow and an unlikely contender
for an award by the Plain English Campaign. I only hope that the government
inspector conducting the inquiry has more success in understanding the document.
Town councillors have been taking a final look at the site before the hearing
and the Stamford Mercury carries a picture of five of them at the front
gate of the Croft together with an excellent aerial view of the house and
surrounding area showing in detail the pastureland that will be lost if it
becomes a residential estate (March 11th).
Sightings of black panthers and other big cats in the
countryside around Bourne have become commonplace but now the Stamford
Mercury reports that someone has spotted a pair of wallabies on the loose
(March 11th). For those whose zoological learning is marginal, I can tell you
that a wallaby is a marsupial of the genus wallabia, related to and closely
resembling the kangaroo but smaller, and native to Australia and the surrounding
islands. The appearance of two of them on the outskirts of Aslackby, seven miles
north of Bourne, where they were reportedly seen by a passing motorist, is
therefore a matter of some interest although the local police do not seem unduly
concerned. “We have had wallaby sightings in this area before”, said Inspector
Dick Holmes. “They often escape from animal sanctuaries or private collections.”
But perhaps Mike Wickens, landlord of the Robin Hood public house at Aslacky,
has a more likely explanation. “Some of our customers see a variety of strange
wildlife on their way home after an evening’s refreshment”, he said.
It is our custom to pop into Sainsburys supermarket in Exeter Street on
Saturday mornings to buy a few essentials for the weekend and I usually pull
into the pick-up space outside the main entrance to collect my wife with her
purchases. Often, I have to wait for a few minutes and being of an inquiring
mind, this is an excellent opportunity to observe customers leaving with their
trolleys because a close inspection of the contents reveal their shopping
habits.
Old people invariably have a bottle or two of red wine or sherry, sometimes gin
and whisky, while single young men have an ample supply of cannies for that
afternoon’s footie in front of the telly, and it is an easy task to pick out
those who live alone because they have bought a small carton of milk, baked
beans, a sliced loaf and several packets of ready to cook meals. But by far the
most frequent commodities can be found among the groceries bought by the young
mums, usually with children in tow, because they always have a large supply of
crisps in those long bags that contain ten or more packets at a time.
It is therefore no surprise to learn that the British eat 10 million bags of
crisps a year, more than the rest of western Europe put together, and that this
could offer a partial explanation for the country’s high obesity rates.
Consumption is currently running at 7.2 kilograms a year or up to three bags of
crisps a week for every man, woman and child, a consumption that is growing by
3% a year.
The figures come from a market intelligence report published for the snack food
industry by the business research company Key Note (The Sunday Times, 6th
March 2005) and intended to provide an overview of the market and identify
opportunities for growth.
The average person eats 372 snacks a year and this is likely to increase to 401
by 2009, with crisps top of the list. All of this may be big business but it
does not equate with a healthy life style and, furthermore, it is not, as some
headlines suggest, cheap junk food since the total cost can be quite high. Cheap
food in fact, is healthy food, because the price of potatoes, greens and root
vegetables, milk, cheese and other basic items necessary for a healthy diet, are
far lower than what you will pay for crisps, snacks and fizzy drinks. Think
twice mums next time you are hovering over the crisp and cola shelves in the
supermarkets, no matter how persistent the kids are that you fill the trolley
with them.
Shop watch: For the past few weeks, Anglia Home Furnishings in Manning
Road have been holding a sale with up to 50% off some items and, attracted by
the large colour advertisements in the local press, we went along hoping to buy
a small occasional table for the lounge. But this was a sale that was not all
that it seemed. Having found a suitable table, reduced in price, we tried to buy
it only to be told that we could not have it and that delivery would be 8-10
weeks. It has been my understanding that sales are designed to jettison old
stock that has been in the store for several months at a much higher price and,
more importantly, the spirit of any sale is that you buy and collect on the
spot. Any variation, as this appeared to be, is not a sale as we know it but a
sales drive and customers should be aware of this when offered goods in a
similar fashion in the future.
Thought for the week: We immediately assumed that hooligans had been on
the rampage but then discovered that the vandals were the parish council. We
were horrified at what they have done and feel that we have been let down by
those who are there to serve us. – quote from one of the angry residents at
Pinxton, Derbyshire, who arrived at the village cemetery this week to find that
127 memorial stones had been laid flat after being deemed to be unsafe.
Saturday 19th March 2005
Roadworks on the A15 north of Bourne over the weekend
closed the carriageway on Saturday and Sunday and the situation will be similar
today and tomorrow. Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority, has
deemed these improvements to warrant drastic action and although most people
will agree with them, there have been loud grumblings of discontent.
This is a perfect illustration of the no win situation. Had the council done the
job over several weeks of normal day-to-day working, allowing traffic through
with a lights or convoy system to regulate the flow, the complaining would have
been longer and louder. The short, sharp shock treatment in which all vehicles
are banned to enable the boys from the black stuff finish the job quickly is the
obvious solution but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. I even
heard that one old age pensioner was so upset that he might be delayed in
getting to a bowls match on time that he telephoned his local councillor to
protest about the inconvenience.
It did mean tedious detours for many motorists and Delaine Buses were in high
dudgeon because the lengthy alternative routes meant that they could not operate
their passenger services to and from Morton village, calling the total closure
“political correctness gone mad” whereas it was nothing of the sort, merely a
matter of well-planned expediency. There was an additional bonus too because
last weekend brought a welcome relief from the constant lines of traffic passing
through the town centre or, as Mike Thorne observed in a contribution to the
Bourne Forum on Saturday 12th March: "We have enjoyed a little taste of what
driving in Bourne would be like if we had a north-south bypass. Very nice thank
you."
The sudden cancellation of the long awaited public inquiry into housing
development at the Croft in North Road was a shock to the Bourne system, the
entire town having been geared up to do battle to preserve this slice of
meadowland.
The announcement on Monday that the government inspector appointed to conduct
the hearing at the Corn Exchange the following day was indisposed means that the
inquiry is back in the system and as a fresh date must be fixed, we must wait
for several more weeks, perhaps months, before we know the outcome.
This is a perfect example of the wheels of the bureaucratic machine grinding
exceedingly slowly and, as Councillor Guy Cudmore pointed out last November:
“There is no reason why this could not have been decided locally, by locally
elected democratic representatives of the people of this town.” But that would
be far too simple a solution for the official mind.
In the meantime, we have a fresh example of the machinations of local government
by reading an official document that has emanated from South Kesteven District
Council, the authority directly connected with this planning application. It may
be remembered that last October, the council distanced itself from the case by
withdrawing their objections on the grounds of highway safety on the main A15
trunk road running close by the site and decided instead that their defence
would concentrate on the adverse impact the proposed estate might have on the
locality and that it would be out of character with the area.
There now appears to have been a change of heart in this direction because a
council consultative report entitled Urban Capacity Study, just published,
identifying brownfield sites suitable for development over the next 17 years,
clearly shows The Croft with a potential for residential development yielding 84
properties.
Until recently, housing development on greenfield sites has been practically
rubber-stamped through but the government was accused of laying waste our
countryside by condemning it to bricks and mortar and, as this column reported
on 5th June 2004, the policy was changed by John Prescott, the Deputy Prime
Minister, who introduced new planning regulations officially classifying back
gardens as brownfield sites.
The government guidelines designated them as “previously developed land”, so
enabling builders buy older properties with mature gardens and replace them with
houses or blocks of flats. The Croft falls within this category and perhaps this
may mean that the result of the public inquiry, when it is held, may well be a
foregone conclusion. Certainly we are entitled to ask why it is included in this
report as a potential site for housing development when the government inspector
has not even heard the case.
Other sites in Bourne are identified as brownfield including a car parking area
and unused land in Manor Lane, the old railway station site in South Road and
the goods yard opposite, the bus station, the motor car auction yard in
Cherryholt Road, Johnson Brothers agricultural depot in Manning Road and
Wherry’s Mill in South Street, together with several others, yielding in total
284 houses.
The proposed house building policy for Bourne in the future will be that urban
brownfield sites will have preference over all others, in particular greenfield
sites, but new development must be in sustainable locations, well served by
existing services and facilities with access to good and frequent public
transport. Whether or not this criteria is met is a moot point but the fast rate
of progress reflected by house building appears to set the seal on Bourne’s
future because most, if not all, of the new properties are out of the price
range of local people and so the town is effectively being turned into a
dormitory community for centres such as Peterborough and beyond.
What the local newspapers are saying: A damning indictment of
Lincolnshire County Council is carried by The Local which reveals that
the Audit Commission, the independent watchdog that oversees the work of local
authorities, has highlighted weak leadership and a failure to improve the
quality of its services (March 18th). This will be a cause of grave concern to
most people who have just received their council tax bills demanding an extra 5%
for the coming year. The report says: “The council’s leadership is inadequate at
a political, managerial and community level. We are not confident about the
prospects for improvement in the next 12 months.”
The newspaper adds: “The report says that the leadership has still to recover
from scandals including the imprisonment of former leader Jim Speechley for
misconduct. It pointed out that the current leader is himself under
investigation from the Standards Commission.”
The subject is also given space by the Stamford Mercury which says that
the government will now step in to run the county’s schools and roads and it
quotes a spokesman for the commission as saying: “This is a very worrying report
for the council and for the people of Lincolnshire.”
The current leader of LCC is Councillor Ian Croft, the member for Bourne Castle.
In a contribution to the Bourne Forum on Friday 18th March, Brynley Heaven
suggests that with the local government elections looming, he should now
consider his position and no doubt many will agree that this is sound advice.
The future of Wake House in North Street as home to the Bourne Arts and
Community Trust is uncertain, reports The Local, following a decision by
South Kesteven District Council to charge the full market rent rather than the
nominal £5 a year as in the past (March 18th). The early 19th century property
was the birthplace of the international fashion designer Charles Worth and is
Grade II listed but was empty and dilapidated when the trust took it over in
1998 and it needed 18 months of hard work to bring it back to useful life, much
of it by voluntary effort. In doing so, they have preserved a building which is
actually the responsibility of the council and so the massive rent increase may
be regarded as rather unfair. Town councillor Trevor Holmes, who is also one of
the trustees, put it thus: “To hold the Sword of Damocles over our heads for a
potentially massive increase in rental costs, simply to provide the same level
of services, seems perverse.”
Quite so. Wake House is a busy place for a wide range of community and learning
activities for all ages and to sow the seeds of doubt over its future is not a
wise move by a council that purports to care for the people it represents. SKDC
needs to explain itself.
The lateness in cancelling the public inquiry into housing development at The
Croft only a few hours before it was due to be held has resulted in a conspiracy
theory that it was deliberately called off in order that fewer people would turn
up to make their objections. A report in The Local suggests that many
people who arrived at the Corn Exchange for the hearing seriously believed this
(March 18th) whereas a moment’s thought would have revealed it to be a
ridiculous notion because those who wish to object will be kept fully informed
about the date and time of the rescheduled hearing when they will be at liberty
to attend. Interviews conducted by the newspaper with disgruntled residents
included one with Jeremy Perkins of Queen’s Drive, who was concerned about the
loss of habitats for animals, birds and plants at The Croft after the orchard
was uprooted last year. “There was so much wildlife before the trees were pulled
down and there is still some which needs to be protected”, he said.
Another resident interviewed was Dave Rippon who was particularly aggrieved
about the postponement. “I suspect that this is a definite strategy against the
voice of the people”, he said. “Someone, somewhere is trying to bulldoze this
issue through. How many more houses do we really need?” Mr Rippon’s address was
given as Mandalay Drive, part of the huge residential estate of 300 homes that
sprang up alongside Mill Drove ten years ago when 30 acres of open countryside
were swallowed up with the loss of valuable pasture land, trees and wildlife,
including a ancient hedgerow that attracted hundreds of yellowhammers year after
year and which have since disappeared. This is where his house is now situated.
The town is losing one of its most senior members on Lincolnshire County
Council with the announcement this week that John Kirkman will not be seeking
re-election in May and is standing down after serving as an Independent member
for Bourne Abbey for the last 16 years. The continuing workload appears to be to
blame, now likely to increase under new proposals currently under discussion,
and he does have local authority commitments elsewhere for the benefit of the
town.
There is no doubt that such a decision comes as a result of a great deal of
heart searching by someone who has devoted so much time to public service and it
must be a wrench to leave. But dissatisfaction with mounting duties was
evident in January 2003 when he was quoted as saying: "A back bench councillor
carries out an average 150 hours a month on county council work. That's 1,800
hours a year and to get £6,000 in allowances is less than the minimum wage."
This is not however a case of the rate for the job but of hours expended to the
detriment of other activities. "Sixteen years is not as long as some", he said
this week, " but it is a long period and during that time the commitment
required has increased, particularly so over the last two to three years, and
these responsibilities are likely to increase significantly. Having fully
considered this commitment, I have come to the decision that I no longer wish to
give so much of my time undertaking those duties but will, instead, use it to
the benefit of my family and myself."
Councillor Kirkman was born at Boston but moved to Bourne over thirty years ago.
In December 1999, at the age of 60, he retired as senior meteorological officer
working for the Ministry of Defence at RAF Cottesmore, near Stamford. He has
represented Bourne as an Independent at various local authority levels for the
past 25 years, as a member of Bourne Town Council (since 1979), serving as Mayor
of Bourne on two occasions, from 1985-86 and again from 2000-01. He and his wife
Jean have two married daughters and his public work is extensive, notably as a former
member of the Lincolnshire Police Authority and as the current chairman of the
governors of the Abbey Primary School in Bourne and of Bourne United Charities.
He is to continue to serve as a member of the town council and of South Kesteven
District Council of which he is currently vice-chairman and likely to be
chairman for the coming year.
Losing a familiar councillor not only disrupts our voting habits but also leads
to speculation on the calibre of their successor. Standing as an Independent
calls for character and dedication and although these traits may also be
necessary for a candidate selected by one of the major political parties, they
are less of a prerequisite because the party endorsement will usually carry them
through. The Independent candidate has no such luxury and therefore only someone
with a high profile and popularity is likely to make a mark running on that
ticket today and as the prospect appears unlikely at the moment, the Bourne
Abbey seat will most certainly fall to someone standing for one of the main
political organisations. With Labour discredited and the Conservatives in
disarray, this would appear to be an excellent opportunity for the Liberal
Democrats but soundings this week seem to indicate a victory for the blue
rosette, irrespective of who is wearing it.
Thought for the week: Licence fees for personal computers could be on the
way. - news item from ComputerActive magazine, 17th March 2005.
Saturday 26th March 2005
The story of the infamous Dr William Dodd is well known
to most Bourne people because he was the wayward son of a former vicar who was
executed in the 18th century after being found guilty of forgery.
He was born in 1729, the eldest son of the Rev William Dodd who was Vicar of
Bourne from 1727 until 1756, and after graduating from Clare Hall, Cambridge,
where he distinguished himself, he married and moved to London in 1750. He spent
some time as a man about town but his extravagant lifestyle soon landed him in
debt and worried his friends who persuaded him to mend his ways and so he
decided to take holy orders and was ordained in 1751.
The new routine failed to change him because he faced continuing financial
difficulties and in 1774, in an attempt to rectify his situation, he tried to
obtain the rich living of St George's Church in Hanover Square, London, by
offering a bribe of £3,000 in an anonymous letter to Lady Apsley, wife of the
Lord Chancellor, asking her to use her influence on his behalf. The letter was
traced to Dodd's wife and subsequently shown to the king who was so outraged
that he removed his name from the royal list of chaplains.
The incident became the talk of London and Dodd became a target for ridicule in
the press and even from the stage of the Haymarket Theatre and so he fled to
Geneva in an attempt to escape the gossip. On his return, he was appointed to
the living at Wing in Buckinghamshire and in February 1777, still short of
money, he offered a stockbroker a forged bond for £4,200 in the name of Lord
Chesterfield, his former pupil, but the forgery was immediately detected and he
was prosecuted, sent for trial, convicted and sentenced to death. He made an
abject appeal to the court but without success, as were the efforts of
influential friends to secure a pardon.
They included various prominent people of the day, including Dr Samuel Johnson,
the lexicographer, author, critic and brilliant conversationalist, who was the
dominant figure of London literary society in the 18th century, as well as
exhortations addressed to the King, the Queen and a petition signed by 23,000
people urging clemency, but to no avail and on 27th June 1777, Dodd was publicly
hanged and afterwards, his clothes and possessions were sold off in accordance
with the custom of the day.
That was the end of the affair, or so it was believed but a new book* that has
just been published presents evidence that attempts were made to revive the
corpse after the hanging, a practice that was not uncommon and often successful.
It describes the life of John Hunter, anatomist, collector, surgeon and teacher,
who dissected thousands of bodies in his search for knowledge, mostly delivered
under cover of darkness by the grave robbers or resurrection men of the day, the
practice of dissection being illegal at that time.
It was a grim trade with body snatchers fighting over the corpses of felons
hanged at Tyburn Tree, the mass gallows at the junction of Oxford Street and
Edgware Road in London where condemned men could be despatched eight at a time.
But the practice was an inefficient method of execution and more than once the
victims sprang to life again on the anatomist’s slab.
This was the fate of Dr Dodd and when the body arrived at Hunter’s house, the
surgeon immediately tried to revive him but he had been dead too long before
Hunter began to pump air into his lungs with a pair of bellows and he could not
be brought back to life. Had he survived, what a tale he could have told.
Instead, all we have of his thoughts is a notebook full of poems that was found
among his possessions after the execution. This was sold and preserved and in
July 2002 it was offered for sale at Sotheby's, the fine art auctioneers, at
their salerooms in London when it fetched £14,340, a sum that would ironically
have settled all of the unfortunate Dr Dodd's financial problems had it been
realised in his day.
One of his poetic works, written in blank verse while he was in Newgate Prison,
is an epic of the soul and reveals wonderful powers of reflection and self
analysis and it is apparent that during those terrible days of waiting, he had
flung aside all pretence and in his suffering, prayed with agony and found
peace, assurance and pardon. The thoughts throb with reality. It is the pitiful
tragedy of a penitent soul:
Gracious God
How wonderful a compound, mixture strange,
Incongruous, inconsistent, is frail man!
Truly, (to use his own confession) he was one
Who in his little journey through the world
Misled, deluded, oft, mistook his way.
What the local newspapers are saying: A sequel to last
week’s coverage of the damning report on Lincolnshire County Council by the
Audit Commission is reported by the Lincolnshire Free Press which says
that the leader, Councillor Ian Croft, the Conservative member for Bourne
Castle, stepped down at a special meeting of the authority together with the
entire cabinet (March 22nd). “The resignations came after the council was
branded as weak and unlikely to improve without help”, says the report.
“Councillor Croft said that it was in the best interests of the county that he
leave his post.” The 76 members of the council will now select a new leadership
to run its affairs until the local government elections on May 5th. Opposition
Labour group leader, Councillor Rob Parker, told the meeting: “If we don’t get
it right then, we will have control imposed from Whitehall.”
Work on the long-awaited east-west relief road is nearing completion, according
to The Local and is expected to open at the end of next month (March
25th). Favourable weather has enabled the project continue at a steady pace and
soon traffic travelling between the A15 to the south of Bourne and West Road on
the Stamford side will be diverted away from the town centre. It is to be hoped
that this progress report from Lincolnshire County Council is a correct one this
time because we have had assorted dates in the past and none have materialised
but it must be true this time because we are told that an official opening
ceremony is planned after the local elections on May 5th although drivers will
be able to use the new highway once it is complete in the next few weeks.
One of Bourne’s old established family businesses is featured in the Stamford
Mercury over the headline “Shoe shop stands the test of time” (March 25th).
It tells the history of North’s Shoes in North Street, opened in 1876 and still
owned by the same family, being run today by Roger North, aged 59, great
grandson of the founder William North, a boot maker from Haconby. The business
has passed from father to son for four generations, proof that personal service
will always pay and that the small shops can survive in the face of competition
from the big stores. Optimism for the future is still the keynote because Roger
told the newspaper: “We have been here for 129 years and who’s to say that we
won’t be here for 100 more. We started selling hobnailed boots and now we stock
hand-painted pink wellies. Times and fashions change over the years but our
principles of good service and quality products remain the same.”
The personal computer, or PC as it is more popularly known, has become a
boon to local historians enabling them to assemble facts and photographs in an
orderly fashion and then publish the results for the community to enjoy.
As a result, many villages now have their own histories, usually the work of
knowledgeable and enthusiastic amateurs who are willing to dedicate time and
often money to the task for the benefit of all.
The latest comes from Carlby, just off the A6121 four miles south west of
Bourne, and although the village is isolated, it is surprisingly picturesque
with a mix of attractive properties both ancient and modern, not least the old
inn, now a private residence that still boasts the wooden support post but no
sign. All of this can be found in the new history Carlby Then and Now, the work
of Ian Dair who has collected sufficient information to fill 62 interesting
pages about its life and times.
Ian and his wife Margaret moved to the village from Peterborough when they
retired three years ago. "We came here because we knew some people and it was
handy for the golf course at Toft", he explained. “Since then we’ve grown to
really like the place." His research has revealed the enormous growth of the
village in recent years, increasing from 99 houses in 1991 to 189 ten years
later, and the impact this expansion has had on its character. "People like us
have been glad to come here and the new residents have had a friendly welcome.
But many of the older villagers feel that the togetherness of Carlby, when there
were many fewer folk, has gone, a sentiment that is shared by most other
villages as a result of the decline in agriculture and the influx of newcomers
who live there but work elsewhere."
There are many photographs in the book, some modern and many from the past,
including one that gives a name to the old inn I mentioned. It was known as The
Plough, and what else in a farming area, but I learn that it was closed circa
1970 because the brewery which owned it decided that it would not be financially
viable to update the facilities, especially the outside toilets. The entire
publication has a warm community feel about it and will be welcomed by village
veterans and newcomers alike as a record of the way things were and are now. If
you want a copy, details may be found on the Notice Board.
Shop watch: The number of checkouts at Budgens supermarket has been
reduced from eight to four and the resulting space is being used for display.
This, coupled with more rumours of staff redundancies, suggests that closure
might again be imminent. This possibility surfaced last September when the
company issued a statement admitting that sales were not good but they hoped to
entice more car-borne customers to keep the store viable. Budgens has become
part of the commercial life of Bourne and their loss would be a major blow. The
supermarket is the centrepiece of a busy retail area with the market place on
one side and the Burghley Centre on the other, all three interactive and never
more so than on Thursday market days and on Saturdays, both busy shopping
periods. Let us hope that the latest developments are not a sign of pending
closure.
Thought for the week: The love of life is necessary to the vigorous
prosecution of any undertaking. - Samuel Johnson, British lexicographer and
writer (1709-84) whose Dictionary of the English Language appeared in 1755.
* The Knife Man by Wendy Moore is published by
Bantam and reviewed
by Nigel Hawks in The Sunday Times, Sunday 6th March 2005.
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