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Saturday 3rd March 2012
Major changes in our communities usually start with a whisper which turns to a rumble as more information becomes available and so it is with the announcement that Lincolnshire Police is handing over some of its services to a private security firm. The £200 million contract with the company G4 means that from next April, 544 of the 900 civilian staff employed by the force will transfer to their pay roll as it takes over management of such services as IT, finance, assets and facilities, firearms licensing, custody, the criminal justice unit, control room and many more (Stamford Mercury, Friday 24th February). Privatisation has been the subject of speculation for some months and one that is seen as "a positive move" by the chairman of the police authority, Barry Young, who told the newspaper that it would free more officers for real police work rather than deskbound duties. "There will not be an immediate change but as time goes by we will find that things are being run more efficiently and effectively and by April, our aim is to have 97 per cent of our officers serving on the frontline." This would appear to fit with what is in store for Bourne where the police station in West Road is likely to become a victim of the new arrangement, to be closed down and replaced by a town inquiry or information office or perhaps just a desk, which is almost certain to be based at the new Bourne Community Access Point now being established in the Corn Exchange. The entire range of our community services is currently in the melting pot, a situation brought about by the economic crisis and the need to save money with everything being pared down to a minimum. It is promised that the new police arrangement will mean more bobbies on the beat, that is if the statements being given are correct, a move that will be welcomed by the public but once again we will have to wait and see whether this will actually happen. The prospect of a police force portrayed by Dixon of Dock Green, the popular BBC television series which ran for 21 years from 1955-76, would be a comforting thought to those residents who have been exasperated by the absence of a uniformed officer when needed but in the years that have passed, perhaps the phrase “frontline service” means something very different from what it did in those days. Certainly, a change is badly needed because complaints about the absence of the police when they are wanted occur almost daily. Last weekend, for instance, there were reports of a rave party accompanied by loud music “with a thumping beat” in the vicinity of Kirkby Underwood on Saturday which kept residents awake at nearby Morton, over two miles away, throughout the night until 8 am on Sunday morning and one contributor to the Bourne Forum reported: “They rang the police and were told there was only one officer covering this area up to Sleaford and therefore nobody could attend.” For those who either cannot remember or are not old enough to know what it was like, I can vouch for the police presence in those days which was ubiquitous, with a constable near at hand either on the beat or on his bike ready to protect the citizenry and enforce the law. Unfortunately, modern transport and communications have rendered the police remote from the people they are meant to protect while their role has also changed dramatically and no matter what promises are made, it is doubtful if we will ever again return to that reassuring familiarity we once found on our streets and in our neighbourhoods. From the archives: Permanent police strength in Bourne based at the county police station in North Street is one superintendent, one inspector, two sergeants and 17 constables. - entry from Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire, 1913, when the population count was 4,343. A valiant effort is being made to establish a bandstand in the Wellhead Gardens, a place for music in the park on Sunday afternoons and other suitable occasions, a delightful entertainment that harks back to Victorian times. The sound of a Strauss waltz or a Sousa march floating on the balmy air of a summer's day is an evocative sound from an England long gone and one that tries to reassure us that all is well with the world even though the trials and turmoil of everyday life return once the music has died away and we wend our way home. A traditional bandstand is a circular or semi-circular structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, and designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. It is a simple construction yet it creates an ornamental focal point and also serves acoustic requirements while providing shelter for the changeable weather. Many of those in England date from the 19th century and originated as the brass band movement gained popularity but they are not used quite as frequently today as in the past. We do have concerts in Bourne on Sunday afternoons in summer but in the absence of a bandstand, musicians are grouped around the steps of the War Memorial in South Street while those who turn up to listen sit on the grass around the ornamental gardens, borrow chairs from the Darby and Joan Hall or bring their own blankets and deckchairs. It is a wonderful social occasion but one that would be even better if we had a real bandstand. This column suggested last year that such an addition would provide a tremendous attraction in the Wellhead Gardens and even enhance its appearance (Bourne Diary, 16th July 2011) and our deputy mayor, Councillor Helen Powell (Bourne West) is now urging the trustees of Bourne United Charities which administers this very popular open space to give the idea urgent consideration and allow a bandstand to be built in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations this summer. "I am in the process of collating all the information for a beautiful Victorian bandstand", writes Councillor Powell in her regular column in the magazine Discovering Bourne (March 2012). "I have been sourcing the materials, tradespeople, master craftsmen and designers, all local. This information will be presented to Bourne United Charities once it is complete. In the meantime, I am looking for some sponsorship. Every year we have marvellous brass bands visit Bourne and play wonderful concerts and this would be a permanent fixture for the people of the town and for visitors to enjoy in the years to come." Last week, this column reported on rumours circulating in Bourne that the trustees had been considering siting a skateboard park at the Abbey Lawn, a project that would undoubtedly cause widespread protest, not least because of the unsuitability of the site. A bandstand in the Wellhead Gardens, however, is a far more fitting amenity and one that deserves their wholehearted support. One morning more than fifty years ago, we awoke to clean streets and roadside verges. There was not a cigarette packet or chocolate wrapper in sight and anyone who even thought of dropping the smallest bit of rubbish did so at their peril because the possibility of a policeman appearing on the scene with his notebook and pencil was suddenly a real possibility. This was the first day of the Litter Act of 1958, the beginning of a campaign to clean up the nation's streets, and notices were soon going up around the country with the warning: "Anyone who throws down, drops or otherwise deposits litter otherwise than in the receptacles provided is guilty of an offence and is liable under summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £10." The public generally accepted the new regulations and so prosecutions were not numerous and it was not until a year later that the first litter lout in Bourne appeared before the local magistrates at the town hall accused of dropping a fish and chip paper in North Street. The culprit was prosecuted on Thursday 1st October 1959, a 28-year-old man from Morton whose name I will not give to save him any embarrassment for such a dubious honour if he is still with us, but suffice it to say that he was truly repentant, so sorry in fact that his mother wrote to the court on his behalf pleading for leniency because her son had been ill and was not fully acquainted with the new legislation. Nevertheless, Bourne Urban District Council, which was then responsible for maintaining our highways in a reasonably clean state, pressed for a conviction and the accused was fined 10s. which is only 50p in today’s money but was then a tidy sum at a time when the average weekly wage was around £5. The council clerk, Douglas Reeson, who prosecuted, told the court that bins had been placed in conspicuous places around the town in the hope that this would make the public more litter conscious and the authority intended to summons all offenders in the future. His evidence was corroborated by a police constable who had seen the accused throw the fish and chip paper down although there was a bin only four yards away and another within ten yards. This vigilance was to be commended at a time when litter was becoming a major problem for local authorities throughout the country but unfortunately, the honeymoon for the Litter Act is now well and truly over. The clean streets from the years which followed its introduction are less frequent and the vigilance which was once the watchword of the populace has disappeared. The disciplines of personal behaviour have relaxed with the changing social climate and street litter, once mainly the province of the careless and thoughtless, is now often a deliberate act. Recent letters to The Times have revealed that litter is defacing the land at popular tourist spots such as the area around Shakespeare's birth place at Stratford which is described as "filthy" while visitors to this country for the Olympics will see similar conditions as soon as they leave our airports (February 25th). "On all exit roads from Heathrow", wrote one correspondent, "the hedgerows, slipways and kerbsides are littered with discarded bottles, drink cans, crisp packets, scraps of paper and other assorted detritus. Look closely next time your drive around the UK and you will see how dirty the country is." Here in Bourne, the problem is not much better and our journey to Stamford last week along the A6121 was a particular reminder that our highways are a constant target for litter louts with roadside verges strewn with paper, bottles and cans, presumably thrown from passing cars and blown into the hedgerows to deface the countryside for months to come. There is something about rubbish that prompts everyone who creates it want to get rid of it immediately no matter where they are, so making it someone else's problem. Since those days more than half a century ago, the Litter Act has been updated, in 1971 and 1983, and so it remains an offence to drop rubbish in public places. Unfortunately, enforcement is no longer a priority for the police and our local authorities and so we are likely to remain in the mess we are now in. Thought for the Week: If there were as many police officers on the beat as there are on television, the country wouldn't be in the state it's in. - Inspector Raymond Fowler (Rowan Atkinson) in an episode of the comedy series The Thin Blue Line, screened by BBC Television, 23rd March 2001. Saturday 10th March 2012
The history books tell us that the market in Bourne is held under a royal charter granted by King Edward I in 1279 and we imagine that it has been held continually ever since without disruption. Although this amenity may appear to be a most uneventful occasion today with traders and customers going about their business in a peaceful manner, that has not always been the case and events ninety years ago attracted the attention of the entire nation. The 13th century charter was granted to the Lord of the Manor of Bourne, Baldwin Wake, giving permission for a market to be held on a Saturday and this tradition has continued to the present day although a Thursday market was later added and this has become the more popular of the two. The manorial rights were subsequently acquired by the Cecil family whose distinguished member, William Cecil, was the first Lord Burghley, and this entitled his descendants, the Marquesses of Exeter, to receive the market rents. But in 1904, the then marquess agreed to hand over the rights to Bourne Urban District Council for the sum of £50 with the reservation in the lease that this should not interfere with Mr James Moisey, his collector of tolls, during his lifetime but the deed of conveyance was never signed. At the time, the tolls were purely nominal but by 1921, the size of the market had increased considerably and a large sum was being derived from the weekly payments by dealers from around the country, from Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Northampton and other East Midland towns. The Thursday market was then held in the streets and a survey carried out prior to the meeting showed that there were 62 stalls occupying a frontage of some 225 yards and the support of the public was such that trading on some days often went on until late in the evening, much to the annoyance of people living nearby who had often complained about the noise. It had therefore become a profitable undertaking and the council decided to resume their negotiations with the Marquess of Exeter to take over completely. "It is high time", said one councillor, "for the market to belong to the town." The marquess had told the council that he was quite willing to sell but by then, Mr Moisey had died and his son, Jim Moisey, had taken over collecting the tolls, claiming that it was a family tradition dating back three centuries which he refused to give up. The council therefore decided to settle the matter by calling a public meeting of ratepayers and all interested parties which was held at the town hall on Thursday 3rd November 1921. Unfortunately, because of the dramatic increase in business, a rumour soon spread through the town that the council intended to put up rents for the stalls to a prohibitive level with the result that a large crowd attended the meeting which turned out to be a rowdy occasion, the proceedings being marked by considerable disturbances as speaker after speaker was interrupted. There were also accusations that there were too many tradesmen on the council who wanted to destroy the market by charging exorbitant tolls while keeping the prices in their own shops high. The main opponents to the transaction were members and friends of the Moisey family but their claim to have held the market rights for more than three centuries was disputed. Alderman John T Swift, a noted local historian, was called in to give his opinion and he told the meeting that he had searched the church records but there was no such name as Moisey registered in Bourne 300 years before. The meeting eventually closed with the resolution that the council should acquire the rights on behalf of the town for the future but Jim Moisey continued to exert his claim to collect the tolls, a persistence which led to a confrontation on market day, Thursday 8th December, which was even reported by the national press. A headline in one newspaper called it "The Battle of Bourne" and the report went on: "The first round of the big fight began yesterday. The marquess got to work early in the morning by sending a large body of men to erect stalls on his own. They put them up all along the usual spaces as though Mr Jim Moisey did not exist. But the town that claims Hereward the Wake as one of its natives is liable to produce other doughty persons. Mr Moisey walked down to the market place and became active. He quietly took all of the marquess's stalls down and packed them up in bundles very neatly against one of the market walls. Then he erected his own stalls and made the usual collection. He got every one of the tolls collected, except one that had been paid to the marquess's men earlier in the day and he went home feeling happy. Now the marquess's men have intimated that next Thursday they are going to attempt to collect the tolls in spite of Mr Moisey but that gentleman has replied that he intends to maintain his rights to the full. The marquess claims that the market rights have always belonged to him and says he allowed the Moisey family to collect the tolls out of kindness. This is the point of the deadlock. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Bourne are awaiting the next market day with some curiosity." But despite this bitter confrontation, the dispute ended amicably. Jim Moisey eventually withdrew his claim after agreeing a private financial settlement with the marquess who then decided to retain the market rights and he appointed a new collector of tolls, John Pool, to act on his behalf. To avoid any further confusion in the future, an official deed of contract was drawn up between them and signed by his lordship to this effect, a document which still exists and can now be seen on display at the Heritage Centre. In 1923, Bourne Urban District Council renewed its attempt to take over the market rights but without success and a further approach was made in 1949 on the urging of the chairman, Councillor Thomas Revill. Negotiations on both occasions proved to be abortive and the rights remained with the marquess and administered through the Burghley Estates for a further period before a successful agreement was arrived at in 1961. The rights subsequently passed to South Kesteven District Council in 1974 during the re-organisation of local government and this authority now collects the market tolls and is responsible for its administration. There is an old saying that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it’s a duck and so it is with an increase in council tax. The local authorities can posture all they may about listening to the public and doing their bidding but the plain truth is that we will all have to pay more in the coming year. Both Lincolnshire County Council and South Kesteven District Council have told the newspapers that they have decided to freeze their council tax for 2012-13 (The Local, March 2nd) but in the same report we read that the police authority is to impose a 3.96% increase and SKDC is to charge home owners £25 a year for having a green bin for garden waste. In both instances, the extra cash being collected is described as "a modest increase" but it is an increase and one that will hit those on low and fixed incomes, particularly the elderly who are already struggling to pay their food and heating bills. The government has made it quite clear that local authorities should not put up the council tax and on paper it looks as though they have not done so yet when the bill comes in next month everyone will find that they will be paying more. The surcharge on green bins is particularly deplorable in view of the public outcry there has been, especially in the Grantham Journal (February 3rd) which carried a scathing front page condemnation of the proposal, one of the most critical reports of local authority policy that I have read in more than half a century in journalism, but has been totally ignored by the district council. Yet the leader, Linda Neal (Bourne West) is also quoted by the newspaper as saying: "We have listened to what residents have told us what matters most to them." There is a mistaken belief in the country that we are all in this together to help solve the current financial crisis but that is not so. The them and us culture predominates because despite the pay freeze on public sector workers, all employees of SKDC earning £21K and below are to get an extra £250 in the coming year which will come from the council tax. Few of those home owners who will have to pay the £25 extra for having their green bin emptied and pay the additional police precept earn that and most of the oldies have an income of less than half yet it is they who will have to cough up. The police authority increase is also questionable especially as it has a history of claiming large amounts from the council tax ever since their precept was separated from that of the county council. In 2008, for instance, the average council tax bill went up by £100 a year to meet the additional income demanded by Lincolnshire Police despite Home Office ratings published the previous October which decided that this county had one of the worst performing police forces in England and Wales. Our M P, Quentin Davies, the member for Grantham and Stamford, protested that the amount was totally unjustified and it took government intervention the following June to scrap it with the result that council tax bills had to be reissued to every household in the county at an estimated cost of £500,000. This year, the police demand will mean that band D households will pay an extra £7.11 a year, an increase that was pushed through with the usual dire warnings of the consequences if it is not paid. The claim is necessary, said the chairman of the police authority, Barry Young, "to keep officers on the streets" (The Local, March 9th) and the alternative could even be "a threat to public safety" adding: "We had a stark choice", he said, "either raise the level of our precept or lose more police officers." What he did not mention was the current climate of opinion about our police forces which is not good. Since this web site was launched in August 1998, the most frequent complaint has been the lack of a police presence on the streets and a reluctance to turn out when help is needed and there has been little change in this belief. To seek more money without providing a better service will be regarded by many as indefensible. This year's increases may seem to be small amounts to pay but they all add up to higher payments of council tax and a further burden on hard pressed households already besieged by demands from the energy and water companies whose bills rise annually with little or no difference in the service. They all seem to have their hands in our pockets and it is now apparent that local authorities have carte blanche to take money from us regardless and without redress, much as the highwaymen of past centuries except today they do not wear masks. Thought for the week: "Freezing council tax is practical help every councillor can offer their constituents. Councillors have a moral duty to sign up to keep down the cost of living. Anything less is a kick in the teeth to hard working, decent taxpayers." - Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in a statement on 22nd January 2012. Saturday 17th March 2012
A new book just published will come as a surprise to those who have
followed the fortunes of BRM here in Bourne because it reveals that Louis T
Stanley, one-time owner of the company and well known in Formula One racing
circles, was the illegitimate son of Herbert Asquith who was Prime Minister of
Britain from
1908 to 1916. Louis and Jean Stanley became team principals for BRM from the 1960s and as Stanley-BRM from
1974 until the team's closure in 1977. He was therefore a frequent visitor to
Bourne, always by chauffer driven car, but was not popular with staff at the
workshops.
"In fact he was intensely disliked and we were always glad when he had gone",
one of the former motor racing mechanics who assisted the author with her
researches told me this week. The review goes on: “Her stepfather, and indeed the man she had referred to as father for most of her life, had kept a huge secret and had lied about who he really was. In this intriguing biographical detective story, the author reveals that Stanley had hidden his true background from his wife and from the public and the result is a revealing personal memoir which uncovers what kind of a man he really was. His stifling influence over the author and her family is explored, as are the extraordinary lengths he went to in order to cover up his past and his true identity. The result of this quest is an enthralling journey not only into her own past but also the history of this country and its leaders. As well as serving as an important historical document which will challenge commonly held opinions of modern British history, the wonderfully researched book is a gripping story of forbidden love, betrayal and identity." Louis Stanley died in January 2004, aged 92. Apart from motor racing, his other activities included writing, producing many books, and he was also one time honorary secretary of the Grand Prix Drivers Association and director general of the Grand Prix Medical Service. He was also one of the first to bring overt sponsorship into Formula One with the 1972-3 Marlboro cigarette livery. Always known as Big Lou, he cut an imposing figure and had an aura of distinction that impressed many, especially foreigners who believed him to be a lord and he was sometimes referred to as Sir Lou. This book will do much to change that image. Yet another amenity in Bourne has become the victim of the dreaded cuts, this time the waste recycling centre in Pinfold Lane where opening times are to be slashed from seven days a week to just four with reduced hours into the bargain. We forecast last September that this valuable community facility was a target for the book-keepers when Lincolnshire County Council launched one of those periodic public consultations, a set of questions for residents allegedly intended to "help mould the type and level of service" on offer. Now we know that it is to be drastically reduced despite the success of the recycling initiative throughout the country and which here in Lincolnshire has persuaded residents to recycle 52% of their household waste, surpassing the government's target of 50% by 2015. The authority appears to have shot itself in the foot this time because there will be less opportunity to dump waste which will continue to be generated unabated with the result that the tip will be crowded on those days it is open and a tremendous loss on those days it is not and so we may expect to see more fly tipping around the district as we did in those days before the centre was opened ten years ago. The road to knowledge lies through experience yet local authorities repeatedly make the same mistakes again and again. Waste disposal has a particular resonance for the people of Bourne who fought for 26 years to have a convenient place to dump their excess rubbish while the county council dragged its heels and subjected them to the most degrading ritual on Saturday mornings when trying to get rid of it in the back of a lorry parked in a supermarket car park for a few hours every Saturday morning. There was a sigh of relief throughout the town when the Pinfold Lane centre eventually opened in April 2002, run by the contractors Bullimores, but now it seems that the jubilation is short lived and we are once again at the mercy of the jobsworths at county hall. Slapping an annual £25 surcharge on emptying green waste bins, as South Kesteven District Council has done, will also aggravate the problem because oldies who cannot afford to pay will start using the recycling centre and so add to the lengthy queues that are an inevitable consequence of this misguided decision. Economies within our local authorities are badly needed yet those who make the decisions appear to skirt round the edges, avoiding the obvious such as the propaganda newspapers they publish, County News and SKtoday, both of which should be axed and the money they cost be put to useful purpose, yet both will no doubt soon be appearing, lauding the latest developments as not only being in the best interests of council tax payers and of which they also approve, which of course they do not. When I began covering local government affairs some sixty years ago, councils at urban, rural and county level were run by a handful of officials and elected councillors and everything worked fine. Today, staffing levels have ballooned out of control with the result that one department often does not know what the other is doing and there must be dozens of staff who are not fully or usefully employed. As a result, local authorities have become increasingly remote from the people they represent, more interested in retaining the fiefdoms that have been created than delivering public services, and we hear less and less from the councillors who were elected to serve them. Bourne has six representatives on South Kesteven District Council and two on Lincolnshire County Council and it would be interesting to know how many are (a) objecting to or (b) agreeing with the unpopular developments discussed here. The reason for cutting opening times at the waste recycling centre have been given in a statement to The Local by Councillor Lewis Strange, executive member for waste services at Lincolnshire County Council which has thirteen such tips around the county. He said that the restrictions were the alternative to closing tips completely (March 9th) and added: “We still need to save £1.2 million from the waste budget which is why the opening hours and days have been changed to help achieve this. I am sure people will carry on doing all they can to boost our tremendous recycling levels.” In other words, the onus is on the public to continue giving support to the recycling initiative even though the county council has made conditions for dumping more difficult. Added to this, people will be extremely puzzled why the authority is considering the establishment of another household waste recycling centre at Baston, five miles south of Bourne, which is planned to open from 8 am until 6 pm Monday to Friday and 8 am until 4 pm Saturdays and Sundays. This facility has required a great deal of negotiation with the contractors, PMK Recycling, meetings with the parish council and the proposed erection of new traffic signs to discourage drivers from going through the village to get there, all in all an ambitious scheme for a small community with a population of less than 1,500 whereas in Bourne just up the road, which has a population of ten times that number, residents are having their service curtailed. Perhaps the council can explain that or is it, as I have suggested earlier, a case of one department not knowing what the other is doing. There is an acute water shortage in Bourne despite the town sitting on ample reserves that have supplied this community since the earliest times. But today we have to share what we have with a wider catchment area, courtesy Anglian Water, and so when they run short we also suffer the consequences. There have been droughts before, notably in 1976 which also hit this area badly, bringing standpipes and shared baths. Then, as now, the crisis was caused by months of dry weather followed by a cloudless summer and thousands of homes were left without tap water for much of the day as the nation basked in temperatures of 90F, often higher. It became patriotic to have a dirty car. Washing-up water was poured down the toilet instead of flushing and homes fixed golden rules about bath time, using five inches of water at most and then sprinkled it onto the garden. Hosepipe patrol vans toured the streets to ensure that the restrictions were enforced and helicopters hovered overhead trying to spot a green garden, a sure sign of illegal watering. We are now approaching the same situation that we had 35 years ago with a hosepipe ban and other restrictions coming into force from April 5th and a £1,000 fine for anyone who transgresses. The last time this happened there was much talk of emergency measures for the future, of improvements to the system to ensure that there was no recurrence of similar hardships, but little or nothing was done. Two thirds of drinking water in England comes from surface water, including reservoirs, lakes and rivers, and the rest from ground waters. During my career in journalism, I have attended the opening of two reservoirs in the Anglian Water region built to keep pace with the population demand, Grafham Water, near Huntingdon in 1965 and Rutland Water near Stamford in 1976, both projects completed before the water authority was privatised in 1989. No similar undertaking has been completed in this area since despite the population explosion and boom in house building of recent years that has had such a tremendous impact on our towns and cities. We therefore have another drought situation on our hands without adequate safeguards and the solution put forward by Anglian Water this time is to give us less water but charge more because bills are to increase by 5.7% in the coming financial year. The authority needs the money because although what is promised cannot be delivered, staff salary increases and pension entitlements must still be met and so, as with our councils, it is the customers who will have to cough up yet again, that mass of people who are seen by all of our local authorities and public utilities as the milch cow that always provides. Thought for the week: When the well is dry, we know the worth of water. - Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a noted polymath, author, politician, scientist, inventor, statesman and diplomat. *
NOTE: Conspiracy of Secrets by Bobbie Neate is published by Metro Saturday 24th March 2012
There was a traffic hold-up along Meadowgate last Friday and at one point, the northern end towards Harrington Street was packed for some time with vehicles heading in both directions yet most were stationary and the others unable to muster more than a crawl. Gridlock ensued accompanied by seething road rage with white knuckles evident everywhere as drivers gritted their teeth and gripped their wheels, and multiple collisions were missed only by a coat of paint. It could have been worse, as it has been in the past and may well be in the future, because this road is a potential death trap and it is only because cars are forced to slow down to snail's pace that a serious accident has been avoided. This type of traffic jam is now a frequent occurrence, caused mainly by the inadequacy of the cramped turning into Harrington Street but aggravated by the narrowness of the road and the large number of parked cars along the west side which are always a hazard for other vehicles along a highway which was originally intended for the horse and cart and has hardly been improved since. The problem of congestion along Meadowgate has been with us for many years and as the volume of vehicles in town has increased, it has become one of our worst traffic hazards. On occasions, the road can be positively dangerous, becoming almost impassable at peak periods such as Thursday market day and during the Saturday shopping rush. The junction with Harrington Street is a particular bottleneck and the situation becomes perilous at busy times when heavy traffic coincides with the lunch hour at Bourne Academy as dozens of children head into town with their heads full of things other than road safety. The situation was exacerbated by the opening of the Burghley Centre and the former Budgens supermarket (now Co-operative Food) in 1989 when it was known that the daily chase for one of the 170 available parking spaces would create chaos along this road and this has happened in no small measure, a situation that will worsen with the opening of the Bourne Community Access Point at the Corn Exchange which is scheduled for early next year, a problem that has been conveniently ignored by the planners. Now, the town council has been discussing the possibility of a one way system at a meeting of the highways and planning committee on Tuesday (March 13th) when it was decided to seek talks with Kevin Brumfield, highways manager for Lincolnshire County Council which is responsible for roads in the town. If this meeting is favourable, it will be a long and tortuous process before anything is done, years rather than months, but we live in hope that a solution will at last be found. There has been an attempt to address this issue before because in 2005, highway engineers from Lincolnshire County Council who had examined methods of decreasing congestion along this street, proposed a one way system, a suggestion that would have solved the problem at a stroke. But the same highways and planning committee would have none of it and the majority of members refused to support the scheme. Councillors were near unanimous in their condemnation of a one-way system on the grounds that it would be unworkable although they gave no reasons why except that they feared large amounts of traffic would be moved to another part of town while vehicles would go down Recreation Road or Ancaster Road as an alternative and this could be dangerous for children playing at the recreation ground. It was therefore shelved. In the seven years that have elapsed, traffic has dramatically increased as the town has expanded and the population soared. Although some of those councillors who voted against the one-way system in 2005 are still with us, we now have a majority of new and younger members on the authority and it is therefore hoped that this time, wiser counsel will prevail if and when this solution comes to a vote. What the local newspapers are saying: Another scathing attack on the rubbish collection and waste recycling policies of South Kesteven District Council is given front page treatment in the Grantham Journal for the second time this year. Their report (March 16th) says that the authority is “kicking people in the teeth” by not providing a weekly collection service despite the offer of financial help from a special £250 million fund set up by the Department for Communities and Local Government whose spokesman said that any council which did not collect waste every week was “offering a second rate service”. Weekly waste collections in this area were axed when wheelie bins were introduced in the autumn of 2006 and councils could apply for the funding to bring them back but the deadline expired last week and SKDC told the newspaper that it had not applied and had no intention of doing so. “Local residents are satisfied with the current alternate weekly service”, said Dave Banks, head of environmental services. Earlier this year (January 27th), the Grantham Journal carried another front page criticism of the council’s new policy of charging £25 for emptying green garden waste bins which is due to come into force on April 1st. Furious readers made no bones about what they thought about the additional charge which was condemned as a stealth tax aimed at good citizens anxious to do their bit for the environment and the headlines warned that the public had "declared war" on the council for its misguided proposal. The report said that the levy would victimise people with gardens and fly tipping would spiral out of control as readers complained that they were already paying too much for too little from the waste and recycling collection service and would not be “held to ransom". The Grantham Journal is becoming well known for such campaigns and maintains an active interest in council affairs rather than feed readers on a diet of official news releases and extracts from the minutes. Policies are examined in detail and their effects analysed, which is as it should be because these matters have a direct effect on our lives and unpleasant decisions are likely to be taken without the public exposure that is an essential part of the democratic system. Anyone who wishes to keep up with what our main local authorities are doing, therefore, might wish to buy the newspaper which already has a strong readership in Bourne and is obtainable at several retail outlets in the town. The newspaper’s current campaign suggests that councils are taking decisions with little or no regard to the people they represent. Facilities for waste collection have never been good and subjected to many costly changes in recent years, from black plastic bags and boxes to wheelie bins, all unsatisfactory schemes but working well within their limits, while it is only in recent times that Bourne has finally been given its own waste recycling depot. This year has seen a change for the worse in waste collection and recycling policies at both district and county level, allegedly driven by financial cut backs which is a misguided strategy considering their environmental importance and the fact that the disposal of rubbish is the only tangible service most people see in return for the payment of their council tax. Unfortunately, there is an air of arrogance in the enforcement of these policies and despite the vociferous protests, the prognosis for the future is not good and so things are quite likely to deteriorate even further. The long term performance of solar panels is based on conjecture, the promises of salesmen who gaily predict that they will last for 25 years and pay for their keep in half that time. As this development is comparatively new, there is no way of knowing that this forecast will come true and because the cost of installation is so high, prospective buyers should tread carefully, especially those who are spending public money. We learn, therefore, with some dismay, that South Kesteven District Council has spent £380,000 on fitting 600 solar panels to four buildings, the leisure centres at Grantham, Stamford and Bourne and the Corn Exchange at Bourne, with the prediction that they will cut electricity bills by £12,000 a year, although Councillor John Smith, portfolio holder for healthy environment, claims that the money spent will be paid back in less than six years which is only £72,000, a rather large shortfall. Either way, this expenditure appears to be a risk investment and one that can hardly be justified at a time of economic hardship, when cuts are being made across the district and a £25 levy is being imposed on homeowners, mainly old age pensioners, to have their green garden waste bins emptied, a sure sign that the council is short of ideas in reducing the budget. Installing solar panels is not a priority at the present time. It is an experimental luxury that could have waited until their performance had been proven and the financial climate improved. Seeing these shiny new surfaces on the roofs of our public buildings may make councillors feel good, an assurance that they are trying to do something for the environment, but in the long run they could well turn out to be a white elephant by which time the money will have been wasted and with it the opportunity to invest in tangible and useful services for the public or indeed, continue with those that we already have and are working well such as the waste recycling initiative here in Bourne, rather than reduce its usefulness under the guise of economy. Our Neighbourhood Watch warned this week to be on the alert because of an attempted credit card fraud after it was reported that someone had been tampering with a cash machine in the town centre at Bourne. This activity by criminals is known as skimming and involves fitting a small electronic device to the ATM machine to swipe numbers from credit cards which enables them use the information to draw money from the account. As a result of the incident, police told customers that if they had experienced anything suspicious while drawing cash to call them immediately and not to continue using the machine until speaking to bank staff. The message, however, added: "Unfortunately, the bank concerned on this occasion has opposed publicity so the exact location cannot be disclosed." This would appear to be quite unacceptable for what is the point of knowing that a cash machine might have been at risk when we do not know where it is. There are five banks and building societies in Bourne and a number of other cash points at retail outlets and if any of them are targeted then the public has a right to know which one. The owners should not be allowed to suppress information about something which is not only a matter of public concern but also a criminal activity about which the people ought to be kept fully informed. The act of covering up theft or attempted theft in this way is against the public interest and if banks persist in this policy, then it is of little use in notifying the public in the first place. From the archives: Two Jeremy Diddlers [artful swindlers] were staying at the Bull Inn [now the Burghley Arms] last week. They talked very largely and fared sumptuously at the expense of the landlord. When they started, they said they were going to Stamford market but they have not returned to discharge the liabilities they left behind them. They had with them a horse and gig which had been hired at Wisbech and the owner has since sent to Bourne to inquire after it, but too late. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 12th May 1854. Thought for the week: The man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud. The basic forms are all known, have all been practiced. The manners of capitalism improve. The morals may not. - John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006), Canadian-American economist and leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and progressivism whose books were best sellers through three decades. Saturday 31st March 2012
We had a glimpse this week of the new Bourne Community Access Point due to be established at the Corn Exchange in the coming year. Plans, computer images and photographs were on display in the first floor reception area in order to give people a chance to see what is going to happen. Unfortunately, the exhibition was only there on Monday and so just a few people turned up but it was worth the visit because we were able to talk to officers from South Kesteven Council about the project which will cost an estimated £263,480 with work beginning next week. The new amenity looked very attractive although the coloured computer images of the interior gave a distorted view of the layout and were probably intended to show more space than there really will be, perhaps because of misgivings in the town that so many organisations are going the share the available area that the council is trying to pour a quart into a pint pot. The list of services to be housed there includes the county, district and town council offices, a customer services counter, public library, children's reading room, interview rooms, internet access points, the Citizens' Advice Bureau, kitchen, coffee room and changing rooms, the main function hall on the ground floor being unchanged. Also in the running is the register office, now based in West Street but due to be phased out as a cost cutting measure by Lincolnshire County Council, and a police presence to enable the closure of the station office in West Road. My own personal concern is the future of the reference library which enjoys ample room at the present public library premises in South Street where the walls are lined with glass cases containing books dealing with a multitude of subjects as well as the history of the town and bound volumes containing past issues of The Local newspaper together with plenty of table space to enable visitors spread out while they work. Many people who use this facility will want an assurance that this valuable research facility will be transferred to the new area and one of the council staff said that it would although when I asked for an exact location, she airily waved at the layout in front of her and said: “Oh, it will be in there somewhere” and so we must wait and see. I also raised the question of car parking and the council has admitted that this will be a problem. A concentration of services here will mean extra staff, most of them driving to work although only nine spaces are currently reserved for users of the Corn Exchange. But priority for the other spaces immediately outside will be given to council staff and it is hoped that visits by the public will be sufficiently short to avoid congestion but this will be inevitable, especially on Thursdays when the market stalls take over and it is doubtful if Co-operative Food, which owns the rest of the Burghley Street car park, will take kindly to spaces reserved for shoppers being taken by visitors. This particular issue should have been addressed from the start, but it was not and so there will be problems ahead. Otherwise, the scheme looks good although its success will depend entirely on the available space and if, as many people fear, the new Bourne Community Access Point turns out to be too cramped, then it will fail. The establishment of the new access point means that the Town Hall will be phased out and this raises the issue of whether we may have been wasting too much time and money on our heritage. This Grade II listed building which dates from 1821 was the work of local architect Bryan Browning and although not in the top league of historic gems, it is among the best we have in Bourne and therefore worthy of preservation. However, a look round the building this week reveals that a lot of money would be needed to maintain its present role as the centre of civic affairs and in these straightened times that cannot be right. A move elsewhere would therefore appear to be the way forward although we will have to wait and see whether the Corn Exchange will prove to be a suitable location. The new access point is due to open early next year when a new role will have to be found for the Town Hall and sale on the open market is likely to be the bureaucratic solution to its redundancy. After that, anything is possible with a once distinguished building becoming empty and neglected or even destined for an ignominious future as a Wetherspoon or carpet warehouse. The town is not blessed with old and important buildings and although there are 71 listed properties, few can claim to deserve protection if the cost is likely to be high. Many do not even look attractive and are on the list merely because some of the structure, often hidden from view, is 17th or 18th century and was once considered to be architecturally important, while others are not maintained as they should be, notably Wake House in North Street which is becoming noticeably dilapidated even though it is owned by South Kesteven District Council and a close inspection this week revealed that the frontage is extremely neglected while the window frames look as though they are about to fall out, a sad state of affairs from a local authority responsible for the conservation area in which it stands. The listing of old buildings means that major alteration or demolition cannot take place without specific permission from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, usually on the advice of English Heritage, and so money must be found to keep them in good order. However, in the present economic crisis, there are sure to be more cases where this will not be possible and although the local authority does have the power to step in and do the work, it is doubtful if this would be done if there was little likelihood of them recouping their outlay. The future of our protected buildings is therefore uncertain, particularly those in commercial use for shops and offices which frequently change ownership or tenancy, although some of the more important ones do appear to be secure, particularly the Red Hall, which dates from 1605, and is safely in the hands of Bourne United Charities, and the early 19th century Baldock’s Mill which they also own but is currently leased to Bourne Civic Society. Both are Grade II listed but their continued preservation should not be taken for granted. The Town Hall is one of the most important period buildings in Bourne yet that is now likely to be cast into the property market and the respect in which it has been treated in the past will go with it. That was an unthinkable situation five years ago yet the end of its useful life as the centre of civic administration appears to be passing with hardly a whimper. What next, we wonder? Will the Abbey Church, our only Grade I listed building dating back to the 12th century, eventually suffer the same fate? There is evidence that financial support for our churches is not as strong as it was, a combination of rising costs and dwindling congregations, yet in each town and village, a few dozen people continue with the fight to safeguard their future in the face of tremendous odds although many continue to close when the battle is lost, even being sold for housing and other purposes such as shops and warehouses. These are testing times when faith may not be enough and for those who find the thought of our own ancient church shutting its doors and being turned over for commercial use, we should remember that in this dramatically changing world where money and greed are dictating events, nothing is sacred any longer. A pawnbroker is opening for business in Bourne, perhaps a sign of the times in which more people are in need of ready cash than ever before, mainly as a result of the economic crisis which has pushed up prices and reduced employment opportunities. For those who are not familiar with this type of business, I should explain that a pawnbroker is someone who offers short term loans on items of personal property which are used as collateral, the word pawn being derived from the Latin pignus for pledge and the items being handed to the broker are known as pledges or pawns, or simply the collateral. The agreement is that the money should be returned within a certain period together with an agreed interest, all of which is governed by law, otherwise the pawned item will be offered for sale. Pawnbroking is now widespread throughout the world and has a long history in England dating back to the 11th century. The pawnbroker's symbol of three golden balls suspended from a bar was once a familiar sight in most towns, especially in working class areas, and has become the stuff of music hall jokes along with the slang term of uncle, so called in humorous allusion to the financial favours often expected and sometimes received from rich uncles. Unfortunately, literature has not treated the reputation of the trade well with the result that it has been stigmatised and is now widely regarded as the last resort of the desperate to obtain money. I have been through the archives and cannot find a single pawnbroker listed in the various trade directories for Bourne over the past two centuries although being a small market town, it is possible that this business was also carried on in a small way by various watch and clockmakers who also dealt in jewellery, otherwise customers may have travelled to larger towns such as Stamford, Grantham and Peterborough. However, this is not a first for the town because the venture was attempted some years ago when the small shop next to the Baptist Church in West Street that had been standing empty for several months after the opticians that traded there moved to larger premises suddenly became a pawnbroker's shop in December 2000, although it did not last but the economic climate was then very different from what it is today. The new outlet is to operate across the road from No 17 West Street under the name of The Jewellery Box, an indication of the most popular items to be taken in as pledges while the services offered include cheques cashed, instant loans, gold and silver bought and sold ("best prices paid") and of course there will be a lot of stuff on sale, "pre-loved gold and silver and a massive selection of costume jewellery", which, in effect, means other people's property that has not been redeemed for one reason or another. It is a serious decision to take your much loved possessions to a pawnbroker and hand them over in return for short term cash, firstly because the amount offered will never be equal to the value you expect and customers are likely to be disappointed with the valuation, usually discovering that a ring or brooch which they thought was of immense value is worth no more than a paltry sum. If anyone needs ready cash, eBay, the Internet auction site, is a safe bet but the ideal place for the sale of more valuable items is a reputable auctioneer, such as Batemans of Stamford, where you will get expert advice and items invariably realise their true market value, a much cheaper alternative with only a commission and lotting fee to pay although this process involves a longer wait for a sale and settlement which would not help someone wanting money in a hurry. The pawnbroker therefore does fill a need, especially in times of real hardship, but it is best to remember the old and ubiquitous joke about the pawnbroker's sign that the three balls mean: "Two to one you won't get your stuff back." Thought for the week: A financier is a pawnbroker with imagination. - Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director. Return to Monthly entries |
