Elmley Castle - Latest Comments

Re: A Poem By James Hickman

Lucy molly — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:04:03 -0000

Great word collection! I just impressed to read this excellent poem. Love it. I'm really enjoyed this. The meaningful sentence is "Their anger’s not for Cedar trees, its pent up jealousy!" Thanks!!!

Re: A Poem By James Hickman

John patrick locke — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:40:04 -0000

A very interesting riposte .

Re: Great Comberton Village Hall

Gnicola — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:05:30 -0000

Hi Can anyone help me, I am tgrying to track down Colin Bell Brass teacher. I am a former student from many years ago ? You can email me at gnicola@icgcommerce.com my name is George.

Re: A Poem By James Hickman

stephen cook — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:29:55 -0000

We had the same problem on a lesser scale with a large Silver Birch the council said it had to go and the locals accused us of being devils. Listen to the experts and if you do not know what you are talking about shut up.

Re: Wheelie Bin Law Guidance

steven walton — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:38:46 -0000

can you put earphone in the bin

Re: Pilates

Pippa — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:00:08 -0000

Are you still teaching Pilates at Elmley Castle village hall?
Or nearby?
If so are there any spaces, what is the cost and times please.
Pippa

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

James — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:19:20 -0000

I think I need to start a new website called James v Anna !

I would of course be a lot more convinced on the sincerity of your comments if the up to date register of Councillors interests was published on the Wychavon website. (As it is on the Worcester County Council website)

As you said earlier:

"... because the information is all freely available anyway on the website, which is the first port of call for us to keep the public informed."

Perhaps the first port of call to keep the public informed about the things that you want to tell them.

The things that you would rather hide away are conspicous by their absence and require a special trip or a written application to the Civic Centre or in some cases a Freedom of Information Request.

If a website is the best way to make information publicly available (which it is) why is the information about Councillors interests not published on the website ?

If it is really so easy to pop down to the Civic Centre every time we want to find something out, why are you wasting taxpayers money on a website that is clearly not needed ?

Only a politician could try to justify two such contradictory positions simultaneously !

Regards,

James

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Anna Mackison — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:43:04 -0000

James,
I understand the latest figures on data theft in the UK amounts to £1.2bn. My own incident of data theft was £3000 perpetrated by a foreigner. This was not a small amount to me, or I should think to the majority of ordinary people, and so you will perhaps understand why I felt very strongly about my signature being used for public viewing, without my permission - I appreciate though that this was a mistake on your part.

I am just as concerned about my Register of Interests, which is done directly by me as my obligation as a councillor, and it can be viewed by anyone on request by going to the Civic Centre and asking. It is a very different matter for this to be published on a private website and left unaltered by the editor because it is my responsibility to keep it up to date at Wychavon and add or remove those items that I may have or no longer have an interest in, and so that anyone wishing to inspect it will have the true picture at any given time. The publication on your website is not the official version, is currently out of date and therefore it is incorrect. It is for this reason that you were asked to remove it, not to be difficult or trying to hide anything, but to make sure that the truth is represented, not someone elses version of it.

Regards,
Anna

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Editor — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:00:43 -0000

I cannot let such nonsense go unanswered, although I fear we are now straying wildly from things that relate to the Elmley Caste website:

This is the actual correspondence where the Council stopped the publication of your register of interests by the use of copyright law, after I had amended the document to remove your signature.

From: James Hickman [mailto:james@plumbworld.co.uk]
Sent: 09 February 2008 10:15
To: Marshall, Ian
Cc: Anna (Internet) Mackison
Subject: RE: Information Request

Dear Mr Marshall,

Thank you for your letter, received by email today.

I do appreciate the issue concerning identity theft and have obscured the signature on the register of interests document today.

I was under the impression that a councillor’s register of interests was a document of public record, and that I did not require either the Council’s consent or Mrs. Mackison’s consent to publish it on my website. If this is not correct please advise me and I will, of course, remove the whole register from the site immediately.

With all the current political scandal and calls for more openness in the financial affairs of public officials, e.g.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_...

many local councils actually publish these registers on their own websites, perhaps this is something that Wychavon might consider?

I assume that individual councillors will resist , but it is surely in the interests of open and accountable government? There will always be a suspicion, however unfounded, that if Councillors make it more difficult to access this information then they must have something to hide !

Personally, I am against identity cards, CCTV surveillance and the descent into an ever more Orwellian world where the state demands the right to know everything about the private lives of its citizens. However, if that is the world that our public officials insist upon, then those who live by the sword must surely die by it !

(A big thank you to Councillor Mackison for resisting the latest demands to infringe what is left of our privacy by microchipping our dustbins http://wychavon.wordpress.com/... )

On the wider identity fraud issue I would like to point out a few things:

1) Perhaps the council should obliterate the signatures before sending such documents out in the first place. Any fraudster would simply be able to request their own copy of the document under the Councils publication scheme to get a copy. If the council is serious about identity theft prevention, then it really should get its own house in order !

2) The council should also consider obliterating Councillor Mackison’s signature from the documents they publish on their own website, such as the forward to the adopted plan for 2006
http://wychavon.whub.org.uk/ho...

3) Finally, anyone in public office should consider signing up for a protective registration with CIFAS,
a. http://www.cifas.org.uk/defaul... , which offers first class protection against identity fraud.

Kind Regards,

James Hickman

The Reply I received was:

From: Marshall, Ian
To: James Hickman
Cc: Anna (Internet) Mackison
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:27 AM
Subject: RE: Information Request

Mr Hickman – Thank you for your response which is helpful. My view is that you do need consent to publish the register form on your website so I would be grateful if the whole register could now be removed.
You are correct that the practices of different Councils on this issue varies. However, at Wychavon, we decided not to publish the register forms & there is no legal requirement for this.
We are mindful that some published documents have included Members’ signatures & we do now intend to take steps to remove those signatures.
Ian Marshall

From: James Hickman [mailto:james@plumbworld.co.uk]
Sent: 11 February 2008 10:28
To: Marshall, Ian
Cc: Anna (Internet) Mackison
Subject: Re: Information Request

Thanks Ian,

if you can point me to the relevant statute or case law that underpins your view on the consent requirement I will remove the document today.

Regards,

James

From: Marshall, Ian
To: James Hickman
Cc: Anna (Internet) Mackison
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:57 AM
Subject: RE: Information Request

Mr Hickman – If you intend to reproduce any document, you should first get the permission of the owner ie the copyright holder. Disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act does not remove the copyright in it & therefore copyright restrictions must still be adhered to.
The law relating to copyright is governed by the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Ian Marshall

The Council is clearly not as willing to share information as you suggest.

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Anna Mackison — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:50:24 -0000

James,
I'm afraid this is incorrect and to clarify, the law allows anyone to view my Register of Interests, and as far as Wychavon are concerned have sight of my allowances (which are published in the press and on my website), and if they wish, my expenses too (which I do not claim!). However, my personal signature is a different matter. The problem you encountered was when you took a hard copy of my declaration with my signature on it and scanned it and put it on your website, which left me at risk of data fraud or identity theft. You apologised unreservedly at the time and removed it.

This had nothing to do with copyright. There are some documents which are protected by copyright, e.g. the plans which accompany planning applications, which are all clearly stamped as being copyright without the agreement of the copyright holder - usually the architect.

The majority of District Council business is conducted in public with the public and press able to attend, e.g. Overview and Scrutiny, Executive Board, Full Council, Development Control meetings, Development Control Policy meetings, etc., etc.
Not only that, but they are advertised on the Wychavon Website together with the agenda, paperwork and minutes. Annual budgets and independent auditors reports are also available. There are categories of information which is not usually open to public scrutiny, such as tender documents with suppliers and sub-contractors which is usually commercially sensitive or those things covered by the Data Protection Act.

These days, I believe it is mostly unnecessary for anyone to use the Freedom of Information Act because the information is all freely available anyway on the website, which is the first port of call for us to keep the public informed. There is public scrutiny and there is open debate and opportunities for members of the public to come and ask questions at most meetings and receive a reply there and then. This situation has been the case throughout my terms of office.

I hope this helps to reassure you or anyone else that may not know this, that Wychavon is not a secret society, it is a publicly accountable body.

Regards,
Anna Mackison

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Editor — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:19:30 -0000

Thanks Anna,

not editorial spin, simply cutting to the key points that would be of general interest.

As you are fully aware, in the past the Council has threatened me with legal action for publishing complete word for word correspondence. (I think the last time was when you wanted to stop me publishing a copy of your entries from the register of Councillors' interests !).

Unfortunately, to avoid this problem with copyright infringement it is necessary to extract the content and re-present it in my own words.

If you can arrange for the Council to provide a written undertaking that they won't sue me for copyright infringement if I publish their documents or correspondence I will of course be happy to publish the actual documents and correspondence, on this and any future issues. This would be in the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act and support public scrutiny and open debate, but I doubt that I will see such an undertaking any time soon !

Re: Wheelie Bin Law Guidance

Editor — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:18:08 -0000

Thank you for that Anna, I did not feel comfortable publishing the entire text for reasons of copyright. The Council has in the past asserted copyright protection over such correspondence as a means to prevent publication to a wider audience. I am sure that you have the necessary permissions so thank you making this available to everyone.

James

Re: Wheelie Bin Law Guidance

Anna Mackison — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:02:49 -0000

James,
I feel your precis of the explanations received from Wychavon to your questions does not give the full picture, and so, in the interests of allowing the public to judge for themselves, I am taking the liberty of placing an unexpurgated copy of the full text below:-

Dear Mr Hickman

I am the head of the service with responsibility for waste and recycling and I will be very pleased to
answer the points you have recently raised. Before I go through each point I would like to say that I
do ask you to give some more thought to your regular use of the term ?Bin Gestapo?. I do not think
it is at all an appropriate term to use for my staff who have spent a great deal of time and patience
talking with thousands of residents and in the vast majority of cases coming up with mutually
satisfactory solutions. The changes in people?s lives resulting from the introduction of a new waste
and recycling collection service can in my view hardly compare with the atrocities and crimes
against humanity that were caused by the real Gestapo.

The Council?s approach has been to consult and listen to our residents. With a population of
116,000 we will never get universal support and agreement on all aspects of our services but we
work hard at communicating and working with our residents. An example of this in practice is the
Council?s clear decision to not fit bin chips.

Comment 1 ? Labels

Labels are provided as an option for residents to use if they wish -you will note from the labels and
information pack that there is no compulsion to use them. The inclusion of the labels was agreed
by the Council on the grounds that we wanted to discourage the identification of the large wheelie
bins with hand painted numbers or names which invariably runs. Therefore the labels are intended
for the wheelie bins rather than the much smaller food bins. However as mentioned residents have a
choice on how to use the labels provided.

Comment 2 ? Time of Bin Availability

Our advice on the time of putting waste and recycling out for collection has not changed with the
new service. Our contractors start their collections from 7am in the morning and have to start their
rounds somewhere in the district so we are informing the public that to guarantee a collection the
waste and recycling containers need to be out by 7am. The new service will result in the provision
of new rounds for the crews which inevitably will have an impact on what time a crew gets to a
property. Consequently someone who for example currently puts out their waste and recycling at 9
am for a 10am collection may be at the start of the new round and would therefore have their
collection missed. By repeating the collection start time we are trying to avoid this happening. In
time the crews will settle into a collection pattern and residents will get to know the regular new
timing of their service and will make their own judgement on when to put out their containers.

Many residents do currently put out their waste and recycling the night before and I am sure that
this practice will continue in the future. A real benefit of wheelie bins and food bins, compared with
sacks, is that they won?t be ripped opened by animals and vermin overnight as often happens at
the moment.

Comment 3 ? Environmental Logic

Most properties in our current service have 3 vehicles visiting every 2 weeks. This consists of a
weekly split bodied refuse/recycling vehicle plus a glass collection service every 2 weeks.

The new service also involves 3 vehicles visiting every 2 weeks. Consists of week 1 a recycling
vehicle plus food waste vehicle and week 2 a general waste vehicle.

The environmental logic of the new service is that we will increase significantly the amount of
material sent for recycling and conversely reduce the amount going to landfill. In addition the main
split bodied vehicles have environmental and economic inefficiencies in that they have to return to
disposal sites when one of the two sides are full. With the standard use of single bodied vehicles
we are able to operate much more efficiently with vehicles only returning to disposal sites when full.
This efficiency is reflected in the lower cost to Council tax payers for the new service.

Comment 4 ? Cost Effectiveness of Food Waste

The Council?s waste and recycling service have been under consideration for the last 4 years linked
to the need to re-tender our waste and recycling contract and replace the vehicle fleet. In finalising
the decision the Council had to balance a range of needs including public opinion, affordability,
disposal opportunities and government targets.

Pre-decision we carried out extensive public consultation including an extensive household survey,
focus groups and public roadshows. A clear message from our residents was that they wanted food
waste collected weekly with recycling and other waste collected fortnightly. Our new service is
responding directly to this need whilst delivering a service more affordable than our current service.

We do not wish to mis-lead the public and so we have explained clearly the different collection
arrangements for food waste. As explained above the Council had to make a balanced judgement
and it was felt that a separate collection of food waste for composting on both weeks was not
affordable.

Comment 5 ? Food Waste/Grey Bins

Just to make it absolutely clear the public are not being forced to operate the food waste service.
We are offering a service that the public in our consultations have in large numbers asked for and it
will be up to each individual home to decide how it uses the service or not. This is certainly our
experience with operating the service in around half of all homes in Wychavon with different
practical arrangements including :

•No participation in the food waste service because residents already have in place home
composting and don?t have cooked food waste (or if they do it goes in the pet dog !).
•Homes that store their food waste for 2 weeks because they want it all to go for composting.
•Food placed in the grey bin so that the food bin doesn?t need to be put out.

I have faith that with the information that we have provided people will make their own decisions on
what is best for them. The only requirement we have is that if they put out the food waste for
separate composting that they don?t use material unsuitable for composting. You may think this is
dictatorial but I would say that people after going to the effort of sorting out their food waste would
not be pleased if it was not used for composting.

Comment 6 ? Reasonable Care

I have confidence that the general public and the Council will use common sense on what would be
viewed as reasonable care. The Council could do a long list of do?s and don?ts with the reasonable
care of bins but this would not be good use of our time and quite frankly I am sure that this would
be considered as very patronising. Only after frequent requests from a householder for the
replacement of bins because of thefts or breakages will we investigate whether reasonable care is
being taken.

Comment 7- Wrong Type of Rubbish

I recognise that residents put a great deal of thought and effort into sorting their recycling materials
from their general waste. In return they quite rightly expect the Council to ensure the recycling
material actually gets recycled. If the material we collect is highly contaminated this can result in a
batch being rejected by re-processors and potentially landfilled ? clearly undermining the whole
effort. It is therefore important that we communicate what material is right for recycling and what is
not. As part of the new service we have provided additional ways of communicating this message
e.g. embossed on the bins, information pack but have been informing the public for many years.
Again I have faith in people using common sense with regards to the cleanliness of items such as
food cans and will always advice over the phone if people have any queries with regards to the
suitability of different materials.

Under the old system crews would leave recycling sacks if it was clear that significant unsuitable
material had been included and added stickers to explain why it had been left - again helping to
communicate with our residents. The new service will continue to use this practice. Having a sticker
placed on a container does not result in a fixed penalty notice fine and the refuse and recycling
crews do not have the power to issue them.

The Council does have authorised officers for issuing fines but it is a power that we use in only
extreme cases with talking to residents our first approach.

Comment 8 ? Food Bin Liners

As you will read in the information pack which came with the bins we are not solely advocating the
use of compostable food bin liners. However our research of areas with established food waste
collection identified that bin liners are popular with a significant number of people and helped
increase participation levels. The Council?s Waste Implementation Team supported the
development of a retail network for liners to give residents choosing this method more local retail
options, especially in the villages. This recommendation was supported by the Council and leading
liner suppliers were invited to express an interest. Following a selection process which included the
completion of a questionnaire and an interview the two companies (others were rejected) were
invited to work alongside the Council with the roll out of the new services. These companies have
supplied the information included in the packs. No financial contribution has been made to the
Council by these companies. They were chosen on non-financial criteria such as the quality of their
products and their ability to establish a local retail network.

I hope the above helps clarifies the issues you raise.

Phil Merrick

Head of Community Services

Wychavon District Council

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Anna Mackison — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:27:02 -0000

James,
I have looked at all these links - of course none of them relate to Wychavon, the nearest one being
Peterborough; some of the links are no longer available to view because they have been removed; a
number were districts elsewhere in the country still using sacks; some relate to The Clean
Neighbourhood's Act 2006, which councils have no option but to enforce if there is an
environmental/health issue involved e.g. it seems the woman in Manchester was encouraging rats
by her failure to secure her rubbish, after multiple warnings and requests for a face to face
discussion to see what the problem was for her - which she refused - and as vermin were involved
this would have been passed to the council's environmental health department. I would not be
surprised if her neighbours had been complaining to the council for some time about her behaviour
and the increase in vermin in their locality.

I think you may find that all the fines in these cases were by 'Fixed Penalty Notice' which does not
involve a 'criminal convictions'. The usual method with any environmental problem is to start by
letting the resident know there is a potential problem, then if it continues, by
investigation/discussion with the person concerned to find out what the problem is, e.g. there might
be language barriers, or the person may have some mental incapacity that is causing them difficulty
in understanding what to do, and try to resolve it with them in a mutually satisfactory way. If, after
exhausting all avenues, this doesn't work, and the problem continues, there is the ultimate
possibility of a fixed penalty fine (still with no criminal record) or there may be a warning issued by
the council's legal department (again with no 'criminal record' involved). The ultimate, after every
possible avenue has been exhausted could be prosecution. The same system applied before with
the sacks, so nothing has changed at all, and I know of only one instance in Wychavon where a
fixed penalty notice was issued to a resident, who was persistently putting her domestic waste far
away from her own property, on highway land, - which constitutes fly-tipping.

Certain of the tabloid reporters have been running an anti-council campaign on waste in general, and
wheeled bins in particular, which is a cheap and easy target, and certainly doesn't help public
confidence during a new implementation here. Wychavon have learnt from these other places, and
we have noted that some may appear to have been overly zealous in their approach, resulting in
apologies. If you are not convinced of this, then the proof will of course be in the pudding.

It may interest you to know that a concerned resident sent me a national newspaper cutting of one
such report where the reporter was listing 5 councils (in the North and London) and saying that their
recycling percentages had gone down since introducing wheeled bins! I did my own investigation on
this and found it to be a total pack of inaccuracies, where the percentages quoted were in fact from
several years previously before these councils ever embarked on wheeled bins! I found that their
recycling had increased from 13% to 36%!

I think you have made your point about 'criminal prosecutions', but may I suggest you allow the
system to start and let us see how many prosecutions actually occur in Wychavon and what the
circumstances are, before making assumptions that this is going to be widespread. I would like to
put my faith in our residents that they have enough common sense to understand this simple
system, which offers a great deal of flexibility, and participate in the most effective way to reduce
the waste going to landfill and the ever rising costs involved.

I think it has been explained to you that there will not be an additional collection lorry and the
environmental benefits are much greater than at present.

I note that you have not published the full answers to the questions you raised so that residents can
judge for themselves and understand what has been said, but again, you have used your editorial
licence to paraphrase what was said and put your own spin on it. I am disappointed, because it
was not a 5-minute response.

Regards,
Anna

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

James — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:35:30 -0000

As is so often the case, when politicians present proposals they leave out all the nasty details, voter appeal it seems is more important than transparency and content. I still support weekly collection of food waste (Although not with an additional collection lorry!!)

I wonder if the following people who now have criminal records for violating the Bin Laws think it is alarmist rubbish ?

Gareth Corkhill
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Michael Reeves
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Cindy Fuller
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/new...

Rita Liubartatie
http://www.manchestereveningne...

Gary Rostron
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/ar...

The residents of Normabnby
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/n...

The residents of Pendle
http://www.lancashiretelegraph...

The residents of Peterborough
http://www.peterboroughtoday.c...

Perhaps the £185,000 worth of fines levied against people for leaving their bins out too early is alarmist rubbish:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...

The £5,000 fine for obstructing an officer of the Bin Gestapo is presumably also a myth ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

As you are quite aware, there is a world of difference between what can legally be included in a private communication between a taxpayer and their Councillor and what can be published on a public website, I would have been glad to publish my letter to you in full

James

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Anna Mackison — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:55:25 -0000

Dear James,
I have always been more than happy to answer your questions, as evidenced by the other 38 emails you have sent me over the last 12 months or so. I am interested to see that you appear to have gone from ‘Mahatma Ghandi’ to someone completely different and you probably don't recall your email to me saying the following -

'Hi Anna,
just a quick note to say how impressed I was with the "Future of Waste Collection in Wychavon" document included in the Link magazine. I think the two weekly alternating collections with the rodent resistant waste food caddy every week is a great solution. It looks like we shall avoid the problems of smelly waste and rats that have been reported in the press when other councils have tried to force recycling through fortnightly collections! I am not slow to complain about the things that I think are wrong, so Ithought it only fair to give some positive feedback on what looks to be a very well thought out proposal.
Kind Regards,
James' -

In total contrast, I feel your latest rendition, which it seems you have put on your own website, is nothing short of alarmist rubbish and I sincerely hope that no-one in their twilight years reads this kind of tabloid sensationalist garbage because, if they happen to be gullible enough to believe they are going to become a ‘criminal’ if they accidentally put the wrong item in the recycling, it might just cause them to worry and waste sleep at night over something that has never been suggested by Wychavon District Council or myself as the portfolio holder for this service. The so called 'Gestapo bin laws' you refer to have been in place ever since the sack system was introduced many years ago without any problems. Where were you James when all these poor residents were being stickered and then prosecuted?!!

Unlike your previous letters, I found myself unable to respond to your latest one directly (which will have to come from an officer of the council), because of the original content that you sent to me - I felt I had no option but to hand it to our Legal Department because of the imputations contained therein. However, I am mildly disappointed that some of the wording and suggestions you have put in your letter to me are not the same as the one you are now displaying on your website. You seem to have edited out the ‘unsubstantiated village gossip’ as you call it, but I suppose this is the 'privilege' of having editorial control!

I very much hope you will publish this response on your website - unedited, so that people will know there are two versions of your letter, and also to direct residents to my own Wychavon website which gives plenty of information on the new waste service and a lot more besides. However, if any resident wishes to speak to me directly about the new service I am always very happy to oblige. You should receive responses to your questions soon.

Regards
Anna Mackison

P.S. You are very fortunate to be living in Wychavon District because I think I am right in saying that we currently have the 8th lowest District Council tax in the country which we fully expect will improve further, so it would seem we are spending council tax payers money wisely.

Re: Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo

Richard Walton — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:49:45 -0000

James

I share your general concerns but don't expect the practical reality to be quite as bad as you portray. It is true that, as usual, the local authorities have been given extraordinarily broad powers to deal with minor matters that ought to be resolved with common sense. I expect the Gestapo will be kept in check and the legal process will be reserved for extreme cases. However, we will all need to remain vigilant and ensure that the council do not get away with over-harsh application of their powers. As for 7am - I won't do it! Although I suppose I could keep to their schedule be putiing the bins out in the early hours befor I go to bed.

Finally, we haven't had our bins delivered yet - although I notice that both our neighbours have got them. Wychavon have never been good at doing in one journey anything that can be spun out to two.

Trouble is that anyone smart enough to organize things properly won't take a job with an outfit as crass as a local council.

Re: Saving the QE as a Pub: Strategy Group Meeting

Pauline Knight — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:10:09 -0000

What is happening to this wonderful historic pub? my husband and I felt so sad to see the pub was still closed when made a special journey to have a drink there Friday 29th August.
Cannot it be managed by someone until a decision is made about its fate, maybe voluteers not taking a wage I would love to help.
My husband and I first became aware of the pub when it was featured in a book of Pub Walks, surely this would be a great source of business to promote the pub to local walking clubs.

Re: Queen Elizabeth – Latest

philip — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:56:32 -0000

just come on the market at £325.0000 with paramount props

Re: Church Pond Footpath Unsafe But Repairs in Hand

Editor — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:11:53 -0000

Thanks David,

What a fascinating game this is, kafka-esque to say the least !

Who would have thought that trying prevent old people slipping and hurting themselves would encounter such bureaucratic resistance?

As a Council Tax payer I would much rather my money was spent repairing dangerous footpaths than on engaging expensive solicitors to try and find ways of avoiding repairing the footpaths !!

I am afraid I will have to ask for some further explanation on a few points, probably requiring the assistance of the expensive solicitor:

You state:

"A Highway authority does not have a duty to maintain, or a liability for damage, caused by the failure to manage or maintain artificial embankments along which a highway or road may run, this is the responsibility of the riparian owner who would be responsible for damage to the surface if a pond were to overflow"

1) Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 imposes the duty to maintain the highways, this contains no exceptions relating to embankments. What statute or case law are you relying on, for this exemption from the general duty to maintain the highway ?

2) On what basis do you assert that the embankment has not been "managed or maintained"? If it is a requirement that such embankments must withstand a 1 in 100 year flood, then why is it that every embankment "managed or maintained" by the Council failed to contain the water in the July 2007 floods that we are referring to ?

3) On what basis is the embankment an "artificial embankment", to the best of my knowledge the pond is a natural structure.

4) My understanding is that Riparian Ownership relates to the land adjacent to a watercourse. On three sides of the pond we own the land and must be the Riparian owners. On the fourth side the land is unregistered and I dont see how we can be the Riparian owners any more than we are the legal owners.

5) It has long been established that the owner of property situated on a lower level than its neighbour cannot bring a claim against that neighbour for any flooding caused by the natural occurrence of water running onto the lower land. On what basis do you therefore assert that the riparian owner is responsible for damage to the footpath ?

You then go on to say:

"It is clear in this instance the roots to which you refer were probably exposed in the 1980s and the responsibility and liability for these probably lies with the riparian owner"

Are you asserting that the liability for acts or omissions of a previous owner from 20 years ago have somehow passed to us ?

Alternatively are you asserting that liability rests with the owner in the 1980's, in which case any action would surely be time barred ?

I am afraid that the last paragraph of your letter is so jumbled that any meaning it once contained has been lost !
(Try reading it out loud if you disagree)

Also my name is James Hickman, not John Hickman !

I congratulate you on an excellent job of protecting the council's highways maintenance budget, I hope that will provide some solace to your conscience when someone's much loved grandmother slips and breaks her neck on the path.

Kind Regards,

James Hickman

Re: Queen Elizabeth – Latest

Claire — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:08:11 -0000

Totally agree with you with regards to the figures Admiral have put together. Whilst there is no doubt the pub does require major renovation work, hitting 10K a week turnover is very unrealistic, especially when it seems as if the UK is about to go into a economic downturn. The rent Admiral are asking is very high. I am not even sure that a Celebrity Chef would be able to make it work...if you price yourself out of the market-place then you are doomed to fail (note that the local pub in Wadborough did just this about 18 months ago and lasted 6 months, it has only just now re-opened and it remains to be seen if the new owners can make it work).

That said, I had two sets of people ask me today where the pub was in the village whilst I was out in the garden, so I am sure that the pub cold be a successful venue for both locals and tourists to the area.

It breaks my heart to see it empty. I am sure that the freehold solution is a much better idea. Renovations could be done bit by bit, and even if not offering the 'full works' to start with, just having an operating pub in the village will be a major achievement.

Do come round for a coffee if you are passing our end of the village next week!

Claire and Eric

Re: Queen Elizabeth – Latest

Claire — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:08:11 -0000

Do come round for a coffee if you are passing our end of the village next week!

Claire and Eric

Re: Church Pond Footpath Unsafe But Repairs in Hand

Editor — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:02:04 -0000

Hi Dave,

Any news ?

Whilst everyone is dithering about who is responsible, the risk that someone may trip or slip and injure themselves remains high !

If I donâ€™t hear within 7 days I will serve notice under Section 56 of the Highways Act 1980.

Kind Regards,

James Hickman

Re: Queen Elizabeth Pub – Business Plan Submitted

Editor — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:54:53 -0000

Details Here:

http://www.elmleycastle.com/in...

Re: Queen Elizabeth Pub – Business Plan Submitted

Claire — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:59:45 -0000

Hi James, How did you get on at your meeting?