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Saturday 1st October 2011
The sale of our important civic buildings to
raise and save money which was discussed in this column recently (August 20th)
may have sounded an implausible scenario but there are more signs that it is
happening around the country.
The town hall at Louth, in the
north of Lincolnshire, is already on the market after East Lindsay District
Council claimed that because of enforced budget cuts it can no longer afford to
run the Grade II listed building. Local community groups have been invited to
take it over but if no offers are received then it is likely to be sold on the
open market.
The suggestion has now been made
that the same might happen to the town hall at Peterborough, a very grand
structure that has dominated the city centre for almost 80 years but should be
sold off to raise revenue. The idea has been mooted by Councillor Darren Fower,
leader of the Liberal Democrats on Peterborough City Council, who sees this
magnificent building as a piece of real estate with an estimated price of
anything between �80 and �100 million and it could then be demolished and the
site used for flats, offices or other commercial purposes. Future meetings, he
said, could be held in schools around the city while existing vacant properties
would serve as alternative office space for the staff.
Councillor Fower's idea is
outlined in the group's policy document Vision 2011 and must therefore be taken
seriously. The town hall was built in 1933 and although registered as a building
of local interest, it is not listed although it is doubtful if many Peterborough
residents, let alone councillors and officers, would like to see their flagship
civic building disappear in this way.
I do have a vested interest here
because I know the town hall well having been taken to see it being built as a
boy and then as a young reporter, attending council, committee and other
meetings on several nights each week, thrilled to enter through the massive
Corinthian columns at the entrance before climbing the impressive marble
staircase to find the appropriate room, with drinks afterwards in the mayor's
parlour. There were also dinners and dances in the main reception room on
Saturday nights, especially the annual Press Ball that I helped organise and
which in those days was the big event of the year. As with all towns and cities
throughout England, the town hall was the centre of administration and the venue
for all important social activities and to have it reduced to so much rubble is
quite unthinkable.
There is no suggestion at this
stage that our own town hall will suffer a similar fate but as the people are
always the last to be told about such matters, we have no way of knowing that it
will not. What we do know is that changes are afoot and they will be far
reaching and in the current state of bureaucratic hysteria over the economic
crisis, anything could happen and we should not think for one moment that the
Grade II listing which protects this particular building will be much of a
safeguard against determined officialdom with an eye on the balance sheet.
Crackpot theories such as demolition should not be
easily dismissed because when they are mooted by people in power they have a
good chance of becoming reality. It has been related here before how the Red
Hall would have been pulled down several times had it been left to some
councillors but fortunately there were also determined men of vision on hand to
save it.
The Corn Exchange was also under
threat almost 40 years ago in a situation which mirrors that in Peterborough
today. This building has served the town since it was built in 1870 and has been
the centre of social and cultural activity ever since yet a move to close it was
made at a meeting of Bourne Urban District Council on Tuesday 12th February 1969
when Councillor Lorenzo Warner (1901-1995), founder of Warners Midlands plc,
proposed that the building should be sold for use as a supermarket and the
proceeds used to finance a new town drainage scheme following severe flooding
the previous year.
He suggested that the issue
should be settled with a referendum to decide whether electors wanted a
well-drained town or continue to subsidise social and cultural activities. "In
all businesses, the right thing to do is to cut out all unprofitable waste and
the Corn Exchange has been a very big charge on the rates for the last decade",
he said. "In the years 1952 and 1967, a loss of �7,999 is shown. Has the Corn
Exchange outlived its usefulness?"
Councillor Warner said that
school halls should be used as public meeting places out of school hours to
encourage the social and cultural life of the town and added: "The use of the
Corn Exchange has to meet intense competition and I cannot see how the town can
afford the luxury in these days of high rates. More benefit would accrue from
providing a well-drained town than continuing to meet the very heavy losses from
retaining the Corn Exchange."
The proposal proved to be one of
the most unpopular ever discussed by the council and received overwhelming and
even hostile opposition from other members who pointed out that the Corn
Exchange was providing a valuable service for a town with a population of 5,500
and that the costs involved were reasonable in return for the benefits that
resulted and in the previous five months, the building had been let 112 times.
"I think that Councillor Warner has his priorities wrong", said Councillor G H
Astley but Councillor J H Wright was even more forthright: "This is a
preposterous idea", he said. "Nowhere have I seen such a wild suggestion. It
would deprive the town of one of the few recreational facilities this council
provides."
A motion that the Corn Exchange
should not be sold was carried, with only Councillor Warner dissenting. The
acrimony generated by his proposal did not however last because he was
eventually elected chairman of the council for the year 1970-71. Somehow, I do
not think that Councillor Fower will ever be that popular among his colleagues
at Peterborough City Council.
There is little change in the state of St
Peter's Pool which has been completely dry for several weeks and it may be
mid-winter before there is any major improvement. The situation was highlighted
by our Picture of the Week last month (August 27th) when we blamed the drought
conditions of last summer coupled with the continued extraction of water to
supply a wider catchment area.
The story was carried by The
Local newspaper the following week when Anglian Water denied that it was in
any way to blame. A spokesman said that they did pump water from aquifers below
the town, including the Bourne Eau, but added: "The drying up of the pool is not
related to our water abstraction. Instead, it is likely to be a natural
phenomenon. Groundwater levels will typically be low at this time and will be
lower this year due to the cold, dry winter and exceptionally dry spring. The
water we borrow from the environment comes from a mixture of rivers and
boreholes. In Bourne, the groundwater from our boreholes is taken out of
naturally occurring underground stores some 40 metres beneath the surface. We
continually monitor all our water sources to ensure they are used in a
sustainable way."
This all sounds very plausible
but Bourne has been a water bonanza from the earliest times and the fact that by
1969, there were 130 boreholes at various points around the town show how it has
been exploited and although most of these have now been sealed, all remaining
sources are now administered by Anglian Water.
There is no denying that St
Peter's Pool feeds the Bourne Eau which in turn runs into the River Glen and
rivers are a continual source of extraction by our water authorities. As a
result, the current situation in England is causing concern throughout the
country and has been highlighted by The Sunday Times which states quite
categorically that our rivers are being diminished as utility companies drain
billions of gallons from vulnerable waterways to service a soaring demand
(September 18th). This wholesale extraction of water has caused many to shrink
and stagnate, putting wildlife at risk, killing fish and reducing some
tributaries to puddles.
Water authorities such as Anglian
Water pay for licences at each of the sites where they drain from a river or
aquifer and all claim that they are operating at below agreed levels although
the terms of many of these permits were set decades ago and are currently being
reviewed in an attempt to address the worst cases of over-abstraction.
Environmentalists are therefore
calling for the licences of the worst offenders to be revoked. Other measures
such as reducing consumption by the compulsory installation of water meters in
all households and the repair of leaking pipes may help but the building of new
reservoirs appears to be the answer. In the meantime, there can be no doubt that
water usage during dry spells causes problems because supplies are not being
replenished from natural sources and if it were not being extracted from our
aquifers and waterways at such an alarming rate, then it is quite obvious that
St Peter's Pool would be in a much healthier state than it is today.
Four years ago, I wrote a Diary item about
metal thefts because so many churches in the area were losing the lead from
their roofs in night time raids inspired by the rising price of scrap worldwide.
Shops in Crown Walk and the Angel Precinct were also stripped during night time
raids in October 2007 and the sheer weight of the stolen material meant that a
lorry must have been used to cart it away.
The situation was far worse over
the county border in Cambridgeshire where the lead was been lifted off churches,
schools and even doctors� surgeries while hundreds of homes lost their telephone
service after copper wires were stolen. Over 100 incidents had been logged in
the previous two months and the picture was a similar one elsewhere in the
country. Little seems to have changed except that the number of cases has risen
to such an extent that according to The Times, insurance companies are
now capping pay outs at �10,000 maximum because the risk has become so great
(September 24th) which appears to indicate that the thieves are winning.
Repair bills can be far higher
when metal is removed and the rain seeps in, damaging plasterwork, pews and even
organs and the additional financial burden is ruining many churches and some
even face closure. The village church at Kirkby Underwood is a particular
target, perhaps because of its isolated position in the middle of farmland, and
lead has been stripped off the roof twice this summer. In each case, thieves
rolled the metal into strips and then loaded it into a vehicle parked in a
nearby wheat field and parishioners will now have to foot a hefty bill to
replace it, perhaps as much as �20,000.
The huge demand for commodities
from China, India and Brazil has seen the price of scrap lead and copper soar
and this has been blamed for the increasing number of thefts with thieves
targeting monuments, railways and buildings throughout the country.
This week, Lincolnshire police
said that a quantity of copper cable has been stolen from the British Telecom
depot in Manning Road, Bourne, one of a series of similar crimes across the
country which have contributed to the latest statistics in which metal theft has
overtaken domestic burglaries in some areas. The situation has become so serious
that The Times reports a government forecast that scrap metal thefts will
cost the economy �1 billion this year, a problem that could be eliminated by
outlawing cash deals at scrapyards which is believed to be an encouragement for
the thieves and the main source of disposal of stolen metal.
The old saying that nothing is
safe unless it is chained down never seems to have been truer than it is today.
Thought for the week: One way to make sure
crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it. - Ronald Reagan,
actor turned politician who served two terms as the 40th president of the United
States (1911-2004).
Saturday 8th October 2011
It will come as no surprise to learn that
the new school planned for Elsea Park which was first suggested twelve years ago
has been delayed yet again. Parents who were promised this facility when they
bought their homes on the new estate have now been told that it will be at least
2012 before work begins and perhaps not then.
The school was among a package of
amenities agreed during the planning process for the controversial 300-acre
housing estate to the south of the town which was launched in March 1999, the
biggest single residential development in the history of Bourne and one which
went ahead despite widespread, almost total public opposition, mainly because of
the speed with which it was pushed through and the perceived lack of
consultation.
The main objections were that the
population explosion created by 2,000 new homes would bring an estimated 6,000
newcomers to the town, putting more pressure on existing services such as
libraries, public transport, leisure amenities, clinics and particularly
schools, and so it has proved.
A new school for Elsea Park was
among the benefits to be provided by the developer as part of the planning gain
agreed with South Kesteven District Council. The others included a south-west
relief road to ease traffic congestion through the town centre which eventually
opened in October 2005, four months late because of a dispute with the
developers, a community hall which has also been delayed, and others that are
unlikely to appear at all such as a doctor's surgery, a shuttle bus service and
sports pitches.
In 2006, a front page report in
the Stamford Mercury said that the new school project which had been due
for completion by September 2007 was to be scrapped (April 7th), blaming falling
pupil rolls and the prospect that it would create problems of surplus places at
our two existing primaries, the Abbey and Westfield.
Then in July 2010, the school was
back on the agenda when the county council said that a projected influx of
families to the town meant that it would be needed in the near future and could
open as early as September 2013. But the head teachers of both existing
primaries issued a statement objecting on the grounds that pupils could be
siphoned off from their own schools, thus leading to a reduction in the funding
available and this would affect the high quality of education currently being
provided. Their statement added: �The result could mean redundancies for
existing staff at perhaps both schools when trying to split the extra number of
pupils between three schools rather than two.�
At the time, the county council
appeared to resist this attempt to scupper the new primary but now The Local
reports that it "has been put on the back burner because extra places for pupils
are not yet justified" (September 30th). Debbie Barnes, assistance director of
children's services, told the newspaper that plans were not being pursued at
present because projected pupil numbers for reception age intakes do not justify
the need for 210 extra primary places. She added: "We will continue to monitor
the situation closely and the developer is still obliged to provide a school
when we require it."
This will be little consolation
for those parents who bought their homes at Elsea Park on the understanding that
a school was to be built within a convenient distance rather than expecting
their children to walk, cycle or be driven a mile into town, yet many of them
have now been enrolled at either Westfield or the Abbey primary schools instead
which in each case necessitates long and inconvenient journeys each day.
The situation is unlikely to
change for the time being because the county council does not intend to carry
out a review until next May. "We want to be sure that when the new school is
called for there is a long-term requirement for additional places to complement
existing provision and not provide surplus school places in the area or draw
pupils out of existing neighbouring schools", said Debbie Barnes.
This argument can, of course, be
used ad infinitum. Children from the estate who have already gone to the town's
other primary schools will expect to stay there when the Elsea Park school
eventually opens because parents will not wish to disrupt their education or
sever the ties they have made with the staff and other pupils.
The county council's statement
appears to indicate that the new school will only be built when there are
sufficient children from the new estate waiting to go there without switching
from elsewhere, and even though Elsea Park is the prime housing development in
Bourne, this is something that is unlikely to happen for many years to come, if
at all.
The owners of
the old Raymond Mays garage in
Spalding Road which has been standing empty and derelict since the autumn of
2005 have been given another three years before they begin work on the new
housing estate to be built on the 5.2 acre site which includes the adjoining
Rainbow supermarket, now also closed.
Planning permission for an estate
of 105 homes was originally granted for a three-year period by South Kesteven
District Council in June 2008 and this time limit has now been extended but does
not appear to include any provision for the owners, Anglia Regional Co-operative
Society, to keep the site tidy in the meantime. This means that Bourne is likely
to suffer this eyesore until 2014, a sad advertisement for an expanding
community especially as it stands on the eastern approaches to the town and can
be seen by every passing motorist and coach party on the A151 which is not a
good advertisement for anyone intending to settle here or open a business.
The unsightly state of the
premises is now causing real concern and with the possibility of another delay
before work begins, councillors are beginning to express fears that the
appearance of the town in that locality is being marred. The Mayor of Bourne,
Councillor Brenda Johnson, has already described the site as an eyesore. "If it
is not going to be developed for another three years then I would like to see
the owners made to keep it tidy", she said (August 19th).
Compulsion should not be
necessary. The housing development will be a profitable investment in Bourne and
it is therefore expected that the owners would have sufficient respect for the
town to ensure that the proposed site does not deface the street scene in the
meantime. There seems to be a great deal of undue haste by the district council
in allowing new homes to be built around Bourne but at the same time attention
should be given to those buildings which remain. The authority has the powers to
do this and there are many cases in which they should be exercised with the same
vigour as that given to the granting of planning permission for residential
development.
If the mayor is sufficiently
alarmed to speak out on this issue then so are the people and both SKDC and
Anglia Regional Co-operative Society should take note.
The new solar farm now being installed
on farmland to the east of Bourne is the latest in a series of pioneering
projects for the fens that have produced power from the elements, the most
important of these being the windmill revolution of past centuries.
In 1763, for instance, fifty
windmills are listed as working in Deeping Fen to drain some 30,000 acres of
farmland, the nearest being Woolley's Mill at the appropriately named Windmill
Farm, a mile west of Tongue End, south of Bourne. The mill ground corn and other
grain brought in by barge along the River Glen and navvies working on various
drainage schemes over the years were housed there and fed from the adjoining
bakery which also supplied residents of Tongue End. It was not uncommon for up
to 60 navvies at a time to be living at the Mill House. The mill closed in 1912
and has since been demolished.
Another mill, Ward's Mill, was
established in 1910 alongside the Division Drain between the parishes of Bourne
and Thurlby. It was built by Mr Jonathan Ward, a local farmer, and was made of
timber and also drove a wheel for drainage but was blown down in a gale within a
year of construction. It is unlikely to have been a particularly solid structure
because the mill sails were made of canvas and these had to be frequently
reduced or increased in size according to the strength of the wind. Jonathan
Ward, who lived at the Manor House, Thurlby, farmed on a large scale and is
recorded as saying: "Any fool can farm in bed when it's dry but you have got to
be out and about when it's wet." He always had a five-gallon jar of whisky with
a tap at the bottom available and he never allowed it to be less than one third
full.
Evidence of these mills can still
be seen at Dyke village, which is within the parish of Bourne. Just off the main
street is an old smock mill although now in private hands and adapted for other
uses in recent years including for the sale of antiques, arts and crafts and
picture framing. It was originally a pumping mill in Deeping Fen, probably built
by Dutch drainage engineers in the late 17th or early 18th century and around
1840 it was moved to Dyke and fitted with corn milling machinery but lost its
sails in 1923 and so ended its wind-powered working life. The mill had a
boat-shaped cap turned to wind by a braced tailpole, both features inherited
from its former use, and two common and two spring shuttered sails driving three
pairs of stones.
The last miller was Mr Thomas
Sommerfield who wrote on 8th September 1940: "It was the best fitted mill I was
ever in, but old fashioned outside. I worked it for 32 years. It was dismantled
in 1927 and was in my family for 63 years. All the spindles below the stones
were turned and I took great pride in keeping them polished with sandpaper. The
governors were also bright. I never saw this anywhere else in my life.
Everything was of the best. My father thought a lot of this mill."
The debate over wind turbines,
however, continues with a vociferous lobby opposed to their erection on the
grounds that they will ruin the environment although it is difficult to
understand how the wind on a blade to produce power can do that. In 2010, for
instance, a government planning inspector allowed the erection of 13 turbines
each 100 metres high at Wryde Croft south of Gedney Hill in South Lincolnshire
after ruling that the sheer scale of the fens can rapidly absorb wind farms,
thus overriding objections over their visual impact, possible health effects and
potential problems for aircraft and the way therefore seems clear for other wind
farms already planned for the Bourne area.
The inspector also made another
valid point that wind turbines would not in any substantial sense redefine the
fenland landscape which would retain its essential characteristics and this is
the nub of the argument because it is conveniently forgotten that the windmill
was a familiar part of the countryside in past times and without them life would
have been hard indeed because they produced the power to grind corn and other
commodities and to keep the swampy marshland drained and productive in this part
of the country.
Most windmills are now protected
buildings, Dyke Mill being listed Grade II in July 1977 and restored in 1998 and
it would be unthinkable to even consider its demolition. So it is with England�s
other remaining windmills which have become part of our heritage and in
centuries to come it is quite possible that the earliest of the wind turbines
now being built, and perhaps even solar farms, will also be preserved as part of
our industrial heritage.
Thought for the week:
There's no way that
solar panels or windmills can do it themselves. - Patrick Moore (1923- ),
British astronomer and popular television presenter who is credited with raising
the public profile of astronomy.
Saturday 15th October 2011
Yet another public service in Bourne is
under threat, this time the police station in West Street. The chief constable
of Lincolnshire, Richard Crompton, has announced that a review of all the
properties controlled by the county force is underway in an attempt to make
savings and to protect frontline services and officers.
He told the Stamford Mercury
that they faced "rough choices" regarding funding and the custody suite at
Spalding police station is already being shut for a three-month trial (October
7th). He added: "We recognise the importance of accessibility and if a station
is put forward for possible closure it would only do so after public
consultation and then when an alternative point of access was in place, such as
a library, post office or supermarket. Our main priority is to retain our police
officer numbers and so we are looking at all our budgets and spending and that
includes our buildings."
The mere fact that the closure of
our police station is even being considered shows how farcical the current
situation over public spending cuts has now become and this particular economy
demonstrates how little co-operation there is between our local authorities. For
instance, the public library, which itself has an uncertain future, appears to
be a popular dumping ground for every local service that is being cut, one
county councillor having suggested that the register office in West Street, also
facing the axe, could be re-located there, while the post office would also be
totally unsuitable because it gets quite crowded at busy times and there would
certainly not be enough room for another desk manned by a couple of bobbies.
The loss of a police station in Bourne would
mean the end of a tradition that began 150 years ago with the establishment of
the first police presence in May 1857 following the County and Borough Police
Act. There were only a handful of officers but their appearance soon had an
effect as the Stamford Mercury reported: �This long looked for force
arrived in Bourne last week and we are gratified in being able to state that
already a considerable improvement may be noticed. This was fully apparent on
Monday last when the loiterers at the corners were much surprised at the order
to �move on� which they also found would be to their advantage promptly to obey.
No less than six or eight cases of petty larcenies have occurred and parties
have been apprehended upon suspicion from the neighbouring villages. The town
itself is supplied with one superintending officer and two men. Of course, the
liberty of the subject will not be necessarily interfered with in the discharge
of the duties of the new officers.�
At this time, the population of
Bourne was 3,720 (1851 census figure) but the police strength increased as the
town expanded and by 1861 a permanent police headquarters had been established
at the corner of Burghley Street and North Street complete with offices, cells
and hostel accommodation for officers so enabling them to be available on
24-hour call. There were then 16 officers but this had increased to 19 by 1875
and 21 by 1913 and the coming of a regular police force brought a considerable
decrease in crime and general lawlessness.
From 1857 onwards, policemen on
foot patrol day and night were a familiar and comforting sight and during the
early years of the 20th century when the motor car was becoming popular,
uniformed officers could be seen regularly on point duty to keep vehicles moving
in the increasingly busy town centre, especially on market days when stalls
erected at the kerbside reduced the amount of road left for passing traffic. But
when the first traffic lights were introduced in 1973, they were no longer
necessary and so began the reduction in the police presence on the streets.
The police station in North
Street continued in use until 1960 when it was replaced by a new building in
West Street while the former premises were demolished to make way for a block of
old people�s maisonettes. The facility, however, was downgraded to office status
in 2000 only open five days a week (closed for lunch) and an indeterminate
staffing level for duties in the town. Yet by 2007, Lincolnshire Police, as the
force is now known, had 1,228 regular officers, 149 Community Support Officers,
a new breed of police men and women although with limited powers, 784 civilian
support staff and an annual budget of �108.6 million, which accounted for 10% of
the total council tax bill.
In the past 150 years, modern
policing methods have changed out of all recognition through the introduction of
mobile patrols, new technology, shorter working hours and fewer points of
personal contact, with the result that Dixon of Dock Green, the friendly
neighbourhood constable, has all but disappeared. There is undoubtedly increased
efficiency in some areas but public concern persists, particularly among the
elderly who feel unsafe because petty crime frequently goes unchecked and that
their environment and well being is threatened by litter, graffiti, vandalism,
yobs on the street corner and other anti-social behaviour that is not
investigated, and there is a frequent cry for a permanent return of the bobby on
the beat who was such a familiar and reassuring sight in past times.
Phasing out our police station
would therefore be seen by many to be a retrograde step in the protection of our
community, of persons and property and the observance of law and order and if
these essential safeguards are not to be maintained, then the public will have
the right to ask exactly where their taxes are being spent.
A news item tucked away on the inside pages
of The Local last month (September 30th) is an indication of the shape of
things to come because it tells us that our local authorities are still
discussing how they will bring their public services together under one roof.
This subject has been under
review for the past three years and it will be remembered that the town hall was
originally the proposed venue but now the Corn Exchange appears to be the favoured
choice although it would be difficult to imagine anything more unsuitable yet
Lincolnshire county councillor Eddy Poll, executive member for economic
development, has told the newspaper that: "We are confident a decision will be
made in the coming weeks on what course of action is best for Bourne."
There is no need for further
consultation because most people can tell Councillor Poll and his colleagues
that what is best for Bourne is to leave things exactly as they are, the town
hall in its existing role with a counter for general inquiries and the payment
of council tax, the public library to remain where it is in South Street and the
register office in West Street. In recent weeks, this column has been discussing
the possible phasing out of our public buildings during the current economic
climate with town halls at the top of the agenda in many places and if ours is
not be used for what it was intended, that is as the central point for
administration and council services, then that too is likely to become
redundant.
Change may be inevitable in
today's society but it is not always for the better and in this particular
instance, the old adage that if it ain't broke don't fix it should apply. To
suggest that medicine is about to be administered and will not taste too awful
if councillors say so is to treat the public with disdain especially when it
comes from someone who represents Spalding East and Moulton which has little to
do with our town and we are tempted to ask when Councillor Poll last paid us a
visit.
There are many areas of council
activity where spending cuts should be made and this is not one of them. To use
the Corn Exchange for services that are operating perfectly well in their
present locations is a misguided policy and one that may herald an era of
inconvenience for those who have to use them as well as taking up space that is
currently used for recreational and leisure activities.
The closing of established buildings
or premises to save money and shifting services to makeshift locations does not
work, as has been proved in the past. The result is a false economy because the
new arrangement will invariably be inferior and inconvenient for customers and a
good example of this has been the proposed closure of the Post Office in West
Street.
Bourne has had a post office
since 1847 when it was situated in Abbey Road but moved to North Street in 1870
although the premises in each case were small and inconvenient and so when a
specially designed building was erected in 1981, complete with a sorting office
at the rear, customers felt that we had finally entered the modern age. Yet it
has twice been threatened with closure, first in 1988 when it was suggested that
the service be moved to Nos 42-44 North Street which was then being used as a
launderette although this proved to be a major misjudgement of public opinion
because a wave of protest followed when the issue was taken up not only by the
local newspapers but also by the television and radio channels. The town council
also complained that the premises were totally unsuitable for postal services
and that customers would have to queue outside on the pavement while vans
delivering and collecting mail would create havoc for passing traffic.
Then in 2001, the Post Office
made another attempt to close it down, again provoking outrage in the town
because it was planned to downgrade the facility to a counter service at
McColl's supermarket premises fifty yards further along the street towards the
town centre which could not have been more unsuitable. Again the intention was
to save money by phasing out the building in the interests of economy. There was
much smooth talk from officials promising a new and more efficient service from
the back of the liquor store which failed to convince because anyone familiar
with the town knew that it was flawed and that chaos would have ensued if such
an ill-advised move had become a reality.
Queues were already a regular
occurrence outside the post office at busy periods with waiting customers
stretching down the street as far as the Baptist Chapel some mornings and so it
was not hard to imagine the melee in the new and much smaller premises on
pension pay out morning or on a busy market day when there were large
crowds on the pavement and lines of heavy vehicles queuing up at the traffic
lights. There was another vigorous campaign by the press and the public and
eventually the Post Office realised that the proposal was untenable although it
was two years before the scheme was finally rejected and in February 2003, it
was announced that a new manageress was to be appointed and the building would
remain open as it does to this day.
If those who run our affairs are so
intent on the current programme of closures, then perhaps the chief constable
may have unwittingly given the solution to all of our ills by suggesting that
space might be found for the police station at a supermarket, the new Tesco
store in South Road being the most obvious choice.
A pharmacy has already opened
there and the company is now into banking and estate agency so why not pile our
entire public services there, a most convenient arrangement for everyone because
then we could pop along and buy the weekly groceries, pay the council tax,
borrow a book, collect a prescription and make a complaint to the police all at
the same time. The management might even find space for a couple of cells for
wrongdoers and all of the other valuable organisations that are becoming victim
of the dreaded cuts. Would they also have room for the
fire and ambulance stations, I wonder? Now that really is streamlining
all of our services under one roof, the very solution that our local authorities
have been seeking for the past three years.
The closure of well used
amenities should not be taken lightly. If they are shut, or moved elsewhere to
less convenient locations, then it is a sign that those who made the decisions
have proved themselves unworthy of the job in hand. Public services are there to
be maintained at all cost and if they are not up to the task then it is their
duty to step down and make way for someone who is.
Thought for the week:
The ultimate measure
of a man is not where he stands in the moments of comfort and convenience but
where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King
(1929-68), American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the advancement
of civil rights around the world.
Saturday 22nd October 2011
A heart rending tale has arrived by email
from a lady in Australia trying to trace members of her family who were forcibly
taken from their home in the north east of England and sent to an institution in
Bourne. Such an occurrence today would arouse the attention of the media and the
fury of the nation but these events took place almost eighty years ago, a time
that is beyond the memory of most and as the novelist L P Hartley so
perceptively remarked, the past is a foreign country, they do things differently
there.
In 1934, the McDougall children
were living in a caravan at Blyth near Newcastle in Northumberland. Their mother
had abandoned the family who never saw her again and the children were being
cared for by their father who was working in one of the nearby shipyards. But
their living conditions attracted the attention of the local authority who
decided that they were quite unsuitable for small children who should be removed
and taken into care.
One morning a female worker from
the council arrived and took the three children away, Archibald William Scott
(later known as Alan) McDougall, aged 6, Elizabeth Annie, aged one, and
Alistair, whose age is not known.
Alan was the father of Sharon
Mason, aged 51, now living in Melbourne, Victoria, who has written seeking help
and who takes up the story: "They were all dragged away by the strange lady and
taken to Newcastle where they were put on a train going to Lincolnshire but I am
not sure exactly what happened to them after that", she said. "I do know that
they ended up at a home in Bourne where they were treated very badly but as time
went by, they all lost touch with each other."
Alan was fostered to a local
farming family but disliked being there and ran away several times but was
caught and taken back. Then when he was old enough to join the army, he
enlisted, serving in many places overseas including Africa. On discharge, he
worked as a boilermaker and emigrated to New Zealand where Sharon was born and
then in 1970, he and his family moved to Australia but Alan returned to England
and died at Swindon, Wiltshire, in 2008 aged 80.
Sharon is now using the Internet
in an attempt to trace what happened to the two missing children and is trying
to check census records of the children's homes in operation at that time
because they would have been resident there for at least ten years. This was not
the Bourne Hostel in West Street as was at first thought because it did not open
until 1945 but was most probably the former workhouse in St Peter's Road which
from 1930 became known as Bourne Public Assistance Institution, also known as
Wellhead House, where many of the inmates were young girls and children thought
to be at risk.
"I know that all his life, my
father looked high and low to find his brother and sister", said Sharon. "They
were separated and adopted by different families and I heard a rumour that one
of them went to a rich lawyer and his wife but I am not sure if this is true or
where they lived. Wherever they went, my father was told at the time that he
would never see them again.
"The whole affair as he related
it to me has broken my heart many times and so now that he has gone, I have
taken up the search and although it is proving to be a long and painful process,
I would be over the moon if I could locate my auntie and uncle or find out what
happened to them, not just for myself but also for the sake of my dad."
It may be a long shot but perhaps
someone out there does have a link with the past that will enable Sharon trace
her long lost relatives. If so, please email and I will put you in touch.
All four of our mainstream schools
will have become academies by next year, Bourne Grammar being the last to
qualify with a proposed conversion date of January 1st.
Bourne Abbey C of E, was the
first in the town and in Lincolnshire to become an academy last December
followed by the Robert Manning College whose application took effect when the
autumn term began on September 1st and Westfield Primary is due to join them on
November 1st. All are anxious to take advantage of the government mantra of more
money and more independence which will enable them implement their own
admissions policy and curriculum, set their own pay and conditions for staff and
vary the length of terms and school working days.
These are far reaching changes
for schools that until now have been under the control of the local education
authority and not everyone regards them as a necessary undertaking, especially
when those involved already enjoy a distinguished reputation with excellent
results in their present form, but it is to be hoped that the doomsayers will be
proved wrong in the long term.
They will all be in uncharted
territory and it will be up to the governors to steer through it but only time
will tell if the new status will be a success. It is to be hoped that it will
not all end in tears, as it did some years back when there was a similar haste
to become comprehensive with disastrous results for many, including a drop in
educational standards.
There are signs of a settlement over
the problem of pupils from Bourne Grammar School leaving their cars parked at
the kerbside in the Austerby all day during term time although it may still be
some way off.
Three solutions have been put
forward by Lincolnshire County Council including (1) the introduction of no
waiting from 9 am until 4 pm Monday to Friday during term time (2) double yellow
lines which will prohibit parking at any time and (3) a request that the school
provides parking for pupils on site.
The first two suggestions will
only drive the aggravation into other streets in the vicinity and so it must be
obvious to everyone that option three would be the best, especially as the
school is likely to be given
academy status next year and some
people fear that this could lead to an increase in the number of pupils with
cars.
The responsibility for the
action of these youngsters most certainly lies with the headmaster and staff and
many regard it as unforgivable that they should stand by and do nothing while
the lives of others are continually disrupted.
But it is not that easy because
the council is to have one of those dreaded consultation procedures for which
government has become notorious, so adding time and cost to a problem that
should have been solved years ago. Unfortunately, home owners in the Austerby
are likely to have this hindrance on their doorstep for another school year
because the council has indicated that nothing will be done before next June
when it is likely to take responsibility for civil parking enforcement from the
police. As this will be seen as another source of income for the council through
parking fines, we may expect parking restrictions to appear in many other
streets around the town.
We will soon be celebrating Bonfire Night and as often happens, yet another email has arrived seeking information
about the connection between the Gunpowder Plot and the Red Hall, an apocryphal
tale that refuses to go away and surfaces continually, even appearing in
official publications relating to this town.
The erroneous assertion suggests
that the infamous Guy Fawkes conspiracy to blow up King James I and the Houses
of Parliament during the early 17th century was hatched at the Red Hall, our
most famous secular building and now listed Grade II.
One of the earliest references
appears in John Moore�s account of the town published in 1809 but as he was
stating beliefs that were prevalent at that time it is safe to assume that there
was a widespread oral tradition that subsequently filtered down through the
printed word, notably by later written historical accounts, particularly those
that appeared regularly in trade directories such as Kelly�s and White�s between
1842 and 1937 that are still available and often quoted today in newspaper and
magazine articles and even in some guide books.
Historian Joseph J Davies, the
distinguished headmaster of the former Council or Board School in Abbey Road,
now the Bourne Abbey Church of England Academy, was quite specific in his 1909
edition of Historic Bourne that one of the leading conspirators, Sir Everard
Digby, was born at the Red Hall and was executed for his part in the Gunpowder
Plot which he had joined with the sole purpose of restoring the Roman Catholic
religion in England.
But by 1925, John T Swift
dismissed all connections between the conspiracy and the Red Hall in his history
Bourne and People Associated with Bourne yet it was to be another forty years
before the myth was finally laid to rest. In between times, Bourne was stuck
with the legend which was often referred to in the local newspapers and there is
evidence that many still believed it in later years and still do so today.
It was not until fifty years ago
that the story was totally discredited by Mrs Joan Varley, archivist to
Lincolnshire Archives Committee, after studying parish registers and deeds of
the hall that had recently been deposited with them by a descendant of the
Bourne Digby family, Sir Everard Philip Digby Pauncefort Duncombe, of Great
Brickhill Manor in Buckinghamshire, and so the popular theory was well and truly
laid to rest.
The story had evolved around the
mistaken belief that Sir Everard Digby was born and lived at the Red Hall and it
has been frequently stated that as he was one of the main perpetrators, he and
his fellow conspirators met at his home where the plot was hatched. The date the
hall was built is not known exactly but 1605 is the most favoured. This was the
year that the plot was actually discovered and as the building was some time in
the planning, it would have been impossible for it to have been the meeting
place of the conspirators.
In fact, Sir Everard Digby, who
was involved in the plot, lived at Stoke Dry, Uppingham, Rutland, and was one of
the great landowners in the Midlands although he had no connection with Bourne.
But over a century later, the building did pass into the hands of a Digby family
and James Digby, gentleman, appears as a deputy steward to the Manor of Bourne
Abbotts at a session of the manorial court in October 1730, and from then
onwards there are numerous references to him and his descendants in the manorial
records. It is at this date also that the name Digby begins to appear in the
parish registers. The family owned and inhabited the Red Hall from then until
about a century later and this fact appears to have been the cause of some
wishful deduction that Sir Everard was a direct ancestor of the Digbys of Bourne
which was certainly not the case.
After an exhaustive search
through the documents, Mrs Varley published her findings in April 1964, with
some reluctance it would seem, because she said at the time: �I am sorry in a
way that I have robbed Bourne of its best known legend but I was merely trying
to get at the truth. It is very easy for incorrect statements to get into local
town guides. Stories grow up about places, following generations believe they
are true and eventually they are accepted as fact. They are written into books
and other authors do not take the time to check and revise them.�
This is still the case. Once a
statement is made in print, it is filed away in various archives and then when a
subject or place is to be written about again, the writer consults the cuttings
and repeats the error. So it is that the Gunpowder Plot will surface
occasionally as having happened at the Red Hall because, as Mrs Varley pointed
out, some writers are careless about checking their facts.
Thought for the week: The
very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into
history. - Eric Arthur Blair (1903-50), better known by his pen name of
George Orwell, English author and journalist and leading chronicler of English
culture during the 20th century.
Saturday 29th October 2011
Our town hall is being phased out, as
predicted by this column earlier this year. For the past 190 years, it has been
the centre of administration in Bourne but those who run our affairs have
decided that this historic building has outlived its usefulness and the services
provided there should be moved elsewhere.
The decision has been taken
without any discussion at local level and the plans were on show at the town
hall for only two days last week with no attempt to publicise them beforehand to
give the people an opportunity to have a look. A public consultation has been
promised early next year but only after the project has been approved by South
Kesteven District Council and so objections will be quite futile. The scheme
therefore appears to be a fait accompli with no input either from the town
council or the people of Bourne.
The idea is to turn the ground
floor of the Corn Exchange into a new customer service facility known as the
Bourne Community Access Point with a library, interview rooms and other services
for both the district and county councils. The existing hall, kitchen and
changing room would remain and plans are still being developed for the first
floor. Design work could begin next year with completion of the project by March
2013.
Richard Whyles, head of finance
at South Kesteven District Council, told The Local (October 21st): "The
new facility should provide an environment to access a wide range of services
for the town, district and county councils all from a single point within the
heart of the town."
The decision has been a long time
coming, originally mooted in July 2008 as a scheme to concentrate public
services under one roof at the town hall but, as expected, this proved to be
unworkable because there was insufficient space and the costly necessity to
install a lift to improve access, especially for the disabled. Then along came
the economic crisis and with money rather than quality the main consideration,
the proposed venue was switched earlier this year to the Corn Exchange, a much
cheaper alternative that will also create savings elsewhere.
What will happen to the town hall
is not yet known but in other places where similar decisions are being taken,
sale or demolition are the most likely options although our town hall is
protected with a Grade II listing. It was built in 1821 by the architect Bryan
Browning and has dominated first the market place and now the town centre for
almost two centuries and apart from housing our local administration, the
magistrates also met regularly in the courthouse until it closed in April 2008
and cases are now held elsewhere. The cost was met by public subscription and
the building is therefore morally if not legally owned by the community but
through various changes in the history of local government over the years,
ownership has passed to Lincolnshire County Council who lease it to South
Kesteven District Council.
Mr Whyles told the newspaper that
any change of use for the building would have to be approved by the district
council's development control committee and talks are already underway with the
county council over future leasing. But it seems unlikely that it will be
allowed to stand empty and in similar circumstances elsewhere, such properties
are offered to any group of people interested in taking them over and running
them for community use as part of the Big Society envisaged by the Prime
Minister, David Cameron. Unfortunately, these projects do not have a good track
record in Bourne and if suggestions were invited, those who saw the opportunity
could find themselves up against a barrier of official procrastination and
obfuscation and a distinct unwillingness to help.
We have two such cases already in
Bourne where volunteers are anxious to take over public buildings and yet
despite spending a great deal of time and money to that end they have not been
given the control they need to complete the task and appear to have been
hampered by unnecessary bureaucratic delays that have thwarted their every turn.
Bourne Preservation Society (now Trust) was formed almost as soon as the
cemetery chapel was listed in April 2007 to prevent the town council from
pulling it down and although they have a viable fund raising and restoration
scheme in hand they have yet to receive the key to the door.
A similar impasse has held up
plans by the Bourne Arts and Community Trust to take over ownership of Wake
House in North Street which they have occupied since 1997, a struggle that has
been going on since the lease came up for renewal in 2005, but South Kesteven
District Council has replied by putting the building up for sale to the highest
bidder and so making them compete in the open property market which the trust
clearly cannot afford to do. If this is the way the Big Society is intended to
operate then it is doubtful whether any voluntary group will be prepared to take
on the town hall.
The alternative therefore would
be to sell it and so there is a distinct possibility that it could end up with a
developer for conversion into flats or even as a Wetherspoon public house or
night spot, a not unlikely occurrence because the magnificent mediaeval style
sessions house in Peterborough where I spent many hours at the Press bench as a
young reporter is now a public house and restaurant. What an ignominious fate
that would be for our town hall if such a thing were allowed to happen here but
in the present madcap economic climate, anything is possible.
There is no indication at the
moment about the future of this historic building but disuse means disrepair and
eventual dereliction and the broken pane syndrome sets in. Indeed, there is
already a smashed window on the front and we wonder if this is a portent of
things to come. Certainly, there are already fears that the building may suffer
such a fate because the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Brenda Johnson, told The
Local (October 21st): "I hope that it will not be neglected following the
change of use. I can understand the access problems as is does not have a lift
but I would like it to continue to be a focal point in the town."
The public library in South Street
which has been in use since 1969 will also be lost if this scheme goes ahead.
Book borrowers have not been asked their opinion about the move which will most
certainly mean trying to put a quart into a pint pot because there appears to be
insufficient space at the new location to accommodate the 25,000 books we have
at present as well as the reference and reading library, the children's section
and the bank of computers in the IT section as well as the office for
administration. Something will therefore have to go.
The old building will almost
certainly be demolished and the site sold for housing. This could also mean the
closure of the fire station next door to create one large site, the adjoining
garage already being vacant, and given its close proximity to the Red Hall, this
prime location would be a most attractive prospect for a development company
such as Stamford Homes which is already busy filling the old railway station
site next door with new properties.
Whether this scheme for one stop
services will work remains to be seen but there are already misgivings about the
lack of space at the Corn Exchange and the loss of a perfectly good public
library building with eight parking spaces. The district council is stressing
that the whole point of the exercise is to concentrate services in the heart of
the town but as most people travel in by car that may not be such a good idea
now that parking has become a major problem. Other difficulties are likely to
surface along the way and so most people will not be sharing the council's
enthusiasm just yet.
Cuts and closures are never
popular, especially in a small market town where tradition is all important and
so those who implement change do so at their peril. It has already been reported
that the register office and the police station in Bourne are at risk and we
wonder what will be next. All of this for the sake of saving a few pounds
because of the current financial squeeze that has shown local authorities to be
so devoid of ideas that all they can come up with is to shut well used and much
loved institutions and axe services while their own jobs, salaries and pensions
remain protected. Considering the amount of money they are forced to pay through
the council tax, the people rightly feel that they deserve better.
Anyone venturing off the main roads around Bourne
and into the narrow fenland lanes will encounter many roadside piles of wooden
logs, distorted in shape and discoloured grey-black with age because they are
indeed relics from the dim and distant past.
These ancient timbers that have
been preserved in wetlands such as the fens around Bourne for several millennia
have become known as bog oaks.. Many
massive specimens have been turned up by the plough, some up to 40 feet long,
and discarded at a safe distance in order not to hamper future farming
operations. They are the remains of the
forest that existed here after the Ice Ages, the trees rotting and eventually
falling into the peat soil and their recovery provides a snapshot of ancient
natural history.
The British Isles were once part
of the continental land mass and the rivers of eastern England tributaries of
the River Rhine. Around 12,000 years ago, during the Ice Ages, the Arctic caps
spread southwards as far as the Thames valley and 2,000 years later, as the ice
began to melt, low lying areas of land flooded and created freshwater lakes and
swamps.
For the next four thousand or so
years, these Neolithic wetlands teemed with plant life. Great oak forests
evolved between the lakes and over time fallen trees and vegetation composted
down to form nutrient rich soils. Some of the trees and branches fell into the
lakes and ponds and sank to the bottom and in these dark, airless conditions the
timbers were preserved from decay by the acidic and anaerobic bog for hundreds
and even thousands of years. The wood is usually stained brown by tannins
dissolved in the acidic water and bog wood represents the early stages in the
fossilisation of wood, eventually forming lignite and coal over a period of many
millions of years.
From time to time, the preserved
timbers reach the earth's surface like spirits from the past to remind us of
what was once here. Although these fossilised trees are known by the local name
of bog oaks they can be any species growing naturally near or in bogs including
yew, pine and swamp cypress. They are the legacy of this wet low lying land
frequently revealed as farmers plough deeper each year and throwing up huge
sections of preserved tree trunks in these fertile acres, so large that in past
times a special device was attached to the plough to release the horse whenever
the blade struck one and some were so big that several horses were needed to
pull them from the ground.
Many can still be seen in fen
areas where they have been hauled clear of the field and abandoned on the grass
verge at the roadside and during the 19th century, these finds were so numerous
that farmers cut them up and used the wood to build fences and even today, many
people collect sections to decorate their rockeries and as garden ornaments.
The ancient forests that could be
found in these parts were home to many species of wild animals whose remains
have also been found such as bones, horns and antlers and particularly the teeth
of mammoths, one so large being recovered from the gravel pits around Deeping St
James, near Bourne, that it was used for many years by a family as a door stop.
Thought for the week:
Mighty oaks from
little acorns grow. - old English proverb but generally attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), widely considered to be
the greatest poet of the middle ages and the father of English
literature.
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