WELCOME TO NORDELPH -- April 2007

If you have found this page from a search engine, and cannot see an index frame to the left and a pictorial header above, click on www.nordelph.org to load the page correctly.

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The mechanics of the Nordelph website are very much to the fore this month. Firstly, we suffered a serious breakdown in e-mail communications over the Easter period. If you have e-mailed us and received no reply, this is probably because your message was lost in cyberspace -- do please contact us again.

Also, although there seems to be little added to the website on this update, under the hood we have been very busy! We reported last month that one of our regulars had identified rather out-dated pages and other aspects of the site that needed cleaning up. We've started the process, which has been more challenging than we expected. What has been done so far is to restructure the way we hold the web pages, making change easier. At present, we have removed nothing. You should see no change -- the intention is that all links will still work. However, we are somewhat distrustful of our data management, and you may find that a picture refuses to display, or a click doesn't take you where you expect -- in which case DO please let us know. Next month, we'll be making some changes that you can see!

Parish Assembly

The new material this month is all centred around the annual Parish Assembly. Our 'new items' button will lead you through the reports of this and the subsequent Parish Council meeting. Also provided are the minutes of the previous assembly in 2006, and the January council meeting.

Welney Wash Road Flooding – Have Your Say

The sight above (an image from the Welney website) -- the A1101 across Welney Wash, closed -- was an all too familiar occurrence during the winter just passed. This has affected Nordelph, extending the run to Ely and places South by some 5-6 miles, and (worse) creating a 20 mile detour if you happen to get as far as Welney and discover it blocked. But this is small fry compared to what the villagers of Welney had to put up with. Their Parish Council has asked us to publicise the following statement:

"The winter of 2006/2007 has seen a prolonged period of flooding on the A1101
Welney Wash Road, rendering it impassable to traffic for weeks on end as water
depth levels on the road reached over 30 inches.

Whilst we appreciate that the Ouse Washes are designed to hold floodwater
from the Great Ouse catchment area, Welney Parish Council believe the problem has
been exacerbated by the failure of the Environment Agency to adequately
maintain the Great Ouse river system, thereby allowing a build-up of silt to raise
overall bed levels in the Hundred Foot and Great Ouse Rivers, whilst huge silt
banks have been allowed to form at various key points. This has drastically
affected the EA’s ability to discharge water from the Ouse Washes, leaving
Welney and surrounding villages to bear the brunt of the consequences.

The situation has so far attracted media interest from local newspapers,
television and radio, and has also been raised in the House of Commons by local MP
Christopher Fraser. A meeting has since been held by Mr Fraser at which
Borough, District and Parish Councillors, plus three senior Environment Agency
Executives, were present, and it is now our intention to gather as much support as
possible for our campaign to have the situation resolved to the satisfaction
of local residents.

Therefore, following consultation with adjoining Parish Councils, Welney PC
is asking anyone from the surrounding area who has been inconvenienced by the
96-day road closure to put pen to paper and let us know how you were affected.
All the letters received will be passed to the local MP. Points you may wish
to raise include:

a. The effect due to lost trade on local businesses
b. The additional fuel costs to motorists forced to take lengthy diversions
c. The additional CO2 emissions created by motorists having to make longer
trips
d. The burden on emergency services called to rescue motorists trapped in
floodwater
e. Why the silt in the rivers has been allowed to rise to such high levels
f. Why there has been no recent study into the idea of raising the A1101 Wash
Road
g. Why small, rural communities are so often ignored by central government
h. How the 96-day closure of an ‘A’ class road can be considered acceptable

The above points are merely for guidance. Whether you are someone whose
business has suffered; whose route to work is affected; whose children are affected
regarding getting to school; or whether your life has been affected in other
ways, please write and let us know. The louder our voice, the greater our
chance of seeing this wholly unacceptable situation resolved.

Thank you for your time.

Pat Copeman (Mrs)
Clerk to Welney Parish Council
1 Chestnut Avenue, Welney, Wisbech, Cambs PE14 9RG.
Tel: 01354 610226   e-mail: welneypc@aol.com  

Want a windmill?

Two windmills -- providing enough power for 2000 homes -- are to be erected at Deeping St Nicholas. Hardly news, considering how many turbines now dot our Fenscape. But what's different about this is their ownership: it's a cooperative venture, the Fenland Green Power Co-op. And they're inviting anyone interested to buy into the co-op. For an investment of between $250 and £20,000 you can have a share in the project. It pays an annual dividend and -- get this -- after 24 years your initial investment is returned. This is probably not about financial profit, but rather an attempt to be sustainably green. You can read all about it at www.fens.coop where you will find a simple application form for a prospectus when the co-op is launched this autumn, or you can call 0845 3733612. Or you can read the leaflet by clicking here.

Finally ...

There's a (local) election coming up -- although too few candidates have been nominated for Nordelph to enjoy the hurly burly of the hustings. We'll report on the composition of the new Parish Council in the next update.