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HAVE YOUR SAY ! 

It is now too late for the on-line questionnaire about
DEVELOPING BEWDLEY

But you still have until FRIDAY 3rd FEBRUARY

to answer a District Council on-line questionnaire on
# Council Tax levels
# proposed savings in expenditure (£1m)
# areas of spending

Cllr. Nathan Desmond 
wants to hear residents' views on the Council's plans.

SO TELL HIM !

---

Local Stories
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Public spirited ?

Can you afford to be ?

'Keep Death off the roads'

drive on the pavements !

THIS is how

"How you're gonna keep 'em .."

"Keep right on .."

' .. Right On !'

RHS

"..a snip !"

Public consultation

Thursday 26th January

Saving the Civic Centre

ICHC Cllrs to the rescue

Another NHS body formed

YES .. yet another

"Round & round & round we go"

How to get there ?

Severn Valley Railway

Spring-clean

Home Insurance deadline

.. due all too soon

Are you a 'First-Aider' ?

Check-out your knowledge & skill

   Public spirited .. ? 

 It'll cost you ! 

Know something which you think the Police ought to be informed about ?
Want to report something suspicious ?
Is there a potential danger that ought to be investigated ?

Well, you could always ring 101 .. as West Mercia Police have told us.

Its their 'new' line, launched last November across England and Wales, designed for communication which does not merit an 'emergency' response - for which you would still ring '999'.

BUT .. (and why is there always a 'but' .. ?) .. it'll cost you.

Yes .. YOU .. the public-spirited, responsible person making the call .. and you will have to fork-out a whole, blooming 15 pence ! 
All for doing your duty !!

Raising his head above the parapet is Trevor Albutt, the Chief Superintendent of 'Operational Support Command' (sounds like something out of 'Thunderbirds-are-Go') to give us the 'bureaucrat-speak' reasons .. ..

• previous non-emergency numbers cost up to 40p per minute

• 15p per minute is a considerable saving

• this charge is for however long the call lasts

Well, Trevor, 
15p is still 15p too much for us doing our voluntary public duty.

"A - OK ? Trevor ?"

   Keep DEATH off our roads 

Having just started to read the 'Worcestershire Local Transport Plan 3 - Motorcycling Policy' .. well, a little light reading does help to pass the time .. I was confused to read the following opening statement _

Well .. that's certainly ONE WAY of "keeping death off our roads" .. though what it will do to pedestrian casualty figures ..  ..  ... ?

"Shop locally, Sir ? Certainly, Madam .. Park here."

"Wyre Forest District Council will shortly be drawing-up its budget proposals to take effect from April 2012.

There are a number of car parks currently close to each of the three town centres that are under-used. This is the opportunity to provide some limited free access to the town centres - of, perhaps 2-4 hrs duration - depending on location.

It would help stimulate the local economy - particularly when an estimated 135,000 small retail premises face going bust.

How many business go-under will depend on the flexibility of local councils to offer incentives for shoppers to spend their cash locally, rather than travel to out-of-town developments (e.g. Merry Hill) or use the Internet.

The amendments to the council car-parking charges implemented last year after "consultation" that many might regard as 'questionable' need a new, fresh, realistic approach to see what can be achieved."

Graham Ballinger
ICHC Parliamentary Spokesman

THIS is "How you're gonna keep 'em" shopping locally.

With apologies to Sam Lewis, Joe Young, and Walter Donaldson, who wrote in 1919 about GI's returning home to small-town America after WW1.

How ’ya gonna keep ’em, down on the farm, After they’ve seen Pa-ree?
How ’ya gonna keep ’em away from Broad-way; Jazzin’ a-’round’, And paintin’ the town?
How ’ya gonna keep ’em away from harm? That’s a mistery;
      They’ll never want to see a rake or plow,
      And who the deuce can parley-vous a cow?
How ’ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm, After they’ve seen Paree?

Which is the better number - 1, 3, 16 or 30 ?

'Wot, no roundabout ?'

Cllr. Tracey Onslow, Cabinet member for Community Well-Being, dismisses 1_
     So you won't be traveling just ONE mile  - 
                                            the shortest distance to the new crematorium.
She rather likes the number 3_
     Which is the distance of the latest preferred 'round-the-houses' route.
She knows you won't like either 16 or 30_
     The round-trip distance to either Stourbridge or Worcester crems.

Still, to keep peoples' spirits up on the journey, you might occupy your time singing this little ditty (to that well-known WW1 tune) ..

v.1 "The road at the end of life is a long, long road,
And that's fill'd with joys and sorrows too,
As you journey on how your heart will yearn
For your destination's view.
With no roundabout .. 'tis so,
So onward, onward you must go.

v.2 With a big stout heart on the long steep hill,
You may get there with a smile,
Though a good kind thought (and a roundabout)
Could cut short many a mile.
So fill up the hearse every day ..
And make the customer pay ..

Chorus:
Keep right on to the end of the road,
Keep right on to the end,
Tho' the way be long, let your heart be strong,
And their plan is right round the bend.
Tho' you're tired and weary still journey on,
Till you come to your ultimate abode,
After Mitton, Wilden Lane, and the A449
You'll arrive on the Stourport Road."

This song was written by Sir Harry Lauder shortly after his son was killed in action in World War I.
Birmingham City FC fans use the same tune during their matches.

Fancy an Away-Day ? 

Other people writing in The Shuttle the other week might be interested in a mail-shot which arrived in the In-tray, completely by co-incidence, while the Shuttle's letters were being read.

Coming from a London-based hospitality company (details can be supplied, on request - we wouldn't want anyone to miss-out on this opportunity) it offers tickets to the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show - Tuesday 22nd to Saturday 26th May.

The "Monarch" package includes the following_

All for only £495.00 per person.  What excellent value !

"If you go down to the woods, today .. Bwana !" 

Draft plans at the West Midlands Safari Park in Worcestershire will be on display for public consultation at Bewdley Museum on Thursday 26th January.

A hotel, conference centre and water park are planned for development over the next 10 years and comment on these future proposals for the site is being sought.

The tourist attraction said that an exhibition at the park last November had been 'well-attended' and it was taking the plans 'into the community' for further feedback.

Or will they get kicked into touch ?

Saving Stourport's Civic Centre

ICHC Cllrs. Jim Parish and John Thomas have jointly awarded the Stourport Facilities Project £9,600 in funds from their allocation of the Worcestershire Councillors' Divisional Fund.

The money will fund 'Stourport Forward' - a cross-party, cross-council steering group who are involved with the transfer of the Stourport Civic Centre into community ownership when the District Council vacates the site, in June 2012.

"As a member of the steering group I am extremely keen to see this project succeed - and for the Civic Centre to continue to serve the needs of the Stourport people."
Jim Parish

Now .. ask YOUR COUNTY COUNCILLOR what they have done for your area with their funding.

wyreforestccg.nhs.uk

This is the new website from the Clinical Commissioning Group to tell us about health services in Wyre Forest.

CCG has been established as part of government reforms to shift decision-making as close as is possible to patients and is chaired by district GP Dr. Simon Gates.

Visitors to the web can_ 

• find where their nearest GP is .. (if they didn't know already)

• find out who is on the CCG Board .. (borr-rr-ing)

• download their newsletter .. (wow)

• learn about CCG's "Vision and Values" .. (why)

• know it's 'priorities' .. (and ?)

• read it's 'timeline' to becoming a statutory organisation .. (and how does that improve things ?)

Or have all the past "improvements" to the NHS made us all-too-cynical about even more "improvements" ?

Die with Dignity
.. but expect to have to pay for it.

The UK leader in funeral-related services

"While welcoming the presence of the Wyre Forest Crematorium and Cemetery we deplore the stupidity in planning that put this vital facility on a site inaccessible from the Stourport direction without a difficult u-turn on a busy dual carriageway. Similarly, and unbelievably, funeral corteges from the other direction, to return to Kidderminster will have to do a tight u-turn at the Stourport end of the dual carriageway or enter Stourport and drive around the one-way system.

How could council leaders allow this development to take place on this site without foreseeing these difficulties of access? 
Did the decision-makers know the local geography? 
Were there financial motives for choosing this site that over shadowed the problems of access?

What is the solution? 
A roundabout at the entrance to the site is a solution that would avoid u-turns for vehicles from both directions but, as the site is at a point of wide separation and different levels of the two lanes of the dual carriageway, this would be very expensive. 
An easier and presumably cheaper solution would be to create a new entrance, if negotiable, from Oldington Lane.

Whoever sanctioned this mad siting of a vital development for Wyre Forest? 
Who will solve the problems it has created?"

Dr. Richard Taylor

Described as "striking modern buildings" .. the cemetery / crematorium will be set in a tranquil green landscape with wild flowers and grasses, rockeries and a pond with a wooden bridge. Access to the buildings will be through a tree lined avenue.

Wyre Forest District Council will be contributing £1.25 million and 23 acres to the £4.2m project which will be managed by Parkwood Consultancy Services.  
Once completed, the facility will be managed by Dignity plc on behalf of the Council.

Just don't expect the Council to get any financial 'return' on our money which they've put into this project for at least 25/30 years. 
Do, however, expect to have to pay high prices for the services and facilities offered, as Dignity strive to re-coup their £3,000,000 outlay and maximize the return on their investment.

Local Storm Damage 

One of the sails of the Danzey Green windmill has been damaged and left hanging lose after heavy gusts of wind.

Damaged to this part of the Avoncroft Museum collection of historic buildings at the Worcestershire tourist attraction is a "major setback" to their planned maintenance schedule for this year.

http://www.avoncroft.org.uk/

 S-V-R 

The line for all seasons

The Severn Valley Railway (SVR) is closing the 16-mile Worcestershire / Shropshire line for six weeks from Tuesday (03/01/12) as work costing £250,000 gets under way. Refurbishment includes_ track and drainage renewal and maintenance, renewing more than a third of a mile of track to, and through, the 480-yard long Bewdley Tunnel, &  replacing signal cabling. During the same period last year the railway spent about £400,000. This winter's work programme will bring the total spent on infrastructure renewals over the last three-and-a-half years to £1.5m.

The steam heritage service aims to run trains during school spring half-term holidays from 11 to 26 February.

House Insurance could become too expensive for some

Tewkesbury - 2007

The 2008 agreement between the Association of British Insurers and the Government following the 2007 floods (the summer of 2007 was the wettest on record with flooding in areas including Tewkesbury & Gloucestershire) is shortly to expire, leaving tens of thousands of people unable to insure their properties.

Although the agreement to insure high-risk homes is scheduled to end in June 2013, premiums are set in 2012 and the government and insurers need to reach a new agreement quickly.

Over the past four years millions of pounds has been spent on flood defences, improved drainage and better resilience & back-up - but despite this, campaigners say insurance premiums and excesses have gone up and, unless a new deal is reached, they fear their homes and businesses will become impossible to insure or to sell.

"The government seems to be delivering that side of the bargain; it's not really being reflected by the insurance industry's reaction at the moment."
Harriet Baldwin MP - Con. - West Worcestershire.

However,
"The industry simply can't sustain these very high risk properties in a free market. It has done its business, but it has ended up distorting the market. There is a very substantial cross-subsidy from low-risk households to high-risk households."
Nick Starling, director of general insurance at the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

According to the ABI, damage caused by floods in 2007 cost the industry £3bn.

Floodline - 24 hours a day - on 0845 988 1188.

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