SleafordChat A regular comment on the latest local news.
 
Attracting Shoppers to Sleaford?

Are we being mugged?

There is a lot of coverage at the moment, nationally, of petrol prices being set to rise. We seem to be on the high side anyway in Sleaford these days - compared say to prices in Grantham and Lincoln. There appears to be at least a 5p difference at the lower end of the price range.

So I was a bit concerened about these reports - and to why we are getting all the hype. Is it to try and get the forthcoming duty prices shelved - or just electioneering - or is something more fundamental happening?  AOL and Sky amongst others have covered it and the AA have a regular report on it.

The bottom line surely is that unless Sleaford prices are kept below average, or at least competitive with our neighbouring Towns, then all the proposed ideas (regeneration plana), for attracting shoppers into Sleaford, could end up as a waste of time.
Published Date:
16/03/2010
Modified Date:
16/03/2010







Is Sleaford happy and safe?


It must be the long winter but I needed cheering up: with the prospect of another two months of lead up to the General Election and interminable leaders debates. Anyway, the good news is - I was cheered up this morning by some one-liners sent in by listeners on the local radio. Here are two "blinders".

George Best on why he was nearly broke "I spent most of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered!"

Chris Eubank whose ego show plus his flamboyant entrances to the ring were the most exciting part of the contest "The Ego has landed "  

So back to the hard news: the Police forces have been taking a bit of a hammering on the news this morning with Nottinghamshire coming out worst with Lincolsnhire not so far behind.
The BBC reported it on their website quoting a snapshot survey by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). This  suggested officers did not turn up to almost one in four (23%) anti-social behaviour complaints and as a result almost all those victims were unhappy with police.

However I also received today (through the Lincolnshire Research Observatory) other figures which presume are part of, or in conjunction with, the same survey assessment. 

A  main question asked in a telephone survey was: " The Police and local council are dealing with the anti-social and crime issues that matter in this area". The bottom line figures suggested that 76% had confience in the local police after taking everything into account. 91% were satisfied with the treatment received by the police. The lowest score (50.7%) was the response to the question "Do you agree that police and local council are dealing with the anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter in the local area?" 
 
However these are for Lincolnshire in general: Sleaford I think rates better these days but you may have a different view!
 
The other good news, by the way, is that Man. U won 4-0 last night. Rooney, Rooney, Rooney seems to be the chant in this mornings papers. !
Published Date:
11/03/2010
Modified Date:
15/03/2010







Cuts? Black Holes everywhere.
How will  Sleaford be affected?

No, not the roads after the hard winter. The link has now changed but I watched the BBC Look North programme on 1st March  and was given the news about Council cutbacks across the Look North area. North Kesteven was included and the programme did include an interview with a local District Counillor. The story is covered here!

The Lincolnshire web site also included the topic with a map showing Lincolnshire to be one of the areas with the highest number of potential job cuts in the next few years.
Published Date:
02/03/2010
Modified Date:
03/03/2010







Woodside Open Space: Sleaford Wood


Upate: The topic was discussed at last Wednesdays meeting. I have covered it at the following Holdingham web blog address!

I wrote a blog more than 3 years ago, and received many comments entitled Sleaford Wood: Developments all around! This was written on 3rd August 2006. Since then developments, or the prospect of developments - especially near the A17 have come to the fore! These developments will need community facilities.

Well, in view of the topic up before the Town Council Strategy Committee today (24 February 2010) - maybe it is time to look hard at this subject. But this time it is the Woodside Open Space area that is up for discussion. The
Sleaford Standard
has a story today on this one.  

A backdrop to all this is that the area is very enclosed, the play equipment has been in need of refurbishment for some time, and that only recently it was identified as the next in line for refurbishment. What is essential is that we make our open spaces, available to residents in ways that improve our community wellbeing.

There are many issues here so I welcome the debate.
Published Date:
24/02/2010
Modified Date:
28/02/2010







Sleaford Unemployment: still rising!
 Will all the plans for Sleaford reduce these figures?


The latest unemployment figures nationally, announced on National TV and Radio, were a bit mixed: headline rate down slightly but the number of jobseekers rising. I was interested in seeing what the latest figures, published through the Lincolnshire Research Observatory, had to offer. The answer - not very encouraging!

  Sleaford      This Month     Last Month             Last Year        
xxxxxxxxxxx    874    816 621

This represents a rise of 41% (253) on this time last year.

The unemployment rate is now 3.5% compared to 4.0% for Lincolnshire: 4.2% for the East Midlands and 4.3% for England. 

This seemed to conflict a bit with the headlines on National News. Just to make sure I had my facts right, as I often get confused between those given on the BBC and similar figures from the USA, I did enquire why there seemed to be a difference between these rates and those given on the National News for unemployment. There is a good reason but not to spoil the fun - here it is. 

"Unemployed claimants: is a narrow definition of worklessness which includes eligible people of working age claiming unemployment benefit (currently Jobseekers Allowance - JSA) and National Insurance credits. It excludes large groups of people who may consider themselves to be unemployed and looking for work, such as partners of JSA claimants. It can include some people who are employed under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition, but still claim JSA because they work less than 16 hours a week.


An alternative measure of unemployment is the International Labour Organisation (ILO)

definition, which includes all those who are out of work, available to start work, and actively looking for a job. It is measured by a regular survey of the national labour force.


The Government commonly uses the ILO figures. ILO figures may tend to be higher than the claimant count. The claimant count can however still provide useful statistics at the local level.



Reference Source for this Information Sheet: Office for National Statistics (ONS)"


Now I know.

Published Date:
18/02/2010
Modified Date:
01/03/2010







North-South Divide Part 2
 Cars coming across the level crossing

When I spoke of the Sleaford North-South divide a week or two ago I was referring to the latest news of how the Country has its own North-South divide. We are apparently in the prosperous south of the Country.

However there is another North-South divide in Sleaford itself and this has been highighted in the Lincolnshire Life magazine (the February bought edition is more up to date and comprehensive than the web version). I hadn't realised, when I wrote the Blog piece 2 weeks or so ago, that this article had been written.  One interesting bit related to the level crossing at the end of Grantham Road turning into South Street. The web version says:

"Sleaford has, since the coming of the railway, been split into two with the north-south divide becoming increasingly apparent as the volume of traffic in town has increased; hold-ups at the level crossing frustrate drivers and at peak times cause the town centre to suffer its very own grid-lock - it's all relative though and compared with bigger towns, the delays are not so significant."  The treatment of the problem, here, was sympathetic but it has always been a problem - certainly in the lifetime of the people of Sleaford.
 
Interestingly there is a piece in the local paper (Pages From The Past) - going back to 1935 - when the Sleaford Authorities were offered 3/4 of the cost of getting rid of the inconvenience of the crossing whci affected waiting motorists and children going to and for to School.  What would we give for such an offer now? I can certainly remember many years ago (not 1935)  the huge amounts of traffic trying to get through Sleaford, especially in summer, before the bypasses were built.


Published Date:
10/02/2010
Modified Date:
12/02/2010







All change at Sleaford Terminal!



Trains and boats and roads!


I’ve commented many times of the changes happening in and around Sleaford: often taken from local newspapers and the TV. This week things seem to be coming to a head! All I could do was summarise and then catch my breath! I have concentrated on just a few but there are more! These are, I think, connected but perhaps not obvioulsy so. My comments are in the order in which they may be completed - but there are many ifs and buts. I have been in contact with Lincolnshire Highways and Eco2 for clarification.


So first there is the Biofuel development near Kirkby la Thorpe. I contacted the firm and they gave me this information: they are aiming to begin the construction programme in April 2010, although there won't be any significant activity on site until the end of the summer. There are procedures to be adopted. The plant should begin operating in autumn 2012. The proposed vehicle numbers remain at 100 per weekday (i.e. 50 in plus 50 out).

Secondly: the farm bridge development over the A17. This is progressing and will tie in with the cycle track netwok between Leasingham and Sleaford. It will phase in with the new houses, near the mini-rioundabout close to the main Holdingham Roundabout, which are expected to be near completion by end 2010. This will help relieve the A17 and open up the possibility of future developments near Sleaford Wood down to East Road.

Thirdly the Rec Road and the bridge over the railway line: which was approved by NKDC, as the responsible body, last June. Funding for this will come from a major retailer. Ordnance Survey is required to map this revision and will do so as part of their regular update process. Its’ exact number is not yet known as this will be determined following discussions between Highways and the Department for Transport.


Closure
of the station gate: this will ultimately be decided by Lincolnshire Highways - in consulation with the Rail Authority.


Finally
, for the time being, and maybe this is the real driving force: these developments may be to facilitate a link through Sleaford to the Werrington Junction near Peterborough. The link is to Doncaster: via Spalding and Sleaford. This may carry up to 100 Freight trains per day. This has been covered in a local weekly newspaper column ByTheWay by journalist John Pinchbeck’. Thanks John!


So it is, or may be, all happening. At least it offers a response to those who say Sleaford lacks development. However it represents a lot of change which some will welcome as the future for local jobs and security - and others won’t. The only anecdote to those who won't is:


I remember a story (apparently true) of a community in the Outer Hebrides who, at the Sunday Church, prayed for rain, after a long dry spell, as fresh water was in short supply. I can’t remember the exact words but the priest apparently said, sic, “Dear Lord, please send rain to help us in our daily lives”. For the next week it didn’t just rain, in literally “peed” down non-stop. The next Sunday a bedraggled priest and congregation assembled in Church: the Priest clasped his hands together, looked up, and said ”Lord, dinna be ridiculous!”

Ditto for Sleaford perhaps! Cheers!

Published Date:
06/02/2010
Modified Date:
11/02/2010







North-South Divide for Sleaford?


Sleaford is in the prosperous part (really!).

Can we stay there?  
Do we want to?

I spent part of the week trying to help where I could with drainage problems. The local papers were highlighting problems near Sleaford - and this seemed to be part of the same problem. To be fair Anglian Water and our own NK Environmental people did help to resolve matters. Whether or not 'real or imaginary' I was getting the impression that our infrastructure might be creaking a bit under continuous expansion. Things might just get worse without more investment!

So I was interested in the latest regional and national news about which parts of the Country were prosperous and which weren't. They were talking about economic well-being rather than quality of life which can mean different things. Even within a community like Sleaford there are haves and have-not areas.

There has been much talk recently about the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and the divides within England and the UK in general. We are in the haves area but I am sure some will disagree. See this
haves/have-nots map for an idea of what it means. It’s a bit broad-brush.


It was mentioned on the local news recently with interviews with residents in Beverley (in a have-not area) who seemed to think the criteria being used was wrong anyway. They were happy (probably Beverley is not typical of a have-not area!) but that’s the problem with these type of study. I think may places near the Lincolnshire coast would not think themselves as being in the haves area.

Anyway what is important is what makes up a have or have not town (like Sleaford I suppose but we are smaller in size) and cities. I got this data from a Centre for Cities report. For the ‘haves’ the five to watch were given as: Brighton, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Reading. For the have-nots: Barnsley, Burnley, Doncaster, Newport and Stoke.


The ‘have’ cities/towns have strong private sectors, high levels of entrepeneurship, highly educated work-forces and large shares of knowledge intensive jobs. Most of these are much larger than Sleaford but you get the drift. Added to that I would add; a strong infrastructure of drainage and transport; and the affordability of housing for starters. The have-nots were those with low business start-up and a high rate of residents with no qualifications.


So where are we heading - and what does Sleaford need to invest in to get there?
Published Date:
31/01/2010
Modified Date:
02/02/2010



Page:1 of 7
Previous Next

Blog Search / Archive: