Happy New Year

Happy New Year but you will have to wait an extra second this year as time is being suspended for 1 second at midnight so the earth can sync with the atomic clocks as the earth is off by 1 second.

New years eve and as you can see in the picture Crewe is frozen with frost for the last few nights and freezing cold winds. More cold weather is on its way and temperatures down to -4 can be expected the only good thing is we get extra money in our pension if its cold for more than a week.


The only good news is that a Petrol price war means petrol is at its lowest price for a long time New Years Eve and it was down to 82.9p at Morrisons and Tesco cutting prices at any moment Diesel was down to 94.9p.

Lets hope 2009 is a better year for us all but I fear it may only bring more misery in job losses before it gets better. Check back for the latest news on this site

Fathers For Justice Strike In Crewe

Father 4 Justice have been out and about in Crewe writing slogans all over town including Hightown, Derby st and near Morrisons it not clear if they are from
http://news.realfathersforjustice.org/
or from
http://www.fathers-4-justice.org/f4j/

But lets remember their plight at this time of year as a father who went through it years ago I can appreciate how they feel.

Mothers Have A Great Christmas, Yet Thousands Of Families Lives Are Destroyed

For some families, Christmas will be a devastating time, due to archaic UK laws, failing judges and because inadequate court systems fail to uphold the basic human right of children being able to spend adequate time with both their natural parents.

Children’s rights, as well as fathers rights are a very important issue and organisations such as The Real Fathers For Justice http://www.realfathersforjustice.org are leading the way to try and make a difference for the sake of our children.

Despite numerous studies and surveys illustrating the benefits of a child having access to both parents, many men in the UK still have to battle through courts just to see their sons or daughters

This poses a serious welfare issue for the children concerned.

Some men have fought for nine years or more, yet still their court orders are not upheld, allowing the mother to ruin the lives of these innocent children. This is a clear indication that something is wrong with the UK family court systems.

Can you imagine how degrading it must be to have to seek a court’s permission just to see your own children?

There is an indication that things may be changing, an example is the recent speech by Jack Straw which is available at: >This website< but even so, there is a long way to go before fathers are treated as equal parents.

When we finally put our children’s rights first, things should change for the better, but until then, thousands of passionate fathers will have to battle for our children to grow up in a fairer and more humane society.

Light Pollution What You Can Do

For more details on what can be done see Enviromental Protection

We have recently had a problem with light pollution from the Mother and Baby Unit in Oxford St Crewe. As you can see in the picture they have external lights on all night. The lights are less than 30ft from people’s bedrooms and these lights make it imposable for people sleeping in the back to get any sleep as it’s like having the sun shining in the window all night. The owners of the site Dane Housing of Conglton were asked to turn of some of the lights but they didn’t comply.
Eventually we contacted Environmental Health who got the light turned off as its now against the law. When the centre was built in 2003 the light law wasn’t in force but now they would never get planning permission to put up these lights. Apart from the nuisance they are wasting energy when we are all trying to save the planet.
Dealing with artificial light nuisance
What is light nuisance?
The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 amended the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to bring artificial light from premises under the statutory nuisance regime as of 6 April 2006.
What to do if you are suffering from artificial light nuisance from premises
If you are concerned about light nuisance coming from a neighbour’s garden, a local business or manufacturer, often the best way to deal with the problem is to go straight to the source.
Consider talking to the person or company responsible for the light nuisance and point out the problem. You may find that they are unaware that they are causing a disturbance. Remember we may all be guilty of creating a nuisance from light nuisance at some time without knowing it. The problem is not always one of inconsiderate behaviour.
Mediation could be the answer
If the direct approach does not work you may want to consider mediation. An independent third party will listen to the views of both parties and can help you to reach an agreement or compromise. You can obtain details about the location of services in your area from Mediation UK on 0117 9046661.
Taking formal action
When informal action is not possible or fails, you can resolve the problem by taking formal action. The most common route involves complaining to your local authority about the light problem. Local authorities have a duty to investigate complaints. Under sections 79 to 81 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 local authorities have a duty to deal with light nuisance from premises which they consider to be a statutory nuisance.
Who do I complain to?
If you want to make a complaint about light nuisance you should contact your local authority, usually the Environmental Health Department. The number will be in your local telephone directory.
If they visit or witness the light problem and are satisfied that a statutory nuisance exists or is likely to occur or recur, they must take action. If the light nuisance is intermittent, they may ask you to keep details of the problem in the form of a diary.
Sometimes they may measure the light as part of their investigation into a complaint. There is no set level at which artificial light from premises becomes a statutory nuisance.
Serving an abatement notice

If the local authority is satisfied that artificial light from premises amounts to a statutory nuisance they must serve an abatement notice. This may require the activity causing the nuisance to stop altogether, or that good practice is adopted to prevent a nuisance. A notice must be served on the person responsible for the light nuisance or, in certain circumstances, the owner or occupier of the premises. A person on whom an abatement notice has been served has the right of appeal within twenty-one days of it being served. Industrial, trade and business premises, as well as relevant sports premises, may use as a defence upon appeal or against prosecution the proof that ‘best practicable means’ were used to prevent or counteract the effects of a nuisance.
Failure to comply with an abatement notice
If a person on whom an abatement notice has been served fails, without reasonable cause, to comply, s/he will have committed an offence. For offences relating to domestic premises, the magistrates’ court may impose a fine of up to £5,000 with a further fine of up to £500 for each day on which the offence continues after conviction. When the nuisance arises on industrial, trade or business premises, the maximum fine is £20,000.

Doom and Groom in Crewe

Photos Tile Shop and Buildbase Underwood Lane


New Year is nearly here and all that is on the horizon for Crewe is doom and gloom. In the last few weeks we have seen job losses at the Post Office and Tax office. The Tile shop near the Tax office is all so closed down as has Buildbase in Underwood lane and of coarse Woolworths in Nantwich closed today after 70 years. Music, games and DVD retailer Zavvi - formerly known as Virgin Megastore is also in trouble and closing soon. With so many shops standing empty in Crewe Town it gives the impression of a ghost town about to happen.

Modus is set to sell its 50% stake in five developments owned by the joint venture: Trinity Walk in Wakefield; Friars Walk Centre in Newport, Wales; Delamere Place in Crewe; West Orchards in Coventry; and Birchwood in Warrington. Delamere Place in Crewe could start in 2010, said Flood, adding that ‘we are reviewing all the costs’.

The down turn didn’t stop people flocking to the sales I was around town on Boxing day and the retail park was packed with no room to park as people flocked to get the bargains Zavvi had queues four deep and you couldn’t move inside. People must be having a last minute buying spree. All you can see around the town was SALE signs.
Lets hope that Crewe’s fortunes pick up in the new years and we get new employment opportunities in the near future. Happy New Year to all our readers

BMX Track closed for 5 weeks

The BMX track is closed from 8th December for about 5 weeks. They are redoing some of the ramps and hills and putting in a lot more hardcore. Because of the size of some of the hills they are having problems keeping the track in good condition as it get eroded and its not help by the rain and kids who ride motor bikes and anything else on it. There isn’t a lot of expertise out there for building BMX tracks so it’s a suck it and see. Some of the more aggressive curves have been tarmaced as you can see in the photos. Lets hope this solves the problems they should cover it all in tarmac so it could be used by skaters as well.

Its Xmas In Crewe

A trip around the town shows Xmas has come to Crewe. I ran into Santa who had his sleigh brought over by the Round Table but he hadnt done the coarse on how to safely balance children on his leg so he couldn't pick the up it ELF and Safety rules.



Around the corner in the Market center there was a very large Scotsman with his bag pipes running about try to stop people finding out what he had on under his kilt.



Outside Abbey the Salvation Army were giving us all a tune after a hectic week giving out food parcels to the poor and people on the dole





Finally outside Asda we had the Coop Band playing us a tune so crewe is full of Xmas entertainment and is advertising on the Radio of more things to come

Floods

With much of the country suffering floods Crewe seems to have got off pretty light. The Valley Brook was bursting its banks and the bridge was virtually under water. Many walk ways were flooded I noticed Middlwich st by the Railway had its own rivers flowing.
Many areas like the Derby Docks were sodden after the long spells of rain lets hope the rain stops before we suffer like some towns

West Street Crime and improvments

West St has seen several robberies in the last couple of weeks with the hairdressers, paper shop and the off licence all being raided and staff threatened. The shops have taken action by increasing security of their shops to prevent further attacks but the new sentencing rules out this week wont help.
The new rules basically say anyone caught shop lifting should only face a fine and if they threaten staff they may also get Community Service. This is not a deterrent and it makes it a worth while risk to attack shops if you know you wont go to prison.
West St is also going to get a £400,000 make over with new lights pavements security and parking.
A council spokesman said: “The main benefits of the project are expected to be stability for current traders, the attraction of new independent traders and an increase in the number of people shopping locally.
“The street has seen a decline in the overall number of retail units as changes in people’s shopping patterns and competition from supermarkets and other larger shops have taken their toll on independent traders.
“West Street has a long and proud history and represents a key part of the heritage of Crewe as an industrial town.
Sadly West St is no longer a busy area at one time you had no need to go into town as everything you needed was in the street we had petshops, food stores, Partons and everything you could need. Lets hope this will soon be the case again as it’s the main area for people of the west end so it has a large catchment area.

Are you ready for Digital TV?

There was help on the square on Saturday for the TV digital switch over. For the Granada region this will happen next November when first BBC will go off the air followed by other stations. You can get digital TV now on Freeview, Freesat or Sky and if you can get any of these now you will have no problem in the next year. It will help in this area as we have bad Channel 5 reception around Crewe. This is due to it being given a frequency out side the range of aerials for this area as it was introduced a lot latter than the other services and there was no room left for it within our range.
The signals for Freeview are being transmitted at only 20% of the power which we will get when its turned over fully. So if you can get it now but the picture isn’t 100% don’t worry as it should be fine next year.
To get digital you will need either Sky TV, a Freeview Box for your current TV, get anew Tv with Freeview built in. Get Freesat a satalite TV which is free of charge once you have bought the box there is no charge for the service. You can get some programs via the Internet but this is not a viable option at the present time as most ISP’s have a download limit but this may change with the advent of ADSL+2 with higher speeds of 24 Meg.
Check her for more details