Andy Coles and Andrew Willey have been involved in a long campaign to clear the riverside of Woodston from litter and other rubbish.  Working with the various landowners, community organisations and loads of volunteers, we've finally got a strong grip on the problem and while the area will always need extra care to keep the litter down and the drug nuisance away, it looks like the constant involvement of our candidates has brought about significant change. Do you have a similar problem in your area?  If so,  Peterborough Litter Wombles are a new coordinating group that is bringing all of the litterpicking groups across the City together.  The group regularly advertises activities across the city on their facebook group page ... if you'd like to get involved then click here: PETERBOROUGH LITTER WOMBLES

 The Mayor of the Combined Authority has recently announced support funding of £19.1 Million to help developers build affordable homes, and 151 of these properties will be built in Woodston. 74 new homes are due to be built on the British Sugar site behind the new Lidl store that is due to open in February 2021. British Sugar, who currently own the derelict land, is currently seeking planning permission for the site. A further 77 properties are proposed at the East Anglia Galvanising Works behind the currently derelict Cherry Tree Pub.  It is expected that a planning application will be submitted in due course by CB Collier, a Property Development Company which specialises in building on brownfield sites for the East Anglia Galvanising Works:  C B Collier's plans for the site

 Andy was pleased to get support from his fellow councillors on Wednesday (21st) to his motion seeking a solution to anti-social car cruises.   He proposed the Council set up a small working group involving police and other agencies and report back to a future meeting with a plan to deal with the problem. Andy said," Matters came to a head with the large car cruise on Pleasure Fair Meadows car park and Nene Valley Railway's land when it was reported that over 270 cars turned up for an impromptu car show.  Most of the participants are real car enthusiasts who want to enjoy their hobby, but there are a few who tag along and cause disruption up to the early hours, and some are involved in more reckless or dangerous stunts where in the past there have been serious injuries. Councillors in other wards have been receiving complaints too, and others had taken action to block off access to car parks (see Cllr. Howard's photo above) and to report anti social incidents to the police

the pandemic has stretched every public service, and in Woodston what became highlighted to us was the amount of drug use and dealing taking place in open spaces Cllr. Andy Coles and Andrew Willey arranged for the Conservative Party PCC candidate Darryl Preston to visit Woodston, where they pointed out the drug hotspots and sought reassurance from Darryl that he would take on the dealers. Darryl said, "What we're seeing here in this community is the result of serious, organised criminals causing and reaping havoc.  This is how organised crime manifests itself... so, if I were elected Police and Crime Commissioner, I would invest in our regional serious crime teams and our national crime agencies, going after the "Mr. Bigs" - let's get them behind bars where they belong" It's been useful to be able to show Darryl the effect on Woodston of drugs and reassuring to hear from him that he both recognises the reality of drug use and dealing and how best to tack

Local resident and community activist Andrew Willey joins our team I am delighted to have been selected as your Conservative candidate for the upcoming Woodston & Fletton election. I was born in Peterborough and proud to call Peterborough my home. I currently live in Woodston and have done for the last 15 years. I am acutely aware of the issues that face the ward and also the good parts that we must protect. Along with Andy Coles, I am committed to doing everything I can to support local residents, represent your interests and to work tirelessly to keep Woodston & Fletton as a nice place to live and work. When issues and problems arise I have the time, experience and expertise to help solve these for the betterment of the local area.

 It's been a slow start to the Public Space Protection Order enforcement, with ongoing Anti Social Behaviour problems along the riverbank, on to the Fletton Rec. and around the Cherry Tree Public House.  The recruitment of additional Council enforcement staff is taking some time, particularly as we want to recruit our own staff. However, in the meantime, we are very lucky to have active volunteers in the Peterborough and District Angling Association, who are another group who take pride in our stretch of the Nene and while they can bring some control to unlicenced fishing along the riverbanks they can also contribute to other issues such as littering. I was pleased to arrange to meet with members and officers to see what could be done to manage areas along the river on the Woodston side, and we organised a walkabout of officers and members of PDAA. It is great to see another keen group of volunteers who want to contribute to the upkeep of our green spaces and our riverbanks and we