Stagecoach Should Explain Decision to Reduce Bus Services

Edward Leigh MP has called on Stagecoach Lincolnshire to explain to local people the company’s decision to cut services along the number 3 route from Lincoln to Grimsby, which serves Nettleham, Dunholme and Welton.

Our local Member of Parliament, has responded to the significant change to the Number 3 service from Monday 2 April 2012. Which will include the loss of an hourly connecting bus service between the south east and north east of the Gainsborough Constituency during the daytime. Through journeys will now end during the middle part of the day with the last through departures from Lincoln and Grimby at 8:40am and not resuming until 1:40pm.

Stagecoach have admitted that they are eliminating less economical services because of the Department of Transport’s twenty percent reduction in the Bus Service Operators Grant, equivalent to an additional 39p to the cost of a gallon of diesel. But talk of local authority intervention might be overly optimistic, given the £1.3m savings to the county transport budget and the need to find £125m in savings to put the County Council budget on an even keel. Edward Leigh said:

"I am relieved that the cut to the Number 3 service won’t be as deep as originally proposed, but it is still regretful that those who will need to travel outside the peak period will have their options severely curtailed. 

"In rural parts of the country such as ours, providing connections by regular public transport is challenging, but important. I’m not convinced Stagecoach have made a proper case for curtailing the Number 3 service. This follows from their cuts to Sunday and Bank Holiday services from last year.

"This situation is the responsibility of the bus company, and I hope they find more imaginative ways of responding to public demand. They can’t solve their problems simply by demanding subsidies from taxpayers who are hard-pressed to make end’s meet already. All this underlines the overriding importance of cutting the vast deficit we have inherited from the previous government."

Law Breakers Caught in Multi-Lateral Sting

Scrap metal dealers believed to be flouting the law have been caught in a multi-agency sting.

West Lindsey District Council, the police, the Environment Agency, Smartwater and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency all worked together in an operation that resulted in several vehicles being seized after inspections discovered safety faults, road traffic offences and insurance irregularities.

Investigations are also continuing to discover if the vehicles have been used to transport stolen scrap metal after a marked increase in the number of reported thefts.

Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee, Cllr. Malcolm Parish, Conservative (Welton Ward), said:

"This is really good news, and shows how well multi-agency operations can work.

"It is disgraceful that so much theft of lead and scrap metal goes on. Working together is a really effective way to cut crime."

Smartwater officials were in attendance to examine scrap for possible theft of metal as part of the campaign. SmartWater is a clear liquid that is used to code valuable items such as jewellery, ornaments, electrical items and even motor vehicles. It cannot be easily seen by the naked eye and is almost impossible to remove. The liquid glows under ultraviolet light making it easy for the Police to detect.

Homes Not Damaged By Explosive Testing Says Report

The Lincolnshire Echo is reporting that a new report has rejected residents' claims that explosions from a testing site in Faldingworth are causing structural damage to homes Faldingworth Defence Ltd. (formerly Skydock), which operates at the former RAF Faldingworth site, has always denied any such link and says cracks in people's homes are due to the clay sub-grade on which they are built.

The site is used to test military ordnance and hardware, such as the standard field tests of protective armour plate in support of Ministry of Defence development work.

West Lindsey District Council has now made a noise and vibration impact report, by Atkins Ltd., available on its website.

It concludes that the explosions are too loud and noise should be kept below 115 decibels if the number of complaints is to be reduced. The original proposed maximum decibel level was 120 decibels. However, the report also found noise and vibration levels were unlikely to damage properties. Recommendations include better public relations from Skydock, improved notification of testing and more effective noise monitoring.

Mr. Humpage of the
Faldingworth Residents Against
Storage and Testing group.

Mr. David Humpage, a composer who lives in nearby Toft-next-Newton, remaines unconvinced that anything would improve. He told the paper:

"True, the report recommends a 115 decibels limit, but it also says there's no way to make that enforceable.

"As the brief was to deliver something 'usable in court', this aspect was a waste of money.

"The bulk of the report is unsubstantiated gossip culminating in the recommendations to keep monitoring, keep trying to get Richard Briggs of Skydock to give warnings and that Mr Briggs should have a big PR campaign to tell people of the 'importance' of what he's doing.

"We've complained to West Lindsey District Council that we didn't fund this absurdly expensive report just so that our money could be used to tell Briggs how to shut us up."

Mr. Chris Allen, public protection services manager at the district council, said the report was commissioned to give the authority expert guidance, including where enforcement action would be appropriate.

"The difficulty we have in this case is identifying or balancing the right of a legitimate business to operate and the concerns of residents around the site and their right to peace and quiet."

The district council has issued more than one thousand questionnaires to gauge more widespread opinion, which must be returned by the end of tomorrow.

Residents Fear After Newtoft Fire

The Market Rasen Mail is reporting that residents fears, about the combustible materials alledged to be stored at the former RAF Faldingworth site near Newtoft, following a fire have been allayed by West Lindsey District Council.

Mr. John Gilbert, who lives in Newtoft, was the first on the scene, the paper reports, when a blaze broke out at a hanger at the former RAF Faldingworth. He called police and two fire appliances were sent out to deal with it. Environmental officers were also on site.

"I was walking my dogs when I smelled the paricular odour of this fire. I recognised it because in 2005 there had been a previous fire and the fumes were so noxious, residents were told to stay indoors, not hang washing out, not let pets out, or open windows on what was the hottest day of that year."

Mr. Gilbert expressed fears that the hanger is close to where explosions are stored and he fears it is not safe. He claims that planning permission was granted for the storage of plaster boards he doesn't believe a change of use application was ever submitted to allow the storage of hazardous materials.

"The meat and bonemeal stored there is used to furnace power stations. It is a dangerous combustible product in a hnager full of holes that allows air and moisture in."

The hanger is managed by A. Hughes & Son of Skellingthorpe, the paper reports that company did not wish to comment.

A spokesman for West Lindsey District Council is reported to have said a minor fire at the site had been put out by the operator.

"The site owner has reported that the fire was the result of action by intruders after the warehouse had been broken into. An investigation into the cause of the fire is being carried out and one suggestion is that it might have been started by lights being left on in close proximity to a heap of bone meal."

"Core temperatures of the bone meal – taken to avoid the dangers of spontaneous combustion – are checked at least weekly, and on the Friday before Sunday's fire and no problems were reported. The Council is unaware of any breaches planning permission"