It happened at a shop in Westlode Street between 7.30am and 10am on Wednesday.

Anyone with information should call PC Karl Cinavas on 101, quoting incident number 109 of January 28.

You can also call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

One of Spalding’s oldest active societies is in risk of folding unless it can find someone to take up a key role on its committee.

Spalding Society of Mutual Relief in Case of Shipreck, which is in its 171st year, is appealing for a new secretary/treasurer.

Since it was first established in 1844, it has supported benefit members who have worked at sea and their widows.

At the beginning of December, it paid a substantial sum to four widows of benefit members.

This is a discretionary monetary reward paid annually.

Better known as Spalding Shipwreck Society, it has 29 members and 113 honorary members.

Funds are raised at an annual dinner and sausage and mash suppers.

David Turner, vice-chairman, said: “The society dates back to when Spalding was a port and the river was tidal.

“My great-grandfather, Capt John Turner, was the last harbour master.

“It would be such a shame if the society folded because it couldn’t get a secretary/treasurer.

“It’s not high finance – it’s about keeping a bit of tradition.”

The position is paid and a suitable candidate would need to provide about 50 hours work per year.

They would not need to be a member of the society and would be offered an honorarium.

Anyone interested should call Andrew Elsden on 01775 766540 or email spaldingshipwrecksociety@gmail.com

It happened between 10am and 10pm on Thursday.

Anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident 171 of January 29.

Rather than grandstanding from his home in Leicestershire, David Parsons (UKIP’s prospective MP) would, (if he’d ever visited Harvester Way),

know that as a ward councillor, together with our MP, John Hayes, we were instrumental in a very robust campaign against the planning application for 50 new homes. Both online and paper petitions were very well supported – a big thank you to everyone – and submitted to the planning authority.

We continue to champion the cause of local residents with regard to a further application for 100 new houses. Not least, because of a lack of consideration for the immediate impact on congestion at what is an already very busy junction.

David Parsons’ cynical 
attempt to exploit the very 
legitimate concerns of local residents for party political ends is self-evident.

By his own admission, he “only recently became aware” of the issue – not what you’d expect to hear from someone who claims to want to represent our area!

Coun Angela Harrison

Crowland and 
Deeping St Nicholas

A 28-year-old man from Spalding branded as a “persistent” street drinker by police has been kicked out of the UK.

Dawid Szumlanski, formerly of Spring Street, was expelled from the country on Tuesday January 13 under an Administrative Removal order issued by the Home Office.

Szumlanski, originally from Poland, is now unable to come back to the UK for at least one year, although he can apply to return here after that.

Lincoln magistrates had previously fined Szumlanski a total of £130 on December 19 for breaching a direction by police to leave Sheep Market, Spalding.

South Holland Community Policing Inspector Jim Tyner said: “Szumlanski blighted Spalding with his persistent street drinking and he was also convicted of shop theft during the Operation Washer period in December.”

Operation Washer was a 24-day police initiative last month aimed at preventing and deterring crime in Spalding town centre in the run-up to Christmas.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are creating a system that is, on the one hand, fair to British citizens and those who want to come here legitimately to contribute to our national life, but tough on those who flout the rules.

“We have rolled out new enforcement powers to tackle abuse of free movement rights and EU nationals who are removed from the UK for not exercising Treaty rights by, for example, begging or rough sleeping, are unable to re-enter the UK for 12 months following removal unless they have a valid reason to be here.”

Yet again, we in UKIP find ourselves responding to misrepresentations on our policies regarding the NHS.

The UKIP position on healthcare funding is simple – the NHS is and will remain funded through general taxation and free at the point of delivery. This is a position supported by by our leader Nigel Farage and our spokesman on health Louise Bours. The position has also been endorsed by the NEC.

A UKIP Government will ensure will ensure the NHS is free at the point of delivery and time of need for all UK residents. For those interested in our policies on the NHS we would also:

Stop further use of PFI in the NHS and encourage local authorities to buy out their PFI contracts early where this is affordable.

Ensure that GPs’ surgeries are open at least one evening per week, where there is demand for it.

Oppose plans to charge patients for visiting their GP.

Ensure that visitors to the UK, and migrants until they have paid NI for five years, have NHS-approved private health insurance as a condition of entry to the UK, saving the NHS £2b pa. 
UKIP will commit to spending £200m of the £2b saving to end hospital car parking charges in England.

We would replace Monitor and the Care Quality Commission with elected county health boards to be more responsive scrutineers of local health services. 
These will be able to inspect health services and take evidence from whistle-blowers.

We would oppose the sale of NHS data to third parties.

We would ensure foreign health service professionals coming to work in the NHS are properly qualified and can speak English to a standard 
acceptable to the profession.

We will amend working time rules to give trainee doctors, surgeons and medics the proper environment to train and practice.

As your local UKIP MEPs we hope that sets the record straight.

Roger Helmer and

Margot Parker

UKIP MEPs for the 
East Midlands

I’m very disappointed (not smiling at all) reading Peter Bird’s response to my latest letter in support of continued EU membership.

Please allow to explain. I naturally sympathise with all who voted UKIP in order to send a message to the “political elite”.Those who govern this country and seem hard of hearing when it comes to listening to ordinary voters... but that’s where it ends as far as I’m concerned.

The vast majority of UKIP supporters are decent people but at its very bottom the UKIP currently attracts (and 
occupies) a space left by the BNP.

There is plenty of evidence; look at all the bigots, racists and homophobes Nigel Farage has had to remove from standing for public office in recent times.

I’m sure Mr Bird does not fall into that category, but his letter (Spalding Guardian, January 29) stating that the “EU is fostering hatred at very local levels” on the basis of the EU giving money (£48.6m) for a fleet of modern buses to benefit Budapest commuters, in my view, falls into the category of yet another “loony Ukip statement”.

Fostering hatred at local level? Are you serious, Mr B? Take away UKIP’s very appealing leader and, it seems to me, we are left with some very unsound characters and policies. Leaving aside immigration issues, as far as I’m able to discern, UKIP wants 
maternity pay taken away from women in small 
businesses and wants to slash workplace rights for employees.

UKIP is a party that supports all the policies the Tories do and more... so apart from the ‘protest’ vote element they have yet to offer me anything new.

Also, please allow me to 
correct Mr Bird’s comment on my recent letter, wrongly saying that I wrote that the EU has the ability to stop wars.

I thought I made it clear; The EU cannot stop wars: but since 1945, EU membership has prevented wars between Britain, France, Germany and Italy and can claim some credit in the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Surely, knowing the carnage that went before we should be ever thankful?

Finally, 70 years ago the Red Army liberated death camp Auschwitz. With anti-semitism on the increase in the UK; are we ever going to learn the lessons of the past, regarding where the road down to xenothopic tribalism leads us?

Meanwhile, I look forward to the Spalding Guardian’s political debate on April 23 and meeting Mr Bird/Mr Parsons in person.

I want to learn more about UKIP policies (if they have any).

David Turp

Pinchbeck

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is creating 80 new jobs to cope with rising demand and calls to improve its performance.

The region’s ambulance service is bringing back the role of ambulance technician, phased out about two years ago in favour of ambulance care assistants to support paramedics employed by EMAS.

An EMAS spokesman said existing ambulance care assistants would be promoted to ambulance technician posts “within 12 months”, leaving 80 vacancies for the assistants’ roles.

The spokesman said: “The EMAS Board recently decided to re-introduce the role of ambulance technician within EMAS.

“In terms of clinical skills, this role sits in-between those of ambulance care assistant and paramedic.

“The posts will be filled by existing staff moving up from ambulance care assistant level, both by promotion and external recruitment.

“Within 12 months, we aim to have a further 200 staff appointed to ambulance technician posts and when the ambulance care assistant posts that become vacant are filled, it will give us a net increase in frontline staff of 80 across our patch.”

In December. EMAS received more than 15,500 calls in Lincolnshire alone from people needing emergency or urgent treatment.

About 58 per cent of those, or just over 13,700, were dealt with by paramedics and ended up with patients being taken to hospital, while the remaining 42 per cent were assessed or treated at the scene.

The recruitment drive also comes after figures obtained by the Guardian last month through a Freedom of Information request showed that 61 ambulance staff had time off work with stress in 2013-14, compared to 37 in 2012/13.

I have recently became aware that the people of Crowland, who are currently served by Conservative MP John Hayes and two Conservative district councillors, are to suffer at the hands of a Conservative Party policy to allow relaxation of housing development schemes.

They will be swamped by the erection of 250 new houses, 50 already passed behind Harvester Way and 100 applied for either side of Harvester Way.

Some 50 are also proposed by Crowland Parish Council behind Thorney Road, and 50 discussed for the old school site.

All this is in disregard of the fact that their infrastructure will not be able to cope. Water supply is already subject to unpredicted pressure reductions and the local health centre and Peterborough A&E are at their limits.

Conservatives also want to reduce the number of police, reduce their library-cum-community centre hours, and because of their policy all senior school children have to be bussed to Holbeach.

Road traffic in the area has already increased since the opening of the A16, and at times cannot cope easily.

UKIP wants to see a more common sense approach applied to housing development, by controlling the pace of development, and ensuring developers contribute to infrastructure improvement.

I would urge district councillors to consider these facts before approving any of these plans.

David Parsons

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate – South Holland and the Deepings

Recently I had the pleasure of again being with Richard Pacey, who is part of the team I am supporting to maintain and build Spalding’s People’s Parade.

What great news that Pacey’s is to reopen under new management and the traditional first-class local bakery, which Richard epitomises, is to thrive again.

Here in South Holland we are indeed fortunate to have a range of such local shops – many independent butchers also spring to mind – serving fresh produce of the highest quality. In many other parts of the country people simply have no choice but to rely on the big supermarkets, as local traders have long since been driven out of business.

The way the worst of supermarkets trade is a proxy for the worst of modern life: the triumph of convenience over care; excess over quality; uniformity over all that is charming because it’s inexact and eclectic. If you care about quality and variety, as I do, you cannot remain undisturbed by ugly superstores, exploitation of farmers and contempt for the public.

While the excessive profits once made by Tesco and the other big four supermarkets have begun to evaporate, their recent troubles are not entirely a cause for celebration. The predictable response of these monoliths to difficult trading conditions has been to lower their costs by putting even greater pressure on their suppliers. The capricious ruthlessness of particular supermarkets was once the countryside’s dark (open) secret – kept quiet for fear of those brutal giants. This government has stood up to this commercial bullying – establishing a Groceries Code Adjudicator tasked with overseeing the relationship between supermarkets and their suppliers. But perhaps we need to look again at further measures to protect primary and secondary producers from the fall-out of the current supermarket price war.

Dairy farmers, most of whom – as indirect suppliers – are not covered by the Groceries Code, have been hit by rapid cuts in milk prices. Incredibly, some supermarkets are now charging more per litre for bottled water than for milk.

As the Prime Minister made clear to MPs last week, it’s time to look at extending the remit of the adjudicator and, in particular, ensuring that it “has the power, if necessary, to levy fines so that it can get its will obeyed”.

My mission in politics has always been to be fierce in defence of the gentle. The variety and particularity of life in rural Britain must – and will – be protected from massive monopoly capitalists who would put it at grave risk for the sake of greed.

I had to smile when I read David Turp’s letter in the Spalding Guardian recently, waxing lyrically about the European Union, and its ability to stop wars between countries. And how Conservative leaders have worked tirelessly to ensure our membership.

What he fails to tell readers though, is the fact that far from reducing hatred, it’s fostering it at very local levels. For instance The EU has recently given £48.6 million of our hard-earned money to the people of Budapest to buy new modern and comfortable trolley buses to ride in, while the people of South Holland have to put up with old second-hand, worn-out vehicles, such as the boneshaker single deckers on the No 37 service to Peterborough. The residents of Budapest must be laughing all the way to the bus stop.

So Conservative Mr Cameron, where are the new modern and comfortable buses for the people of South Holland – sorry I can’t hear you, speak up. Oh yes, I understand, we can’t have them because you’ve just given £2.9 billion to the EU, in addition to the £13.8 billion you’ve previously given, and £11.5 billion to other countries.

Next you’ll be telling us you don’t have enough money for pensioners’ bus passes, decent care homes for our old people, sufficient police to combat crime, our libraries, pot holes in the road. We understand Mr Cameron.

Peter Bird

UKIP

DOCTOR CALLING: A weekly column by Dr Kevin Hill, chairman of South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, addressing topical health issues

How healthy is your liver? There are three ways to a healthy liver and South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (SL CCG) is supporting a campaign by the British Liver Trust to raise local residents’ awareness of these steps.

The Love Your Liver campaign is focused around making the public aware of the risks from alcohol, obesity and viral hepatitis in order to help reduce the number of people affected by liver disease.

As part of the campaign an app has been developed to help you reduce your alcohol intake, along with an online health test to assess your risk factors.

Between the years 2001 and 2012, figures show that the number of people who died with an underlying cause of liver disease in England increased by 40% from 7,841 to 10,948.

Liver disease is the fifth biggest killer in the UK and the fastest-growing, but because the symptoms develop quietly it means it can be diagnosed at a late stage.

Dr Kevin Hill, Chair of NHS South Lincolnshire CCG, said: “Love Your Liver is a great campaign to support as it raises awareness and gives people a better understanding of the three main risk factors in liver disease.

“It’s particularly important at this time of year after the indulgence of the Christmas period.

“The main concern is that the symptoms of liver disease often develop silently, so it is important to reduce your alcohol intake and lead a healthy lifestyle.

“Liver disease is preventable and by cutting out alcohol for two or three days in a row in a week, eating a healthy diet and taking more exercise you help maintain good liver health.”

If anyone is concerned that they may have contracted viral hepatitis, you should book an appointment with your GP and get tested.”

The Spruce app, which has been developed to support the campaign, can be downloaded to encourage people to take three days off alcohol a week and drink sensibly when they do. The free app can be downloaded at http://loveyourliver.org.uk/spruce/

You can also take an online test to find out how healthy your liver is here.

The Love Your Liver Health Screener asks you a number of questions relating to your health to assess your risk factors and advise if you might be at risk of liver damage.

The campaign also includes a national roadshow across the country offering free liver health assessments to the public.

For more information, please visit: http://loveyourliver.org.uk

John Hayes has a tremendous record as a hard-working and assiduous Member of Parliament; representing us all in South Holland and the Deepings.

For example, last Tuesday evening, accompanied by both the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner, John met with the Government’s policing minister seeking fairer allocation of funding for Lincolnshire Police.

As we move towards this year’s General Election, it’s hardly surprising that opponents from other political parties – a vocal, but very tiny, minority – seek to take cheap shots!

Although UKIP have no policies – their policy chief was sacked last week for failing to deliver their manifesto – all candidates, whether or not they live in the constituency, should be ready to debate local issues.

Not least, at the hustings event on April 23 being organised by the Spalding Guardian.

Having chosen to live in our area before being elected, John has increased his majority in every election since.

People vote for him because they like and genuinely appreciate what he does for them. We’re fortunate to be represented by someone so dedicated and who gives so much for the benefit of our community.

Margaret Wilson

Constituency Chairman

South Holland & the Deepings Conservative Association

TRISH TAKES FIVE: By blogger Trish Burgess

A sure fire way to make a Scotsman happy is to invite him to an event where complimentary whisky is available.

I certainly cheered up my Scotsman by telling him I had been invited to the launch of a new magazine, Whisky Quarterly, and he was welcome to join me.

No longer complaining that I’m ‘always on the computer’, Dougie is now able to appreciate some of the benefits that my blogging can bring.

We attended the launch party in London last week and had a grand time, mixing with whisky aficionados and PR people.

The evening started off fairly low­ key but, unsurprisingly, ended very merrily, thanks to the whisky cocktails on offer throughout the proceedings.

Whilst I supped on a St Lawrence (Bourbon mixed with maple syrup and apple juice) the Doc chose Penicillin (a mix of two types of whisky with honey and ginger).

He told me it’s always important to have the correct dose of medicine so promptly prescribed himself another, to ensure its effectiveness.

I imagine a great deal of whisky has been enjoyed over the weekend at the many Burns Night celebrations.

Unfortunately, we weren’t attending but I have fond memories of a Burns Supper in 2003 when both Dougie and I were asked to speak at the local Caledonian Society’s dinner in Boston.

We had never even attended a Burns Supper before that night but when we were approached by the president, who was also our son’s headmaster at the time, we felt we couldn’t say no.

Agreeing to speak is one thing: deciding what on earth you are going to say is another. Dougie’s speech had to fit with ‘The land we live in and our guests’.

He decided to talk about being a Scot in Lincolnshire and told a few tales about being a GP in a small village in the county.

If I remember rightly, he ended the speech with a rendition of Goldilocks told in the Scottish dialect which, although had little to do with the theme, was very entertaining.

The ‘Toast to the Lassies’ was given by the former head of Spalding Grammar School, Michael Stewart.

The reply, a chance for womankind to remind men of their shortcomings, was given by me.

I have no recollection of what I said that evening but I do remember I broke with protocol and delivered my words in verse.

Speeches over, Dougie and I, together with the other speakers, breathed a sigh of relief and, having been anxious all evening, could now relax. Just a pity that the night was over: everyone was going home just as we were ready for the night to begin.

We may have missed out on celebrating Robert Burns’ birthday this year but we won’t be missing out on haggis.

It’s a big favourite in our house, and Rory’s choice of meal when the prodigal son 
returns home at the end of term from university.

Dougie has become quite the master at cooking the ‘great chieftain o’ the pudding­race’, frying it with onion and whisky and stuffing it into chicken breasts before wrapping in streaky bacon.

It’s unlikely he’ll don his kilt whilst he’s in the kitchen but there’s sure to be a wee dram by his side.

You can follow Trish on Twitter @mumsgoneto and read her blog at www.mumsgoneto.blogspot.com

Another year, another glitzy summit, where the billionaires and politicians descend to the ski-resort at Davos for the World Economic Forum 2015.

Chancellor George Osbourne will also be in attendance, trumpeting what he considers the ‘success story’ of the British economy.

But sadly for the people of this country, the picture is not so rosy. In fact, Davos might as well be another planet as far the evidence shows in the report “Households Below A Minimum Income Standard” published this month by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Sadly, the report contains damning evidence that in 2012/2013, four out of ten British households with children (or 8.1 million people) were living below the minimum income standard – an increase of more than one third since 2008/2009. So has the recovery simply by-passed these people? (For the record, the minimum income standard was decided through focus groups of ordinary members of the general public to be the minimum income level required by persons to have food, shelter, clothes and be able to participate in society).

This isn’t about political point scoring. It is about pointing out media-assisted Tory myth-

making about the ‘recovery’. People are still genuinely suffering from the casino capitalismof the bankers in New York and London, and the deliberate shrinking of the UK state by ‘tea party’ Tories is making matters worse, not better.

I would like to know on behalf of the folk of South Holland and The Deepings if our MP has any idea of how many households in our area have incomes below the minimal income standard identified by the report?

If he does, he ought to be horrified. I would like to know what he, and his Goverment, intend to do about it, not just nationally, but here in his own constituency.

Matthew Mahabadi

Labour Party PPC – South Holland & The Deepings

He was surrounded by his closest family for a party at Patchett Lodge in Holbeach. The huge Arsenal birthday cake was a surprise brought in by his family. Albert also received a 100th birthday balloon and a telegram from the Queen.

Dawn Walker, activity carer, said: ”His face lit up when he entered the room.

“It was lovely to see.”

Albert has been a popular resident at Patchett Lodge since he moved there a year ago.

Carer Cathie Whenman said: “I have some great conversations with him.”

Albert’s brother from Holbeach and sister from Peterborough both attended the party.

His son, Michael, said: “He’s a grand old fella.

“It was a real family get-together – we all thoroughly enjoyed the day.”

Albert interacted with the local musical entertainer Trudie Mason, who regularly visits the care home.

Dawn said: “He really got involved, we had an entertainer called Trudie and they had a good old chat.”

Born at Holbeach Bank, Albert was third oldest in a family of six and went on to live at Holbeach St Marks.

He was a farm worker from the age of 14 for the West family and he retired at 65.

Albert married his wife, Lilian, in 1939 and they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1989.

Michael said: “They spent all their time together – they were inseparable.”

The couple have two sons, Michael and Gerald, four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

From childhood, Albert had a strong passion for football.

He played for the local team at Holbeach St Marks.

Michael said “He’s always loved football, Now he doesn’t play, he always watches it.

“In particular, he cheers on Arsenal when watching them.

“Football continues to be his biggest passion in life.”

ON THE BEAT: By Inspector Jim Tyner

Last week the College of Policing published the first national assessment of demands on policing.

Reassuringly it echoed what I have been writing for many months: recorded crime may have fallen but demands for policing services have not.

If you are interested in policing and have access to the internet, it’s well worth a read. The report is available at www.college.police.uk/en/docs/demand_report_21_1_15.pdf

It is already well documented that we are the lowest-funded, most efficient police force. We have fewer officers per 1,000 population than any other force.

I have said before: there is no such thing as a typical policing day in the 284 square miles of South Holland.

My greatest pleasure in policing is that you never know what’s going to happen next. This is also its greatest challenge. But to give an understanding of what we deal with I will share with you a recent 24 hour period in South Holland

In the 24 hours there were 55 incidents or calls for our service:

* The first collision of the day was reported at 7.15am in Gedney. This was quickly followed by collisions in Holbeach and Whaplode St Catherine so that by 8am we had run out of officers.

* At 8.40am we received the first report of hare coursing in Deeping St Nicholas. Luckily the Operation Galileo team were on duty in the area as this was followed by nine other calls throughout the morning. In all, seven men were reported for hare coursing and a vehicle was seized.

* At 9.55am we received a 999 call from an address in Holbeach where an elderly woman had fallen over inside her own home.

The caller could hear shouting for help. An ambulance was requested and an officer was immediately deployed. The officer arrived at 10.05am and had to force an entry. The woman wasn’t too badly hurt but needed an ambulance, which arrived at 10.29am, but an officer had to remain there until boarding up was completed at 11:20am

* There was a report of a suspicious incident in Gedney Hill. At 11am two men purporting to be council workers tried to trick their way in to a home. This wasn’t reported to us until 12.30pm, but officers still carried out a search of the area and couldn’t find them. This was recorded as a suspicious incident

* At 4pm we received a 999 call from Holbeach St Johns where hare coursers were alleged to have hit a window with an iron bar. Officers were deployed to the area, arriving at 4.27pm. A crime has been recorded and enquiries continue.

* At 4.30pm we received a report of a violent domestic incident that had occurred 20 minutes earlier. The offender was an ex-boyfriend who had run off. An officer visited at 5pm and began an investigation.

At 5.30pm officers responded to a 999 call from another address reporting a drunk hitting his mother. Both incidents resulted in men being arrested and taken to Boston custody. They were both later charged and kept for court. Officers would now be heavily committed evidence-gathering for both incidents.

* At 6.35pm we received a report of a two-vehicle collision at Crowland. Officers arrived at 6.59pm and a woman was taken to hospital by ambulance. Officers had to remain on scene until a fuel spillage was cleaned up by the Highways Department at 8.30pm.

This meant that by early evening, for a short while, we had again run out of officers. Of course, if there were a further urgent incident, we would get support from neighbouring areas, but some of the non-urgent incidents would not be dealt with until the following day.

* At 10.15pm we received a report of a burglary in Holbeach. Night shift officers attended and completed an initial crime report. Further enquiries were made by CID the following day.

Pressures of space prevent me listing all 55 incidents in the 24 hours, but they included a missing teenager, four concern for welfare incidents including someone with mental health issues, an insecure premises and 11 traffic related incidents. Sadly, there were also three sudden deaths.

In the 24 hour period, out of 55 incidents, only four resulted in recorded crimes. That’s about seven per cent. Conversely, this also means that 93 per cent of the calls in that period were not linked to recorded crime.

This doesn’t mean that I think people shouldn’t call us. In writing this I am not trivialising the nature of the calls: quite the contrary. I’m well aware that when people call us they are often at their wit’s end and don’t know who else to turn to.

What I hope to achieve is an understanding when we can’t always attend as quickly as people would like.

Each of the officers on duty already had an investigation workload from previous incidents that were reported. In addition, detectives were working hard behind the scenes on child protection investigations, cyber-crime, major fraud enquiries and many other complex enquiries: protecting vulnerable people.

A police commander recently said that policing operates in the places of greatest vulnerability and need in society: in amongst the broken homes and broken bones, the broken hearts and broken lives. I couldn’t put it better.

In South Holland, my officers may not always be visibly on patrol, but they are working as hard as ever, carrying out complex and varied tasks. Working to tackle anti-social behaviour. Working to protect vulnerable people. Working to reduce burglaries. Working for you.

CABINET CALL: By Councillor Malcolm Chandler, Portfolio holder for Regulatory and Building Control Services

Over previous columns I have highlighted the important and essential services within the Regulatory Services Portfolio.

Building Control Services is one which many of you may not yet have come in to contact with. Their function is to provide help and guidance to residents to ensure that the buildings in which we live, work and play are built and kept structurally safe for us to live work and play.

Consider an incident when a building in which you live in, or come into contact with, becomes dangerous from structural damage due to extreme weather conditions, or a motor vehicle colliding with the building, or other incident.

The team, working in partnership with other emergency services, will be called on to assess and secure the building structure at a minute’s notice.

On a more general level Building Control are proud to be able to offer a local service for Building Regulation compliance.

The day you receive your planning permission, the team are on hand to assist you through the process of getting all the necessary building regulation permissions to ensure your building project is built to the modern standards laid down, as well as to ensure you have that guaranteed independence of it being checked for compliance, thereby reducing the risk of a poor standard builder affecting your project and its safety.

Our Building Control team is proud of being the first team within the council to provide access to a range of services for its many customers, 24 /7.

For more information on the services available from Building Control please get in touch - full internet access is available on www.sholland.gov.uk/environment/plandev/Building+Control

£9.8 million and still climbing – that’s the cost so far of the A1073 -A16 Spalding to Eye road.

A road which was never built for purpose. A dual carriageway was always required. Money should not come into play when safety is the main aim. The new road is no more safer than the old one. Plus it now requires potholes repairing.

The ever-growing cost is criminal and someone should beheld accountable?

Local councillors? The Lincolnshire Highways Department? etc.

Now I understand they are looking at an upgrade of the road. Would you put this lot in charge?

Under priced, originally 
agricultural land, now four years later it could be development land! £4-plus million 
extra could be paid out, an utter farce. Who will pay for that? Us, Joe Public!

There should now be a full investigation carried out into this road and the people 
involved should be made to be held responsible.

John Hayes, our local MP, should be chairing the investigation into this farce, that is if he was not involved in the planning of this road from the beginning.

If so, it would then require a person not having any involvement with this comedy show.

Something must be done, Questions must be answered.

David Barfoot

Shepeau Stow

As many of you are now familiar, it has become an annual event for Spalding’s community to participate in a parade.

I am writing on behalf of Spalding People’s Parade to request a donation for our parade event.

As Spalding People’s Parade, we are trying to make a positive difference through our actions. We have begun our preparations to organise the next event in May 2015. Our goal is to integrate our community, work together and provide entertainment for families.

This event is not for profit and we are looking for local businesses/organisations/schools to help us with donations, practical support and finance.

We expect to have over 100 participant groups this year, of all ages and we are trying to make this event bigger and better than the last.

In order to complete this project, we need some funds and volunteers as additional hands to help.

If you are interested, please contact us as outlined below and we will be pleased to keep you informed with regular updates on the progress of our project.

Any amount, great or small, helps us get closer to our goal to make this event a day for families.

We believe that the parade programme is consistent with the improvement of the whole community, and hope that you will find it in your hearts and budget to support it.

If I can provide additional information to encourage consideration of our request, please feel free to contact me at spaldingparade@outlook.com or on 07437 936684.

I look forward to hearing from you and creating a stronger community.

Anna Smolen

Sponsorship and donation coordinator