SATS are used to measure children’s progress, but the results are also used to compare schools. Figures released by the Department for Education and Standards and Testing Agency show the city was ranked 149 out of 149 for the 2018 Key Stage 2 results! The tables show that just 49 per cent of boys and 55 per cent of girls in the city hit the expected standard. Both of these are the lowest figures in the country. Continue reading “Peterborough has the worse Key Stage 2 results in England”
News
Thorney Medical Practice merger
Thorney Medical Practice (Laurel Farm Medical Centre in Eye is a branch practice of Thorney) aims to merge with several other practices in the Peterborough area from July 2018 and form a new group named Octagon Medical Practice. The practice will be writing to patients and holding patient open evenings. Continue reading “Thorney Medical Practice merger”
Update: Eyebury Road development
Larkfleet Homes have come up with a proposal for the area of land to the east of Eye behind the Primary School. The proposed development will include up to 280 homes with access to the site from Eyebury Road, this is 30 more homes than specified in the Local Submission Plan.
Not to be taken lightly this is one of the largest single estates added to the village in its history.
The proposals also include additional land (around 0.8 hectares – total area of the new development is around 13 hectares) and a new access point for the school. The additional land would be paid for from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL*), which Larkfleet Homes would need to pay. According to Larkfleet this is likely to be in excess of one million pounds for the estate. Continue reading “Update: Eyebury Road development”
A47 litter build-up
In 2015 a Commons Select Committee concluded that that “England is a litter-ridden country compared to most of Europe, North America and Japan”. There’s been a lot of news around the pollution caused by plastic waste in the environment. You don’t have to go far to see this. The A47 to the west of Eye along the southern edge Star Pit Nature Reserve is one of the cities grot spots. The nature reserve is a site of special scientific interest with many species of water beetle found in the shallow pools.
Cans, coffee cups and plastic bottles seem to make up a lot of the litter but there is also a wide range of packing, plastic bags, drinks cartons and miscellaneous pieces of cardboard. Some of it is quite old so it obviously hasn’t been cleaned for a while. If this was along Bourges Boulevard in Peterborough there would be an outcry because this is in the ‘countryside’ it almost seems fine to ignore it.
Research on roadside litter by the RSPB and Keep Britain Tidy has found more than 8% of bottles and almost 5% of the cans contained remains of some of our rarest native mammals, including shrews, bank voles and wood mice.
The First World War Centenary – Village life in 1918
1918 was the final year of World War One. Germany had been in retreat since the middle of 1917 but it wasn’t until the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that fighting ended. Also known as the Armistice of Compiègne from the place where it was signed, it came into force at 11 am and marked a victory for the Allies and a defeat for Germany but it wasn’t a surrender, that had to wait for the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty was signed in June 1919 and was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Continue reading “The First World War Centenary – Village life in 1918”
Peterborough City Council approves a six percent increase to council tax
At a full council meeting on Wednesday 7 March, 2018 Peterborough City Council approved a six per cent increase to council tax. The government has allowed councils to increase council tax by 5.99% in 2018-19 which includes 3% rise for social care and a 2.99% increase in standard council tax.
Because of the way council tax is calculated this isn’t the full story. In reality, the adult social care precept has increased by 61 per cent from the £57.75 it was last year to £94.70 it is this year on a band D property.
What does this mean for Eye residents?
Band D residences will be paying an extra £87.38 this year. The police have received a 6.4 per cent increase and the fire authority a three per cent rise. Eye also has the Parish precept. This is charged on each property in the parish to fund the running costs of the parish council and the activities it takes on behalf of the village. This year that is £35.45 for a band D property which will raise £54,475 for the Parish Council. The number of houses being built in the village has actually meant this has been slightly reduced from last year. In 2016/17 it was £35.12 and in 2017/18 it was £35.80.
Eye still remains pretty much in the middle of the table with regards the cost of the precept, with villages such as Southhorpe (£8.74) and Orton Loungueville (£10.93) towards the lower end of the scale and Wittering (£66.89) and Castor (£88.27) the most expensive. The average in England in 2017-18 was £61.03 with a 6.3 per cent increase. Continue reading “Peterborough City Council approves a six percent increase to council tax”
Winter in the village – February 2018
The cold weather has been caused by weather sweeping in from Russia. Winds from Siberia have pushed in from the east, causing the temperatures to drop to minus five, with a windchill as low as minus 12. This has been caused by the northern polar jet stream which has twisted its direction unexpectedly, drawing in cold air as it crosses the country. The last time happened was 2013, but the UK has not experienced such low temperatures since 1991.
The south-east has gotten off fairly lightly with the north and south-west affected the most.
Recorded crime rises by a third in two years
The full crime statistics for 2017 have been released on police.co.uk. For the fourth year in succession, the figures show an overall increase in recorded crime across the parish.
In 2012 the figure was 351 recorded crimes for the whole year. Last year the figure had risen to 578, a 65 per cent increase.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime type | Total | % | Total | % | Change | Total | % | Change | ||
| Anti-social behaviour | 178 | 42.1% | 156 | 29.7% | -12.4% | 139 | 24% | -10.9% | ||
| Bicycle theft | 4 | 0.9% | 5 | 0.9% | 25% | 2 | 0.3% | -60% | ||
| Burglary | 26 | 6.1% | 48 | 9.1% | 84.6% | 54 | 9.3% | 12.5% | ||
| Criminal damage and arson | 48 | 11.3% | 46 | 8.8% | -4.2% | 43 | 7.4% | -6.5% | ||
| Drugs | 7 | 1.6% | 6 | 1.1% | -14.3% | 3 | 0.5% | -50% | ||
| Other crime | 10 | 2.4% | 7 | 1.3% | -30% | 7 | 1.2% | 0% | ||
| Other theft | 24 | 5.0% | 74 | 14.1% | 208.3% | 69 | 11.9% | -6.8% | ||
| Possession of weapons | 0 | 0% | 2 | 0.4% | 200% | 1 | 0.2% | -50% | ||
| Public order | 3 | 0.7% | 13 | 2.5% | 333.3% | 22 | 3.8% | 69.2% | ||
| Robbery | 9 | 2.1% | 4 | 0.8% | -55.6% | 3 | 0.5% | -25% | ||
| Shoplifting | 11 | 2.6% | 28 | 5.3% | 154.5% | 70 | 12.1% | 150% | ||
| Theft from the person | 3 | 0.7% | 2 | 0.4% | -33.3% | 2 | 0.3% | 0% | ||
| Vehicle crime | 33 | 7.8% | 46 | 8.8% | 39.4% | 42 | 7.3% | -8.7% | ||
| Violence and sexual offences | 67 | 15.8% | 88 | 16.8% | 31.3% | 121 | 20.9% | 37.5% | ||
| Total | 423 | 525 | 24.1% | 578 | 10.1% |
Continue reading “Recorded crime rises by a third in two years”
The Local Plan – Proposed Submission
You’ve ruined Eye and you should be ashamed of yourselves” said Mayor of Peterborough and village Councillor at the time David Sanders to city planners in October 2016. Even as late as 2005 you could look across grass meadows from the north side of the High Street. This has now been lost forever. Over the past 10 years approximately 365 homes have been built across the village:
- Bath Road: 91
- Merevale Drive: 21
- Millport Drive: 59
- Sandleford Drive estate: 50
- The Croft: 14
- Verde Close: 57
- Whitby Avenue: 73
The ‘ proposed submission’ version of the Local Plan is available for comment until the 20 February 2018. This is the final version that is put to public consultation and independent examination. The plan sets out the council’s planning policies for growth and regeneration of Peterborough and the surrounding villages up to 2036 (although the previous Peterborough Core Strategy Development Plan Document (DPD) which was adopted in February 2011 was supposed to last until 2026). The next stage the council will submit the local plan to the Secretary of State together with feedback received during the proposed submission stage. Continue reading “The Local Plan – Proposed Submission”
Guilsborough Road estate – Planning application mk2
Westleigh Homes, a building company based in Leicester has applied to build 67 homes on the former Northam Brickyard site adjacent to Eye Nature Reserve. In the new Local Plan, this has been increased to 55 but is nearly double what was recommended in the original 2011 Site Allocation Development Plan Document. The plan includes 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms homes including a number of social rented (shared ownership or other) homes. From their website, “Westleigh Homes build modern contemporary new homes across the UK from our base in Leicestershire. We design homes & specifications with the modern lifestyle in mind.” Continue reading “Guilsborough Road estate – Planning application mk2”