THE VILLAGE MARKET March 2014

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March 2014

Criminals came up empty after a raid in Whittington.

The thieves were after the tools they hoped were inside a van parked on Nod-dington Lane.

But the owner had wisely emptied the vehicle follow-ing an earlier attack.

Police have praised his actions and are now en-couraging other van owners to follow his example.

Van defences: This cap-tured crook was caught red-handed and feeling pretty green after a chemical spray left him dye-ing with embarrassment.

Thick as thieves Planning madness

Who ‘Noahs’ if buyers will ever get flood cover!

See page 6

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The choice for ‘VM’ read-ers about whether or not to give up their medical

records is one of trust.On March 1, the

government was set to start sweep-ing everyone’s medical records into one vast da-tabase.

But an outcry over the mislead-ing way the Care.data project had been presented forced ministers to delay its introduc-tion until the au-tumn.

A big concern was the hurdles that had been put in the way of people wanting to opt out of the system.

Confidentiality breachYet even now David Cameron

still plans to commit the biggest ever breach of GP/patient confi-dentiality just as soon as he can.

Government intends to cash in on the NHS Care.data system by selling en-masse people’s medi-cal records to private companies.

The public was promised buy-ers would not be able to iden-tify individuals through the data. That has proven to be untrue.

But it will be impossible for patients to find out who has their records and what they are using them for.

Health minister Jeremy Hunt has met objections to this un-precedented invasion of privacy by saying, what could possibly go wrong?

MP for West Lancashire Rosie Cooper answered him.

“Why have I opted out?” she asked.

“Because I don’t trust you and I don’t consider myself a com-modity to be bartered around by you!”

There are millions of other reasons that ‘VM’ readers might want to consider before handing over their medical data.

The government’s record on data security is appalling.

In one 19-month period alone it managed to expose millions

of people to identity theft and abuse of their personal records.

The Department for Work and Pensions lost millions of people’s

confidential data.In another inci-

dent it lost 45,000 claimants’ re-cords.

Other leaks have included 25 million child ben-efits claimants and other personal re-cords being lost by HM Revenues and Customs.

The Driving Standards Agency lost three million

people’s records.The Ministry of Defence lost

1.7 million confidential records. The Service Personnel and Vet-erans Agency lost 50,000 re-cords.

Three primary care trusts lost 181,000 patient records.

There were leaks from Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice too.

All told, the government man-aged to lose more than 30 mil-lion confidential records.

The security history of private companies that may wish to buy from Care.data seems no better.

Last month the two employ-ees of the insurer Aviva were accused of selling, “thousands upon thousands”, of its custom-ers’ confidential records.

Bank scandalAlso in February, a whistle-

blower revealed that the per-sonal data of 27,000 Barclays Bank customers worth millions to scammers had been stolen.

Yet the biggest worry about Care.data is Cameron’s motives and the underhand way it has come about.

He was caught on camera at a private meeting admitting his ambition to turn the NHS into a, “great business”, that would yield huge profits for private in-terests.

In order for that to happen he has had to sweep away laws that protected people’s privacy.

The NHS Care.data system is only one part of a huge pro-gramme of changes that have all been introduced without public consultation.

Process underwayFourteen years ago the phar-

maceutical giant, Smith, Kleine, Beecham, told government that NHS patient data was a hugely under utilised resource.

In 2007, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry told ministers about the interna-tional race to make money out of medical research.

A year later changes to the pri-vacy laws were underway aimed at securing that global commer-cial advantage.

In 2012, the Department of

Health announced the creation of a giant centralised system for storing patient data.

That was followed by the gov-ernment saying it intended to “capitalise” on patients’ personal data and amass it on, “a scale unique in the world”.

By now the common law on confidentiality had been overrid-den. So too had part of the Hu-man Rights Act.

Another change, in 2012, meant personal data identify-ing individual patients could be made available to third parties.

Open for businessAnd today the NHS Care.data

system is poised swallow up and sell the entire population’s per-sonal medical records.

VISIT our new website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk 3

Patient confidentiality sold off for big profits?“Why have I opted out? Because I don’t trust you and I don’t consider myself a commodity to be bartered around by you.” A view from Oswald

Sec. of State for Health:Jeremy Hunt MP, who over-sees Care.data, sent a mes-sage to patients about what he thinks of their right to privacy.

Youngsters in Elford are making friends with French children

whose forebears would have witnessed a pivotal moment in history.

There are also plans for the village elders and the commu-nity of Awoingt to ‘twin’.

And there could not be a more poignant time for the process to begin.

A century ago this year the world was plunged into the Great War (1914-18).

Friendly tiesThe conflict went on to forge

an unbreakable link between England and the small village in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais re-gion of France.

At the end of World War I there were more British and Commonwealth servicemen buried in Awoingt’s military cemetery than there were French people living in the vil-lage.

Even today the communi-ty’s population only stands at around 600 inhabitants.

Along-

side the 653 fallen Allied sol-diers in the village’s immacu-lately maintained memorial grounds lie 63 of their one-time adversaries. All are now joined in peaceful rest.

Parlez-vous Français?French is a key subject

on Elford’s Howard Primary School syllabus.

And it was the subject teacher, Helen Meredith, who set up the email correspond-ence between her seven to 11-year-olds and the children at Awoingt’s local school.

In April, Elford hopes to send a party of children to the meet their new French pen-friends.

The primary school’s head-teacher, Mrs. Carol Eley, said her pupils were aware of the First World War.

When they’re readyAnd she said that in time

they would learn more about the events of the most appall-ing conflict the world had ever seen.

Historians regard the out-break of hostilities, in 1914,

as the moment at which the 20th

Century

was born.In social, political, eco-

nomic and military terms, it marked the end of the confi-dent, ‘Age of Progress’.

That had been a period dominated by the powerful European empires.

The Great War brought about a new world order that is familiar to people now but that had been totally unfore-seen by those who unleashed the global conflict.

Horror of warWhat started the, ‘war to

end all wars’, has been hotly debated ever since the bullets ceased flying.

Yet if the breakdown of in-ternational relations can be blamed, then all the partici-pants must share the respon-sibility.

The pre-war world saw in-creasing prosperity with each of the powerful states all pushing for a bigger share of the cake.

All to blameIt would be fair to say that

none of the major powers would have rejected a conflict, if the conditions suited them.

Germany was the youngest and most aggressive of these


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British Mark IV: it was armoured vehicles like this one that brought in a new era to warfare at the battle of Cambrai. They could only manage

4mph, were prone to breakdown and had the crew inside choking on exhaust

and explosives fumes. But they were a battle winner when used properly with close infantry sup-

port. The action at Cambrai wrote the blueprint for all future tank warfare.

Elford’s children are rekindlinghistoric WWI links with France

In touch with history

To BOOK an advert just ring 01543 432341 Or email [email protected] 5

states.Her seizure of Alsace and Lor-

raine after 1871 was key to the build up of tension across Europe.

It gave birth to a gathering storm that finally erupted more than 40 years later, in 1914.

Life was cheapAt the time the notion of ‘crimes

against humanity’ was not seen as intrinsically criminal by the gov-erning classes.

That absence of state con-science may have helped fuel the unfettered release of horror on the battlefield on a scale never before seen.

Technology also played its role in producing the first ‘industrial’ war in which armies could slaugh-ter their enemies en-masse, both military and civilian.

Deadly scienceAnd nowhere was the lethal po-

tential of science and engineering demonstrated more vividly than in the fields to the west of Awoingt.

On November 20, 1917, more than 1,000 British field guns, six infantry divisions and 437 tanks were poised to attack the German Hindenburg Line, which stood be-tween them and the town of Cam-brai.

Another infantry and three cav-alry divisions waited in reserve.

The action that followed be-came famous as the first tank bat-tle, which it was not.

These armoured leviathans had been used by both the French and British before.

But the terrifying, ‘landships’, had earned an unenviable reputa-tion for unreliability.

Engine breakdown put dozens of them out of action during at-tacks.

Shell fireThe massed artillery barrages

that often preceded offensive ma-noeuvres created deep shell holes that served as tank traps.

At Ypres they became useless after getting bogged down in deep mud.

But the Tank Corps still had faith in its vehicles and was look-ing for an opportunity to restore their reputation.

At the same time Britain’s artil-lery commanders were keen try some new tactics of their own.

The gunners had also been is-sued with high explosive shells fit-ted with a new firing mechanism.

And at Cambrai the new military thinking and technology all came together to produce the template for modern tank warfare.

It was also the first time these armoured vehicles were sent into battle en-masse.

The attack was launched along a ten kilometre front towards po-sitions held by the German Sec-ond Army.

Surprise attackBut there was no preliminary

artillery barrage and so the enemy was taken by surprise.

Instead, the gunners fired a ‘creeping’ barrage of shells that burst 300 metres in front of the infantry and kept pace with them as they advanced.

Smoke rounds helped conceal the troops from the defending Germans’ rifle and machine gun fire.

Instead of cratering the ground, the high explosive artillery shells fitted with the revolutionary new fuse exploded just before hitting the ground.

They kept their lethal anti-per-sonnel effect and served to clear barbed wire entanglements.

They also left the ground intact for the British Mark IV tanks to ad-vance over.

Initial successThe first day of the battle was

a huge success with the British armour penetrating six kilometres into German territory.

But despite having a techno-logical and tactical advantage, the Allied forces still had the same old commanders.

The attack failed in front of the village of Flesquieres because di-visional commander Harper had ordered his troops not to cooper-ate with the tank crews.

The British commanders had also launched the offensive with-out having sufficient reserves in place to capitalise on the initial gains.

The appalled tank command-ers had warned before the battle started that this would happen.

Counter attackAnd by December 7, the Ger-

man forces had recaptured almost all the ground they had lost.

Even so, the initial success had provided the blueprint for tank warfare that proved so effective a generation later during Adolf Hit-ler’s World War II blitzkrieg.

Monster: One of Germany’s answers to British armour was the huge 13.2mm Mauser anti-tank rifle (pictured left). The bullet on the left is a .303” round used

in the UK’s short magazine Lee Engfield service rifle. The one next to it was fired by the monster Mauser. Yet the Mark IV tanks used at Cambrai were able to withstand even that.

Hundreds of new ‘VM’-area home owners may find it impossible to buy

flood insurance.It seems developers want to

build houses on land in Fradley that became a lake.

An historic map appears to show a site near Whittington where homes could soon be built might become a lake.

Developers aim to build on a vulnerable plateau in Alrewas that could find itself at the bot-tom of a lake.

Insurance riskIf all these homes are con-

structed, their owners might find they have one thing in common - they might all find it impossible insure their investments against

serious flooding.And without insurance, would-

be purchasers will not be able to obtain mortgages.

WranglingAfter years of stalemate, the

Tory government and the insur-ance industry have struck a deal supposed to ensure that people in areas at risk of flooding can still obtain affordable insurance.

But the scheme called ‘Flood Re’, due to come into force in 2015, has a catch.

It will not cover houses built after 2009 and nor will it cover

small businesses.A spokesman for the Associa-

tion of British Insurers, told the ‘VM”: “There should be a zero-tol-erance approach to inappropriate development on flood plains.

“Properties built since 2009 are excluded from Flood Re to dein-centivise this kind of develop-ment.”

Conflicting interestsBut while David Cameron’s gov-

ernment was agreeing to these conditions, it was also slashing funding on flood defences.

And it was wiping away plan-

ning laws that until now had pro-tected the countryside.

The new ‘national planning policy framework’ represents the biggest shake up in planning law for more than 50 years.

Enforced developmentLocal authorities are now being

made to mark out land for future housing need and assess plan-ning applications with a, “pre-sumption in favour of sustainable development”.

The National Trust (NT) and Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) warn that

Historic evidence: this old map puts Lyalvale’s proposed development, at Whittington, in the middle of flood land. The ever increasing levels of Tame flood water suggest it could soon be underwater again.

Wettest winter on record


Whittington, Alrewas and Fradley all look set to drown under a crazy building boom that willtrash the green belt and destroy the countryside.


the new rules will see house builders concreting over the countryside.

The NT said government promises to protect green belt land were coming undone.

Its chairman, Simon Jenkins, reportedly said Cameron’s defi-nition of “sustainable” was being interpreted as, “profitable”.

He said that replacing the requirement for there to be a planning presumption in favour of building on “brownfield” land with the presumption in favour of “sustainable development”, had given the developers the green light to let rip.

Jenkins added that for the first time in history planning control was now the slave of profit and no more its master.

Residents disempoweredCameron’s much vaunted ‘lo-

calism’ legislation was sold as something that would give local communities more control over development in their areas.

But it had the opposite effect.It has provided a route

through which government can force local authorities to accept unwanted housing.

Lichfield district is being com-pelled to find land for 10,000 new homes.

Two green belt developments have been selected for the out-skirts of Lichfield.

And in the ‘VM’ area three sites that look to be in danger of flooding have been earmarked for new housing estates.

In Alrewas, developers want to put 144 homes on a plateau in the flood plain off Dark Lane that has recently come within centimetres of being inundated.

Homeowners on the edge of the site have already found it impossible to obtain flood insur-ance.

Worse to comeIf flooding in the area wors-

ens, as climatologists predict, the plateau will go under.

In Fradley, 240 houses could be built on land off Hay End Lane, part of which became a huge lake last month.

If the water level reflected the height of the water table it is dif-ficult to see how a viable engi-neering solution could be found to prevent it re-occurring.

In Whittington a map more than a century old has revealed the forgotten history of a site earmarked for 180 homes.

Shotgun cartridge makers Ly-alvale own the disused military ammunition dump.

Turn to page 8

warning for home buyers

Fradley Mere, 2014: (below and right) devel-opment land off Hay End Lane already had a pond on it. But last month that became a lake stretching hundreds of metres out across the grassland which even beyond the shore line oozed and sucked under foot like a swamp.Residents visiting the site were appalled at the thought of houses being built there. It is yet to be seen if the developers can come up with an engineering solution that will make them safe and persuade insurers to cover them.

Comberford Water, 2012: resident Roger Dix watches anxiously as the Tame floods the landscape as far as the eye can see and threatens his home normally metres above the water level. The waters only need to breach one more contour line to inundate the site of Whittington’s proposed Lyalvale housing estate.


The River Whittington, 2009: It took just a couple of hours of torrential summer tain to turn Main Street into a torrent and send fountains blasting up through drain covers. Changing weather patterns mean sites need not be near rivers or lakes to be at risk of flooding. Insurers are even putting homes in danger of the wash from passing cars out of the affordable cover range.

It lies in the middle of an area coloured red for danger by an es-tate manager in the early 1900s, before the army moved in.

Across it he wrote: “The greater part of this land is liable to flood.”

There appears to have been no problem in recent years.

But just over the rise of a sin-gle map contour line Elford and Comberford are coming under an increasing threat from the River Tame as it repeatedly bursts its banks.

If the weather experts are right and things are getting worse, it may not be long before 19th Cen-tury history repeats itself.

There were concerns about pro-posals not to connect the Whitting-ton site to mains sewage.

But modern septic tanks are thought to seal automatically dur-ing floods.

People shockedResidents in Alrewas, Fradley and

Whittington are appalled at what is happening in their communities.

They have seen how the in-creasing regularity of extreme weather events is putting them at risk.

And the science community now firmly believe the situation can only get worse.

In 2007, the county suffered summer floods that even put the A38 underwater and caused chaos across the ‘VM’ area.

In 2009, a flash flood turned Whittington’s Main Street into a river.

In 2012, the deluge snuffed out summer events right across the ‘VM’ area.

Since then extreme weather events have been impacting the area ever more frequently.

The flooding in Britain in 2007 was declared a national disaster.

The Environment Agency told ‘VM’ that the water volumes paled into insignificance when com-pared with last month’s flooding on the Somerset Levels.

In all, 65 square miles of land completely disappeared under the floodwater.

Cornish calamityThe 2004 flooding in Boscastle,

Cornwall, that washed away part of the village, sounded a very dif-ferent warning.

It showed that a weather-gen-erated disaster can now be ex-pected to strike anywhere.

And everyone from the villagers in the ‘VM’ area to the Associa-tions of British Insurers agree that building on land prone to flooding is simply asking for trouble.

Businesses hit: (right) Alrewas’ showground goes under yet again. Small businesses lost £millions in 2012 as countryside events had to be cancelled right across the country.Excellent organisation by the Alrewas Show management team meant their event would live to thrill another day. Others were not so lucky.

Deluge: Boscastle at the height of the 2004 emergency.

Alrewas-sur-la mer: (above) in the distance is the site on which the money men want to put 144 homes. But as flooding events become more severe by the year, they would be better off building house boats. (left) On the other side of the A38 to the showground, the climbing equipment at Whitemoor Lakes action centre ends up in the drink.

A shunt on a single lane bridge near Elford highlighted the risks of

developing the Lyalvale Ex-press site, at Hademore.

Planning consultant Shaun Taylor failed to answer any of the concerns about the impact the proposed 180-home develop-ment would have on the area’s fragile road network.

Massive increaseIt is estimated that the housing

estate, which would at a stroke increase the size of Whittington by around 20 per cent, would put another 132,200 car journeys on

to the roads.It seems there is a plan to up-

grade the wholly inadequate ac-cess route to the site, off Fisher-wick Road.

No mitigationBut it seems nothing will be

done to prevent the chaos resi-dents fear will be caused on the roads in Whittington and the junction of Fisherwick Road with the A513, at Elford.

As if to highlight people’s con-cerns a chunk was taken out one of the bridges off the Tamworth road during an accident.

The twin single lane bridge

arrangement that takes people around blind corners and over two humpbacks already causes problems for motorists.

Residents say that even now it would not take a severe accident to block the road completely.

And it seems likely that peo-ple travelling to work from the proposed Lyalvale housing estate would be likely to take that route to avoid the chaos in the centre of Whittington.

Bottle necksResidents predict what will

happen is that the bridges will create a bottle neck and create rush hour jams.

They also point out that emerging out onto the A513 from Fisherwick Road is in any case already a hazardous manoeuvre.

If Lyalvale residents take the only other available route, through Whittington, other pinch points that already cause prob-lems for local motorists will lie in their path.

School traffic jams Common Lane and the cross roads by the Dog Inn.

On-street parking on Church

Street reduces the road to a sin-gle lane where queues often form.

Double-parked lorries deliver-ing to the Co-op on Main Street cause chaos.

Rush-hour chaosWhen Arriva busses meet head

on at the same spot they can cause rush-hour gridlock.

And even when cars get past all of that there is still a single lane blind bend over a hump-backed canal bridge to negotiate.

And just beyond that lies a sin-gle lane road going under a rail-way line, which already causes problems.

But even then motorists head-ing for the A38 at Fradley are still not out of the woods.

The twisting narrow un-edged country lane leading out of Whit-tington is not suitable for large volumes of traffic.

Nor does it seem that there is going to be a footpath connect-ing the Lyalvale site with Whit-tington, nor any public transport either.

That will push up car use even further and bring yet more chaos to local roads.

No answers Other problems Taylor,

and his clients have no an-swers for include the added pressure the influx of fami-lies would place on Whitting-ton’s already strained medi-cal services.

Nor can they say how the local school will cope.

Whittington’s population will in effect double in size once the new military medi-cal centre at the local bar-racks is fully staffed.

Lyalvale estate families will find themselves compet-ing for school places with dozens of children from the base.

The residents of Lyalvale’s proposed housing estate cannot even look forward to having the luxuries of mains gas or sewage services.

The new estate would also be likely to create a huge


Fragile and dangerous: the accident showed how fragile the single-lane bridge at Elford was and how easily the route to the A513 could be completely blocked.

Whittington estate- a timely reminderAn accident off the A513 shows why the old ammo dump near Whittington would be a bad place to build 180 new homes.

Discussions: planning consultant Shaun Taylor (left) and former parish council chairman, John Smith.

infill area in the triangle of land between the ammunition dump, Hademore and the village.

David Cameron’s sweeping away of planning laws means that a site being in the green belt is no long a guarantee that devel-opers cannot build on it.

Green belt destroyedLarge areas of green belt land

in Lichfield have just been sac-rificed because government is forcing district planners to find room for 10,000 new homes.

Whittington and Fisherwick Parish Council (WFPC) has also been criticised by local residents.

Chairman Steven Rushton re-fused to answer ‘VM’s questions about the development.

And once again the parish au-thority has failed to open a public debate on an issue of huge im-portance to the community.

WFPC claims welcomeIt has claimed in its quarterly

publication that some residents welcome the development.

But Rushton and his council-lors are refusing to comment on it until Lyalvale has submitted its planning application.

The company will have spent months putting together a com-plex set of technical proposals.

And in the absence of any leadership, local residents who wish to oppose the development

will have just six weeks to digest the plans and put in reasoned ar-guments against them.

Other councils in the ‘VM’ area alert their residents immediately it is known that high-impact de-velopments are being proposed for their areas.

Communities are then well able to marshall a soundly based argument when the issues go to the local planning authority.

Serial complaintsWFPC has already reaped a

stinging rebuke over allegedly suppressing debate over plans for a giant wind turbine a local farmer wants to site in green belt land, at Hademore.

It is feared that if the project goes ahead a local business will be forced to close and others will be badly affected.

It also seem a riding facility for disabled people will be lost.

WFPC has been criticised over HS2 as well.

When high-speed rail support-er Michael Fabricant MP came to the village to discuss how the hated scheme would affect the villagers’ lives, the council agreed to keep residents out.

“You’re dumb” insultFabricant went on to call HS2

objectors, “dumb”, and then have the planned route shifted closer to Whittington.


Pub tenants in ‘VM’ vil-lages could lose a for-tune if troubled Punch

Taverns goes bust.The pubco says it will default

on its debt payments if stake-holders do not back a controver-sial finance restructuring plan.

Favourite watering holesMeanwhile its licensees in Al-

rewas, Barton-under-Needwood, Freeford and Whittington are in limbo waiting to see if their se-curity deposits are safe.

Punch took up to £20,000 off each of them in case they de-faulted on their rents.

The cash belongs to the ten-ants and should have been held in a ring-fenced, interest-earn-ing account.

But now it seems the pubco is holding the money on its bal-ance sheet as an unsecured li-ability.

If the Burton-upon-Trent-based company goes into liqui-dation the tenants could lose all their money.

No safety netIn total, Punch holds £22.6mil-

lion in licensee deposits.But that pales into insignifi-

cance against the £2.3billion it owes to creditors.

The ‘get-rich-quick’ fever that infected pre-crash Britain cre-ated the problem.

Punch was formed in 1997 when Pizza Express entrepre-neur, Hugh Osmond, bought 1,400 pubs from Bass.

Borrowing bingeThen the company went on

a decade-long, debt-fuelled, spending binge to become the UK’s biggest pubco.

Giles Thorley left Japanese fi-nancial holding company, Nomu-ra, to become Punch’s chief ex-ecutive.

He then drove the pubco’s ex-pansion using the ‘securitisation’ process - the type of financial engineering that led the banks into a meltdown.

It involved putting Punch’s assets into two investment ‘ve-hicles’: ‘Punch A’ and ‘Punch B’.

Thorley used the cash it raised to buy yet more pubs.

Strangle holdThe ‘bondholders’ who bought

into ‘A’ and ‘B’ were guaranteed an income from the operating company, Punch Taverns.

In 2004, Champagne corks popped when Thorley bought the Pubmaster chain of 3,100 tenanted inns, for £1.2billion.

The buying binge went on until the company had nearly 10,000 pubs, all paid for through high borrowing and a surge in the pubco’s value.

Its share price had set out at 230p and by 2007 had soared to more than £13.

The executives, investors, lawyers and advisors made for-tunes for themselves.

But the elephant they all ig-nored was the £4.5billion of debt that had been run up.

Flavour souredThe beer turned bitter after

2007 as the pub trade was hit by the smoking ban and cheap booze from the supermarkets.

And when the recession hit Punch turned into a ‘zombie’ company - a slave to its debts that was unable to grow.

Its share price belly flopped to 13.5p.

A company once valued at £3billion sank to below £47mil-lion.

But still the bond holders wanted their cut.

When Giles Thorley baled out, in 2010, he was still insisting that the securitised debt model was sustainable.

But in 2012, Punch Taverns was forced to give ‘A’ and ‘B’ a total of £21million in cash.

Cannot go onThe pubco insisted that situa-

tion was, “unsustainable”.Making matters worse was the

labyrinth of complex debt deals the company had struck in the boom years.

Part of the infighting confus-ing negotiations now is about the various conflicts of interest that have arisen.

There is also a new danger in that the uncertainty over their security deposits might prompt the tenants to withhold their rents, so turning off Punch’s cash-flow tap.

Pubco model doomedIt has been reported that

chairman of the Parliamen-tary Save the Pub Group, Greg Mulholland MP, has written to Punch’s current chief executive, Stephen Billingham.

The pubco boss was asked if he would separate out the ten-ants’ deposits and make sure they were protected.

But it seems Billingham sim-ply ignored the question.

The MP, said: “The bondhold-ers must surely realise that the pubco model is dead.”

Tenants tense as pubco teeters


Punch-drunk and doomed under unmanageable debts, or is there still a future for the owner of around 4,300 pubs?

Whittington’s Swan Inn: a lack of investment in the building and having to buy bulk beer off Punch at inflated prices helped put the tenants out of business.In November, 2010, Whittington and Fisherwick Parish Council gave assurances that the structure would be kept and converted into living accommodation. The council later told the developer, completely wrongly, that it was being vandalised. But it was on those grounds that TJ Investments then tore the place down, in October, 2011. In November, 2013, WFPC, said building work would start on the site, “early in the New Year”. Next the council said construction would begin in late February. So far, nothing has happened. More than three years after the pub closed, the site still remains an eyesore that continues to detract from the village.

Neighbourhood Watch - but what is the point if Lichfield District Council

(LDC) cabinet member Colin Greatorex refuses to see.

He is the person responsible for preventing itinerant scrap metal collectors operating ille-gally in the ‘VM’ area.

Up in armsAnd residents are furious about

what they say is his failure to do his job properly and enforce new

laws put in place to protect them from crime.

AccusationGreatorex has also been ac-

cused of creating an incident re-porting system for public use that seems designed not to work.

People are up in arms too over his refusal to provide information about dealers that is freely avail-able in other authority areas.

Boley Park Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, Les Bache,

said: “LDC’s automatic default mode is to hide behind the Free-dom of Information Act - it is a flagrant abuse.

“Over the past two years Grea-torex’s department has repeat-edly refused to provide answers.

“Meanwhile our community has had to suffer a constant nui-sance and a fear of crime caused by scrap metal dealers operating illegally in our area.

Clear the streets“My mission is to drive these

criminals off our streets - I think I’m referring to the scrap collec-tors, but perhaps not!”

Local authorities around the region recently slammed down hard on metal men operating outside the law as part of a na-tional initiative.

Officials and the police shouted the results of their crackdown op-erations from the rooftops.

They want-ed the public and dealers to hear the mes-sage loud and clear that the nuisance and crime some-times asso-ciated with these traders would no longer be tolerated.

Press notices went out provid-ing the full operational statistics.

Refused to answerYet when the ‘VM’ asked Coun-

cillor Greatorex what his ‘crack-down’ results were he hid behind the Freedom of Information Act and said: “We will not disclose the information you have requested.”

Before his ‘day of action’, one scrap dealer had been reported breaking the law on three sepa-rate occasions.

The day after he was still at it as if nothing had happened.

Boley Park resident, Peter Bull-ock then contacted LDC about

another scrap man who had been recorded operating illegally on 31 separate occasions and was dis-mayed by the response.

But he said an official told him there was to be another joint op-eration with the police to tackle law-breaking traders.

Mr. Bullock, said: “I did not ask if this operation would also be subject to the ‘official secrets act.”

He said the LDC official also promised to pass on a complaint about a dealer to the police - his 394th to date.

Replace GreatorexLes Bache and Peter Bullock

said they would not take the pressure off Greatorex until he either started doing his job or he was replaced by someone who would.

The police and Neighbourhood Watch have made repeated ap-peals to the public to be on the

lookout for scrap dealers illegally us-ing amplifed public address systems to tout for busi-ness.

Tactical change

Some of them are now being reported trying to get around the rules by continually sounding their horns to attract attention instead.

There is a long record of these dealers being associated with theft.

The new recording rules they have to abide by should, in the-ory, stop them removing unlaw-fully items people’s properties or public places.

But in order for the laws to be effective the situation has to be policed properly.

And the residents of Boley Park claim that is currently not hap-pening.

14

‘Illegal’ metal men are still whizzing around under his nose butLichfield District Council’s ‘Mr. Scrap’ seems to be doing nothing.

Not so ‘Great-orex’ silent

Collections: residents were told to report any scrap traders operating outside the law.


15VISIT our new website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk

18

Good reason for HS2Influential VM’-area busi-

ness leaders are now voicing support for HS2.

Building on-trackA massive construction

scheme is now due to commence in Birmingham on the back of the troubled rail project.

A key voice in the South Staf-

fordshire business community told the ‘VM’: “The development of Curzon Station is fascinating.

“It is first thing I have learned about HS2 that has been con-vincingly positive.”

Total transformationBirmingham City Council’s

‘Masterplan’ involves the trans-

A bright light spotted at the end of high speed rail’s long and very bleak tunnel.

Vision of the future: business leaders believe the the Second City’s first new station for a century will bring huge new benefits to the region.People in the ‘VM’ areas must weigh that against the impact high speed rail will have on their lives and the envi-ronment.

VISIT our new website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk

19

formation of 141 hectares of land.Included in the scheme will be

the creation of 14,000 jobs and 600,000 sq. metres of new em-ployment floorspace.

The scheme also contains provi-sion for 2,000 new homes.

Massive boostThe plan’s architects claim it

will boost Birmingham’s economy by £1.3billion a year.

It is being hailed as the larg-est development project to come in on the back of high speed rail.

Leader of Birmingham City Council, Sir Albert Bore, said HS2 was a catalyst that would trans-form a huge part of the city.

He added: “We’re not waiting around for HS2 to get built before we get started.

“We’re ready to start building as soon as the new railway gets the green light.”

Regional benefitsCommercial Secretary to the

Treasury and chairman of the HS2 Growth Taskforce, Lord Deighton, claimed that high speed rail would generate an extra £4.1billion a year for the region’s economy.

He said it would also bring an extra 51,000 jobs thanks to bet-ter connections with London and the north.

Birmingham’s new Curzon Sta-tion will be the city first new sta-tion for 100 years. It will also be its biggest.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glori-ous summer by these

two sons of guns.Alrewas’ kings of folk will be back

on their tuneful thrones in April af-ter three months of banishment.

And Martin Ryan and Steph Dziu-ba’s court of poor puns, even worse jokes and brilliant music has been turned into a veritable palace.

Luxurious surroundingsHundreds of thousands of

pounds have been spent tarting up the Crown Inn, on Post Office Road.

That should mean fewer of the tunesmiths’ devoted fans will have to cram into the corridor outside the club room because they cannot get in for the first gig of the new era, on Tuesday, April 1.

But despite the magnificence of the venue and the excellence of the legendary duo and their guests, entry will still only be the cost of a £1 raffle ticket . . . be there!

And to Crown it all they’re back

Here are the names of the win-ners of our January and Febru-ary competitions.

Mr. B Ferris, from Alrewas, won the pair of tickets to see Jeremy Wade’s River Monsters show, at Tamworth Assembly Rooms, along with a t-shirt and poster.

Miss R Lavender, from Fradley, won the giant cupcake, from Lazy Day Cakes, at Heart of the Country Shopping Village.

And Mrs. K Benton, from Boley Park, Lichfield, won the meal for two at The Dog Inn, Whittington.

We hope you all thoroughly enjoy your prizes!

Winners All!


We needDISTRIBUTORSIf you would like some extra cash, ring 01543 432341 or email:[email protected] you would like to join our door-to-door de-livery team you will need to be 18+ (no upper age limit) and be able to give up to five days in the first week and a half of each month.

The Lichfield Mercury has ceased its free door to door deliveries to El-

ford, it is claimed.Instead just 25 copies a week

are being left at the village hall.But Elford Parish Council fears

that even this service will be lost if residents do not drop by to pick up every copy.

Lost altogetherA message on the authority’s

website, said: “We could very easily lose this free paper as they monitor the uptake and will decrease/increase the number of papers dropped off accordingly.”

Lichfield District Councillor Margaret Stanhope reported to Fradley and Streethay Parish Council that Alrewas had also lost its free Lichfield Mercury de-livery service.

Fradley tooShe said: “Now they just put

a pile in the Co-op for people to pick up.”

The meeting also heard that only half of Fradley was now re-ceiving free copies of the paper.

The news came after chairman Harold Warburton complained about being asked for £550 to place a single notice in the Mer-cury to advertise a vacancy for a new councillor.

He said: “It was incredibly ex-pensive.

“I knew that it should be about £350. I got it down to £330.”

Coun. Warburton also com-plained at being asked to pay in advance for the advert using his personal credit card.

“Print is a dying product,” he added.

Curious tacticThe apparent decision to pull

the free deliveries out of the vil-lages in the ‘VM’ area seems to be a curious one.

The high socio-economic mix that makes up their residents means they are key targets for ad-vertisers who pay a lot of money to penetrate this lucrative market.

The Lichfield Mercury’s group editor, Gary Phelps, did not re-spond to the ‘VM’s inquiries about the situation.

Trusted titleBut there is increasing con-

cern about the loss of this crucial news service to rural communi-ties in the ‘VM’ area upon which a great many people have long relied.

The Mercury has been an ex-cellent and trusted publication ever since it was first launched, in 1815.

Historic editionAmong its first ever stories

was coverage of the momentous Battle of Waterloo.

Since then its journalists have chronicled every aspect of local life, campaigned on behalf of the public and created a sense of co-hesion among the communities it has served.

Now it seems to be suffering the same malaise affecting print

journalism across the country.Yet opinions differ wildly about

what is happening.Word Wide Web

Some commentators say on-line news services are killing off the print media.

Others blame the diminishing attention spans of young people who no longer want to read the papers.

Many writers blame the ac-countants, who in the 1980’s moved to reduce costs and boost profits at the same time.

Dumbing downIn depth broadsheets became

lightweight tabloids. Reporting staffs were cut to the bone.

Local news content was slashed and replaced with celeb-rity froth and syndicated stories from elsewhere.

Newsrooms were moved to cheaper premises outside their circulation areas.

Publications lost touch with their communities for whom the reading matter was fast losing its relevance.

Many papers now feed their audiences a diet of corporate and government press releases with-out making any effort to chal-lenge the truth of what they say.

Cut and pasteOne senior Birmingham jour-

nalist told the ‘VM’: “All I do now is cut and paste.

“I hate it. But I want to keep my job.”

Government has tried to pro-tect local journalism by “tackling town hall pravdas”.

It was a coalition pledge to im-pose tougher rules to protect the independent free press from un-fair competition by local author-ity newspapers and propaganda.

Lichfield District Council (LDC), led by the controversial Michael Wilcox, has an official

policy of refusing to answer any ‘VM’ inquiry that questions its behaviour.

It has also moved to curtail councillors rights to freely debate in meetings if they advertise in the micronewspaper.

Counciltax payers have told ‘VM’ that LDC has repeatedly refused to release information freely available from other simi-lar authorities..

Meanwhile, ever more news-papers are seeking cure their fi-nancial woes by going online.

Increasing chargesBut there is also an growing

trend of charging people to ac-cess the content.

Publications are also engaged in a massive ‘data capture’ exer-cise, requiring readers to create accounts and submit their per-sonal details.

The public is becoming in-creasingly sensitive to this infor-mation then being used to target them with marketing offers.

Price hurdleOnline publications also face

the problem of getting people to pay when there is a vast number of free news sources available to them on the web.

And once smaller publications lose their print versions they no longer have a real world ‘sign-post’ to point people to their websites.

In the ever more fragmented and noisy web world it becomes harder and much more expen-sive for a news organisation to get itself noticed.

Councillor Warburton may be-lieve print is dying.

Yet America’s fourth richest man and legendary investor, War-ren Buffett, recently paid $344 million for 28 small local titles.

Small is beautifulHe said: “Newspapers reign su-

preme in the delivery of local news.“If you want to know what’s

going on in your town – whether the news is about the mayor or taxes or high school football – there is no substitute for a local newspaper that is doing its job.”

Mr. Buffett said a reader’s eyes might glaze at news about politics in Pakistan, but he would stick with it to the end if it was about his family or his neighbour’s.

He added: “Wherever there is a pervasive sense of community, a paper that serves the special informational needs of that com-munity will remain indispensable to a significant portion of its resi-dents.”

20

Communities losing free news serviceConcern as district paper ceases free deliveries to‘VM’ villages

The Fradley Files

Opposing views: (left) Harold Warburton believes print is a dying product. War-ren Buffett, America’s fourth richest man and one of the most revered investment experts on earth, believes it is worth sinking $millions into very small newspapers.


The leader of Lichfield District Council (LDC) did not seem to know

how community funding worked.

And the chairman of Fradley and Streethay Parish Council (FSPC) did not seem to be very good at reading.

Both men were attacking in his absence the man whom two years ago they allegedly helped bully out of his seat on Fradley’s parish council.

Massive majorityBut at a public meeting in Jan-

uary Derick Cross was persuaded by a 96 per cent vote in his fa-vour to lead the village’s ‘neigh-bourhood plan’ steering group.

The post was short-lived. Cross had selected LDC leader and FSPC member Michael Wilcox to play a key role on his team.

It was he who persuaded Cross to become involved in the first place, insisting that he was the only man for the job.

But there was dissent at the steering group’s first meeting

with people refusing to work with Wilcox and then quitting.

Mr. Cross felt his position was untenable and resigned.

His last duty was to was to re-port back to FSPC leader, Harold Warburton.

And as the chairman read Cross’ letter to the council’s pub-lic meeting he was quick to make jokes at the author’s expense.

Nasty sniping“No shooting the messenger,

please,” he quipped. Wilcox and the other councillors chuckled.

Warburton repeatedly stum-bled over Cross’ words, saying at one point: “Oh, dear, he is not quite grammatical!” More mirth.

Cross highlighted the £1.5 million Fradley had lost because of past failures at LDC and FSPC - Wilcox shook his head.

Cross said his resignation meant the neighbourhood plan process had to start anew.

Residents must be given an opportunity to make an informed choice on the issues, he added.

So he called for another public meeting to take place.

This time he felt it should be run properly with professional planning officers on hand to an-swer people’s questions.

Nor could it be another ‘drop-in’ event like January’s, he said.

Cross set out a publicity plan that would bring in hundreds of villagers instead of the handful that came to the first one, in St. Stephen’s Church.

He also said the church was not a suitable venue.

FSPC vice-chairman Simon Lee shrugged dismissively - it was outside St. Stephen’s two years ago that he bellowed at Cross that FSPC and LDC were sick of him and wanted him gone.

When Warburton finished read-ing, Wilcox said: “One of the things I want to put right is that the vil-lage has not lost any money.”

He referred to funding the community received after Frad-ley South was built.

What he seemed not quite able to grasp was the current situation and how the Commu-nity Infrastructure Levy (CIL) worked.

Astonishingly, Wilcox said: “CIL has not come into force yet.”

Yet the new legislation actually took effect in January last year.

It requires developers to make payments to their host commu-nities as their building projects are completed.

£1.5 million lostSince January 2013, the go-

ahead has been given for 1,000 new homes in Fradley. Another 330 are to follow.

District Councillor Margaret Stanhope, said: “There is no ques-tion that Fradley has missed out on CIL funding.”

She explained that when devel-opers paid the levy part of it went to the parish they were working in.

If the district council had a ‘local plan’, she added, Fradley would have received 15 per cent of the cash.

And she said that had there been a ‘neighbourhood plan’ in place as

well the village would have received 25 per cent.

Twin failuresBut since LDC and Fradley had

both failed to put plans in place, she said: “Now you will not even get 15 per cent of the levy.”

Wilcox has admitted that FSPC was to blame for the failure to cre-ate a Fradley plan.

Because of this the develop-ers’ contributions will be dealt with under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act.

Under that system payments can be delayed for years and, sometimes, avoided altogether.

Any money that does come in will go straight to LDC.

And there is no guarantee that a penny of it will reach Fradley.

LDC is already in a financial meltdown that looks set to get far worse - it has been blamed partly on profligacy and bad leadership.

‘VM’ obtained a copy of Mr. Cross’ letter after the meeting.

It appeared that it was War-burton’s reading ability that was poor, not the author’s grammar.


Leaders of Lichfield and Fradley councils both turned on the man they pledged to support in a key new development role.

Cross reports back to FSPC The Fradley Files

The group leading the bid to create a neigh-bourhood plan for Frad-

ley has no public mandate.The six-strong team led by ‘act-

ing chairman’ Bob Carruthers al-legedly usurped control after the man residents wanted as leader, Derick Cross, was forced out by dissenters.

RebellionMembers of the group had re-

fused to work with one of Cross’ appointees, Lichfield District Council (LDC) leader, Michael Wil-cox.

Yet Fradley and Streethay Par-ish Council (FSPC) gave them its blessing at its February meeting.

Now the self-appointed team is

on a head-long scramble to gain official recognition from (LDC).

Ironically, Wilcox, who also serves on FSPC, is giving them his full support.

Group’s championHe told the parish council: “We

must endorse the creation of the neighbourhood plan and make an application (to LDC) for the desig-nation (of the plan area selected

by the steering group) to be ap-proved.”

Yet political insiders have told ‘VM’ that what is happening is completely wrong.

They said that when Cross re-signed the group he had appoint-ed ceased to have any legitimacy and should have disbanded.

No legitimacyThey felt the public had to be

consulted again before anything further could happen.

But they also said that the fail-ure of due process that had taken place would probably not stop the current group carrying on.

Stitch-up?They said that since Wilcox

would chair the LDC cabinet meet-ing that would decide whether or not to give them legal recognition, their success seemed to be a fore-gone conclusion.

FSPC’s February meeting heard that the public had already been told about the neighbourhood plan and been given every opportunity to attend the public consultation that took place, in January, in St. Stephen’s Church.

Steering group deluded?

Michael Wilcox: wrong on CIL. Harold Warburton: reading problems.

The team now pressing ahead with a neighbourhood plan for Fradley are in for a surprise, it has been claimed.

The Fradley Files

Service ‘bussed’?


The Fradley FilesBut there were similarities between the 2014 event and a neighbourhood plan public meet-ing FSPC held two years ago.

Only one person turned up on that occasion and he left in dis-gust at its dismal failure.

Handful attendedIt was claimed the 2014 consul-

tation had been advertised on no-tice boards, posters and Facebook.

It was also said that leaflets had been distributed.

Yet only 52 of Fradley’s around 2,500 residents turned up.

Seven of them had been to the parish council meeting that pre-ceded the event.

Thirty-seven saw it advertised on Facebook. Two spotted a post-er. Only one person responded to the leaflet.

One resident had heard about the event by word of mouth.

When the ‘VM’ surveyed Frad-ley South it could not find any-one who knew beforehand about January’s public consultation.

District Councillor Margaret Stanhope felt that Bob Carru-thers’ team was deluded about what was involved in creating a neighbourhood plan.

Must start againShe told FSPC they believed

they could do in a few weeks what it had taken Alrewas’ neigh-bourhood plan team more than a year to achieve.

She was also concerned that they were denying the public their say.

Coun. Stanhope, said: “This is not just about six peo-ple.

“You have got to go out to the resi-dents.“

She supported Derick Cross’ call for the plan pro-cess to begin again and for a new and properly advertised public consultation to take place.

“Professional of-ficers must be pre-sent to tell people what it means and why it is worth going for,” she said.

Coun. Stanhope worried that Carruthers was taking the team’s plan proposal to LDC too soon.

She said: “You have had only one business meeting. You can-not base it on that.”

Wishy washyWhat the group had done was,

“wishy washy”, she added.Carruthers’ steering group has

also drawn criticism from Mr. Cross.He claimed that when he asked

the secretary for the minutes of the inaugural steering group meeting he chaired, on January 29, they were withheld.

Cross added that when he fi-nally saw them they were wrong.

In an email the ‘secretary’, had

admitted: “I have never taken of-ficial minutes of a meeting before.

“All information I believe to be true fact of the meeting. (sic)

“If you disagree with anything or feel I have missed something out, please get in touch and I shall amend.”

Cross asked Carruthers to at-tach to attach a statement to the minutes before publication.

He said he wanted it made clear that the minutes were not a true and accurate record.

Carruthers told Cross: “Yes of course your alterations should be added as an attachment.”

Offence takenHe also said: “I do not appreci-

ate your comment that we may offer the minutes to a third party until (before) they are finalised.”

Then a person called, Sandy, sent an email to the ‘secretary’, which was circulated to others.

It said: “I find it a disgrace that Derick Cross should openly com-plain to you, by email that every-one else can read, that the min-utes were not to his liking.” (sic)

Carruthers later appeared to sanction publication of the alleg-edly misleading minutes on the FSPC website.

But Derick Cross was denied his right to attach a disclaimer.

The ‘VM’ asked Mr. Carruthers why it appeared he had reneged on his assurances. The ‘acting chairman’ would not answer.

But he had earli-er told Mr. Cross: “I have checked and understand that we are a sub commit-tee to the PC (par-ish council).”Riding roughshod

FSPC has been repeatedly and heavily criticised for its disregard for democracy and its lack of openness and accountability.

It has been ac-cused of bullying, harassment and staging an illegal ‘kangaroo court’.

Its previous clerk recently left after it seemed he and the chairman had been caught lying to the public, press and council.

Financial misgivingsThere have been serious alle-

gations involving FSPC and LDC regarding erroneous billing.

FSPC has refused to accept in-structions from the Information Commissioner to release per-sonal data to a resident that had been requested under the Free-dom of Information Act.

FSPC and LDC have serially refused to respond to inquiries and complaints from the press and residents.

Many people have told ‘VM’ of their distrust of anyone connect-ed with Fradley’s parish council.

Force to be reckoned with: District Councillor Margaret Stanhope, from Alrewas, has immense knowledge and experi-ence from her long years spent dealing with planning issues. She cautioned the steering group against proceeding in haste without a public mandate. She was roundly ignored.

Boss inthe hotseat overFradley’stravel service.It couldget worse- warning.

Fradley’s much criticised bus service could be set to get even worse.

Arriva general manager Mark Preval would not give Fradley and Streethay Parish Council (FSPC) any guarantees about future service levels.

He said the problem he faced was making the Burton to Lich-field route pay, adding: “It takes up to £120,000 to run a bus for a year. We would need a lot of passengers to carry that cost - it is such a rural route.”

He accepted that his busses were unreliable.

Unreliable serviceAnd he agreed that they

would attract more customers if they ran on time.

He was told that since he had a timetable, “it should be vague-ly adhered to”.

Councillor Fiona Lever called his service, “hit and miss”.

She also complained about one driver who had let passen-gers down saying it was because he, “did not know the route.”

Coun. Simon Lee said peo-ple were spending hours at bus stops in Lichfield because the connections with other services were so bad.

Missed outIt was said that some busses

left Lichfield and went straight to Burton, missing out Fradley altogether.

Coun. Simon Roberts told Mr. Preval that his drivers had on several occasions told passen-gers they had no time to go via the village.

They seemed to be, “missing out part of the loop to catch up,” he added.

He said Arriva should talk to businesses on Fradley’s industri-al estate to offer a service to the up to 5,000 employees there.

Coun. Roberts said car park-

ing at one company, Fauretia, was causing a big problem.

People were having to park in the street and were wrecking the grass verges, he added.

Planning conditionDistrict Coun. Margaret Stan-

hope said every business in the Fradley industrial area had signed up to a, ‘green travel plan’ - it had been a condition of their planning consent.

But Mr. Preval, said the com-panies’ employees came from miles around.

Only up to four per cent would be living along the bus route and be likely to use it.

He added: “We know that un-reliability reduces use.

“There is no excuse for going early and they (drivers who do it) are dealt with severely.

“There are millions of reason why a bus could be late.

“The (bus) depot at Burton has improved. The reliability of the Fradley service has not.”

Mr. Preval said any driver caught telling passengers there was no time to go through Frad-ley, “should be dismissed”.

“If you want my opinion,” he added, “it is idleness.”

He said that having a bus standing idle while waiting for another meant, “dead money”.

He knew that Fradley passen-gers were arriving too late to catch other services for onward travel - he was looking at the problem.

Coun. Michael Wilcox, asked: “Will the (Fradley) service be re-duced further?”

No guaranteeMr. Preval answered: “We

cannot give a guarantee that it will not be reduced further.”

People wishing to complain about Arriva’s service should keep their tickets.

They enable the managers to identify the driver.

Whittington’s Stone family were be-tween a rock and a

hard place back in 2009. Friends close by

But thanks to astonishing sup-port from the local community, they succeeded in holding on to the lease on the small holding husband Andrew grew up on.

Birmingham City Council had wanted him and his wife, An-namarie, to leave in order to sell Woodhouse Farm.

But the powerful politicians were persuaded to see it Whit-tington’s way after the campaign hit the national news.

The 23-acre holding, one of only a handful left in the area, became a community land trust,

with the Stones remaining on-site to work the land.

The effort they went to in bringing the farm’s historic walled garden back into production had to be seen to believed.

They also restocked the farm-land with cattle and pigs and re-generated its orchards.

Sticking togetherAt the Stones’ side from the

outset, Alan Hayes’ enthusiasm for the project has showed no bounds.

Between them they delivered handsomely on the community’s wish to see a business producing excellent food for the local mar-ket and an educational and rec-reational centre open to all.

Now the trio have embarked

on a new chapter at the small-holding, off Fisherwick Wood Lane.

Their new positions as direc-tors of the re-branded, Wood-house Farm and Garden Commu-nity Interest Company (CIC) are richly deserved.

All for one - one for allThe ‘VM’ area’s very own

‘Three Marketeers’ insist there is plenty of room for folk to join in.

Annamarie Stone said: “We’re about sustainability and produc-ing high quality produce.

“That includes seasonal vege-tables, a huge range of fruit, rare breed meat and eggs.

“We now have our own butch-ery on-site too.

“But that is not all. The com-munity remains at the heart of the project.

“There will plenty of activi-ties, volunteering afternoons and open days on the farm.

“We welcome people who want to get involved with the working groups, looking after the event

planning and raising funds to de-liver ever more benefits to our community.”

Public projectMrs. Stone said people were

at the very heart of their work-ing farm.

She added that everyone was welcome to come along on Tues-days and Saturdays to enjoy a walk around the garden.

A small donation to the project would get them some refresh-ments too, she added.

Among the people who are al-ready benefitting from the work done at the farm are the local cub, brownie and guide groups.


‘Community Interest Company’ status boosts development down on Whittington’s favourite farm.

Getting a real CIC out of new business modelPhenomenal ef-fort: the team at Woodhouse Farm and Garden CIC includes (left) Alan Hayes, the Stones’ daughter, Rhian-non, Annamarie Stone and her husband Andrew Stone. They have trodden a long hard trail to reach their goal.

The work’s not over until it’s done: Rhi-annon Stone tends to the Woodhouse chickens whose eggs generate a vital income.

YOUcould have used this

space for just

£23

Dear Sir,

I WAS APPALLED to read in your publication that Fradley and Streethay Parish Council clerk Clive Bennett has resigned his job recently.

I have had the privilege of knowing this man for a number of years and am aware of his exemplary service in local gov-ernment at East Staffordshire Borough Council prior to taking up this position.

It seems that he has been hounded out of his job by you and your puffed up pretence at investigative journalism which to most of your readers, by the way, comes across as the bleat-ings of a bitter man who doesn’t mind acting as a puppet for friends who clearly have axes to grind.

I am not a Fradley resident but I can clearly see through the diatribe that you write.

I am convinced that the vendetta you seem to be wag-ing against a group of people

(whose only crime is to volun-teer to support their community, thus putting themselves in the public arena) is not only infantile but humiliating.

Instead of constantly criticis-ing their actions, I would sug-gest that you put yourself for-ward for the job and see if you can do any better.

Yours,

Anonymous.

(I am afraid that if I put my name to this I will be abused in your publication)

CC: Editor, The Lichfield Mercury.


‘VM’ reader puts paper in the firing line over Fradley council

Letters to the Editor

Mr. Clive Bennett: he resigned as Fradley and Stree-thay Parish Council’s clerk, in January. No reason was given for his sudden departure.

The Fradley Files

THERE WAS A HIGH WALL on my way home from school that me and my pals could never resist climbing onto and walking along.

Fall off on to the right and you risked injury on the hard road.

Go go left and there was a tangle of weeds, stinging net-tles and all manner of unwanted shite waiting for you.

IrresistibleYet the challenge could not

be resisted - and nor could John Brown and his mob resist trying to knock us off.

But at least the fear of being hit by a stone or a lump of brick, meant we spent less time worry-ing about falling off the wall.

From as far back as I can re-member, I’ve always had a great sense of balance.

All the houses and bungalows in our street had metal railings fronting onto the footpath

I used to take great joy in walking along the tops of those railings, every chance I got

I could also balance brooms, chairs, or virtually anything on my fingertips or my toes.

Balancing across ‘the wall’ therefore harboured no great fear for me.

Pride came firstBut the day inevitably came

when my over-confidence decid-ed to teach me to be a little more respect for gravity - I went left.

Two fire brigade tenders, two Garda (police) cars and half the local population all full of excite-ment hurried to the scene to see what was afoot.

I was at last extracted from the hellish tangle I had fallen into and was rushed to hospital.

There I was covered in some foul smelling colourful compound to try to alleviate the pain from the millions of awful stings, cuts and bruises.

I was released from hospi-tal on the same day and taken home in a police car.

The mere sight of the police car stopping outside our bun-galow was enough to send poor Mammy into a fit.

When she caught sight of me with all that awful brown col-oured ointment, or whatever it was, plus the various bandages,

the poor woman went bananas.The police car then had to go

back to the hospital again, this time with Mammy, because she had a serious heart problem and the shock of seeing me had thrown her into another one of her heart attacks.

The bruises I had suffered during my fall came in handy.

They helped me explain other bruises I had received in school.

Most of us boys would acquire injuries during the week from Brother Leo’s flying board duster.

He was the pervert dressed in Christian Brother clothing who used to threaten, thrash and fid-dle with our small bodies as the mood took him.

He thought he had a great shot, but we knew it was not that hot.

The boy he aimed at would automatically duck.

Collateral damageIf the boy behind, or near him

was not quick enough, as was so often the case, it would be he who went home with the bruises.

The flying duster, by the way, was a six inch block of wood, with some kind of cloth fixed to it for the purpose of blackboard wiping.

The manufacturers of these missiles must have been well aware as to the use these things were mostly put.

I would not be surprised to learn that the company was associated with the Christian Brothers.

Perhaps that’s taking my en-forced dark and cynical thoughts a little too far.

But then again, the ‘dust-er’ had two man-sized ridges reamed out along both edges, which enabled the thrower to get a good firm hold.

Sword of DamoclesLeo would hold this thing in

a vice-like grip and slowly raise his hand to his arm’s maximum height.

At this point, we all got ready to duck to one side or the other.

But being prepared to duck was no guarantee of safety - crafty Leo.

He would often position him-self ready to fire as if he was in-tending to let go to his left (just

like a spin bowler), then at the last minute, he would swing to his right as he let go of the mis-sile.

It was all just a fun game to that big nasty bastard.

Our other bully, the brick throwing John Brown, was something else altogether.

Score to settleI swore to myself that I would

one day get some kind of re-venge back on him.

Years later, my chance at last arrived.

I was on holiday from Eng-land, where I was now manag-ing director of several successful businesses.

I drove up to outside John’s house in my top of the range Mercedes limousine.

Yes - he still lived there. And he answered the door!

He was now a tall, big bruiser of a man, with a belly hanging disgustingly over his trouser top.

He was so fat, I’m not sure he could walk.

My cousin John Fitzpatrick lived in the same street, so I used that as an excuse to knock on ‘big belly’s’ door.

Despite the tramp-like state of him, I still recognised that hor-rible face.

I’d seen it so many times pushed right into mine.

“Can you tell me where John Fitzpatrick lives in this street?” I asked.

Ghastly apparitionHe said nothing. He just

stared at me as if I was a ghost.He was also looking over my

shoulder, very interested in the luxury transport in which I had arrived.

In fact his eyes were like coals, glaring at me as if he could kill me.

And then I knew he had rec-ognised me.

“You’re not John Brown, who used to be in my class at school when we were young, are you?” I inquired.

“Do you remember me?”I then pointlessly but purpose-

fully told him my name.Again, he said nothing. I was

beginning to think that as well as looking a wreck, the man was now totally deaf and dumb.

“Well John”, I said, “if you do happen to see John Fitzpatrick, will you tell him I’m lunching at the restaurant in the Waterford Castle where I’m staying for a few days, and ask him to phone me there.

“Tell him I’ll be in the King’s suite.”

Before the last word had left my tongue the door was slammed so hard in my face, I thought, with enormous satis-faction, it might just burst away from its hinges.

Who ever said that the act of revenge gave no satisfaction?

But I also thought back from my grown up, successful, and fulfilled adulthood to the days when he and I were children.

Bully and victimPoor old John Brown had more

reason to hate Brother Leo than any of the rest of us in that classroom.

And the injuries they inflicted on us gave us good reason to hate both them.

But why didn’t our parents ever question why we were all so bruised - so much of the time?

I can only imagine that it was because of Saturday bath night.

If any of us had a bathroom, I feel sure Brother Leo would have long since been found out.

But our ‘bathroom’ was a tin bath placed in front of the range.

Calling it a fire would be gross exaggeration.

The fire in this little range was so small it took ages to boil a kettle on it.

It took several hot kettles to heat the bath, already filled with cold water in order to heat it up enough to brave getting into the thing.

The older members of the family went first.

Dirty workBy the time I, or my school

friends, all going through their own Saturday night bathing ritu-als, got our turn, the water was not quite the same colour as it started.

And that was exactly how the bruising was camouflaged - dirty water!

And that’s how Lecherous Leo got away with it for all those years.

VISIT our new website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk26

‘Dare To Recall’ by Martin Ryan Part 13

Martin Ryan: Alrewas’ author and legendary musician.

Revenge is his as the Alrewas author revisits his schoolday battlegrounds and knocks on the door of his old dreaded enemy, the bully and gang leader, John Brown. It opens up memories of domestic discomfort in 1940s Ireland and how a tin bath full of ‘Dirty Water’ can hide a multitude of unholy sins.

It was a banking crisis that forced the Scots into a union with Eng-

land 300 years ago.And now Prime Minister David

Cameron is trying to bring them to heel with the promise of an-other one.

He hopes that threatening to deny the Scots access to the English pound will scare them into rejecting independence in September’s referendum.

First Minister Alex Salmond says that is just more English trickery - and he should know.

English trickeryFor the ‘Act of Union’ itself

was the product of a massive financial stitch-up.

At the end of the 17th Cen-tury, England’s seemingly end-less wars in Europe, plus seven

years of famine, had helped bring Caledonia to her knees.

But a Scot called William Pe-terson (a founder of the Bank of England) saw a way out.

Wafer thin storyHe had been sold a tale by

sailor Lionel Wafer about the ‘paradise’ of Darien, on the Isth-mus of Panama.

Peterson set about creating a trading colony there to capture for Scotland a corner of the in-credibly lucrative Pacific markets.

But what he did not know was that Darien was in fact a ma-larial hell-hole in hostile waters controlled by murderous Span-ish seafarers.

Peterson’s ‘Company of Scot-land Trading to Africa and the Indies’ was also a cripplingly ex-pensive venture.

Thousands of folk, rich and poor, invested.

The already established East India Company did not like the idea of competition and so per-suaded Parliament to force eve-ry English investor to pull out.

Meanwhile, the colonists who set sail for Darien either died at sea, were killed by fever, or quickly discovered that you can-not grow spuds in a swamp.

Rubbish wampumNor were the native indians

interested in the tat they had taken along as trade goods.

At the same time, all English colonies and ships were forbid-den to trade with the Scots.

And to cap it all the Spaniards attacked and the colonists were forced to flee.

The impact on the Scottish

economy and national pride was incalculable.

But the English baled them out with the huge sum of £398,000, channelled through an institution, later to become the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In a pickleThe proud but potless Caledo-

nia was then forced to become a junior partner in the, ‘United Kingdom’.

Resentment north of the bor-der went on to help ignite the Jacobite rebellions.

And some of that fervour still beats in the Scottish breast to this very day.

So when Cameron makes threats against the Scottish banking system he is playing with a hand grenade whose pin has already been pulled out.


England aims for Scottish double King of ‘yah boo’: Cameron.

There is nothing new about the way London’s Prime Minister is trying to ‘£pound’ Edinburgh’s First Minister into a September referendum defeat.

Canny Scot: Salmond.

VISIT our new website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk28

JUST hours after telling a BBC interviewer he did not mind being made fun

of, ‘Micky Fab’ attacked the Beeb’s political impartiality.

But when the ‘VM’-area MP asked the secretary of state to tackle the company he was po-litely told to get lost.

Thin skinnedPerhaps it was the ribbing Mi-

chael Fabricant received on BBC

Radio 4 that had him riled up.He appeared on a programme

praising Guardian journalist, Si-mon Hoggart, who had just died.

Insightful talentThe late great sketch writer

excelled in tickling the nation’s funny bone with insightful pieces about politicians’ stupidity.

Hoggart claimed to have in-vented Fabricant’s alter ego, “Micky Fab”.

He also enjoyed taking the ‘Michael’ out of the, “substance”, Fab’s, “fascinating wig”, was made from and how it made the HS2-loving Tory look like, “My Little Pony.”

While frantically trying to get into the BBC’s radio tribute more about himself than Hoggart, Fab, said he enjoyed the jokes the writer had made about him.

Rich veinAnd Micky does seem to have

been a gift from the gods for the lethally witty writer.

During a masterclass, Hoggart was telling young journalists how to write a good sketch.

“So what are we looking for?” he asked. “Idiocy of course. And there can be plenty of that.”

Few parliamentarians could provide more than Fabricant.

His seemingly endless chirrup-ings in Parliament about his great friend Andy Street’s business (John Lewis) has drawn many scathing remarks.

You mugsNor did Fab endear himself

to ‘VM’ readers when he called them, “mugs”, for hoping to stop HS2 ruining their lives.

John Lewis’ managing direc-tor, Street, will be among HS2’s prime beneficiaries.

Last May, Fab told Parliament:

“Whatever we might think about the principle of high-speed rail, I am actually for it.”

Eyebrows were raised when Micky tweeted about watching ducks on the heart-shaped pond at the Snowdonia hideaway he and Street shared.

That left his constituents won-dering just whose interests their MP was representing.

Fabricant’s massive gaffe in suggesting his party should cosy up to UKIP was among last year’s highlights.

When in holeNot content with that, he

deepened the embarrassment he had already caused the Prime Minister by accusing fellow Tory MPs of being, “closet racists”.

But the cherry on top of Fabri-cant’s 2013 cake of self-inflicted humiliation was his catastrophic appearance on the BBC’s, ‘Have I Got News For You’.

A cringing nation watched in disbelief as he set himself up for ridicule at the hands of Ian His-lop, Jo Brand and Paul Merton.

Jaws could almost be heard hitting the floor when the UKIP affair was brought up.

Tory buffoonPutting on a ridiculous puffed-

up, guffawing voice, Fab, said: “I’m just saying the British pub-

‘Micky Fab’ hits back at Beeb‘My Little Pony’ to ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will discuss the issue of political impartiality at the BBC with the BBC Trust.

Jo 90: early silver look makes Michael look a little like one of Jerry Anderson’s puppets.

Pet: he may look like My Little Pony, but it seems he likes his little llamas more.

HIGNFY: Jo Brand told viewers that this was Fabricant letting his hair down after the show.

Death by comedian: the panel-lists and chairwoman mercilessly humiliated Micky Fab on HIGNFY.

Two faced: ‘you’re dumb’, HS2 insult from the Fabricant/Chris-topher Pincher double act.

Michael Fabricant’s vision for Britain was a Tory/UKIP pact

Ed Miliband: thanks, Micky, nice one!

Nigel Farage: why Michael, how flattering.

David Cameron: yeah, Mike, thanks a bunch.

lic, I’m putting on my conserva-tive party voice now, know what parties to support that will be reasonable and moderate.

“And that is all I want to say at this time.”

The applause almost brought down the roof when Merton, re-plied: “The thing that amazes me about MPs is that they don’t seem to have any idea how em-barrassing they are in public.”

Fab later claimed he had been out to show that not all MPs were pompous and inaccessible.

Intellectually challengedHe confirmed his low-brow

credentials when he attacked Russell Brand on-air for, “using big words, like paradigm.”

Then the Tory party vice-chairman showed his yob cre-dentials by calling the comedian, live on BBC radio, a, “tw*t!”

Me tooFabricant seems set

on showing what a, “tw*t”, he is too.

Serious politicians conscious of the dignity of office avoid being made to appear fool-ish in press photographs.

The Honourable member for Lichfield posed for a snap with a man who had his member hang-ing out in the breeze.

Nor does Micky seem to have finished making himself look a complete tw*t.

He began 2014 by offending the entire Welsh nation by claim-ing its native language was hold-ing back children’s education.

The self-proclaimed, “risqué tweeter”, said his online posts carried a warning for children about the perils of Twitter.

ObsessiveHe should know since he ap-

pears recklessly addicted to tweeting.

In one tweet he referred to a sex act as a, “suck job”.

Now he is being ridiculed in the media for his on-line ‘selfies’, photos he has taken of him-self.

He warns young-sters not to post rash comments on Twitter since they could stop them getting a job if a prospective employer sees them.Bad career moveFabricant’s online

antics might just cost him his job too.

‘VM’ readers say they deserve a serious and capable MP who represents their interests.

The do not want a clown who turns their constituency into a laughing stock.


‘Selfle’: this is the face of politics in the ‘VM’ area. Voters demand a change.

Fight fans are infor a feast atTamworth’s

fabulous Assembly Rooms.The venue’s famously inven-

tive booking team look to have brought in a winner with Wrestle-force’s ‘League of Champions’ tournament (Sunday, April 6).

Terrifically largeThe set up is a bunch of big

blokes representing their proud nations in a high-camp grapple to the finish in the canvas ring.

It is the stuff that made mil-

30 VISIT our new website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk

Grapple, grunt& groan!

The way it was: (above left) ‘Big’ and ‘Giant’ were in fact the best of mates.

How it is now: it may all look a bit like ‘Village People’ but you probably would not want to say that to one of the chaps.

lions for fight promoters back in the 70s and 80s when wres-tling was a TV colossus. Then the sport paraded par-agons of athletic excellence including ‘Big Daddy’ and

‘Giant Haystacks’. It had a very different look about it back then.

Now it has been ladled with U.S. ‘pzazz’ and lots

of shouting into micro-phones and the like.

Remodelled beefToday’s performers have

also turned the triangular body shape of the old war-riors upside down to cre-

ate more of a Schwar-ztenegger look.

The one thing that does not appear to have changed is the boys’ bra size.

One cannot help but think Big and Gi-

ant would have ap-proved.

This is splendid show-manship that will give

the ‘booing’ and ‘cheering’ fans almost as much exer-

cise as the fellows in the ring.Because, and be under no il-

lusion here, this is a public par-ticipation event - it is huge fun.

Go enjoy: Tickets cost £12 (£10 for concessions) @ www.tamworthassemblyrooms.co.uk.

Organisers at Lichfield Ca-thedral want folk from the ‘VM’ area who are

looking to go up in the world.And for anyone who wants to find

out if they can see their house from the top of the holy structure’s tower, now is the time.

The CV for a volunteer tower tour leader includes not minding climbing a few steps.

Not phobic friendlyA fear of heights, or of enclosed

spaces, is definitely not an asset for this assignment. But being reason-ably fit is.

The opportunity to take part has arisen thanks to the 2014 reopening of the stairway towards heaven.

‘Tower tours’ are due to take place on the Saturdays between Easter and October.

Their frequency will be scaled up during school holidays.

The guided climbs will take place at 10am, noon and 2pm. Each will last around 1.5 hours.

Volunteers should be over 18 years of age and willing to lead one or more tours a day.

Get more informationPeople who want to more details

should ring 01543 306140, or email [email protected].

Information is also available on www.lichfieldcathedral.org.

Heavens above- only way is up!

THE VILLAGE MARKET March 2014

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Transcript of THE VILLAGE MARKET March 2014