A fire chief has said a chimney fire which caused structural damage to a house was the worst he had seen.
The blaze happened at 10.10pm on Tuesday in Little Walden Road, Saffron Walden and has prompted a warning from firefighters about the dangers of burning oddments of wood and the need to keep chimney breasts swept.
Station Officer Paul Curtis, the incident commander, said the fire was the worst chimney blaze he had seen in 20 years’ service.
He said: “When we arrived at the scene there was a 4ft jet of flame coming from the chimney.
“This was a severe fire that caused a lot of damage to the property – walls in the loft and lounge cracked under the intense heat and the chimney breast itself came down.
“This was mainly caused by a huge build-up of carbon deposits that appeared to be along the whole length of the chimney.”
As people began lighting their fires again this year, Station Officer Curtis reminded families to ensure chimneys were swept regularly.
He also recommended that people stuck to burning seasoned wood and logs prepared for fires rather than oddments and waste, which could contain materials such as resins that might fuel a fire.
A fire chief has said a chimney fire which caused structural damage to a house was the worst he had seen.
The blaze happened at 10.10pm on Tuesday in Little Walden Road, Saffron Walden and has prompted a warning from firefighters about the dangers of burning oddments of wood and the need to keep chimney breasts swept.
Station Officer Paul Curtis, the incident commander, said the fire was the worst chimney blaze he had seen in 20 years’ service.
He said: “When we arrived at the scene there was a 4ft jet of flame coming from the chimney.
“This was a severe fire that caused a lot of damage to the property – walls in the loft and lounge cracked under the intense heat and the chimney breast itself came down.
“This was mainly caused by a huge build-up of carbon deposits that appeared to be along the whole length of the chimney.”
As people began lighting their fires again this year, Station Officer Curtis reminded families to ensure chimneys were swept regularly.
He also recommended that people stuck to burning seasoned wood and logs prepared for fires rather than oddments and waste, which could contain materials such as resins that might fuel a fire.
A long-awaited planning application has been submitted for a new health centre in Stansted.
Clavering-based developers Pelham Structures submitted the blueprints for the Lower Street clinic last week after a year of delays.
The firm has worked on the project with the primary care trust NHS West Essex for about three years. The plan was due to be submitted earlier this month but hit one final snag when Pelham postponed it for minor changes.
A statement from Pelham, NHS West Essex and Stansted Parish Council said the scheme has been designed around the medical centre.
It said: “The building proposes a mixed-use content, consisting of retail at ground floor level, housing the medical centre at first floor and part second floor with the remaining content being residential apartments, all with dedicated access arrangements.”
Cllr Alan Dean, who lives in Stansted, said the centre is long overdue.
He said: “I am looking forward to seeing the details and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be approvable and deliverable by the NHS in 2013.”
Bill Bampton, of Pelham Structures, said: “Following further in-depth highways technical studies, the road junction has been redesigned to improve both traffic and pedestrian safety.
“We are very pleased with the development and the support and assistance of UDC, the PCT and the parish council shown from the outset.”
Owing to the growing population in Stansted the current facilities in St John’s Road cannot cope and a new clinic has been on the cards for many years.
The four-storey complex will also be home to new outpatient services, which currently require patients to visit a Bishop’s Stortford community hospital.
Opening hours at Saffron Walden town centre police station have been cut – and a village station has closed to the public completely.
But the savings made from shutting the front counter at Stansted and reducing the opening hours at Saffron Walden will not affect Essex police’s ability to fight crime, senior officers have said.
The new changes were enforced on Monday as part of an Essex-wide cost-cutting scheme to meet the force’s savings target of £41 million by 2014.
The move is a prelude to a new policing model, which Essex police hopes to roll out from March.
The constabulary has promised “innovative ways of meeting the public”, including mobile police stations, beat surgeries and temporary bases in the community in conjunction with local authorities.
In Stansted, the parish council offices at Crafton Green have been proposed as a possible venue.
Deputy Chief Constable Derek Benson said he was confident residents would still be safe from crooks and the changes represented a more effective use of resources.
Stansted was among 20 Essex stations to lose their counters, while 16 front desks, including Saffron Walden’s East Street station, will have their hours cut from 112 a week to just 36.
Only nine “core” stations will keep the old opening times of 8am until midnight, seven days a week. None are in Uttlesford and the nearest are Harlow, Braintree and Chelmsford.
All the buildings will continue to be used as normal by officers.
Deputy Chief Constable Benson said: “Some of our front counters are open at times of very little demand.
“The changes will allow staff to be relocated to support other areas of Essex police where there is significant operational demand . . . [and] means police officers are not removed from their operational role to perform front counter duties.
“Essex police is a 24-hour service and officers will continue to be accessible around the clock, every day of the year, to members of the public.”
Earlier this year, the force said it would increase the number of neighbourhood officers from 472 to 527 – a rise of 12 per cent – as part of the policing model. It also carried out a public survey which found 94 per cent of residents would prefer to report a crime by phone.
Thousands of children missed a day of school yesterday as all four state secondary schools and at least 10 primary schools in the Uttlesford area were closed by the national public sector strike.
John Hartley headteacher at County High, who did not go on strike yesterday over proposed changes to pensions, said: “We had a significant number of staff who took part in the industrial action.
“Although our school was closed for Years 7 to 11 it was open for sixth formers.
“A large number of sixth formers came in and the staff who were not participating carried out their usual sixth form lessons and many students made good use of the facilities for private study.”
Study facilities were also open to sixth form pupils at Newport Free Grammar School.
At Stansted Airport it was business as usual as no queues were reported yesterday afternoon and all flights operated without delays, said a spokesman.
Essex police said fewer than 5 per cent of support staff, including PCSOs, took part in the industrial action and it worked with partner agencies to ensure minimum disruption.
One quarter of Essex County Council employees are union members and the authority said it took provisions to ensure the most vulnerable customers were not put at risk.
Drivers beeped their horns in support of Unison members outside the Uttlesford District Council offices in London Road.
About 20 per cent of the council’s 332 employees went on strike.
District council services were operating although residents were asked to not phone or visit unless it was urgent.
A council spokesman said all recycling lorries went out but only one out of five kitchen waste lorries was out.
Any brown bins not collected should be put out next week, the council said.
Saffron Walden Musuem, the town library, environmental health, pest control and benefits office, along with other services, were all operating normally.
Val Rogacs, secretary for the Uttlesford branch of Unison, said: “We’ve got to try and persuade the Government they’re on the wrong course. They expect us to pay more, work longer and get less at the end of it.
“They’re charging an extra tax on the low-paid public sector workers. Is that fair? Because we don’t think so.
“It’s frustrating when people don’t take part. We’re going to lose a day’s pay, times are hard and it’s coming up to Christmas, but I think it’s worth it.”
Members, who also formed a picket line at the council’s refuge depot in Dunmow, attended a rally in Chelmsford with other unions.
Cash has been stolen from two tills in town centre shops.
Health and Beauty salon Esprit, in Market Hill, Saffron Walden, and Toy Box, in the town’s Market Row, were both targeted at around 4.30pm on Thursday by thieves who distracted members of staff by asking them to look for products off the shop floor.
Cash was then stolen from the tills at both shops; £180 in £20 notes was taken from Esprit and £120 from Toy Box.
The description of a white man, about 5ft 5in with fair cropped hair was given for the suspect at Toy Box.
A Victorian detective who found himself in the dock over corruption charges is having the slate wiped clean by his great-great grandson.
Between 1864 and 1877 Metropolitan Police Chief Inspector George Clarke, known as ‘The Chieftain’, headed pioneering investigations into some of the most sensational murders in England as well as theft, burglary, arson, baby-farming and abortion.
But the former Therfield resident, who was a colleague of well-known Inspector Whicher, found himself on the wrong side of the law at the Old Bailey in London with three of his Scotland Yard colleagues awaiting the jury’s verdict on the infamous ‘Trial of the Detectives’.
The four men had been arrested following a horse-betting fraud case in which the principal witnesses claimed Clarke and his colleagues had been accepting bribes to let them walk free.
It was the first major Met Police corruption trial, leading to the creation of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
But despite Clarke’s eventual acquittal it left his career in tatters and he retired shortly afterwards.
More than 130 years later the story came to light when his great-great-grandson Chris Payne, a former research biologist, stumbled on a trunk of old family documents and press cuttings.
The 65-year-old spent five years investigating not only the case but Clarke’s entire career, and has written a book, The Chieftain – Victorian True Crime through the Eyes of a Scotland Yard Detective. Using digital newspaper archives and Clarke’s original reports, he hoped to honour the deep contribution his ancestor made to Victorian crime detection that lay hidden in the shadows cast by the trial.
The father-of-two told the News: “When I found out about the trial I thought ‘Blimey, that’s a dark family secret’, because no-one had said anything about it.
“So I started digging around and found there is no real in-depth work on Victorian policing, so I knew what I had to do.”
He said he’d left it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions about the case.
He said: “I love having a colourful relative like that – I couldn’t have asked for it in my best dreams – but what I am concerned about is bringing his great contribution to policing to light. If it wasn’t for Clarke, modern policing might not look the way it does now.”
George Clarke’s two younger brothers, Henry and John, also joined the Met and returned to Royston and Barkway after they retired, where both became butchers.
One of Henry’s sons, Robert H Clark, set up a photography business in Royston, which still operates today.
To buy The Chieftain, visit www.thehistorypress.
MORE than 400 people have signed a petition against plans for housing on the site of Royston’s historic cattle market saying it would be an “eyesore”.
Residents and shop owners had said they were “deeply troubled” by a proposal to build a convenience store and flats on the car park in Market Hill, as reported in the Weekly News last week.
But following a meeting of petition instigator Guy Snell and the Royston-based property developers Manhattan Corporation Ltd this week, the residents’ reaction have been called “exaggerated”.
Colin Blundell, whose company MC owns the site and submitted the application to North Hertfordshire District Council in early November, said: “I have lived in Royston all my life and I care about this town.
“I wanted to talk to Guy face to face about why he was upset so I went to the meeting he held on Monday.”
He added: “When I got there only around 12 people showed up so it seemed a bit exaggerated, I don’t think it would be an eyesore at all.”
Guy Snell, who lives in Market Hill, opposite the development if it goes ahead, organised the petition on Saturday in the town centre and told the Weekly News it would be “detrimental to the town centre”.
He added: “We found lots of people had strong feelings. It would be detrimental to the town centre and be an eyesore in the conservation area.”
The proposed convenience store and four two-bedroom flats built on the 19th century cattle market site, which was the subject of a Cambridge University archaeological survey in 2007, would employ 16 full-time staff and four part-time, and would be open every day from 7am to 11pm.
There would be a customer entrance on Market Hill, with a goods entrance off Fish Hill.
Some of the potential problems that worry residents include increased night time noise, loss of light and loss of town centre parking and traffic congestion which is already considered a significant issue.
Local shop owners also voiced concerns over whether a convenience store would take trade away from the existing market and small, independent shops.
In a statement supporting the application, developers say the new building will “positively contribute to the character, distinctiveness and significance of Royston town centre”.
The application states: “We believe that there is a distinct lack of convenience retail in Royston.
“This development will bring back trade and help revitalise the town centre.”
The application is currently in the consultation stage, and residents can have their say on the plans via the North Hertfordshire District Council’s website reference number 11/02744/1.
Firefighters continued to fight a huge blaze in a recycling centre this morning after it went up in flames yesterday evening.
A fire crew from Royston were called to reports of the fire just off the A505 in Flint Cross at 7.10pm.
They arrived to find a recycling unit and 1,000 tonnes of wood chippings well alight.
Assistance was called for and provided by crews from Cambridge, Linton, Swaffham, Papworth, Sawston and further appliances from Royston.
A fire spokeswoman said: “Crews were dealing with the blaze and remained at the scene throughout the night.”
Four fire engines and a water carrier remained on the site this morning.
Police were also in attendance and warned motorists using the A505 to reduce their speed as they pass through smoke in the area.
Fire service officers said they expect to be at the location for at least the next three days.
A GRATEFUL couple want to “give something back” to hospital staff who cared for their premature baby.
Jenny and Andy Kulina, of Melbourn, are hosting a charity ball to raise £10,000 for the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at the Rosie in Cambridge.
Jenny, 38, gave birth to Olivia Kulina on November 25 last year, five weeks premature due to complications during the pregnancy.
She weighed just 4lb 4oz (2kg) and had digestion problems which meant she struggled to feed properly.
Jenny, a physiotherapist at the hospital, said: “Babies who have these problems usually need surgery but luckily Olivia didn’t.
“They starved the stomach and fed her straight into her blood stream.
“Then they started feeding her again.
“She came home on her due date, December 28, 2010.”
Olivia, who has just turned 1, is now a healthy weight at 25lb (11kg) and is a “very happy, giggly baby”.
Jenny said: “When we were in SCBU the atmosphere was so happy you didn’t feel like you were in hospital. The staff put you at ease.”
Andy, 46, director of Cambridge Loyalty, said: “We are just very grateful and thankful we want to give something back.”
The couple have organised the fundraising ball, called SCBU DOO and it will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge on Saturday, February 18.
Tickets cost £75 and include a three-course meal with wine and raffle tickets.
There will also be an auction with a variety of prizes including a range of Olympic tickets and ‘VIP for a day’ prizes.
Local band Charlie and the Funk Factory, who played at the couple’s wedding, have offered to perform free and be auctioned off to play any event of the winning bidder’s choice in 2012.
Keltic Ties has commissioned a special edition silk bow tie for the event, which is available on the website www.scbudoo.com.
To donate auction prizes, call Andy on 07776 230736.
n The News’ Rosie Campaign is calling on readers to help raise £500,000 towards the cost of a new extension for the hospital, to provide much needed state-of-the-art facilities for women and their babies.
If you are holding a fundraising event, let the News know by calling (01223) 434424.