Mr Ben Gibbs (of Ely) is clearly cock-a-hoop!

An odd piece has appeared in the Cambridge New (yesterday) and the Ely Weekly News (today).

I say odd because I don't understand which 'Government' - the last one or the present one - is responsible for Mr Ben Gibbs (of Ely) being so cock-a-hoop.

Anyway, for what is worth, here (above right) is Mr Gibbs and here (below) is the piece (in italics). Further below is what I feel about Mr Gibbs and some of his supporterss, who appear to include Mr John Cowan, the disgraced Labour candidate for South East Cambridgeshire at this year's General Election. Mr Cowan is also pictured (below left). He was canvassing in what he called 'BAALSHAM' when I ran across him.

"Project to expand fen gains backing

Jordan Day

Controversial plans to expand Wicken Fen have been backed by the Government.

An online petition calling on the Prime Minister to back the Wicken Fen Vision, a 100-year-long project to create a nature reserve covering around 53 square kilometres between Cambridge and Wicken Fen, was launched by Ely resident Ben Gibbs last autumn.

It was signed by 867 people and now the Government has confirmed it is behind the £2 million project. It said in a statement: “The Environment Agency and Natural England both support the National Trust’s vision.

“The Environment Agency supports the Wicken Vision because it has similar objectives to its corporate strategy; to create a better place.

“The vision will help the agency deliver outcomes related to climate change, habitat creation, biodiversity, fisheries, recreation, water framework directive, flood risk, water quality and sustainable places.

“As well as a rich wildlife habitat, Natural England believes that the area can function as a flood storage area, store carbon dioxide and also provide a vast area for public access for leisure, relaxation, exercise and education.”

But some residents are against transforming prime agricultural land into a “jungle”. Geoffrey Woollard launched a Save our Fens petition last year in a bid to stop the project.

But Mr Gibbs said the response to his own petition showed the public’s support for the plans.

He said: “I was delighted with the public’s response to my petition, which clearly demonstrates the level of public support for the trust’s 100-year plan, in this region and beyond.

“I am now also delighted that the Government has clarified its position on the National Trust’s far-sighted plan for Wicken Fen.

“It would seem that there is now a widespread recognition that we need to protect certain habitats and manage larger areas of land for public use, and that this does not in itself threaten our ability to feed ourselves.

“I would very much like to thank all those in Ely and the surrounding areas who signed my online petition.”"

Mr Ben Gibbs is clearly cock-a-hoop regarding his E-Petition in support of the National Trust's so-called 'Wicken Vision.'

When the previous government was in power, I, also, had an E-Petition on the 10 Downing Street website in opposition to the 'Wicken Vision.' The number of people signing Mr Gibbs's E-Petition was a bit bigger than the number signing mine.

However, aside from a few well-known Liberal Democrat councillors, the disgraced Labour candidate for South East Cambridgeshire (yes, even he signed up with Mr Gibbs, and a fat lot of good it did him) and some National Trust employees, I recognised the names of few of those signing Mr Gibbs's E-Petition whereas many if not most of the people signing mine were and are local to the area affected by the 'Wicken Vision.'

I assert, therefore, that many of Mr Gibbs's supporters are local Liberal Democrat politicians with a political axe to grind or people who are not local to the area.

I respectfully suggest that Mr Gibbs being cock-a-hoop should be taken for what it is: a campaigner making the best of a bad job, a little like the national Liberal Democrats being involved in government with their worst enemies, the Tories. That is a really bad job for all of us!