The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Coffee firm leading the way on Fairtrade
Around one in seven cups of roast and ground coffee consumed outside the home in the UK is produced in Peterborough, a fact few will know.
Masteroast in Fengate produces more than 4,000 tonnes of coffee a year for major brands and coffee distributors, with its customers including the children of legendary singer Bob Marley.
But despite being largely hidden to the wider public, the independently owned coffee roasting and packing facility is also a leading force behind the Fairtrade movement.
“We are probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, producers of Fairtrade coffee in the UK now,” managing director Andy Fawkes told the Peterborough Telegraph ahead of Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from February 22 to March 7.
“Masteroast has always been at the centre of the Fairtrade movement since the mid-1990s. It was an international phenomena in the coffee industry as a reaction to global coffee prices which crashed dramatically in the late 80s, early 90s.”
The drop in prices was related to an increase in supply as new producing countries came on stream, offering larger volumes of lower quality coffee. This drove prices below production costs for many small coffee farmers.
Andy, who joined the company in 1997, continued: “The
Fairtrade movement was to engineer a fair price for them - it guarantees a minimum price for their coffee enabling them to invest and grow with confidence.
Masteroast, under its founder Les Mills, was hugely influential in enabling Fairtrade coffee to be introduced in cafés and restaurants in the mid-1990s, Andy said, and not long after the movement began to flourish.
“We were a much smaller, specialist roaster packer at the time, the principle being that you’re best to be famous for something, so we gave it some focus.
“We approached the Fairtrade Foundation, which is the UK governing body for Fairtrade, with the proposal of how we could add it to lots of smaller brands and coffee distributors we were already supplying in the out of home market.
“At the time Fairtrade was largely happening in retail but nowhere else.”
Masteroast currently employs 120 staff, with operations running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
More than a quarter of the coffee it manufactures is Fairtrade, delivering the equivalent of more than £4 million a year for small farmers in areas including central America, Africa and India.
“The Fairtrade scheme offers the consumer an audited guarantee that the farmer has been treated fairly. I would, however, stress that a common misunderstanding is that if something isn’t certified
Fairtrade it must be unfairly traded which isn’t always true,” Andy explained.
Masteroast has big plans going forward which includes construction of a new 2,500 pallet logistics building at its base in Newark Road which will focus on the delivery of its customer’s orders to business-to-business networks, retail and, increasingly, online shoppers.
But despite this, it plans to stay very much behind the scenes for years to come.
“We are well known for being unknown within the coffee industry,” Andy added. “Whether you go to the supermarket, go online, or take your coffee on a train, plane or in a café, there’s a very high chance it will come from here. You just won’t know it.”
Members of the community have offered their support after a pavilion near Peterborough was defaced by offensive graffiti vandalism.
Between Sunday and Monday (February 14-15) the pavilion building on Middletons Recreation Ground in Yaxley was targeted by vandals, who sprayed graffiti on one of the outside walls.
The graffiti included racist language, someone’s private phone number to call with the suggestion they would be interested in carrying out sexual acts and the names of two people who were referred to in a derogatory manner.
Nearby CCTV cameras were also sprayed over in black paint to mask the culprit’s identity.
The matter has been reported to the police and Yaxley Parish Council, who are responsible for the building, has asked Huntingdonshire District Council to review any other CCTV cameras that may be able to help identify those responsible.
The building is regularly used by the community and is the home of the volunteer-run Yaxley Community Fridge.
The parish council moved quickly to paint over the offensive graffiti and next week plan to finish the job with the help of local volunteers who
have offered their services.
A spokesperson from the council said: “We have had a few issues with graffiti before but never anything on this level. It is not art in any way and it looks to have been done by a disgruntled individual who has taken their anger out on the building.
“We do have some lovely artwork on the other side, a thank you to all of the key worker heroes for their work during the pandemic, with a picture of Captain Sir Tom as well, luckily this was untouched.
“We have had many offers from members of the public to repaint the wall, which we are very grateful for, and we will be taking them up on that offer next week once the final step on removing the paint and preparing the wall has been completed.”
Conservative From a teenage cadet starting out with the Met to a senior detective and now politician, Darryl Preston has an intimate knowledge of policing.
The Conservative candidate to be the next Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner is rare in that he is a former officer standing for the county’s most senior policing role, rather than a local councillor, and he is never shy in referring to his many years of experience when outlining what he believes are the best ways to tackle crime.
The answer? A twopronged approach of “robust enforcement” and “early intervention,” he tells the Peterborough Telegraph.
Born and raised in London, Mr Preston started out with the Met Police as a 17-yearold, taking on a frontline policing role before moving onto armed protection which saw him guard Margaret Thatcher - “I can say she was a very polite and nice person,” he recalled.
A move to Cambridgeshire in 1998 for a better standard of living followed, which resulted in a fresh start with Cambridgeshire police that saw him begin with frontline and neighbourhood roles, before moving into detective work.
After leaving the force he joined the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners as a senior policy manager, working with the Home Office on areas including serious organised crime, violence, county lines drugs, forensics and armed policing - a far cry from his family life in Ely where he acts as a taxi for his two children and enjoys walking his dogs around the Fens.
“It will take a long time to gain an understand of policing if you have no knowledge of it,” Mr Preston said.
“Your main role is to hold the chief constable to account while delivering an efficient police service. So my view, having had policing experience, and experience at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, is a real advantage. I believe I can hit the ground running on day one.”
The first day would be in May, with the immediate focus turning to a particular area.
“There is one overriding priority, and I think this is the primary response of the police, and that’s cutting crime,” Mr Preston said.
“Clearly I know up and down the country that will be the priority as well, but I really feel passionate that is the key and main role of the police service in this country.
“What I also know from my experiencing in policing is much of this comes down to boots on the ground, extra police resources. So my pledge is we will bring many, many more police officers to Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
“Those police officers will be deployed in frontline and neighbourhood roles, but not forgetting that we need those detective and investigative posts as well to investigate those most serious of crimes.
“This isn’t just about extra police officers, because from what I also know from my experience is when you’re tackling all types of crime police can’t arrest their way out of these issues. And therefore prevention becomes really important as well.”
The extra police numbers would come from a government uplift of 20,000 officers, although this follows a decade where a similar number also left forces up and down the country.
Cambridgeshire police had 1,471 officers in 2010, a figure which hit a low of 1,346 in 2017 before bouncing back to hit 1,597 last September, although neighbourhood policing roles have diminished significantly during this time.
Asked about the cuts, Mr Preston replied: “I won’t hide behind the fact (Cambridgeshire Constabulary) have had to make significant savings, but they have managed to do pretty well.
“In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough we’re seeing far more police officers than we ever had.”
On the subject of prevention, there are “many aspects” to it Mr Preston said, from people taking care of their own property to “re-invigorating” community safety partnerships.
“What I did see in my experience of policing was, quite often, you would have burglary hotspots and it was down to a few individuals committing those crimes,” he continued.
“And what you would often find is those individuals have come from backgrounds that lended themselves to ending up in a life of crime.
“I will be looking to invest in proven projects that produce results in getting to - particularly our younger generation and diverting them from a life of crime in the first place.”
He said that, as an example, football community projects can be “really, really impactful in diverting people from a life of crime”.
‘There is one overriding priority... cutting crime’ Darryl Preston Conservative candidate
‘It’s not just physical abuse but .... controlling abuse’ Nicky Massey Labour candidate
“I will be looking at working with not just the statutory agencies like the local authority and education and health, but also community partners,” he added.
Nicky Massey Labour Tackling low convictions rates for rape and domestic abuse are high priorities for the Labour candidate to be the next Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner.
Nicky Massey revealed in an interview with the Peterborough Telegraph that she is a survivor of domestic abuse and that “it’s something we still need to tackle and which I’m very passionate about”.
The Cambridge city councillor added: “I’ve been leading on the domestic abuse conference in the city for some years now.
“We still have this issue that women are dying - although it’s not just women and we need to do more to help them reach out. It’s something I’ve worked on with Women’s Aid.”
The portfolio holder for community safety in the city wants to see workplaces lead
the way in supporting survivors as in cases of domestic abuse where a woman dies there are “normally indications at work”.
She continued: “This pattern seems to be everywhere of people disclosing abuse in the workplace and their colleagues not knowing what to do with that information and not doing anything.”
She said having employees who know how to respond when someone confides in them “could help so many more people become free of domestic abuse,” although she expressed concern over longterm funding, including for men’s support services such as ManKind.
It is partially for this reason she wants to help deliver a county-wide conference, while plans for male survivor conference were halted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Mrs Massey added: “We need to look at our victim support hub for sure and violence reduction unit and see what changes need to be made in both of those to support more people.
“We are so much luckier than other forces, but there is more that can be done. It’s about getting it right first time without having to say sorry.
“It’s not just physical abuse but coercive controlling abuse.”
Domestic abuse is one of the mum of three’s main priorities if elected in May, alongside anti-social behaviour and violence and sexual crime.
The latter two are big issues in Peterborough, she claimed, adding: “Unfortunately, we don’t have the power to say we can address the issue through the courts as the low amount of rape convictions needs to be dealt with - it’s really been brushed under the carpet.”
The issue recently became headline news after The End Violence Against Women coalition took the Crown Prosecution Service to court, claiming that it had made changes to rape prosecution policy which has seen conviction rates fall.
The CPS has denied the allegation with the case going before the Court of Appeal.
Mrs Massey said: “It’s less than 10 per cent of rape crimes that actually get prosecuted. That’ssomethingthatneedsto be looked at and something as a PCC I will be shouting about to try and make a change at the CPS.
“At the moment they’re saying there’s not enough evidence, but that’s the same for domestic abuse.
“Domestic abuse doesn’t go to court because the CPS decline to proceed with it, and that is devastating for anyone who has been brave enough to come forward to ask for the help from the police and for the police officers themselves who would have completed dossiers on these cases, only for the CPS to say ‘we’re not going to proceed’.
“They are national issues but they affect Peterborough as well as they do everywhere else.”
Another highly publicised issue is the police relationship with minority groups, and Mrs Massey said she was aware of police officers in Cambridge getting stopped on numerous occasions because they are black.
“It’s the same force, so it’s going to be the same (in Peterborough),” she claimed.
“The only way we’re going to address that is working with our young people and listening.
“There is a lot of feeling that they’re being discriminated against. When I’ve asked for police data it doesn’t match that, but that doesn’t mean the police data is right.”
‘...the victim can say how they feel about being burgled...’ Rupert Moss-Eccardt Lib Dem candidate
Rupert
Moss-Eccardt Lib Dem On election day in 2016 Rupert Moss-Eccardt received a call from a mother whose son had been severely injured by a driver who had been sent to prison.
The mother had gone to speak to the offender at HMP Peterborough and, as a result, “gained closure,” with her faith in the process leading her to become a qualified restorative justice practitioner.
The story is relayed by the Liberal Democrat candidate to be Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner as a reason why he is a big believer in restorative justice, and why it is one of his main tools to reducing crime.
Although restorative justice - a process which brings victims and offenders into communication - currently operates in the area, Mr MossEccardt said “you can always do more,” in particular by “bringing it to the front and advocating it”.
He added: “It’s not considered the default, it’s ‘oh well let’s add it on’. I can advocate for it and make sure people have it more on the forefront of their minds and also demonstrate it’s been successful so we can put more money into it.
“It’s for certain types of crime - burglary being a very good example. Lots of burglars don’t realise the impact of what they’ve done.
“They sit down in a properly managed environment and the victim can say how they feel about being burgled, and that does have a hugely amazing effect. And if you talk to professional criminals they find that useful too.
“First offenders in particular, someone who’s been tempted into crime, if they understand the damage they have done that reduces offending from first offenders by 18 to 20 per cent depending on which research you look at.
“That’s a big win because it reduces crime and stops someone from becoming a career criminal.
“It’s a very effective use of resource.”
Making sure prison services help offenders rehabilitate is one area - although not directly under his remit - Mr Moss-Eccardt said he would speak up about if elected, while he is also keen to take a look at the relationship Cambridgeshire police has with minority groups.
He stated that stop and searches in cars, and stops without searches, are not recorded but “can still be used disproportionately,” adding: “They’ve re-established the stop and search panels. That’s important and we’ll see how that works.”
Asked if there is a problem in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, he replied: “I think there is a degree of racial profiling going on which is not right.
“(I would) make it clear that it’s not right and put some effort into establishing what’s going on. (There would be) retraining, education - just resetting the standard.
“What the PCC can do with no money at all is make clear what they favour and what they don’t. That then, via the chief, hopefully diffuses into the force. By saying what’s right and what’s not right you can help people choose the right path.”