Please do contact me if you would like any information or assistance concerning Council matters. My contact details are shown above.

A very happy & healthy 2014!

NOVEMBER 2012. Its been a long time coming and i am not sure if it'll work but heres a bit of information.

THE WAY FORWARD

At last and after much delay the ruling conservative party cabinet have agreed a way forward for Charnwood with our new draft core strategy, local development framework which will take us to 2028. We have got to supply  in the region of 9,700 new houses in this time throughout the Borough of Charnwood and Anstey will I am afraid have to take its share (about 200 spread over Charnwood’s 7 service centres) Public consultation should begin in March 2013.

QUALITY STATUS.

Anstey parish council of which I have been a member since 1981 have been successful in being re-accredited there quality status.  Leader of Charnwood Borough council Cllr. David Slater wrote to the council congratulating them on this excellent achievement. Councillor Slater said “The work of town and parish councils was vital to the community well-being of Charnwood residents and your commitment to achieving  the high standards demanded by this quality Re-Accreditation is a great benefit to the people of Anstey. (We must be doing something right? jjs.)

HELP FOR HEROES 2.

Scheduled for WEDNESDAY 28^th November at the Stamford Arms at Groby along with the launch of a new H4H CD of original songs from local and more well-known artistes plus myself singing “Patient Man.” A big crowd is expected even though it’s a Wednesday evening.  Kick-off is at 7pm sharp this is so that all the artists who have agreed to appear FREE of CHARGE will get a good slot. It is FREE to get in but be prepared to give a little for a VERY good cause. The first H4H night at the Bradgate, Newtown Linford earlier this year raised almost £1000 so bring your wallet. Posters naming those due to appear  will be appearing round the village soon. SAME VENUE ON 30TH AS WELL BUT ON A smaller scale. and not so many STARS!

GROBY LANE AND OTHERS…

This Davidson development for phase one (65 Houses) of this mixed development will shortly be going to Charnwood planning for approval. Thank you to all those who have written to me expressing their views on the proposed traffic calming along Bradgate Road, I have passed them on to the relevant officers at County hall.

Also in the pipeline are 6 dwellings at the former Plough Inn on Bradgate Road and the conversion back to living accommodation at the old F & G Harris’s/ Tommy Cooke’s hardware shop opposite the Plough!

LEAF SCOOP!

In the next couple of weeks CBC will be collecting the fallen leaves around the village. It’ll be a pretty comprehensive clean up but if you do get missed please get in touch and I will see what I can do…

CBC HOUSES.

From November 1^st. 2012 all of Charnwood borough council owned houses will have been transferred back to the authority. From that date the council will take over the responsibility of maintaining and improving the 6000 stock from Charnwood neighbourhood housing (CNH) Councillors decided in June to transfer the management of housing from CNH back to the council following changes to the way the service is funded by central government. The council have already committed £60 million to improve homes and quality of life for our tenants throughout the borough over the next 5 years. The newly rendered PRC houses around Anstey are a small example of our commitment.

It is with sadness that we have to advise that Councillor Roy Brown passed away peacefully on Saturday 14th April 2012. Councillor Brown has served Sileby on the Borough Council since 2002 and served as Mayor of the Borough, supported by his wife Gill as Mayoress, in 2009 to 2010. Councillor Brown will be sadly missed not only in Sileby but by many across the Borough.

But you can keep up with me at 

http://davidwalker.mycouncillor.org.uk/

Which is funded by me through my contributions to the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors who run the site.

As is normal before a full Council meeting I am reading through the papers that will be discussed.

I am very happy to be reading them from the screen and making notes about issues that I would want to raise at the meeting.

There are two issues that need to be addressed:

1. Much of the documentation is a reiteration of the basic framework for all decision making, and I get tired of ploughing through it before each meeting. with modern web organisation a pointer to the relevant web page would be adequate. I have just finished the Treasury Management MRP and Annual Investment Strategies 2011-12 report, which is 36 pages of A4, and the key points could be collapsed to 4 pages.

2. Copying all 36 pages to all 52 Councillors is not good for Council Tax, for the maintenance of forests or for the future of the world. Two weeks ago I had just under 1,000 pages of documentation in my pigeon hole to read before meetings.

3. The cost to the ratepayers is £25,000 a year.

I have campaigned that the documentation needs to be substantially reduced, and that it should be possible for relevant pages to be shown on the screen if there was an issue to be debated.

I shall continue with this campaign as I do object to the waste of resource and money of producing so much paper work.

For the last two years I have been working to try to reduce the dog waste problem, particularly on Outwoods Drive, Holt Drive, and Outwoods Way.

With the new waste disposal contract and with a new structure of responsibilities the issue is being tackled.

All the evidence is that people will collect dog waste in a plastic bag, provided there is somewhere convenient to get rid of the bag.

There were a limited number of dog waste bins, but not enough. The new waste collection contract allows for dog waste, properly wrapped, to be placed in the general waste bins of which there are far more. All the bins have a notice on them to inform of this new development.

Meetings with local residents, meetings with the responsible officer and a lot of emails, maps and diagrams have now identified the critical site for a new bin that will intercept two of the major dog walking routes and encourage proper disposal.

However there may still be a problem. some people still allow their dog to foul the pavement or the grass. This is unacceptable. When any resident sees this happening, and can idenfity the owner, just ring 01509 634628. Remember there is now an £80 fine for allowing the dog to foul a public space!

There used to be two planning committees, now we have only one. In some ways this is a good move, but not when the work to be done is so great that the load on officers and members becomes unacceptable.

On Thursday I spent much of the morning reading 130 pages of applications and of officers' comments and recommendation. Then spent the afternoon on the visit to the sites which were going to be considered. The meeting of the committee started at 5:00 pm and continued until 10:30. No other committee of the Council is allowed to continue for so long, for the very good reason that members and officers will lose concentration.

During he last hour I was finding it increasingly difficult to identify the key issues that we needed to focus on in order to make decisions. I am sure that we made some decisions that we might not have made earlier in the evening.

We need to rethink our policy and be prepared to have an additional meeting when there is such a very long agenda.

This happened yesterday. Five members and two officers arrived on time for a meeting of the Scrutiny Policy Group. There are 14 members of the group and there must be a minimum of half (7) for the meeting to take place. Constitutionally we have to wait for 30 minutes before the meeting has to be called off. So there was a long time of "talking quietly among ourselves" and then leaving with a sense of time and resources wasted.

Part of the problem is that some members of this group are also members of the Board of Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing and two had gone to a CNH Meeting. This has been a serious problem in the past and there is now some attempt to manage a common timetable of meetings.

Absentees were from both the major party groups, Lib Dems were 100% present (= me, I am the only Lib Dem on the Group!).

In my last entry I worried about the problems of getting permission for the daughter of our friends in Schwabisch Hall to help in and learn about our schools.

The head of one school said "I am sorry to have to advise you that due to heightened safeguarding procedures I am unable to acccede to your request." but went on to say that given longer notice and the completion of all the necessary procedures he would have been happy to allow her to be in the school.

I was able to give that school all the relevant documents, but we were told that it would take two weeks to get a CRB, and she goes back to Germany in two weeks time.

Another school said that they would be happy to offer her the chance to help and be part of the staff at the school if she could produce a document from the German Ministry of Justice to say that she did not have a criminal record. We were able to obtain this within three days, at a cost €13, and she is now happily in that school.

Guess which school is managed by Leicestershire County Council and which is independent.

There is much that I could blog about all the work that I am doing as a councillor.

One issue has made me want to make a comment on this Blog.

You may know that I am very keen to support our links with our twin towns. We have been very lucky to have linked with the family of Rainer and Gisela Herrmann in Schwabisch Hall for the last ten years. Their daughter Ina is now (aged 20) studying to be a teacher of English. Part of her degree course requires her to be in England, speaking English, for six weeks.

This is fine, she is staying with us and has had a week doing everything that we do (going to Cabinet meetings, going to memorial services for a wonderful friend and colleague of mine etc. This week she is at Charnwood Borough Council working on publicity for the Goethe Foundations Scholarships. She wants to spend some time in one or more secondary school, briliant. She could learn a lot and teach German to students. Every school that I have contacted have asked about the need for a Criminal Record Bureau Record. So I rang the CRB office who said.."we don't know what to do.. we suggest you ring the German Embassy and ask them to contact the Police in Schwabisch Hall and ask if she has a criminal record. I have emailed the German embassy. I doubt that I will have a response. Why do we tie ourselves up in such red tape? We need to think things through and say that if young people from our twin towns want to be in our schools.. that is great.

What we need is to let the Head decide if a recommendation from a Councillor (me) who has known one of his members of staff for ten years and who has know the student in question since she was ten years old would be sufficient.

During the regular surveys of the membership carried out by the City and County Neighbourhood Watch, a large percentage of the members have serious concerns about cars being parked on pavements, and causing an obstruction.

As a result of these concerns the City and County Neighbourhood Watch is actively planning a campaign about this issue.

To start the planning stage we need to collect the evidence of the extent of the problem.

We would like our members, and their neighbours, relatives and friends in Leicester City and Leicestershire County to let us have the following information; we can then start to create a diary:

1.      The date, time and place where there is a problem
2.      The make, modal and registration number of the vehicle creating the problem.
3.      If possible send us a photograph by email, showing the vehicle, the picture should show the date and time it is taken. Maybe even a daily picture, when the vehicle is there for a number of days. Maybe even a picture of someone struggling to get past the vehicle. Photographs should be sent to info@neighbourhoodwatchleicester.net

When we have collected the necessary evidence we will then seek to involve all the relevant parties, to get the appropriate action taken.

Residents have contacted me with concerns about power outages across the ward - mainly at times of low temperature and high electricity usage.  I have been in touch with Central Networks, and they have explained the issue to me.  Currently there is a break in the cable somewhere underground.  When the cable becomes overloaded, this can cause the break to become worse. Therefore, when lots of people use electricity a power shortage can follow.

The only way they can fix this, is to find out where the power shortage is and then apply to dig up the road and fix the cable.  The only way they can do this is to get out to the problem as quickly as possible and run the test before the cable has reconnected itself.  So, if you experience a power outage, the most useful thing you can do is to ring Central Networks Emergency line as soon as there is an issue on 0800 056 8090.

I will continue to ring and pressure for any progress.

Yesterday morning, just after I had come back from a meeting about anti social behaviour with Officers at Southfields, I heard the sound of a bike being leant against my wall.

I looked, saw a bike that I did not recognise, went downstairs and saw a young man on the terrace at the back of the house. He saw me and started to leave (rapidly). I went to the front door and saw him cycle off towards Loughborough. I rang 999 and gave details. 

Within a very short time the police were here. I explained. They had already, and very sensibly, sent another car to the lower end of Beacon Road and had stopped a young man  in Wallace Road. They drove me past him and I confirmed that it was the young man that I had seen.

They told me that he was well known to the Police. He had not committed any damage, but it seems likely that he would have tried to get in to the house If I had not been there.

He would not have got very far, there is secondary glazing on the downstair windows which are impossible to break and then open. Even if he had got in the burglar alarm would have sounded and all the neighbours would have investigated and contacted the police.

I have passed this information on to the Neighbourhood Watch team.

I was glad that I was at home and that I reacted quickly to an unusual, very slight, noise. I am annoyed with myself that I had not bolted the garden gate from the garden side. 

I was very impressed by the speed and efficiency of the police.

Loughborough Councillors have asked for grit bins to be provided to cover areas of Loughborough in need of cover. As you may have noticed the County Council grit the main through roads only, leaving a lot of the side roads all iced up. It is important the Lemyngton ward has grit bins in all areas, to ensure that vulnerable residents are not trapped in their homes. This is the second harsh winter in a row and it is in my view better to prepare now for harsher winters in the future.

The petition signed by local residents requesting the council install a CCTV camera overlooking Rendell Park and the Rendell St area went before cabinet yesterday. It was agreed that more consultation with the police and anti social behaviour officers be taken up to determine the extent of the problem. I suggested a meeting be arranged with residents so that it could be discussed with them and issues raised could be explored. I will keep you posted on further developments.

Just to give you an idea of my activities in and for the community.

22 Nov 9:00 to 13:00 Equality and Diversity Meeting Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing

22 Nov 18:00 to 20:00 Chaired Overview Scrutiny Group

23 Nov 17:00 Meeting of Performance Scrutiny Panel, part of which had to be cancelled because of non attendance of Labour and Conservative Councillors so that we were not quorate.

23 Nov 19:30 Meeting of Storer and Ashby Residents Group.

24 Nov 18:00 Policy Scrutiny Committee

24 Nov  19:00 meeting of Local Neighbourhood Watch

25 Nov  Meeting of Cabinet at which I reported on work of Overview Scrutiny Group

29 Nov Attended as spoke at an event for potential new Councillors. Well organised and informative, but only 6 potential Councillors attended, and about 20 will be resigning at the next election in May.

30 Nov A meeting of the Scrutiny Management Committee

2 Dec 9:00 to 17:00 interview for Strategic Directors, 17:00 Chaired Meeting of Panel on the future of Loughborough Market

3 Dec 9:00 to 14:00 final interviews for post of Strategic Director

5 Dec 12:00 to 14:00 Business Meeting of local Quakers

6 Dec 17:00 AGM of WEA/Quest House. I was given special thanks and a present for the work that I have done in securing the move to the Old Magistrates Court

7 Dec Responded to pleas for help with the icy slope on the cul de sac off Beacon Road by spreading some salt myself. Made the case for a salt bin for this site.

8 Dec Meeting of Quaker Trustees

9 Dec Gave evidence to the Anti-Social Behaviour panel, attended the Plans Committee, especially for the discussion on yet another student block. It was decided to defer a decision.

10. Met with local residents to discuss the problems caused by students parking long term in Outwoods Drive.

13 Dec Chair Overview Scrutiny Group

14 Dec Meeting of Board of Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing

15 17.00 Meeting of the member reference group discussing training for Councillors.

Yesterday was my first full meeting of the board of Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing. I have been appointed to the Board by Cabinet as one of the five Councillor members. 

I have read through nearly 300 pages of documentation, and spent an hour with the Chair of the Board, Inge Kettner and the Chief Executing Sue Taylor. The Board meeting yesterday lasted three hours. I feel that I am getting a good understanding of the problems and the potentials of CNH, and I already knew that it has had many problems. I have been very aware of this when looking at accounts when I was a member of the Audit Committee and at full Council Meetings. It has failed to gain a satisfactory rating on inspections, it has overspent and the quality of management has been poor.

Within the last year there has been a new Chief Executive, a new Chair of the Board and many of the Officers have been replaced. From what I have seen so far it is improving rapidly. The management of Social Housing is a very important function of a Local Authority and I am delighted to have the opportunity to observe, analyse, criticise and suggest and promote policies.

Today is the anniversary of the end of the First World (or Great) War. The slaughter of young people during that war was quite awful, and it is fitting that we should never forget that dreadful tragedy which robbed so many of their life when it was just beginning. One one day alone 20,000 young men were ordered to march towards the enemy machine guns and virtually all died of dreadful injuries from bullet wounds. Next time you pass the Carillon tower look at the horribly long lists of names of those from this small town who did not return from the battlefields of France and Belgium.

Each year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month there are gatherings all over the country to  remember those events, and those who have died in subsequent wars.

Outside the Carillon this morning people gathered for a short and dignified memorial  service. About 50 people were present including two groups of primary school children, the Mayor and Mayoress and Deputy Mayor, the Chief Executive of the Council and the Head of Democratic services, who organised the big bang to mark the beginning and end of the two minute silent tribute to the dead.

The service was conducted by Rev Rachel Ross, Rector of All Saints, with a moving and sensitive address given by the Curate of All Saints, Stephen Gamble. The last post was sounded, and prayers were said.

It is a significant part of the life of our community and I was pleased to be able to take part. I was sad that so few other Councillors were there to join me.  Apart from the Mayor I was the only Loughborough Councillor present.

This week has seen the eastern gateway finally get underway. Work should be completed on the road by this time next year and the houses should be completed about six months after that. The train station is also having a revamp and this should tie in with the development of the road and houses.