brennon

A monitoring report has just hit the streets and it's big news for some of us.  The report examines the government's record on making sure they don't produce policies that disadvantage rural areas.  The report might be damning, but neither does it commend the government's record to date.  I quote "........the finding of this year's monitoring show that the commitment to rural proof government policy is not being delivered consistently; and that it is reliant on the approach of individuals rather than built into the day to day work of departments".

On the positive side, it states that where a policy has a clear spatial element........'rural proofing is more likely to have occurred'.  I can quote plenty of other statements from the report that say what needs to be done, but it's the damage that's already been done that also needs to be addressed.  Sorry, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but the worst example of ignoring the rural dimension is the parking standards imposed on us, even though many people have no choice but to own more than one car when they live in a rural area.

I was tempted to call this a disaster, but on reflection it's not quiet that bad, but it's close! 

The panel's report on the draft Regional Spatial Strategy for the East Midlands was released yesterday afternoon.  South Holland had asked for an increase in its annual housing numbers from 380 to 550 and had produced a compelling case for this increase.  We are one of the fastest growing areas of the East Midlands and that's not just because of the increase in migrant worker population.  We also continually exceed our annual build rate and at the moment it seems almost impossible to plan for this due to the low allocation figure (it also seems to be extremely difficult to actually resist it!).

Not only does the refusal to endorse an increase in our numbers make it almost impossible to address the affordable housing issue, it also makes it even harder to relieve some of the pressure on the current housing stock.  If accepted by the SoS, we will have to work even harder to find innovative ways to generate more affordable housing from exception sites and from investment by housing associations and wherever possible, by use of land in the ownership of SHDC and S106 funds.

I'm am not out to criticise anybody at this stage, as I believe the panel has listened to and taken on board the concerns of the Environment Agency with regards to flood risk along the East Coast and low lying areas such as South Holland.  I am heartened by the fact that there was no suggestion of a managed retreat from these areas because there was no money to maintain the flood defences.  However, all parties are going to have to work very hard and very quickly to reassure those who have already invested in South Holland, whether they be home owners or businesses and those considering investing, that this decision is no more than a cautious holding position.  We also need to ensure that the Environment Agency and all other interested parties will continue to work together to gain a greater understanding of the issues, so that a better informed approach can be adopted when the RSS is reviewed under the Plan, Monitor, Manage process. 

Unfortunately, Peterborough and the East of England RSS seemed to have played a negative role in this also.  The EoE RSS is referred to as having a policy of concentration around and within existing urban areas and Peterborough made representations around the issue of commuting between areas.  It is extremely regrettable that, whilst the government refuses to produce a national spatial strategy for England, along the lines of those that exist for Scotland and Wales, the rural areas are forced to continue to suffer at the whims and ambitions of the large urban conurbations and adhere to inappropriate planning policies.  See my previous item 100 year blight.  Ironic that a monitoring report on the success or otherwise of Rural Proofing of government policies has just been released!

Did you read the newspaper this morning?  Rail fares are on the increase again; anything between 7% and 14%!  Well above inflation.  One of the reasons suggested is, would you believe, too many people using the trains!!!!!  The other is a reduction in subsidy from government.

This is the same government that has increased housing densities and reduced parking standards.  More houses now occupy the same space, but have less space to park private cars.  A three or four bedroom house that would of required at least two off street parking places a couple of years ago, now has only 1.5 spaces provided.  This ridiculous fraction is supposed to allow for averaging, where some small houses will get one space, whilst larger houses could get two.  This was done in order to ‘encourage' (bully) us into using public transport, such as buses and trains. 

Unfortunately, the trains are too successful and do not have enough investment from either public or private sources to increase capacity, so they control demand by increasing prices.  That forces people to seek alternative forms of transport - which of course is the private car!

The reduced parking standards now mean that instead of people parking their cars on their driveways, they park them on the footpaths or dig up the front garden to make a hard standing.  Most of the houses being built today will still be around in 100 years.  Also, many children are remaining in the family home well into adulthood, because they cannot afford a place of their own and will have their own transport.

We have therefore imposed a blight on these neighbourhoods, that can only get worse as rail fares get further and further out of the reach of us ordinary people and bus companies only invest in the most profitable routes.  It's time for all rural authorites to demand a change to the parking standards before things get any worse.

LincUp is one of those co-operations between various public organisations that has been happening for a number years now, but without any real fanfare.

Notice how I avoided using any of the buzz words that we've all become overloaded with.  I could of said... 'it's partnership working in order to achieve joined up service delivery'.

Having had our first meeting for 18 months, we are now wrestling with the issue of where to go next.  The project has seen all Lincolnshire local authorities, the county council, Lincolnshire Police and the Primary Care Trust come to togeather to deliver benefits from the use of new technology (notice how I avoided referring to computers!).  With the hugh pressure being applied to us all by government for efficiencies and cashable savings, we need to grasp every opportunity to use the various technologies available to us.    

Sorry, I'm back to being a moaning old f..t!  Has anbody been to Birmingham International airport lately?  I was there last night (Sunday) and it was chaos.  Not only can you not pick up or drop off in front of the airport, you are forced into a carpark with only two lanes and you have to get a ticket before the barrier raises to let you in (£1 for 20 minutes by the way!).  This delay causes cars to backup on to the roundabout, which in turn prevents anybody going around it, wherever they are going!

I know the excuse for such poor treatment of the fare paying public will be security and public safety, but if that is the case, why isn't there some common sense applied to helping the traffic flow and avoiding ripping off the public at the same time.  Strikes me the airport management is just cashing in on the unwary car driver.  As usual the great British public will put up with it as usual, I doubt that French airport users would put up with this.

Are there any Birmingham City Councillors willing to go into bat on behalf of the long suffering travelling public to insist that this mess is sorted out once and for all? 

I do try to find good news stories to talk about occasionally, honest!  It was announced last week that the long awaited replacement for our main link with the south of the countrhas been approved.  The A1073 takes the majority of the traffic from South Holland, Boston and beyond towards Peterborough and has a terrible accident record.  After many years of campaigning, we have been given the okay from government for it to be replaced with a brand new road. 

Some people are still unhappy that it is not going to be a duel carriage way, but considering it will cost £80 million to build the single carriageway, I'm not surprised.  What we need now is no delays to the start date or the construction schedule.  Well done to Lincolnshire County Council and to Peterborough City and Cambridgeshire County Councils for their support in getting the Cambridgeshire section approved and funded.   

I'm beginning to think the government would like to give everyone of us citizens an ASBO of one sort or another.  For not recycling enough, for using our cars too much, for drinking too much, for eating too much, for not saving enough, for complaining about uncontrolled inward migration, yahda, yahda, yahda....

As usual it's the individual, the ordinary man and woman in the street, who are the easy targets for all this criticism, whilst the businesses that actually fuel these excesses by supplying and selling us the stuff, seem to escape scott free.  How many more times are we going to read about the excessive packaging we all carry home from the supermarket or shop every time we go shopping?  what do they do about it? tell us to stop using plastic carrier bags! 

Don't get me wrong, carrier bags are a very wasteful use of resources in most respects.  Somebody with more time on their hands than is good for them, has worked out that most carrier bags have an average life of only 12 minutes.  Packed with shopping at the shop or supermarket, it travels home in the car, gets emptied and is then binned.  However, to be fair to many people, me included, we do find other uses for them once we've got them home, including when walking the dog; use your imagination folks!

The reason for this particular rant is because I was in a branch of John Lewis yesterday looking for a TV cable.  When I found what I was looking for I was horrified to see that all the TV/hi-fi cables were packaged in cardboard boxes that wouldn't of been out of place in the breakfast cereal section of a supermarket!  Put another way, look at the cable that connects your TV to the video or DVD player, now picture that cable inside an empty museli cereal box and you'll see what I mean. 

I know it's all about marketing, but in this day and age with everybody being bullied about recycling, this type of wasteful packaging should be targetted before they start picking on the little people.  Incidentally, I'm sure I read somwhere that domestic waste accounts for only 20% of the landfill in this country, the rest is commercial waste.     

Yet again the papers are carrying a story of the great and the good wringing their hands over the shoddy treatment of our armed forces.  Notably, many of those now speaking so publicly of their grave concerns for the wellbeing of our troops, are the same people who appeared to have little or nothing to say (publicly anyway) when they were in positions of power.

From a personal point of view, I always found the sycophantic utterances of these people, when they occupied the highest positions of power within the armed forces, infuriating.  Despite things so obviously going down hill whilst they were in charge, they continued to tow the party line when successive ministers went on the record as claiming that they were committed to ensuring that our Forces had all the resources they needed.

Now, from the safety of positions gained because of their earlier roles or a comfortable retirement, these people decide to voice their concerns.  Had a few of them stood by their principles earlier and resigned in protest when in the job, perhaps things might just be a bit different now.  

Did you notice how cold it was yesterday (Friday)? 

Apparently it was minus 5c degrees overnight on Thursday, so anybody who left their front door open when it was this cold would have to be barking mad wouldn't they?  Enter the local outlet shopping centre.  I was shopping there yesterday and noticed one shop with both sets of double doors wide open, whilst the shop's heating system blasted hot air in to the shop!   

I asked a shop assistant why the doors were left open on such a freezing cold day and was told that it was required by their contract with the company that managed the centre!  Even if you aren't convinced by the whole global warming argument, the stupidity of pumping hot air into a large open space and then throwing open two sets of double doors, so that you are heating up the rest of the planet, must be obvious to anybody.

Incidentally, there are 43 shops in this centre so they must all have signed the same contract and I wonder how many other outlet centres have the same myopic view of the world.

I know why they do it, so that we, the consumers are not inconvenienced by having to open shop doors whilst carrying all our purchases.  Thanks, but no thanks, not these days, when fuel prices are going through the roof and you can be sure the shops that are forced to waste all that heat, will be passing on the cost to me every time I buy something.

I will of course be writing to the centre management demanding that they see the error of their ways as soon as possible.  Perhaps anybody who reads this blog would like to check what policy any shops in there own area have, especially if they appear to have the practice of keeping their entrance doors wide open on freezing cold days.

Enough of this cheerful good news stuff, back to being a grumpy old man!

I've had to drive around my local town of Spalding quiet a lot over the last couple of days and a new driving technique seems to have become the fashion.  It involves approaching a set of traffic lights and as they change to red carrying on driving through them at high speed.  Nuts or what!  It's not just the boy racers or the white van man that enjoy this game of chicken anymore.  This morning I witnessed a young woman with children on board do it with such determination, that she must be well practiced at it. 

Pehaps the last print of the Highway Code had new rules on traffic lights and I've missed it?  Now you are required NOT to stop at the white line when the light turns red, but to accelerate and see how close you can get to hitting any vehicles crossing your path!          

We carried out our first live webcast of the 12 month trial I referred to a while ago, on Weds afternoon.  According to the company that hosted it for us, some 500 people watched it as it happend and over 200 have accessed the archive so far - that's a result!

Obviously the subject matter helped to raise interest in this webcast, the cabinet were choosing 3 potential Gypsy and Traveller sites.  The great thing is that those people who logged on, heard what was said for themselves They didn't have to get their info from the newspapers, who in my experience seldom get the facts completely right and have a nasty habit of reporting things out of context (hope there are no local newspaper editors reading this!)   

Another day, another meeting!  I attended a consultation workshop about our new Local Development Framework (LDF) just the titles enough to put you off isn't it.  For those of you who haven't got a clue what I'm talking about,  this document will eventually replace our Local Plan.  That document tells people what, where, when and how they can build things in South Holland (a bit of a simplification I know, but I hope you get the idea).

One member of the public (a parish councillor actually) really had a bee in his bonnet about the meaning of employment land and if this meant land for people to be employed on i.e. picking spuds, or something else.  I think he was trying to get to the issue of our support, or lack of it as he saw it, for the farming community.  The lady with him also felt that no mention of agriculture in the presentation meant that we were not interested in an area of rural life that south Holland had been founded upon.  I don't think that is true, but the point was an interesting one and actually highlighted a perception of our district that no long holds true.  The figures show that only 8% of the workforce are actually employed in argriculture and yet it's possible that many people still feel that that is what South Holland is all about.  

That's got you reading hasn't it!   We had a parish council/cabinet liaison meeting tonight at South Holland DC and the main issue with some of the parish councillors was street cleaning and recycling, as I said, they were talking about a load of rubbish! 

What this proved to me was, the unglamorous, routine and mundane things matter (I already knew that actually!).  What's the point in having one of these leading edge, beacon waving, best practitioner councils, running your district if it can't even keep the streets clean?

As a council we are doing a good job in a lot of areas (our recycling figures are the best in Lincs and possibly the region) Yuk! I used the R word!, but only with a small r you'll notice.   However, none of the good stuff matters when people think you are doing something that they see as important badly. 

Even if these parish councillors are being a bit over critical, the fact that the people they represent are telling them that they are unhappy about the way the district council are caring for the place where they live must not be ignored; perception is everything.   

Having spent 38 years in the RAF, it has been interesting to read the debate about the Covenant between the public and the Military.  Although it would appear to most civvies that this was a problem that had arisen since the second Gulf War and the intervention in Afganistan, the damage started well before these events.

For at least 10 years before I left the RAF the powers that be had been chipping away at many of the things that made being in the RAF more than a bit special.  I can only speak as an airman and I'm sure an officer would give a more high level view of the overall damage that was being done.

My personal experience and concerns started when they decided to do job evaluations on all RAF trades.  Aircraft technicians in the RAF are constantly reminded of their responsibilities for the safety of the aircraft they work on and therefore for the lives of those flying in those aircraft.  So when the job evaluation exercise decided that RAF bandsmen should be paid exactly the same as aircraft technicians, I knew to writing was on the wall.  When was the last time a musician play a bum note that killed somebody? 

Add to this, some bright spark (a civvy no doubt) decided that being a SNCO did not deserve any privileges beyond the pay (and the Mess of course) and changed the leave system so that every rank got the same amount of annual leave (a SNCO used to get an extra 12 days a years).  They then decided to start everyone's leave year on the same day instead of from the day they joined, making it even more difficult to keep manning levels adequate at certain times of the year. 

They then went on to destroy the medical services, so that most of the time you saw a civilian doctor, who was often a locum and therefore had little understanding of military life.  A number of other trades were also virtually destroyed in the name of efficiency and with little or no regard for the damage it does to the morale of a force to see so many uniforms turned in to civvies, they were good people, but weren't ‘blue jobs'!

I could go on (and I often do) but I think you get the point.  Nobody ever joined the military for the money, but now it's becoming the only reason to, and that's a tragedy.

A gentleman phoned me yesterday to complain about the contradiction between having a school safety zone and then putting a bus stop in it.   I had to confess I hadn't noticed before and when I went and had a look, there were in fact two bus stops, one on each side of the road.  The signs say no stopping in the zone during school times, yet we have a 30 minute bus service.

I must confess that given the advisory nature of the zone, this is not really an issue, but it is interesting to note how two positives can come together to create a negative for some people isn't it?  I've have now written to our highways dept to see if they had given any thought to the matter before I reply to the gentleman, as I think he deserve a sensible answer; even if it's only, 'oh! we hadn't thought of that'.

Whilst cycling around to take pictures from various view points, a number of vehicles drove past me.  As far as I could judge, I was probably the only one doing anything under the advisory 20mph speed limit (a lot under, I'm not very fit) within the zone and I find that both disappointing and frustrating. 

No doubt many of these drivers had sent little Jack or Jill off to school that morning in the hope that they would be safe from all dangers including those posed by our roads.  These safety zones are designed to do that for our children whilst in and around school and can only attempt to appeal to the good citizen in us as they have no legal standing.  Yet here were these drivers, so wrapped up in their own world and so determined to go at the speed they wanted to, probably didn't even notice these safety signs in the first place (especially the two that were on their mobile phones at the same time).  Actually I don't know what I so worried about, at least one of these must of been a very skilled driver, because as well as doing over thirty past the school whilst using a mobile, he was able to smoke a cigarette!

It is a sad fact that virtually all of these drivers will be locals, may even live in the streets they are speeding through and will no doubt be suitably incensed the next time they read about a child being killed by a speeding driver.  Now don't get me started on standards of driving these days!        

This one's a bit  and a bit , so I'm only half a grumpy old man at the moment! 

We were all invited to attend a presentation/workshop on E&C on Weds night.  I was not especially keen to hear the same old stuff as I've heard and seen before, but I knew it was an important issue, not because the government has told us so, but because the issue is here and now for us in South Holland!  The presenter was not your run of the mill trainer/presenter.  Even though he was a professor, he was nothing like you would of expected and I think he did a really good job with a very tricky subject.

Our CX emphasised this point in his summing up; we now have large number of EU citizens in our district, who were not born in the district or even in the UK.  They are here and we must deal with the issues that arise from having such a rapid increase in our population in such a short time period and we must make sure that we do everything possible to reduce any potential conflict and tensions in our communities. 

My personal view is that this influx of new blood, many of whom are young or even family units, offers us great opportunities.  We have an ageing population, a falling birth rate and a looming pension crisis.  In South Holland the ageing population is even more of an issue, because we have an above average elderly population.  What better way to dilute this aging population than by encouraging young people and families to settle in the district.      

As I said this is an important issue, but I'm getting fed up with the government deciding what's important and then 'forcing' council's to make it priority.  We've just had an audit report on our strategic housing performance.  We appear to have come out very well, but the final report seemed to go on and on about the shortcomings in our equality and cohesion strategy.  In this area we lacked that, in that areas we lacked this and it all seemed to be about - you guessed it, equality and cohesion  - one could be forgiven for thinking that the strategic housing review was just an excuse to criticise us for not dancing to the latest government priority.

Well two positive entries in a row, I'll be loosing my rep as a grumpy old man at this rate.

Having mentioned young people earlier, I'd like to let everybody know (or at least my sole reader to date; thank you for your support sir!) that the council is working with some local schools to support the Citizenship element of their curriculum. 

We are planning to visit participating schools and let the young people know what it means to be an elected member and what role we play in local democracy.  Don't worry no politics involved, at least not with a big P, everything we do is political in someway because it affects people.  Oops, too serious, but I think you get my meaning. 

The trick (challenge, miracle!) will be to get the youngster interested in what we have to say and keep them interested for 40 or even 60 minutes!  Crickey, I'm not sure I could stay interested in what I was saying for that long!

Seriously though, it will be all about capturing their attention and giving them some real interest in the processes of democracy, so that when they are old enough, not only will they be keen to vote, they might even want to stand against me!  Although I'll be long gone before most of them are old enough to stand even though they can now become candidates at 18. 

If any parents are reading this and are worried about me being let loose on their children, don't worry, we will be supervised and all the material will be approved by the school - no campaigning speeches allowed - you might even learn something new yourself if you talk to your youngsters afterwards.   

Hello again,

I promised to find something positive to say after my last tirades and here it is!  We are about to start a 12 month period of webcasting our council meetings with the main focus being cabinet, development control and special meetings such as Gypsy and Traveller sites and council tax setting.  We have already dipped our toe in on this with a couple of previous broadcasts and the feedback from the public was very positive.  I have been very keen to see happen and thanks to Terry Huggins, our forward think CX; we are now getting on with it.   South Holland is a very rural area and many of our taxpayers are a long way away from Spalding and the council offices, so anything we can do to help people understand what we do with their council tax must be good. 

The other great thing is that there are a number of young people who have signed up to become our webcast operators.  Not only does this mean that we are not relying on the good will of our own staff to run things, we are bringing in young people who have probably had nothing to do with their district council until now and have no real idea what it is all about (just like me before 1999!).  Not only will these young people now get a better understanding of what South Holland District Council gets up to, hopefully they will be able to talk to some of their friends and family about it as well.

Bottom line is, people will now the opportunity to keep an eye on us, see what we as elected members get up to and most importantly let us know what they think (That's scary!!!)  Incidentally, there won't be any close-ups, so we shouldn't scare the children if they watch.     

Please check out the council website for more info or give the offices a call.

Sorry, for the title but it might be what you think after having read all my blogs so far.  My excuse is that I am just starting so I have alot to get off my chest!

Anyway, to the issue.  I recently attended a consultation exercise in Lincoln about the Regional Housing Strategy.  Now don't stop reading, it may sound dry and boring, but the implications of having a regional office, that represents the government and dictates policy on many issues, is huge.

In this case, they were trying to find out what should be in their housing strategy for the East Midlands.  You may not realise it, but the East Midlands covers Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, some of the Peak District and oh! I nearly forgot, Lincolnshire (I didn't really foget, I was just being a bit sarcastic if you hadn't realised).  My point is, that this is a huge area, with some very big urban centres, most of which have populations bigger than the whole of South Holland.  This makes it extremely difficult to see how anybody can put togeather a document on housing that can possibly work for the middle of Nottingham and the villages of South Holland at the same time. 

As you might of already worked out, I have an opinion on most things, and worst still I like to let people know what that opinion is!  In the case of this housing document I could not resist asking what the point was and what the benefits would be to my bit of the world.  Unfortunately, the answers were all a bit high level and abstract and only confirmed to me that the role of the regional office is to mirror government policy and make sure the regions are towing the line; no independent thought permitted. 

A good example of this is the parking standards now imposed on everybody nationally.  These were obviously thought up by somebody (working for John Prescott at the time) who lived and worked in London, or at the very least had easy access to all forms of public transport whenever he or she wanted it.  They certainly never travelled to the rural areas of our country, to see how dependent the people who live there are on the private car.  If they had, they would never have sqeezed the parking spaces they way they did (assuming they cared that is).  This standard may work for Nottingham, Derby and Leicester (the golden triangle as we call it), but in South Holland it is a damaging blight on our residential areas. 

It used to be the case that most houses were required to have a minimum number of off street parking spaces, so that people could park off of the road, this was on average two, with an increase for bigger houses.  The standard is now a maximum of 1.5.   Please don't ask me what the point is of giving somebody .5 of a parking space is, I don't understand it either.  The result of this is, that most of us can now point to houses with front gardens turned into hardstandings for car parking and even worse, footpaths used as parking places, because there is not enough room off road and the road is too narrow for people to park their cars on without blocking the passage of large vehicles or getting damaged by vehicles squeezing past them.

Anyway, the point of this rant is, the regional office are unable to or unwilling to put forward any policies on such things, that don't comply with the way the government want things done, so what's the point of wasting time and money on producing documents that only mirror what is already dictated?

I will try to post something positive honest, as soon as I find it!        

One of the issues that always concerns me, when dealing with an issue, is the possibility that it is only me who is upset or concerned about it and that everybody else wonders what the heck I'm on about when I raise it.  The community centre issue referred to previously is one example, another is the noisy and inappropriate road that runs through the housing estate (or residential area if you want to be posh!).   The road is very wide (bypass standard) very straight (almost qualifies as a small runway) and worst of all, very noisy thanks to the block paving the highway authority specified at all the junctions. 

My problem is, I seem to be the only one who finds the krump (as it enters), buzz(as it travel over it), krump (as it leaves it) sound that occurs every time a vehicle drives over these completely useless pieces of traffic calming, unacceptable.  Is everybody else too busy to notice, or am I just being a grumpy old man? Coz I am you know!   

This is my first entry and already I'm thinking the negatives rather than the positives. 

Truth is that often, good news is no news and it's only the controversial issues that lead people to take an interest and only then when it affects them directly.  I live in a very new part of our largest market town and as it stands it is no more than a very large housing estate with little in the way of identity and certainly nothing that could really be called 'community'.  This is not the fault of the people who live here, but rather the lack of a focus or centre to focus community spirit on.

Even when one does have the opportunity to create that focus, it is surprisingly difficult to catch the attention of those who will potentially benefit.  We have £100k sitting in the bank waiting to be spent on a community centre.  All we need is a committee of enthusiastic citizens to help us make it happen.  To date there are no takers!  

Our older towns and villages have evolved and developed their own unique identities and with it a community spirit, over many, many years.  These days we all seem to be so impatient to see things happen, that places are no longer allowed to grow naturally, they have to be forced and driven by targets and strategies.  This mad rush for increased housing numbers we are all being required to embark on will no doubt see many more 'housing estates' such as the one I represent, but I hope the planners and place shapers can contain their enthusiasm just long enough to make sure they think about the issue of community at the same time as housing numbers.