Travellers and travelling have certainly dominated my work load recently. Having made the decision to select the sites in South Holland, (two permanent, 1 temporary),I have had my ear well and truly bashed by one large farming company as well as by an outlet shopping centre. Some of the site selections have been called in, so I anticipate round two next week! Right or wrong these are the sort of tough decisions we are ultimately elected for and sometimes you just have to take it on the chin.

Yesterday travelling of a different sort presented itself when I gave a presentation to the Welland Seniors (in Crowland) on the current situation with "Dial-a-Ride". Once they realised that we were not withdrawing funding, but looking at a more efficient service - maybe not dial-a-ride, but a service where they could use their Concessionary Bus Tickets, they were very amenable. We discussed key delivery points in Spalding, among which came up the Age Concern Building and The Johnson Hospital. If anyone has any other key drop off points in Spalding, please do let me know, so that these can be added to the new service in April.

Today  I travel to Nottingham University for a crucial board meeting of the East Midlands Regional Arts Council, where we will be making decisions on funding for Regularly Funded Organisations, of which there are several in Lincolnshire.

Tonight I am back on home ground for the annual South Holland & The Deepings Conservative dinner, with guest speaker, Michael Gove MP, the shadow minister for Children , Schools & Families and a regular contributor to the Times newspaper.

I would normally have a bit of a rest on Saturday, but have risen to the challenge and am umpiring Long Sutton Ladies Hockey Team at Dereham, in the rain by the look of it!

Sunday sees the Holbeach Christmas Fayre, where I will be manning a stall, consulting and feeding back on the Holbeach Parish Plan. No rest for the wicked!

As chairman of  two federated primary schools, budgeting and five year planning in particular is never an easy task, especially when you are in a very rural area. You don't get much more rural than Gedney Drove End & Holbeach St Marks in Lincolnshire. With total numbers on roll just over 80, predicting five years ahead is a bit of a nightmare. Fortunately we have over the years been very prudent in our financial management and have managed to have a large enough balance to carry-over to sustain us over this period to ensure the future of these two rural schools and the children of the future as well as the present.

However, we are now being penalised by the Minister of State for Schools and Learners (Jim Knight). He has recently announced that we will be limited to an 8% carry-over (5% for secondary schools). Further more he is given local authorities the power to redistribute any surplus above this limit to those schools with a budget deficit!

So effectively, well managed schools are having to subsidise badly managed schools - where is the incentive in that? This will have a major effect on our future budgeting and the future of our schools - but then we always knew the Government were never really interested in the sustainability of our small villages and schools, so no real surprise there Mr Knight.

It appears my local paper does read my blog, so thank you for that - I thought I was the sole reader! I must apologise to the Spalding Guardian & Lincolnshire Free Press for giving them a hard time about not attending the recent South Holland Tenants Community Spirit Awards. It appears they were not asked! Woops. I will make sure you are next time. Look forward to seeing you at the Sports Awards!

The above did cause a little flutter of emails, but I have to say I feel a lot better knowing I am not wasting all my time writing blogs - my faith has been restored and i feel a little flattered as well.

I am rushing a little to do this, so my apologies, but I am just off to the South Lincolnshire Community & Voluntary Services AGM to welcome them to South Holland and listen to the great work done by many of our small community & voluntary groups. The SLCVS provides much added value not just for South Holland,but also our neighbouring districts of Boston & South Kesteven. SLCVS through its funding advice brings in large amounts of inward investment into our voluntary sector as well as tackling current issues such as community cohesion and in general helping to provide sustainable communities.

I will tell you more later ....

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Posted by: nickworth    in: Local Community Issues

I had my eyesight tested to-day, but as a politician I am not sure it is good to admit being shortsighted (even if it is just in one eye!). My long sightedness has got no worse, so officers will be pleased to hear i still have some vision, along with a mighty headacre from those bright lights (no I did'nt win any awards, just some stronger reading glasses!).

However the longer term vision for my nearest town of Holbeach is to get a roundabout to relieve the pressure on this small market town, suffering from Tesco syndrome and HGV's who do not want to access the main trunk road (A17) at its' present dangerous junction. I have met with our planners today to discuss a development brief for this area of the town. This is scheduled to start work (on the brief) in January for consultation in May - resources permitting. Oh how I hate the budget process! Never the less this is a step in the right direction.

And finally continuing the theme of the The Longer View I have recently come across a very entertaining blog from one of my young farmer friends, aptly called The Longer View, who writes regular articles for the Farmers Weekly. Well worth a visit for some unconventional views of rural issues.

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Posted by: nickworth    in: Local Community Issues

Last night I attended South Holland District Council's Housing Tenants Community Awards and was delighted to see a packed audience. 50 of the Council's tenants were nominated for awards, in three categories, role model, good neighbour and young person. Listening to the wonderful things these people have achieved in their local communities - we are talking 11 to over 80 years old here - it really does bring a tear to the eye and makes you proud to be part of it. It is just a shame that one of our local papers (The Spalding Guardian & Lincolnshire Free Press), didn't even bother to turn up, no doubt more interested in printing bad news stories than showing the good that so many of our tenants do for each other to help their local communities thrive & prosper. Well done to you all and special note to the chair of the Youth Council, a young lady, who spoke with real composure and confidence, not easy in front of a large audience.

I followed this up with an excellent dinner with some friends and having eaten far too much, decided I had better go to the gym for a workout today. To my shame, not something I have done too often in the past, (particularly as I am the portfolio holder for sport), but with my new leisure card in hand, I entered rather nervously the world of treadmills, rowing machines & cycles. I have to say I felt much better for it and invigorated, spent the afternoon working on the Holbeach Parish Plan. Ironically the main issues are more leisure facilities and too many take-aways - so at least in South Holland we are becoming conscious of the obesity issue and a healthier lifestyle. If it justs gets me to do my blog more regularly, that will be an improvement!

East Lindsey District Council today gave a useful presentation to the Every Child Matters Lead Members and Officers Group in Lincolnshire. This pilot leisurewatch scheme compliments existing County wide child protection policies, implemented initially by the Lincolnshire Sports Partnership and essentially reports to the police on suspicious behaviour, training staff on what to look for and how to spot problems before they occur. Factually 70% of offenders never come into contact with authorities and the remaining 30% are either already in prison or being monitored by multi-agency, public protection partnerships. The Leisurewatch logo goes on buildings, in this case primarily swimming pools and sports centres to warn off paedophiles who will know there are trained staff on the premises looking out for suspicious activities. The logo has been so effective in East Linsdsey that they would like to roll it out to the rest of the County. It certainly had my support and all those around the table were keen to know more. If this scheme helps to safeguard our children then lets bring it on.

I picked up my new council laptop today - my old one is nearing the end of its life and having had a play, I have to say I am well impressed. It is much easier to use than the old one and has some useful shortcuts to the members area on the Council's Intranet, where I checked out two great websites - one for Migrant Workers and the many ESOL courses available as well as help in starting their own businesses. www.migrantworkers.co.uk       

All very topical as we are having a high profile visit tomorrow from His Excellency Vygaudas Usackas, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Court of St James's. Lithuanians are the third highest in population of migrant workers in my Ward (The Hurn Ward of South Holland)

The other was our website designed for our Youth Council and built by one of their members. There is some real innovation here which make normal council minutes look decidedly boring! www.shyc.org.uk

Why not pay them both a visit and judge for yourself!

This morning was spent reading 90 pages of strategies, a 60 page cultural strategy and a 30 page play strategy. Both are a major part of my portfolio at South Holland District Council and are crucial in determining the future work programmes and budgets for these areas of council work over the next 4 years. They align with National, Regional, County and Local Strategies, but the action plan is where the real meat is. An exciting programme of events that will provide those of us, especially our children, in South Holland with a greater quality of life and a much richer cultural experience. Some work still needs to be done before it goes to the cabinet for approval or otherwise in July. Then all will be revealed!

Talking of revealing, have you seen the new Olympic Logo revealed by Lord Coe today. My personal opinion is, what a waste of money - £400,000 to unveil a logo that will apparently be appreciated by the younger community. Teenage graffitti artists could certainly have done a better job!Let me know your thoughts! £400,000 could buy you enough play equipment to house 15 - 20 play areas. No doubt this money will come out of that ever decreasing lottery fund. The only legacy I can see we will get from the Olympics is a massive debt.

It is some time since I last blogged, so instead of a new year resolution I am going to have a new term resolution!That is to write up my blog on a regular basis. The three weeks prior to the elections were effectively blocked out helping other candidates to produce election leaflets as well as my own. Did I use my blog as a way of reaching the electorate? - No, is the simple answer! I don't feel at this early stage of councillor blogging that my audience is sufficiently large enough to justify it as a priority. But over the next four years that may change. Blogging is undoubtedly a useful way to inform the public of your day to day activities as a councillor. We just need to market it better to make it interesting or better still controversial. Any ideas would be much appreciated from more experienced bloggers than I.

Today I have finally caught up with post election emails and post and have spent the day form filling in the hope of a successful application to Community Lincs for a Parish Plan for Holbeach in Lincolnshire. There are many issues affecting Holbeach at the moment, (as in many similar sized towns),which I hope with the aid of a Parish Plan and the backing of the local community we might go somewhere to resolving.

Issues revolve around empty shops, Car parking charges for traders, Tesco, too many take-aways on the high street, HGV's using the centre of town to access the by-pass more easily and the public's move away from the high street to large shopping centres / retail outlets nearer to the bigger towns and cities (in our case Peterborough).

I was asked on a radio interview the other day what Holbeach had going for it - what was its' unique selling point? Well it has a a wonderful 14th century church, The Mansion House where former Nobel winner Sir Norman Angell lived, a number of excellent independent retailers, 9 pubs and two former Olympic medallists in Geoff Capes and Sally Reddin as well as sports commentator Stuart Storey, who lived in the town for many years.

So, a good base from which to start - now we just have to form a plan.......

I had an interesting interview with South Holland District Council's Remuneration Panel today. They are an independant panel with a mix of business backgrounds and I have to say a refreshing line of questioning. It is their job to recommend to the Council the levels of remuneration that they think a Councillor should receive in addition to travelling expenses. This includes a basic allowance for all councillors and a special allowance over and above the basic allowance for those councillors in positions of responibility, ie the Leader, Deputy Leader, Leader of the opposition, Cabinet members and Chair and Vice chair of Council to name a few. Not an easy task!

One of the questions asked was where did I rate myself on a professional scale for example higher than a teacher or lower than a doctor? My political answer was that I felt I was in a specialist profession that aligned itself with the Local Government Association's pay scale.

How many hours do I spend on Council business? Fortunately I was able to produce a printout of my diary over the last year, which didn't show many free days, so in my case as Deputy Leader and with, a large portfolio covering leisure, arts, sport and rural services, i have to admit I am nearly full time. (I am a registrar for births, deaths & marriages in between!)

So when I first volunteered to put myself up for election as a District Councillor back in 1999, was I aware of what this voluntary job entailed? Not a clue! The job has constantly changed from that time from one where all decisions were the remit of the full council to a situation now where individuals, such as myself, are directly responsible for the decisons we make and only a few around the budget and policies are the remit of the full council. No wonder then that I spend so much time at the council and on numerous outside bodies - I need to know what is going on in my portfolio to equip me to make the right decisions and be answerable to fellow councillors and the general public.

It is a huge job, but could I do it if I were in full time employment? No way - and therein lies the problem. Do you pay professional wages to encourage business and younger people into the job or do you stick to the old method of asking people to give up their time voluntarily for expenses that barely cover your costs. A difficult decision and one that will no doubt be eagerly awaited by the press when the remuneration panel makes their recommendations.