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Recess

Well after last weeks rush, this week is supposed to be the first week of the summer recess.

Apart from  a planning meeting the next scheduled council meeting is cabinet in September.

However the work of the council goes on. today i had a meeting with the chielf finance officer to discuss issues such as next years budget and the way forward for our Information technology.

I also dropped in on the chief executive to discuss the relocation of the miner's statue in Dover. the main issue seems to be where to site it - as there a a number of possible sites within the Former East Kent Coalfield. Community consultation will be important here.

I asl had a chat with fr Jeff from aylesham about the contined lobbying to get St Josephs co- located with the County primary school in Aylesham. There has been no formal decision on this so we will keep up our efforts to secure the best deal for the local community.

Current mood: Happy


Church

This morning i went with members of my family to church as well as taking a friend too. It is probably terribly politically incorrect but i need to epress my faith this way. In fact i see the role of being a councillor as a type of ministry, serving the community. It can also be a chance for people to raise issues of concern to them . in fact today a resident raised the state of one of the walkways in the village to my attention so i will  have a chat to people concerned to see if the matter can be resolved.

Even on Sundays people send me emails, today i received one about the speed of traffic through the villages so i will raise this with cabinet colleagues to determine what would be the most effective way forward 

Current mood: Happy


Tilmanstone Church Fete

Today i visited the Tilmanstone Church Fete. Many memebrs of the community came to run stalls to help raise funds for the village church. It was also a nice day to say hello to many residents of the village who I have come to know over the last few years.

i was even lucky enough to win some prizes on the Tombola stall and the cakes in the Tea Room were delicious.

My son had a wonderful time in the swimming pool as he met up with some of his school friends.

there were a number of residents i recognised from the surrounding villages too such as Northbourne and Eastry.

The weather was kind and i hope the Church was able to raise enough funds to help them manage over the coming year.

Thanks must go to our kind hosts, The Penders for allowing the event to be held at their farm. I must also applaud the efforts of The Betteshanger Band who played music throughout the afternoon.

Current mood: Happy


The Miner continued

 

Today a attended a meeting down at Dover Seafront to view the statue of the miner and meet with local activists who are campaigning for the move . Most of them were ex miners and it was inspiring to see their passion about this statue.

I along with one of my colleagues from KCC, Cllr Rowbotham are only too happy to lend our suppopirt to help faciliate this move.

I have also left a message with  the chief executive of Dover District council to enlist his support in the project.

I also believe that the Coalfields Communities Campaign has a role to play in this issue.

Current mood: Happy


pay and despair

yet again the parking machine in Deal Sainsburys was out of order. Combined with the hot weather it only increases peoples frustrations.

We need to sort this situation especially as Sainsburys is going through an extension of the store so we can expect even more people to use this car park.

I will plead yet again for a resolution of this appalling situation

Current mood: Angry

Thursday Surgery

Today i visited the Great Mongeham Village drop in. This is a weekly event so that villagers, and others in surrounding communities can come and chat. I use it as an infromal surgery so that residents can come and discuss their concerns.

Today most of the discssion seemed to be about the hot weather.  Many of the residents there are keen gardeners s naturally they were discussing the effects of the heat on their gardens. Some were alos reminiscing about heatwaves in other years and whether this one is hotter.  

 

There was also some discussion about the possible relocationof a statue of miner that is in dover at the moments, but that some feel should be moved to a position in the former Kent Coalfields possibly to the roundabout at the Betteshanger regeneration project.

There is a meeting tomorrow to discuss the campaign to move it. 

 

Current mood: Happy


Meetings

This week we had an important full council meeting to discuss the Local Development Framework and the public consultation. Due to the length of that eeting, it was decided that there would still be a number of important items that could not be dealt with at that meeting so we scheduled another full council meeting before the summer recess.

Tonight we had another lengthy discussion, this time about Dover Harbour Board's 30 Year Plan for the port. There was much discussion about the effects that the port  has on the district. There are both positives as well as detrimental aspects from the ports activities and I hope we conveyed some of these concerns to the Harbour Board.

There was also discussion about road safety on one of the local roads, St Richards Road in Deal. Part of this road is in my ward and i was interested to hear about the traffic problems on this thoroughfare as there have been planning applications that would  increase traffic along the road.

Current mood: Sceptical


Eastry Community Thanked

This evening i attended a reception In eastry village.

The Lord Lieutenant of Kent Sir Allan Willets came to express his thanks, and as the Queen's representative, her thanks as well to the voluntary sector in this community.

In fact he went on further to say that with the challenges being faced by the community, with the opportunities that come with the fast train to London coming to the district, a strong voluntary setcor is the basis for sustainable communities.

i  heartily support Sir Alan's views and appreciate his support for this community, Kents Village of the year in 2005.

I look forward to working with the community in the future

 

the photo shows some of the volunteer activists at the reception

Current mood: Big-Smiley


local development Framework

This evening we had an extraordinary full council meeting to discuss the local development framework.

this will replace the local plan as a means for determining development throughout the district for the next 20 years.

As such it is a highly controversial set of documents.

the meeting was quite long with many councillors voicing their opinions of the documents.

It was quite interesting to see the cross party support for the proposals although local ward issues meant that there was still heated debate over the findings.

I found myself agreeing with some memebers who i usually disagree with as they had a positive contribution to make from their experiences with community consultation in their ward.

In fact much of the work in regeneration that i undertake feeds into this process.

 

The decision was for the council to engage with the community in a further round of consultation so that we progress to the next stage in formulating this set of plans.

I urge all residents in the district to voice their opinions on this issue so that we can take a decision knowing the wishes of the public whom we serve.

Current mood: Happy


communities

Today i visited St Finibars church in Aylesham.

I was there as the minister, Fr Jeff had offered to say a Mass for my mother who passed away in April.

I have been working with Fr Jeff and St Josephs school in Aylesham to look at alternatives to the closure proposed by Kent County Council. There have been a number of meetings with both officers and members of the council .

The dialogue continues and we are still hopeful of a  solution which will allow KCC to minimise surplus places while

maintaining a separate identity for the school.

I am also keen to help the school as i believe that Christian schools have an important role in our local communities.

i am constantly reminded of Jesus' two great commandments - to love God and to love our neighbour. I believe that these form the basis of sustainable communities 

Current mood: Love


Coalfield Communities Campaign Meeting

Yesterday i attended the National CCC meeting in Chesterfield.

There was much discussion of the westminster lobbying event which i attended on wednesday. The general feeling that thie map that was presented was better than hoped for but still a disappointment over what had been previoulsy the case.

Some member authorities had missed out altogether however at least it was felt that many coalfiled areas were still  included in this proposal.

We also discussed the coalfiled research being conducted by the Department of Community and Local Government.

This will help set future strategies for coalfield regeneration across the country.

I was able to personally thank the CCC and in particular the Chairman for their help in getting the Channel Tunnel access to Dover.

 This is an important orgaisation for the council to be a memeber of and i believe that we recieve many benefits from our membership. In fact a scrutiny inquiry into membership of outside bodies found that the CCC was a key strategic organisation for the council.

I look forward to contributing the excellent work of this organisation.

 

Current mood: Happy


Coalfield Research

Yesterday the Department of Community and Local Government came to the district. This is part of the research on the coalfield programme. They are looking at how effective the programme has been. In the Dover District much of the land regeneration work is complete, that is at Tilmanstone and Betteshanger and we expect work to soon start at Snowdon.

The agenda is now shifting to other coalfield issues such as education including the adult skills shortfall, as well as health.

The group toured the Dover coalfield areas and listened to representations from local community activists as well as local councillors.

The photo shows the group on the Tip Site at Snowdon

Current mood: Happy


Broadband access for Tilmanstone continued

 

I have recieved a further reply on this issue from our officers.

" 1) They (KCC) are investigating the possibility of implementing a wireless solution in the area, using a different network supplier

  2) Pressure is being put on BT to run a project to identify all the ‘not spots' in Kent and come up with a solution. KCC have requested that Tilmanstone is given priority status."

This is a key outcome for the council and i will keep up my efforts to ensure a favourable outcome

Current mood: Happy


State Aid Lobbying

This evening I led a delegation from Dover District council to Westminster as part of the Alliance for Regional Aids effort to secure the best deal for the former industrial areas of Britain.

The issue has arisen due to the EU government's decision to reduce the amount of state aid that Britain can have due to the enlargement of the EU.

A number of areas acoss the UK will now fall outside the map of where this aid is eligible.

Basically the aid is for large manufacturing enterprises and East Kent has only one such facility which is still included in the new boundaries.

 We will still keep lobbying to see if any other wards from the former east Kent Coalfields can be included in this area.

It was pleasing that our local MP also attended this lobbying event and we look forward to working with him on this issue.

Current mood: Sceptical


follow up

last night i was highlighting the problems at Tilmanstone  with no access to Broadband internet access. I checked with council officers who confirmed that all residents in the district should have access to such service.

The officer concerned has promised to take this forward to see if we can get an early resolution to this issue.

Current mood: Angry


Tilmanstone Parish

Tonight i attended the Tilmanstone Parish Council.

they were discussing a number of issues such as planning, footpaths, highways and waste disposal

One of the issues tonight was about access to Broadband. The village is unable to acess this despte the assurances given last year. I regard this as unacceptable and will be following up to see when this example of information poverty can be addressed

The parish council meetings are held in the village hall in Tilmanstone. Members of the public are welcome to attend

Current mood: Sceptical


Networking

 On Friday i attended the Midlands region meeting for the coalfield communities campaign. This is a chance to discuss coalfield issues  such as regeneration as well as education and state aid. Ir is also a chance to see how aother authorities are adressing such issues as providing acess to information. I took the photograph below to illustrate how Bolsover District Council is able to provide an information kiosk at their offices that are availble 24/7.

It may seem a simple innovation but then simple can also be effective.

Current mood: Happy


Kent Show

 

Today I took my family to the Kent County Show. It was encouraging to see the numbers of the people visiting and as well the number of exhibitors in the rural sections of the show.

It was also a pleasure to catch up with colleagues from other local authorities such as Kent county Council as well as  Business Link Kent and the environment Agency.

I also chatted to  solar energy equipement suppliers and a water tank manufacturer. These suppliers are finding increased awareness by memebers of the public to the need for such technologies.   

For Dover District Council there is a need to explore the possibilities offered by such technlogies, to increase the efficient use of resources as well as leading the way for adopting sustainable technologies.

It was also a fun day out with my family visiting the interactive displays at many of the exhibitions and sampling the foods on offer.

We are all looking forward to next year's show

Current mood: Love


Great News on track for regeneration

The news that the Dover will have acess to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) is a welcome lift to the local economy. Thanks must go to all those involved and i know in particular that Cllr Nigel Collor has been working hard on this. Council Leader Paul Watkins has also been active in this campaign.

A lot of other people have also been working hard and thanks also to Dr Steve Ladyman MP. I would also like to pay personal tribute to the lobbying efforts of the Coalfields Communities Campaign who have also been very vocal in their efforts to secure this for Dover. Cllr Bill Flanagan MBE is another i would like to single out for his support. Our local MP Gwynn Prosser has also had a part to play.

This will be an important boost to the local economy and will further stimulate debate on the way forward for housing numbers within the district as well as attract new business to the district.

 

Current mood: Big-Smiley


my webcast

Current mood: Happy


Community

Communities

formed for a common good

people living together

but what happens if a party in that community

is harming that community?

who should pay?

 

Local authorities have statuary responsibilities to take action in this area.

The polluter pays has been established as a reasonable concept

fair on the community

 

But when a party is able to duck this responsibility, the the community may feel a sense of injustice.

Dover district council seeks to minimise such injustices for the benefit of the whole community, the community which we serve.

Current mood: Angry