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slings and arrows

Shakespeare posed the problem

in his play Hamlet

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
: the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"

In public life

we are sometimes called upon

to make a stand on isuues

that are unpopular

or even makes us enemies

with some sections of the community

yes enemies

i dont use that term lightly

in fact i understand that some members of the local community

harbour deep seated grudges

about some of the campaigning i have been doing

i understand this

an accept this necessary penalty

so it comes as no surprise that these people

try to use other agencies

to get at me anonymously

i will follow the  wishes of the wider community

and not allow these small minded people

to distract me.

 

i have been encouraged and touched

by the support of close friends and family

so i will continue campaigning

on those issues

which concern the residents in my ward

 

Current mood: Sceptical


Multimedia message

We take for granted access to some services such as mobile telephones. This week i am in cornwall and reception is patchy. I wonder what services are also patchy. The opportunities offered by modern technology should be available to all

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Caravans these vehicles blight our roads as well as are involved in numerous accidents lets think of banning them from our roads on bank holidays
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Road safety

Today at our village shop/post office i noticed a petition about road safety in one of the roads in the village. This was Cherry Lane. A boy was knocked off his bike recently by a car.  so naturally some residents are very concerned and would like to see traffic calming.

I support this stance as i believe that many people drive too fast in our villages as i have noticed some drivers just drive at the one speed whether they are in the villages or in the country an this speed seems to be 40 MPH. Once theyr leave the Motorway they stick to this speed no matter what the conditions.

I will be writing to Kent highways to see if there is anything that can be done about this situation

Current mood: Sad


Great Mongeham

Today i attended the great Mongeham Drop in. In fact i was heartened by the comments by some residents there how helpful it is and how they reccomend me to new residents.

I am not able to sort out every problem as the odour issue in Northbourne has proved to be difficult to find a satisfactory outcome.

The drop in today was busy with many residents from not only Great Mongeham but also from villages such as  Northbourne, Ripple and Eythorne.

I would encourage my colleagues to patronise similar events in their wards to ensure that we are visible, approachable and effective.

Current mood: Happy


Red Light Danger

Today i went down to Dover to do some shopping.

I parked not far from the town cntre but still had a reasonable walk into the main shopping precinct. On the way i had to cross sevral roads with some of my children and some of these roads had pedestrian crossings with traffic signals.i was amazed at the lack f respect other pedestrians had towards these signals and would happily cross even though the signal was against them. I believe that the railway term for this is "Signals Passed at Danger" or SPAD. Further research on the internet revealed that such an event was responsible for the 1999 Paddington rail tragedy.

 

i believe that such tragedies will again happen while people ingore these signals whether it be on the roads, at level crossings or on the railways.  The crossing at the junction of Deal High Street and Queen Street  is another place to see this reckless behaviour. Perhaps next time you cross against the signals, spare a thought for the victims of Paddington. 

Current mood: Sad


Snowdon forum

This evening i attended the Snowdon Forum. this is a consultative body set up similar to the Betteshanger Regeneration team to help consult with SEEDA on the this important regenration project. The scheme is advancing albeit slowly. tonight there was some questioning abut my involvement and the role of the CCC. I attend the Snowdon Forum in an observer role and to lend my support where necessary.

the role of the CCC is to support such schemes by lobbying the relevant bodies where necessary and i feel that the Natioanl CCC have been very supportive and useful to the Snowdon project, one that is perhaps the most costly in the entire English coalfield programme. 

indeed some members of this forum enjoy my quieter profile as it means that i can listen to their views rather than focussing on a personal agenda.

I look forward to the continued success of this project

 

Current mood: Happy


Feedback

today i recieved feedabck on items i was asked about at eastry drop in

i like to feed back this to the people who asked initially.

my one misgiving is the lack from feedback from this site.

i would like to establish dialogue with readers so please send me comments which i hope you wont mind my posting on this website

 

Current mood: Cool


Open Garden

This afternoon i went with my daughter Alice to visit the opn garden at West Studdal Farm. This is an annual event run under the National Garden Scheme.

i always find it inspirational as it is a lovley garen set in the countryside.

It is also nice to chat to local members of the community and today was no exception.I chaated to people about some of the ongoing problems such as smoke nuisance from bonfires in urban environments .

I  also discussed the new opportunities for the district with the news about access to the CTRL. Others have also noted the change in the optimism for the district with this and other projects being taken forward.

Current mood: Happy


weather

this month has certainly seen a change from the dry conditions prevailing earlier in the summer.

the cooler and wetter conditions are doing much to relieve the  dryness. however the facts of climate change still need to be looked at. With such change coming there may need to be a rethink over many aspects of our lives. Initiatives like the extra points for not using carrier bags should be applauded.

By thinking of small changes we can make perhaps we can move to a more sustainable civilization

so that we can pass on a decent legacy to our children.

Current mood: Sceptical


Eastry and assorted feedback as well as Big Brother Result

My children think i should blog the Big brother result which although perhaps more interesting to the general population is not what i want to use this forum for. 

This morning i attended the Eastry Drop In

a number of residents had queries about toilet cleanliness, recycling, and street lights. I sent out the appropriet emails to get action or advice on these isuues and have fed this information back to those residents.

I also received a response to my query on lobbying on parking enforcement notices. The council position is based on the following extract from central government guidelines -

"Given the semi-judicial role of the representation process, local authority members should play no part in deciding on individual representations"

I am continuing my challenge on this interpretation as i still believe that members should have not have their representative role taken away - i am not saying we should be the decision maker but to more importantly represent residents who feel they have been penalised unfairly.

 

congratulations to the winner and runner up in Big Brother 7

Current mood: Sceptical


Multimedia message

Today in the local press there was an article about a memo sent out to members about intervening in parking disputes. I see such lobbying as a natural part of a members role. Problems do arise from time to time and i feel an attempt to gag members flies in the face of our representative role :-x

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Current mood: Mad


coalfields

today i received an email

about the updated business plan for the Kent Coalfields Communities Campaign (KCCC).
there is concern from a member in another authority that tthis lobby group is not democratic despite all members being elected from coalfield authorities in Kent.

Over the past 3 and a bit years the KCCC has had a fruitful time lobbying on behalf of local authorities on many issues such as Miners pension Funds, Miners compensation, regeneration, transport, education , health and state aid.

It is unfortunate that some members do not recognize the value of this work and do not seek to give their wholehearted support to the KCCC

Current mood: Sad


cycling

I find visiting belgium so inspirational as cycling is so much more widely adopted. The cycle racks at the statins and in other public places are usually full. it would be encouraging to get such cycle use over here but the infrastructure is lacking.

i see some progress being made and i am hopeful that initiatives like the Betteshanger regeneration will further stimulate interest in cycling and encourage more people to take it up.

Its just a pity that there isnt a smiley face for hopeful

Current mood: Happy


Multimedia message

we just had appalling service from this restaurant in Brugges. So we advise against using it unless you want to wait ninety minutes for a light lunch :-x
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On vacation with my children in belgium i am impressed by the bus service. There is a frequent service which makes them easy to use. The buses look small so perhaps that is the secret small but frequent.
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Today i caught the eurotunnel and i was impressed by the way they handled security during this period of increased tension. The only down side was some idiot who tried to jump the queue however the staff were able to handle this disruption :-)
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Eastry

This morning i attended the Eastry villagedrop in. This is mosty staffed by members of the parish council and they have developed the drop in to include services such as hearing aid battery replacement as well as visits by the police in their mobile police station and the rural warden. This makes it a god opportunity to swap ideas and information as well as a general chat with other local authority service providers.. It is encouraging to see such a drop in being used to  ensure that the local community is receiving the appropriate services. Of course people still ask all sorts of questions and it is also encouraging to see a wide section of the community from young parents with  toddlers to the more mature members of the community makeuse  of this activity.

Current mood: Happy


Great Mongeham Drop In

This morning i attended the Drop in at the village hall. A number of residents were there and had quiestions about licensing as well as environmental concerns. I passed n the questions o the appropriate peple. There was also a lot f disquiet about the NHS particularly the state of the Hospitals. Peple want to knw why the number of nurses are going down yet newly trained nurses cannot find employment. Coupled with the poor standard of hospital cleanliness evidenced by a rise in hospital borne infections, people are questioning the whether the government has the right set of priorities.

 

Current mood: Angry


communications

one of the  most challenging parts of a councillor is keeping residents up to date with whats happening in the district. To this end we rely on the media and increasingly electronic forms such as the internet. I do like to also use the parish magazines in the villages as this represents and important channell which also demostrates that we are a part f the local communities and take an interets in whay is happening in each village. This week i have been drafting an article for one of the parishes as they also like our input so residents understand our role. The role of these village news editors can be thankless so i just would like to use this forum to pay tribute to their work 

Current mood: Happy


Snowdon Forum

Tonight was an important meeting for the Snowdon Forum. This is a group of community activists as well as loca lcouncillors from parish district and county councils, The Snowdon project is perhaps one of the most difficult in the English Coalfield program. nw events seem to be moving and there is hope that a planning appication can be submitted soonso that then the local community can see progress after years of consultation. Tonight there was evidence that not all the obstacles have been ironed out however i feel that there is a genuine desire to see the prject move ahead. The recent progress with this project is coming on top of the Aylesham Project as well as the second Phase of the White Cliffs Business Park, the Betteshanger Regeneration scheme  and the good news on transport lend an air of optimism to the district.

The needs of the communities involved must be kept in mind to ensure that any progress is for the benefit of the wider community and not exacerbating problems

Current mood: Happy


North Deal

One of the projects i take an interest in is the North Deal Project. This is looking at the provision of community facilities for this locality. The local community is participating through the North Deal partnership. They have a logo "CANDO" which stands for Community Action, North Deal and Opportunities.

The community is well supported by agencies such as Dover District Council, Kent County Council and SEEDA (South East England Development Agency). Together we are trying to put in place the community facilities required to remedy some of the problems that  are evident such as employment, health, child care facilities and adult education.

These are complex problems and it is pleasing to see the work of community activists in  trying to alleviate these problems by working in partnership with the lcal authorities

Current mood: Happy


more questions

this morning at church a numebr of people had questions for me

they were asking about roadsweeping, parking problems and recycling

i have sent off emails asking for assistance as necessary

it is encouraging to be able to give people practical help with these issues

Current mood: Happy


IT provision

I had a chat to our IT manager yesterday as i am keen to help the council better take use of emergent technologies to increase our effectiveness and generate more savings.
Last year we migrated our email provision to Outlook which enabled those staff with palmtops to better use this technology and i am keen to find similar sucessful opportunities.

I believe that this is an ongoing challenge and i am committed to exploring any avenue which will help us realise this goal

 

Current mood: Happy


Ongoing Work

yesterday i mentioned the problems regarding problems with sewerage in Northbourne and today i am pleased to say that the immediate problem has been resolved. The tanks were emptied and the discharge pipes have been cleaned. I have also spken with officers about ongoing maintenance to see that the problem is not repeated.

The problems regarding recycling are also being taken in hand and the funding for the timeball tower has a partial solution and again under further investigation.

There are still more issues to be addressed such as street cleaning in Northbourne so i have sent off emails

 

Current mood: Happy


Thursday Surgery

Today was my informal surgery in Great Mongeham. It is held during the drp in at the village Hall. A number of residents are regular attendees at this event from surrounding villages as well as residents from Great Mongeham and Deal.

Today there were a number of issues raised such as problems with a cesspit in Northbourne, changes to the Tesco freebus at Whitfield, recycling collections and funding for the Timeball Tower museum in Deal.

So after the drop in i made a number of inquiries and sent emails on these concerns.

The Cesspit problem seemed the most urgent so i followed that up straight away with the local residents and inspected the problem. The officers at the council were also quick to come up with a response so i am hopeful that this issue will be quickly resolved.

 

 

Current mood: Cool


survey

at the moment we are putting out a survey to see how staff and members are satisfied with the support they get frm the IT department. Such an internal survey is important to ensure that services are porperly supported and feel that they can take full advantage of the opportunities offered by new information technologies.

I feel sometimes that it is easy to get a biased view of the way technlogies are adoted. For example yetserday i went to one of our area offices to collect some tickets for the upcoming movie event and i overheard staff talking about problems with the technology so when i returned home i sent off a message asking if there were ways to alleviate this problem

i am keen to impress upon staff the idea that technological problems should be addressed for the good of both the staff and the community who they serve.

Current mood: Happy


Traffic Calming

Over the last couple of days i with local residents have been engaged in an email campaign to get some action on traffic calming in Eastry Village.

The parish council has set some funds aside to help with this issue. The job now is to get Kent Highways to come to the party and also commit resources to get this work moving.

My cabinet colleagus at Dover DC are improving helpful so i am asking local people to write to Kent Highways as well to see if we can get this issue actioned.

 

Current mood: Sceptical