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happy new year 2007

my first blog for the new year!!!

 

now i know the dateline says 11.59 on 31st but that is due to delay between the host clock and GMT as i waited till after  Ben finished chiming before i posted this entry

Current mood: Cool

farewell 2006

as the clock counts down the last few minutes of 2006, i take this time to reflect upon the experiences of this year

during this last month this blogs has been visted by a number of visitors from around the globe

such as

United Arab Emirates

Moldova

Czech Republic

Brazil

Japan

Norway

Togo

as well as many from the UK

i wish you all a happy New year

especially to my fellow bloggers from all sides of the political spectrum

here in this community

My hopes for the new year include the

desire that all residents in the Dover District will have access to Broadband services

the proliferation of online services means that there can be no excuse for communities to be excluded from such services.

i also hope that the campaigns on road safety are able to bring real benefit to the residents in the district

anyway as the time ticks down

my last wish for the year

is to record the last blog for the year

here on this site

(i know thats really sad) but everyone needs a goal, a challenge)

 

 

Current mood: Cool

Multimedia message

St Nnicholas at Sholden was the venue for a united benefice service
a last chance for members of the cluster to worship together in 2006 as well as the authorising of a member as an authorised lay minister and so take their calling further.

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Current mood: Happy


elections looming

at last night's meeting about st richards road, i remarked on the number of labour councillors who were there and how it seemed that they were concentrating on how they could maximise pressure on the county to take action based on their exposure to the local press.

i believe we can accomplish far more by taking a cross party stance for the benefit of the community

im sure the fact that there are local government elections in May is just a coincidence as it would be abhorrent to use this issue as a cynical vote grubbing exercise having ignored the situation over previous years.

 

i have been campaigning for road safety in the villages over the last 4 years and welcome any opportunity to improve these situations. 

Current mood: Sceptical


Multimedia message

cross party support for traffic calming on st richards road deal
n st richards road deal

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eastry drop in numbers were down this week but there was a discussion about recycling
k but there was a discussion about recycling

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vacation perils

i was informed by alocal resident about anincident in the village today.

there are some vacant barns in a state of disrepair that have been the subject of ongoing acyion by the district council to get them made safe.

the problems is that some young people in the area find them an ideal haunt for hanging out however they are falling down which makes them a safety hazard.

Today the loacal police were  called to evict these young people

i am concerned that the barns could collapse at any time

and the owner has beeen erecting fencing to prevent unauthorised entry.

during this time of school vacation, these young people still flock there without regard to the dangers

Current mood: Sad


Post Christmas cleanup

with the inevitable post Christmas cleanup

it was time to head for the recycling depot today

this has several benefits as it prevents some from knowing what presents were received at which residence as well as contributing to the recycling volumes for the county council.

as the year draws to a close i hope we all make resolutions to increase our efforts for recycling in the coming year as i know my ward colleague nickk enton is striving toget get such a result across the district.  

  

Current mood: Cool


ongoing review

one of my frequent tasks is to review the site statistics of visitors to this site

thismonth there have been many visitors from the United Arab Eemirates as well as Togo and Japan

Welcome to these visitors and i hope you leave a record of your visit

items that people have in been searching for in the last month include St Josephs at Aylesham and coalfields.

feel  free to leave your comments as i believe that communicationis a two way process -don't be just a passive spectator -leave your comments and make us all the richer for your input!

 

 

Current mood: Cool


Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to anyone reading this Blog.

This morning i went to church and celebrated Christmas with other members of the community.

the Minister preached a sermon on how we should be putting into actuion in our lives the message of jesus, which i find had 2 simple parts - to Love God, and to Love our neighbour.

perhaps by doing this we can improve our communities

 

i wish people to enjoy the rest of the festive season and to have a safe and prosperous new year.

Current mood: Love


Surgery Development continued

I went to a party with one of my colleagues and we discussed the surgery development in st richards road. i know you may find it sad that we talk about such things during our social time and that maybe we need to get a life.

The withdrawal of the item from the agenda was only for that meeting so there may be more to the story than was previously thought.

i will contact the officers to see if i can find out the full story.

 

Current mood: Sceptical


Multimedia message

Eastry Drop In at Eastry village hall

on the friday before Christmas there was still a good gathering of people for this weekly event.

in fact the organisers said that they will  also be opening next Friday - 30th December so if you can please drop in and make yourself known, even better tell them i sent you!!!

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Current mood: Happy


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betteshanger regeneration team meeting

Today the Betteshanger Regeneration team met at the SEEDA offices in Chatham.

There was a frank discussion about issues facing the project including the issues around the community centre that was in the original plan and provision of facilities for cyclists.

The team is committed to carryonworking for the wider community and looks forward to the opening scheduled to be in late may 2007

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Current mood: Cool


Coalfield heritage initiative in Kent

 

Our village design statement group is interested in what social housing has been provided in the area so today i went to Dover Museumto see what information they had.

I chatted to some of the staff there and they displayed their enthisiams for the subject. It was a real treat to hear of their research on the subject of Coalfields History.

I left them with their pomise to see  what else they could find while they werepleased to see that i added a link to their work from my blog site so please visit it.    

Current mood: Cool


3 -0

Im not talking about the ashes scorline but the number of applications for the development of a surgery on greenbelt land off St Richards Road in deal versus the number of decisions as the applicant have withdrawn the applications.

 

earleir i made a forecast that they probably would withdraw it and tonight at 5.10pm, fifty minutes before the meeeting was due to start, i found out that my prediction had been correct.

 

If this is such a good proposal, why do they keep withdrawing it?

 

Another practice in the town has managed to secure planning approval for their surgery by working within the local plan.

Is this too much to ask?

 

Current mood: Sceptical

3 -0

Im not talking about the ashes scorline but the number of applications for the development of a surgery on greenbelt land off St Richards Road in deal versus the number of decisions as the applicant have withdrawn the applications.

 

earleir i made a forecast that they probably would withdraw it and tonight at 5.10pm, fifty minutes before the meeeting was due to start, i found out that my prediction had been correct.

 

If this is such a good proposal, why do they keep withdrawing it?

 

Another practice in the town has managed to secure planning approval for their surgery by working within the local plan.

Is this too much to ask?

 

Current mood: Sceptical


Multimedia message

Tilmanstone parish council met tonight
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tilmanstone parish council discussed a number of issues
mber of issues

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Celebrations of Christmas

there has been much coverage in the media about celebrations of Chistmas and whether this is politically incoreect,

It was refreshing to see our local church have large attendances at both the morning crib service as well as the evening carol service

Current mood: Happy


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thoughtless fly tipping in the countryside
with the Whitfield waste collection centre only a couple of miles away, one wonders why it is necessary to dump rubbish like this.

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Current mood: Angry


Eastry drop In

after an absence of sevral weeks due to other commitments i managed to attend the Eastry parish drop In

 

Although there were no questions for me to answer, i still enjoy being part of this community event.

I feel that the Parish council has established an important community forum and i look forward to its continued success next year.

Current mood: Happy


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northbourne parish council met tonight to discuss a variety of issues
discuss a variety of issues

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after a protracted meeting members share a christmas drink
a christmas drink

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Christmas get together

 

after another long meeting, members of the council  congregated to celebrate the season of Christmas with wine and mince pies.

although we may have differences of opinion in the chamber we can still mix together and enjoy each others company

Current mood: Cool


planning

nothing gets people so interested in local politiics as planning.

One of the applications during the rounds here is the attempt by one of the Deal practices to ignore the local plan and build on a greenfield site in a location outside of town .

the application has been submitted a number of times but been withdrawn beofore the full planning committee has had a chance to consider the merits or otherwise of this applciation.

again the reccomendation by the officers is to refuse.

i wait to see if yet again this application is withdrawn

Current mood: Sceptical


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the role of cllr sometimes includes unusual tasks like being santa to the local toddler group
al tasks like being santa to the local toddler group

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divine help

This morning at church, the member of the congegation who was doing the intercessions said some prayers for all in authority and after the srvice he cam over to me

to say how he felt that those in local govenment deserved to prayed for as much as the leaders of the nations.

he said how he apprecited the work we do and how it was a thankless task which involved upsetting people no matter what decision we came to

i thanked him for his thoughts and prayers

Current mood: Happy


waste and recycling

this morning i did my weekly trip to the recycling facility at Whitfield.

while there i noticed some people taking their black box recycling for adding to the waste stream.

 

now this raises an interesting problem

the recycling collected at the county waste sites in Whitfield, Deal and Richborough do not count to the District figures.

The waste i take is the plastic and cardboard that the district does not collect yet. however if people take all their recyclables to these centres then the districts councils get worse and could result in the council being penalised for not meeting its targets.

the reason this situation has arisen is that authorities may be classed as waste collection authorities eg Dover District Council and waste disposal authorities eg Kent County Council.

In some ways we are in competition for the residents recyclables.

waste is an important issue for all authorities and i am hoping that ways can be found for partnership working for the benefit of the whole community.

Current mood: Sceptical


IT issues

over the last few weeks we have been working n upgrading the way that members log-on to the district councils systems.

This is an important part of enabling members to work in the 21st century using modern business practices.

as with any change project, there are those who readily embrace the change and those who are slower to update.

finally i feel we have changed over the majority of members and have action plans for the remainder.

 

it is important that members are supported when changes such as this are implemented.

i know other authorities around the country are also grappling with these problems

 

 

Current mood: Cool


getting the message across

today i was cut off on radio kent trying to explain the background to problems at the hersden community around the former colliery near canterbury. The primary school has come bottom in the latest league tables

this comes as no surprise following similar results  from the nearby Montgomery school sevral years ago.

i know that kent county council has been putting in much work.

the point i was highlingting was based on remarks at the CCC conference in Doncaster earleir this year

dr adrian phillips from wolverhampton PCT said that councils should complain to their pct that they are delivering damaged goods in terms of start of life outcomes

he said that due to poor results by PCTs in terms of Smoking during pregancy, and a lack of breastfeeding, many babies start out life with inequalities that lead to poor educational attainment.

He also said that these outcomes affect the more deprived communities hence advocated that local authorities should be putting pressure on their local PCTs to do more to improve these measures.

I beleive out PCT needs to address this issue.

Current mood: Sceptical


Broadband Issues in Sutton

following last night's meeting i contacyted our IT Manager and he is going to take this matter forward.

This is a an important issue to ensure that local residents are not disadvantaged by a lack of infrastructure for electronic communication so i am keen to do whatever possible to improve this situation

Current mood: Sad

School Dinners

directors from whole school meals ltd speak about this exciting venture
They came to talk to our luncheon club about their business

This is an exciting partnership between local schools and local business and takes advantage of Kent County Council's more flexible approach to tendering for school meals.

The company uses local produce wherever possible (local Banana producers please apply)

I wait to see the success of this venture

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Current mood: Happy


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Sutton parish discussed problems regarding broadband in the village

apparently there are widely differing levels of service within the parish and even within some of the villages and other settlements.

with the wider use of the internet it is important that these residents do not get left out of this technologiacl revolution

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Current mood: Sad

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cllr scales part of the dover delegation to see the minister
Margaret Hodge MP of the Department of Trade and Industry. This was about the next round of Eurpoean Funding.

We see that it is vital to show that the Former Coalfields in East Kent have areas of need still to be tackled.

In fact the minister noted on the good relationship that the east kent authorities have with our regional development Agency SEEDA and how there are opportunities to build on some of the good work already achieved.

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Current mood: Cool


Eastry Parish Council

tonight i attended the monthly Eastry Parish Council

there was a protracted discussion about consecration of the cemetry there. Some can remember it being done in 1952 but apparently the church cannot locate records of this so has asked the parish council for assistance.

 

there was also discussion about planning, highways and furniture.My colleaue Nick Kento and i also gave a report about matters at the district Council such as the Connaught Prison Decision, The local Government white paper, the finace settlemnt from Central Government, and the Assisted Area Status from the EU. Waste and the Local development Framework  process were also mentioned.

We both believe that it is vital to keep the parish councils informed about what is happening to ensure that thgis message gets through to our residents.

Current mood: Cool

Minority Administration

following on from the decision of a backbench member to defect to the Liberal Democrat party, the Conservative administration again finds itself as a minority administration, a state we have been used to over much of the term of this council.

I would point out that the decison of the local association to deselect the member prior to his announcemnt is possibly a coincidence.

 

We look forward to the contiuned work in making the district a better place without him   perhaps i should rephrase that ambiguity although a sense of vagueness may be appropriate.

 

but perhaps this is his finest attempt at recycling!

Current mood: Sceptical


Visitors

I notice from the web page statistics that for this month there have been visitors from Moldova, The czech Republic and the United arab Emirates.

thank you for stiopping by and i hope you leave a comment

I also appreciate feedback from local residents and others with interests in the district

 

if you are working today then i hope you enjoy your day!

 

Current mood: Cool


worth the wait

its been a long time coming but the fowlmead country park seems a step nearer with the new website. The date for the opening has now been advertised for the 27th and 28th May 2007.

i know many in the local community have been waiting patiently ( and perhaps not so patiently ) for this big event.

the opening will mark the culmination of many years work not to mention frustration and even some anger following the closure of the Betteshanger Colliery in 1989.

We now will be working hard to achieve the success that this regeneration project promises as yet another step forward for the whole of the east Kent area.

Current mood: Happy

Friends St Augustines

This morning i attended a dropin for the Friends of St Augustines in Northbourne.

I was pleased to be invited and to renew aquaintances with many of those present .

i enjoy that sense of community that exists in these small groups.

 

 

Current mood: Love


Multimedia message CCC national Meeting

ccc national meeting at dover district council offices
members from around England travelled down to dover to discuss coalfield issues.

Among the topics of discussion were EU funding, The report on the English Coalfield program by consultants SQW, Housing, the Coalfield Conference next year  and the future of the CCC.

The meeting was also attended my many members from Kent who would not normally travel to national CCC meetings. they represented both sides of the political spectrum although no local liberal democrat members attended. The CCC is a non party political organisation and any attempt to bring this in is discouraged by the chairman Cllr Bill Flanagan.

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Current mood: Happy