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Pay and despair volume 2

ok so we all know about pay and dispaly

and we know the penalty for not doing it

so we pays our money

and sometimes we get told

if we spend more than £10.00

we get our money back

ok

its only 70p

but what if we dont get it back

what if the till assisatant happilty takes our receipt

and doesnot refund it

where do we stand

we have no rights

 

 

this happened  to me today

in a major chain in deal

im not saying this is a new practice of theirs

but just a warning

that it does happen!

sent to coventry

this morning I am attending a meeting of my professional association in coventry. I like to share the knowledge and practices from local government to other areas.

great mongeham drop in

this morning I went to the drop in. today we discussed the north deal funding announcement. so far the local press has ignored the role of the coalfield communities campaign involvement in this decision. there was also talk about recycling

dover district chamber of commerce AGM

tonight I attended the Agm.there was a mostly positive report on business issues in the district

Final Lent course session

Tonight some memebers have taken action by starting a petition and will also write to some key figures on recycling

i applaud and support their efforts

plastics recycling

today I took a load of recyclable plastics and cardboard to the local kent county council waste site. I was dusmayed to find that I could not recycle the plastics as this service is being withdrawn. I feel that this is a retrograde step.

5th Sunday in lent

This morning i went to church for Holy Communion

while there some residents raised concerns about recycling in Dover and the provison of Black Boxes

i have promised to see what i can arrange.

After Church i was following up on the Electoral Roll for the Parish church as today is the last day for such changes.

While visiting someone there was a question but help with tree planting as recent storms had led to the loss of some significant trees in the village.

again i will take this matter forward to see what help i can arrange

 

Eastry Big Breakfast

This morning i went to the Big breakfast at Eastry Village Hall.

There were people from neighbouring villages as well as many residents from Eastry for this Charity fund raising event.

eastry drop in

this morning I attended the eastry drop in. there was discussion about door to door sales people

expansion of english coalfield programme

this afternoon the chief executive of ebglish partnerships announced the expansion of the coalfield programme which will include a site in north deal

6th national coalfields conference

I am at the magna centre today. this is a converted steelworks near sheffield. delgates from the CCC were there as well as representatives of government agencies such as english partnerships and the regional development agencies. kent was represented by a strong contigent from dover dc and seeda

coalfields 10 year dinner

john prescott gVe the keynote adress T the CCC 10 year anniversary dinner

Kent highways tribute

While in eastry last week i was informed about some streetlight problems which i duly reported online.

Yesterday i was informed by the same resident that the problem had been fixed so i must pay tribute to the Kent Highways online reporting service.

Good work Team! 

Cherry Lane success

just received news on the outcome to Cheery Lane recycling problems

 "The Council, has for some time, been seeking a solution to all the narrow access and 'hard to reach' properties in the district, of which Cherry Lane is just one.  Attempts have been made to secure additional, external funding for a smaller, narrower vehicle and we have now learnt that this funding is available.  A vehicle was tried in the district on Monday and I am pleased to inform you that it can gain access to Cherry Lane without the need to remove any trees.  Also, this external funding means that this vehicle can operate within existing budgets.   Collections will start at the end of April/beginning of May and all residents will be contacted prior to the start of the scheme informing them of their collection day and a calendar will be provided.   Dover District Council is working hard to ensure that all residents have access to the black box recycling scheme and would like to thank you for your patience whilst we found a solution."

 

while this is a step in the right direction, the council will continue to expand our recycling services to further improve this service to residents

 

Eastry Parish annual parish meeting

this evening I attended the Eastry parish annual meetinh. My colleague Nick Kenton and I gave a presentation on the major projects happening in the district. most of the discussion was on recycling

tilmanstone parish council

tilmanstone parish council met tonight . there was discussion on the play area project as well as elections

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looking for fun?

during this time it can be interesting to see what a search engine turns up

try using councillors name followed by the word "Blog" on yahoo uk!

 

send in your favourite search phrase

E government seminar

today I attended a seminar in london on electronic government. Dr Peter blair talked about the need to increase efficiency using web enabled technologies

Mothering sunday

today we celebrated mothering sunday as well as had a blessing for the new west door to the

church. The Rev Peter Hambrroks leads the sunday school from the door through the church.

Saturday

after a hectic week i spent today doing family things, shopping, cooking, cleaning, visiting friends.

with the election campaign coming up - that is the reason why i removed link to dover district council and likewise removed link from my council webpage to this blog (Thus democracy is protected), it was good to spend time with the family .

the good weather was also nice to enjoy before the wintry blas forecat for next week.

hope you all have a nice weekend too!

wind turbine

the recent favourable decision on the wind turbine has caught the attention of a number of residents and they too would like to explore this source of energy.

There seems to be a feeling by some that the individual can have limited impact on environemntal issues however i am keen to stress that even modest efforts can have enormous effects if we all start making the effort, so am keen to see the council leading in this way.

Eastry drop In

This morning i attended the eastry drop in.

a question that was mentioned a few times was the number of streetlights left on during daylight hours.

i have reported sevral of these around eastry recently as it seems odd that in times when many of us are trying to save energy, streetlights are still buring during daylight hours.

i hope it is a fault that can be easliy rectified

I know that a number of residents are concerned about tis situation

great mongeham

Great mongeham society met tonight . The original speaker was unable to attend so we had jo burns from bbc kent. She was discussing the way she puts together new stories. In particular she was talking about the wedding at great mongeham last saturday .this was memorable as it was the first event with the new church doors. The doors will.be blessed this sunday at the mothering sunday family service

candidate briefing

this evening I attended a briefing meeting at the council offices.

Is this the end of civilization?

i was disgusted by the recent revelations about the Blue Peter Show and telephone competitions.

such behaviour might be expected from other shows but this act has done much damage to the good name of the BBC and its children's offering, although my daughter may not agree and is still an avid Blue Peter fan.

i know none of are perfect but i still feel that the BBC deserves to keep a higher level  of integrity ( the phrase about removing the log from my own eye before complaining about the speck in others).

 

streetlights

in my meetings with residents, some have complained about streetlights being left on all day

they oo are concerned about the waste of such occurrences and i will follow up with the those concerned to ensure that it does not continue

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caring for the environment

i was just browsing the topics of my fellow bloggers tonight and i notice many of them are highlighting problems of litter, rubbish and pollution.

 

Terry Huggins is having a rant about litter, Adrian Knapper is highlighting Jeremy Paxman's comments, Richard Bailey is comment on the work of those who keep parks looking clean while Paul Rogan discusses the merits of air taxes, not to mention my own little piece on dog Fouling.

I feel there is much in common that we want our local evironemnts to be litter, rubbish and free of other sorts of pollution.

But we need the support of residents too.

lets all give the matter more thought this week and look at ways each of us can make a difference and not leave it to others!

It seems there is cross party support so perhaps there is hope after all.

Dog Fouling

Today i visted a residnt who who concerned about dog fouling on the walkways around the district

this is a problem with no easy answers as unless someone actually sees it and reports it then we have little we can do.

i am interested in hearing other's views to see if we can improve this regrettable situation.

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Dinner at the Bohemian

tonight i went out to dinner at the bohemian restaurant in Deal with my wife. One of the pitfalls of elected life is out many nights of the week. this week i was out  for 4 nights.

anyway we went to the bohemian and enjoyed some lovely main courses. I had the scallops while my wife had the Goats cheese.

Dessert was nice to but coffe was a complete disaster

we just wanted 2 cappucinos one of which was to be decaf

first they brought out a decaf latte cappucino and a decaf

next time was a decaf cappucino and a coffee

by this time i had had enough.

so we had them but left no tip

the tip i wanted to leave them was to read this blog

is it too complicated to ask for 2 cappucinos one being decaf?

after dinner we nad a stroll along Deal pier

it is one of the unsung gems of the southeast and the view back to Deal is quite spectacular

I am confident the new pier building will further enhance this icon

DDC webpage usage

one of the tasks i take great delight in is looking at the usage statistics for the DDC webpage.

a recent innovation is information showing the times of most usage and for last month it was between 8-9 pm and again at 4.00 am

this demonstrates the necessity for having a wider range of services for residents and other users so that they can conduct business with the council outside business hours.

 

or maybe they just cant sleep and use the minutes page to guarantee slumber!

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Eastry drop In

This morning i attended eastry drop in at the village hall. while there i asked about footpath issues and highway cleaning problems.

i will take this up with the officers concerned to get some action in these areas.

Northbourne Parish Council

Tonight i attended the northbourne Parish Council

there was discussion on planning issues and council taxes.

the parishes set their own tax level which is then included in the overall tax collected by the districts.

Westminster Event

today i visited portcullis house at wesminster for a seminar on the accountability of the regional development agencies. The event was orgainsed by the Aliance for Regional aid, a loobying organisation for Britain's Traditional Industrial areas including the coalfields.

I was pleased to see our local MP there and was glad that he supported the council's view that there needs to be improvements to some of the districts traffic problems such as Operation stack and the dualling of the A2.

Prof Alan Harding from the Univesity of Manchester gave a thoughtful presentation on the problems with the regions such their lack of economic and cultural resonance with the popoulation, in other words, people rarely describe themselves as being southeastern, but more commonly as Kentish or from Dover.

Professor Harding also described the London effect as it is a powerhouse for a wide area covering parts from 6 regions however places such as Kent and East Sussex were experiencing limited benefit from this proximity.  

Council tax

Tonight is the full council meeting to decide the council tax for the year.

The first parts to discuss the SIMALTO consultation and the Corportae Plan went uneventfully but the discussion on the actual tax level was quite heated  bordering on an uproar.

There was description of the budget being bland yet this conflicts with the neutral obesrevation by the scrutiny support that this was a budget by an ambitious council.

the tax was passed by a majority,

The budget is a balanced one and sets the council in a godd financial position for the coming year.  

Multimedia message Sutton Parish Council

some companies do the right thing

after the furore of yesterday. the company in question made  satisfactory amends to the situation and a local charity will be the beneficiary

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Why cant they do what the customers want - at least they admitted their mistake

recently i placed an order with a company online

their process sent me a confirmation email with the correct delivery instructions so i was furious when the goods arrived at my residence rather than in New zealand.

if internet trading comapnies want repeat business then they need to smarten up their act.

 

i have emailed the company and they are sending out the item to the correct address at no charge

the extra cap will be donated to a local charity

 

Playbill Australia, ABN 27 003 311 064
1017 Pacific Hwy
Pymble, NSW, 2073
Australia

cabinet meeting

this morning i attended a cabinet meeting. Items on the agenda included the fees and charges for 2007-8, and the propsed regeneration project in north deal.

The meeting also discussed the 3rd quarter performance report.

Combined service

This morning i attended a combined service at St Leonards in upper deal.

It was also a baptism and conformation service and my 3 boys were being conformed by Bishop Graham Cray, Bishop of Maidstone.

It was quite a special service and the church was quite full with memebrs of all 4 churches in cluster as well as supporters from outside the cluster.

CCC

today i attended the National CCC meeting in south shields.

there was a lively discussion on the future of this worthy body as it looks at opportunities to merge with other traditional industrial lobbying organisation.

there is much on both sides of the argument with a need to preserve the CCC name and its core values of ensuring the best outcome for the mining communities, balanced against a recognition that memebrship is falling and much of the physical regeneration work is completed.even the enlargement of the EU has had an impact on CCC lobbying efforts.

the members are engaged in this debate and i am sure more is to follow with the april meeting in Copeland before the annual meeting in rotherham

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