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extension to LDF consultation

The Local Development Framework Consultation has been extended till 9am on the 12th May so now is a last chance to have your say on this strategy.

I hope that residents use this opportunity to have their say on this vital piece in the future of planning across the district.

Current mood: Cool


Cardinal's view of faith in British Society

I was interested in an address that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, gave at  Westminster Cathedral on Thursday. I managed to track down the addresss in full on the Roman catholic website.

The cardinal was dicussing how faith had an important role in British Society. He also discussed "the considerable spiritual homelessness. At the same time as there is a lot of public interest in religion. Many people have a sense of being in a sort of exile from faith-guided experience. They think that even if they wanted to believe, faith is no longer an option for them". The cardinal is right to highlight such issues and at civic level i too believe that these issues need to be raised and to look at the interplay with faith and service to the community.  I also believe that my colleagues from all hues of the politcial rainbow share these understandings.

Current mood: Happy


IOM short courses

This morning i went to a meeting of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport which last year merged with the Institute of Operations Management. I was there to discuss short courses as well as membership. I like to take an active role in my professional body as I believe that practices can be shared for the benefit of both my civic role and my professional role.

I believe a number of my colleagues in local government share simialr views

Current mood: Cool


Great Mongeham Drop In

This morning I went to the drop in. While I was there a resident complained to me about a rodent problem in one of the villages.

I relayed this information to our officers and they will invesigate this and take the appropriate action.

i believe a timely response is called for in such circumstances.

Current mood: Cool


eastry traffic problems

This evening i went to Eastry for a meeting on traffic. The parish council had managed to get key members from Kent Highway services including Mr Ray Ball and the KCC cabinet member for highways Cllr Keith Ferrin. An officer from Dover district was also on hand to advise how parking regulations could be used to help the situation.

There was a constructive discussion and after we had a tour of the worst affected  parts of the village.

Eastry Parish Chairman and DDC councillor Cllr Nick Kenton with Cllr Keith Ferrin

Current mood: Cool


Sutton Parish annual parish meeting

This evening i went to the meeting. There were reports from organizations in the parish. I was disturbed to find that the womens institute is closing after almost 80 years service to the village. The village halll committee is also having trouble finding members yet the parish council wants to further restrict development in the district. One wonders what their agenda is, or do they like seeing the erosion of community facilities in the villages. They claim to represent the community yet more and more services are being lost. They are quick to fault the district council for wanting to turn this decline around yet say that they see no evidence of a need for growth. How many more services must be lost before they admit their error.

Perhaps they feel that communities do not want to keep their existing services.

Current mood: Sceptical


email problem fixed

Councils officers have spent the bank holiday weekend rectifying an email problem. The officers have now fixed the peroblem and all emails sent to the council have been delivered to the correct recipients with no loss of data.

There will be a review about this incident to see what can be learnt so as to further improve this area of service delivery.

Current mood: Cool


Yoof Strategy

Regular readers of this blog (all two of you) will have probably noticed that I have occasionally mentioned the LDF consultation once or twice as though it might have some importance for residents in the district. Well another strategy is out for consultation, the Youth strategy and this also closes on the 7th of May so I encourage people to look at this on the council website and make their representations.

Current mood: Cool


conspiracy theorists

Due to technical problems the council's email system has been down. The consultation phase of the local development framework (LDF) is drawing to a close and conspiracy theorists have now linked the two asserting that the the reason the emails are down is to prevent people submitting thier comments.

The one flaw in this argument is that representations on the LDf may be made online using the website. I registered as a user of the service and submitted a comment this morning so this service is not affected by the email problems. 

Why let the truth get in the way of a good conspiracy?

Current mood: Cool


1 patient 1 problem

Following a recent blog entry on general practice appointments, a reader shoved a clipping from pulse magazine under my nose. ( One article to be taken externally.)

The article "10 minutes and your're out" discussed the policy of limiting patients to 1 problem per appointment. The author asserted "Can I just say I don't think you guys have thought this through". so it seems that this policy is not universally embaraced by the medical profession and that some GPs like to use their understanding of the individual to know when to move them on.

Hooray for a common sense approach.  

Current mood: Sceptical


Great Mongham Parish Council

This evening i went to the annual meeting of the parish council. The new chairman Cllr Terry Madgwick was elected Chairman and Cllr Penny Swales was elected Vice Chairman.

the council also resolved to move to the Kent County Council format for its website.

Current mood: Cool

Great Mongeham Drop in

This morning I went to th drop in. as soon as i walked through the door I was asked about a situation regarding parking in Mongeham road where people are parking across the footpath making it difficult for pedestrians to ngotaite thir way along the road.

I have taken photographic evidence which I will send to parking service for their advice.

Current mood: Cool