Home again and time for a more detailed account of the last 3 days. The council's economy drive turned out to be a bit of a pain when the hotel we were booked into proved not to have a restaurant or even a breakfast room attached. The breakfast was delivered in a plastic bag to the floor outside the bedroom door. Or at least it was on the first morning. On the second morning it just didn't materialise at all. The content of the plastic bag was worthy of a photographic record. Fortunately I'd already decided that I was going to an early bird session on planning at which breakfast was provided - a selection of hot items, lots of fresh orange juice, coffee and fresh fruit. Definitely worth getting out of bed for.
The session on planning was useful and interesting, but would have been even more useful 2 years ago - c'est la vie!
The conference proper had a session with Michael Parkinson talking about dignity in old age and how every one of us has a responsibility to treat people with dignity and respect whatever their mental state. He talked with humour and pathos of his experiences as his mother developed dementia.
A fringe meeting with Sandi Toksvig, billed as a Question Time style evening, was more disappointing as lots of pre-prepared questions were put to a panel and there was little time for spontaneous contributions from the audience. It did, however, produce a few excellent moments and gave a name to be watched for in future - Amina Ismail from Liverpool hopes to be a councillor after the next elections there and has been shadowing the leader to find out what's involved. If she's not in a leadership role in 5 years I'll eat my hat. The title of the evening was "A woman's place in local government" and I concluded that Amina's was at the top.
That was followed by a very pleasant meal with colleagues from Yorkshire and Sussex, sharing ideas, hopes and concerns about the next couple of years.
And at the end of all that it was still so hot that I needed a shower before I could settle down to sleep, only to be woken by the ongoing noise from the Rock Bar over the road - the joys of the Harrogate Travelodge.
Thursday's early bird meeting was in a different venue and there wasn't such a good selection for breakfast but nevertheless the fresh juice was very welcome and the bacon sandwich was a rare treat.
A session on inland waterways was relevant to the river both in our ward and in the centre of Stockton. The workshop on climate change was less interesting, but was followed by a talk from Vince Cable, measured and convincing as ever. Why aren't the banks which were bailed out by the taxpayer helping the economy by supporting small and medium businesses more? Why is the government in such a hurry to sell them back to private ownership before they've put right the wrongs which led to their being taken over in the first place.
There followed a session on protecting the most vulnerable in our society - young children who can't protect themselves. The first part of it was full of statistics and had me wondering why I was there rather than doing something useful but the second part, from Martin Narey of Barnardos was excellent. He dared to go against the current view that keeping a child in a family is always the best thing for the child and suggested that at times a well run residential home can be much better for some children. His illustrations included the story of a child with severe behaviour problems who had over 40 foster placements in under 3 years - what earthly good was that doing for the child? It was a very challenging talk and will colour my thoughts on the care of children for some time I think.

Harrogate in the Sun

I'm spending 3 days at the Local Government conference in Harrogate, with lots of opportunity to meet up with other councillors and officers from around the country and chances to discuss issues with exhibitors and see if there's anything they might offer in the way of help, advice, funding etc. So far I've managed some information on carbon reduction, ideas on planning and some information which might be of help in what we are hoping to do for young people in the area.
There's more to come and I'm going to suffer from information overload by the end of the conference but lots of notes will help sort it out over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile the sun's shining outside and it's far too nice to be indoors.

Two very different issues on my plate today, but both important.
This morning I took a call from a man who used to live in this ward but moved out of Witham House so that Erimus could demolish and build a new sheltered housing complex. 3 years later it's still standing there with nothing being done to it and he's angry that he moved out of Eaglescliffe to somewhere he didn't want to live and all for nothing. Sadly I couldn't offer him any consolation other than the fact that he's not alone.
This afternoon I chaired the meeting of the Environment select committee which is looking at Stockton Council's carbon management programme and trying to find ways to save even more carbon emissions and more money. There was lots of information to digest and lots of questions being raised. Our next meeting will be a long one I expect- looking into how schools contribute to the carbon emissions in the borough and how their contributions can be reduced. We plan to look at everything from building materials in new buildings through to retro-fitting insulation etc for older buildings, travel to school and many other issues.

Where has summer gone?

There might be a heatwave at Wimbledon this weekend but not up here. We've got rain, drizzle, more rain, sunny interval, more drizzle. The fog on the A19 was bad enough to lead to a series of accidents on Friday night. This is summer?
Meantime I see that Ed Balls still thinks the government can conjour money out of thin air and not have any spending cuts while paying back the national debt. Such is the failure of our education system under Labour that even well educated ministers believe in fairies.

Armed Forces Day

It was only this morning that I realised we've had an official Veterans Day in this country till now. I've obviously missed it in news broadcasts etc for the past umpteen years. Perhaps it's because I don't live in a town with a military base very near?
Although my own personal inclinations are towards pacifism I recognise that there are situations when this country is involved in war and I believe that the women and men who risk life and limb and mind to fight those wars deserve our support. Democracy means to me that however much I might disagree with the politicians who make the decision once it's made the personnel sent to do the job need the very best support we can give, both practical and emotional. That's why I'm pleased that Stockton's nice new flagpoles are flying the Armed Forces flag this week and why I'm glad that one soldier was to be presented with his Afghanistan medal today by the Lord Lieutenant of Durham in the dignified surroundings of the Town Hall.
I was told about Stockton Council's plans for today a couple of weeks ago and was disappointed that I was committed to being elsewhere so wouldn't be able to take part. As it was, at the last minute plans changed and I was in Stockton after all. So I took the chance to go to the Library to see the "exhibition of wartime memorabilia" which had been advertised as happening all week in the Library foyer. What a disappointment - the foyer was full of a very interesting exhibition about eye problems and Louis Braille, mounted by Blind Voice UK. Not a bit of military memorabilia to be seen. Eventually we tracked it down - a handful of photographs mounted on a couple of display boards in one aisle of the library with no sign to direct people towards them.
Denis had provided a digital copy of the photograph owned by the Museums service of the 225th Company Royal Engineers. He and one of the museum staff are trying to put names to faces on the photo - over 100 Stockton men who signed up to fight in the First World War. They were rapidly followed by two other companies which aren't as well documented. Denis' grandfather and two of his closest friends signed up and are there in the photo. Denis is in touch with descendents of 2 others, but that leaves a lot to be identified. Sadly, the book which had been put with the photo for people to write in if they thought they could help identify anyone has been stolen. So much for respect for the armed forces.
On a more positive note I heard some rare serious discussion of what the army is doing in Afghanistan now and why on BBC Radio 4. It's a pity that such discussion doesn't happen more often - we all need to try to understand what's going on there and why.
I also caught on radio a brief bit of Any Answers when a british muslim woman talked about why she wears a burkha when she leaves her house and the circumstances under which she removes her face veil. I wished I could have met her and had a much longer discussion with her. She answered questions clearly and her passionate commitment to Islam shone through. It was one of those radio gems which crop up occasionally and leave me wishing for lots more. I'd love a BBC producer to go and make a programme with her to explore some of the prejudices that exist on both sides of the divide over the wearing of such distinctive clothing. But I don't suppose I'll be that lucky.

We have a bathroom!

OK, it's not exactly earth shattering nor political but it is quite important to me, and to hubby. Right on time the work was completed and the finished article was handed over to us. I mention it here because so much is said and written about poor workmanship and "rip off Britain" that I feel it's worthy of note when someone takes a real pride in their work, does a good job on time and within budget. It may not be a multi million pound contract but it's of great value to us. So well done Andy and Simon and a huge thank you for being so careful and doing such a good job.
In among today's post was a carefully hand-written envelope which of course I opened before any of the formal typed ones. Inside was a beautiful piece of artwork inviting me to a performance of Pepys Show at Durham Lane School next month. It's one of the perks of being a governor that we get these invitations but I've never had one which was also a work of art. I shall certainly be going along to find out what the show is about. I know I'll be in for a treat of music and acting far better than one might expect from primary school chldren.
The business part of the day consisted of meeting with colleagues to discuss some of the important issues facing us in the borough over the next few weeks and running through to the general election. There are lots to keep us busy over the summer and beyond and to give our new younger members things to get their teeth into.

Spending Money and other problems

Who'd have thought that spending money could be so fraught with difficulty? For years Liberal Democrat councillors argued for having a budget to be spent in each ward according to what local people wanted. When we finally got it we found it hedged with restrictions so that we couldn't actually have quite a lot of what people wanted. Nevertheless we've managed in Eaglescliffe to do most of the things people asked for in the first couple of years, including some which we'd been told previously were impossible like surfacing the area between the church gate and the cemetery at Egglescliffe and improving the path from West View Tce to Yarm Rd. This year we've had a number of requests which we're probably not going to be able to satisfy, not because there's not enough money to do everything (though there isn't) but because one person's meat is another person's poison. One wants tarmac instead of grass while his neighbour wants the grass improved. One wants parking and another doesn't. One wants roundabouts improved while another doesn't. We can't please everyone and so it goes on. One good thing about having the budget and publicising it is that lots of people are getting involved in making suggestions on how to spend it - real local democracy which is what Liberal Democrats have argued for over years. Give power to the people and we'll use it well. If only the Westminster Government could believe that, what a different country it would be.
This week I've also been involved in putting together a bid for funding for some work to be done to the Parish Council land near the war memorial at Egglescliffe. In 2006 we had some plans drawn up for making that into a Memorial Garden but then the funding applications didn't work out and the work was never done. This week we decided to look at doing some smaller scale work such as laying the hedge and planting up low shrub beds on the slopes to the memorial as well as a plaque recording the history of the memorial. There's the possibility of grants towards that sort of work if we can get some community involvement in the project.
Meanwhile if you live in the area and know anything about hedge laying please get in touch!