Save our Cheque

Council tonight passed our motion calling on our MPs to lobby for and support David Ward's bill in Parliament to stop the abolition of cheques.  Until this issue came up I didn't even know there was such a thing as The Payments Council, but it seems to be a kind of union of big banks which has decided that we shouldn't use cheques any more as they cause too much work or they're inconvenient or they aren't secure - take your pick of excuses.  Can you imagine Christmas without cheques winging their way to grandchildren, nieces, nephews, the Salvation Army, Crisis at Christmas, hundreds of other worthy causes etc?  Apparently we're all going to start using Paypal and other such internet based systems.  Tell that to the thousands of people who have never accessed the internet!
Cllr Alan Lewis did an excellent job of proposing the motion, pointing out that although it's a Lib Dem initiative it isn't at all controversial and he hoped everyone would support it.  There must have been something in the water because not only did everyone agree to support it but one Conservative and one Independent actually stood up and spoke in favour of it.
In celebration Alan then wrote a cheque for the Mayor's benevolent fund - a very worthy cause indeed.  Unfortunately the mayor left the building so quickly after the meeting that he didn't get his cheque and it will have to be taken in to the office!  Could the footbal match involving his attendant's favourite team have anything to do with their haste?  I really wouldn't know.
A meeting earlier in the day with a senior council officer was spent in discussing where we are with the planning documents needed to ensure that Eaglescliffe doesn't go through another spate of garden grabbing.  We're not safe yet but there's another weapon in the armoury now, which hasn't been widely publicised but we'll soon change that.  Western Area Partnership meeting should be interesting.