Credit Crunch again

I had a meeting this morning as chair of the Western Area Partnership board to check on progress on our project to lessen the impact of the credit crunch in our area. We know that we're fortunate in this area compared to some, but nevertheless there are people facing redundancy or short time working and in some ways, especially emotionally, it can be harder to be in that position in an affluent area than in a deprived area where many more people understand your situation. Which is not to denigrate at all the problems faced in deprived areas - not at all.
The little bit of money which was allocated to the Western Area is to fund a support and advice package for people in this area, but it's been slower to start than I'd expected. We hope that it will now launch in September and people of the Western Area will be able to access the support and advice which they need to cope with the difficulties caused by the recession and so won't get into unavoidable problems.

The "councillor" day started at 8.30 with a phone call about someone questioning work that has been done on the Park and Stride route for a local primary school. It carried on with e-mails about a mistake we'd made with a phone number on a leaflet and then with lots about the proposal from IBIS councillors to build a school on Preston Park to replace Egglescliffe comprehensive, and only improved when I got on to clearing some of the backlog of consultations and enquiries. The pile of unanswered mail has almost disappeared and the pile of filing is a bit lower now.
At the meeting of the Fairtrade Borough Partnership meeting we spent quite some time discussing our stalls at the Tristar Homes fun day in August and then at the Freshers Fair of Queens Campus of Durham University. A wine tasting later in October should complete the year's activities. Not content with that we're looking forward to spring and Fairtrade Fortnight next year. We also registered our disquiet at the fact that George Alagiah has been told by the BBC that his work as patron of the Fairtrade Foundation isn't compatible with his work as a BBC journalist. He won't give up all his work on Fairtrade but it does mean that he won't be associated in such a high profile way. We're all enormously grateful to him for what he's done and hope that we find another patron as capable as he is.
This afternoon's first task was to deliver some letters from our PPC, Jacquie Bell, to people who'd responded to her Credit Crunch survey. The results of the survey have gone to Vince Cable to help build up his detailed picture of what's happening around the country. It was good to see in those results the amount of support there is in the borough for Vince's economic strategies.
Time this evening to read some papers ready for tomorrow's planning committee meeting and to sort out some domestic issues before our holiday. Just another day in the life of a councillor.
Ward surgery didn't bring any new problems but did offer an opportunity to catch up with John on what's going on in the ward and in the council. Not what a ward surgery is designed for but useful all the same.