Another scorching hot weekend - what's happened to the great British summer? The BBQ's been used more so far this year than in the whole of last year.
An encouraging moment at the market yesterday when one stall holder whom we've been trying to encourage to stock Fairtrade bananas complained that now we've really started something and as soon as he gets a box they sell! I'm instructed to get there first thing on a morning if I want to confirm that he's selling them because he can only get one or two boxes at a time. I regard that as something of a success story. I suggested that he keeps his eyes open for other fruits and expands his choice over the year. We shall see. He's a great character and very much part of Stockton Market. Long may he thrive.
The English strawberries he had on sale were small, juicy and bursting with flavour. Absolutely superb and a lot cheaper than the water-fattened ones in a supermarket not too far away. I love the soft fruit season. I'm watching the raspberries and cherries swelling nicely in the garden - not too long now before we can eat them.
Meanwhile residents continue to contact us about the issues that concern them - the uncertainties over the bus services, the perceived unfairness of having a service every 10 minutes during the working day on one part of the ward but only every hour on the other part, and so on. The next meeting of the Public Transport Users’ Forum for this Borough meets on 11^th July from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in ARC, Dovecot Street, Stockton, with John in the chair. This is the opportunity to get the latest information and make your voice heard.

Stockton Christmas Market

Between a hospital check up and a Regional update I took a bit of time to visit the Christmas market today. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and cold - perfect weather for wandering round and admiring the content of the stalls as well as buying a few little gifts for people. The craft stalls are in little wooden chalets, decorated with lights and greenery and really looking good. Our traditional market, reduced in size because people couldn't come for all 4 days, was busy and the stall holders were in good cheer. There was a stall selling hand made sweets - fudge and cinder toffee amongst them - at very reasonable prices, as well as some of our regular stands. The funfair rides weren't busy because most of the children who might have enjoyed them were in school but I guess they'll be busy tomorrow and Sunday.
As I walked back through the Parish Gardens to do some work in Municipal Buildings the smell of roast pork and sausages was beginning to drift out of the stalls where hot sandwiches were on offer and I decided that I couldn't resist a cup of hot chocolate to take back with me. The mulled wine was more festive but I didn't think it would fit well with working and then driving! The hot chocolate was all that it should be - creamy and luxurious. Definitely a treat. If you've chance to go, do visit it. I was told by more than one person that it was beautiful last night when the lights really showed up, but sadly I haven't been able to verify that yet. Maybe tomorrow evening, who knows.

Wine, Plans and Markets

That odd mix describes today's meeting round. First up was a planning session for the Fairtrade Wine tasting which is being planned for October 17th - put the date in your diary now if you're within reach of Stockton on that evening. There'll be lovely Fairtrade wines to taste, some nibbles to snack on and fun all round.
This afternoon the planning committee had to decide on a number of applications, including the Allen's West outline application. The report from the Planning Officer was heavy going and then there were presentations by the applicant and some of the objectors followed by a lengthy debate. Today's application was solely for the means of access and the principle of mixed development, neither of which was contentious. The problems arise with the indicative master plan for the housing, and the height of the buildings fronting onto Durham Lane, the distance of the SW corner of the site from the road - evidenced by the plan to put a cycle store at the bus stop!, and the traffic impact. Sadly, this is another example of the developer being able to demonstrate on a computer model something that goes against everyone's gut feeling and local knowledge. But we know from previous appeals that the inspector will only look at the computer modelling. Reluctantly I felt I had no choice but to support the outline application while making it very plain that I did not regard the SW corner housing nor the 15m high flats on Durham Lane as acceptable for the future reserved matters application.
We had an interesting application outside of this ward, which eventually was refused. The applicant wanted to put up small studio flats in an area which allowed them to be relatively low cost starter homes. The design was modern and completely different to the 1930s housing on the other side of the road, but as it was replacing a horrible old commercial building with no architectural merit at all I thought the modern ones were an innovative solution. I actually thought it might regenerate the area a bit and bring some younger people into it. However the majority of the committee disagreed and felt that it was out of keeping with the area so the applicant is faced with either an appeal or a redesign.
Fortunately the Markets Forum was pretty positive. At last the issues around the Christmas Festival and the Stockton Riverside Festival seem to have been resolved and things are progressing more smoothly. I just hope that it continues that way.

3 small steps

Sometimes it's not the big gestures which get things done but the little conversations and debates behind the scenes. That's what's been happening this week.
First of all there was the first meeting of the new Health and Wellbeing Partnership for the borough - a mix of councillors, council officers, health professionals and community representation. As part of a discussion on community cohesion I suggested that the Borough's markets could be a big help to people trying to have a healthy diet. They sell fresh fruit and veg at a reasonable price in whatever quantity people want to buy, so if they also had posters which helped us to choose a good balance or leaflets with cooking instructions it might be a good help. To my amazement this was taken up as "a really good idea" all round the table. Then yesterday when I mentioned it in the context of a discussion about the market again it was seized on, so watch out for something happening in the next few months on the markets.
Some time ago the Fairtrade group suggested having FT cotton bags available on the market, printed with the FT logo and the market logo. It seemed to get lost in the system. Yesterday I found that it was being discussed and again it's getting a favourable hearing as an easy way of promoting the market. It was also part of the Lib Dem campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags being used and I found that was also being taken seriously!
I've also suggested in one or two forums in the past that locally sourced food should be used when possible but been told it wasn't possible. Yesterday I was told that the costs and practicalities of doing this for civic catering were being looked at - wow!
Meanwhile, we are spending a lot of time looking at the budget for the coming year and trying as always to get a quart out of a pint pot. It seems that every year the government gives us more things we have to do with less and less money, and residents find it harder every year (along with councillors) to understand the complexities of the budget.