Road Safety Improvements

One of the successes of Stockton Council's mini-devolution of budgets has been the Area Transport Strategy budget. £25,000 goes annually to each of the Area Partnerships to spend on transport related matters which otherwise wouldn't make it onto the priority lists. Tonight was the 3rd annual meeting in the Western Area to agree our spending priorities and hear a progress report on last year's spending.
The dropped kerbs in Station Road, Eaglescliffe, are in place so it's now possible to go with a wheelchair or pram from Yarm Road to the station and to the shops en route. The bus stop on Durham Lane near Cleasby Way is finished and in use. The gateway feature for Long Newton to improve safety through the village now that the A66 junction is functioning is almost complete and the link road to Elton is almost open. One small issue is proving difficult - what kind of speed hump to have on it! The bus companies can't accept a hump right across the road because of the jarring on the spine of their drivers crossing it. A local farmer says he can't accept a cushion because of the stress it places on some of the wheels on one of his pieces of equipment, despite the NFU not objecting. Stockton Council's appeals and complaints committee heard evidence from both sides and decided to ask the community engineer to review the situation again. If tonight is anything to go by he'll be reporting no change to the next meeting of the committee!
Last year we spent part of our money on two studies in Eaglescliffe - one on Urlay Nook Road to look at safety for pedestrians crossing especially young people going to and from school, and one on Durham Lane to see whether there had been any improvements as a result of the actions taken a few years ago on advisory speed limits and other markings.
Urlay Nook Road turned out to be interesting, with young people being observed walking along the length of it until they spot a safe gap in the traffic and then crossing. There have been no injury accidents on that stretch of road but parents perceive it as unsafe. As a result of the study we decided last night to use some of the fund along with some from the ward councillor community improvement fund to pay for some extra signage to remind motorists to be careful and some dropped kerbs at the point with the best visibility to encourage people to cross there. Everyone agreed that it seemed to be a good compromise so I hope the young people who first asked for a safer crossing point agree with us.
The Durham Lane study was also instructive but left us feeling disappointed. There has actually been a slight increase in accidents on that stretch of road, although the seriousness has slightly decreased on average. However, the one fatality was one too many and we were all very keen to reduce the likelihood of a repeat. After a lot of discussion of other factors and taking into account the planning application for Allen's West which will be determined in the next few months, we agreed that the way forward was to formalise the speed limit so that police can enforce it and to reinforce it with solid white lines to deter the overtaking which has been a feature of some of the injury accidents along there. Mindful that the biggest increase in accidents has been in people losing control at night we also decided to put reflective posts along the road edge on the bends so that the angle of the bends is more obvious. That means that the total budget for this year is being spent in Eaglescliffe ward.
Sadly, no representatives from Yarm or Kirklevington councils were present, nor any of the Conservative ward councillors representing those people, so if there are new concerns in those areas they were not raised. The issues already raised for those areas couldn't be properly discussed because there was no-one with the local background knowledge to facilitate the discussion.
We also had a discussion on the bus service for Long Newton and Elton, with a frank response from the Arriva representative present. It didn't bring much comfort to the representatives of those two villages but at least he was honest about their thinking and didn't hold out false hopes to them.

The Youth of Today!

How often when we hear that phrase it's a sign of exasperation because the young people haven't behaved in the way which an older person expects. Last night was rather different, and a few preconceived ideas were shaken away.
Some weeks ago young people from local secondary schools were consulted about what they thought of the Western Area (Preston, Eaglescliffe, Yarm, Kirklevington, Long Newton, Elton and surroundings). A graffiti artist produced a canvas of their thoughts and last night I had the privilege of presenting it to the Board. Some things on it really hit home: these young people wanted more help for parents of children with problems, more activities to do as a family rather than split into teenagers, adults, toddlers etc. They saw some of the problems of the area as being the drug dealers who hang around certain places, the play areas which flood so that they can't be used after heavy rain, the lack of places to have exciting rides on their bikes and the lack of places to safely leave their bikes when they arrive at their destination like the swimming pool or the museum.
These were ordinary children, aged from 11 to 16, from ordinary homes in our area. Some of them probably wear hoodies. Some of them probably swear from time to time. Some of them probably don't look very tidy to many adults. But they certainly cared as passionately for their area and their fellow citizens as any of the adults I know.
A group of slightly older young people came along to the meeting, not knowing that this was on the agenda, but wanting to experience a Western Area Partnership meeting for themselves. They had the chance to speak up about what they thought of the ideas on the canvas and what we might do for youngsters in the area.
At the end of the agenda item all the board agreed that we needed to have a way of moving forward on these things. That it isn't good enough to come back again next year and say the same things. We are now committed to trying to get some things moving and to report back on progress. I'm sure that the young people will hold us to account.

Making a Difference

The day started with a seminar on possible future arrangements for Local Government. Most people aren't too bothered about how the council works as long as it does. But the Labour government seems obsessed with the idea of changing it - should we have an elected mayor like some of our neighbours or would the risk of a single-issue candidate capturing the imagination for a day be too great? Or maybe a Council leader in place for 4 years instead of 1? But then what if he or she started doing things which the rest of us felt were wrong? Or perhaps there's some other form of governance that we haven't thought of yet? Over the next 2 years Stockton council has to decide what it would like and then consult with people to see if they agree - slightly back to front perhaps? On the other hand, if we had an open consultation would anyone know what it was about? Meanwhile, as councillors, we'll continue to do our best for the people whom we represent, trying to get things done for our residents in the best way possible.
This evening was about making a difference in another way. I went with my husband to St Nic's in Durham where we enjoyed an international buffet supper followed by a concert by Gareth Davies-Jones, who despite his Welsh name, hails from Bangor in Co Down and now lives on Tyneside. He's a wonderful guitarist who uses his talents as a player and a singer to encourage people to think about trade justice. One thing he said struck me as worth sharing with a wider audience: "If you think that what you can do is too small to make a difference, you've never shared a bed with a mosquito!". It's not an original quote but I'm afraid I can't remember to whom he attributed it.
The buffet used Fairtrade products where possible and the proceeds went to support Uhuru, a Kenyan charity working with Street Children. So, good food with good music for a good cause - what a fantastic way to spend a Friday evening. Sadly, I left my camera at home and so have to make do with a photo taken on a phone - I'll learn one day!

The Maths of Government

In the midst of news programmes on radio trying to make sense of the "draft Queen's speech" and the 10p tax cut compensation package I heard the following comment from a certain minister: "Repossessions are increasing but they're still at a record low". Which school did she go to? And this is the government that lectures teachers about not getting children to the "right" level of numeracy. I'm old enough to remember when being able to point out the error in such statements was part of our arithmetic lessons.
I was interested tonight to be able to visit Thornaby Methodist Church which is bucking the trend seen in many churches and actually increasing the number of families involved in the life of the church. The minister and the congregation are reaching out to the local community in very imaginative ways and everyone is benefitting. Unfortunately I had worn a skirt rather than trousers so didn't feel brave enough to go in and sample the amazing soft play area which has just been installed. Add to that a cyber cafe in construction and an assortment of training, drop-in sessions and meetings already available and I could see that here was a church truly putting itself at the heart of its community. It was heartening to see that here was a minister with vision and passion who had inspired his church members to be brave in doing what they knew was right for the people of the area.

Whoops!

I listened to a phone message left yesterday for me, pointing out the grammatical error in a Focus article on the new Mayor! Mea culpa. I wrote that particular article and did indeed slip into a common error, so I hope readers will forgive me. The lady who so politely pointed it out to me didn't leave a contact number or name so I can't apologise to her personally.
I had an unusual experience this morning in having everyone else in a committee meeting sympathise with me! The sympathy was too late because they should have spoken up at a previous forum when their views would have changed what happened. As it is, the Environment Select committee is stuck with reviewing something which none of us want to review and which won't help the people of the borough one little bit, all because not one other group would agree with us at the crucial moment. Yet again the Liberal Democrats are proved right, but it's not much consolation.
The Fairtrade group meeting at lunch time was much more positive, with some good ideas on how to move forward. Possible links with the embryo multi-faith forum and with the Local Strategic Partnership were suggested, as well as a way of approaching one of the big businesses in the borough. Really positive results from a relatively brief meeting. Of course, if any Stockton resident reading this is interested in being part of the group, do get in touch.
Then it was another change of hat to go to a meeting with the new Integrated Service Area Manager for the south of the borough. This is someone who's going to oversee all the services for children and young people in Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Yarm, Eaglescliffe and the villages surrounding them. We discussed the main issues for the Western Area (Eaglescliffe, Yarm, Kirklevington, Long Newton etc), including the difficulty of finding premises for a Childrens' centre in Eaglescliffe and of finding suitable places for young people to kick a ball about without upsetting the neighbours. Both are huge challenges and won't be solved overnight but at least we're talking about them and trying to find a way round. The one thing which might happen more easily is developing some way of allowing young people to have a voice in the area. We had a very successful day in Norton with some youngsters from Egglescliffe and Conyers schools but we need to be able to have regular communication with youngsters from all round the area. One or two ideas were floated and will be discussed further. It's all so painfully slow though. I've been trying to do this kind of thing for about 4 years and it's still only at the discussion stage.

These things pale into insignificance when viewed against the news from China and Burma of people trying desperately to help those who are suffering from two huge natural disasters. It was very humbling to catch a snippet on the TV news of a business which had collected what sounded like a paltry sum to western ears, but had bought water and cake and taken it to the disaster zone to distribute. Ordinary people doing what they can - that's what makes a difference.

I had a meeting this morning to discuss the agenda for the Western Area Partnership Board meeting next week. The most important item on the agenda is the feedback from young people who went to a consultation event earlier in the year about what they want to see happen in the area. Just before the meeting started I checked my council emails to make sure there wasn't anything I needed to deal with quickly. I was slightly amused to see, flagged as important, a message telling me that this is National Condom Week. It did go on to give some useful facts about where to get more information if any young people I was working with needed it and I was very pleased that the council and its partners in the health service were taking the topic seriously.
I was also pleased that a week after I first reported the issue, something seems to be being done about the generator at the new medical centre site on Muirfield Rd. This is running all night, keeping residents awake, even though no work was going on and there is good street lighting around the area. It seems that the Environmental Health officer has been in discussion with the site manager to see how the noise can be reduced. Sadly, what they propose will take until later this week to implement!

A Proud Mum

I know this is primarily a political blog but it's also about me and in this case my wonderful daughters who both completed sponsored races to raise funds for Breast Cancer research this weekend.
One, expecting our second grandchild, walked in unseasonably hot weather in the Midlands on Saturday and the other, not having done any running for some time, ran in rather colder weather in the Southern Hemisphere on Sunday.
Well done both of you. I'm truly proud of you.

Candidate chosen

At a constituency meeting in Stockton at the weekend a new Parliamentary candidate for Stockton South was chosen. Jacquie Bell has a long association with this area and we're looking forward to working with her on the things which have to be changed at national level - there's only so much that the local council can do as those of you who want us to stop certain types of planning applications are well aware.
Jacquie knows only too well the issues that really concern people on a day to day basis, including health, education and having the right kind of support available at difficult times in our lives. I'm sure she'll be an excellent advocate for the people of Stockton South.
The only downside of the meeting was that I realised I'd picked up my camera and left its memory cards in various other places so I'm waiting for colleagues to share photos so that I can post one here. Watch this space as they say!

Fairtrade Challenges

The highlight of today was a meeting of representatives of towns & cities across the North East at Durham to hear from George Alagiah, patron of the Fairtrade Foundation. He's probably better known for his day job as a news presenter and war correspondent on TV, but George is passionate about Fairtrade as a way out of conflict for the world. He pointed out that most conflict ultimately boils down to arguments about the distribution of resources and if that's done fairly then the reason for conflict disappears! Put like that it sounds simple but of course it isn't. Fairtrade helps about 7 million farmers and producers at present but there are still a couple of billion who need help. He also answered the criticism that Fairtrade stops people developing and expanding their range of produce because they're guaranteed a minimum price for what they're already producing. He went and asked Nicaraguan producers what they thought of that idea and they told him in no uncertain terms that the Fairtrade guarantee allows them to innovate and try new products, knowing that they've got a guaranteed income from the basic crop they produce. Those growers have diversified because of Fairtrade, not in spite of it.
George laid before us the challenges facing us over the next few years as activists and campaigners and left us feeling reinvigorated to do more.
The afternoon also gave us a chance to meet up with campaigners from around the Tees Valley and decide on our next move together, so a very worthwhile afternoon.
I know that other people went to listen to George speak at Hartlepool and no doubt will write about it in due course so I'll look forward to hearing what he said to motivate those who were not already involved.
Add to that a bit of filing done and some other jobs completed, and it was a very successful day.

Faith & Belief

The day's meetings started with a good discussion with the Town Centre manager and one of her staff about what might be done in terms of Fairtrade promotion in the Borough over the next year. It was very useful to be able to exchange thoughts about what could have gone better this year and to realise what a gulf of understanding there'd been between us on what each had capacity to do. It should mean that next year is much better organised.
We chose our meeting place so that Suzanne Fletcher and I could leave to go upstairs at 3 to the Faith & Belief in Stockton event. For some years now, ever since the Western Area Partnership Board came into being, I've argued that the churches in the Western Area were as much a part of the community as the community groups and residents groups and so they should have a place on the Board. I've been told, usually politely, that this wasn't what the local strategic partnership was about! Today, we finally had a meeting with all faiths & belief systems invited, to hear about what happens regionally and in our neighbouring borough. Out of that we hope to have a group which will be much more part of the thinking in the borough, including the LSP. So not yet a miracle but perhaps a little seedling and I like to think that my harping on about it has played a little part.
A bonus was the fact that one of the very interesting stalls was run by the Muslim community in Thornaby and I was given a copy of an English Translation of the Koran as well as some other literature about Islam. I had such a long and interesting conversation with the gentleman running the stall that I didn't get to all of the others!
The bad thing of the event was that Stockton council was giving away plastic carrier bags to hold your goodies! Plastic - I ask you! The Arc had good recycling boxes but they would have needed bigger ones to hold what was given away this afternoon.
And then it was on to council - lots of questions, some interesting and some less so. Suzanne Fletcher asked about the Area Bus Forums which had been promised and we were told that they would be discussed at the Area Transport Strategy meetings, but I hadn't been told that when I had my briefing as chair!
We had a debate about some possible corrections to the minutes of one of the committees, as well as some quite lengthy questions on other minutes. John handled it all very well in his first meeting as mayor, but it must have been a real headache for him. I'm just glad it wasn't me in the chair.

Despondency, Challenges and Hope

I spent the morning in a meeting with colleagues, catching up on progress, or lack of it, in a number of fields. Problems with the planning process in Stockton don't go away and in fact seem to grow. Meeting venues are no more accessible than a year ago. The Bus Users' Forum was a flash in the pan because the council needed to tick a box in order to put in a bid for something. And so it goes on. We've had a year now of the new Tory leadership in Stockton and nothing much seems to have improved - still too much bureaucracy and not enough action for people.
We decided on what we needed to do next to move things forward and left to get on with being councillors.
The afternoon was taken up by a routine hospital appointment for my mother, over a bit sooner than anticipated so there was time for an unplanned visit to a supermarket with her to stock up on a few extra bits of shopping. Another accessibility issue here - the disabled parking bays are wider than normal parking bays but not separated by hatching as in most places now. Consequently if someone parks right over near the line it's difficult to get out into a wheelchair in the adjacent space.
The early evening was taken up with a meeting of Stockton Renaissance, the local strategic partnership. The agenda didn't look terribly interesting - several things which I'd already seen in other places, but there was a very interesting presentation on the Environment and Regeneration partnership of the LSP. They are extremely busy working out how best to spend the latest round of government money which is coming to help combat unemployment in the borough. The chairman also gave us some upbeat statistics on unemployment and business start ups in the borough - both significantly better than the national trend. Sadly, the rate of business failure is still too high, but there was a real ray of hope in his presentation. Of course, having got all the people who are relatively easily employable into work, we still have a big skills shortage and the people left out of work don't have the skills, nor in some cases the ability to aquire them. That's the big challenge of the future, along with how to retain the graduates from the two universities on our doorstep.
How we cope with these challenges in the next year or two will make or mar our borough for the next generation. Frightening thought!
And so home, to emails and phone calls that had been stacking up during the day. Some of them tricky, some straightforward, all worth while. The best of all was from a young person wanting to get more young people involved in the democratic decision making processes in this area! Hallelujah!! While there are people like that around there's hope for the world.

Healthy Eating?

I discovered something today which others may have known for a long time - such foods as frozen pizza, frozen chips and milkshakes are zero rated for VAT, while fruit juice and fruit smoothies are rated at 17.5%. This is because apparently the former count as food while the latter count as luxury! I don't very often buy any of them, but for a government to be wringing its hands and weeping crocodile tears over obesity rates to perpetuate a system put in place years ago is just another example of the hypocrisy which surrounds successive Labour and Tory governments.
So, if you think that fruit juice should be moved down into a 5% rate go and sign the petition and lets see if Gordon Brown really does listen! Interestingly, the supermarket chain which is backing this move is ASDA, not always known for its sense of responsibility for the nation's well being. Well done them!

I did. Did you?

Well, 24 hours without a computer (or Blackberry) wasn't a bad experience at all. In fact it was a fun day of family activities. A trip to visit our daughter and her family, work in the garden and playing with our lovely granddaughter. What more could a computer have brought?
Of course, I'm not naive enough to be unaware of the benefits I gained from other people's computers - the traffic lights that worked, the shops that were open and well stocked, the radio programmes I enjoyed, the clean water that flowed from the tap when I needed it to name but a few. But it was good to be able to enjoy the time without one myself.

Frustrations, frustrations

A dry evening yesterday gave the opportunity for Alan, John and I to go out and survey a couple of streets in the ward. We do this from time to time because it's a good way to speak to residents who don't usually contact us, to find out what their concerns are and their views on a number of issues. Last night we covered Hindhead, Holywell Green and part of Monmouth Drive. We also spoke to three polite and interested young men who were about to play football but stopped to ask what we were doing and then to complete a survey themselves.
The return rate was very good, with people completing them for us to call back in half an hour and others agreeing to drop them through my letterbox. So far we've had a good lot back. What's frustrating is the number of people who respond with quite a serious issue and don't put their contact details on so we can't follow it up with them. Sadly, a number of people referred to bad language from young people and to damaged fences & gardens as a result of football games.
Following up on that issue will take a bit of time but at least the person in charge of the youth service in our area is willing to meet us and discuss how to take things forward so I'm waiting to hear from other people whether they'll come and join in the debate.
This morning I saw another side to the relationship of young people with their community. Teesside High School Roseberry House had arranged a coffee morning and cake stall to raise money for two very good causes - a leukaemia charity and Stop the Trafik, which aims to stop People trafficking. The girls had done a great deal of the organising themselves and were justly proud of their work. They'd baked cakes and arranged a tempting choice of coffee, tea, chocolate and juice - all Fairtrade which made it even better. They'd told parents and put out 500 flyers around the area. Sadly, only about a dozen people made the effort to visit. Other girls from the school made short work of the cakes and they raised a good amount of money but that wasn't the only point of the morning. Such a lot of effort and only a handful of adults could be bothered.

Planning Committtee this afternoon produced another lot of frustrations. First of all my colleague Julia Roberts discovered that a retrospective application in her ward which is causing a lot of angst wasn't going to be determined this afternoon because it didn't have all the right documentation. A change in the rules had caught everyone on the hop! The application in Eaglescliffe for warehousing on land near Elementis on Urlay Nook Rd was deferred at the last minute because a road safety issue had been spotted by the engineers who'd missed it until the morning of the committee meeting! That despite having lots of comments from residents about the road safety issues. The process for determining whether the demolition of Wainstones was going to be carried out properly wasn't clear enough for most of us to be happy with it. Some probably thought deferral would save the house. I'm not so optimistic but I do want to be sure that everything has been done properly. I don't want to be half way through the demolition when someone discovers that we should have looked at the bat surveys. The decision on what to include on the local list was also open to a great deal of discussion but we did eventually get agreement that the minutes of the meeting and the assessment of each building would be made public. I'm less convinced that the process of information/consultation now is clear. There seemed to be some doubt as to what exactly is going to happen but I think (hope) that the doubt was because some members of the committee weren't understanding the answers they were being given at times.
So not the best meeting in the year!
Happier news on a personal front was discovering when I got home an email from someone who turns out to be a very distant relative in New Zealand - the joys of the internet!

I can, can you?

Can you survive without your computer for a whole day? That's the question being posed for Saturday. What will people do without a computer? What will happen in the world if millions of people just don't switch on? I've decided to be part of an experiment to find out. So no e-mail, no searching for distant relatives, no playing word games with friends around the world. Just good, old-fashioned time spent with family. Wow! I'll let you know whether my world falls apart.

A rather odd day yesterday, which left me disinclined to write anything last night. The morning was spent cramming in family things which usually run on into Thursday afternoons so that I could spend the afternoon at a family funeral. Not someone to whom I was close, but nevertheless an important part of family life. I was struck by a story which I heard many years ago but had forgotten - that this lady was taken on a plane trip over Stockton, seeing Ropner Park from the air soon after the war at a time when many people hadn't seen a plane on the ground, let alone thought of flying in one. She had an adventurous spirit which didn't leave her until her last few years.
With the funeral safely over it was time to go to the Cabinet meeting to present the report on Wastes management and recycling which the Environment select committee had produced. Thanks to much work before the report was finalised the recommendations were accepted in full so the next stage is to approve an action plan and get things moving. I also sat through the rest of the meeting so that I could see what was said and whether there were any changes to the recommendations in other reports. I was pleased that the recommendation to allocate some funding to the Western Area Partnership Board to combat unemployment (or worklessness as it's now called) went through. It's the first time that this area has had such funding and it will need to be very carefully targeted to make the most of it.
Even during a day like that e-mail is never far away, thanks to modern hand-held equipment, so I discovered that the planning application for 690 Yarm Road has gone to appeal. The appeal will be decided by way of a public hearing, rather than written submissions so that will require a lot of work on my part. I know I can rely on support from my fellow ward councillors but it was also nice to get a message of support from a neighbouring councillor.

This afternoon was taken up on Parish Council business, trying to ensure that if the Allen's West development gets approval it's on the best possible terms for the area while not taking away from the fact that the Parish Council has registered its objections to the application.

Plans and more plans

St George's Day, and the English flag was flying proudly from a number of buildings in the spring sunshine.
I spent part of the morning discussing with senior council staff the difficulties we face over planning enforcement. When someone builds something for which they should have asked permission but didn't it seems to take forever to put it right. The council is also only allowed to take "reasonable" action. Eaglescliffe residents will remember the furore over 12/15 Station Rd which was extended by small incremental applications over a period of time and eventually was built bigger than the last permission allowed. After protests by local residents and ward councillors it eventually went to committee to decide whether to enforce reducing the size and the advice from the legal experts was that it wasn't a big enough variation to warrant such enforcement. Although I disagreed I was out-voted and the monstrosity still stands. Other residents will recall the problems of Riverside Lodge motorcycling, and the inability of enforcement to stop the activity while an assortment of applications went through the system. It seems as though enforcement is only effective quickly when the offender has made a genuine mistake and is willing to put it right. If the offender is pushing at the boundaries of what is legal or permissible the legal process is so slow that residents can be forgiven for concluding that it's non-existent.
More frustration in a meeting about progress on local transport issues. The cycleway from Kingsmead to Cleasby Way is still not completed because the process of acquiring a tiny strip of land from the industrial site next to it is taking, quite literally, years. I now have another promise that it will be chased up, but I've given up holding my breath. There is lots going on in the background in Eaglescliffe at the moment:

• Station Rd and the surroundings are the subject of a study to see what needs to be done to make it a really attractive welcoming area to people getting off the train and walking into our area as well as to make it easier for residents to live there and others to shop there.
• The detailed work on the Preston Park bid is going on, looking at how to ensure that the traffic going in and out of the Park doesn't cause problems for pedestrians also wanting to move about the area and for the traffic flow along Yarm Road. Traffic lights at the entrance to the park is one possibility being examined.
  
• Safer crossing of Yarm Rd for people wanting to access the park is being looked at, and this will help those on the Park side of Yarm Rd wanting to access Preston Primary School I hope.
• Safer routes to schools is an on-going study with some traffic calming near our schools possible as well as some parking restrictions for those busy times.
• More work is being done on preparing school travel plans and also on monitoring how successful they've been in encouraging more youngsters to travel other than by car.

All these things will be presented to the Area Transport Strategy meeting next month at which Parish Councils and Community groups are represented so if you're a member of a community group or residents association in Preston, Eaglescliffe, Aislaby, Elton, Long Newton, Yarm, Kirklevington or Castle Leavington and your chair hasn't had an invitation do let me know. There is a budget available for helping these schemes along, and its up to that group to decide how best to spend it. It's small in roadworks terms - £25,000 - but sometimes a bit more can be found from ward budgets so it can stretch to quite a lot of work. In the past it's funded improvements to pedestrian safety at Silver St on Yarm High St, cycle lane on Spital bank, dropped kerbs in Station Rd, Eaglescliffe, improvements to the bus stop near Allen's West on Durham Lane to name but a few items.
Following that session I had time to nip upstairs to catch up on a couple of items for the Fairtrade Borough Group before going home for a very late lunch. It was worth the delay to hear that there's a catering company based here in Eaglescliffe who try to use all organic or Fairtrade or locally sourced produce for their catering. It's a family business and they even have an allotment to grow some of their own organic produce. How good is that? We'll certainly be adding them to our list of caterers in our directory.

Money reared its head again this morning when I had a meeting with a member of the Independent Remuneration Panel. This is the body which recommends levels of allowances for Councillors, trying to take into account all factors including how much time we spend doing things as a councillor, how much responsibility we take on over and above our ward and basic committee work and local expectations and attitudes. They had one try last year but the council couldn't reach agreement on some of their proposals so we asked them to try again, listening to what came out of the various discussions over the year. We shall see what happens this time, but one thing's for sure - Stockton Councillors get a lower allowance than almost any other equivalent council and the work we do doesn't get any easier.
At lunch time it was Fairtrade Borough group meeting with a very small turnout of committed people. It's proving quite difficult to get people to meetings at the moment and yet we need more help than ever to fulfill the plans we have.
Today we spent some time planning for the stall we intend to have at the Greener Living Road Show in Preston Park on June 8th. If you're in the area do pop in and see what's on offer - lots of things apart from Fairtrade. The range seems to run from wind turbines to hybrid cars and healthy walks - something for just about everyone I think.
A real contrast later in the afternoon when I paid a visit to Challoner House in Yarm. This was a residential home for elderly people until quite recently but is now being converted into a community centre. It was strange to walk into somewhere which is being hired out for meetings and community activities and see the bookcase still in the corner, full of books. Strong, high seated armchairs and china ornaments around the room all spoke of its previous life and looked so nice and clean that I fully expected a resident to walk in at any moment. We'll be able to use it for some of our Western Area Partnership board meetings, taking the meetings out into the heart of one community they're supposed to serve.
I hope the centre is a success for the people who live around that area, because it's in a lovely setting and would be tragic to lose.
After that the sun called me out into the garden to do the weeding that didn't get done at the weekend. My compost bin is now nicely filled so I need to let it rot down a bit before putting any more in - what a good excuse for a bit of pruning of the bramble! That's the only sort of garden waste which goes in the green waste bags from this household - even if we shredded it the result would be full of thorns and not very user friendly.

The Scrutiny starts

After a morning spent discussing various campaign issues with the rest of the group it was time to head to Stockton for the first meeting of the Environment Select committee of the new municipal year. This was the moment of truth when members were confronted with the fact that our new topic for scrutiny had been decided for us by the Executive Scrutiny committee from a list proposed largely by officers of the council. So much for member led scrutiny in our much vaunted excellent authority. We have the dubious privilege of scrutinising Customer First, Stockton Council's programme to ensure that the customer (whether residents, businesses or other departments within the council) will get the best possible service. It's going to be difficult - people are now realising that when John Fletcher stood up at meetings and protested that the changes being introduced would mean that ordinary councillors would have little or no say over what their committee scrutinised he was right. At the time people scoffed and said he was being awkward. Well he was vindicated and I'm glad we as a group agreed with him, even though we weren't as vociferously supportive as we could have been. I suspect that even we didn't really believe it was going to be as bad as it is.
So, the blind leading the blind comes to mind. None of the councillors really know in detail what the programme involves and as long as it works we're not that interested. It's the result that counts for us. Do our residents get good service? So all we want now is to get through it as fast as possible so that we can get on to something interesting!
Moan over - the sun was lovely this afternoon and the towels dried quickly on the line. Let's keep focussed on the important things in life!

Preston Hall

Preston Hall museum is in many ways the cultural centre of our ward, even though geographically it's right on the edge. A cold spring afternoon was an ideal time to pay a visit and look at what's changed since I was last there. The way that collections are displayed has changed a great deal over recent years and even months, though there's still a way to go. The latest exhibition being organised is about Stockton at work, with exhibits relating to shipbuilding, railways, leather, pottery, schools and more. There's much interesting information on the general background to the industries but I found myself wanting more about the individual artefacts - when was that photo taken? When was that poster printed? Just where was that found? and more! I know that the exhibition isn't finished and some of the questions might be answered later, so I'll be going back and meantime asking the staff about them.
One very interesting item to me, in the light of recent planning applications, was a picture of the Vinegar brewery and sauce factory which used to stand on the banks of the river at Eaglescliffe (on the right as one approached Yarm Bridge). In the background of the picture is a windmill - presumably the mill which used to be in the grounds of The Grange on Urlay Nook Road, soon to be demolished to make way for flats thanks to the Government's policy of allowing gardens to be dealt with as brownfield (previously developed) sites. Although I've been told many times that a mill existed there it had gone before I became aware of the building and this was the first time I'd seen a picture where it was just there, in the background as the normal thing - not in any way a tourist attraction or centre of attention.

Family History

Today was a day off council work! I'd booked some time ago to attend a Family History Day with my husband, organised by Cleveland Family History Society. We're both interested in our roots and have been doing some research. This was an opportunity to hear some interesting talks on wider aspects, and very enjoyable too. Strangely, it also turned into a chance encounter with one of his more distant relatives and with an old school friend of mine whom I haven't seen for several years since we were both at a reunion. Altogether a good day, if nothing at all to do with Eaglescliffe ward.

Power to the People

Real grass roots politics is to be found in the Parish councils which exist in parts of the country. Egglescliffe and Eaglescliffe council covers the old Egglescliffe ward area and used to be known as Egglescliffe Parish Council. Although no-one stands for election to it on Party grounds, some are members of political parties, and I was a member of the Parish for years before being elected to the Borough.
One of the big differences between the Parish council and the Borough council is that once a year the Parish has an assembly when the council reports to the residents on what it has done on their behalf over the last year and sometimes on what it hopes to do in the future. Last night was such a meeting. It was lively, interesting and engaging and if the Borough council had the courage to learn from the Parish we would have more interest and enthusiasm for politics. Residents came, listened, challenged and debated with councillors over issues which concern them. It was hard work in preparation and execution, but by golly it was worth it!
An hour earlier I'd been at a really difficult meeting to draw up the scope of the review which the Environment Select committee is going to be doing. Because of a new system of spreading the work load we're not doing anything related to the Environment but we're looking into "Customer First" which is a scheme within the council to try to ensure that customer service is first rate and that if problems arise they're dealt with effectively. It was difficult, not because there are lots of problems, but because the chair and vice chair of the committee knew nothing about the reason for being asked to look at the question and so took a long time to work out what could be done by the committee. It won't be anything like as interesting as the last two reviews but I suppose we can't always have the really interesting ones!
Sadly, because this meeting lasted a lot longer than expected, the diet went out of the window and a quick call to the local fish & chip shop replaced cooking a healthy meal!

Building with Hemp

I'm a great fan of hemp fabric - soft, absorbent, comfortable and makes fewer environmental demands in its production than cotton. Now I've discovered a new use for the plant - no, not the one that hippies have known about since time immemorial!
It seems that hemp can be used to make bricks. Mixed with lime it produces blocks strong enought to build with, but a lot less energy is needed for this process than to make concrete. So if the building trade can be convinced of their suitability we could be seeing a lot more of them. I'd read of an experiment some years ago to use hemp in building a super-energy-efficient house but I'd forgotten about it until reminded this week by reading, somewhat late, an article on a brewery built from hemp. It sounds absolutely brilliant and well worth thinking about if you've got a building project in mind. After all, if the building material you use is such a good insulator that you don't need to heat the building in the middle of winter, think how much you'd save on fuel bills over a few years! It's almost enough to make me wish I were building a new house.
I also read of a school which is using innovative technology for its heating and has won the accolade of Britain's most eco-friendly school. How I wish that it were a Stockton school. I'm certainly going to be taking the information into discussions on Building Schools for the Future. I don't see why we can't learn from another council, especially when it's such an environmentally aware council.

Crunch Time on Email

As many residents of Eaglescliffe know John, Alan and I send out e-updates of news between our Focus leaflet deliveries. I've worked on the council's computer system up to now because that meant that I could forward any queries that arise from them to council officers and keep track of the responses more easily. Late last year my original council laptop finally had to be replaced and ever since then the email list has given me problems. Yesterday I decided enough was enough. Trying to send out an update and getting back more failure notices than I've had hot dinners this year meant drastic action was needed. Consequently the entire list has been transferred to my personal account and future updates will go from there.
If you're a resident of Eaglescliffe ward and want to be kept up to date with such things as road works, planning applications, what's going on at Preston Park and other short notice events just send an email to the address on the left and I'll add you to our list.
If you're not a resident of Eaglescliffe then this is probably the most uninteresting blog entry you've read!

Thornaby Issues

The council day was dominated by a special meeting of Executive Scrutiny committee to hear two requests for call in of Cabinet decisions. This is quite a technical procedure to allow front line councillors to question whether the Cabinet has acted properly in coming to a decision. So it can't change the decision but it can ask cabinet to look again in the hope that it might change. In the past this was difficult because Labour a majority and so not only held every cabinet seat but also most of the committee seats. Now we have a Labour/Tory cabinet so there are two parties looking at whether they should be giving blind support to their members on cabinet!
The two issues being looked at were both Thornaby ones - the closure of Parkview Residential Home and the sale of Thornaby Town Hall. Both are very contentious.
Parkview is the last residential home in SBC hands. It hasn't had as much investment in the past as needed to keep it at the high standard it was originally in building terms. That, we're told, is because the council agreed a policy in 2000 of moving towards Homes for Life - providing aids & adaptations as well as working with the builders of new housing to ensure that people can stay in their own homes until they need nursing care in which case they can go into a nursing home. There's also a "halfway house" known as Extra Care, delivered in partnership with housing associations. This is all very well, but to the people associated with the home at Parkview it feels like betrayal. The question that had to be answered yesterday was "did the cabinet carry out its decision making process after proper consultation, with due regard for human rights and in an open and transparent way?" In the end it was obvious that the real question which couldn't be answered is "can we ever agree on a definition of proper consultation?". The cabinet member (Labour) is strongly of the opinion that everyone was consulted. The senior officers agree - they held lots of meetings with interested people. The interested people disagree - they feel that they were presented with a take it or leave it proposal. The alternative to closure wasn't fully explored and neither officers nor cabinet member had any intention of doing so because it would conflict with the council's policy. Never mind the fact that Homes for Life can't be delivered yet because there isn't the funding to give everyone the adaptations they need and the developers are still building houses as I write which don't have doors wide enough for wheelchairs, don't have electric sockets and switches at an accessible height for all and so on.
At the end of over 2 hours I was left with a very uncomfortable feeling that the process, followed according to the letter of the rules, hadn't really served the people of Thornaby at all well. It was obvious that the cabinet wasn't going to change its mind and I couldn't see any point in referring it back just to prolong the false hopes in the minds of the people.
By the time we'd finished that item we were 5 minutes past the closing time of the meeting and still had the Thornaby Town Hall issue to discuss. Sadly, I had to give my apologies - having foolishly believed the timing given, I'd arranged to take my elderly mother, who'd been ill this week, her lunch and it wouldn't wait any longer. Again, I was later told, after all the arguments were put the voting went against the call in so that decision stands as well. A truly iconic building, in the best sense of the word, which should have had money spent on it years ago has been left to go to wrack and ruin almost. Long before I was on this council the Liberal Democrats, led by Cllr Suzanne Fletcher, proposed not spending as much money on Holy Trinity church in Stockton and using some of it on Thornaby Town Hall. The then Labour administration voted against that and it fell. Sadly, at least one of those Labour members is now a member of Thornaby Independents but seems to have forgotten about the chance to stand up and be counted all those years ago. But such is politics. We all make mistakes from time to time. The art is to learn from them.

A Marathon

This afternoon's planning meeting set a record for length. I was at the meeting room in the Library just after 1 because I knew there would be update reports to read before the meeting. There were so many, and some were so involved, that it was almost 1.30 before I'd finished studying them. Then the meeting started. Lots of members of the public were there. This is one of the things I like about planning committee - after years of campaigning by Liberal Democrats on the council, much of it long before I was elected, the public have the right to speak on applications. A planning officer presents a report summarising the relevant policies and material planning considerations then the applicant and public have the right to speak. It makes some meetings last a long time but at the end of it at least we have heard all sides of the argument. The chairman is very good at ensuring that fairness prevails, even if he's a bit brusque about it sometimes.
This afternoon we had a very difficult one to start with. A man who trains racing greyhounds has converted a barn into kennels, laid a road, put down concrete bases for pens and made a number of other changes to a piece of land on Aislaby road, outside the village. He says he didn't know that he needed planning permission to do these things but as he'd already applied for and been refused permission to do something similar elsewhere in the Borough a few years ago that seemed unlikely. Our policies are very clear about development in the countryside and this didn't fit the bill. Sadly, he's wasted a load of money on doing all this work when he should have waited to get permission first. A lesson for us all there. I hope he's learned it now.
There were 11 applications on the agenda, but only 3 in our ward - the application to put 5 houses at the rear of Copsewood went through. I think most people would agree that 5 would be better than the 7 he currently has permission for. The application to put a warehouse on the unallocated triangle of land near Elementis Chromium also went through, after much discussion of why it should be allowed and what the traffic situation would be. As I said in the committee meeting I'm much more worried about the traffic for the pending application on the site nearby. That one will generate much more than a removals firm could ever dream of.
By the time we'd dealt with a tricky one in Thornaby for student flats, a difficult one in Yarm for a golf course and several other lengthy ones we were beginning to wonder if we should have taken our tea with us! At 5.20 the meeting finally ended. I'm afraid that I was too shattered to do much more than finish off our Focus leaflet tonight. Worth the effort though - individual residents had been given the chance to say their piece and to see that "the council" listened to them. Even when we didn't agree with them we could still make little changes that would give them slightly more peace of mind. Tiring, but one of our better meetings.

Partnership Working

The word partnership is a much overused word in local government. There are times when it seems that everything is supposedly done in partnership with someone else but more often than not the benefits are hard to identify. This morning was not one of those occasions. As a member of Egglescliffe & Eaglescliffe council (formerly Egglescliffe Parish council) I chair the recreation committee. This is not a council that has active party politics. Everyone is there with the good of the Parish at heart and mostly with no party affiliations at all so it's quite different to Stockton Council.
Unusually for a Parish in Stockton-on-Tees this one provides and maintains play equipment on 4 play areas. For years we've acknowledged that the play equipment wasn't as good as it could be but we always shied away from putting up the Council Tax to pay for more. This year we decided that we would bite the bullet. We also decided that we needed some help to plan the play areas properly and then we'd have a plan to work to over the next few years. This morning I had a meeting with another member of the committee, the clerk and two officers from SBC who have the expertise we lack. It was a long and very useful meeting, at the end of which we had confirmed that partnership really can be useful when both sides approach it with a "can do" attitude. As a result we'll have something concrete to report to residents at the Annual Parish Meeting next week.
This afternoon saw the site visit to Aislaby Road to look at the works that have been done and now are the subject of a retrospective planning application for a greyhound training premises. The application has been the subject of a huge amount of correspondence, some of it distinctly dubious. For example I discovered that someone had written apparently in my name but giving an address in another part of Eaglescliffe. That piece of correspondence has now disappeared from the website. A councillor who usually sits on the planning committee has fettered his discretion by writing in favour of the application. The leader of the labour group, who has said many times in the past that we don't need site visits and they're a waste of money, came today along with his deputy leader. All of which leads me to think that there's going to be an interesting meeting tomorrow.

Politics and Sport

The Olympic torch arrived in London this weekend, avoiding the chaos that is still T5 but unable to control the weather or our precious freedom of speech. Several things struck me as I listened to he news coverage at lunch time:

• My initial feelings of disgust at the way this country was apparently pandering to the Chinese government over the disregard for human rights in Tibet has slowly been tempered by a feeling of deep sympathy for the athletes involved. Their entire lives over recent years have been geared to being able to compete in the Olympics. They didn't make the decision to award the games to China. Now they're being villified in some quarters for taking part. I thought of how proud I'd be if one of my children had been asked to carry that torch, and how difficult they would have found it to be in that situation, trapped between a rock and a hard place.
• I listened to quotes from the Dalai Lama asking that people don't boycott the Games, but let the athletes get on with what they do best.
• I heard Sir Steve Redgrave condemn in no uncertain terms the human rights abuses and beg our politicians and businesses to stand together against them. He pointe dout that sports boycotts of South Africa had little impact on Apartheid but economic sanctions brought it to an end. (with action by people in the country of course!)
• I listened to Joanna Lumley begging our politicians and athletes to use every opportunity to make it clear to China that these abuses must stop.
• I thought "what a difference to the state visit when Mr Blair was in power". Remember the closed off roads, the avoidance of crowds or protests at all costs. At least this time the protesters can make their point in full view of the world's TV and radio. Perhaps that message will get home to some in power in China - in a true democracy peaceful protest is not met by the threat of guns or imprisonment.
  

And then I thought "What am I doing about all this?" I'm not an athlete, and anyone who knows me knows I never was so refusing to take part in the games or the torch parade isn't really an option. I'm not a business woman doing deals in China so I can't withdraw from that. I'm not in Parliament, potentially choosing whether to sign some kind of concordat or trade treaty with the Chinese government so I can't refuse to do that.
I am, however, a member of Stockton Borough Council which has a cultural link with Beijing relating to our International Riverside Festival. So I can ask that the Leader of the Council makes it clear in conversations with the Chinese delegation that we don't approve of the human rights record of China. So too can all residents of Stockton borough and all who come and enjoy the Festival. I can write to the Chinese embassy and tell them what I think, and so can everyone who reads this page.

A day of non-stop meetings today, starting at 10 with one at Preston Hall. A group of officers concerned with the work in the park and the hall meets regularly with ward councillors and representatives of the groups with an interest in the park like Butterfly World and the Teesside Small Gauge Railway group. This is an attempt to make sure that things happening in the Park and Hall are co-ordinated and that the impact of events on neighbours is minimised. We saw photo-montages of the huge marquee which will be erected soon for the Hope event. This is an event open to anyone which is being organised by local churches and although it will involve hundreds of people it shouldn't be too disruptive. We'll be watching to make sure the traffic management plans work as promised.
From there I headed North to Newcastle for the second meeting of the Regional Fairtrade Group. Representatives of Fairtrade groups from all over the North East met to finalise plans for the tour of George Alagiah who will be in the region on Friday May 9th. He'll talk to groups around the region to spread the word about Fairtrade. The weekend following that there'll be a Fairtrade market and a huge Fairtrade Angel Cake in Baltic Square in Newcastle as part of the EAT! festival being held in Gateshead and Newcastle. The whole festival sounds wonderful and well worth a visit. I came away with some thoughts of ways we might progress in Stockton and with promises of shared expertise from others in the group.
As that meeting finished I had an hour to get home for a meeting with John and Alan about issues round the ward, including the problem of ball games on grass areas that are too small. At the moment it seems to be insurmountable but we'll keep working on it. We also had to deal with a phone call from a local news reporter about the problems that might arise from the extra traffic generated by the proposed development of a business park at the Airport. All I could say was exactly what I've said before to residents: we'll be watching the detailed planning application to try to ensure that the traffic issues are fully considered.
The afternoon finished with ward surgery at Trinity Church. Very often no-one comes to our ward surgeries - most people ring us or e-mail us rather than wait for a ward surgery. However, tonight we did have a couple who came with a number of issues to raise. One is the perennial problem of dog poo - not a nice subject but definitely not nice when it's on the grass verge outside your house day in, day out. Why people who take dogs out on the streets can't clean up after them is beyond me. It's hardly difficult and most owners do it perfectly well. Sadly, it only takes one to spoil a road for people. We've asked the dog wardens to patrol that area for a while and look forward to them catching the perpetrators. A fine of up to £1000 can be incurred - not a small amount. We also had our area Anti-social behaviour officer at the surgery and it was useful to be able to talk about what can be done to help with the young people playing football until such time as we can find other places for them to go.
So a long day but a varied one, and some good discussions and decisions taken. And I even got home in time to take some phone calls from family. A good day indeed.

Crime's down but problems are up!

Last night Borough and Parish councillors from the south of the Borough (Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Yarm & Eaglescliffe) met with police for an update on neighbourhood policing and a general chat about problems in their area. The numbers of recorded crimes are down in almost every area, though generally people think they're worse! A real effort at communication needed there. For some reason the Ingleby Barwick Independent councillors didn't attend so the Parish council representative was left to represent the entire area.
Unfortunately for the Eaglescliffe councillors the meeting was dominated by Thornaby's problems. Two of the Thornaby wards were represented and they do have to contend with serious problems which makes our area seem like a real haven in comparison. But that meant that we didn't have the opportunity to explore ways we might work to reduce the very real problems we have with anti-social behaviour which isn't yet of a criminal nature. We're going to have to pursue that tack in separate meetings. It really is irritating to us that we have 5 primary schools and 1 secondary school in our ward and the young people don't seem able to use the fields to play football unless it's as part of an organised, supervised match.
One useful element of the evening was the opportunity to update the chairman of Preston Parish Council on the situation with possible bridges over the Tees. Although the Ingleby Barwick councillors and the Friends of River Tees Heritage Park see it as very important to have a footbridge to Preston Park the residents of Preston have some justifiable worries about whether there'd be any policing of the area at night or whether this would just be a short-cut for trouble makers. I have brought this to the FTHP committee meetings in the past because although the Park is a resource for all the Borough to enjoy and needs to be as accessible as possible we also need to ensure the safety and well being of the residents nearest to it.

Mr Mayor - Cllr John Fletcher

Today was the big day - officially the Annual Meeting of Stockton Borough Council, unofficially known as Mayor-making. This is the meeting each year when appointments to positions within the council are made, starting with the Mayor, deputy mayor (who usually becomes mayor the following year) then going through cabinet, committees and outside bodies such as the Airport consultative panel and the Markets Forum. The role of Mayor is a civic role in Stockton, not an elected one as in Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and London. The mayor chairs council meetings and represents the borough at civic occasions but she or he also works very hard during the year to raise money for their chosen charities, often giving a big boost to local causes. For many years in Stockton the ruling political group decided who would be mayor but when the council became more politically balanced three years ago the rules were changed. The role of mayor is now offered to the longest serving councillor who hasn't already held the office, a change which allowed the first ever Liberal Democrat Mayor 2 years ago - Suzanne Fletcher, councillor for Bishopsgarth & Elmtree and a resident of Eaglescliffe. This year it was the turn of John Fletcher, the first elected representative of Eaglescliffe to hold that office.
Alan Lewis and I are delighted that John is able to be mayor. It means that we'll have to do our fair share of the work in the ward now, of course! Seriously, John will do a very good job as mayor and though he'll continue to represent the people of Eaglescliffe I hope they'll understand if sometimes it's Alan or me who answers a query rather than John.
John's chosen charities are Daisy Chain, which many Eaglescliffe residents will know of because the founder had strong links with Durham Lane School and the school still supports the charity regularly. For those who don't know it - Daisy Chain works to provide support and respite to families who have a child with autism and is currently fund raising to build a Day Centre on their site. They only need £500,000 so why not get in touch and buy a brick or two for them?
John's second charity, which will receive 25% of what he raises, is Justice First which is based in Stockton and works with people who are seeking asylum in this country but whose applications have been refused. Often this is because they cannot prove that they would be in danger if they went back home. Just imagine leaving your homeland in secret, fearing for your life and then being asked to prove that you are in danger. How can you do that? Yet that's what asylum seekers must do. Justice First helps them to find legal representation and medical help if needed to deal with the aftermath of their trauma. At times it also has to help with emergency support - food or clothing or shelter. For these people a little goes a long way - money to help with legal fees, a smile and a friendly word, the knowledge that people care.
For those who want to know more about life as mayor, John will be writing about his experiences on his blog. Unfortunately, thanks to the restrictions around the office of a civic Mayor in Stockton, John's blog won't be updated immediately he writes articles but will take a day or two so please be patient. It's not his fault that bureaucracy slows things down!

Spring in the Air

Today has been a lovely sunny spring day, the kind that lifts the spirits no matter what is on the agenda. The spring bulbs which we arranged to have planted as part of our small environmental improvements are looking wonderful - hosts of golden daffodils along roadsides, swathes of purple and white crocus and the green of the grass. A very visible sign of what some of the money was spent on, and I'm pleased with the result. I hope residents are too. The photograph of Durham Lane was taken by my colleague, Cllr Alan Lewis.
There was a meeting of the Fairtrade Steering Group today which gave a chance to reflect on the successes and disappointments of Fairtrade Fortnight in Stockton as well as starting to plan for the coming months. A stall in Preston Park during the Greener Living Roadshow on June 8th is the next event so watch this space for more details.

Earth Hour

Yesterday, 29th March, residents and businesses in 28 cities did what Sydney did in 2007 - turned off the lights for an hour at 8pm. Earth Hour started as a statement about one of the biggest contributors to global warming -coal fired electricity. Although turning the lights off for an hour won't save the world it does make the participants and observers think, and that's important. It helps people to make the little changes which will add up to the big difference.
You can sign up now for 2009, or check out your personal carbon footprint (on a much simplified 1 minute questionnaire) and then think about how to reduce it over the next few weeks or months. Personally, I rather like the occasional candle lit dinner to save electricity (though I haven't calculated how much carbon dioxide the candles produce!).
Seriously - why not give it a go. If enough Eaglescliffe residents want to join in we could register Eaglescliffe as a participating area for 2009.

Life, Research & Ethics

There's been a fair bit of coverage in the media recently of the proposals going before Parliament on embryo research. Those in favour of allowing such moves claim that we need to do this in order to find cures for diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers. I have loads of sympathy with the sufferers of such diseases and their families. My own father suffered from both, living out his final year in hospital because there were no homes able to cope with Alzheimer's in the area at the time. His deterioration was heartbreaking for all the family and we will always be grateful to those nursing staff who did manage to show compassion and understanding to us during those months.
I spent yesterday visiting our daughter and her family, including the unborn but very active new grandchild. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them, looking forward to the birth and enjoying the antics of their toddler daughter.
Then today, food for thought at church as a spokesperson for Life told of some of their work with men and women facing the trauma of life after abortion or unplanned, difficult and distressing pregnancies. She gave statistics on how many treatments for illnesses have resulted from Adult Stem Cell research, stem cells freely donated by people who can make that choice compared to those which have resulted from Foetal Stem Cell and embryo research. Over 70 conditions over the past 50 years from the former, including leukaemia being treated by bone marrow transplants, but none from the latter. Yet when the arguments for more and more leeway on the type of research allowed are advanced the successes of Adult Stem Cell therapies don't seem to make it into print. I don't take everything that someone tells me as gospel truth, but I do like to be given both sides of an argument and allowed to make up my own mind. Today made me wonder if we're being misled by some campaigners.
Of course, the question of when the embryo becomes a living being with a soul is one for a place other than a political blog! Worth pondering though - are we more than just a collection of cells?, more than an animal that's learnt to talk and walk upright?
At times like this I'm profoundly glad that Stockton Borough Council doesn't have to make these laws. We have enough problems trying to work out whether to expand the youth services or spend the money on vulnerable adults or roads or ......!

Allen's West

There's an application in now for outline planning permission for the Allen's West site on Durham Lane. The new owners of the site want to be able to build houses and a care home on part of the site and keep light industry and warehousing on the remaining part. Although they've produced an indication of what they'd like to put where, the only definite thing they're asking for at the moment is confirmation that a mixed use is acceptable and changes to the access. They're proposing a new roundabout and entrance for the industrial traffic at the northern end of the site and changes to the present entrance to make it suitable for the residential end of their proposal.
Last night, wearing our Egglescliffe & Eaglescliffe Council (formerly known as Egglescliffe Parish council) hats Alan, John and I attended a special meeting of the E&EC to discuss the application. It's very difficult to discuss something when you know that there could and probably will be changes when it comes to a full application for the design, siting and landscaping of the buildings. The plans are quite long term because the first stage, if approved, is to make changes to provide suitable habitat for the wildlife which currently uses the site, including skylarks, great crested newts, dingy skippers and bats. The applicant admits that the changes will not be enough to mitigate the damage to the skylark habitat, but as it isn't a protected species I'm not sure how much impact that will have on the decision making process.

When I listened in to the public consultation I heard a lot of people saying that they would be happy to have some housing on the site if it would enable the jobs to be retained on the other part of the site, but that they were worried about the traffic that would be generated. That seems to be reflected in what the applicants have reported as a result of their consultations. The Parish Council has expressed a number of concerns about the sustainability of the proposals, especially some of the housing which is a long way from the railway station and the bus stops and even further from the shops. The bus service along Durham Lane (which they sometimes call Durham Road!) is described in their application as being "6 per hour" when in fact it hasn't been that frequent in living memory and is currently only 1 per hour in each direction.

At the moment my feeling is that something can be done in terms of mixed development but that what is being proposed is unsustainable in the long term and needs to be reconsidered. However, as always, I reserve my final opinion until the matter comes to Planning Committee.

Talking Rubbish

The final meeting of the Environment Select Committee was yesterday afternoon, with the agreement of the final report on Waste management and Recycling as the main item on the agenda. We'd agreed to start with a presentation of a summary of the rationale for the review and the evidence we'd received for all interested councillors before we went on to finalise our recommendations. Unfortunately an error in sending out the invitation meant it was timed for half an hour after the meeting was due to start so there was a very quick re-arrangement of the agenda to cover some items before other councillors arrived. We had almost an hour of presentation and questions, all good and valuable. It showed that we were right in our judgement of the importance of the issue to ward councillors and to their electors. As a result of that discussion and further discussion in the committee we slightly amended one of the draft recommendations to allay some of the worries being expressed.
Although it meant that I spent over 3 hours on the meeting and finalising the report afterwards I believe it was time well worth spending. The scrutiny committee took a lot of evidence which enabled us to make a very well informed set of recommendations to move the service up the several notches needed to achieve the demanding targets being set by government for 2010 and beyond. We listened to the public and realised that many people are willing to accept change if it's explained properly and doesn't cause them too many problems. Now we look forward to convincing Cabinet next month that this is the way forward and then seeing the changes gradually introduced.
When looking at the results of the public consultation we realised that the response rate from some areas was significantly higher than the average. I knew that Eaglescliffe residents had been encouraged to respond by us as ward councillors, and that might have accounted for some of our higher than average turnout. I discovered yesterday that in one of the other wards the same thing had happened, though neither of the ward councillors was on the committee and the ward is as different as possible from ours. I'm very grateful to those councillors for promoting the consultation as vigorously as they did in their ward, and to others who did the same but haven't mentioned it to me. I'm very pleased that so many people responded and gave such full answers.

Pretty Pictures

As promised, just a couple of pictures to brighten up this page: Melbourne Harbour from the Observation platform of the Rialto Tower, and the iconic red rock of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock by white settlers) seen early in the morning soon after dawn.
And now it's back to work in Eaglescliffe and the Borough of Stockton.

Rest & Recuperation

Even councillors are allowed a holiday sometimes so this week we've been far afield spending time with our daughter and son in law. We don't see them very often so it's really good to spend time together and see their new flat and a new part of town. We've seen interesting places and enjoyed some good weather. When I'm back home I'll upload some pictures, but meanwhile I'm very grateful to Alan and John for looking after the ward and meaning that I don't have to worry about it. It's one of the benefits of the multi-member ward system that residents don't have to do without a councillor at any point in the year. If there's a single member representing a ward it's much more difficult to take time off without it having an adverse impact on the ward.
So I shall enjoy the rest of my holiday with a clear conscience and hope to return after Easter refreshed.

This morning's meeting to put the draft recommendations from committee to the Corporate Director and the Cabinet member went very smoothly and was over in 45 minutes. So now all that needs doing is to write a report! Fortunately it's not my job to actually write it, having agreed what should go in it. In a fortnight's time we'll run the meeting as an open seminar to start with and then the formal committee meeting to finalise the report. All being well it'll go as smoothly as yesterday's - good discussion and then consensus.
The rest of the day was spent on family things, until it was time to go to a meeting of Egglescliffe & Eaglescliffe council. The meetings of the Parish council are so different to those of the borough council - no party politics, just 13 members and an officer wanting to get the best for the people of the area. Sometimes we disagree on the way forward but not nastily. Still, it wouldn't do for all the world to be the same would it.

The first meeting of the day was at 9 to discuss a number of issues with the Corporate Director of Neighbourhood Services. There was an update on the Local List, which is moving forward at long last but it's probably too little too late for some buildings. Then there was time for a quick chat about some of the possible recommendations from Environment Select, just to make sure that I wasn't going to propose something impractical or unachievable.
At 10 it was time for the meeting of the Select Committee. We had an update on the consultation - more than 3000 people had responded to the survey and the responses have been analysed by wards, age groups & ethnic groups so we've got a really comprehensive picture of public opinion. We had some animated discussion about possible recommendations and agreed that no one solution fits all areas so we'll need to look at various methods of storage and collection of material for recycling and disposal. We accepted the fact that, whatever our views on the energy from waste plant at Haverton Hill the new government performance indicators do not encourage using "waste" to make energy. We are going to have to massively improve our recycling rate and reduce the amount of rubbish we produce, and fast.
At the end of 2 hours we had 11 recommendations and 3 further points we wanted to make. We also decided to put down a marker for 2009/10 that we will want to scrutinise performance on our carbon reduction strategy when it's been in place for a year and to look at our own waste - how is the council treating things it no longer needs. Rubbish or recycling? We may also wish to look at how the council's partners are dealing with the same issues.
There was just time to do a few more jobs, write a couple of letters and deal with a host of e-mails before council tonight. Some very good questions were asked, and not all were answered but Alan Lewis asked about the council doing something to encourage owners of private car parks like the ones at Sunningdale shops and Orchard shops to enforce the proper use of disabled parking bays. He was told that thanks to his question council officers would now look into this!
Sadly, not such a positive outcome when John asked for an answer to his question about the Police Authority which he'd asked ages ago. The answer was long and read in such a way by the council's representative, Cllr Kirton, that no-one could understand what was being said and in the end the Mayor had to ask him to do it as a written answer.
Our motion on saving post offices was well proposed by Suzanne and seconded by Alan. Everyone was supportive though the Labour members for Parkfield tried to claim that it was nothing to do with the government and that Dari is working away behind the scenes to save Oxbridge post office. Crocodile tears again! In the end it was carried unanimously.
The same result followed for the motion introduced by the Labour group condemning the huge pay rise for the board members on the North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation board. John spoke about the lack of transparency demonstrated by their treatment of a constituent on whose behalf John had asked a question and also pointed out that the members had accepted the jobs on the current pay scale only a year ago.
All in all, a long council meeting but not a bad one at all.

Cashew nuts & Liberation

Yesterday was spent in a flurry of preparation for the evening while trying to catch up on countless other things that needed doing. I set off in plenty of time to pick up Juan and Jana from the station, but parking problems (not being willing to shell out £9 for the privilege of parking for 15 minutes in an all day spot) meant that I had to run to the platform when the train arrived so they descended from the train and couldn't see anyone there to meet them. However, we were soon on our way through the rush hour build up of traffic to get to the house for a warm drink and a brief rest before setting out for the university.
Jenny (seen above with Juan) had already set up a wonderful array of Fairtrade goods for sale. I was only sorry that I didn't have time to browse and look at the new items available now. Suzanne and John had collected the fruit donated by our local ASDA - well done them for supporting Fairtrade Fortnight so positively. Some of their other practices (or those of their parent group) could probably do with reform but that's another campaign for another place. The university had printed a wonderful poster with the event on, the coffee was hot and welcoming, and everyone wanted to welcome our guests. The techie stuff worked wonderfully so no worries on that front.
We heard from Chris Eddowes who with her husband is living the challenge of surviving on just local and Fairtrade goods this fortnight. She told of the difficulty of finding out what supermarkets stock, with no-one being able to produce a list of Fairtrade goods until a friend who works in one of them protested and forced the issue. But she also shared with us the pleasure of Fairtrade Easy peel oranges which apparently are just like the ones she'd enjoyed in Mediterranean countries. And she told us of rediscovering the flavour of local, free range chickens. The thing she was missing most was tomatoes, but one of the audience pointed out that locally grown ones are available at the moment, thanks to a hothouse system established on an old industrial site at Billingham.
Juan shared some of the history of Cashew growing in El Salvador, and the difficulties of earning enough money to build up the infrastructure of his area. We saw photographs of the fruit growing on the trees and video of the very simple machine they've bought with their fairtrade premium. It opens the nuts quite carefully, instead of having to break them open with a stone, so now they get a much higher percentage of whole nuts which get the top price at market. We also saw video of the women painstakingly peeling the outer layer from the nuts using tiny knives. They work an 8 hour day doing that. Between the tree and going into a bag the nuts have to be fried in vegetable oil to separate them from the fruit, opened, baked to remove a toxic element, peeled, separated by hand into whole, halves and bits. No wonder they're one of the more expensive nibbles we can buy. Even with the premium for Fairtrade and the premium price they can charge in Germany for being organic they still sat have to choose between building up the infrastructure by, for example, buying another machine for shelling and things that we take for granted like educating their children. What a heartbreaking choice to have to make - improve the business to make it more sustainable for future generations or educate the present generation. So to help them get more quickly to the point where they can afford both, watch out for Liberation brand cashew nuts and buy them!
After the presentation there were so many questions that there was only just time to finish with a passionate plea to support those businesses which support the development of new Fairtrade initiatives across the world, such as Traidcraft. Without their work the whole project will grind to a standstill because the supermarkets won't do the development work. That would mean putting up their prices, and we can't ask consumers to pay a fair price can we?? Or am I to be accused of being cynical? I just get so frustrated when people look for the cheapest all the time without counting the cost, and I get even more angry when I find myself being tempted along the same path. Get thee behind me Satan was never more needed than when supermarket shopping!

Mothering Sunday

Is it really the 4th Sunday of Lent already? It's no time since Christmas, or so it seems. Yet 3 weeks today is Easter. Mothering Sunday is a great tradition, largely lost in the commercial world of Mother's Day, but still lurking in the background and giving a base to that modern version. Children may not trek home to see mother from wherever work has taken them but they still keep in touch. So I have a card and flowers to remind me that my children still care, despite being far away. And I had the opportunity to have lunch with my mother and mother-in-law, something which doesn't happen often. I relish these moments, knowing that there probably won't be many more years of this privelege.
Today's treat had to wait until I'd done the Fairtrade stall at church, but that's no great hardship when there are willing helpers and people really want to buy Fairtrade things, talk about what difference it's making to producers, and enjoy a cup of coffee and a chat. We hung bunting round the railings outside to encourage people to pop in. We then had an interesting job getting it down as the wind had impaled some of it on the top of the railing! I was told while doing it that people had heard the event tomorrow mentioned on local radio this morning, so that was a huge relief. Also, they got the producer right so the correction sent on Friday had got through.
Later today I heard that the West Coast mainline has been closed so I hope Juan and Janna have succeeded in moving around the North West as they needed to.