Partnerships and Priorities

Far too much of today was spent sitting on not very comfortable chairs listening to people telling us how good their particular service is in Stockton. It was supposed to be about setting some priorities for our area but in fact was much more about hearing what was supposedly happening, and to be fair in lots of instances actually is happening. Then just when we were tired and wanting to get out into some fresh air we got to the bit about choosing priorities. Actually they're not priorities for action but for monitoring how well the council and its partners are doing in those matters. Being the "new kids on the block" in partnership terms of course the Western Area people didn't quite stick to the rules so we have set some priorities which we will be monitoring very closely. Residents of Eaglescliffe won't be surprised to know that positive activities for children and young people is one of them! And feeling good about the area is another which seems to us to cover absolutely everything that matters to people.
I managed to fit in a quick visit to hospital to seem my mother before heading to the Western
Area Partnership meeting at Long Newton. It's always good to go to the Wilson Centre and enjoy the hospitality there. It's a community centre which really is at the centre of its community. Several of us had spent the day at the other event so our brains were a little on the woolly side but we did manage some lively debate on employment in the area and various other issues. No major decisions though.

Money to Spend!

The Western Area Partnership Board doesn't usually have money to spend because that's not how things work. However, a new government initiative to focus funding on getting more people into work will mean a small amount of money targeted at our area. We're not talking about major projects here, but finding ways to help those who need a helping hand - maybe because they've been made redundant, are thinking about retraining but don't know what skills are needed, or maybe because they've graduated but now can't find work near to family and friends, or perhaps for some reason they've never found work since leaving school. I spent some time this morning mulling over ideas and criteria with council officers in preparation for meetings on Monday which will start to firm up some ideas. Exciting times, but also daunting because if we get it wrong there isn't a second chance with the money.
The second meeting of the day was to discuss recommendations from the last scrutiny review which the Environment committee did - Customer First, the council's customer service programme. It was a really constructive discussion with the cabinet member, officers and me all working on the recommendations to make sure they are clear and precise. Another hurdle out of the way so that we can move on to the review of animal welfare services and dog fouling - life on the Environment Select committee is certainly varied!!
This evening I had a report of anti-social behaviour not far from my own home so spent some time round there talking with the residents and finding out the details. It seems incredible but apparently there are people who drive to the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, park their cars with the music on full blast and proceed to drink beer and eat pizzas. The debris is then thrown up onto garage roofs or into gardens before they drive away at speed! What possible pleasure do they get from it? Phone calls to the police and Stockton's enforcement section have elicited promises of visits tonight so I hope they actually get some evidence or manage to put a stop to it. No resident should have their sleep disturbed like that and especially not elderly people who deserve our respect.

Public Involvement

The morning started brightly with a very positive e-mail from a young person from whom I'd asked advice on behalf of one of our young residents. That was followed by an e-mail from a resident with some ideas for a solution to the parking problem for Headlam Terrace, which I've passed on to Stockton Council engineers to consider. It always makes me feel good when residents come up with positive suggestions about problems instead of just complaints. Working together we stand a chance of solving issues.
Tonight there was a public meeting for the people of Stockton to meet the Chief Constable of Cleveland and senior Stockton Police. It didn't get off to a good start when the advertising/invitations that went out had 2 different times on. So the police and some residents had arrived at 6 whereas councillors had been invited for 6.30. There was a good discussion of some of the problems around Stockton and a chance to have an input into where the priorities should lie next year. One point made strongly was that if this was supposed to be a public meeting it needs to be better advertised next year!

Planning Committee

The latest planning application for The Rookery was before the committee today. This one is to demolish the building and then build something which looks exactly like the plans that were approved last year. The reason for demolition is that the foundations of the present building are very poor quality, confirmed by an inspection by SBC's building inspector. That news was upsetting to many of us who've argued for preserving the original building while allowing some development around it.
A resident again drew our attention to the problems associated with parking for those who live in or visit the properties on Headlam Terrace, something which is almost certainly going to get worse when development takes place. A councillor from another ward queried the lack of a Section 106 payment towards play space in the area so the decision was deferred for another 3 weeks in order to look at that issue. Meanwhile I need to look into what can be done for Headlam Tce residents.
There was much more controversy over the application in Thornaby related to the football facilities in Teesdale Park. I remember going on the site visit for the original application and not being too convinced by the half promises of the developer. Unfortunately it seems that I was right to feel uneasy because no-one seems happy with what has gone on since then. We're now in the position after yesterday's majority decision where the football club doesn't seem to have any chance of being saved by the building of a new club house in time, the residents are devastated at the thought of the increase in traffic and loss of green space while the developer has a piece of land with planning permission for housing in the middle of a housing slump. Lose, lose, lose situation. It's a long time since I've seen residents leave a meeting so angry.

Harvest time

The good weather we had in Bournemouth seems to have followed us up here so today was in part a day to catch up on pruning the apple tree and harvesting its fruits. The crab apples are chopped and boiled ready to extract the juice and make apple mint jelly for the winter - one of the things I really love about autumn is preserving the harvest of the garden for the dark months ahead.
First, though, there was some work to be done - buying in some wines for our Fairtrade Wine Tasting evening on October 17th. It's at St John's Living Well in Stockton and tickets can be had for a minimum donation of £3 so if you live in Stockton please get a ticket and come along. In common with most areas of Stockton although it's very easy to use public transport before 7pm it's less easy for getting home afterwards.
However, the wine will be excellent and we'll be telling you where to buy more of the ones you like! You'll also have the rosy glow of knowing that the workers in the vineyards and the wineries aren't being exploited.

Back in Harness

Conference is over and the queues for the terminals provided by Microsoft proved just too much of a barrier to blogging while there. Standing in a queue in order to stand at a terminal was not my idea of relaxation so it was a case of doing a quick check of emails and then handing over to the next person.
Suffice to say that the debates were very high quality, as they always are at our conference. Knowing that conference is setting the policy of the party makes sure that everyone takes the debates very seriously. On top of that there were some really good fringe meetings enabling us to discuss everything from nuclear power to economics to child welfare and fairtrade. I took part in a really interesting discussion on Islam and how it's perceived by some to be a threat to this country. It was a privilege to hear Islamic scholars debating the issue and to be able to join in the discussion. And of course Bournemouth is a lovely place with a beautiful walk from where I was staying to the Conference centre. The early morning sun on the sea was an inspiring sight.
Of course the world economic situation was never far from the front of discussions in the conference hall and the bars. Vince Cable seemed to gain in stature every day as other parties grappled to say something sensible about it. I don't pretend to understand the markets but I do know that Vince was warning of problems over a year ago and sadly, his warnings have been shown to be valid. I just hope that the measures being taken in London and New York settle nerves and get things back onto an even keel. Everyone needs the markets to be more stable than they have been recently for the sake of pensions, housing and everything else that's affected.
Meanwhile yesterday was a day of meetings - planning the scrutiny review of dog fouling and animal welfare, Environment Partnership response to a government consultation on renewable energy production and then the Parish Council. Today having just one meeting, all be it in Gateshead, seemed like a rest!

Conference time again

I took advantage of our direct train link with London yesterday en route to Bournemouth to our Party conference. Absolutely superb service and I thoroughly recommend it. It seems rare to be able to say this about trains in the UK but everything ran to time and I had a seat on every train including the Underground.
There was time for a pleasant walk in the twilight along the sea front and some photos before a meal and sleep in preparation for the morning's session.
This morning I went to a consultation session on our policy for the natural environment - lively debate including on just what we mean by natural in this context and I look forward to the results coming to next Autumn's conference as a policy paper.
This afternoon we passed a super policy on involving citizens in democracy - Giving Citizens a Voice in Parliament. The slightly dubious idea of a citizen's veto on legislation was defeated but the rest of the policy is superb. Lots of very good ideas about how to get people involved and make Parliament more responsive.
Meanwhile of course the ward continues to throw up issues and so I've spent time replying to e-mails from constituents on a number of things. Planning applications don't stop arriving just because some of us go away! We're now being asked to consider whether a Tanning salon is the right use for the old "Yarm Auto Parts" building near the Cleveland Bay. Some might think any use is better than it standing empty but of course there are parking issues as well as the ongoing problem of enforcing the appeal decision that it should be returned to its former appearance. Watch this space is an ongoing maxim for Eaglescliffe.

Afghanistan

I heard on the radio this morning a sad tale of a young soldier who'd been refused a room at a hotel because the management said that soldiers weren't welcome. I don't know any more about the circumstances of that individual case. What struck me was that sometimes the people who are risking their lives to carry out the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated as though they made the political decision to start the campaign. They didn't - it was the Labour Prime Minister who took us into those wars on the coat-tails of the US president. Now, in September 2008, the campaign in both countries is to try to get to the point where the people of those countries feel safe and secure enough to go about their ordinary lives and rebuild their infrastructure from the debris of wars. An example was given in the news yesterday of the 6 days of fighting which it took to get a vital turbine to a dam in Afghanistan so that electricity generation can build up and people will have some of the basics we take for granted. At the end of the 6 days the officer in charge said it was the first time in 20+ years in the army that he'd needed to use every single resource available to him to achieve a goal. That included soldiers, missiles and helicopters.
I recently finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. If you haven't read it I recommend it - the voice of ordinary Afghans seems to leap off the page, full of hope but also of desperation. I have a particular interest because the first asylum seeker I ever met came from Kabul and was followed by several more, all with harrowing tales but also with a great love of their country and hope that one day they'd be able to return and live in peace. Let's give our armed forces the support they need to help both Iraq and Afghanistan to that stage. And let's make sure that no future government can send them into conflict on such flimsy grounds as the last one did.

Stockton Tories show true colours

Since the Annual Meeting of the council earlier this year it has been decided that a Cabinet of 8 is not big enough and Stockton needs 9. Wheels had to turn slowly but finally a 5th Labour member of the cabinet was appointed in July. As a result there was a vacancy for a committee chair to be decided tonight. Looking at the membership of the committee it seemed obvious that the best person for the job was the current vice-chairman, Cllr Lynne Apedaile. She was persuaded to let her name go forward in part by the Conservative leader of the council who suggested to her that his party would support her. The Liberal Democrats were prepared to support her election in the interests of having a good scrutiny committee functioning. Yesterday I was approached by the Labour leadership seeking our support for the Labour candidate who wasn't even a member of the committee and would need to be appointed to it. He hasn't a clue about the scrutiny review of services for adults which is currently partially completed. But Labour assumed that anyone they put up should get the post. I was told by some Tories that their leader had told his group that he wanted them to support Lynne. For the first time since the election last year I felt that perhaps we were going to see common sense prevail over party political expediency.
Sadly, today that hope was dashed. I was told with great glee by the Labour leader that he'd sorted the problem out and they didn't need our votes. At the end of the planning committee meeting he and the deputy leader of the Conservatives were deep in conversation and behold - we arrived at council to the news that they wouldn't be supporting Lynne after all. At least one or two of them had the grace to look embarrassed.

On the bright side, the planning committee came to a reasonable decision on Bishopsgarth Cottages, agreeing that there should be a meeting of the applicant, the ward councillors and officers to try to reach a better compromise than the one which was on offer today. Let's hope that good sense prevails. The application and its predecessors have already taken up a huge amount of time for officers, planning committee and ward councillors.

My question at Council about how many plastic carrier bags the council and its partner organisations (such as the NHS and Tristar) handed out at recent events was met by a half answer - they don't actually know in detail but the number given out by the council this year is less than last year was the gist of it. I pointed out that in the last few weeks there have been bags handed out by the council containing prizes for a competition - photograph prominent in the local press! SIRF handed out hundreds of blue plastic rain ponchos which will no doubt end up in land fill or even worse, hanging from trees and hedges after being discarded. And all this at a time when we're asking our residents to reduce their waste in order to help us meet very challenging targets on waste reduction. Joined up thinking??

This afternoon I was able to attend a preview of the Autumn collection of Fairtrade crafts from Traidcraft. The company has come a very long way since the early days when crafts were pretty amateurish and only bought by enthusiasts whose high principles overcame their aesthetic considerations. The items in this Autumn's catalogue wouldn't be out of place in top of the market stores around the country, beautifully designed and finished. I ordered quite a few items for the stall at church and some for presents in readiness for Christmas.
We were reminded of the importance of dedicated Fairtrade companies such as Traidcraft which invest heavily in the development of new products and in support for producers as they work towards becoming accredited with the Fairtrade Foundation. We were also reminded that although the amount of Fairtrade goods sold in this country has increased enormously over the past few years we need to increase it much more if people in developing countries are to really reap the benefits.
An interesting statistic: It's been calculated that increasing trade in Africa by 1% would lift 128million people out of poverty! That's quite a lot of money if we just look at it as a block, but if each of us bought one or two more things from African sources (especially Fairtrade things) we'd start to make that difference.
And when we came out there was an added bonus - we'd missed the rain while we were in there.

Waste, waste, waste

I spent part of the day answering queries about the changes to Stockton council's waste management collections coming soon - plastic and cardboard to be collected for recycling so no need for collections of extra waste left beside the wheely bin (side waste) and no need for community skips which fill up with mixed waste that has to go to land fill because it can't be separated economically.
I've got a question down at council for Wednesday evening about how many plastic bags are being given away by SBC and its partners, hoping that the cabinet member will be spurred into trying to reduce the number. There are some really good services who don't give away such things but others seem to compete for who can give the biggest!
There's been a very interesting experiment by a BBC correspondent trying to do without any new plastic in the life of her family for a month. Read her conclusions - there may be some new ideas for how you can reduce your usage, who knows.
Late this afternoon I found that the carefully planted shrubs on Larch Crescent haven't covered enough of the ground and have only driven the football nearer to the very people they were designed to protect! More work needed I fear.
Some of us are keen to see the local shops we have maintained and we support them as much as possible. If you're one of those people you may be interested in a petition on the Government's web site by the Federation of Small Businesses. As fuel prices rise, car tax increasingly reflects the pollution caused by driving and time is short I think more and more of us may be looking towards local shops for at least some of what we need. But we may find they're not there unless we support them now.

Post natal luxury down under

I've just been hearing about the latest trend in reducing pressure on post natal beds in hospital in Melbourne, Australia. For some insurance companies and some hospitals it's become cheaper to install a midwife in a luxury hotel and rent a suite for the new mother and her husband and baby and other children for a few days than to keep said mother and baby in hospital!! So for some mothers, choosing their ante-natal and post-natal care package now involves looking at hotel facilities. If it sounds incredible, it's not - it's really happening. It's a far cry from the British idea of choice in medical care, and I'm not sure what impact it has on those people who don't pay into such expensive medical insurance schemes.
Meanwhile I'm pleased to report on a much more mundane level that the planting in Larch Crescent has finally been done. Let's hope that's an end to the nightmare for the residents of ball games being played too vigorously in too small a space by young people old enough to know better and old enough to go across Yarm Rd and use the excellent facilities in Preston Park.

Rehabilitation

A relatively minor piece of surgery has meant that I need to keep my leg up for some time each day for a few days so lots of opportunities to catch up on reading and to answer the phone. It's been a real treat to be able to read things properly instead of having to skim down them trying to spot the important bits hidden amongst the rest. I was also able to spend time on the phone instead of relying on e-mail in an effort to find out more detail of some work being done in the ward by a charity on rehabilitation of offenders. Yet another example of local residents not being given the whole story so the causing a great deal of worry. I've yet to find out whether the worry is justified or not, but at least I've had a lot of help from Council officers and hope to have an answer early in the week.

690 Yarm Road

The appeal hearing was today. We won't know the result until about 6 week's time and I wouldn't like to guess which way the inspector will go. I do believe we got a fair hearing, but whether I or my colleagues there were sufficiently convincing remains to be seen. All I can say is that we did our best and I hope for the sake of the residents of the few houses in Croft Rd who will be affected that our best was good enough.

Young People Today

I spent the weekend at the annual conference of the Association of Interchurch Families, nothing to do with party politics you might think, but consider the sectarian divides in such places as Northern Ireland and it soon becomes obvious that in some places religion and politics mix with disastrous effect. However, this weekend was a particularly cheerful one as it marked the beginning of our 40th year so a celebration Dinner and Ceilidh provided a break from debate and discussion. Particularly heartening were the young members of the association - young people aged 14+ who organised a full programme of activity, debate and discussion for themselves and at the end of the weekend pricked the consciences of all the adults there by telling us their thoughts on climate change, Fairtrade and a number of other important topics and then handing to every family a "goodie bag" full of information on ways to live more simply so that others may simply live in the words of the CAFOD campaign. So the young people I met this weekend were thoughtful, worked hard and taught the adults a thing or two - how lucky I was!

Recycling Revolution

There was a briefing today for councillors about Stockton's recycling revolution which will happen as a result of the scrutiny review I chaired earlier in the year. As the officer doing the presentation said, some tough decisions were taken. My own personal inclination would have been to go further down the road to strong encouragement of reducing waste and recycling whatever we can, but in the end I had to compromise in order to carry the majority. I still believe we took decisions for the right reasons and I'm convinced they'll help in our aim to reduce, re-use and then recycle at least 40% of domestic waste in 2 years' time. Of course, that's only part of the story. The government doesn't set the council any targets for commercial waste so the council doesn't put any effort into encouraging recycling by those people. All the office blocks around the borough don't have any targets for recycling unless the company concerned has such a policy. How much waste paper is that? How many drinks cans and plastic bottles? Some might think the council should be doing something about it anyway, but that would mean using tax-payers' money on things which the government doesn't think sufficiently important to count towards anything. So when Stockton Council had to account for how it has spent the money it would be saying that some was spent on a service which the government didn't want and the people of the borough haven't asked for! Not a good idea - 4 stars down the drain! No chief executive or leader of the council is going to go down that route.
There has to be another way but can you imagine a Labour government, much less a Tory one, forcing industry or business to do something good for the environment? Not on their past record. So we have to rely on individuals putting pressure on their own workplace to improve.
Sadly, village halls and community centres fall under the commercial heading on this, so when there's a party there and dozens of cans and bottles are collected up at the end where do they go? Either the zealous organisers take them home and pretend that the party happened there or they go straight into the bin and to the incinerator or land fill instead of their precious material being recycled. Where's the sense in that?
Still, look on the bright side - houses across the borough will have cardboard and plastic recycling collections by next autumn, with the first lucky homes starting this autumn. The lucky ones include most of our ward apart from the farms, rural hamlets and those who are on the same collection round as them. I look forward to seeing the recycling rate in Eaglescliffe rocket and at the same time our residual waste amounts drop dramatically. If we can all become more aware of the need to reduce consumption we'll soon make a difference.

How fortunate I am!

The morning started with a continuation of last night's awful news about the plane crash in Madrid which made me, along with many other people I guess, reflect on how easily such things wipe out lives that should be full of fun and joy and promise. Although I know that statistically I'm safer on a plane than on a bike it's somehow more worrying when the mode of transport isn't in my control. Irrational maybe, but I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of people think in the same way. Having just returned from holiday after a flight lasting over 9 hours and with a niece currently on holiday in Spain the horror struck me more directly than perhaps it would have done at other times.
Then I picked up the morning paper and found myself gripped by a feature article about a family who eventually fled the horror that is Zimbabwe and have started a new life in Australia but are still worried sick about parents left behind in Harare. The enormity of the decision they took and the love the writer has for the country of her birth shone through the article.
I did find time today to look up more detail of an interesting housing development about which I read yesterday. Staiths South Bank in Gateshead is a new development on an old, contaminated site - what everyone would recognise as a brownfield site. Wimpey very bravely gave an architect who'd criticised their previous developments around the country the challenge of designing this one and what a design - ultra modern apartment buildings, more traditional houses, open public spaces designed with people in mind. They don't just look good, they actually work. One has a table tennis table in the centre with floodlights - imagine that in Eaglescliffe! No-one has individual wheelie bins or blue boxes, but there are communal bins shared between 15 or 20 houses. Residents have praised the system for making them more waste conscious and for giving them another opportunity to meet and "pass the time of day". I know that works - I see it when I visit a relative in flats in Stockton which have a recycling centre outside. I've seen it work in France and in Australia. No reason at all why it couldn't work on new developments here. I've sent the details to our planning department and the regeneration section to see what they say!
On a more down to earth note, we've now submitted requests for our Environmental Improvements budget for more bulb planting along Durham Lane and Yarm Road, replacement of a tree in Preston Lane and surfacing of the footpath from West View Terrace to Yarm Road. The latter may not be possible because the ownership of the land has never been traced whenever someone's tried to do something in the past but we live in hope. Meanwhile if Eaglescliffe residents have further thoughts on what might be possible in the ward we hope you'll let us know.

Ups and Downs

The day started with a briefing session in preparation for the planning appeal hearing on 690 Yarm Road, taking place next Wednesday in Stockton Town Hall. Two senior planning officers went through all the procedures with me and discussed what the main arguments will be. Cllr Beaumont came along too, as she went on the committee site visit and realised at that point just what the impact would be on the residents of the few houses on Croft Rd at the rear of the site. She's going to come along to the appeal and speak on that, for which I'm grateful. I couldn't go on the site visit, so although I know the area I can't speak about what the committee saw on that day.
Last night I called on a couple of the Croft Rd residents and asked if they would mind my asking the inspector to come and look from their property. Appeal inspectors aren't consistent in which aspects of an application and local plans they place most emphasis on so we can only marshall the best arguments we can and hope for the best.
From that to a more up-beat meeting - Stockton Borough Fairtrade Partnership. We had good representation from Durham University this time as well as from the Co-op and very positive discussions on how to promote Fairtrade in the Borough. Plans for the wine tasting on October 17th are moving on, as well as for re-validating our Fairtrade Borough status. If any local readers know of shops other than the supermarkets which stock Fairtrade goods please let me know, as well as any cafes, restaurants or pubs which offer Fairtrade food or drink. We were delighted to hear that as well as the Co-op taking over the Sommerfield chain and thus broadening their Fairtrade offer they have also taken over the newsagent at Wynyard, meaning that Wynyard now has a place to buy Fairtrade coffee, tea, chocolate and biscuits on the doorstep.
Disappointing news came in the afternoon, with the decision to cancel the Summer Show planned for the weekend at Preston Park. Heavy rain has left the ground in no state to cope with masses of vehicles and people even if it stays fine for the rest of the week so there was no alternative but a cancellation. Some events will go ahead on the car parking space and inside the Hall, including Olympic Flag raising – the ceremony to mark the countdown to the London 2012 Olympics will take place outside Preston Hall Museum on Sunday 24 August at 1:30pm. The flag will be raised by gymnast Craig Heap, who competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was twice gold medallist in the Commonwealth Games. There'll also be people on hand with information on how to get involved in sports of all kinds in the borough.
The Daisy Chain SCAD will take place in the car park while the rowing machine competition will be in the Hall on Sunday at 1.
Arc in the Park will now be in Arc at 8pm on Friday and Saturday which will no doubt be a relief for those who don't like to hear the music from evening events drifting across to their houses.
The museum will be open as usual all weekend but parking will be very limited so if you can possibly use a bus or walk or catch the train to Eaglescliffe station and walk from there, please do.

Getting Back to Normal

A day without formal meetings meant I could catch up with what happened while I was away, including the arrangements for appointing a new chief executive for Stockton Borough Council. Although many people think of the Council as something quite small and local it also resembles in many ways a large business. The chief executive has to make sure that all the services, whether very visible like waste collection or invisible like housing benefit payments, run smoothly and give the best value for money to Council Tax payers. At the same time all the partnership working which is such a big feature of public service today has to be worked on and then there's relationships with other councils and the government in Westminster. So it's not an easy job at all and we need someone who can keep up the present standards and make sure that they give results for everyone in the Borough - a tall order! So the recruitment process has to be very carefully arranged.
I've been asked about my comment on the sugar cane industry in Jamaica so I thought I'd elaborate a bit. Sugar was a major product in Jamaica in colonial days and even until relatively recent years. Sugar cane was grown all over the lowland plains and the product was exported to the UK and other countries. Unfortunately for Jamaica and other Caribbean islands their customers began to produce more and more sugar from beet so the demand for cane declined. As a result sugar plantations gradually closed and the land was used for other things. On the Northern coast of Jamaica that has frequently meant hotels and housing which in turn has placed high demands on the water supplies to the towns and villages. As a result new water mains are being laid at a furious rate in order to bring more of the precious liquid from the hills to the plains. Sadly, much of it is used simply to make hotels and their surroundings more green and beautiful, though as these hotels provide good job opportunities with desirable steady wages the local people I spoke to seemed to be content with the situation. What was really humbling was their reaction when I expressed some regret that our use of sugar beet had reduced their agricultural job opportunities. "But it's good for your country and you've got to look after your people" was the common response. No acrimony, no envy - just acceptance that this is how trade works round the globe. It made me glad that Fairtrade sugar is cane sugar from Jamaica, amongst other places, and that we can buy that as well as beet sugar to support our own farmers.

Holidays are a time for refreshment and recreation, and my last week was no exception. We travelled to Jamaica, somewhere we never thought we'd see, for a family wedding. During our stay I heard at first hand about the devastating effect of American powdered milk being dumped on the market (Jamaican dairy industry largely destroyed), the effect of the drop in sugar cane sales as more countries have learned to produce sugar from beet and the indomitable Jamaican spirit finding new ways to build the economy. Tourism is now the biggest industry, which is frightening when you consider how fickle it is. I enjoyed the company of the Jamaicans I met and realised just how proud of their country they are, 6 years after independence was won. National and local heroes are celebrated everywhere and the pride and interest in local government has lessons for us. People know just who to blame because the roads are full of potholes in places! It seemed at times as though I was here in Eaglescliffe. However, we don't get quite such stunning scenery around Eaglescliffe I'm afraid.
Although we were staying with the wedding party in a coastal resort I took every opportunity I could to get out and see some of the "real" country, including a horse ride up in the mountains through the rainforest. I declined the many offers of "smoke" or "a visit to Charlie" - I can honestly say that I don't even feel tempted by such things.
Coming home was a gentle let down, as John Fletcher had done such sterling work in the ward in my absence that nothing seemed to need urgent attention. I found that the amended plans for 502-506 Yarm Rd had been passed, as were those for the refurbishment of Splash in Stockton town centre.
Our plans for planting on Larch Crescent are at last near to being implemented but it's irritating that they've taken so long when we've known for at least 2 months what we wanted to do there. It means that the residents around there have had to put up with a further 6 week school holiday with inappropriate ball games taking place there.
We've now been told that there's likely to be a shortage of bulbs to plant for next spring so if we want to get more colour round the ward next spring we need to get our order in quickly. Any residents reading this and wanting to suggest somewhere for spring bulb beds you need to get in touch quickly.