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Bin Requests 22 Aug 2010
Following a number of requests for bins from residents and groups in the ward we can confirm new litter bins at the following sites -
Entrance to Drinkfield Marsh off Newlyn Drive.
Tintagel Close in the hammer head area.
End of Glebe Road.
Newlyn Drive Green area - a new bin is to be sited following a request and the need to remove the bin from the lamp column in the cut through from Newlyn to Princess Road.
Harrowgate Village - following reports that bagged dog foul has been left discarded on the A167 footpath and just inside the entrance to the public footpath to the open fields. A bin had been ordered to be sited next to the entrance to the field.
Please let us know of any other areas that you feel could benefit from a waste bin.
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Church to Close 29 Jul 2010
It has been revealed today the Harrowgate Hill Methodist Church in Lowson Street could be sold in a report leaked to the Northern Echo.
In the proposed plans Sunday services would be held at Elm Ridge, Cockerton and Northland.
The church in Lowson street is the home to many local organisations.
Read the full article below.
Praying for Survival
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Albert Road Skip Hire on Fire 08 Jul 2010
The Echo are reporting that Darlington Fire and Rescue have sent four pumps to the Albert Hill Skip Hire site, in Dodsworth Street, on Darlington's Albert Hill Industrial Estate after a pile of rubbish and rubble caught alight.
The alarm was raised at 3.25pm. Thick black smoke from the blaze can be seen from across the town.
Although this site is not in our ward, the connection is that Albert Road Skip Hire is operated by the same operator that has been responsible for the 630 Whessoe Site next to Drinkfield Marsh. This site has since 2007 generated numerous complaints from residents of Harrowgate Farm Estate about noise, dust, fires and unsocial hours of operation.
The site has now been granted planning permission for the landowners to operate the site with planning conditions to regulate activity.
Having just travelled into Darlington from the A1, the thick smoke can be seen for miles spiralling into the sky above Darlington.
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The Forum Campaign 06 Jul 2010
Thousands Protest at Forum Closure Threat
I have not been updating my blog much of late, simply because I have been busy doing rather than writing about doing!
Since the election the coalition Government have been busy getting the mess sorted out that Labour left behind and stopping our country becoming another Greece. From conversations I am having people generally feel that they are getting things right and people are feeling confident that we are on the road to recovery. There has to be a tightening of the purse strings and this is recognised and accepted.
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New Development on North Road 15 Jun 2010
It was with great pleasure that last Wednesday I cut the ribbon to offically open the show home for the new housing development on the old Shell Garage Site on North Road.
The development of the new houses has been undertaken by Tony Gregory, who is a local resident and businessman. The new houses are attractive, modern, affordably priced and finished to a very high standard. After a tour around such beautiful homes it made me realise that our house is in need of some modernising!
I would like to personally congratulate Tony on turning a site that was an eyesore and a blight on our community into such beautiful homes and in the process providing much needed employment to local people.
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Longfield Road 20mph Zone 15 Jun 2010
Residents of Longfield Road are being invited to a consultation event to be held in Longfield School Hall 16:00 to 19:00 on Tuesday 29 June 2010. This is a “drop in” event and you can call in any time between 16:00 and 19:00
Plans of the proposals will be displayed and you will have the opportunity to ask why the scheme is being suggested in its present form. You will also have the opportunity of discussing alternative layouts.
Council officers will be on hand to discuss the proposals and answer any questions.
If you need to speak to a Council Officer prior to the meeting please contact Andy Casey on
01325 388746.
What is the council proposing for Longfield School Frontage?
As you may be aware we recently carried out a consultation exercise to gauge the views of residents and school users on our proposals to introduce a 20 mph speed limit, supported by “gateways”, speed cushions and raised crossing points, over the school frontage.
The proposed scheme was identified through work with Longfield School on developing a School Travel Plan. Funding for the scheme has been made available through Central Government funding for local transport improvements
Why are we holding a Public Meeting?
Although there is substantial support for the proposals, especially from the school, during the consultation exercise there were a significant number of residents who objected to the proposals, a number of whom made alternative suggestions.
In the light of these responses I suggested at a briefing with the Highways Team that a public “drop in” meeting be held in order to give all sections of the community a further opportunity to air their views directly to the Council Officers who had been involved in preparing the scheme. The School has very kindly agreed to open its premises for the meeting.
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Harrowgate Farm Residents Association 18 May 2010
I have not long been back home after a great night with the residents of Harrowgate Farm, where they have formed their very own residents association.
After, the first meeting about the digging issues on Drinkfield Marsh, we were approached by a resident from the estate who wanted to start a residents association and we have since helped facilitate this process which resulted in the first meeting tonight.
Officers have been appointed, a constitution agreed and a bank account set up.
After the operational issues were dealt with it was decided to arrange a barbeque on 19th June to enable people who live on the estate to get to know to each other better. There was much enthusiasm and some great ideas for the new association.
I wish Sylvia well and applaud her efforts in getting the ball rolling, it is a fantastic achievement.
The Drinkfield Marsh issue has galvanised this community and one of the positive things to come from this issue is the forming of this association.
I look forward to being invited to their meetings to assist them with their projects and answer their questions.
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Waste and Dog Bins in the Ward 13 May 2010
We have asked the Streetscene analyst to do a piece of work for us to identify all the waste and dog waste bins in the ward. We wanted to make sure there is enough provision and if not act to remedy that. Have a look at the list below and let us know of any areas in the ward where you think new bins should be sited.
A167 DURHAM ROAD
A167 DURHAM ROAD
BURTREE LANE
TREVONE WAY
NEWLYN DRIVE
WASHBROOK DRIVE
WASHBROOK DRIVE
DRINKFIELD MARSH
MAYFAIR ROAD
GLEBE ROAD
GLEBE ROAD
HOLMWOOD GROVE
MAYFAIR ROAD
NORTH ROAD
NORTH ROAD
SALTERS LANE NORTH
SALTERS LANE NORTH
SALTERS LANE NORTH
SALTERS LANE NORTH
SALTERS LANE NORTH
NORTH ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
NORTH ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
LONGFIELD ROAD
WHESSOE ROAD
LOWSON STREET
NORTH ROAD
SCOTTS TERRACE
THE OLD SCHOOL
THE LEAS
THE LEAS
THOMPSON STREET EAST
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Public Inquiry 27 Apr 2010
The Public Inquiry that began today at the Arts Centre at 10am has been adjourned until September 14th for 2 reasons.
1.Given new evidence submitted by Dickens Dees Barrister and the number of witnesses giving evidence, the Inquiry would not be able to be completed in the timescale of 3 days.
2.The planning application that has been submitted by Mr Blair’s daughters to operate a waste transfer station on the site.
There are 2 possible scenarios –
1.Planning permission is granted at the special planning committee that is to be arranged to hear the planning application at a date in June, which is yet to be confirmed. The Enforcement notice issued by the council would then be withdrawn and operations on the site will commence by the landowners or a contractor appointed by them.
2.Planning permission is refused by the planning application committee, in which case the Public Inquiry will be re-commenced on 14th September 2010. This new Inquiry will have 2 elements; the original section 174 inquiry into the Enforcement notice served by the council and the second element a section 78 Inquiry, which would be triggered if the new landowners appeal against the decision by the planning committee to deny planning permission.
The next step. I have been asked to arrange a meeting with residents, Dickinson Dees solicitors and the new land owners to discuss the planning application they have submitted.
The plans are available for viewing at the Town Hall and comments/objections can sent to Dave.coates@darlington.gov.uk
For further information please ring me on 382276 or mail me at gill.cartwright@darlington.gov.uk
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Burtree Lane Speeding 21 Apr 2010
We have received three complaints this week about the excessive speed of Wades vehicles travelling along Burtree Lane.
In one incident, a vehicle failed to stop at the mini roundabout resulting in a near miss with a resident of the Harrowgate Farm Estate.
I have mailed Ian Thompson, Assistant Director of Community Services to ask if he could have a polite word with Wades on behalf of local people who use Burtree Lane, live on Harrowgate Farm estate and live on Burtree Lane.
Burtree Lane has been identified as a speed hot spot following requests from residents last year for the council to monitor the speed on this lane.
There is now a speed problem profile open with Durham Police as well Burtree being part of our local Community Speedwatch campaign. Last month during the first speedwatch session with the Police and local residents, more 50 people were found to exceeding the speed limit during the hour long campaign.
If you have any complaints about the Wades vehicles please mail Ian at
ian.thompson@darlington.gov.uk
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The Saga Continues on the Marsh 21 Apr 2010
Just to update you with the situation at 630 Whessoe Road.
The story so far.
After the enforcement notice was served last week and Shepherd refused to leave the land, the landowners took possession on the land from him and denied him entry to the site.
One of the family members has been sleeping on the site in a horsebox to make sure he was unable to access the site.
During the night last week there had been an altercation take place as Shepherd turned up at the site with some of his colleagues but we have no details of what actually happened.
Therefore, I have asked the council to contact the landowners to inform them that Shepherd is back and working on the site again. The decision lies with them on how to pursue the matter through the civil route.
This also needs to be reported to Mike Dickinson at the Environment Agency
michael.dickinson@environment-agency.gov.uk
Further updates are to follow.
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Housing Inspection 14 Apr 2010
I took part in a housing inspection in our ward yesterday and am pleased to report to the area is generally clean and very well kept.
We only found two issues of fly tipping, a bag of grass cutting in Myrtle Gardens and a discarded bouncy castle at the entrance to Green Lane.
I was very pleased to see Glebe Road path looking clean as we have received several reports of dog fouling recently but it was spotless yesterday, lets hope it stays that way.
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Some Updates 12 Apr 2010
Bensham Park
Work is due to start today on Bensham Park, providing some new play equipment.
Newspapers
At the roundabout on the North Road, near to where the work is being done on the new cycle path, there were lots and lots of newspapers, which had obviously been dumped, these were blown onto the roundabout, the road and the path.
A quick call to Streetscene and a promise to get onto clearing it up straight away.
Drinkfield Marsh
I have had a conversation today with the Environment agency about Mr Shepherds activities at 630 Whessoe Road site.
The agency assure me that there is an ongoing investigation into the activities at this site and that they visit the site reguarly to gather information.
This case is top of their agenda and although thry can not disclose any details for legal reasons assure me that there will some news in the near future in terms of enforcement action.
Michael Dickinson is quite happy to discuss the matter with residents and his direct number is 01642 853021.
Any incidents can be reported to the national 24 hour help line on 0800 807060.
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Meeting Last Night 09 Apr 2010
There were approx 60 people attended a public meeting last night to discuss the planning application to be submitted by the new owners of the site known as 630 Whessoe Road next to Drinkfield Marsh. The meeting was arranged by myself and invited Dave Coates, Principle Planning Officer for the Council to give an overview of the current position and answer questions.
This site has been subject to illegal tipping and excavating for the past 18 months by the current operator Mr Shepherd, who has no planning permissions, permits of even permission of the landowner to operate on the site. His activities are subject to a 3 day public inquiry on the 27th April, members of the public are welcome to attend.
To pieces of positive news today.
Mr Shepherd has now been served a notice by the new landowners to leave the site by the 14th April and failure to do so will result in further action.
As a result of the meeting last night and the comments and feedback from those residents who attended the meeting, the council have taken the decision to delay the planning application for the moment.
I would like to thank all those people who attended the meeting for the constructive debate and feedback which has resulted in the planning application being put on hold.
I would also like to thank Dave Coates from the council for giving up his time to come and answer questions from residents.
I am now hopeful that we are a step further to resolving the situation for residents whose quality of life has suffered as the result of the digging, noise and dust that they have had to endure from this site for the past 18 months.
Good work by everyone that has been involved and especially the local people who been galvanised into action by this issue which has brought the community closer together.
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Community Speedwatch 01 Apr 2010
As reported in the Echo 31st March, no link available.
Having received complaints last year about speeding vehicles on Burtree Lane in Harrowgate Hill Ward, we decided to tackle the problem by setting up Community Speedwatch through the PACT (Police & Communities Together) process.
PACT is where Police, Councillors and residents have a meeting once every month to decide on the priorities for the area. These decisions are made based on where residents who attend the meetings tell us there are issues. It is a community lead process where people living in the area take the lead and tells us where they think Police and Council resources should be targeted.
Community Speedwatch schemes see police officers team up with community volunteers to target speed hotspots with traffic monitoring equipment. Speeding drivers are sent warning letters, with police considering prosecuting multiple breaches.
Speedwatch programmes already exist in Hurworth, Neasham, Haughton, Whinfield, Springfield, High Coniscliffe and Heighington.
A speed survey conduced by the council last year revealed that there was speed issue on Burtree Lane and showed that 85 per cent of traffic travels at around 40mph - 10mph over the speed limit.
The first community speedwatch was on Friday 26th March between 4.45pm and 5.45pm during rush hour traffic.
The results were that during the 1 hour period there were 50 motorists exceeding the 30mph speed limit.
Councillor Gill Cartwright says “The results were extremely high with 50 motorists exceeding the speed limit in just 1 hour of speed monitoring, it you multiply that over a day then there are potentially 100s of motorists speeding. This has proved what residents have been telling us all along that is a significant problem with speed on Burtree Lane. The figures are staggering and demonstrate that further action is needed to maintain safety. Burtree Lane is part of the route to school for children living on Harrowgate Farm estate.
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Save the Great British Pub 26 Mar 2010
BBC News web site -
"The Government has unveiled measures to protect community pubs in an effort to stem nearly 40 closures a week.
The measures include £3.3 million to be spent on business support to make pubs more successful and to help communities buy into struggling premises to keep them open. Pubs will also be allowed to extend into ventures ranging from restaurants to gift shops and book shops without planning permission.
Pubs minister John Healey said, "This package of tough, practical measures aims to put some real support behind our community pubs, giving publicans more support to diversify and punters more choice".
The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) welcomed the announcement. Camra chief executive Mike Benner said: "This is a great day for people who care about the future of our community pubs".
As campaigners to save our local pub the White Horse, we very much welcome this news. Back in 2004 the White Horse Hotel was sold to a developer who wanted to knock the beautiful building down in favour of buildings flats, hence the birth of “The Save the White Horse Campaign” which we were heavily involved with. Never has an issue galvanised a community so much, which resulted in making history with Darlingtons first ever Parish Referendum, where 403 people turned out to vote and a massive 98% of people did not want to see the historic landmark demolished.
A triumph for local democracy and people power!
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Verge Hardening and Grass Verge Damage 25 Mar 2010
We are receiving many reports of damage to grass verges and reports of stones on grass verges causing obstructions. The council have the following policies relating to these two issues.
Grass Verges
Any complaints received about damage to grass verges will be inspected by the Councils Highways Inspector and he will make an assessment as to the severity of the damage to the verges.
If the ruts are deeper than 40-50mm, then remedial action will be taken to make the verges safe.
This involves the area being filled with “road planings”, which will be compacted to build up the height which will result in the area being made safe. This process can be repeated until a solid surface is evident.
Stones/Obstructions to Grass Verges
Any complaints received about stones/obstructions to grass verges will be inspected by the Highways Inspector and he will make an appraisal. The council can then send letters to residents asking them to remove the obstruction and allow a time period of two weeks to comply.
If after two weeks the obstructions remains insitu, the council will then remove the obstruction from the verge/highway.
Grass Verge Hardening Waiting List
There is a priority list of roads waiting to be have verge hardening schemes.
There are 38 roads in the Borough of Darlington on the list and the following apply to Harrowgate Hill Ward.
Laburnum Road (this is to receive funding this year)
Birch Road 7th
Maple Road 13th
Davison Road 17th
The Leas 18th
Middleham Road 28th
Lime Avenue 34th
Saltersgate Road 35th
Wayside Road 37th
With the current budget for these schemes set at 40K per year, the council is only able to complete to schemes per year.
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Barbaric School Policy 23 Mar 2010
Darlington COUNCIL has been labelled "barbaric" for telling the parents of a three-year-old boy he must travel 11 miles in a taxi to go to school.
Councillor Doris Jones has criticised Darlington Borough Council's schools admissions policy after seven children from Middleton St George were told there was no room for them at the village primary school, St George's.
They will instead be taxied to Whinfield Primary School in Darlington, an 11 mile round trip.
Among those travelling to the Darlington school is the three-year-old child of a Middleton St George woman, who wished to remain anonymous.
She said: "I am absolutely appalled that they want to send my son halfway across town to go to school. We live a ten minute walk from the village school.
Could Labours previous Cabinet member who is now their Parliamentary Candidate be to blame?
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Welcome to New Blogger 20 Mar 2010
Welcome to the Blogsphere to Labour Councillor Ian Haszeldine of Lingfield Ward. He has started a blog called Lingfield Matters.
Ian is a fellow member of the Health and Well Being Scrutiny Committee and although our political opinions are poles apart, the one area we generally agree on is health care.
The news of his blog was of course broken by the Lib Dems, always eager to be first away from the starting block but I am left wondering why there is no promotion of his new blog on his Labour colleagues sites?
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Darlington Bottom of League Table 19 Mar 2010
Housing charity Shelter reserved extra criticism for Darlington Borough Council, which was ranked 301st nationally from 323 authorities.
Its housing league table, which is launched today, said Darlington provided only five per cent of the number of affordable homes that are required in the town.
Darlington Borough Council is among 76 authorities which Shelter said delivered less than one in ten of the number of affordable homes which are required.
But as usual Bill comes to the rescue by attempting the trash the figures.
"But Councillor Bill Dixon, deputy leader in Darlington, said last night the statistics were flawed"
Campbell Robb, Shelter chief executive, said: “These figures are extremely worrying.
With 2,465 households on the housing waiting list in Darlington, the council must work far harder to ensure more desperately needed affordable homes are provided if it ever hopes to meet the housing needs of the local population.”
So, Darlington Borough Council has failed the people of Darlington once again by not providing enough affordable housing for our young people trying to get on the property ladder.
Named and shamed by a national housing charity.
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Streetscene Updates 17 Mar 2010
Some updates by two site visits today by Streetscene.
1. Princess Road - Trees requiring to be cut down down as will obstruct street light.
ACTION - Agree for Aborist to come and assess to arrange for necessary pruning.
2. Dog Fouling - Various locations in the ward.
ACTION - Streetscene are to look for site at the top of Glebe Road near to Salters Lane to site a new bin as Glebe Road has become a "hot spot" for dog fouling. The bin at the end of the road close to Salters Track needs to be re-sited as it is partially obscured by shrubbery and not visible.
ACTION - Streetscene are to canvass opinion from residents in the Davison/Lytham/Bensham/Middleham Road area of the ward to see if they can agree on areas to site waste bins.
ACTION - Streetscene to promote through the Town Crier the use of normal litter bins to dispose of dog waste. It has been noted that bags of dog waste have dropped in the street close to waste bins which leads us to beleive that people are unaware that they can deposit their collected dog waste in normal litter bins.
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Localism V Competence 15 Mar 2010
We keep hearing from both the Lib Dems and Labour how important it is for a parliamentary candidate to be local.
This subject has provoked some thoughts which I would like to share with you.
I am as most people know, a District Nurse and have worked in Ferryhill for a number of years now. I have great knowledge of the geography of the area and have been to one or more address in every street in Ferryhill. I know all the shops and the people who work in them. I know all the churches, organisations, health and medical service providers, clinics, day care services, pubs, clubs and groups. I have looked after different members of whole families at one point or another over the years. In some cases nursed different generations of the same family. In some streets I have been to every single house. I know Ferryhill and I know the people.
I don’t live in Ferryhill though but have this great knowledge and understanding of the community. If you base the argument of localism being best to my role, you would be indicating that I was not best suited to my job because I don’t live there. Yet, I have just proved how knowledgeable I am about the area without living there. It negates the whole principle in which Labour are fighting their campaign over.
At job interviews you are assessed on your qualification, experience and skills not by your postcode, so I do not understand why for such an important role as an MP Labour would think that the only qualification that is needed is to live in the town. It is a very short-sighted approach that leads to perhaps the best candidate not being selected; Labour clearly adjusted their selection procedure to favour the “local” candidate as they thought this was their best shot at winning in Darlington. This was their best card in the hand, so they thought.
Which leads me onto the next point that Jenny Chapman is a local councillor that does not live in the ward she represents, selective favouring of localism. Jenny has been involved with the town since she was elected in 2007, which is not much longer than Edward has been involved with the town.
If Jenny is elected to be the town MP, she wont be local Monday to Friday as she will be in London forming policy decisions and running the country, she wont be seen in the Town Hall anymore, she wont be attending groups and organisations, she wont be seen in her ward, she wont be seen in the street where she lives because she wont be here. She won’t be local then, will she?
In fact, to go further she may even decide like her mentor Alan Milburn that if she is elected she may move out of Darlington. Make no mistake she is Alan’s protégé and her style will have been adopted from her time with him. She may follow his lead.
We know how often Alan was in the town, we estimate that he visited the town once a fortnight for photo opportunities, unless any Labour people can put me right on that point. We know that Alan rarely spoke in Parliament [follow him on they work for you], if you don’t believe me. We have no reason to believe that Ms Chapman will be any different, she was trained by Alan, and she learnt how to be an MP from him as she was his right hand person.
Ms Chapman is a one trick pony and relying on her “local gal” imagine to get her elected and her severe disadvantage is that she had Alan Milburn as a Mentor, an image she is clearly trying to disengage from.
Localism V competence, competence every time, I want Darlington to have the best possible MP and living in the town unfortunately does not make you the best person for the job.
Alan’s girl who claims her biggest strength is that she lives in Darlington and is naïve enough to think the people of Darlington will vote for her because of this fact, the people are Darlington are not that easily fooled and demand more than a Darlington postcode from their MP.
A vote for Jenny is a vote for another Milburn; does Darlington really want another Milburn?
Nooooooooooo
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Car Litter 14 Mar 2010
Littering from vehicles is a major problem throughout England and one that is unfortunately on the increase.
This filthy habit spoils our local areas and makes them appear undervalued and uncared for. Heavily littered areas can often attract more serious crime and very quickly can become run-down
According to the Highways Agency over 700,000 bags of rubbish are removed from England's roads each year, with Defra estimating that £667 million of tax payers money is spent each year cleaning up litter on our streets.
Keep Britain Tidy research shows that the most littered item from cars are cigarette ends. Cigarette ends are not only dirty and unsightly but also pose a real threat of fire - particularly during the hot summer months
In 2008 Keep Britain Tidy undertook extensive research into car littering, specifically looking at why people litter from their vehicle and what would stop them doing it in the future. The report found that there were three main deterrents which would stop them behaving in this way. These were:
Points on their licence
Fining
Community Service
It was apparent from these findings that a hard hitting approach was needed if we were to successfully change the behaviour of those people that littered from their car.
Visit the keep Britain Tidy Web Site to report littering and sign the petition.
join petition and report it now
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Longfield Road 20mph Zone 12 Mar 2010
We agree with the principle of the use 20mph schemes outside schools in order to keep the children living in our community safe. However, we think that the scheme proposed is not appropriate for a road that 8,000 cars per day use and is a main route for emergency vehicles from the A167.
We have proposed to officers a scheme that would involve using variable speed monitors which would allow Longfield Road to become a temporary 20mph during school times and revert back to 30mph at others. This would mean that the speed humps that residents do not want would not need to thrust upon them. It is a win win situation that everyone is happy with.
Residents have also raised concerns with us about the consultation process as they feel that a scheme of this significance should have consulted on through a consultation event.
This would have allowed residents to ask questions directly of officers.
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Labours New "Loo" Campaign 11 Mar 2010
I have every reason to believe from a very reliable source that in one of the cubicles in the Men’s toilets outside the Council Chambers in the Town Hall, someone has written of the wall –
“Jenny Chapman 4 Darlington”
Jenny clearly has some, erm, very determined support that are going to make sure her name is plastered everywhere and I mean everywhere.
Takes me back to school days where people used to write on toilet walls, usually an expression of undying love to someone of the opposite sex.
It seems Jenny has unfair advantage with the loo campaign going on but I am sure that Edward and Mike would not want their campaigns advertised in a public convenience!
Surely, loo campaigning is not part of Labours new strategy but sure does take Political campaigning to a new level.
I am sure that it will be removed quickly now the news has broken.
The question is which Labour Councillor is Jenny’s number one fan and will commit and act of graffiti on her behalf?
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Special Health and Well Being Scrutiny Committee 09 Mar 2010
More than a million people will suffer from dementia within 20 years, Government forecasts show.
The number of patients diagnosed with diseases such as Alzheimer's will rise by 70 per cent to more than 1.2 million by 2028.
Experts warn that there will be almost twice as many sufferers living in nursing homes. However, psychiatrists and charities say that not enough is being spent on research, treatment and care. One professor said he was "ashamed" by the state of the services on offer.
Dementia robs victims of their identities as memory, speech and understanding are lost.
Drugs such as Aricept, which slow the appearance of the symptoms of Alzheimer's, are restricted by the NHS because they cost £2.50 a day, despite being widely available in other countries.
A report by the Department of Health's Horizon Scanning Unit, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, sets out the timebomb facing Britain.
The number of people aged over 85 will have doubled by 2028, the research says. One in four will develop dementia. The number between 65 and 74 will also increase by 40 per cent and those aged 75 to 84 will rise by 50 per cent. The Alzheimer's Society charity said that the document's findings would mean an extra 500,000 people living with dementia. There are 700,000 at present. The cost of long-term care for dementia patients will more than triple to £17 billion.
Prof David Wilkinson, a psychiatric consultant, described the figures as "staggering". He called for urgent action to increase funding and research for Alzheimer's, the most common cause of dementia.
At present, £11 is spent on research into dementia for every sufferer in this country, compared with £289 for every cancer victim.
Mike and are members of the Alzheimers Society and dedicate some of time working with the campaign team to raise Dementia awareness.
Last year, I approached the chair of our Scrutiny committee so ask that Dementia was added to our work list to look at as a committee to see what we could do to help people in Darlington who live with the disease.
Hence, next weeks Special Meeting on Tuesday 16th March at 9.30am.
The meeting is open to the public and I would encourage attendance.
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Labour want you to vote Conservative! 08 Mar 2010
It was with great amusement that we read the latest offering from Labour Parliamentary candidate Jenny Chapman, which was pushed through our door on Sunday.
The latest, greatest marketing technique from Labour HQ is use the Conservative corporate colours, yes, Conservative blue and green, exact match. There is a BLUE picture of the brick train with the green grass below.
First glance is screams Conservative.
After, a chuckle or two, Mike and I thought it was just us that would pick up this, being staunch Conservatives. However, we realised we were not alone when we picked up some rather funny anwerphone messages from others who had also received the leaflet.
Perhaps, Labour is sending a subliminal message to voters to vote Conservative, it may work, as anyone who works in marketing will tell the importance of corporate identity. Clearly, Labour is having an identity crisis.
For future reference, Jenny, Labour colours are red!
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Dog Fouling 03 Mar 2010
As a result of numerous complaints about dog fouling in the ward, there has been a 10 day "blizt" of the ward. This has involved early and late patrols in the area continously for 10 days which has resulted in 2 fines being issued in Glebe Road.
Two officers operating each shift were plainly visible and their presence noted by dog walkers and hopefully this will be spread by word of mouth leading to some improvement. Officers will continue to maintain patrols to combat this problem.
There has been a delivery of 1000 dog bags which will be handed out wherever possible.
We have received numerous reports about dog fouling in Glebe Road. The area has been cleaned twice now at our request and Streetscene have increased sweeping of the area accordingly. We have also asked for lamp post stickers to be applied as this is clearly a "hot spot".
There is a bin on site which has been knocked down by a vehicle and appropriate remidial action is being organised by the Streetscene team.
Through the Dog Control Order consultation that has been ongoing since May 2009 it has been proposed that the fixed penalty notice should be increased to £75 and a dog fouling order applied Borough wide. It is anticipated that this order will be implemented this month.
If you have information about persistent dog fouling, please contact the Enforcement Team on 01325 388777 or email customerservices@darlington.gov.uk
If know of an area that you think would benefit from the installation of a litter bin or a dog waste bin, then please contact us on 01325 382276.
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A Storm in a Tea Cup! 03 Mar 2010
POLICE are examining a complaint that a parliamentary candidate was featured on council literature.
Durham Police received the complaint after business-style cards with a photograph of Darlington’s Labour parliamentary candidate Jenny Chapman were handed out at a teacher training day earlier this month.
Police have confirmed they are considering the complaint and the council may also carry out an investigation.
But Ms Chapman, a borough councillor, dismissed the row as a “storm in a tea cup” and insisted that the cards were produced to illustrate success stories from Darlington’s schools.
“Even complaints which are politically motivated should be investigated,” she said.
“It is doubtful whether 100 cards will influence anyone’s vote.”
She is right that 100 cards will not influence anyone’s vote but that is not the point, the point is the rules have been broken, she is dismissing the incident because “only” 100 cards were produced, would 1000 or 10,000 card have made it more serious, of course not, the rules were broken irrespective of the number of cards produced.
It is like saying, well I only stole 1 Mars bar but there are 99 left so it doesn’t matter.
Or driving 3 miles over the speed limit and then complaining when you get a ticket because 3 miles doesn’t make a difference.
Laws, rules and regulations underpin our maintenance of a law abiding society but clearly Jenny Chapman has little regard for the rules as she refers to the situation as a “storm in a teacup”, demonstrating that she is not taking the matter seriously.
For those who want to listen she is giving a clear message there that she has little regard for the rules, are these qualities that we want to see in an MP for Darlington, I think not!
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Jenny Missing from the Block 25 Feb 2010
Labours Parliamentary candidate Jenny Chapman was conspious by her absence from Council tonight, shame, as she was the guest of honour. She wasn’t there to see her colleague rob frontline council employees of wages they are entitled too, all of this to help get her elected!
A few observations.
Councillor Williams looked nervous and uncharacteristically read from a script, question is did he write it or was it written for him and why has he started to read from notes?
As leader of the Council it is shameful that he is unaware that Parish Councils are non-political and referred to the Lib Dem and the Conservative Parish Councils. Parish Councils are politically unrelated to the wards they are situated in and Parish Councillors stand at elections as independents, a tradition that respects the non-political ethos of a group of people that come together for the greater good of the community in which they live, obviously an aspect of community life that Councillor Williams is unfamiliar with.
Councillor Nick Wallis launched into a manic speech about Conservative councils and their council tax rates, totally unrelated to setting the Darlington council tax and as a result was told to sit down. Again, an uncharacteristic almost manic rant from someone who usually keeps his cool but desperate times call for desperate measures and they must be getting desperate. Talk about "going off on one".
Clearly, the Labour lot were not happy that we abstained from the vote but agreed to zero council tax rise. This was demonstrated by Councillor Dot Long’s outburst when I gave my named vote by calling me a “coward” and followed this up afterwards by telling me that she had actually meant the name calling for the entire Conservative group!
Then, going on to say she would stand by that, well maybe may have to in front of the Standards Committee.
They don’t get that we agree with zero council tax rise as we have suggested other years but don’t agree with how they have achieved the zero rise, which is by harming the people who work in frontline services who are the bedrock of any council because they provide the services that people pay their council tax for. If you ask the man or women on the street if they would like 2 grass cutters or 1 manager, would do think the answer would be?
Councillor Martin Swainston from the Lib Dems suggested that there should be an independent review of the councils workforce structure and pointed out that it should be independent because “turkeys don’t vote for Christmas”.
However, he was pipped to the post for best quote of the night by Conservative Councillor Charles Council who summarised the budget as a “fag packet budget by a fag end cabinet”
The Mayor Councillor Jim Ruck did a great job at keeping us all in check as proceedings were becoming a bit rowdy at one point and he brought us into line with a quick bang of the gavel!
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Labour Bankrupting the Country? 18 Feb 2010
"The government borrowed another £4.3bn last month to plug the growing hole in the UK's finances, figures show.
It is the first time the government has borrowed money in January - usually a bumper month for income from tax receipts - since records began in 1993.
Andrew Goodwin, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, called the figures "pretty ghastly".
The UK's total borrowing for the financial year now totals more than £122bn.
January's borrowing figure, released by the Office for National Statistics, came as surprise to many economists.
They had expected to see a surplus in January's budget, allowing it to repay around £2.8bn of its debts.
But levels of income tax and capital gains tax received by the government were significantly lower than in previous years, the ONS said.
Tax receipts dropped 11.8% compared with January last year, when the government was able to repay £5.3bn.
Major challenge
"These are pretty ghastly figures and come as somewhat of a surprise," said Andrew Goodwin, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young Item Club.
"January usually yields a healthy surplus due to receipts from corporation tax and, even in the current climate, it is surprising to see the government rack up a deficit."
He added that the challenge of balancing the country's books was now even more apparent.
Chancellor Alistair Darling recently came under pressure from a number of leading economists to act more quickly in cutting the size of the budget deficit.
The government expects public sector borrowing to peak at £178bn this year - equivalent to 12.6% of GDP.
Mr Darling has pledged to halve that deficit in percentage terms over the next four years, but argues that making cuts sooner could harm the UK's recovery from recession.
The economy emerged from recession at the end of last year, growing by just 0.1%
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond called the latest figures "appalling", adding that total UK borrowing so far this year was equivalent to £4,800 for every British family"
It makes a depressing read and the only light at the end of the tunnel is that with the election only weeks away, the country has a chance to get rid of these idiots that currently run this country.
Vote Labour and vote for bankrupting the country!
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Personal Care at Home Bill 12 Feb 2010
I have been reading with some amusement over the past couple of days the U-turn that some Labour Councils, including Durham have been making over the letter that torpedoed Gordon Browns flagship pre-election policy on the personal care at home agenda.
Labour are obviously finding themselves in the thick of it. I can imagine that the phonecall that allegedly came from NO 10 was very much a Malcolm Tucker moment!
However, that is where the amusement ends at Labours u-turing tizz because care for our ageing elderly population is a very serious and problematic issue.
If I had my Nurses hat on, I would welcome the personal care agenda that would give people a choice of how and where they are cared for, because at the moment choice is limited and in some cases poor quality.
If I had my Councillors hat on, I am raising concerns for the affordability of the scheme as the books have to balance and the chances are they we will be inheriting this scheme next May from the current Labour incumbents.
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Stroke Services Update 11 Feb 2010
Stroke briefing – update 11 February 2010 from County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust.
"In the last few weeks, the Trust has taken steps to strengthen the medical staffing in its stroke service.
Stroke services in the county are currently delivered from two acute units at University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital with a centre of excellence for rehabilitation at Bishop Auckland Hospital.
Discussions have been taking place within the Trust about the service because we are currently facing some staffing pressures.
Of our four stroke consultants, one left at the end of January and a further two are approaching retirement. The Trust is actively seeking to recruit to these positions.
Action taken:
• A locum care of the elderly consultant has been appointed to enable other consultants to spend more of their time managing stroke patients
• The Trust has recruited a doctor to work in the stroke service supporting the remaining consultants
The Trust is also looking to recruit a locum stroke consultant – we will update further when there are more details.
These steps will enable us to continue providing high quality stroke services from all of our sites for the foreseeable future"
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Drinkfield Marsh Public Inquiry 10 Feb 2010
The Planning Inspectorate have agreed to a postponement of the original public Inquiry date which was 16th February at the request of the site owners as a result of the former owner's death. The new date has been set for 27th April.
We have at the request of residents living on Harrowgate Farm arranged a meeting with officers from the councils planning department to discuss the inquiry and give direction for those residents who have agreed to give evidence.
The meeting has been arranged for Thursday 11th March at 6.30pm in the Rolling Mills Club on Longfield Road, everyone is welcome. For more informaion contact us on 01325 382276.
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Some Ward Updates 10 Feb 2010
Harrowgate Farm Play Area.
The legal adoption process for the play area is still not complete despite much chasing from our Community Services Department to Wimpys legal department. I think it’s fair to say that residents, councillors and officers are frustrated with the length of time this process has taken to complete.
Until the adoption is complete Wimpy remain responsible for the maintenance of the play area and we have through our PACT meetings received concerned enquiries from the Police that large pieces of the fence are missing from the perimeter of the area.
We have asked that Wimpy addresses this matter.
The bins in the play area have been used and are overflowing with bags of dog faeces, therefore Streetscene have been asked to empty them.
Glebe Road
It has been noted that the footpath on Glebe Road towards Salter’s Track is covered in dog foul and Streescene have been along today with the sweeper to remove.
The dog waste bin near the former site of the first school entrance which has been knocked by a vehicle and the post is bent on the way down to Salter’s track. Streetscene Team Leader is arranging for this to be re-positioned.
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Question Time 09 Feb 2010
This morning I took part in a Question Time style debate at the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College. I had the privilage to be alongside 2 of the Parliamentary candidates for Darlington, Jenny Chapman, who is standing for Labour and Mike Barker, who is standing for the Lib Dems. We have in common that we were all elected onto the council in the 2007 local elections.
I have to admit to being extremely nervous at the prospect of being under the scrutiny of more than 100 students.
I did, after a few minutes start to relax and enjoy the debate which was quite political in nature. The students had previoulsy been for a tour of the council chamber and briefed on the poliical management of the council by our excellent Community Engagement Officer, Paul Dalton from Democratic services.
It seems that the students as a result of this were interested in the political aspects of the council which can only be given from the point of view of members of the three parties. I dont think they were disappointed with the different points of view that were given!
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Councillor Wallis admits to not being Inclusive 07 Feb 2010
Following on from my earlier blog article “protocol for member/officer relations, Labour Councillor Nick Wallis who happens to be the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment and Climate Change has admitted that he arranged a meeting about a major ward issue and choose not to invite us.
The reason he gives for this is “At no point did you or Mike bother to contact me, and I was unaware that you had any interest in the matter”
Now show me a ward councillor who is not interested in ward matters and I will show a very bad ward councillor. Even if we had not been aware of the matter (which we were) it would have been the honest and decent thing to do to invite us, would it not?
It may be worth pointing out, it is only Councillor Wallis who fails his duty as Cabinet member by making council matters in political gains. His colleagues in the cabinet have always to the best of my knowledge been inclusive of us when it comes to ward matters.
We have also sought advice from Labour colleagues in the course of acting in the best interests of the people we represent. We have always received helpful responses.
Relating to this matter we made contact with Officers at the council as is the normal practice within any local authority in the land. Councillors and officers directly give and receive information about local issues or problems.
However, it seems that Councillor Wallis is suggesting differently. We are told had we raised the issue with him, the Portfolio Holder instead of the officers we would have had the opportunity to be kept informed of events happening within our ward.
He has changed the goalposts.
Therefore, we are now saying that ward members have to report issues directly to the Portfolio Holder in order to ensure their future involvement with issues –
Therefore, this “new” method of reporting needs to be –
1. Discussed by all members of the council especially Portfolio Holders who are going to see their workload increase dramatically
2. If agreed added to, the new method of reporting added to the constitution.
3. All members and officers made aware of the new procedure.
I wonder how much Nicks colleagues would thank him for having to deal with all ward matters when simple issues are normally dealt with by Officers!
The best bit is Nick says “What irritates me particularly is that you have never pointed out that I did try to act fairly in this matter by instructing officers after the meeting to copy you and Mike into the minutes and agreed actions, although in strict terms there was no requirement for me to take that step”
So, Mike and I should be happy with receiving second hand information after the meeting took place. As my mum would say “dropping off a rich mans table”.
We are entitled to first hand information as the constitution describes. In the best interests of the people we represent we are not prepared to accept anything less. That very quote sums up Councillor Wallis attitude and perhaps when he re-reads it he may realise how incriminating his blog response really is.
I can quote an example of how the system should work with the plans for the 20mph on Longfield Road, where all members of 2 wards from all 3 parties were consulted. The Cabinet member David Lyonette knows how to be inclusive and I wish he would share some good practice with Nick.
Councillor Wallis should act with professionalism in his role as Cabinet Member and act in a way that the people of Darlington would approve of and I know that they would not approve of the manner in which he acted relating to this incident. It was a pure act of abuse of his cabinet position in order to make a political gain for a fellow Labour colleague
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A Few Updates 02 Feb 2010
Drinkfield Marsh
The Planning Inspectorate has taken the decision to postpone the Drinkfield Marsh Inquiry and also to increase its duration to 3 days. This follows the emergence of a further interested party in the appeal site and their desire to submit statements and evidence. The likely date for the Inquiry will now be some time in April and we will keep you informed of progress.
Longfield Road
Cabinet approved the Local Transport Plan (LTP) budget in March 2009 and the above scheme was one that was outlined in the Cabinet report as being a priority within the travel safety theme. The need for the scheme was raised by pupils and staff through the school travel plan. Highways Department have now produced an outline plan for consultation as well as a consultation pack and questionnaire.
Bensham Park
The contractors are to make a start on site week commencing 1st March.
The results from the soil testing are awaiting results and depending on what comes from this the date may change but we will keep you updated.
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Protocol for Member/Officer Relations 01 Feb 2010
Last Thursday night at Full Council we voted on a new protocol which sets out standards for Member/Officer relation.
Protocol for Member/Officer Relations
Protocol for Member/Officer Relations
I would like to tell a story of why this policy came into being.
Whessoe Road Site next to Drinkfield Marsh.
FACTS
We notified the council on 21/8/08 that residents were concerned with work taking place on this site (opposite the marsh and Harrowgate Farm).
The council were already aware of this site which has a long history and there were ongoing investigations dating back a number of years.
WHAT WE WERE TOLD
We were aware that a meeting was to be arranged by officers of the council, the Environment Agency, Planning and Community Services Department to discuss enforcement issues as the planning permissions dating back a number of years are not now legally applicable. We presumed that this meeting would be conducted by officers as “normal” council business that happens everyday in Town Halls across the country and that feedback would be given from officers to ward members. This normal council business conducted by officers as their role demands.
WHAT HAPPENED
A meeting took place in our ward with the Environment Agency, the land owner, Planning and Community Services Department where we as ward councillors were not present, however the Labour ward member and the portfolio members were both present. We had been knowingly and deliberately excluded from a very important multi agency meeting about an ongoing ward issue, which we knew about and were heavily involved with.
RIGHTS OF ELECTED MEMBERS
What does the Councils Constitution Say?
The constitution says “whenever a consultation is organised by the council to consider local issues, all the members representing that ward or wards should be involved”
The role of members and we quote again from the Council constitution is “to represent their constituents”
WHAT TO DO?
We feel so passionately about our role as ward councillors and we will not let anything get in our way us being effective in this role, it is what people who voted for us rightly expect.
Having had a previous experience of being excluded from our ward business, we felt it right to act and after much soul searching and deliberation we decided last year to make a complaint.
THE OUTCOME
After an internal invesigation by the Monitoring Officer our complaint was NOT upheld. This means that the council does not think it is wrong to exclude ward councillors from ward business.
Readers need to draw their own conclusions about a system where this is a two tier system of information sharing!
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Dog Fouling 31 Jan 2010
Since the snow has melted in the ward we have received numerous complaints about dog fouling and about the litter. We have therefore asked Streetscene to make our ward a priority for street cleaning and litter picking. Harrowgate Farm paths have been cleaned and litter picked up from the North including some fly tipping.
A new fixed floor litter bin is to be provided on the pathway outside the Co-op on North Road which can be used for both litter and dog foul. If you know of any problem areas where you think a litter/dog bin will solve help then please let us know. We have arranged for many of these bins over the years in the ward and sometimes are quick solutions for sometime long standing problems.
We had a very successful meeting with the Environmental Warden team last which has resulted in the ward being made a priority for enforcement resources for a week. So there will a “blitz” of the area in an attempt to make the Harrowgate Hill a cleaner more pleasant environment to live. Wardens will be speaking to dog owners, taking enforcement where appropriate and offering bags for dog waste. The number for the wardens is 346841. The mail address to report dog fouling is dishthedirt@darlington.gov.uk
Together we can make a better community.
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Delayed Blog! 24 Jan 2010
I am just doing a quick blog to say sorry for not blogging! As well as technical difficulties with the site, January has turned out to be a busy old month.
We started the year with bad weather which has meant that us District Nurses have been working extra hard to get to the patients in the snow, which has resulted in some frozen shoulder difficulties for me. A quick trip to the GP and a steroid injection into the joint has brought ease. I do pay tribute to the good people of Ferryhill who had to push myself and my colleagues on many occasions. It was nice to see a tribute in today’s Echo praising the efforts of the District Nurses during the bad weather period.
We have had leaked information to the press about the Darlington Stroke Unit, which proved a little premature to say the least. We then had a scrutiny committee meeting about the issue but the chair seemed reluctant to discuss the matter of the leaked information.
The Health and Well-being scrutiny committee has had a long history of working cross-party in order to scrutinise decisions made by all the health trusts to ensure the people of Darlington have the best health services possible.
So, it is a shame that the Senior Councillors in the Labour party choose not to share the information about the Stroke Unit with the members of this committee but to instead give it to a Labour backbench councillor in order to make some “perceived” political gain. This has sadly backfired and instead of political glory all that has been achieved is fear and angst amongst some of the elderly residents in this town.
As a member of the Health Scrutiny Committee and a registered nurse, I would like to reassure people that I will absolutely fight to keep this much needed unit open should the need arise and support the efforts of the Acute Trust to recruit a new Stroke Consultant.
We have the first of the Darlington debates at Lingfield Point, which was well attended, the next one I understand is to be the Parliamentary candidates, the invite list should be interesting. With the election campaigns firing up, we have seen a lot of Mike Barker in the press of late. Flapjack sales must be proving slow, Mike!
There has been much debate about the budget both inside and outside the Town Hall, with 77 redundancies planned and cuts to pay enhancements. It is certainly a politicians budget, with zero raise in council tax planned but is enough to keep the Parliamentary seat this May as well as win the local election next May?
This coming week I have meetings every night and on two nights I am double booked, some prioritising needing to be done. The ward work is busy also, some of this the unseen work that councillors do, helping people with personal issues.
There is much street cleaning to be done now the snow has gone and I have asked Streetscene to make sure that this ward is made a priority as we have received some complaints and we can see for ourselves whilst out with the dog that attention is needed.
Anyway, thought I would blog whilst I had a spare minute and must learn to blog from my I-phone.
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Merry Christmas 23 Dec 2009
I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Year.
I will be busy tommorrow with patients whilst the rest of my family are preparing for the Cartwright Family Christmas. The turkey is defrosting and Mike has baked a Christmas cake today.
Time to reflect, relax and generally have a good time!
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Minster Care Group 21 Dec 2009
We were waching Gerry Robinsons programme "Can Gerry Robinson fix Dementia Care" and Minster Care Group were featured in the 8th December episode.
Minster Care group are the company who has purchased Ashleigh House on North Road and are seeking to re-open the unit in February as a Rehabilitation unit for adults.
Dementia Care Failing the Elderly
The episode can be viewed on the BBC I-player, it makes for interesting viewing.
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Two bits of not so good news 07 Dec 2009
A long time ago we submitted request for lighting for the following locations in the ward -
Longfield Road – rear lane
Ridgeway
Lowson Street
Vernon Gardens – rear lane
We have finally received the following response -
"In relation to the Harrowgate Hill lighting requests for anti-social behaviour, the figures for ASB & crime have been assessed for this area and at the moment other areas are in much greater need due to high levels of ASB. The budget is relatively small and we must be able to prove ASB/crime in those areas for us to justify using the budget in that area"
We have asked for the figures to make sure that the ward is not loosing out.
Then, a letter to members of the Forums which the Labour group have been intent on destroying -
Dear Forum Member,
Darlington Transport Forum, Environmental Forum and Town Centre Forum
The Council has decided that engagement with a wide range of organisations and the public can be improved if it uses a range of methods which suit more people and issues better than the Forums have in recent times.
The Forums were an innovative and effective way of the Council consulting specific organisations on the Council’s plans when it was first set up. However, since the Forums were set up, much has changed:
• Local Strategic Partnerships have been set up to provide a more comprehensive and structured way of all partner and stakeholder organisations working together. The Darlington Partnership provides an effective way of all relevant organisations working together on things of importance to Darlington and Darlington people.
• Within the Council, Scrutiny Committees have been set up to allow Councillors to look in detail at issues and to invite organisations and members of the public to present evidence and views to them.
• A wide range of consultation events take place, often badged ‘Talking Together’, tailored to the issue being considered and to the needs of the people who may want to be involved; and these attract a lot more people than the Forums have done.
These different meetings and events have come to duplicate the work of the Forums to some extent, but, more importantly, they provide better opportunities for more people to have their say and influence what happens in Darlington. The Council wants to build on and improve what it is doing to listen to the views of Darlington people, and has therefore decided to use these other more effective methods in future rather than the Forums.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for what you have contributed to the Forums, and to check that you are happy to be invited to future meetings and events which will discuss similar issues to those previously considered by the Forums. If you do not want to continue to be invited to such events, please could you contact Lynne Wood using the contact details above.
Details of forthcoming Talking Together consultation meetings and Scrutiny Committee meetings (which are open to the public) can also be found on the Council’s website.
Yours faithfully,
Head of Democracy and Customer Services
Shocking lack of democracy, no consultation just get rid of, the voters of Darlington will be reminded in 2011. Trouble is the election material on 2011 is going to have to take the form of a novel rather than a leaflet because there is so much to remind people of!
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Highways Issues 03 Dec 2009
A few highways issues resolved -
1. Gully in Harrowgate Village cleared - this has caused North Road to flood during the heavy weather earlier in the week.
2. The lights in Bensham park have been converted to part night which means they should go off around midnight then come back on around 5am.
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Todays Echo 01 Dec 2009
Good news, not so good news and no news.
Good news - The announcement that Hurworth, Longfield and Branksome are to benefit from the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme means that every secondary school in the borough will have been rebuilt or significantly refurbished within the past four years. It is hoped work on the three schools will be completed by 2012.
It will be fantastic to see the school revamped. Just a shame that officers did not break the news personally to the ward councillors.
Not so good news- The front page of the Echo today made public that a MULTI-MILLION pound deal for community health care across County Durham and Darlington could be handed to a private company after managers served notice that they planned to cancel a contract with the NHS.
The decision, taken at a closed board meeting, was condemned last night by unions as the first step towards privatisation of key services.
This will directly affect me as part of the district nursing service and I will be very quick to remind colleagues that this step was taken under a LABOUR government.
No News - The scrapping of three public fora at full council last Thursday night which caused a great deal of debate from both sides of the chamber. A named vote followed by an unhappy leader of the opposition given his councillors were publically named and shamed for voting in favour of the disbandment without any consultation.
But strangely it never makes the Echo, a big debate and an important issue....
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Ashleigh House Meeting 30 Nov 2009
Questions and answers for those people who could not attend the meeting.
Ashleigh House Community Engagement Event 27th November 2009
Ashleigh had previously been a home registered for EMI clients with 40 beds available. The number of residents in the home had fallen to 10.
There was a gap in the market for adults with mental health issues coming from an acute setting back into the community. This unit is a halfway house between being in hospital and going home.
The unit will comprise of 20 beds.
10 beds on the ground floor
10 beds upstairs.
Male and Females will be separated.
There will be approx 3 members of staff for each unit although numbers will change dependent on the needs of the residents currently living in the unit.
Lisa Davies has been appointed as the manager. She has worked in mental health for 17 years and is educated in Psychology.
The unit will be staffed 24 hours per day and can take calls from members of the community.
The manager will be on call 24 hours per day.
The contact person is Carol Coxon 07909942553 and the address is Minster Care Group, P.O. Box 424, Harrow, Middlesex, HA2 2AL
Mail carolcoxon@blueyonder.co.uk
Q. Where will the clients come from?
A. The Darlington area.
Q. Who will refer clients to the unit?
A. PCT and Care Managers.
Q. Will it be an open unit?
A. Yes.
Q. What type of mental health problems will people who live in the unit have?
A. Panic attacks, anxiety, mental breakdown, depression.
Q. Are all the clients assessed before being admitted to the unit?
A. Yes, all clients are assessed prior to admission to make they meet the eligibility criteria.
Q. Will any of the residents be involved in criminal activity?
A. No.
Q. Will anyone in the unit have drug abuse issues?
A. No, the unit does not offer drug rehabilitation services?
Q. What training will the staff have?
A. Mental health training.
Q. Will there be male and female staff?
A. Yes.
Q. What will the age range of clients be?
A. 18-65.
Q. Will there be a time when the doors are closed?
A. 11pm.
Q. Will clients have to be compliant with taking their medication?
A. Yes, if not they will have to referred to back to acute care.
Q. When is the unit expected to open?
A. Mid February.
Q. Who provides the registration for the home?
A. Care Quality Commission.
Q. What is the address for the Quality Care Commission?
A. Care Quality Commission National Correspondence,Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA.
Q. Who do I need to complain to?
A. The Quality Care Commission at the above address in writing
Or by mail enquiries@cqc.org.uk
Q. Is planning permission needed from the council?
A. No, only an application was submitted for a physical change to the building i.e. an extension.
Q. Who would I need to complain to at the council?
A. This issue is not under the governance of the council, however, if you feel it appropriate to make your comments known to the council, then please send your comments in writing to us as your elected members and we will make the representations to the council and make sure you receive a written response.
Gill.cartwright@darlington.gov.uk
Mike.cartwright@darlington.gov.uk
Address 3 Harrowgate Village, Darlington. Co Durham, DL1 3AA.
Q. Will the current registration of the home need to be changed?
A. Yes, there will need to be a variation in registration applied for.
Q. Does the Care Quality Commission need to consult with the local community when they receive the application?
A. No.
Q. Does the owners of the care home to consult with local people?
A. There is again no statutory obligation although it would be good practice.
Q. Can the number of beds be increased from 20?
A. No.
Q. Did Minster Care Group intend to do some community engagement, if the meeting had not been arranged tonight?
A. Yes.
Q. Does the company have an open door policy?
A. Yes.
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Name and Shame 29 Nov 2009
There was a proposal put before council to disband the Environmental Forum, Transport Forum and the Planning Forum.
At the meeting of full council on Thursday night I moved an amendement-
Amendment to Item No. 7(f) ‘Fora’
(To be moved by Councillor G Cartwright and seconded by Councillor W Stenson)
I would like to move an amendment to the recommendation to the Council, previously moved, as follows :-
That recommendation 3 be deleted and the following be substituted :-
3. That the Officers be requested to undertake a consultation exercise with all Members of the Council, members of the Environmental Forum, Town Centre Forum and the Transport Forum and the general public on the proposed disbandment of this Council’s consultative Fora.
This is what I said in the meeting -
"As a member of the Environmental Forum, I was unhappy to read item no 7 (f), where a proposal was being put before members to disband the Environment, Transport and Planning Forums. The reasons for this, it is claimed because their roles can be more effectively carried out by Scrutiny, LSP and Talking Together. However, Scrutiny and the LSP are not open groups and Talking Together event are targeted at a particular topic.
I was even more alarmed to learn that no consultation had been done with members to canvass their opinions. Then, I learnt that the people who attend these forums had not been consulted either. In fact, it appears that there has been no consultation carried out about this issue, which is strange for a council who like to lament their consultation eagerness and Talking Together.
These forums provide an arena for member of the public to engage, bring thoughts, opinions and information to the table. I understand from people in my ward that the Transport Forum is very well attended and very valued by those who attend.
Therefore, I am proposing an amendment to this item. I am proposing a deferment to allow a consultation to take place with members, attendees of the fora and the wider public.
I read a mail been sent to me from a constituent.
It will shameful if this proposal gets the go ahead tonight in this chamber without any consultation and will demonstrate to the public how this Labour council is stifling debate and not interested in their views".
We took a named vote and the results were as follows -
Those against the amendment who wanted the fora to disband without any consultation
Haszeldine I
Burton
Maddison
Lyonette J
Hughes
Haszeldine L
Swift
Long
Baldwin
Wallis
Scott A
McQwen
Lyonette D
Harker
Dixon
Copeland
Chapman
Williams
Francis
Robson
Thistlewaite
Vasey
Walker
Jenkinson
All the above are LABOUR councillors
Those that voted for the amendment to have a consultation period are as follows -
Curry LD
Barker LD
Dunstone LD
Lawton LD
Frietag LD
Swainston LD
Cartwright G C
Cartwright M C
Coultas C
Scott H C
Johnson C
Lee C
Jones B C
Galletley C
Lewis C
Jones D C
Richmond C
Stenson C
Therefore ALL Lib Dems and Conservatives voted to have a consultation period before disbanding three important forums in the town. The LABOUR councillors thought this is not important and the vote was lost.
Transport Forum, Environmental Forum and Planning Forum have been lost.
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Near Miss 19 Nov 2009
There have been some roadworks on the A167 in Harrowgate Village today and the road signs left insitu where confusing motorists. I received a call in my car just as I got home and sat and watched in horror at the braking and swerving going on.
This was an accident waiting to happen as there are thousands of cars travelling the North Road day and night. I have helped many motorists over the years who have involved in road traffic accidents just outside my house.
I have called the emergency highways number from the DBC web site and someone from the highways department attended and agreed with me.
As I write they are out there with thier hi-viz jackets making the road safe!
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Feethams Planning Application 18 Nov 2009
I have just returned from the Planning applications committee meeting where members have given the approval to build 146 homes on the former site of Darlington Football club at Feethams.
I was interested in the application as my family history has had a lot involvement with local cricket and I am the grandaughter of the legendary Tot Miller, who was well known in cricketing circles. I am familar with most of the local cricket grounds in the area and was the offical scorer for the Cleveland Bridge youth team for many years and have still got the trophys to prove it!
I have fond memories of my Mother and Grandmother baking dozens of fairy cakes, pies and strawberry cream tarts for the cricket teas. There was some friendly rivarly bewteen the tea ladies as to who could produce the "best tea".
I digress.
What was interesting about this application was evidence that was brought to light by Paul Bielby who is a local man. He has produced a deed signed in 1903 by three trustees -ED Walker, Dr James Lawrence, CH Backhouse, who were all cricketing men. The deed wants to secure the site for an open space to be used for cricket and athletics.
The planning commmitte were told that this was a matter for civil law rather planning and permission was granted as the application met planning guidance.
However, I full support Paul Bielby is his passionate campaign to retain as much open space for playing sport as possible. He made some valuable references to losses in sport facilites that Darlington has suffered.
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The Debate Continues 15 Nov 2009
Lib Dem, Mike Barker has been taunting Labours Nick Wallis on his blog about the fact that the Labour lot have not made any comments about the newly formed Sparta Security which is offering a rapid response service to people suffering ASB. However, poor Nick claims he is in “no mood to take on Mike over this issue”, clearly not a happy time to be a Labour councillor!
However, it is little ole me that has caused Nick some frustration, I am terribly sorry that I have added to his troubles and I have done that by “making a cheap political point”, he claims.
I am sure that the people involved in the warden service would be really please to be branded “keystone cops” by Councillor Bill Dixon and I am also sure that other local authorities that currently operate the community warden model would be equally welcoming of his comments!
Unfortunately, this council never operated the warden system to its best advantage as other local authorities do, an example being Middlesborough.
What the Labour council did not like was that the outcomes of the warden service were not measurable and we all know much this Labour Government like everything to “tick the boxes”.
The safety and peace of mind of people living in Darlington can not be fitted into one of their boxes.
He asks why local councils should provide a security team when it is the responsibility of the Police, perhaps he should be asking Bill Dixon, they introduced the warden system to Darlington.
Then, he makes a silly comment about introducing Town Hall Paramedics across the Borough, most organisations and businesses have FIRST AIDERS.
In terms of Conservative values, of course I believe in the free market but I also believe that law and order are an important function within our society and should be controlled and legislated by the Government, the Police and authorities.
I formed my opinion on this issue through discussion with the people whom I represent, I am not sure that Bill or Nick are very familiar with this type of genuine consultation where people are listened to. They would be welcome to come to our ward to participate in some community engagement.
However, as said previously Francis Jones has seen a gap in the market and filled it. Feedback so far is good, so I am not going to say that providing peace of mind to often elderly and vulnerable residents of this town is not a good service because it has got to be.
The debate is who should provide it.
I am also wondering if the Labour group are going to follow in the footsteps of their Durham colleagues and disclose to the people of Darlington how much money they need to save?
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Private Police Force 14 Nov 2009
Fellow blogger Mike Barker has told us on his blog that the BBC have picked up on the new Sparta security service started here in Darlington. It has certainly received a lot of media attention.
Sir Ian Blair is saying that there is no place for private Police forces patrolling our streets, however, does not go on to say exactly how this issue of lack of Police resources to deal with ASB is going to be dealt with.
Mike Barker writes "I don't like seeing Darlington portrayed as somewhere with "lawless streets" where residents have to pay out of their own pocket to get protection from rampaging youths"
Neither do I Mike but there is clearly a need for this type of service and people are willing to pay for it and judging by one of the letters in the Echo yesterday, very happy with the service Sparta provides.
and
The fact that this service has began in Darlington is no evidence that Darlinton has "lawless street", it is a reflection of the council not fufilling a need and that someone was savvy enough to recognise this and do something about it!
As I have said since the wardens were lost, they had a role and my opinion of this has been formed by talking to people who live in my ward and have given these views to Councillor Bill Dixon at full council. I beleive Councillor Dixon is unfamilar with this types of geniune community engagement and I am sure if he took the time to canvass opinion from people who lived in his ward he might have a more realistic approach to community wardens.
Francis Jones has acheived what we failed to do as councillors and that is to highlight this gap in service and I now have the hope that we can have a realistic debate with the council and the Police, otherwise we will be seeing private Police forces springing up all over the country and they will be successful because they are needed and provide reassurance to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
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Sparta Security Services 12 Nov 2009
I read with interest the article in the Echo today about the former professional boxer who has launched a warden service.
I have heard a lot in the media about Sparta Security Services and a quick look at their web site, where they offer to -
Enhance Public Safety
Prevent Public Nuisance
Prevent Anti-Social Behaviour
Protect your home and business
Surely the above issues are the responsibilty of the Police and the local authority?
It is no secret that I have never been in favour of the council getting rid of the community wardens. Maybe they didnt have many powers but the point was that they were a rapid response service to people who were suffering antisocial behaviour and brought reassurance, especially to the elderly and people living on their own.
Clearly, Sparta security have seen a gap in the market and filled it, I will follow them with interest and I would be very interested in getting feedback from people who use the warden service.
I think though that people should be gettting this service through the local authority and not have to pay privately.
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Tackling Underage Drinking 08 Nov 2009
How Conservatives plan to tackle binge drinking and antisocial behaviour.
Chris Grayling speaking at the conference -
"We’ll start with the problem of fourteen year olds hanging around with bottles of super-strength beers or ciders.
It’s much too easy for them to get very drunk quickly and cheaply
Big tax increases will be introduced on super strength alcohol.
We will increase the price of a four pack of super strength lager by £1.33
We will more than double tax on super strength cider.
And our planned increase on alcopops will raise the price of a large bottle by £1.50.
These tax changes will not hit responsible drinkers.
The ordinary pint in the pub will not be affected.
and there’ll be exemptions for some local traditional products.
But we’ll call time on the drinks that fuel antisocial behaviour.
Then there are supermarkets which boost the sales of other products by selling alcohol below cost price. That also fuels Britain’s binge drinking culture.
We’ll tear up this Government’s lax licensing regime.
Right now virtually anyone can get a licence to sell alcohol. We even have all night takeaways selling more drink to people as they stagger home from the pub.
We will change that.
Local councils will have the power to stop town centres being taken over by pubs, clubs and off-licences.
We’ll give communities a right of veto over new licences in their area.
There’ll also be tough new rules for existing licensed premises.
Councils will be able to restrict opening hours.
There’ll be strict penalties for pubs and off-licences that break the rules.
Much bigger fines if they sell to under age drinkers.
If they do it again, we’ll close them for a few days as a penalty"
It is time for a real change
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Footprints 06 Nov 2009
Question: When is a footprint not a footprint?
Answer: When is the Beaumont Hill School site footprint.
Ever since the Fabrick group plans were first shown to residents at the community engagement event held at Harrowgate Hill Working Mens club on the 14th October, we have been receiving enquiries by mail, telephone and in person about the “footprint” of the schools.
If we look at the evidence, a report to Cabinet on 30th August 2005, “each of the three school footprints could be developed satisfactorily for housing”. Theres that word, again footprint.
Other evidence can be seen Response to Public Consultations on a Draft Planning Brief May 2007, where it states “I have been told only the footprint of the original building can be built upon (your Councillor Vasey commenting upon planning policy)”.
Other comments state “We were originally told that development would only be only take place on the "footprint" of the school on site 1. Then we were told at a ward surgery by the councillors that this would include the hard standing (any concreted areas) It now appears that any grassed area is also earmarked for development on the latest plans”
Wikianswers definition of a building footprint is “A building footprint is the outline of the total area of a lot or site that is surrounded by the exterior walls of a building or portion of a building, exclusive of courtyards. In the absence of surrounding exterior walls, the building footprint shall be the area under the horizontal projection of the roof”
We know the 'footprint' was enlarged artificially in agreement with DfES +?Sport England? to make it a saleable portion of land.
Residents tell us that somewhere there is a plan with a red outline showing the “footprint” but to date these plans have not surfaced.
However, we have of course made this enquiry on behalf of residents and received the following response “With regard to the 'footprint issue' at the school sites I can confirm that the revised applications when they come in will essentially mirror the land take of the previous applications that received planning permission. The land that is to be disposed of to the new developer remains the same.”
I think the conclusion to this is that the original school buildings plus the hard standing equals the sum total of land that can be built upon. It is reasonable that people would think that a footprint meant just that a mirror of the original buildings.
Two questions spring to mind -
Is this useage of land allowed?
And
Exactly what was the square footage of the original buildings?
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Bus Service Returns 02 Nov 2009
From 1st November, the bus service will once again be restored and the 6a/6b will provide a service to Mayfair Road/Laburnam Road and Glebe Road every half hour during the day. The last time there was a bus service to this area was July 2008.
Four Temporary bus stops will be put into place in the interim period in order that the service can commence. Following a full consultation permanent stops will be installed that will have a raised kerb to assist elderly and disabled.
The restoration of this service followed an 8 month long campaign by residents and us to get the council to change their mind.
I was walking along Mayfair road today and passed several people struggling with heavy shopping bags walking from the North Road bus stop and it felt good to think that next week they wont have to do that they will be able to be get off the bus near to their front door, it makes all the campaigning worthwhile when you can see the difference it makes to peoples lives.
We have been receiving enquiries as to the timetable of the new service and we have got copies if anyone would like one they can ring us on 01325 382276 and we have distributed them to local businesses
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Halloween or is it Bonfire night? 31 Oct 2009
Is it Halloween or is it Bonfire night, Darlington Borough Council dont seem to know!
I would like to share some comments that I heard today in my local hairdressers about the councils organised Firework display that is to held tonight in the South Park.
One lady said "isnt it a shame that the children have to choose between enjoying going trick or treating or going to the fireworks display", essentially they have to make a choice between Halloween or Bonfire night and not be able to participate in both.
It would seem logical (to me) to have the Firework display next Saturday night on the 7th November which is only 2 days after Bonfire night instead of 5 days before. This would also avoid the clash with Halloween.
But no, if you are a child and live in Darlington, you have to make the difficult choice between dressing up and going trick or treating or enjoying a great fireworks display.
Please note DBC for next year that our children would like to be able to take part in both these important evenings.
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Friday Night 30 Oct 2009
Its Friday night and I am sat at home relaxing, half an eye on the telly, laptop on knee catching up with Facebook, mailbox open. Then, out of the corner of my eye see a mail come in and catch the first lane. It reads "Gill, I have just phoned the police concerning a group of youths stood opposite my house on school land throwing yoghurt cartons over to my house and window"
My heart sinks because I know the Police will be unable to respond as I had read on Mike Barkers blog that last weekend when they had problems in Springfield with underage drinking, the Police were called but unfortunately as there were 90 calls reported to them, they were unable to respond.
So, I know that there will no one to respond to the call for help from the resident in my ward. So here I am, knowing there is a problem happening as I am typing and also knowing that I am helpless, unable to help, it makes me very very angry. All because we have a Labour council who buries there head in the sand when it comes this issue.
I was there in full council when Councillor Bill Dixon assured us that there are enough Police on duty on a Friday night. Clearly, there are not and having previously raised my concerns with him in full council about taking the Wardens away from patrolling the streets. My concerns were ignored.
I understand and agree that the Police must absolutely prioritise calls and can not, for example respond to low level asb, when perhaps, somewhere else in the area, someone is being seriously assaulted but it comes back to the point I made that there is a gap in service as there is no one to deal with this type of low level asb, I use the term low level but it certainly does not feel low level when perhaps you have a group of teenagers throwing missiles at your house or verbally abusing you.
People in this town are being let down and we as councillors have a responsibilty to take this agenda back to the table.
It is luck that the Conservatives have a robust approach to crime and anti-social behaviour
A no-nonsense approach to crime and disorder
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Scotts Terrace 26 Oct 2009
We received a request from residents in Scotts Terrace to have a footpath, currently residents have to use the backlane to access Lowson Street or North Road.
There has been an inspection of the back lane and the proposal is to replace the scoria blocks with a bitmac surface between Scotts Terrace and Lowson Street to give pedestrians access to North Road on an improved surface.
Due to the width of the back lane, drainage layout and existing access requirements for both vehicles and pedestrians, the full width of the back lane will have to be surfaced as one operation. Unfortunately the budgets are committed for this financial year but it will included as a scheme in the next financial year list which will be finalised when next years budgets are allocated.
In the meantime the frequency of safety inspections will be looked at for this back lane to confirm that the pedestrian access to Scotts Terrace has been taken in to account and so that the back lane is maintained to the required standard.
A recent inspection resulted 2 sq m of remedial work to be carried out to the rear of one of the houses in Scotts Terrace.
A site visit was arranged with Streetscene as we had received complaints at the level of rubbish to the front and rear.
It was agreed that both of these areas would be cleaned up immediatley and then put on the regular schedule for cleaning. Much to the delight of the residents the area was cleaned up later that morning and fly tip rubbish collected.
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Tackling Underage Drinking 08 Oct 2009
How Conservatives plan to tackle binge drinking and antisocial behaviour.
Chris Grayling speaking at the conference -
"We’ll start with the problem of fourteen year olds hanging around with bottles of super-strength beers or ciders.
It’s much too easy for them to get very drunk quickly and cheaply
Big tax increases will be introduced on super strength alcohol.
We will increase the price of a four pack of super strength lager by £1.33
We will more than double tax on super strength cider.
And our planned increase on alcopops will raise the price of a large bottle by £1.50.
These tax changes will not hit responsible drinkers.
The ordinary pint in the pub will not be affected.
and there’ll be exemptions for some local traditional products.
But we’ll call time on the drinks that fuel antisocial behaviour.
Then there are supermarkets which boost the sales of other products by selling alcohol below cost price. That also fuels Britain’s binge drinking culture.
We’ll tear up this Government’s lax licensing regime.
Right now virtually anyone can get a licence to sell alcohol. We even have all night takeaways selling more drink to people as they stagger home from the pub.
We will change that.
Local councils will have the power to stop town centres being taken over by pubs, clubs and off-licences.
We’ll give communities a right of veto over new licences in their area.
There’ll also be tough new rules for existing licensed premises.
Councils will be able to restrict opening hours.
There’ll be strict penalties for pubs and off-licences that break the rules.
Much bigger fines if they sell to under age drinkers.
If they do it again, we’ll close them for a few days as a penalty"
It is time for a real change
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Footprints 06 Oct 2009
Question: When is a footprint not a footprint?
Answer: When is the Beaumont Hill School site footprint.
Ever since the Fabrick group plans were first shown to residents at the community engagement event held at Harrowgate Hill Working Mens club on the 14th October, we have been receiving enquiries by mail, telephone and in person about the “footprint” of the schools.
If we look at the evidence, a report to Cabinet on 30th August 2005, “each of the three school footprints could be developed satisfactorily for housing”. Theres that word, again footprint.
Other evidence can be seen Response to Public Consultations on a Draft Planning Brief May 2007, where it states “I have been told only the footprint of the original building can be built upon (your Councillor Vasey commenting upon planning policy)”.
Other comments state “We were originally told that development would only be only take place on the "footprint" of the school on site 1. Then we were told at a ward surgery by the councillors that this would include the hard standing (any concreted areas) It now appears that any grassed area is also earmarked for development on the latest plans”
Wikianswers definition of a building footprint is “A building footprint is the outline of the total area of a lot or site that is surrounded by the exterior walls of a building or portion of a building, exclusive of courtyards. In the absence of surrounding exterior walls, the building footprint shall be the area under the horizontal projection of the roof”
We know the 'footprint' was enlarged artificially in agreement with DfES and Sport England to make it a saleable portion of land.
Residents tell us that somewhere there is a plan with a red outline showing the “footprint” but to date these plans have not surfaced.
However, we have of course made this enquiry on behalf of residents and received the following response “With regard to the 'footprint issue' at the school sites I can confirm that the revised applications when they come in will essentially mirror the land take of the previous applications that received planning permission. The land that is to be disposed of to the new developer remains the same.”
I think the conclusion to this is that the original school buildings plus the hard standing equals the sum total of land that can be built upon. It is reasonable that people would think that a footprint meant just that, a mirror of the original buildings.
Two questions spring to mind -
Is this useage of land allowed?
And
Exactly what was the square footage of the original buildings?
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Darlington Taxpayers Bill 02 Oct 2009
The Pedestrian Heart scheme, in Darlington, ran into costly delays in January 2006, when contractors hit a 100- year-old cast iron gas main, buried in a shallower trench than plans had indicated.
The entire pipeline was rerouted, adding £780,000 to the cost, disrupting the town centre and delaying the scheme by four months.
I will let readers read the link below which will details the errors made by this Labour controlled council. My only critism of the report is the Echos referal made to "councillors" when it should have in fact read "Labour councillors". Maybe I am being picky but it is a very important that the taxpayers of the town know that decisions about this project were made by the controlling Labour group and therefore ultimate responsibility lies at their door.
The report by the Echo is challenging and they should be thanked for exposing the truth about this project. Which nicely brings me into the next subject of the Town Crier, it was pointed out at Full Council last night by Heather Scott the leader of our group that the Echo plays an important role in holding any council irrespective of their political persuasion to account by reporting the facts as they are.
There is no doubt that the Town Crier will not hold a detailed account of this matter as it was in todays Echo. It should be because it is funded by the taxpayer to keep them honestly informed but in reality if nothing than election material funded for the Labour group by people in Darlington.
The leader John Williams is adamant that the money used to produce the Crier will not be used to advertise with the Echo and he will not even enter into debate about this with either Peter Baron at the Echo, us as opposition or the people of Darlington. No changes there then!
He keeps telling us that a survey showed that 65% of people are happy with the Crier, however, fails to tell us how many respondents there were to the survey. Without that information we are unable to make an informed decision as to the validity of the results because it could be that only 10 people responded, in which case does not demonstrate a representative view of Darlington residents.
The is not the only example of lack of ability to manage large capital projects, lest we should forget the Eastern Transport corridor fiasco.
I was fortunate to be able to sit in on the Resources Scrutiny committees meeting arranged to investigate the issue.
I think I am being fair when I say the majority of the work was done by the Conservative members and not because there was political gain to make because there was not, everyone knows that Scrutiny is not political but simply because our members have had the prior business experience to be able to make sense of what had gone wrong. Had we been the controlling group I have no doubt that both these projects would have had better outcomes.
Where is the accountabilty when public money has been wasted as a result of the incompetence of this council?
It is quite simple, the buck stops at the top and that would be the Cabinet!
Pedestrian Heart Scheme mismanagement leaves taxpayers facing a £780,000 bill
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Make Your Voice Heard 29 Sep 2009
Make your voice heard...
With Darlington Conservative Candidate Edward Legard
Often our MP's and Politicians can become cut off from our everyday concerns. Too easily they talk in sound bites and we never get to find out what they really think.
That's why Edward Legard, The Conservative Candidate for Darlington wants a new politics were politicians are accountable to the people
It's the return to the old-style town hall meetings, where politicans stand up in front of a crowd and answer questions from local residents rather than just journalists.
This is your chance to make sure your voice is heard. No scripts, no planned questions. Just 30mins of your questions and Edward's honest answers.
This meeting is open to everyone who lives in our local area, no matter what political party they support.
Edward's Q&A (Question and Answer) sessions give you the chance to meet, face to face, the man who hopes to be your next Member of Parliament and to ask him about the issues that matter to you most.
All you have to do is turn up, the event details are just below. If you have any questions you can contact Edward via his contact details.
When, Where?
Why no come along to Edward's next Q&A session? No ticket required.
Just pop along to:
Skerne Park Children's Centre
(located in The Coleridge centre)
on
Wednesday 30th September
at
6.00
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Supported Bus Services 22 Sep 2009
Arriva, on behalf of DBC will be diverting the current commercial service 6a/b via Glebe Road Monday to Sunday. There will also be an additional evening 6a/b supported service, operated by Arriva, from the Town Centre to Whinfield via Harrowgate Hill and Glebe Road.
The service 30/31a will no longer operate to Skerne Park on a Sunday during the daytime, whilst Skerne Park is served by the commercial service 14. This will improve the reliabilty of the 30/31a service in Mowden, Albert Hill etc.
The evening Monday to Saturday service 12 from Neasham/Hurworth, Town Centre to Trees Park Village will be operated by Scarlet Band and not Arriva.
Multi Operator Ticket
A weekly and four weekly Multi Operator Ticket will be available from 1 November 2009. The tickets can be used on any service in Darlington Borough. The weekly ticket can be purchased from drivers for £16, and the four weekly ticket can be purchased from the Tourist Information Centre for £55. Child tickets can be purchased for half the adult price.
This offers a substantial discount for anyone travelling regularly on both Scarlet Band and Arriva services within the Borough.
Stand Allocation
The Arriva service X66 from the Town Centre to Middlesbrough will operate from Stand L, instead of Stand F. This will help to relieve the situation on Prebend Row during peak times.
This area of the ward has been without a bus service since July 2008 and I am sure will welcome the return of their bus service.
It was worth the 8 month campaign to get the council and Arriva to change their minds and shows that persistance pays off.
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The Flyer 15 Sep 2009
There has been much debate and press recently about the council produced magazine "The Town Crier" that is delivered to every house in the borough on a monthly basis.
Peter Barron, chief of the Darlington-based Northern Echo, said that the amount of taxpayers' cash which was spent on the publications, particularly those that compete for local advertising, needed to be looked at.
But Nick Wallis, a member of Darlington Borough Council which produces 'Town Crier', said that many local newspapers don't offer councils balanced coverage, hence the need for some to produce their own newsletters.
I am pleased that it was Pete that opened the debate on this issue because if we as a group had mooted this topic there would have many cries of political point scoring and then written off as a political scrap. So, well done Mr Barron!
However, the council produces another glossy magazine called "The Flyer", this is a publication for council employees and features departmental award giving and acheivements made by individual council officers and news items.
I am guessing that this publication will be circulated to approx 5000 plus people including us as elected members.
I have no idea what the cost will be of this magazine but again paid for at the tax payers expense.
I can already hear Nick Wallis et al vociferously making claims that the Flyer is needed to keep council employees informed of events, news and awards received by departments.
And YES I agree but why does it need to be distributed by way of a glossy magazine which has to printed. Every employee and elected member has an email address so why cant we all receive an electronic version of this news?
We need some "blue sky thinking" in this authority and not continue to do things because thats the way we have always done things in Darlington. I do sometimes get the sense that this culture exists in some areas and attribute this to the political leadership or lack of within the authority.
Its time for a change!
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Ashleigh House Update 07 Sep 2009
Ashleigh House on North Road has been a residential care home registered for EMI clients. The home has now closed and the residents have been moved to other appropriate accomodation.
We have been asked at our ward to make enquires about future plans for the home now that it has closed. We have been told that the home will re-open in 6 months time as a rehab unit for adults coming from an acute setting back into the community. This information we have at the moment is very limited, more details are needed and as a result of concerns raised by local people we have asked Minister Care group to provide us with more information as to the plans they have for the unit which we can then pass on when residents are contacting us.
The home is owned by -
Minister Care Group ltd,
the Old Stables,
Grove Hill Road,
Harrow, Middlesex,
HA1 3AA.
We have also asked them to set a meeting through us with our community and themselves to act as a channel of communication to discuss their plans and give the opportunity to ask questions and raise any concerns they may have.
Update
We have spoken to the owners of the home who confirm that the plan is convert Ashleigh House into a rehabiliation unit for adults returning to the community after a period in an acute care setting.
They have agreed to a meeting with our community as they understand that there are questions to be asked and reassurances to be sought. They will make contact with us in 7-10 days time with a date and we will then arrange a suitable location and advertise the meeting.
It is the quality care commission who are the independent regulator of health and social care in England. They regulate health and social care services, whether provided by the NHS, local authorities, private companies or voluntary organisations and this is where the home owners would seek approval and registration to provide these services. The services would be commissioned through health not social care and therefore the only involvement the council would have is if the owners applied for planning permission to change the building in some way.
Care Quality Commission -
Telephone: 03000 616161
Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
Care Quality Commission
National Correspondence
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA
Visiting us?
Finsbury Tower
103 – 105 Bunhill Row
London
EC1Y 8TG
Telephone: 03000 616161
Mike and I feel as ward councillors that discussions at an early stage can only be of benefit for all parties involved.
We have started to draw up a list of people who wish us to share information with them as when we receive it, so please mail us at gill@mikecartwright.net or mike@mikecartwright.net or ring us on 382276.
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Whistlestop Tour of the Ward 03 Sep 2009
It has been a long time since I blogged reguarly, its not that I have not had thoughts and opinions to express but by the time I get home from work, attend meetings, deal with ward casework/issues and sort the house it is usually at least 2 hours past my bed time!
Every morning when I get up I promise myself that I will switch off the laptop at 10pm and get any early night but it never seems to happen!
Heres a whistlestop tour of whats been happening in the ward -
1. Harrowgate Farm play area is due to at last be re-furbished at the end of this month once the land has been adopted from the developers.
2. Joint ward surgery with Brian Jones brought issues about the planning application for Patches Lane, Burtree Lane (HGVs and speed), Ashleigh House, Drinkfield Marsh and dog fouling. It was pointed out to us that along Burtree Lane the footpath and hedges have become so overgrown and that there is not a safe route for walkers. A site visit was arranged with Streetscene who have subsequently contacted the owners of the hedges and we await a response from them.
3. Another site visit with Streetscene to Princess road was arranged and it has been agreed to remove the tree stump near the pathway between Princess Road and Newlyn Drive and fence the area off. The plastic bin on the pathway will be replaced with a metal one and the trees will be trimmed back.
4. The shrub beds on Tintagel will be cut back with the Winter Prune.
5. The excavating work on the Marsh began briefly after the 28 day stop notice had expired. It started at 8am and our Planning Officers served another stop notice on them by 9.15am, great work!
6. The Burtree Lane campaign against HGVs and speeding continues with a couple of interesting new leads which are checked out at the moment.
7. The planning application for the Old Shell Garage site goes to planning on 23rd September.
8. The campaign to reduce the speed limits on the A167 started by Councillor Brian Jones and supported by us continues to gather momentum with support being shown from several sources.
9. At our PACT meeting Tuesday night with the Police is was reported that there have been incidents of ASB in Tintagel (play area), Skerningham Woods and the old Harrowgate Hill School site. Issues brought to PACT were parking issues, insecure properties, dog fouling and fly tipping on private property. The priorites for September are Skerningham woods, Harrowgate Farm Play area and Burtree Lane (speeding). Next meeting is 6th October at Longfield School.
10. I would like to thank everyone who voted for us at the Whessoe Parish Council election on 27th August, both Lauren and I are proud to be new members of the Parish and have lots of ideas to add value to the already great work done by members.
11. Ashleigh house has now closed and the last of the residents have been moved to other appropriate accomodation. It is our understanding the unit is to re-opened in 6 months time as a 30 bedded residential unit for adults with mental health problems. It will offer rehabilitation for people who have been in an acute setting, i.e. hospital, to support them back into the community. We have contacted the owners and asked them to set up a meeting with our community to give more details of their plans and to offer an opportunity to local people to ask questions, more on that soon.
We have lots of personal casework on at the moment.
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Whessoe Parish Election 28 Aug 2009
The results of the election held yesterday 27th August are as follows -
Cartwright G 135
Costin L 116
Hoodless J 18
Therefore myself and Lauren were returned as new members of Whessoe Parish Council.
We would like to thank Mike and other colleagues/friends who helped us and a special thanks to our leaflet delivers who helped out whilst we enjoyed our annual leave!
Lauren will probably one of the youngest councillors in the country and I am incredibly proud of her efforts, she is keen to provide a voice for the young people in the area and is brimming with ideas.
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A Message from PACT 04 Aug 2009
A good piece of advice that has come from the meeting tonight is that if you are suffering any anti-social behaviour problems, after reporting to the Police, keep a diary of the date, day, time and a brief description of the incidents. Bring this along to PACT meetings to assist the Police in deploying resources at the most appropraite time to acheive the best results.
In the future PACT meetings will be advertised through the Neighbourhood Watch network automated telephone message system. If you would like to join Neighbourhood Watch contact -
Darlington Community Safety Partnership
Central House Annexe
Gladstone House
Darlington
DL3 6JX
Telephone: 01325 346832
Neighbourhood Watch is the largest community based voluntary organization in the country. It is a way of developing close liaison between households in a neighbourhood and the local Police.
The aim is to help people protect themselves and their properties by reducing the fear of crime by means of improved house hold security, Encouraging greater vigilance and by fostering a neighbourly and caring spirit among communities. This may include creating a 'neighbourhood watch' which is when neighbours look after each others property when they are away, or to allow access to utility services if the owner can not get time off work.
Visit www.neighbourhoodwatch.net
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PACT Meeting 31 Jul 2009
To confirm that the venue for the PACT meeting on Tuesday 4th August 6-7pm has changed from Longfield School to the Rolling Mills due to problems accessing the school during the holidays.
There will be posters displayed at the school advertising the change of venue and one of us will wait outside the school to re-direct people to the Rolling Mills.
A big thanks to Democractic services for arranging this for us at short notice.
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Shrub Beds in the Ward 20 Jul 2009
Today I have had a useful meeting with Streetscene to discuss the various shrubs beds in the ward. We have had a tour of the ward identifying issues raised by people including blocked gullies, overgrown trees, waste bins and tree stumps.
Over the past two years we have identified through complaints from residents, 5 different areas in the ward where the land was owned by the council but were not being maintained.
These are -
Harrowgate Farm - Tintagel Close, 2 areas.
Holmwood Grove - Large area behind Ashleigh House.
Mistral Drive.
Longfield Road.
Newlyn Drive/Ketton Avenue.
These areas have now been added to the regular maintenance schedule and should be pruned on a regular basis. If you know of any other areas that need attention, then please let us know so they can added to the list.
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Birch at North Road Bus Terminus 14 Jul 2009
We were contacted by a concerned resident who had noted that the bark had been stripped off the Silver Birch tree in the shrubbed area at the bus terminus.
We contacted the Councils tree Arborist who has assessed the tree and found several layers of bark stripped off and the remaining bark appears to cracking and drying.
He will continue to monitor the situation.
We have been promised that Streetscene will reguarly empty the dog bin situated next Tintagel Court on Harrowgate Farm following several complaints from residents living there.
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Bus Update 13 Jul 2009
We have received a complaint re No 26 bus stops in the town centre.
The bus timetable states that the no 26 stops at stand G, however the no 26 bus actually stops at stand F.
There seems to have been be an error on the timetable as the service has been allocated to F, Arriva will resolve as soon as possible.
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Miscellaneous Updates 10 Jul 2009
ENQUIRY - We have received a complaint about the road condition of the road surface on Burtree Lane.
ACTION - The road condition has been checked and whilst it does contain reinstated trenches there are no defects requiring action. We will continue to monitor. The profile has also been checked and there are no remedial works required.
ENQUIRY - We were asked where Middleham Road is on the Verge Hardening Priority list.
ACTION - It is 28 out of 36, meaning that it is approx 14 years before the work will be completed.
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Arriva Bus Update 06 Jul 2009
All elected members have today received a Co Durham and Darlington Bus Update for July 2009. As stakeholder we have been invited to ask questions and make comments.
I have noticed on perusal of the document that Darlington has the highest number of complaints -
Darlington 66
Bishop Auckland 39
Durham 36
Peterlee 17
I have asked Arriva if they have an action plan in place to make improvements to the Darlington figure for complaints, which I am sure they have noticed and are going to take action, I await details of their plan to improve performance, which I hope will be reflected in next months figures.
I know that bus issues are close to the heart of those people who use them regulary and feel it right to challenge this point to Arriva on behalf of bus users in Darlington.
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Milburn to Stand Down 27 Jun 2009
It comes as quite a surprise to find out our elusive local MP has done the honourable thing and jumped ship, I am sure there will be many more of his colleagues in Westminister following suit.
Still he has his other 5 jobs to fall back on so the bailiffs wont be knocking on the front door just yet.
The funniest comment is from Nick Wallis, Labour Blogger and Darlington Councillor, "The end of an era, but as the Chair John Williams reminded us, change happens. Fortunately, the Party in Darlington remains in robustly rude health, and is spoiling for the next General Election".
Think Nick needs to take off his "rose tinted" glasses along the red nose he is still sporting on his blog, the Labour Party locally and nationally have nothing to laugh about!
The sad truth is they are a party in demise and its a brave person who chooses to take the poison challice to represent the Labour party in Darlington at the next general election.
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Burtree Lane 19 Jun 2009
Following complaints from residents, two issues have been identified with Burtree Lane -
Speeding traffic (all types of vehicles)
Heavy Goods Vehicles using Burtree Lane as a “rat run”
People living in the area have raised concerns about safety from both speeding traffic and the high number of HGVs that use the road.
It has been suggested that a Traffic Restriction Order would be appropriate to be put in place to stop HGVs using Burtree Lane other than for access for deliveries and a petition has been raised asking the Council and Durham Police to place an order on Burtree Lane in order to protect residents living in that area.
If you would like to sign the petition please ring us on 382276 or
Mail us at -
gill.cartwright@darlington.gov.uk or mike.cartwright@darlington.gov.uk
confirming your pledge for support.
Ban on HGVs
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My Day 16 Jun 2009
Today has been a health related day for me, not unusal you think as I am a nurse, however the meetings I have attended today were not work related, but my experience as a nurse does help when discussing health topics.
My day started with a meeting of the Health and Well-being Scrutiny committee and the agenda can be viewed here Agenda 16th June 2009.
Then, I went onto a meeting with the Alzheimers Society in Newcastle, this was my first meeting with the group, although we do support them with a monthly donation. My role is to support the charity both in terms of fund raising and raising awareness of Alzheimers. So my interest is purely personal not political or professional even.
Both Mike and I have blogged in the past about Mikes Nana who has Alzheimers and resides in a EMI unit in Hartlepool. Anyone you speak with who has a relative who suffers with this disease will tell you that the current system leaves a lot to be desired.
The Alzheimers society raises awareness, research, campaigns and provides information and help to suffers and their families. I met some amazing people today who spend a lot of their time raising awareness by talking to groups, professionals and organisations, as well of those people dedicating their time and love to looking after relatives at home. This is a 24/7 job which requires patience, sense of humour and a dedication that only those who undertake this role can possibly understand. You can contact the society for help, information or to donate by clicking the link below -
Alzheimers society
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Race for Life 15 Jun 2009
On Sunday at the South Park we did the Race for Life again and as usual we were amongst the walkers! Our team consisted of myself, Lauren, Jen, baby Jess (9 months) and Daisy the dog, it was another blistering hot day, just like last year. We set off in the last group which consisted of the prams and the dog walkers, we managed to do a bit of overtaking, which is no easy task with a pram and dog who keeps trying to lick everyones feet and play with all the other dogs!
The menfolk were a great help shouting encouragement from the shade with ice-creams in their hands!
It is a very emotional event and I cant help but read the signs people wear explaining why they take part and it always upsets me to see how many women loose their children and partners/husbands to this dreadful disease. There are tears but there is also laughter all in aid of a good charity.
The event raised nearly 200K and our team total was in the region of £200.
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Euro Results 08 Jun 2009
The results from the Euro election from Darlington were -
Conservatives 6775
Labour 4739
UKIP 3783
Lib Dems 3480
BNP 1779
Greens 1446
English Democrats 534
Socialist Labour 357
No 2 EU 270
Christians 264
Pro Democracy 108
Jury Team 97
It this had been a general, then our PPC Edward would have been returned and Mr Milburn would be out of work, did I say work, I mean the once a month he has to programme Darlington into his sat nav in order to find us! However he always seems to find his way to our ward for some reason, we are very honoured of course and he would always be welcome for a cup of Nescafe!
This was similar to the results of the local elections in 2007 when the Conservatives polled more votes than Labour but gained less seats resulting in Labour maintaining control.
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Labour Party Buried Alive 07 Jun 2009
Interesting take on Caroline Flint in the Daily Mail by Suzanne Moore.
Some interesting phrases like "cabinet not fit for purpose" and "The Labour Party can be buried alive with its eyes wide open", sends a shiver down the spine...
Power crazed men destroying Labour
Nadine Dorries blog has some interesting gossip on the relationship between Flint and Blears
Nadine Dorries MP
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Brown Accused of Sexism 06 Jun 2009
Caroline Flint claims "Senior female figures were regarded as "little more than window dressing" by the prime minister"
Flint in sexism row
A very cleverly executed piece of work by Ms Flint and Hazel Blears to create the most collateral damage to Brown and the elections of course.
Quote of the day. At the D-Day landing celebrations Brown called Omaha beach Ombama beach.
Heard Susan Boyle rang to see how he is....
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Blue, Blue, Electric Blue 05 Jun 2009
LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS
Councillors Councils
Party +/- Total +/- Total
CON +208 1295 +6 27
LD -12 430 -1 1
LAB -228 146 -4 0
OTH +25 149 0 0
NOC - - -1 4
29 of 34 councils officially declared.
The country has turned blue, Labour has lost 228 councillors. A complete wipeout even in the Labour heartlands.
My favourite quote is from Harriet Harman ""We have to understand and learn the lessons",
learn what lessons, that the public have no trust in your party and that you should call a general election.
Why put off the inevitable, Labour are history, salvage some pride and let the country decide, more respect will be gained.
The Euro results should be interesting....
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Labour almost total wipeout in North Yorkshire! 05 Jun 2009
The Conservatives have strengthened their hold on North Yorkshire County Council, taking 48 of the 72 seats available, on a day that saw Labour representation in the county almost wiped out.
The Tories took a net gain of seven seats in County Hall, most of them from Labour candidates and now have a majority of 24 seats.
The leader of the Conservative group, John Weighell (Bedale), was delighted with the result. "We’re thrilled that the Conservatives will once again be in control of the county council for the next four years," he said. "It’s been a very difficult election campaign but we feel the quality of service we offered has stayed in people’s minds." Coun Weighell admitted that the Conservative’s gains were partly down to events in Westminster. "There’s no point in saying it hasn’t had an effect- it’s what people on the street wanted to talk about and it’s showed in demolition of Labour," he added. Labour now just have one seat in the council, down from seven, with Brian Marshall from the Selby Barlby ward keeping hold of his seat.
The leader of the Labour group, Steve Shaw-Wright, lost his seat in the Selby Barlby ward. In the Scarborough district the Labour incumbents lost out to independent candidates across the board, losing four seats, while the Conservatives also lost a seat to an independent candidate- there are now 11 independent councillors in the council as a whole.
Coun Marshall, the only Labour candidate to keep his seat on the county council, has blamed the fallout over the MP’s expenses scandal and Gordon Brown’s fight for survival for Labour’s terrible showing. "When anything happens in Parliament it’s us in the county councils that suffer," he said. "We work our socks off all year but it doesn’t seem to matter. "I will still do what I can in County Hall but it will be harder not having my colleagues with me."
The Liberal Democrats have not performed as well as they might have hoped, losing four seats to the Tories. Group leader for the Lib Dems, Bill Hoult (Knaresborough) was disappointed about the results for his party. "We’ve lost some good candidates," he said. "But when you look at how high the Conservatives are in the polls we thought they might have done even better, so it’s not all bad news."
I cant help thinking what would have happened if we had had local election elections in Darlington this year, I wonder who the last Labour person standing would have been on our council?
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Milburn Plots 04 Jun 2009
James Purnell quits, the body count is now 3, who next?
Milburn is named as one of the ringleaders in a plot to get rid of Brown
Milburn Plots
The next few days may see another change to the political landscape, I hope Brown does not go but I cant see him staying, his position has become untenable.
The first local election results will come in tomorrow but the Euro results wont be in until Sunday.
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Highland Fling 23 May 2009
We have just come back from a very pleasant stay in the Scottish Highlands, in a little place called Nairn, near Inverness. This was our first trip that far up, having previously only been as far as Edinburgh.
The hotel had an amazing view from the Conservatory over the Moray Firth, the beach was just through the hotel garden and you could sit in the swimming pool and look out to sea!
It was amazing how the colour of the sky and the sea changed depending on the weather and the time of day, the sea went from grey, to green to various shades of blue. You can watch the weather fronts coming in and one minute it can be raining hard and the next sunny!
There are golf courses everywhere and there are 25 within a hours drive of our hotel, we dont play but guests in our hotel were there for the golf. Many hotels in Scotland also cater for "well behaved dogs" but unfortunately Daisy does fit that criteria!
The food in the hotel was mediocore to say the least and "rustic chips" were in fact frozen chips and the salad was a little limp. We ate out the following two nights and found a "Harry Ramsdens" in Inverness.
We had a trip out to Loch Ness and didnt see the monster but see wild deer and fighter planes from one of the near RAF bases of Lossiemouth or Kinloss flying very low across the loch.
Talking of aircraft we saw Sea king helicopters, an Apache helicopter, a Nimrod taking off from Kinloss and various fighter planes. A plane spotters dream!
At the nearby nature reserve of Spey there were Dolphins, Ospreys and seals. We did see the Ospreys but the Dolphins and seals had been spotted earlier that day.
We drove along the Moray Firth Coastal trail and ended up at the Baxters soup factory where we had a fabulous afternoon tea of sandwiches, clotted cream scones, pancakes, carrot cake, shortbread, meringue and various other cakes and pastries. I always make sure I have my five a day on holiday, cake, desert, sweets, chocolate and ice cream!!
We purchased some soups, biscuits and old fashioned sweets from the shop as presents.
The scenery in the highlands is spectacular, as are the coastal areas. Scotland is just so clean and there are toilets everywhere, in tiny fishing villages, where there arnt any shops, you will find a public toilet. Everyone is so friendly and helpful.
We finished off by having a picnic on the beach at North Berwick on the way home.
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Double Standards 15 May 2009
Imagine my surprise and amusement when I read on Councillor Nick Wallis blog "I've spent 3 days now campaigning with Labour's John Harrison, North Tyneside's elected Mayor"
There must be some mistake, it must another Nick Wallis because our Nick Wallis in Darlington does not favour elected Mayors. If you check his blog there are 39 articles about elected Mayors and not one of them of says anything positive, yet here he is campaigning with the Labour chappy in North Tyneside, obviously John Harrison does not read Nicks blog, maybe as well!
The way I look at, OK let him go out campaigning but dont be stupid to blog about and show yourself himself for the unprincipled person he really is.
A classic example of how Labour are unable to stick to a principle let alone stick with decisions they make.
Keep up the good work, there must be many more so called principles to change when the wind blows in another direction....
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Message from Cameron 07 May 2009
Labour's Government is falling apart in front of our eyes. The scandals behind the scenes. Humiliating defeats in Parliament. U-turn after U-turn. Cabinet Ministers mocking the Prime Minister. And behind this political pantomime there is no policy, no direction, no vision.
We urgently need change. That's why this year's local elections are so important. We launched our campaign this week with a strong, clear message: a vote for the Conservatives won't just get you more for less - a cleaner, greener, safer place to live for fewer taxpayer pounds. It will also give you the chance to show Gordon Brown just how sick, tired and disappointed you are with his Government.
We've been spreading this message all over the country: Newcastle, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Exeter, Plymouth. I love getting on the road and meeting people. It also gives us a chance to do more Cameron Directs - townhall-style events where people can come along, stick up their hand and ask me anything they like. They don't pull their punches and that's just how I like it.
The end of the week has been dominated by expenses stories - and I expect there will be many more over the coming months, from all parties. I understand why people are angry about this. That's why as soon as the problems arose I was first out of the blocks, making sure that our MPs and MEPs set out clearly how they spend public money. This is just the first step to a cleaner, more open system. Slowly and surely we're going to re-build the trust between politicians and the people they serve.
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The Age of Aquarious 27 Apr 2009
I would like to discuss on a comment left on one of my blog articles about Labours dirty tricks electioneering tactics used both nationally and locally. As mentioned in my response, on the night of the count in 2007 our house was “egged”, I have no idea whom may have been responsible for this childish act; however, one thing I am certain of is the motivation for the act was most definitely political.
Move one a year to the Crewe-Nantwich by-election in May 2008. The country was beginning to slide into recession and the future was looking uncertain. Labour was sliding in the opinion poles. The seat was a traditional Labour stronghold.
Labour HQ, thought, instead of expanding on an already strong Labour base vote, we will call the Tory candidate a “toff”, that’s bound to win us more votes!
It seems as if the whole country except the Labour party could see what was coming, the country was not in the mood for Labour dirty tricks tactics. I remember a taxi driver being interviewed and asking what he thought of the Tory candidate being called a “toff”. His response was that he didn’t care what his background was as long as he was up to the job.
Move on another year and the country is a terrible recession that is going to take until 2032 to sort out. The government has allowed the banks to allow us to get into debt beyond our means; the Government has borrowed for its lavish spending spree. Where was prudence when needed?,when Prudence should have saving in the good days to pay for the rainy days, Prudence was clearly off duty on holiday!
No wonder personal debt is high, when the Government themselves have not exactly been a role model of sensible spending, therefore sending out the message if its good enough them its good enough for us!
Cameron’s speech at the Spring “stressed Britain needs “a complete change of direction” to deal with the new “age of austerity” in his 2009 Spring Forum speech.
He said the “age of irresponsibility” was coming to an end and we need to take “incredibly tough decisions” on taxation, spending and borrowing to tackle Labour’s Debt Crisis”.
Thats exactly what people are having to do with their spending so it has come as a relief for the Politicians to thinking the same way.
The country is nervous, edgy, jobs are being lost, houses repossessed and times are hard. Government debt is so high we only dare utter the amount in utter disbelief.
Tony Blair was the architect of "Nu Labour" and Gordon Brown is the undertaker.
On a different note, I was reading tonight, Cherie Blair’s book and just got to the point where Tony became PM. Ironically it was whilst Tony was making a speech in Stockton that Cherie realised that actually he was going to win the election.
I wonder if Sam Cameron has had that moment of realisation because a new era is dawning, the feeling is almost tangible, a kind of hope and expectation that Cameron et al can save the country for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. And they can of course!
That’s how immense the task is working today to secure the future. It is the same at local level but more about that another time….
Back to Labour dirty tricks, to conclude, I am trying to decide if Labour will use Draper/McBride smear tactics during the elections next year, surely they must have learnt their lesson but this is the Labour Party we are talking about....
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Public Inquiry 27 Apr 2009
The Public Inquiry that began today at the Arts Centre at 10am has been adjourned until September 14th for 2 reasons.
1.Given new evidence submitted by Dickens Dees Barrister and the number of witnesses giving evidence, the Inquiry would not be able to be completed in the timescale of 3 days.
2.The planning application that has been submitted by Mr Blair’s daughters to operate a waste transfer station on the site.
There are 2 possible scenarios –
1.Planning permission is granted at the special planning committee that is to be arranged to hear the planning application at a date in June, which is yet to be confirmed. The Enforcement notice issued by the council would then be withdrawn and operations on the site will commence by the landowners or a contractor appointed by them.
2.Planning permission is refused by the planning application committee, in which case the Public Inquiry will be re-commenced on 14th September 2010. This new Inquiry will have 2 elements; the original section 174 inquiry into the Enforcement notice served by the council and the second element a section 78 Inquiry, which would be triggered if the new landowners appeal against the decision by the planning committee to deny planning permission.
The next step. I have been asked to arrange a meeting with residents, Dickinson Dees solicitors and the new land owners to discuss the planning application they have submitted.
The plans are available for viewing at the Town Hall and comments/objections can sent to Dave.coates@darlington.gov.uk
For further information please ring me on 382276 or mail me at gill.cartwright@darlington.gov.uk
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Economy Faces a Decade of Pain 23 Apr 2009
The UK is facing "two parliaments of pain" following the "breathtaking" damage to the economy, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned.
The government must close a £90bn hole to bring the budget into balance, the independent think-tank said.
Who are we going to believe an independent body or the "Alistair in Wonderland" Chancellor?
For interesting gossip from inside Westminister read Nadine Dorries blog.
Nadine Dorries MP
There is a link to PMQs yesterday, where all her colleagues stayed in their seats to allow her a question to the PM asking him to apologise for the awful "smeargate affair"
She says "Thank goodness I am a member of a party which appreciates and encourages intellectual debate and discourse; which relishes the opportunity to take an idea apart and which supports its own, as I discovered yesterday as I was lifted to my feet by the cheers of my colleagues"
So say all of us....
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Britain cannot afford another five years of Labour 22 Apr 2009
Conservative response to the budget-
"This is a Dishonest Budget. From tonight, Britain’s families are facing higher taxes to pay for Labour's Debt Crisis.
After a decade of economic mistakes, Gordon Brown is saddling this country with over £1 trillion of debt.
Britain cannot afford another five years of Labour.
The Budget revealed today: tax rises of £1000 on every family in Britain; tax rises on everyone earning over £19,000; tax rises on all new jobs; higher taxes for motorists and responsible drinkers.
The Labour Government was also forced to admit that Britain faces:
The longest recession since the war
The fastest rise in unemployment on record
Every child born already owing £22,500 in national debt
A national debt that will double to £1.4 trillion
Like all Labour governments in history, New Labour has run out of money.
If the Conservatives had given this Budget, we would have got a grip on government spending, and used the savings from cutting waste to introduce real help now for families and pensioners:
Freezing council tax for two years, worth over £200 for the typical family
Abolishing income tax on savings for all basic rate taxpayers, worth up to £7,200 a year
Raising the income tax threshold for pensioners, worth up to £400 a year
Help for the unemployed to upskill and reskill during the recession - and tax breaks for companies who create new jobs
Conservatives will tackle Labour’s Debt Crisis and deliver economic change for Britain"
It is interesting talking to ex-labour voters, they are certain that they dont have a choice at the next election, they simply CAN NOT vote for Labour. It is that simple, no choice or debate, they just cant force themselves to tick the box. The attitude is that under a Conservative Government things just couldnt get any worse than they already are, these are reluctant Conservative voters who are willing to give us a chance, respect to them.
They wont be let down.....
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Smeargate: The Plot Thickens 19 Apr 2009
ED BALLS, the schools secretary, used Damian McBride, the disgraced spin doctor, to smear ministerial rivals and advance his own ambitions, a Downing Street whistleblower has claimed.
In an explosive new twist to the e-mail affair, a No 10 insider has revealed that Balls was the mastermind behind a “dark arts” operation by McBride to undermine colleagues.
He claims the education secretary is running a destabilising “shadow operation” inside Downing Street to clear his path for the party leadership if Labour loses the next election.
The insider said: “There is now an operation within an operation at No 10 and it answers to Ed Balls.”
This whole affair is like a pass the parcel at a Birthday Party, each time another layer is opened more lurid details are revealed but it is only a matter of time the "real" prize in the centre will opened. There will be a Labour MP or even the PM in the centre of this parcel!
It is interesting watching the Labour Government "implode" Yes I do believe things are that serious, this kind of unprecidented behaviour can only end in "red" tears.
We are witnessing a story that will be recorded in the Political History books and me thinks that we are only a couple of chapters into this story....
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If you go Down to the Marsh Today! 18 Apr 2009
 A NEW ranger service which has been launched to be the public face of Darlington's parks and nature reserves was put on its toes with its first customer - botanist David Bellamy.
Darlington Borough Council's park rangers will speak to the public and friends' groups to encourage use of the town's green spaces.
They will also take on board comments, suggestions and complaints to enhance parks and nature reserves.
The service, which is similar to the council's Street Scene team, has partly arisen from the council's award of beacon status for its work to manage the parks and also Darlington Partnership's Perfectly Placed document.
Mr Bellamy returned to South Park yesterday nearly 40 years to the day after his first visit on the way to his then new job at the University of Durham.
He also visited Drinkfield Marsh as there was a childrens activity session on, arranged by the new Park Rangers. He very kindly agrees to pics and we have some of him in the reeds, the pose for which he is famous!
He is probably one of Britains most famous Botanists and is also an author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner.
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Pensions & Savings National Action Day - 18th April 18 Apr 2009
Today we have been campaigning for the following to be included in the budget proposals -
Abolishing income tax on savings for basic rate taxpayers
Raising the pensioners personal allowance by £2,000 to £11,490
Despite freezing weather conditions we managed to collect many signatures. What I always find interesting about this type of activity is that it provides an insight into what people think and how they are feeling.
The electorate are certainly not happy bunnies at the moment. People are worried about their jobs, mortgages, education, care for the elderly, NHS and pensions and are concerned about this Governments ability to govern. It is the latter that it most interesting, these comments are not typical of what we normally hear. People will always express their opinion on issues or policies but to question to the actual competency of a Government to do its job is a new phenomena and demonstrates the lack of faith people have.
My favourite quote is from an elderly lady approaching 80 who said "they have just given me a pension increase of 25p per week, its an insult, I am going to send it back and suggest they give it to Jacqui Smith to boost her husbands entertainment budget"!
A very positive day which provided much food for thought....
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The Week the World Went Mad 17 Apr 2009
Well not quite the whole world but this country at least.
We have seen Labour Party spin docs trying to smear Tory MPs, The PM saying "I know nothing" and today we uttered the "S" with as much sincerity as Eskimo thanking you for the ice you have just given him as a present!.
Damian Green, Tory MP has found out that he will not face charges for doing his job. This is the first time an opposition MP has been arrested for doing his job since Britain became a Democracy. Theres the key word, "democracy" is being very quickly eroded by this Sham of a PM who no one voted for!
And finally a Nurse is struck off for secretly filming for the BBC to reveal the neglect of elderly patients at a hospital has been struck off for misconduct. Struck off, this woman should be congratulated for highlighting this terrible neglect. Every nurse in this country should be outraged that Margaret Haywood has been treat in this way. She clearly believed what she was doing right and I agree with her....
The message is quite clear for anyone else who was thinking about exposing neglect and ill treatment of elderly people, if you do you will be punished.
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Camerons Reflects on this Week Events 17 Apr 2009
I think it's been a pretty defining week in the history of this Government.
It started with all that nonsense over Easter when it emerged that while people up and down the country were worried about their jobs, homes and futures, one of the Prime Minister's main advisers was busy cooking up lies to spread about me, my colleagues and our families. After five days, the Prime Minister finally took full responsibility and said sorry. But, in many ways, that's the easy part. The hard part is what comes next - addressing the culture of spin and smear in Downing Street. As anyone who works in an office knows, it's the boss who sets the culture - so Gordon Brown's got to ask himself some serious questions.
And it ended with the Director of Public Prosecutions chucking out the charges against Damian Green. Let's be clear what happened here. An Opposition MP was arrested, and he and his family put through hell, for simply doing his job. It was wrong. He's been vindicated. And the Home Secretary's got to ask herself some serious questions.
Taken together, these episodes demonstrate clearly the need for change. Not, as Gordon Brown would have it, change in some advisers' code or a review into police operations. But a change in leadership at the very top. This lot have been in power far too long - they're out of touch, forgotten who they're serving, what they're in power for and how they're meant to behave. To bring some integrity back to Downing Street, the only answer is an election and a change of government.
But this week hasn't been all about politics. I visited Stafford Hospital on Tuesday - that's the place which had really unacceptable standards of care. It was incredibly moving to meet victims and their friends and family. And though it was little consolation to them, I outlined how the Conservatives would help stop another Stafford from happening again by having an information revolution so hospital failings are exposed quicker.
I'm sure there'll be as much to write about next week - it's the Budget.
He described this week as a defining week in the history of this Government, in my last blog I was a bit more blunt describing the events of this week as the "week the world went mad"!
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The Saga Continues 16 Apr 2009
More questions than answers.
Did Gordon Brown know of the these plans to smear the Conservatives, given McBride was his closest aide? I find it hard to believe that he knew nothing given his obsession with micro-management.
He will never admit that he knew but what has happened to McBride, is he down the local job centre signing on? What has he been given to keep his silence or will we see a kiss and tell story in the press next week?
Who funds Labourlist and why is Draper still the editor, sack him Gordon now.
I have to admit that this whole incident deeply disturbs me and has sunk the Labour Party to an all time low, Tony Blair must be cringing.
Tony liked his "Nu Labour" spin but this is not spin, it is downright deceitful lies, damn lies of the worst kind. Number 10 should have been thinking about ways to win votes back at the election not about how to win an election by discrediting the opposition.
They forgot (if they ever knew) the first rule of politics concentrate on your own greatness.
These people run our country, that fact alone should be causing every person in this country to have sleepless nights....
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Alan Milburns Reaction to Drapergate 14 Apr 2009
Even our very own Alan Milburn has dubbed the affair as "morally unacceptable".
Hopefully this will be the end of Gordon as his own MPs are ashamed, yes ashamed.
The mails are 100% untrue, slanderous and therefore libellous. Damian McBride is the political and press adviser to Gordon Brown. He is his right hand man and has been since the Treasury days.He was paid for by the tax payer.
The whole affair smacks of how desperate Gordon Brown is to hold onto power and clearly demonstrates that he know he is working his "notice" period.
Maybe his P45 is in the post as I speak given the reaction of his own MPs!
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McPoison and Drippy Draper 13 Apr 2009
Question: How much further can this Labour Governement sink to?
Answer: There are no boundaries.
I should have been shocked to read about the disgusting McBride and Draper affair but the emotion I felt that of utter disgust. Gordon Brown and his cronies are not fit to govern this country, he has no mandate and no scruples.
January 13th and the banks are in the process of being bailed out, thousands of workers face redunancy.
However, Damian McBride, Downing Street’s head of strategy and planning, had other things on his mind. He was bent on a smear campaign against the Tories on a proposed new website, Red Rag.
“Gents, a few ideas I have been working on for Red Rag,” he wrote, by way of introduction to the plan he was about to send to Derek Draper, his old friend and Labour blogger. “For ease, I’ve written all the below as I’d write them for the site.”
Copying in Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown’s former spin doctor, McBride, who was paid by the taxpayer, set out four possible stories to ensure the new Labour website got off to a flying start.
He described the first – about a gay Tory MP promoting his companion’s business interests in the Commons – as a “solid investigative story”, suggesting that it “may be a good one to use early”.
The other three, he admits, “are gossipy and mainly intended to destabilise the Tories”.
If the smear campaign being hatched by McBride had gone ahead, it would have set the scene for one of the dirtiest general election campaigns in recent history.
However, in a twist that would prove terminal for McBride, the e-mails fell into the hands of Paul Staines, the right-wing Westminster blogger known as “Guido Fawkes”. Yesterday copies of the e-mails were seen by The Sunday Times.
McBride’s ideas are set out under a series of headings, the first relating to a gay Tory MP. He suggests Red Rag circulates a story that the individual is “routinely using his position in the House of Commons to offer free publicity” to a large high street company for which the MP’s boyfriend works. McBride alleges that the Tory MP “has never once declared his close personal relationship” with the store executive and lists a series of occasions on which the MP appears to have used Commons facilities to promote the company; praised the firm in Commons debates and put down parliamentary motions that could be favourable to it.
McBride’s second suggestion is to challenge David Cameron, the Conservative leader, to publish his “full financial and medical records”, and to spread gossip that he may have suffered from a sexually transmitted disease.
The slur appears to be based on nothing more than Cameron’s admission that, when he was a student, he once attended a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. But McBride suggests “inserting [a] picture of Dr Christian Jessen”, who appears on the Channel 4 programme Embarrassing Bodies. There is no suggestion that the two men know each other.
Headlined “George’s photo album”, McBride’s third idea was to alarm the Conservatives by falsely hinting at the existence of embarrassing photographs of George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, from his university days.
DAMIAN McBRIDE
Known as “McPoison” in the corridors of power, McBride was one of the prime minister's most trusted allies. The magazine PR Week put him in the top 10 of the country’s spin doctors with the likes of Matthew Freud and Max Clifford.
He started out as a Treasury civil servant but became Gordon Brown’s political adviser while his mentor was still chancellor.
Credited with masterminding a guerrilla war to get his man into No 10, McBride, 34, was at the heart of an operation to crush all opposition to Brown’s succession. When Brown became prime minister, McBride became his official political spokesman, one of the most powerful positions in Downing Street.
Despite his high-profile new role, he proved reluctant to abandon the shadowy tactics he used to such great effect before his boss came to power, and continued to brief contacts over long lunches.
His enemies thought he was finished following the arrival at Downing Street of Stephen Carter, the former lobbyist, as Brown’s strategy chief. The appointment sparked a turf war. When Carter left months later, he was seen as the victim of a campaign by the cabal of Brown’s “long marchers” at No 10.
Carter’s departure was a pyrrhic victory for McBride, who was simultaneously moved to a backroom role as director of strategy and planning. It followed disquiet among Labour MPs at his tactics.
DEREK DRAPER
Draper is a flamboyant northerner with a talent for self-promotion. He was a top Labour spin doctor until he was embroiled in a lobbying scandal in 1998, the year after Labour came to power.
He was caught on tape boasting to an undercover reporter that he could sell access to government ministers. “There are 17 people who count,” he said. “To say that I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century.”
He first rose to prominence as a bag carrier to Peter Mandelson, a job he did alongside editing a left-wing magazine and writing a newspaper column. He lost all three jobs when the lobbygate scandal broke.
Mandelson said of his friend at the time: “He has a fine intelligence, but sometimes I am afraid he misuses that intelligence. He gets above himself."
A year later Draper was sacked from his job as political commentator at Talk Radio after calling one of its phone-line programmes and claiming he was in a brothel in Amsterdam. He subsequently had a breakdown. After a spell at the Priory, he retrained as a psychotherapist and started writing self-help books.
He remained out of the political limelight until a year ago, when he returned to the Labour fold on a new mission to establish a political blog. As a psychotherapist, he would be well qualified to smear an innocent woman about her mental health. He is married to Kate Garraway, a GMTV presenter.
Gordon Brown has tonight written letters to David Cameron and all other Tory MPs slurred in the smear campaign orchestrated by his senior aide Damian McBride.
On Feburary 6th Derek Draper made a bizarre attempt to become the blogosphere's Mr Popular by following every single one of Iain Dales Twitter followers.
I received a mail from a friend warning me and sure enough there he was, very quickly blocked from following me on Twitter and closely followed by the 1900 or so other Tories he was following.
It occurred to me yesterday that this act may have had an ulterior motive given the current turn of events or perhaps im just getting very very cynical when it comes to Labour.
One thing is for sure leadership comes from the top so it follows that once the "rot" has set in at the top it will be filtered down the food chain to local level..
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Happy Easter 12 Apr 2009
Wishing everyone a Happy and relaxing Easter.
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A Stone Lighter 09 Apr 2009
I have not blogged for a few weeks about my dieting and weekly weigh-in sessions, I bet some of you thought I had given up!
There has not been much to report to be honest, progress for whatever reason seems to have been very slow and the past month has seen just 1/2 pound per week with the exception of last week which saw 1.5LBs disappear. This in itself seems bizarre given a Birthday, a Christening, 2 takeaways and half a bag of Thorntons toffee! I can remember weeks when I have not cheated at all and either gained weight or stayed the same. You can never tell what will happen when you step onto those scales!
However, I have today reached my stone award, it has taken since Christmas but I have got there eventually and it has given me the impetus to get through Easter unscathed, I hope but as I speak there is a rather large Heroes egg begging to be eaten!
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Some Good Ward News 31 Mar 2009
Two pieces of good news for Harrowgate Hill this week and it is only Tuesday!
New schools could be built at Hurworth, Longfield and Branksome four years early if Darlington Borough Council are successful in bringing their bid for funding forward under the Building Schools for the Future scheme.
And
1m for improvements to footpaths in North Road, Bank Top, Central, Harrowgate Hill and Cockerton West.
Both of these were to be discussed tonight at 5PM when the Cabinet meets.
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Full Council 27 Mar 2009
I have to admit to chuckling to myself last night in the Council Chamber when John Williams uttered those words that "Labour Councillors have a free vote". Free vote and Labour Councillor in the same sentence dont go!
For a milli-second I got excited thinking we could have a rebel vote on our hands here and this might fulfil my lifetime ambition of observing a Labour Councillor vote against their own group.
Crushed, I watched as John Williams raised his hand closely followed by the rest of the red sheep in the flock. I find it hard to believe that not one Labour Councillor disagreed with the motion, by the law of averages at least one of them should have said NO.
At least one of them must realise that given the current climate being de-selected by the loosing team would not be such a bad idea, it is a short walk across the Chamber you know!
My quote of the night was John Williams "there has never been a problem therefore no need for a motion". Now, that is just your opinion, if there was not a problem then why was a motion being raised?
I was surprised by the lack of intelligent debate from the Labour group, it is the job of any Councillor in that Chamber to challenge and highlight issues, move them onto the agenda and then debate the issue. This is how change is achieved in local authority. Local Government is a constantly changing and evolving animal and in ten years time will look different to what it does now. This process is ongoing and achieved by those involved both elected members and Officers. Members should be able to feel comfortable raising issues and in return receive intelligent comment and debate to allow a conclusion to be drawn. All this is in the best interest of the people we represent and should be welcomed by all. It is possible to not agree with an issue but offer reasoned comment to the debate and be gracious and respectful to the person highlighting the issue. This is professional and common courtesy.
Why do they feel the need to personalise issues, this stifles intelligent debate by involving the heart instead of mind.
Be pragmatic, detached and rationalise.
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Putting Patient safety First 23 Mar 2009
Andrew Lansley has set out a five-point plan to avoid a repeat of the tragic events at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
The Shadow Health Secretary stressed the need to put patient safety first, and outlined measures to end box-ticking and give patients the power to hold failing hospitals to account.
He promised, "A Conservative Government would give patients a real say over services at their local hospitals so that they can demand changes if they are necessary."
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Alan Milburn, The Invisible MP 22 Mar 2009
I was interested in a story in the Echo yesterday about Alan Milburn welcoming students to Westminister.
The students toured Parliament with him and enjoyed the an hour of questions and answers.
My daughter went on the same trip last year and he was nowhere to be seen, busy, otherwise engaged or whatever! This was a shame because Lauren had prepared some rather challenging questions for him as the ever young budding Tory, she was keen to practice her Political prowess!
Now I know my eyesight is not what it used to be but I can not see Alan Milburn on the picture in the Echo yesterday. But he if he is on it, in the words from the famous movie "when Im wrong I say Im wrong" (which movie was that from???)
The old ones are the best and I still smile when people say to me Alan Milburn "who is he?"...
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Scores on the Doors 22 Mar 2009
Scores on the Doors is a web site detailing the food hygiene ratings for food premises in the Borough all 913 of them, so if you would like to know the rating of your local takeaway, favourite restaurant, click the link, you may be surprised....
Scores on the Doors
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Grass Cutting 19 Mar 2009
The grass cutting schedule commences on 23rd March, please contact us is you are experiencing any problems.
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Glebe Road School Site 16 Mar 2009
On Tuesday last week two horses appeared in the one of the Glebe Road School sites, the Councils locks had been broken to gain access to the site. The men had provided a sign on the gate with a Mobile telephone number, inviting people to contact them.
This was reported to us by residents living in Glebe Road and the wider area.
Estates contacted the men to discuss a number of issues.
An Estates Officer was present on Saturday when the horses were removed from the field by their owner.
The site was then again made secure.
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More Wasted Labour Money 15 Mar 2009
It seems that the Labour Government and the Labour Council in Darlington have the same flaw in common.
They like to spend money to make them look as if they are taking action, it ticks the boxes. A good analogy is giving a tablet to treat the symptoms instead of treating the cause. It makes them feel good, look what we doing!. Measuring outcomes and effectiveness, nah it makes them feel good to be taking action, the thought process ends there.
So it comes as no surprise that Ministers have wasted public money in their attempts to tackle health inequalities, MPs say.
The House of Commons' Health Committee said the government should have been more careful in designing and piloting projects in England.
The MPs highlighted a series of schemes, including Sure Start, which had failed to have much of an impact.
Done with good intention no doubt, but they really should be more careful with taxpayers money. Time to get rid of the sticking plasters and show some real leadership and critical thinking, sadly this will not happend until Brown and Co are given their P45s by the country...
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Sorry seems to be the Hardest Word 06 Mar 2009
In his speech to Congress, Gordon Brown yet again bottled out of saying sorry for taking Britain to the brink of bankruptcy.
So we have set up www.sorryfromgordon.com where you can write an apology note from Gordon Brown and send it on to everyone you think the Prime Minister should say sorry to.
Jeremy Hunt, our Spokesman for Online Campaigning, said, "If Gordon Brown is struggling to spit the words out, hopefully our online viral will give him a few ideas."
Sorry from Gordon
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Prescription Charges 05 Mar 2009
The BMA has accused the government of supporting an "outdated" system in England which can harms patients' health of many because, it says, charging can put people off paying for the medication they need.
PRESCRIPTION CHARGES
England: £7.10
Scotland: Phased out by 2011
Wales: No charge since 2007
Northern Ireland: £3 from January 2009, phased out by April 2010.
A spot the difference competition!
It is fair to say that we are being ripped off in England under a Labour Government.
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Weight Loss Update 04 Mar 2009
I have not blogged for a couple of weeks about my weekly weigh-ins, simply because every time I have remembered that I have not done it I am not near to a computer!
I lost 1.5lbs and then last week put a pound on. I had been eating healthily and could not understand where the gain had come from, until I checked with my "Syn Book" and discovered that the yoghurt drink and dried cranberries I had had for breakfast had cost me 30 Syns. For those of you not familar with the Slimming World System, you are allowed 5-15 Syns per day, so my breakfast alone has cost me 2-3 days worth!
However, after a very careful week where I made sure everything that I ate was allowed, I have lost 4lb this week and was releived, as I was loosing heart slightly.
Total weight loss now 11lb.
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Gordon Brown Open Letter 02 Mar 2009
Find attached an excellent letter pointing out Gordons shortfalls (it is a long letter!) and demanding his resignation. The author wishes for this letter to be distributed to as many readers as possible via the internet, so please forward to like minded people.
S T E V E N K A T I R A I
B E L L A M O U R , L O N G H O R S L E Y , M O R P E T H ,
N O R T H U M B E R L A N D N E 6 5 8 R B
e - m a i l - S t e v e n @ k a t i r a i . c o m
The Right Honourable
Gordon Brown MP
10 Downing Street,
London
SW1A 2AA
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Prime Minister
An open letter demanding your resignation.
Your position is untenable and, I as a citizen of Great Briton demand your
instant resignation.
You are unelected, have no popular mandate and lack the moral authority
to be Prime Minister. Your terms as Chancellor and Prime Minister have
been a total disaster for this nation and your attempt to cling on to power
at all costs show a complete contempt for this nation and displays your
absolute vanity and thirst for political power.
I list below some of the mistakes made by you during your time in public
office. If as a director of a limited company you had made similar mistakes
you would be subject to criminal prosecution and banned from being a
company director. As a Government minister the standards exercised
should be significantly higher than those exercised by a company director,
you have failed to maintain those standards and are unfit for public office.
Banking Supervision: You transferred responsibility for banking
supervision to the Financial Services Authority from the Bank of
England so directly laying the seeds of the current banking crisis.
Banking Crisis: The initial response to the Northern Rock crisis was so
slow as to be glacial and ultimately led to the damage done to the
whole banking sector. A strong Prime Minister would have provided
depositors with a guarantee that their deposits were safe and the
bank run would have stopped. Ultimately the same guarantee would
have ensured that the HBOS and RBS debacle would not have been
so severe.
Criminal Negligence: The entire UK banking crisis has been caused by
a lack of supervision under the regulatory regime set up by you, any
man of honour would have resigned upon seeing the damage caused.
You however have tried to blame everyone else and accept no
responsibility. You are criminally negligent.
Vanity: You have used the banking crisis to attempt to advance your
personal standing and political career at the expense of the nation.
Lack of Judgment: You have made three serious errors of judgment
in your appointment of advisers on the current financial crisis.
1. Your choice of banker to compile a report on ideas for improving
public health was Sir Derek Wanless. a Northern Rock director when
it imploded in 2007.
2. You appointed Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS CEO, to the board
of the FSA who then had to resign after becoming embroiled in the
row over failings of risk management at HBOS.
3. It now also appears that Glen Moreno will be forced out of his job, as
chairman of UK Financial Investments Ltd, the company set up to
oversee the government’s stake in the bailed-out banks, because of
his links with a Liechtenstein trust accused of tax evasion.
You Fantasize: By clinging to the idea that, thanks to your genius British
citizens are far better placed than competitors to handle this crisis. The
following two facts demonstrate that this is a fantasy:-
1. The Office for National Statistics' revelation that while the number of
foreign workers getting jobs in the UK continues to grow (up by
175,000 to 2.4 million last year), domestic unemployment is rising
sharply.
2. According to Business Monitor International, a research company
specialising in country risk, "Britain is facing an unprecedented fall in
its economic world ranking… from 12th place in 2007 to 21st in
2010". "Despite enjoying 11 years of growth between 1997 and
2007, the UK ran a budget deficit of 1.7 per cent of GDP over this
period, fuelling a fiscal time bomb. Faced with the financial burden of
bailing out the banking sector and kick-starting the economy, the
budget deficit will swell to an unsustainable 9.3 per cent of GDP in
2009."
Public spending: Your 2000 Spending Review presaged a major
expansion of government spending, without any significant benefit to
public services, directly leading to the UK being in the worst shape of
any industrialised nation to weather the current financial crisis.
You have colluded in hiding the full extent of public borrowing by using
PFI initiatives to hide the borrowings off balance sheet. PFI is the most
expensive and inefficient form of finance possible, and you have
saddled the country with a debt that you cannot even quantify. Jeremy
Pocklington, leader of the Treasury’s corporate and private finance
team, could only give a rough estimate to Richard Bacon that the total
liabilities, but not debt, from the vast majority of PFIs, but not all, from
2006-07 to 2032-33, but not beyond, is £157.9bn. That is not only
astounding but unbelievable.
Public sector Employment: The office for national Statistics shows
Public sector employment was 5,846,000 (20.4 per cent of all in
employment) in June 2005, 680,000 (13.2 per cent) higher than in June
1998, whereas from 1998 to 2005 private sector employment only rose
by 1,241,000 (5.7 per cent). This growth is unsustainable and wrong.
Growth: An OECD report shows UK economic growth averaged 2.7%
between 1997 and 2006, lower than in any other English
speaking country.
Gold sales: Between 1999 and 2002 you sold 60% of the UK's gold
reserves at $275 an ounce, close to a 20-year low, a disastrous foray into
international asset management.
Your spectrum auctions gathered £22.5 billion for the government
which caused a severe recession in the telecoms development industry
leading to the direct loss of 30,000 UK jobs. Two auctions were run in
the USA, the first being cancelled and re-run (for less revenue) due to
damage caused to the industry. The Americans realised their mistake
and tried to rectify it. The British and German chancellors copied the
North American first auction; which had failed. To copy a failed
economic model is normally considered a serious error of judgement.
Your East Coast Mainline franchise auction led directly to the demise of
GNER, an excellent company, which was replaced by National Express
who offer East Coast mainline users a significantly poorer service. Your
duty was not only to maximise revenues, you also had a duty to the
shareholders, employees and customers which you completely failed.
Anti-poverty: The Centre for Policy Studies found that the poorest fifth
of households, which accounted for 6.8% of all taxes in 1996–7,
accounted for 6.9% of all taxes paid in 2004-5. Meanwhile, their share
of state benefit payouts dropped from 28.1% to 27.1% over the same
period.
Tax: According to the OECD UK taxation has increased from a 39.3%
share of gross domestic product in 1997 to 42.4% in 2006, going to a
higher level than Germany. This increase has mainly been attributed to
active government policy, and not simply to the growing economy.
You pledged to not increase the basic or higher rates of income tax
however in all but your final budget, you only increased the tax
thresholds in line with inflation, rather than earnings, resulting in fiscal
drag.
You abolished the 10% tax band so that you could reduce the basic rate
from 22% to 20%, to make it look like you were decreasing taxes.
However in fact it led to increased tax for 5 million people, and, left
those earning under £18,000 as the biggest losers.
Pensions: Your changes in 1997 in the way corporation tax is collected,
directly led to the taxation of dividends on stock investments held
within pensions, thus lowering pension returns and contributing to the
demise of most of the final salary pension funds in the UK.
This act alone has single handedly damaged the pension of every
person with a pension in the UK but also saddled UK corporations with
a an ever growing pension liability, so much so that many companies
futures are imperilled by these debts.
Falsehoods: You used the Laura Spence Affair to beat up Oxford and
Cambridge about their admissions procedures, Lord Jenkins, then
Oxford Chancellor and himself a former Labour Chancellor of the
Exchequer, said "nearly every fact you used was false.
Inappropriate links: Given the finding that the government did not
carry a proper public consultation on the use of nuclear power in its
2006 Energy Review, your brother Andrew’s is links to one of the main
nuclear lobbyists, EDF Energy could be construed as inappropriate.
The father-in-law of your closest adviser Ed Balls, Tony Cooper (father
of the Labour minister Yvette Cooper) has close links with the nuclear
industry. Cooper was described as an "articulate, persuasive and wellinformed
advocate of nuclear power over the last ten years" by the
Nuclear Industry Association on his appointment as Chairman of the
British Nuclear Industry Forum in June 2002.
IraqWar: You supported British involvement in the Iraq War against the
wishes of the UK population and helped to justify that involvement by
publishing false intelligence. This war has directly increased the odds of
terrorist attacks on British subjects and the financial cost has had a
significantly detrimental effect on the British economy.
Military Covenant: You have not adhered to the 'military covenant',
leading to a significant decline in the moral of the armed forces due to
poor housing, lack of equipment and adequate healthcare provisions.
The lack of equipment has directly led to an increase in the loss of lives,
and serious injuries, compounded by a lack care following serious
injury.
The 15% VAT Rate: introduced to counter the effects of recession
demonstrated a total naivety and breathtaking stupidity. Far from
digging the nation out of a hole, it has saddled the country with a huge
unsustainable debt.
No one should benefit from failure: You have on numerous occasions
stated that no one should benefit from failure, however your tenure as
chancellor was universally recognised as a failure, but you were
rewarded with the Premiership and had the gall to accept.
There will be no more Boom & Bust: In your hubris you made a
statement that was patently untrue, and counter to any economic
theory. You either knew that statement to be untrue and lied or if you
believed it then you clearly demonstrated your foolishness and proved
that you were unfit for office.
The UK is in a better position than any other developed country: this
again is completely untrue, we have more than double the debt per
head of population than any other country in Europe.
Public Services: You have destroyed Public Services by a raft of
inappropriate targets, which have led to resources being wasted by the
attempts to meet those targets.
Surveillance society: You have presided over and led to the creation of
a surveillance society in which any perceived wrongdoing is used as a
pretext to pass oppressive laws. You and your predecessor have both
single headedly succeeded in making the UK an unpleasant place to live
in.
These are but a small sample of your failings any of which make you unfit
for public office and for which you should immediately resign. You sir are a
fraud and I am forwarding this letter to as many people as I can, via the
internet in an effort to shame you into accepting your failures.
Yours faithfully
Steven Katirai
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Ba Ba Red Sheep, Again! 26 Feb 2009
I realised tonight sat in the Council Chamber that I must be getting old, as it does not seem like a year since we were sat there listening to the same old Labour outpourings of flawed logic.
But he were again, there were some highlights of the evening for me -
Councillor Swainston (Lib Dems) asked the Mayor (Councillor Haszeldine) which hat he had on whilst making comments about the amendment that our group tried to move, his Labour hat or his Chair of Scrutiny hat?
Councillor Jenny Chapman (Labour Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement) saying how it winds her up when people say that the consultation the council undertakes is purely a ticky box exercise. She speaks passionately and clearly beleives what shes says, its just that, well, we dont.
Keep up the good work Jenny, nothing wrong with living in your own world especailly if its better than the real one the rest of us live in!
Residents in my ward have expressed disapproval of how one Talking Together Event was conducted. The tax payers foot the bill for these sessions of self promotion, sorry, I mean consultation events.
Councillor Dixon (Lab Deputy Leader) was allowed as usual to stand up and make random statements in the middle of Councillor Barkers (LIb Dem) speech, why is he is allowed to behave like this and not told to sit down?
Residents of Darlington will be pleased to know that Councillor Williams deemed missing the final of Master Chef of more importance than debating the level of council tax that we should be paying in this town. I think that sums up his level of interest and committment.
Councillor Williams(Lab Leader) saying that he did not know that our group was made up of Conservative and Independent Councillors! Freedom of speech and autonomous thinking are not qualities recognised by the Labour Party. This ability is somehow removed when they sign up, maybe an injection or a tablet?
What amazes me is how robustly the Labour Whip is yielded, I would have imagined that there would be one rebel.
The amendment was lost, of course, even though the Lib Dems voted with us.
I have this hope that one day one of the red sheep of the Labour group will see common sense and make a decision for themselves and vote with the sensible option and not just how they are told to vote. I may be an old lady before this sight is beheld in the council chamber but I live in hope. My life would be complete...
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Jade Goody now Mrs Tweed 23 Feb 2009
There has been a lot of discussion around the media coverage that has surrounded Jades illness.
According to BBC Tees today, one in five women in Darlington are failing to take up the invitation from their GP for cervical screening. It's estimated that screening for cervical cancer using the smear test saves up to 6,000 lives a year in the UK.
Reports today claim that the uptake for smear tests has increased thanks to Jades highlighting of the issue.
I have spoken to several friends recently who have now decided that it would be prudent to have this simple procedure.
I am presuming therefore, that she will be responsible for the saving of many lives across the country and we may begin to see women coming forward telling their stories that they were prompted by her illness to be screened which resulted in an early diagnosis. That is a positive legacy that Jades family can be proud of.
Whatever we think, the fact remains that if she chooses to spend her last days of her life in front of the camera, it is beacuse that is what she wants. It is important that she has her last wishes and who are we to critise that.
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Another Labour U-Turn 20 Feb 2009
The general public at large have lost faith in Politicians because they tell you one thing and then do another, or change their mind.
So, it come as no surprise that fellow blogger, Labour Councillor Nick Wallis has changed his mind about the need for supported bus services in Harrowgate Hill.
A couple of months ago he was critising us and the wider Tory group in Darlingon for wanting to support these bus services. Now he supports the council to provide the services. Contrary.
Read Nicks blog article
We have from day one supported the need for this service and have encouraged the council to do so, this council spends half a million pounds on supported bus services and so why should some of this not be spent in Harrowgate Hill in area that has low car ownership and ageing population?
We have campaigned for 8 months and the evidence of our work is as follows -
• We have had meetings with Arriva and local residents.
• We have delivered bus survey forms to residents in the affected areas.
• We petitioned the Council and Arriva
• We have raised this issue twice at Full Council meetings
• We have raised this issue four times at Cabinet meetings.
• We tabled a report to Scrutiny Committee highlighting the issues for residents and evidence that this service is needed.
Nick comments that the Labour people "have worked hard on this issue together with local residents". If thats the case, let us see the evidence of EXACTLY what they have done, not just a sound bite. Shall I translate "working hard" in Labour terms means doing nothing but turning up a photo call and a few quotes. Labour spin doctoring..
Four times I presented in front of the Cabinet and the third visit, I was asked by the Leader of the Council John Williams, why do I keep coming back with the same subject when they have said NO in no uncertain terms.
I pointed out to his at next Full Council meeting that "It is quite simple, part our ward does not have a bus service, they need a bus service and it is our job as ward councillors to make sure they get what they need, maybe Councillor Williams is not familiar with this phenomena of fighting for want people need"
As ward councillors we are pleased that a service has been restored and a final thanks to all the residents who have campaigned, signed petitions, commented to Arriva, commented to the council, commented to us, filled in bus survey forms, completed questionnaires, held meetings and attended Talking Together Events.
It is the community effort and spirit that has made the council change their mind and provide this much needed service.
Thanks for all the phone calls and messages of appreciation from people living in that area.
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Save the Great British Pub 20 Feb 2009
Jeremy Hunt has urged communities to get behind their local pub at the launch of a campaign to Save the Great British Pub.
Faced with steep tax rises and increasing regulation, the future of many pubs is under threat, with nearly six a day closing.
Jeremy, the Shadow Culture Secretary, stressed the importance of British pubs, describing them as “a critical part of our heritage” and “hubs for local communities”.
And he attacked Labour for punishing responsible drinkers and landlords:
“With massive tax hikes and heavy-handed regulation, all Labour will succeed in doing is closing down more pubs. This has to stop. We should be proud of our brewers and proud of our pub industry and do what we can to support it - which is why today we are launching this campaign.”
Mark Prisk, the Shadow Business Minister, added, “Pubs are often small, family-run businesses - not only are they the social heart of their communities, they also provide jobs, and support the British brewing industry. Now, in the face of great adversity, we must do all we can to save our local pub.”
I could not agree more, as a successful pub campaigner.
And what would I do without the White Horse when I too tired to cook a meal. The smell when getting out of the car after a hard day at work is just so alluring..
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Vibrant Local Democracy 17 Feb 2009
David Cameron is publishing the Party’s new consultative green paper on localism. This is an exciting opportunity as it sets out clear and detailed ways in which we can give local representatives the real power they need to be able to serve their communities.
As a ward councillor, I welcome these plans and hope soon for a General Election.
• Letting councils choose their own organisational structure, such as returning to the Committee system if you wish.
• But building on the success of the London Mayor, giving citizens in the large cities of Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Wakefield, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, Newcastle upon Tyne, with the opportunity to choose whether to have an elected mayor, through a mayoral referendums. The referendums would take place on the same day to ignite a national public debate.
• Abolishing Comprehensive Area Assessment – which looks to be just as burdensome as its predecessor, and further curtailing the number of central targets imposed on councils.
• Empowering citizens, not Whitehall, to ensure value for money by requiring more detailed information on local (and central) government expenditure to be published online.
• Continuing the work of the Lifting the Burdens Task Force to identify unnecessary burdens, and putting its recommendations into practice.
• Ending all forced unitary amalgamations of local authorities which have not already gone ahead – such as cancelling those planned in Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon.
• Abolishing Labour’s new Infrastructure Planning Commission quango.
• Scrapping the Standards Board and repealing the flawed ‘pre-determination’ rules that prevent councillors from standing up for constituents’ views on local issues.
• Abandoning plans to regionalise local fire services, while providing new measures to enhance resilience in the case of a national emergency.
Gordon Brown’s target-driven, top-down government has hindered strong local economies and discouraged civic pride. We will bring councillors and their constituents closer to the levers of power. This will start to restore the trust that has been lost in our political system under Labour.
I think the simple conclusion to the above is less bearucracy, end of quangos and devolution of power to ward councillor level.
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Subsidised Bus Routes in Harrowgate Hill 16 Feb 2009
Following a long campaign by us and residents in the ward, the Economy and Environment Scrutiny Committee have agreed today to recommend to Cabinet to subsidise the 6A/6B route for evenings and a new route to service the loop of Mayfair/Laburnam/Glebe Road, after this service was stopped on 20th July last year.
As ward councillors we have alongside local residents been campaigning to have this route restored since it was stopped in July last year.
To achieve this we have done the following -
We have had meetings with Arriva and local residents.
We have delivered bus survey forms to residents in the affected areas.
We have brought up this issue twice at full council.
We have presented to the Cabinet three times in an attempt to restore the route.
Today, at Scrutiny Committee, we tabled a report highlighting the issues for residents and evidence that this service is needed.
We would like to thank all members of the committee for the positive response to our paper and we are grateful that they have made the recommendation, thanks in particular to the Chair Councillor Stella Robson for her understanding of the issues faced by these residents.
Lets hope Cabinet agree with us all that these subsidies should go ahead.
A final thanks to all the residents who have campaigned, signed petitions, commented to Arriva, commented to the council, commented to us, filled in bus survey forms, completed questionnaires, held meetings and attended Talking Together Events.
It is the community effort and spirit that has allowed this issue to progress to the current stage.
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A Message from David Cameron 12 Feb 2009
"This morning we learnt that Sir James Crosby had resigned from his position as Deputy Chairman of the City watchdog - the Financial Services Authority. This was because of an allegation made about his time as Chief Executive of HBOS. A former employee claims Sir James Crosby sacked him for saying that the bank was taking on too much risk.
Why is all this so important? For three reasons. First, because it raises questions about Gordon Brown's judgement. Sir James Crosby is one of his trusted economic advisers and the man he put in place to oversee the regulation of our banks. The turn of events now shows Gordon Brown's misjudgement in putting him in such an important role.
Second, it raises questions about Gordon Brown's character. In the House of Commons today, I asked the Prime Minister to apologise for getting this judgement call wrong. But, as ever, he refused. Be it for claiming to end boom or bust, failing to regulate our banks, or now this, the Prime Minister is simply unable to admit when he's got things wrong - so I don't believe he can be the man to put things right.
And third, it raises questions about the way this Government works. The immediate events leading up to Sir James Crosby's resignation are still not clear. Was it his decision? Or was he pushed in order to make life easier for the Government? Whatever happened, I suspect this will not be the last of the resignations we see to save this Government's political skin"
Pass this message onto family and friends.
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Judgement Day 12 Feb 2009
Today was the day of reckoning following my week of glutony in Edinburgh.
The trip started with fish and chips, coffee and cake in Alnwick and ended with a Cadburys easter egg in the car on the way home and finally concluded with smothered chicken,a stack of Amercian pancakes with Maple syrup in the White Horse!
I was pleased to discover tonight that I had only put on a pound, which is nothing short of a miracle, Mike was wagering that I would have put on the half stone that I had lost!
Total loss is now 7lb and back on the wagon after my temporary fall from grace.
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Cameron urges faith in capitalism 10 Feb 2009
Conservative leader David Cameron has said people's "faith in capitalism and free enterprise" must be restored despite the global downturn.
The foundations of the economy have been "shaken", creating a need for more emphasis on re-training amid "mass unemployment", he added.
Mr Cameron promised his party would restore Job Clubs and encourage family-friendly working.
Labour accused the Tories of setting out a "direct copy" of its policies.
'Top-down targets'
Speaking at the Social Enterprise Coalition conference in Birmingham, Mr Cameron accused the government of stifling the training system based on out-of-date assumptions of a growing economy in which only a hardcore of unskilled people could not find work.
He called for greater flexibility for people looking for new skills and to attract new providers into the system to deliver training courses.
Mr Cameron confirmed Tory plans to abolish the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), create a £100m fund to help young people who are "not in employment, education or training" and establish a £100 million Adult and Community Learning Fund to provide advice on qualifications and courses.
He said a Tory administration would revive the Job Clubs which helped bring people seeking work together in the last recession and would help employers create 100,000 new apprenticeships a year.
'Shrinking'
Mr Cameron said: "Today, our training system is based on the assumption of a growing economy, the need to focus on a hardcore of people who lack skills and getting companies to increase the skills of those who are already in work.
"And this system is delivered by big bureaucracy and top-down targets.
"But the whole scene has changed. Our economy is now shrinking. And there isn't just a hardcore of people not in work, education or training - we're in an era of mass unemployment.
"We must do all that we can to help those who have been laid off to get back into work as soon as possible."
He also said: "These are times of great anxiety. The foundations of our economy have been shaken - and with it our faith in capitalism and free enterprise.
"The foundations of our society have been fractured and with that has come crime, anti-social behaviour, and family breakdown, poverty, and alienation, and mistrust - in fact, all the things about our society we want to change."
Mr Cameron added: "Change won't be easy - it never is. But it's absolutely necessary - particularly at this time."
But a spokeswoman for Skills Secretary John Denham said of Mr Cameron: "Having failed to own up to his own policies, he is now repeating his own announcements.
"These policies, first set out in July last year, are a direct copy of existing government policy.
"For example, he says he will abolish the LSC when a bill to do just that is already going through Parliament. And a clearing house for apprenticeships and a new careers service for adults are already being set up."
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Back from Edinburgh 08 Feb 2009
We have been in Edinburgh for a couple of days and came back on Friday night. We had a very nice meal in The White Horse with family to celebrate Mikes birthday (I wont say how old).
The White Horse certainly does not seem to have been hit by the credit crunch as we struggled to find a table, this is good news. The refurbishment is stylish and comfortable, the food is reasonably priced and very good, we can recommend the desserts, any of them, we have tryed them all and have never been disappointed!
Going onto another subject, family members had been into Darlington town centre and commented on the cleanliness and lack of litter. This is a double edged sword really, because although it is nice to have a clean town centre that visitors comment on, at what expense is this to the rest of the Town in terms of deployment of staff?
The other comment was about bus chaos and I quote "you take your life into your hands crossing the road" and went on to say it is dangerous and why has it been set up that way?
Indeed why had it been set up that way?, do we really want visitors to the town to think that Darlingtons bus stop arrangements are a danger to the public?
Perhaps, it is time that those responsible tried taking to residents and visitors in the town centre and talking action before the inevitable happens.
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Dementia Strategy 08 Feb 2009
I celebrate the launch this week of the National Dementia Strategy, it is long overdue, we have had the National Services Frameworks for other long term conditions such as Diabetes, stroke etc but Dementia always seemed to the one issue the Government seemed reluctant to tackle. Maybe because of its sensitive nature or is it the fact that a lot of people (I include health care professionals here) still beleive that it is an inevitable part of growing older.
Having had personal as well as professional experience in this field, it is a fair, if not somewhat harsh analysis that Dementia care is somewhat of a postcode lottery. It is only those with a strong voice or those with family members who have a strong voice that even seem to get a diagnosis let alone the right treatment. No, you say, not under a Labour Government.
My personal recomendations are that every person of a certain age (the age would be defined by evidence) should be given a screening, this could be a quick memory test performed by any trained Health Care Professional and a referal if appropraite to a Consultant, who would then assess for the suitability of a symtom progression slowing drug such as Aricept. Aricept has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimers symptoms and improves cognition. It has been shown in clinical trials to benefit patients at all stages of the disease. I cant understand why NICE would not approve the drug for early onset, the only explanation must be cost and the Government purse strings!
From my own personal experience a family member was not advanced enough to receive the drug then within a month too advanced. We have never been provided with a rationale for this decision despite several attempts at questioning.
The second recomendation I would make is that Care Homes should have a high ratio of staff to residents in an EMI unit. Patients need constant supervision, can be demanding and need patience and time to be encouraged to maintain their independence,to be encouraged to continue to make decisions for themselves such as what they would like to wear and what they would like to eat. This all requires high numbers of staff to enable quality care to be delivered to residents in a home-like environment.
Time will tell if this new strategy is going to have serious impact on Dementia care in this country, I remain optimistic...
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Maths Taskforce 02 Feb 2009
"Under Labour we have fallen to 24th in the World at Maths, behind countries such as Canada and Korea"
David Cameron and Michael Gove have launched a new Maths Taskforce to be led by Carol Vorderman and examine how to make maths teaching in Britain’s state schools as good as anywhere else in the world.
Under Labour, more than three and a half million children have left school without at least a ‘C’ in maths GSCE – and nearly half of all eleven-year-olds leave primary school without basic numeracy skills.
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Weekly Weigh In 01 Feb 2009
Forgot to mention that I have lost another pound this week, when I got weighed.
A couple of hearty lunches this week have slowed the loss down, but I did enjoy!
Total Loss 8lbs
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Fuel Poverty 01 Feb 2009
According to its own estimates the Government is not on course to meet its targets to eradicate fuel poverty. In 2000 Conservative MP David Amess steered the ground-breaking Warm Homes & Energy Conservation Act into law. The Act required Government to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010 and the rest of the sector by 2016, but the High Court recently ruled that these targets were in fact discretionary. This was a bitter blow, not least to the 4.5 million older people who (according to a recent Help the Aged survey) plan to live in one room this winter to save on fuel bills.
But, if passed, a new Bill will reinstate the duty in David Amess’s Act to end fuel poverty. Without it, the Government will simply be let off the hook. They have been repeatedly censured by their own Fuel Poverty Advisory Group for their failure to take sufficient action.
The Fuel Poverty Bill is being promoted by the Fuel Poverty Coalition, which includes Consumer Focus, Help the Aged, the Association for the Conservation of Energy, Friends of the Earth and others. While David Heath, the Bill’s principal sponsor, is a Lib Dem MP, it is being co-sponsored by Conservative MPs David Amess, John Gummer, Peter Bottomley and Peter Ainsworth.
The Bill requires the energy efficiency standards of all fuel poor homes to be brought up to the standards enjoyed by new homes. It will also require energy suppliers to provide a social tariff to vulnerable customers in the short term.
The Bill will be debated in Parliament on Friday 20 March – and it is essential that 100 MPs attend, so that we can close the debate and ensure that the Bill obtains a Second Reading. I would therefore urge you to write to your local MP and ask for their commitment to attend on 20th March. And please ask any of your friends and family with an interest in this issue to take this up with their MP as well.
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Burtree Lane and Trevone Way 30 Jan 2009
We have received complaints from residents that this roundabout is dangerous as cars travelling on Burtree Lane are unaware that there is a roundabout there and fail to slow down to give way.
We have had reports of accidents there which have not been reported to the Police as insurance details were exchanged at the scene of the accidents
We have contacted the council who have confirmed that they will conduct an informal safety audit and report back to us.
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Full Council "Talking Together Question" 30 Jan 2009
Last night at Full Council I asked the following question of Jenny Chapman, Portfolio Holder for Communities and Engagement -
"I quote from DBC website “*Please note there wasn't enough time to discuss questions 7, 9 and 10. The answers for these questions are the answers that were prepared by the panel and have been sent to the people who tabled the questions”
Why were these answers sent to the people who tabled them and not published on the website in the wider public interest?
Is it true that these unanswered questions were relating to issues with bus services in my ward Harrowgate Hill? Obviously if the all the information had been published I would know the answer to that"
Councillor Chapman responsed that at future events residents will not be required to table questions before the event but that questions will be taken from the floor
Today, I received the following information -
Talking Together Talk Time session: 20th November, 2008 Central Hall, Dolphin Centre
Approximately 25 people attended the event.
A number of key points and inferences stood out from the debate:
• Arriva are perceived to be holding the Council to ransom. They appear to have removed some popular routes.
• From the point of view of economic development there is a paradox in the fact that it is quicker for some residents of the borough to get to Richmond for shopping by bus than it is to get to Darlington town centre.
• There is confusion over the public’s perception of how subsidy is paid to Arriva and clarification was sought over ticketing arrangements.
• Some residents of Harrowgate Hill are desperate for additional opportunities for bus travel and are unsure about the implications of new legislation about how councils can intervene in bus travel arrangements.
• The potential loss of public transport provision for rural parts of the borough would have a critical negative impact on some Darlington residents of all ages. Let’s not lose the rural bus services that were protected last year.
• The number 18 bus goes through Middleton St George the wrong way. The Council are paying for a service that is not what is required.
• Local people wish to be informed of changes to bus routes and timetables as early as possible before the changes are implemented rather than the extremely short notice of changes made to services in July 2008. It was noted that such changes need to be registered with the Traffic Commissioner eight weeks before implementation.
• There is public interest in the precise amount of subsidy paid to Arriva by the Council.
• Are there ways of ensuring commercial viability for some bus routes through the provision of smaller buses?
• Some members of the public feel that the forthcoming Transport Act should bring the Council the power to kick Arriva out and run buses itself.
Online comments:
To date there has been just one comment relating to the number 3 bus service from Mowden to Morton Palms via the town centre. It is a plea for no change to scheduling, a criticism of Arriva management and praise for some of the bus drivers.
Talking Together – informal approaches to Economy and Environment Scrutiny Committee representatives in one-to-one discussion
Just one point was raised. There are no timetables on the bus shelters and the drivers are not helpful.
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Full Council "Supported Bus Services" 30 Jan 2009
I asked the following questions and made comments to Councillor David Lyonette, Portfolio Holder for Transport -
Here I am again, highlighting the same problem of lack of bus service to our ward, Councillor Williams keeps asking me at Cabinet, why I keep coming back with the same issue. It is quite simple, part our ward does not have a bus service, they need a bus service and it is our job as ward councillors to make sure they get what they need, maybe Councillor Williams is not familiar with this phenomena of fighting for want people need!
I would like to ask Councillor Lyonette why there has not been a proposal recommended for a subsidised bus route to this affected part of our ward?
The evidence is there to support the need for a service-
• This area has a low percentage of car ownership and an ageing population.
• The nearest bus stop for some residents is more than the recommended 300m, therefore not complying with council policy.
• The bus survey conducted before Christmas had an excellent response rate of 156 completed forms from Harrowgate Hill. Some residents stating that they are “desperate for a bus service”
Which leads me to the next question, what further evidence can we supply to Councillor Lyonette to support this need?
This issue is not going to disappear without an appropriate resolution.
We welcome the news that Economy and Environment Scrutiny are to carry out further investigations into the issue through a Task and Finish exercise. We would welcome the opportunity to participate in this process and will be able to provide more evidence to the committee.
We as ward Councillors will continue to raise this issue persistently until a solution is found and to achieve this we are willing to work council officers, Arriva, Councillor Lyonette and Councillor Robson through the Scrutiny process.
The answer was that this issue will be investigated by Scrutiny committee on 12th Febuary at 9.30am.
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Tory Lead up Again 25 Jan 2009
A new ComRes survey has the Conservatives up to 43% (up 2%); Labour down to 28% (-4%) and the LibDems on 16% (+1%).
Keep up the good work Gordon, you are sleeping walking into an election defeat.
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Labour Peers Enquiry 25 Jan 2009
"LABOUR peers are prepared to accept fees of up to £120,000 a year to amend laws in the House of Lords on behalf of business clients, a Sunday Times investigation has found.
Four peers — including two former ministers — offered to help undercover reporters posing as lobbyists obtain an amendment in return for cash.
Two of the peers were secretly recorded telling the reporters they had previously secured changes to bills going through parliament to help their clients"
Wonder if they will get the same treatment as Damian Green, this should be interesting...
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Bus Service Update 23 Jan 2009
Arriva have issued the following update -
Harrowgate Hill Area Issues
We have been involved in discussions with a number of local groups and local councillors with regard to issues involving our bus services in the Harrowgate Hill area. The main issues raised are the lack of availability of seats and the frequency of the services travelling down North Road plus the lack of services to Mayfair, Laburnum and Glebe Roads.
Mayfair, Laburnum & Glebe Roads
The situation regarding Mayfair, Laburnum & Glebe Roads is a simple one as our services don’t have time to access the streets due to the level of traffic using Salters Lane and the difficulty of making some of the vehicle manoeuvres. If the situation can be improved with greater
bus priority then we would be able to serve this area commercially. The changes we would require to speed the journeys up would be a box junction at the entrance to Mayfair Road and traffic lights at the junction of Salters Lane and Glebe Road. These improvements are a minimum standard that would aid the movements of our buses and make the journeys faster and safer. Ideally, we would also need improvements to the road surface on Glebe Road as well as the introduction of bus stops as we need to move away from Hail and Ride as we introduce more low floor buses into service in Darlington. The media have reported a slightly different story and we would prefer people to know our true position.
Future Change – 3rd May 2009
We are planning to change some of our commercially operated services at the same time as Darlington Borough Council plan to review their supported bus services. One of the changes will be to re-introduce service 26 to provide the link between the Town Centre and Harrowgate Farm via Longfield Road. This service will run every 30 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday and hourly on evenings and Sundays. This will then see services 6a/b run via North Road which will improve the number of services we have between the Town Centre and Harrowgate Hill roundabout which will solve our capacity issues. The 6a/b will continue to run half-hourly during the day on Monday to Saturday with an hourly Sunday daytime service. Service 8 will also be retimed to improve the co-ordination of services on North Road to further improve the number of seats available on this key corridor.
My response -
"My feeling about the lack of service to Mayfair/Laburam/Glebe Road have been well documented. I remain deeply disappointed by the failure of the council and Arriva to resolve this problem.
Although the proposed changes to the 6a and 6b are welcomed and may improve the quality of service for some residents. The fact remains that the loop of Mayfair Road, Laburnam and Glebe Road previously serviced by the number 23 remains with out any bus service. Having had meetings with the council and Arriva re this issue it seems that both parties are not interested in the problems faced by residents since this service was stopped in July last year. I have offered a proposal to Arriva that would offer residents an hourly service and this was declined with no sound rationale and this disappoints me. These residents need a service and as ward councillors Mike and I will continue to lobby to resolve the situation and have a bus service restored”
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