Fancy Dress and 100 years old going strong!

I attended St Peter’s Church Fete today where I judged the fancy dress competition and watched a Zumba dancing demonstration – not something I think I’ll be doing very soon I might pass out!

 

Zumba!

It was great to see so many people turn out for the Fete and the weather picked up by the afternoon to help the attendance figures.

Shortly afterwards I attended a 100th Birthday party with our local MP David Amess. He is hoping to arrange another centenarian record-breaking party in the autumn where I hope to be able to get as many Blenheim Park centenarians along to join in in the festivities!

Litter Picking – Prittle Brook Community Group

                                             

 

I was pleased to join the Prittle Brook Community Group today to do a litter pick along the Brook from Blenheim Crescent along to Darlinghurst Grove. There was quite a lot collected by the team as you can see below!

Great to get involved and I look forward to joining the group on future litter picks!

 

                                               

Community Speedwatch – local residents get involved!

  

A group of residents in Blenheim were so concerned about speeding in their neighbourhood that they decided to do something about it!

Cliff Garwood, Blenheim Speedwatch Co-ordinator said: “We have long had a problem of cars coming off of the A127 and forgetting that they are no longer in a 40 miles per hour limit. We felt that it was only a matter of time until someone got hurt and I just couldn’t sit back.”

In conjunction with the Neighbourhood Police Officer and PCSO George Shepherd the group was born. George is trained as a Community Speedwatch Trainer, as well as being a dedicated Neighbourhood PCSO for Blenheim so he was well aware of the issues and able to train the local residents.

Local Councillor James Courtenay said: “When out speaking to residents I wasn’t surprised by the number of people who complained about speeding around Bridgewater & Treecot Drive and I wanted to do something about it. When I heard that the local residents and the police were working together in true partnership I couldn’t help but get involved.”

James has joined the Blenheim Speedwatch as a regular member: “We have had training by the local officers and have been out on our own. It is great to do something practical to benefit our community.”

Speedwatch isn’t about catching drivers says Cliff, “We don’t stop cars, give points out or anything like that, our aim is to slow vehicles down. When we record someone over the limit we take down their number plate and pass the information on to the police. The police then send a letter out asking the driver to slow down.”

Speedwatch has been launched in Bridgewater Drive, Treecot Drive, Mendip Crescent and Eastwood Road North, members set up signs and stand in hi-vis jackets in clear sight of motorists. There are over 100 Community Speedwatch schemes in Essex.

Members’ Allowances – not taking the micky

Last night I did something that I thought only MPs did (and even then most of them felt uncomfortable about doing)… I voted on my own pay.

There is an Independent Panel which meets to give recommendations as to how much all councillors should get paid and then what “special responsibility allowance” should be paid for holders of certain jobs – for example the Chairman of Development Control or the Leader of the Opposition (Graham Longley) get extra allowances for the not inconsiderable amount of extra time they have to put in due to the offices that they hold.

Whilst I feel that some of the recommendations of the panel were a tad odd, how can you do anything but support what an Independent Panel suggests? I’d love to set my own pay at my daytime work, (if my boss is reading I think I’m underpaid by about 200%! 🙂 ) but it really isn’t right.

I was most displeased to see that some of the most vocal opposition was coming from Independent Party Leader Martin Terry and Liberal Democrat Leader Graham Longley… The former was at least arguing for an overall reduction where as the latter was arguing for an overall increase (albeit not too strongly). Neither of them (nor the Leader of the Labour Group Ian Gilbert who also argued for an overall reduction), once mentioned 3 of the winners in the recommendations – THEM!! Each of them is receiving a pay rise of 6.6% (whilst the Leader gets a pay cut and the Executive Councillors’ allowance is frozen). It seems a bit much to talk about cutting allowances whilst then voting for a rise (or doing the typical Lib Dem thing and abstaining – don’t sit on the fence, make a decision!)

I have and will continue to claim the allowance (frozen last night) that is due to me. I will not claim any expenses for carrying out my duties as a ward councillor nor on behalf of the council unless I can justify it to you – my employer. (If I drive 400 miles or get a train/plane then it seems reasonable to claim for the cheapest mode of travel possible). Like last night, I will always vote in favour of the Independent Panel’s recommendation unless I can clearly see a glaring error – I might disagree with some of their recommendations, but where they have written several paragraphs justifying their recommendation I feel it is wrong to ignore/override them.

Working hard from Blenheim x2

 

I asked two questions at full council last night, the first:

(3) Question from Councillor James Courtenay to the Executive Councillor for Children and Learning

I note that two schools in Blenheim Park Ward, namely Blenheim Primary School and Westcliff High School for Boys remained fully open and St. Christopher’s School and St. Thomas Moore remained partially open during the recent industrial action on the 30th June. Will the Executive Councillor for Children and Learning join me in congratulating these schools and any others in the Borough which have made such an exceptional effort to provide educational services on that day under such difficult circumstances?

Answer from Mark Flewitt:

‘Yes, I would like to join Councillor Courtenay in congratulating all schools who were able to offer services on the nationwide strike day and I do regret that some parents were presented with care issues that day and some young people had their education interrupted”.
I recognise that no teachers really want to strike but there was a 35% turn-out in response to the original ballot which was in relation changes in the teachers’ pension scheme.

I went on to ask him if he would “join me in supporting the Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove) in his call for schools to use all necessary measures to keep schools open should future strikes take place?”

He said: Yes. But he pointed out that consultations are still ongoing and that he hopes that these will mean that any future strikes are not necessary.

Working hard for Blenheim

I asked two questions at full council last night, the second flagging up a parent’s concern:

(6) Question from Councillor James Courtenay to the Executive Councillor for Children and Learning

Can the Executive Councillor for Children and Learning comment upon increases in child care costs through the network of children centres and say what is causing these increases?

Answer from Mark Flewitt:

Thank you for your question. I am aware that there has been a letter to parents from theBlenheim School about the proposed increases to child care costs at the children’s centre. I am at this point in time unaware of any price increases elsewhere.

As an Authority we have encouraged all Children’s Centres to keep their prices for child care as affordable as possible to ensure the best possible access for families. The Childcare Act places a duty on the Local Authority to secure affordable childcare of high quality.

Even with the price increase, Blenheim remains cheaper on all price ranges from 0-4 than private local provision.

Clearly any price increase is difficult for families in the current climate. The head teacher acknowledged this in a letter to parents.

Whilst the details behind the increase are a matter for the Centre and not the Council, some of the increase is likely to be attributable to the increases in such things at utilities, and the new national training requirements for staff. Centres based in schools have tighter margins due to the terms and conditions of staff.

Additionally, where a children’s centre has chosen to keep their dedicated qualified teaching capacity this will have caused some pressure on their budgets, since the funding for this was removed last year when the national requirement for a qualified teacher to be available at each centre was removed.

 I went on to ask him: “Will the Executive Councillor monitor the price increase situation and do what he can to ensure that hard working families are not asked to pay more than is necessary?”

 He assured me that he would monitor the price increases and said that the council would do what it could to assist.

Southend on Sea’s Legacy 2012 competition

I was pleased to attend the prize for the Southend on Sea’s Legacy
2012 Postcard Competition open to all schools within the Borough. I was particularly
pleased to see that Blenheim’s schools were well represented with prizes
awarded to pupils from all 3 categories (primary, secondary and special
schools). The pupils had their prizes presented to them by Cllr Derek Jarvis
(Portfolio holder for Culture and Tourism) as well as a chance to meet the
Mayor (Cllr David Norman) and have their photograph taken with him.

All of the successful entrants will have their work displayed in
the Southend Central Museum as part of an Olympic memorabilia exhibition
“On Your Marks” from 26th July to 23rd September.

 

   

Activities

What have I been up to? I haven’t been as active in the ward as I
would have liked in the last week or so, but does that mean I haven’t been
protecting the interests of Blenheim Park residents? NO IT DOES NOT.

I have tonight been at the Culture and Community Services Scrutiny
Committee – here I was discussing matters that directly affect 15 of Blenheim’s
most vulnerable and needy residents – those who use the Avro and Viking Centres
rights are protected. I quizzed both the portfolio holder and the Corporate Director
on what the proposed trial would actually mean. I will freely admit that this
matter is not my forte, however some of the reports I had heard concerned me
greatly. However confirmation was given that neither centre will be being shut,
nor will any change in the services that they provide be adversely affected
during the 18 month trial. Indeed users of both of centres, the Avro
especially, will have the option of choosing trying out different options, with
a “hub” and “spoke” – basically meaning that services will
be offered to them closer at home and in a more personalised way.

Then there was the discussion on the two swimming clubs that went
on for a long time – I raised my concerns that both clubs weren’t having equal opportunities
to put their side of the story across – something that I still support for a
matter of fairness, regardless of some of the very questionable things that
were in the second document handed around!

Last night I discussed matters such as the low number of new young
people getting involved in crime as well as expressing my concern with the Independent
Party Councillors who were trying to tear up well thought through and balanced
budgets by saying that the council couldn’t have the money for building a new
school after it was committed by selling the old school building!

Oh to be like Paul Van Looy and only have to worry about chatting
to Ward residents – oh but I did that too on Saturday, where I discussed issues
such as the airport, council performance and treasury management(!) with
concerned residents.

Last week I attended the meeting of Active Southend, and I commend
the below to all older residents – if you are over 55 come along and try out
the council’s – your – facilities:

Full Council

 

This evening’s Full Council meeting was interesting… The first non ceremonial or run of the mill meeting. I had Audit Committee last night, I was covering for my colleague John Lamb who was representing the Council somewhere inEurope, some interesting points raised, by me and other members.

I am conscious that there is another Full Council meeting in only a few weeks time. If you would like me to find anything out or ask questions on your behalf (yes even you Julian! 🙂 ) please let me know – perhaps at the monthly surgery I hold, next one 2^nd July at 10am, West Area Housing Office, Mendip Crescent.

I can’t reinvent the wheel but information, explanations and applying a bit of pressure is the name of the game!

Note to self – I won’t do another blog post via my iPhone, it seems to introduce a lot of typos!

Armed Forces Day

I was proud to attend Southend Council’s “raising of the flag”, in recognition of Armed Forces Day coming up, on Monday 20th June, giving us all a moment in our busy lives to remember those who have given the greatest sacrifice.

see http://www.southend.gov.uk/news/article/402/mayor_raises_the_flag_for_armed_forces_day for the full news story, and for full details of this weekend’s activities to celebrate the day on 25th June.