A week is a long time in politics – a fortnight is even longer!

It’s been an interesting but very heavy going fortnight.  We attended not one but two full council meetings this week, with the extra one dedicated to the difficult issue of where to have a second council maintained gypsy traveller site.  Many of you will know that this is still unresolved as it was genuinely felt that none
of those proposed fitted the bill.  So we begin again but not from scratch, and in any case this is far too important a decision to be made in haste but get it wrong.

And there are more clouds on the political horizon with the news confirming that the budget would need substantial cuts next year.  The cabinet members have been wrestling with the figures to see how this can be achieved with the least impact, and as a council we have opened up the debate to staff and the public.  It’s still not going to be easy but maybe with their involvement we can at least work on this together instead of giving everyone affected a fait a complis.

It was good to end on a high note by attending a training session Friday morning on what being a Corporate Parent is all about.  What was very encouraging is the obvious dedication of the professionals who came to explain their roles in helping ‘looked after’ children.  It was clear to me that there was, almost without exception, the right balance of caring & expertise, to give children in care the best possible opportunity to develop their potential just like any other.

Les

Past, Present & Future

Causeway to Lindisfarne, Northumberland

Put off blog entry from last week as had a well earned (well, I think so!) long weekend away –  bit of a trek all the way to Northumberland but had a lovely 2 days there.

It’s good when something positive happens in your ward, whether or not you had any hand in it.  Cabinet Member Mitch Theaker managed to get a half-pipe skateboard run installed at the top off Gors Park which been very popular from the outset.  You may have already had the fortune (or mis!) to see my mugshot in the local paper recently, alongside Mitch, amongst others, watching kids truly excelling themselves – very uplifting.

After this photo op, as well as those which are becoming regulars, such as Equalities, Democratic Services & Planning, over the past couple of weeks or so, I've even had the chance of going to three meetings at the same time!  But as I’m not quite that flexible it meant, of course, choosing the one most relevant at that time.  It’s rather strange but whenever this has happened it’s never been that difficult deciding which one’s best.

Mingled with doing business, today I've been catching up on casework - a mix of phone calls & e-mails, some new enquiries and some where chasing up existing ones.  Amazing how long it takes!

Just to tease you I’ll finish by saying that my next blog will include what happened at what is probably going to be quite a contentious meeting, but you’ll just have to wait!

Les