Where did January go?!

First meeting after the festive season held on 6th January (rather apt it being the last day of Christmas) and picked up back where we had left off, continuing to look at how to improve the prospects of those children who can so often slip through the proverbial net.  This is going to be a long haul.

This was one of my Cabinet Advisory Committees which are now held exactly a week apart so a week later sees me at the other one, with the 'main feature' this time looking at a particular loan that the council could apply for.  Even with grants there are always catches, but with loans if nothing else there's the biggest catch of all, you have to pay it back!  And as with all of them, whether a grant or loan, there are very specific criteria that you need to meet so that they are not always worth applying for. 

It's budget time of year again and the council does it's best to involve the public by offering a number of ways to get involved.  I attended a public drop-in session, and whilst not that busy those that did come had very useful questions & suggestions to raise.  (I always try to look positively on public consultation - it's never perfect, as many will claim "they never knew about it", but if only one person makes use of it,

it's still better than none at all!)

And the last week of January has been the busiest, out every night, Monday to Thursday.  I could have attended 7 council related meetings/events so I think getting to 6 of them ain't bad!

Les