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County Council Cash - Can your group get some?

Community projects all over harlow have the chance to access money from Essex County Council.

The West Essex Area Forum has been given £50,000, to be used on schemes that currently do not benefit from County Council funding. Each project can apply for grants of up to £4,000.

County councillor Guy Mitchinson, who represents the Harlow West division, has been pushing the scheme to local residents and taking the cause to local papers so that as many groups as possible know about the money.

To qualify for a grant, the projects must improve people’s lives and have the support of the local community. Matched funding is desirable but not essential.

An application form can be obtained by calling Yvette Wetton on (01206) 436079 or email yvette.wetton@essex.gov.uk.

The closing date for applications is October 5.

Guy told me that

“To my continuing annoyance Harlow has lagged behind neighbouring areas like Epping, Brentwood and Uttlesford in securing grants under schemes such as this. So please, if you think you may meet the criteria contact Yvette Wetton today. Remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Harlow North Again

I blogged recently about Harlow North Joint Venture here. I was most upset at the time about the quality and focus of the presentation that I had been given.

Harlow North Joint Venture got in touch after that and have chatted through with me their current thinking in a lot more depth.

I have to say that I am much happier that they have done this.

They answered the concerns that I had, and it was obvious that they had picked up on my unease from the questions I asked them at the HRL meeting.

I would urge the people at HNJV to bring forward their proposals for consultation with the public in both Essex and Herts as soon as possible. They have a lot of very interesting ideas and I think its time for us all, on both sides of the border, to have a proper debate about the future of Harlow North.

New Blog in the Neighbourhood

For those of you who read this blog because of an interest in Local Politics in our area, you may be interested in the newest blog for the area:

www.eppingforesttory.blogspot.com

I am looking forward to reading this one a lot myself....

Praise in the Park

This afternoon was Harlow's very first "Praise in the Park"

A gathering of 32 churches from across the town and nearby area, getting together in our lovely town park to worship together.

I was very privileged to be asked to come along and read the Gospel at the event.

There were about 600 people who attended, which I think for a first stab at an event such as this was really good. Lets hope next year the event can be bigger and better.

It was wonderful to be part of such a heartwarming event, and its at times like this that I really do think God has some good things in store for Harlow.

It was also very humbling to be singled out as Leader of the Council and prayed for directly.

State of the Town Debate

Last night was the annual state of the town debate. Here is what I said in opening the debate. There is lots of good news for Harlow over the last year.

Madame Chairman

It’s a great delight to be able to address you for the third consecutive time as the leader of the Conservative administration in Harlow. Since last year the national political landscape has continued to change, with the people of Harlow electing Rob Halfon as their new MP with a 5000 majority, and with the people of the United Kingdom throwing out a Labour government that had near bankrupted the country. In its place is a progressive coalition prepared to tackle the issues of overspend and reckless deficit setting head on.

I’m hoping that the new Government will be as successful as this administration here in Harlow has been for the past 12 months. Our major success this year has been being able to keep the councils element of Council Tax identical to 2009’s. A Council tax Freeze! We’ve done this while protecting front line services and in the face of variable income streams and increases in demand for the good work the council does.

We continue to play a positive role in the regional and sub-regional agendas, ensuring that Harlow punches well above its weight. Harlow Council continues to be well regarded as a partner and community leader, and many in the town and beyond recognise that the tough choices we have made and still have to make in the current economic climate are the right choices.

What are these right choices?

Well they begin right here in the town centre. Regenerating the town continues to be our top priority and we have made real progress in the past twelve months. The consultation on the Town Centre North project was highly successful, with over 2000 people responding. Harlow Renaissance is working with the Council to improve the town centre, with new trees just one of the successes so far. There have been enhancements to the bus station, a deep clean of the pavement and in the run up to Christmas the Town Centre Partnership ran a hugely successful series of events, supported by Council sponsored Thursday night free parking in the town centre. The Town Centre Partnership were shortlisted for the Association of Town Centre Managers’ "Partnership of the Year" award – recognition of their excellent work.

Even when things haven’t been so positive we’ve managed to make the best happen. Although we were disappointed by Stockland leaving Harlow and returning to Australia, we have managed just in the past weeks to purchase for the princely sum of £1 the subsidiary that owns the plans and contracts with the architects and other professional advisors. While we wait to select a new developer later this year we continue to work with key anchor tenants to formalise their commitment to the scheme.

The Town Centre though isn’t the only place where development and investment is happening. Despite the slow down in the construction industry, we have managed to push ahead, with partners, the work to widen the A414 near the M11. A new bus and cycle lane is open on First Avenue and we continue to work with Essex County Council to develop Harlow as a "cycle town". Planning permission has been granted and funding secured for a new University Campus adjacent to Harlow College. For even younger people and the young at heart, the Prentice Place Playground will soon be open, delayed only briefly by the discovery of fascinating Roman Remains. We’re continuing with our schemes to provide new housing and commercial premises in Old Harlow, Clifton Hatch and Prentice Place.

And it isn’t just Harlow Council working by itself. This administration put together a successful bid with Conservative led Epping Forest and Uttlesford for money from the Future Jobs Fund. That money has meant that over 80 people have already been employed in new jobs that they wouldn’t otherwise have, with almost another hundred due to join them over the coming months.

Providing new jobs in a cost effective manner. Who would have thought it was possible? We did and we made it happen.

We continue to work closely with the thriving business sector that Harlow needs to carry on being successful. This year we were named by the Essex Federation of Small Businesses as the Council which has done the most to work with the business community in its area. Only three weeks ago we sponsored the first ever Harlow Business Exhibition which was a roaring success. We introduced free advertising for local businesses in the Harlow Times to help them get through the recession.

But it’s not just about small business. Of course, like many in the town we were disappointed to learn that GSK were scaling down their operation in Harlow. We’ve been working closely with GSK and their contractors to make sure that we get the best possible public sector help for those affected by these developments, including running a jobs fair aimed at scientific staff threatened with redundancy.

But of course the best solution is for the site to be used by another enterprise, and as you will all know, the quick action of the Council in responding to these events means that the Health Protection Agency are currently positively considering moving a significant part of their operation to the Pinnacles.

Making Harlow a council that works closely with business. Who would have thought it was possible? We did and we made it happen.

We’re not going to waste the opportunities that we have, and that includes the area of sanitation. I guess you could say that we’re not going to let waste go to waste. This year we have seen a doubling in recycling rates, so now around 50% of what gets thrown out by households gets turned into something else. As we moved to alternate fortnightly collections for household waste and recycling we’ve met the challenge of educating and equipping the people of Harlow as to how best they can look after their environment. Particularly welcomed has been the weekly food waste collection which has kept our bins smell free and diverted hundreds of tons of food from landfill.

Together with Kier Harlow we’ve replaced the block cleanse system with enhanced street cleaning, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and are achieving great turn around times. Data from the National Audit Office shows that our performance in keeping the town clean was joint 5^{th in the Eastern Region and in the top 11% for the entire country.}

When it comes to helping the environment and saving money at the same time we’ve been busy. Harlow has secured over half a million pounds worth of funding for home insulation through the Herts Essex Energy Partnership. Over 500 homes have been insulated for free or at low cost through Heat Seekers.

Our commitment to the environment doesn’t stop there though. This year Parndon Wood Nature Reserve won the prestigious Green Flag Award at the first time of asking. There are over 17,000 visitors a year to the Nature Reserve and they’ll all enjoy the benefits of nearly 60 thousand pounds worth of grants we’ve obtained for woods and ponds throughout the town. And the visitors will also benefit as will Council Tax payers from the profits the reserve is now making from selling wood products like charcoal, timber and furniture.

Environmentally friendly and cost effective at the same time. Who would have thought it was possible? We did and we made it happen.

And speaking of cost efficiency, the Council has maintained its performance on collecting rents, handling voids and general estate management. In some places we’re even doing much better then other social housing providers. We have new processes in place to deal effectively with cases of anti-social behaviour, working with the police and other agencies to be much more joined up in our combined approach to casework.

We want to get value for money for the people of Harlow, so we’ve commenced work on the Social Fraud Initiative which will crack down on illegal sub-letting and other ways that the people of Harlow are cheated of their money. We’ve introduced a corporate debt policy for Housing to make sure we have a consistent approach when dealing with all aspects of debt recovery. We’ve updated fire safety plans and risk assessments on all Tower Blocks. We’ve successfully introduced a learning analysis of all the complaints that we’ve received, ensuring that we fix problems faster and better then ever before.

We’ve introduced an automated telephone service to the council to make sure contacting the council is easier for residents. We’ve reduced the time that new benefits claimants have to wait for receiving the money they need and our "See the Benefits Day" helped the people of Harlow claim over £25,000 additional benefits that they didn’t realise they could get. And because we’re working hard to make sure the money that the ordinary people of Harlow goes where its needed and not to fraudsters, we successfully identified almost two hundred thousand pounds worth of fraudulent benefits, prosecuting 22 false claimants in the process.

We continue to look after the most vulnerable in society, with developments like the implementation of a Sheltered Housing Review. 9 sheltered schemes were successfully re designated to over 60s general needs housing, and by outsourcing the call handling service and introducing a new staffing structure we saved the people of Harlow over 40 thousand pounds. Everybody over 85 in Harlow got the option of free Telecare services for 12 months and a new community support service has been developed, with weekly visits and alarm equipment to summon assistance in an emergency. A new Residents Association has been setup at Halyday House and working with the active life co-ordinator from Conservative run Epping Council we’ve hosted armchair aerobics sessions and Wii Fit training seminars in sheltered schemes. Outside the front door we’re working with the tenants of Tylney Croft to create an allotment to help them grow their own vegetables.

Caring for the vulnerable, sensitively and professionally, in a cost effective manner. Who would have thought it was possible? We did and we made it happen.

What else has happened this past year that we should be proud of? Harlow’s overall crime rate reduced in 2009/2010 by more than any other District in Essex. Two pilot multi-agency Neighbourhood Forums were held and proved so successful that they are to be rolled out across the town. The Council was the lead agency for Crucial Crew – an event delivered to every Year 6 pupil in Harlow with the aim of increasing knowledge and understanding of personal safety issues

Want more?

Following on from the support to our armed forces in giving the Essex Yeomanry the Freedom of Entry into the town, on Armed forces day this year we raised a special flag on the Civic Centre to acknowledge the service and sacrifice that the men and women serving all over the world for this country make. Meanwhile our support for help for Heroes has made over £500

The Playhouse hosted the most successful Pantomime to date in 2009-2010. The Council has made a number of improvements to its commissioning and procurement work, including the introduction of electronic tendering and close working with the SME sector. The Council worked with partners to support the launch of a new Multi-Faith Forum for Harlow. Contact Harlow dealt successfully with over double the normal amount of enquiries during the year, and has also introduced new web kiosks to help customers self-serve.

Harlow Council supported health targets by introducing a range of work-place exercise activities, and was awarded the Fit For Business accreditation. The Council supported the Kickz Project which provides a range of sporting activities for young people in partnership with The Incredible Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The Scheme won the Innovative Scheme of the Year Award at the Harlow Sports Awards. The Gateway Scheme has successfully delivered new housing and sporting facilities – including the new state-of-the-art Leisurezone wet and dry sports centre. And only this week we’ve secured preliminary funding from both the Heritage Lottery Fund AND the Big Lottery Fund for a scheme to revitalise the town park.

All this, and no increase in Council Tax. More services for the public whilst maintaining a balanced budget. Who would have thought it was possible?

We did and, and we made it happen.

What about the future? Well, we continue to look to achieve the best for this town and its people. As I’ve already mentioned, we’re working hard to bring a major employer to this town and actions we take tonight may very well help with achieving that goal. And in our ongoing work to make the council run better and more efficiently, we’ll be approaching the voters of Harlow with proposals to change the nature of the executive administration of the Council.

All of this against the worst possible budget position left to us by the outgoing Labour government, means that public sector spending is likely to be tightly controlled by government and suggests that there is more hard work to come in cleaning up labour mess – something we are more than used to in Harlow.

Madame Chair, it’s been a brilliant and humbling two years being able to lead this fantastic town forward into the future. I look forward to many more successes.

Cllr Mick Danvers Rants - I Respond

I see in this weeks Harlow Herald, Cllr Mick Danvers is ranting at me and trying to mislead the public over the Church Langley Monies. I have submitted the following letter to the Editor of the paper for publication next week in response to Cllr Danvers.


Sir - When is Councillor Mick Danvers going to start being straight with the public?

Last week's letter "Profit from Cuts" was little more than an amateur distortion of facts from a man who comes across as being so bitter that he is still in opposition.

I have no problem with Cllr Danvers attacking my or my party's policies - that's normal healthy political debate, but spin and half truths and even untruths are surely not becoming of him or the Labour party.

The underspend, and not "profit" as Cllr Danvers suggests, came about from a number of windfalls at the end of the year. Cllr Danvers and his Labour colleagues may have tried to set budgets in the past gambling that such windfalls would arrive, but this Conservative administration doesn't feel its appropriate to play poker or roulette with the town's finances.

And as Cllr Danvers well knows, the Church Langley money was never the Councils'. It belongs to the developers of Church Langley and was entrusted for "safekeeping" with the Council. But that trust was betrayed in 2007 and again in 2008 by the Labour/Lib Dem cabal running the town who dipped their hands in again and again to prop up their own overspend. Had they not made a vague promise to repay at some unspecified later date some might even suggest the money had been misappropriated.

One of the first pledges I made when I became Leader of the Council was that Church Langley's money would be repaid in five years. Because of the windfalls we have had we are actually able to repay the money three years early. However, instead of celebrating the fact that we have cleaned up their financial mess, Cllr Danvers and the Labour group continue to look with greedy eyes on money that isn't even properly the Council's to spend.

The worst thing about Cllr Mick Danvers rant is that he honestly believes there were never any financial problems in Harlow and still doesn't believe there are financial problems nationally. What world does this Councillor live in? Certainly not the new progressive Britain that is having to pull up its shirt sleeves to sort out thirteen years of Labour incompetence both here in Harlow and across all of the United Kingdom.

Sincerely,
Councillor Andrew Johnson,
Leader of Harlow Council

Cllr Danvers is a socialist of the old order and delights in his mischievous letters to the press each week. I fully accept that debates about policy are not only appropriate but welcome in the press but the kind of rubbish that Mick is peddling needs to be scotched immediately.

Harlow North - the importance of one not two towns

I attended the Board meeting of Harlow Renaissance Ltd. last night, of which I am Vice Chairman.

HRL was incorporated in July 2006 to drive forward the regeneration and growth process in Harlow. It has four key members

• Harlow District Council
• Essex County Council
• East of England Development Agency
• Homes & Communities Agency

Its three key aims are

Delivery: to deliver Growth Area Fund and other projects delegated to us to quality, time and budget.
Collaboration: to act as a catalyst for consensus-building and co-operation, holding the ring and facilitating the dialogue between our partners and other key stakeholders.
Boldness: to import big thinking and innovation into all our debates, complementing the creativity of our partners and acting as agents provocateurs for the radical and long-term transformation of Harlow - not for the sake of it, but with the sole purpose of enabling a sustainable and cohesive community which plays its full role in the sub-region and Essex as a whole.

So as you can see it has a hefty remit.

Last night there was a presentation by Harlow North Joint Venture an amalgam of Land Securities and Places for People that want to deliver new homes to the north of Harlow.

Now I have always been in favour of this growth, with some serious caveats that I will return to later, and this has put me out of step with a lot of Conservatives in the East of England. I have supported the growth because Harlow is very constrained by its boundaries, and has very little land of its own to grow on, yet has the thirst and desire to grow.

As a new town building more houses is something that is and has been part of everyday life to those of us who grew up in Harlow, and do so desperately need those houses to allow third and now even fourth generation Harlow Children to stay living in the town. We are also all acutely aware that Harlow, being a grand old 62 this year has bits that are tiring mostly at the same time, and so that is why Regeneration is my councils' top priority. Regeneration that can be assisted by growth.

Simples?

Well not quite because the most obvious place to build the new housing is on a swath of land to the north of the town, that doesn't belong to the town, in fact its not even in the same county... Its East Hertfordshire, and those in the hamlets and villages that Harlow might overtake are not at all happy with the plan.

But I have always caveatted my support for the building of Harlow North with the following:

• The Boundaries must move so that Harlow gets the Regenerative benefit of the building.
• The infrastructure to support Harlow North must arrive before or at the same time as the development.
• Any development must offer a one town solution and not two separate communities.

And really that last one is the clincher. It benefits Harlow not one jot if all that happens is a few thousand houses are built in East Herts with no reference to one cohesive community, if the links across the river between the two areas are not solved and if no effort is made to integrate the two developments.

Sadly the latter is all I saw from the presentation that HRL received. I questioned the speaker with my concerns and in their answer not once was the issue of connectivity mentioned and I was given no real reassurance about the amalgamation of two communities.

For me, who has spent the last six years supporting the idea of such a development it was a disheartening evening.

I hope that the issues I raised will be thought on at length by the people at Harlow North Joint Venture because if all that happens is a load of new houses appear in East Herts, when we all know that the residents there will use the schools, doctors, hospital, shopping centres, restaurants and leisure facilities in Harlow with no demonstrable benefit to the town then the people of Harlow will, rightly, be very unhappy.

The Leader of Hertforshire County Council, one of my own party colleagues once described the town I love so much as "a pimple on the backside of Hertfordshire"

Unless the people at Harlow North Joint Venture get real about creating a proper community, East Hertfordshire could well end up being the pimple on the backside of Harlow!

Town Park in Lottery funding boost

The plans to revitalise Harlow Town Park have moved one step closer to securing lottery funding.

Harlow Council has this week secured the initial backing of both the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) for their scheme to revitalise the Town Park.

We have bid for £1.6m funding to help us in the publicly backed plan to restore Spurriers House, redevelop the Water Gardens and the Bandstand and other landscaped areas. The bid also would provide new education facilities and improve Pets’ Corner.

Whilst we have not yet got that funding we have been told that we have made it to the next round of the the HLF and BLF Parks for People programme.

For making that next round the Council has received £104,000 development funding.
This funding should enable us to work up more detailed plans before a final funding application in March 2011.

In Harlow we all love the Town Park but some areas are in serious need of revitalizing. It has been quite a long time since much money was spent on the park. I remember from my childhood years that the area near Spurriers and the Bandstand was always a hive of activity, and that's the kind of environment that we would like to recreate.

It's really good to get this far and know that there is a chance of securing the funding for some of the work. Of course the battle doesn't stop here, we still have a lengthy bidding application process to go through, and we would need to find match funding to complete the bid... Perhaps I need to go and nose around the various European pots of money floating around at the moment and see if there are any for urban parks....

Harlow Doubles Recycling Rate

Well done to every resident of Harlow!!!

In just two years in control of Harlow, the Conservative council working with residents has doubled the recycling rate in the town from a paltry 25% to a more normal 50%. This success has mainly been achieved by using the new waste contract that was introduced last year and by resident working with the council to ensure as much as possible of the waste that can be recycled is. Weekly collection of food waste that has been diverted from landfill and has guaranteed that other collections have not been smelly by the inclusion of food waste have been a huge part of this success.

When I took over as leader of the council two years ago, I publicly stated that one of our aims was to double the recycling rate in Harlow. I am really pleased that working together we have achieved the goal.

Another manifesto pledge met!

Civic Service

Cllr Sue Livings the Chairman of Harlow Council held her Civic Service today.

It's an annual event and an important one in the civic life of the town. We have Mayors and Chairmen from accross Essex come to the town to see and hear about the very best of HArlow.

This year the children of Downs School Choir were particularly good.

I was given the honour of being asked to give the first address.

Here is what I said:

• It’s quite fashionable these days to be thankful. Actors, on winning an Oscar or a BAFTA thank their managers, their fans, their families and their loved ones. An MP winning a seat at a General Election thanks his agents and campaign team, the police, the people who counted and supervised the vote and, most importantly for us politicians who must never forget them, the new MP thanks the people who voted for him to get him in power in the first place. If someone buys you a present, you thank them (or at least, you should thank them, even if it’s your Aunt who’s bought you yet *another* horrendous jumper for Christmas).
  
  Here in Harlow who should we be thankful to? There are the obvious people – the men and women who look after Harlow and its people day after day. The street cleaners and refuse workers who work long into the night after we’ve gone to sleep to make the town tidy for us when we go to work. The bus drivers who get us to and fro where we’re going every day. The civil servants in the civic centre and elsewhere who make Harlow run on a day to day basis. The Armed Forces who put their lives on the line to protect our. Health professionals who keep us well or look after us when we’re not. Fire and Rescue people who help us in emergencies (and I think the residents of Berecroft are particularly thankful for their help these past twelve months) or the Police who try to keep the streets safe. Perhaps you’re thankful to your neighbours and friends, the ordinary men and women of Harlow who so often go out of their way to help an elderly person who needs their shopping doing or just provide companionship to those in need.
  
  Or maybe when we think of Harlow we should think of those like the architect Sir Frederick Gibberd who did so much work in the late 40s and early 50s helping to plan and design the wonderful town that we live in today. Over half a century later we are still the beneficiaries of his design to have a town where everybody could get to a park within walking distance of their front door, and where today we have one of the most extensive cycle networks in the country.
  
  Yes perhaps it is right to thank those who made the town in which we live. But if that’s so, then there’s someone far more important today to thank for Harlow. As I prepared this speech I was reminded of a joke I was told a while back which I think makes my point for me.
  
  Some scientists went to God and said, “God, we’re so capable now we don’t think we need you anymore. We think we can do all the things you can do. We can make humans in test tubes. We can recreate the Big Bang in a laboratory. We can see to the end of the Universe. We just don’t need you anymore”.
  “Alright then”, said God. “I tell you what. Let’s have a creation contest. If you can make a man like I did, out of the dust of the Earth, then I’ll agree that you no longer need me and I’ll go away and leave you to it”. The scientists had a quick discussion, worked out a way to make a human from some dust and quickly agreed to the contest.
  The next day God and the scientists met and in full view of the gathered TV cameras and newspaper reporters the contest began. The referee counted down, “Three, two, one” and blew his whistle.
  At that sound, the chief scientist crouched down to the ground and was about to scoop some of the dust off the floor into a test tube when God coughed loudly. The chief scientist looked up and God said, “Hang on a minute. You get your own dust”.
• This afternoon, while I’m thankful to the men and women and children of Harlow who make this such a great town to work and live in, and while I’m thankful to those who lived in the years after the Second World War and planned and built this amazing place, I also want to give thanks to someone else. While we humans build with bricks and mortar, God builds with atoms and souls.
  
  Before the beginning of time God knew that we would be gathered here today and as the leader of Harlow Council I want to acknowledge and give thanks today for his love and care for us. While sometimes I don’t understand some of the things that go on in God’s world and why he lets evil things happen, I know that I’m thankful that he loves us and that he loves all the people. I’m thankful that through Jesus all things were created, all things in heaven and on earth, things invisible and invisible, all things powerful and things weak; our homes, our families, our friends – everything was created by him and for him. And I’m not ashamed to say that I’m thankful that through Jesus’ death and resurrection I can know him and that I can be with him forever.
  Thank you God for all that you have done, are doing and have still yet to do in Harlow and in the lives of the people of Harlow. Amen.

MP calls for shake up of FA - Why I agree

Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow has been calling for the FA board to resign following the disgraceful England performance at the world cup.

It has been picked up locally here by the Harlow Star, by the BBC here and even by the Daily Mail here

Rob, who is a season ticket holder at Chelsea, makes some interesting points, particularly about making the FA more democratic, and the ability for Fans to remove the board.

I can actually see his idea working.

Official England supporters could in effect become the shareholders of the FA. Imagine how many more fans would pay to be members of the supporters club if they had a vote on who was sat on the board of the FA. Imagine if it was elected who would be there....

I can see Trevor Brooking surviving as he seems universally respected by fans as the only member of the FA who actually "gets it" but in an open election how many of the others would survive? I would bet not many.

So who would end up running the FA in those situations? Well I can see heads of some clubs supporters clubs getting large block votes, and maybe some ex professional footballers as well, but would other sports stars and ex managers be able to bring their expertise to the FA? I think they would.

I think elections to the Board of the FA would reconnect the FA to the fans, to the grassroots, it would also give the board much more "clout" and probably guts to make some tough decisions.

I really do think Rob Halfon is on to something here.

Bill Rammell to not stand for Harlow again

Bill Rammell the former Labour MP for Harlow, beaten by Robert Halfon earlier this year has announced to the Harlow Star today here that he has decided that he will not be standing for parliament again.

I have to say, I think that's a real shame. I am obviously no supporter of Bills politics, having worked flat out to beat him and get Rob elected in his stead, but no one can question that Bill was not only a very good and conscientious MP he also enlivened the political landscape of Harlow.

His excuse that he will be too old in five years time at 55 frankly does not hold water, given the age of many MPs who have served with distinction to much greater ages.

Bill is reported to have told the Star that "it was time for a new candidate to spearhead the fight to wrestle control of the town back from the Conservatives" now obviously I am biased but I have fought Harlow Labour Party since 1998 at every election and during "peacetime" and I have to say I am not aware of anyone with a fraction of Bills talent to take over his mantle.

And in that I am happy. Bill was a well liked, well known and hard working MP who was difficult for Rob and the team to unseat, I don't see an unknown outsider coming into Harlow having much chance of beating Rob Halfon at the next election.

Keeping Harlow Clean - Fining the Dumpers!

I am pleased to be able to tell you that Harlow Council has successfully prosecuted a Roydon resident who was dumping waste in Harlow.

On Friday (25th) at Harlow Magistrates Court a 50 year old man from Temple Mead Roydon pleaded guilty to three counts of littering.

At the back end of last year a local resident saw the man dumping rubbish and contacted the council. We take littering very seriously and have prosecuted before and will continue to do so, to try and stop people making our town dirty.

Working with the member of the public we were able to catch the man on CCTV and took him to court.

Although I think the Magistrate was lenient on the man, making him pay £450 clean up costs, our legal cost for prosecuting and giving him a 12 month conditional discharge, I do hope prosecutions like this will put others off doing the same thing.

Harlow will not accept dumpers and litterers and we will prosecute!

More Regeneration for Harlow

This week the council was able to sell the old swimming pool site as part of the Gateway project. We have really missed the swimming pool in Harlow since the previous administration had to close it due to the years of neglect and underfunding it had been through, but of course now we have our nice shiny new LeisureZone we need to do something with the old site.

And so as planned in the Gateway scheme it has been sold to developer Croudace which plans to build much needed new homes on the land. I think we will see a planning application, for the site, submitted to Harlow Council in the next few months.

No town stands still and the new homes will be very welcome by the people of Harlow who want to stay in the town but cannot find a home at the moment, and of course the sale of the land was one of the things that made the overall scheme to deliver the new leisurezone possible.

I hope that Croudace will plan the homes sympathetically to the area and not propose anything outrageous. I look forward to seeing their proposals.

Wow its hot

Isn't it?

I am not the best person at dealing with heat, I know that and I try and stay in shade/indoors as much as possible in weather like this. Some of my work mates are not the same; a number of them came into work today looking a "steaming lobster" colour, and it looked from the way they moved that they were in pain.

Why do we Brits not learn? The first weekend of sunshine and people are stripping off, tanning and forgetting to lather on the sun tan lotion.

Maybe I have an aversion to burning because that's all I do, I burn and go white again, burn and go white - I don't tan much at all. Returning from the Caribbean last year after a fortnight where it was difficult to stay out of the sun people laughed at my sickly pale white legs....

But better pale than burnt and the skin cancer dangers that go with it I say!

Pottering in the Garden

One of the things that I do to relax, if I ever get a spare moment, is to potter in the Garden. Pottering I think is quintisentially English, and I enjoy it immensly.

I am not very good at gardening, as I don't give it the time that it really deserves. My plants lurch from gardening session to session not knowing how much attention they will get and mostly end up fending for themselves.

I do like growing fruit and vegetables though. There is something, I think, that is genetically pre coded into certain men, the desire to grow food and provide for the family. Its something primitive and just on the edge of my consciousness, but it is there and this year it's in full flow.

I only have a small garden and because I don't have a lot of time the crops are limited, but I still have beans, peas, potatoes (in grow sacks), tomatoes, cauliflowers, broccoli, onions, garlic, lettuce (both red and green), strawberries and raspberries, oh and some asparagus but as it is its first year I cant pick any. It sounds an awful lot written down like that but overall takes up very little space in my small garden. I suspect if I had more time and didn't mind sacrificing my lawn that the daughter plays on then I could produce an incredible amount of food!

I suppose that's what makes Allotments more attractive to people these days, the chance of organic, locally produced food that tastes brilliant straight out of the ground!

I am seriously thinking about an allotment for future years, but suspect I will only be able to have one if I find some friends who want to "share" it with me!

If like me you have the urge to grow stuff, then why not consider an allotment yourself? Harlow Council have a number of sites around the town - Find out more here.

Church Langely Reserve - Repaid - Early!

Last night at the Executive Committee of Harlow Council we were discussing the Good news of the £1.5m underspend in the council budget. The underspend was a result of very tight budget management during the year and a number of one of "windfalls" during the year.

The oppositions Councillors were critical of the original conservative budget, as of course is their right, but none of them seemed to see the foolishness of their arguments. Previous Labour and Lib/Lab coalitions in Harlow had often set budgets gambling on the thought of windfalls that might come during the year, and if that failed they drained reserves. As a prudent Conservative council we decided to not rely on these potential one off windfalls to back up constant revenue spending, thats only sensible.

Anyway, to sensibly use the money that was left this year we decided to top up the councils reserves (which were drained of millions & millions of pounds by profilgrate labour councils in the 80's and 90's) and also to top up some of the specific reserves for problems like future redundancies and insurances.

In the last two years of the Lib/Lab coalition a lot of the emergency reserves were raided to prop up spending. The then administration refused to make the tough choices that my administration has since had to face. During those two years they drained £390,000 from the Church Langley reserve; money given to the council by the developers of Church Langley to help maintain it. We gauranteed that a Conservative Administration would pay back that money within 5 years of taking control. Last night it was a pleasure to move a motion of repayment three years earlier than planned, and know that prudent budgeting had made that possible.

New Harlow War Memorial - Harlow Needs You!

I am really pleased that Harlow Council is working in partnership with the local Royal British Legion to introduce a new memorial to the Netteswell War Memorial garden in the Town Park.

The new plinth will show Harlow’s gratitude to those members of the Armed Forces who have given their lives in conflicts since 1945. The memorial will include Private Robert Foster who died in Afghanistan in 2007.

So both the Council and the Royal British Legion are inviting members of the community to put forward names for commemorating on the new Harlow War Memorial.

The criteria for an individual to be commemorated on the memorial is that they were member of the armed forces killed on active service in a recognized conflict, born in Harlow, and/or had strong links with the town. For example been an established resident of Harlow, been a resident of Harlow immediately prior to service in the forces, been a long-term employee in Harlow or has a family home in Harlow.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I think a great deal of those who put their lives on the line in the Armed Forces, so I will be particularly happy to see this memorial finished with the input of local people. All being well with confirming names supplied with MOD and any remaining family of the deceased then the new memorial should be ready for its dedication on Armistice Sunday this year.

To meet that deadline any names need to be submitted by 31 August 2010. Any names received after that date may not be included in time for this years ceremony, but will be added at a later date.

If you are going to put a name forward, then please provide as much information as possible, including: the service, regiment, name, date of birth, service period, service number and short background.Details of personnel can be submitted online by following this link and completing the on-line form or if you prefer you can send the details to: J. McGill, Property & Facilities Manager, Harlow Council, Water Gardens, Harlow, Essex CM20 1WG

Scrutiny Review

The new opposition Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, called an informal briefing for his new committee members and anyone interested, last night. He asked me as Leader of the Council to come along and give people my view of scrutiny and what I thought it should be doing as a committee.

Firstly I was glad it was an informal meeting, I brought Mrs Johnson (the other Cllr Johnson) and my four year old daughter with me. My daughter is very used to the idea of daddy going to meetings but rarely goes with me, so sitting in the corner of the room colouring in whilst daddy spoke to the committee was a bit of a treat for her, and it meant we were able to pop into the briefing whilst not totally disrupting a family night!

I spoke for about 10 minutes and outlined a number of things:

First I didn't like the premise of the briefing "how to make scrutiny work" as I felt that implied that it had not worked previously, when I think there are a number of scrutiny reviews that were very successful in recent past - take the flooding review for one.

Second that it was not for me to tell scrutiny what to do, as it was more their job to challenge me and the work of the administration. We publish forward work plans for our committees and working groups showing the plans for the year and if scrutiny want to pre scrutinise some of these issues that is for them to choose.

Third we do not always have be adversarial. The scrutiny committee should act like a select committee in Parliament offering advice on upcoming bills etc and suggesting useful changes.

Fourth that the committee has powers to look at issues outside of the council, such as health and education of Harlow.

And finally that they should be realistic in their objectives - remembering that they are one committee in a small district council.

Scrutiny is an important part of local government and if run well by all parties involved can make a valuable contribution to the running of a town.

I left the briefing session with the thought that perhaps the rest of the evening should have a slightly different title to the one published, "How to make Scrutiny work better"

Go England!!!

I cannot use words to say what I want about the Match this afternoon, so I will simply give you the words of the Greatest playwright in History:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rockO'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height.
On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war.
And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start.
The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

LeisureZone - NOW OPEN!

I blogged here about our awesome new £25m state of the art Leisurezone.

It opened at six am today!!!

I am so excited.

Harlow was the first town in the country to have a public sportscentre and now we are back at the forefront of public sport, with probably the best sportscentre in the country.

I hope the people of Harlow love the Leisurezone as much as I already do.

Regeneration & Enterprise

Tonight was the first meeting of the new Regeneration & Enterprise Policy Working Group.

Sadly it was not attended by all political parties. The Lib Dems didn't send anyone, just like they didn't send anyone to the Resources working Group the night before. I hope this is not to be a trend. The working groups are an important part of the life of the council and need all the politica groups representated to take part to fully represent the range of views in the town.

The first meeting was concerned with setting the terms of reference for the group, the forward work plan (a couple of good suggestions from the labour member on the group) and recieving some reports on ongoing work.

It's a slow start but I am very pleased that we have this new working group. It reflects Harlow Conservatives committment to business in the town and a desire to do things differently from how they have always been done and reflects our top Corporate priority - to regenerate Harlow.

If we were to have a Cabinet system tomorrow I would definatly have a cabinet member for Regeneration and Enterprise because the two subject matters are so important to Harlow.

£1.5 Million saved!

Harlow Council spent £1.5m less than planned in the last financial year!

The Council's draft statement of accounts for last year (2009/10) which are going to both the Audit Committee and the Executive Committee on Thursday night show that the Council managed to save over £1.5m despite the effect of the recession.

This is good news for the people of Harlow and shows how our budget and budget monitoring process has worked well. The under-spend is a direct result of regular monthly monitoring by Councillors of the budgetary position and of Council officers keeping a tight control on the finances of areas they run. We have been able to reduce costs in some areas, making Harlow a more efficient Council.

There were of course some unknown wins during the year, with us receiving some
more income than expected in some areas. Previous administrations planned on an element of unknown wins during the year. We felt that was wrong and so My administration purposely didn't. Meaning that these little extras can now top up the reserves!

Just as we said on Budget night, Harlow Conservatives are always looking at ways of working smarter and better to provide value for money for our residents

£300,000 is recommended to be carried over to the current year, 2010/11 because of delays in spending. The rest of the money will be put back into the reserves helping to safeguard the Council's future financial position.

The good news doesn't stop there - As a result of the Council spotting an error in the Government’s housing subsidy calculations, and forcing a major U-turn from the former Labour Government, the Housing Revenue Account (which funds the Council’s housing services) also shows a £1.5m underspend, almost all of which (£1.4m) is due to an improvement in the subsidy. The original budget did anticipate the change and the year end position is broadly what it should have been.

These are significant achievements for the Council given the financial pressures facing local government.

Topping up the towns reserves puts our finances on a stronger footing and will help protect the Council’s future financial position.

We took some very tough decisions in the last two years , but doing so has resulted in a more stable financial position.

I suspect George Osborne & David Cameron will have the same thoughts tomorrow in the national budget!

Chris Huhne - why he should resign

Gone, it seems, are the days of Ministers resigning over matters of principle.


I know that people see politics as a dirty game these days and that the public's view of politicians could not be lower, but I long for a day where Ministers, the highest ranking officials of Government felt bound by a moral code, felt bound to be better than the rank and file, and were willing to fall on their sword should they do something wrong.


Chris Huhne is currently in the spotlight for having an affair. It seems he only let his wife know and decided to leave her, when confronted by a national newspaper.


Iain Dale has argued here that actually its not a resigning issue. I like Iain, and I love his blog, but respectfully I must disagree with him.

Any minister must have the trust and respect of the Country and of the Government that he/she serves. That trust MUST be reciprocated. I fail to see how a Minister can be trusted to tell the truth and do the best thing for the nation, having lied to and cheated on the wife that he solemnly promised to be faithful to forever.

I just can't trust a man like that as a minister of state. And in all honesty can you?

I am not calling for Mr Huhne to resign as an MP. Only his electorate should have the ability to do that, and one of the reasons why I support the right to recall MPs. However I would not want to see Mr Huhne continue as a Minister.

Feel free to argue with me....

Newsflash

For those of you who are early risers, I have just found out that I will be chatting live with Ray Clark at just after 7am tomorrow, about the proposed changes to the way Harlow Council is run.

With the formal paper going to full council on the 8th July, there has already been considerable interest expressed to me from both buisnesses and individuals about the option for Mayor. Have I got my view of Leader & Cabinet wrong?

Only the consultation will tell, but I am looking forward to that big conversation with everyone in Harlow about what there view is. Perhaps the debate will liven up peoples interest in Politics? I can only hope so.

Flying the Flag

I am really pleased that flying over the Civic Centre in Harlow, at the moment, is the English Flag of St George. I am pleased that the council is publicly showing support for our boys as they battle at the World Cup.

Even prouder am I, now that the Armed Forces flag is flying above the Civic Centre, supporting our Boys and Girls battling in a much more dangerous way so far from home.

Ever more bittersweet this lunchtime as I heard of the 300th death our troops have suffered in the conflict in Afghanistan.

We are flying the Armed Forces flag this week to celebrate Armed Forces Day on the 26th June (the day in 1857 of the first investiture of the Victoria Cross) and so we jolly well should.

Regardless of your view on the conflict in Afghanistan or Iraq, I hope we can all agree that those in the armed forces who put their lives on the line day after day in support of the country deserve the countries support!

It is a sad society where some places, towns, people show little or no respect to those who risk their lives to provide freedom to the people of the British Isles, and indeed freedom for our friends in other countries.

That is why people and towns need to make a difference. We can't all be Wootton Bassett, but we need to keep faith with our Armed Forces and make their celebration part of everyday life.

Nothing wrenched my gut quite like my daughter the other month, when in a supermarket and spying a gentleman in Army Dress Uniform said "look mummy daddy its one of the brave ones!"

I hope by the celebration of Armed Forces Day, by big events or just by "Flying the Flag" more young people will grow up with a greater appreciation of what our Armed Forces do for all of us.

In the meantime Harlow Council continues to promote the charity Help for Heroes , as they provide direct support for those wounded in conflict, with a collection box and wrist band sale on our main desk in the reception area.

The Morning after the Night Before

Phew

What a BAD night.

And yes I am talking about the footy!

It should have been a wonderful evening - and let me tell you why:

Firstly the Germans had lost earlier in the day; a warm feeling of Schadenfreude should have filled every Englishman.

Second we were Celebrating Robert Halfon's win at the General Election at Harlow's wonderful Royal British Legion club (its a lovely venue with a great big screen)

And third lets be honest England should have been about to trash the Algerians.

We witnessed a depressing turnout of sub standard football. I have been a leader long enough to recognise the problems, Fabio Capello obviously doesn't see them yet. I always think leaders particularly strong leaders need to be able to bend in the breeze and not be so fixed on one direction that any problem snaps them like a hard twig. Leaders need to be more like Bamboo flexing in the wind.

Capello needs to see that some great players are great because they play a certain way, week in week out in the premiership. Asking them to play a different way just to fit into his preferred formation will not work. Fabio needs to be more flexible and accommodating to the styles of the players he has in his squad, and needs with only one chance left to let the players flow more like they do in their natural environment.

It's fine having a team of the best individuals in the world, but if they don't gel as a team, and are not allowed some degree of leniency then they will never achieve what they can.

Multiple rules and regulations can help an undisciplined team in the beginning, but lets be honest we all desire less regulation, less intervention and ultimately want to be able to work to the best of our abilities.

Fabio needs to relax and then perhaps the rest of the country can relax with him as we start winning.

Dispersal Orders?

Last night I went to a briefing session held by Harlow Police for Harlow Council.

The purpose of the meeting was for the police to pitch their latest idea to councillors. Their latest idea being to designate more than half the town for dispersal orders.

What is a dispersal order? Well the legislation as part of the Anti-Social behaviour Act 2003 allows police to disperse groups of 2 or more persons from an area if an officer thinks that the group has caused or might cause public harassment, distress or alarm.

I don't actually think that's a bad law. I can see all sorts of use for this law around football stadiums, big social events, or festivals. I think it could be very useful to clear large crowds from areas where needed.

The police in Harlow were not talking about that sort of situation though, nor anything as targeted.

They were talking about moving on small groups of kids and effectively imposing a 9pm curfew on anyone under 16.

Now I know that some groups of kids do cause problems, just like I know some groups of adults cause Anti Social Behaviour Problems. The police were not concerned with the adults who cause 3/4 of all ASB (by their own stats), this was blatantly about getting the legislation in place before the school summer holidays.

I was sceptical. Very. The whole proposal seemed vastly draconian and bulky. The whole basis of the proposal seemed more about the police having the ability to just move people on if they thought there was a problem rather than dealing with it.

There were a lot of questions from the eleven councilors (of all three political parties) who had come to the presentation. Most of the councillors accepted that ASB was a problem, but like me were sceptical of the Police's proposed solution.

I asked what powers the police didn't already have to deal with ASB in the (mainly shopping) areas listed. The police started talking about young people swearing and spitting. When I challenged them that these were covered by public order offenses and were arrestable, they talked about kids playing knock down ginger. I wondered aloud how many games of knock down ginger get played in shopping areas. The police were not happy.

It appeared to me at the end of the meeting that the police have all the powers they need to deal with Anti Social behaviour by the powers of arrest but for the sake of "A Quiet Life/not raising their crime statistics/not wanting the paperwork or some combination of the above, they were looking for an easy out to just be able to move the kids on. Not satisfactory policing in my view.

Add to that the unseemly "rush" for the police who wanted to get this law enacted in time for the school summer holidays, and no promise of any real additional resources to enact these powers, and it all seemed more than a little ill thought through.

Members from all parties were concerned.

I have asked for a report to come to Full Council so that all elected members can give the police their views in a proper debate. I have a feeling that the police wont get the local consent they are seeking.

That must not absolve them from dealing with problems using the arsenal of laws they have at their disposal, and if that means making arrests that is what the people of Harlow want, no matter how much paperwork it generates for the police and no matter how "bad" it makes their crime stats. People want to see police on the street and arrests of troublemakers.

Perhaps it really is time for elected Sheriffs to be in charge of local policing - at least then residents concerns would finally be addressed by the police.

LeisureZone - Awesome!

I was fortunate enough to have an hour tour of the new Harlow LeisureZone yesterday.

Most of the Harlow Councillors had the opprtunity to do so the other night, but because I was chairing the new executive committee I missed it, so Tonia Gosling the Chief Executive of the Sports Trust kindly offered to show me round.

All I can say is, I was in awe of the place.

It is incredible. State of the Art. Probably the best leisure centre in the country.

It opens on 23rd of June. Why not get down there and have a look?

I can tell you it will be worth it.

Harlow Business Exhibition

Yesterday I was pleased to be able to speak at the opening of the first ever Harlow Business Exhibition, held at the Harlow Greyhound Stadium.

It was a wonderful event, attended by about 60 businesses with stalls, offering all sorts of services from catering to legal and everything in between.

The event was the brainchild of a few local and passionate people who want the business community in Harlow to thrive.

I was very impressed with the range of businesses there and the amount of people visiting the event. The organisers can be rightly proud.

Robert Halfon MP gave the official opening speech, and I was pleased to hear that the Coalition Government will be pressing forward on reforms to help businesses, like mandatory rate relief for small businesses and a one in one out rule for new regulations.

Rob is obviously on top of his brief where Harlow Business is concerned and was able to talk about what he had been doing to help business in Parliament.

It was good to have a leader of the Council and the local MP pulling in the same direction. Something I look forward to over the coming years.

I Hate Shopping - A Rant

Being a straight male, I am sure that I am genetically pre disposed to dislike shopping. I find myself frustrated with people banging trolleys into me, pushing past me and spending hours queueing.


So this evening whilst on my way home from work, when my wife texted me saying "lets go shopping after work" you can tell that I was filled with deep joy!


I normally manage to find a way out of shopping, but if I have to go then I usually occupy myself either in the vegetable area looking for ideas of stuff to grow, the fresh fish counter thinking of stuff to cook or more often the wine area thinking of what to drink!

And so this evening I found myself in the Wine section.

Now I don't know lots about wine, but I generally know which ones I like and which I don't like, and I am always keen to know more.

This evening I spotted that one of the wines we had drunk before and enjoyed was on offer. A nice Prosecco. Now I was first introduced to Prosecco a few years ago by friends of mine who live in Zurich, who prefer it to Champagne, we tried a few different sorts here in the UK and found one that we particularly like, that normally sells for £9.99, putting it in the "occasional" drinking column for me.

This evening the shelf said this wine was 1/3rd off - so only 6.66? Well worth a bottle. In fact, lets get two and put one away for another night.

Except as seems to be the rule in Supermarkets, if it's on offer its never on the shelf. This always annoys me. It sometimes seems that the supermarket mafia have organised for all the "deal" items not to be available. You think there are tons of deals but can never get one yourself.... Or maybe I am just a bit paranoid.

Anyway, not wanting to miss out on a good deal and now already tasting the wine, I set off in search of a shop assistant. You know, the teenage ones who shrug their shoulders lots and tend to grunt a bit when you ask them questions.

Unable to locate a single shop assistant on the whole floor of the supermarket I ended up heading to a desk for enquiries. After queuing about 5 minutes whilst someone in front of me was returning a can of deodorant (I didn't try to hard to listen as to why) my time came and I explained to the young lady behind the counter my problem and asked "is there any chance you could check out back and see if you have any there"

Her response? "Sorry. I can't do that."

oh.

"I have to check it on the computer and that will tell me what to do"

OK.... seems like a plan

"what is it you are looking for?" she asks

"Prosecco" I say

"Whats that then?" she says obviously confused.

Ever the helpful customer I reply "it's and Italian Sparkling wine"

"Oh - Champagne" she says

Without thinking I was there "Well no actually, you see Champagne can technically only come from the Champagne region of Fran...." I peter out. Why on earth am I trying to tell this Girl about where Champagne comes from... "yes" I continue "you may well have it listed under champagne"

"How do you spell it?" she asks. I spell it.

"It's Italian right? What's it called in English?" she asks me. *Facepalm*

I explain its got the same name in English as in Italian, starting to worry ever so slightly.

Eventually she finds it on the computer. Yippee!

But hang on - it couldn't be that simple. "Pete!" she calls her work mate over "I got this wine on the computer but the code against it I don't recognise"

Pete huffs over to the computer screen as if she is being dopey. Stares. Presses a few buttons and then stares again. Concerned.

"I never seen that code before" he says. Oh dear....

"Tell you what" says Pete, "why don't I just nip out back and have a look!"

I only just manage to contain myself, mentioning that had been my original suggestion 15 minutes ago.....

Thankfully, Pete knows his way around the storeroom and within two minutes I am adding my two bottles to the trolley. Just as my wife appears round the corner, daughter trailing and says to me - "Is that all you've done for the last half hour, get two bottles of wine?"

I bite my lip. Hard.

I Hate Shopping.

Successful first Executive Meeting

Tonight was the first meeting of the Executive Committee of Harlow Council, part of our new way of working in Harlow. I think overall it was a success.

The meeting was well attended, only one Lib Dem apology, but a number of other Labour and Conservative Councillors who were not members of the committee also turned up to speak and ask questions. There were even some members in the public gallery, which is always nice to see.

Two main items of business, establishing the working groups and naming their Chairmen and members. I now have my full team in place and we can effectively get to work. I want to see the decision making process streamlined so will be watching very closely over the next couple of months to see how it works.

The other key item of business was to kick start the discussion on moving to a formal different model of control, and we agreed to ask full council to go to a period of consultation on this. I really do think the opposition thought that it was a sown up and done deal, but I hope I persuaded them that I really am interested in what the public have to say about this. I am not sure if the people of Harlow will care a great deal about the differences between committee structure and cabinet may be but I want to hear what they have to say about both of them and the mayoral system as well. I want to consult the community, the business community the faith based communities. In fact I want everyone in Harlow to have a chance to have their say.

After that it will be up to the politicians, of all colours, to listen to the will of the people. I hope the opposition will agree to listen as much as I will expect my group to.

Just how special is that relationship? Time for Cameron to be a fighter!

This really annoyed me when I read it this evening.

How dare over very special friends the Americans stab us in the back like this.....again!

There was a time when American and British soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder, fighting and dying to repel the forces of tyranny. In fact that is exactly what they are still doing in Afghanistan.

Over the years Britain and America have been the strongest of Allies, so much so that we always speak of the special relationship without having to qualify because everyone knows who it is between.

I don't think the special relationship really exists anymore, and to be honest I think its time that David Cameron said something.

Can you imagine if some nutty Japanese group demanded that the US handed over it's 50th state of Hawaii to them to rule? Not only would the Americans treat the proposals as insane and be mightily offended, their closest allies would stand with them in decrying such proposals.

Yet when the boot is on the other foot they feel they can bin their allies for closer pan American ties and of course the prospect of vast oil reserves much closer to home than the unstable middle east.

But really this is not surprising, America has often been a bully and recently President Obama has shown he has no love for Britain, with some of his comments over the BP affair.

I think its time someone stood up to the playground bully. For me that someone is David Cameron. I am not looking for the scene from "Love Actually" - you know the one, that makes every British heart sing to be British, but I do expect our Prime Minister to stand up for the nation - all of the nation, even if they are a few islands thousands of miles from London.

Come on David. Tell Obama he is wrong and remind him that he is in serious danger of losing the special relationship.

UK economic problems worse than thought..... Thats not really a surprise

BBC news reports this morning that

Prime Minister David Cameron is set to deliver a stark warning about the action needed to tackle Britain's budget deficit and public debt. He is expected to say the UK's economic problems are "even worse than we thought" as he sets out why he believes "painful" cuts are necessary.

Well to those of us in Harlow that's not really surprising. We had exactly the same situation in 2008 when we took control of Harlow Council for the first time. We had a fairly good idea that the books were in a mess, but there is only so much that the opposition really ever know. What we did know was that Labour over many years in Harlow had been wasteful and not tended to the budget carefully, putting off painful decisions to a later date and trying to spend its way out of other decisions. Sounds fairly similar to the national situation.

So what did we do in Harlow and what learning can I pass on to the new Government (albeit from a much smaller perspective)

1. Open the books up to public inspection and let the journalists/public know why the economic mess happened. Transparency is just the start though.
2. Be honest about the depth of the problem and how painful the solution is going to be. People appreciate it so much more when politicians give a straight answer, even if it's not the answer that they want
3. Keep people informed regularly about your thinking on recovering the situation. Its no good solving the problem behind closed doors and then failing to bring people with you on the journey.
4. share the pain equally. In Harlow this meant a freeze in allowances and councillors as well as staff paying for their car parking, not easy decisions but the public were more accepting of the other financial decisions because it was apparent, that just like the campaign slogan "we're all in this together"

To be fair I think David Cameron knows these things already and has shown that he is following a similar play book nationally. Will it work? I think the national economy is in a bad state, but I think Cameron and his team do have the guts to make the changes that need to be made even though they will be painful.

Will the public accept and understand? I really think that there is a chance they will, but Cameron will really have to remember to bring a wider audience of people with him, and ultimately the government will stand or fall on whether we really are ALL in this together.

Monthly Surgery & Blitz.....

Today was the first Saturday in the month and thus my ward surgery day. I got together with Cllr Simon Carter and Cllr Tony Hall the other two councillors in Church Langley for two hours. We are fortunate in having a good working relationship with Tesco and they let us hold our surgery in their entrance hall every month. This month we were also joined by Cllr Clive Souter who is a Cllr for the neighbouring ward of Potter Street.

We had a lot of comments from people about the election results, and a lot of congratulations to pass on to our new MP Rob Halfon. We were also very happy to congratulate the voters of Church Langley for their record turnout at the election - 68% the highest in the town.

Issues raised today were the normal ones of traffic speeds, litter in bushes and some planning issues.

We were also able to spend a few minutes with the new tesco store manager Alex, who kindly gave us a walk through of the proposed refit of the tesco site and chatted to us about future developments that he would like to make on the site.

Tescos, the other shops the pub, the doctors surgery, church and school are a real community focus of Church Langely, so its always nice to know whats happening there. The refit sounds like the shopping options in Church Langely are going to get a lot better.

Later tonight I am off out with Mrs J and her friends to a Blitz Party in London. I am very much looking forward to the event, with swing bands and tunes from the 40's and everyone dressed up. The ladies are spending this afternoon doing authentic hair and makeup. I have managed to hire a Colonel's Uniform.... I just hope we don't get too many strange looks on the train! :-)

The Harlow Open

I was privileged to be able to attend the private view of the Harlow Open last night in the Gibberd Gallery at Harlow Civic Centre.

The Harlow Open is a chance for local artists to enter pieces of work for display, only the best works make it, and I have to say the standard was very high this year.

There were a range of artistic styles on display both in paint and textile work.

The Open also gives some of these budding artists a chance to sell some of their work, although some works are not up for sale, there were many at very reasonable prices.

Wandering the gallery I was struck once again by just how much talent there is in Harlow.

If you get a chance to pop into the Gallery in the next few weeks, please do - it will be well worth your while.

Greece with the ENTP

I was in Greece recently, as those who follow my tweets will know.

I thought some of you would find it interesting if I blogged about the reasons for being there.

You see, I am president of the ENTP, the "European New Towns Platform" and the General Assembly of the ENTP was held in the new town of Agios Stefanos from 26th to 28th May.

The ENTP is a pan European group of New towns, that was formed in 2001. Its key objectives are:

• For New Towns to share experiences, as all new towns have similar themes, issues and problems it is worth talking to each other to avoid re inventing the wheel
• To act as an automatic grouping to access EU funding; many people don't know that to access the monies the EU gives out you need to be working in a network of other towns, the ENTP is a ready made network
• To lobby the EU and National Governments to take note of the particular roles and difficulties suffered by new towns in policy making and spending reviews.

It represents 31 New Towns from 12 European countries and has about a dozen partner organisations who are interested in New Towns.

In 2008 when the Conservatives took control of Harlow Council, I took over from the Labour Leader Tony Durcan as a board member of the ENTP; Tony had been a board member for two years.

In December 2009 the Board of ENTP elected me as their President.

Since becoming President I have been keen for the ENTP to look beyond the borders of Europe and share the knowledge and experience of New Town development in other countries. We welcomed to the General Assembly this year a new "associate member" of the ENTP the town of Luodian in China. We also welcomed NUAC to talk to the Assembly, an organisation representing about 30 New Towns being developed in Egypt.

I have also been keen to strengthen the lobbying aspect of the ENTP to ensure that Harlow's voice and the voice of new towns across Europe is heard by those making senior decisions.

So what does Harlow get out of this?

Well there is an office and staff in Brussels that we have access to who have a finger on the pulse of whats going on in European funding streams and law making, we have a network of European partners to learn from and a greater opportunity to access EU funding. In the last 4 years our membership of ENTP has gained us access to £580,000 worth of EU monies (that's Harlow tax payers cash coming back to the Harlow!)

Overall I think it is a very worthwhile organisation and one that I am proud to be President of.

I was reelected President of the ENTP on 28th May to serve until at least the next General Assembly in 2011.

Tidying up my desk

Popped into the civic centre after work this evening.

I needed to drop off my council Blackberry to the IT team, as the roller ball was not working - Its a problem I have had with my personal BB a few times over the years and almost always needs a fresh one to sort the situation.

As a council leader who works full time my BB is a lifeline, enabling me to work on the go. It has taken officers a while to get used to virtual meetings via phone or email about issues but most now no problem about emailing me at all times of day or night with issues for my attention. I hope they either fix it or get me a new one ASAP.

I also grabbed the post from my tray and waded through it. My PA is very good at spotting urgent issues from the pile but I am always left with lots to look through. The thing that always amazes me about the leaders post bag is the wide variety of information I get! Despite living in an Internet age and lots of organisations sending emails and PDFs there are still a plethora of organisations out there who want to send glossy brochures explaining their latest genius ideas.... Sadly a lot of these glossy brochures come from Government departments, something I hope will cease under the coalition.

There are the normal letters from constituents in my ward with issues and some from people who have not got the answer they wanted from officers or other councillors.

Then there are always invitations to events, some national conferences, some regional but the ones I look forward to most are the Harlow events. I have one firmly in my diary for tomorrow night - an evening view of an exhibition that formally opens in the Gibberd Gallery on the 5th, a showcase of local Harlow Artists.

After tidying my desk I dash home to see my daughter before she goes to bed and read her a bedtime story.

Executive Committee means faster decisions

So at annual council we decided to back my plan to move to an executive committee, getting rid of the P&R, Housing and E&C committees that did exist.

Getting to grips with a new system will take a while and I am sure people (who in the main don't like change) may be a little upset, but it removes the long trudge of items being referred from one committee to the other, speeds up the decision making process and I think will work out cheaper and more transparent to the public.

In the mean time I will be bringing a paper to the first executive meeting, next week, about moving to full cabinet style governance, and the 6 months of consultation and thoughtful reflection the council must go through before any such decision can be taken.

The first executive also gives me the first question session of the year to answer, as leader, which I am very much looking forward to!

Harlow Council - where do we go from here?

Next week is the "Annual Council meeting" - the first meeting of the council after the local elections.

At the ACM we elect the two ceremonial roles Chairman and Vice Chairman of the council and the business roles Leader and Deputy Leader, we also decide which committees that we are going to have and appoint to them and appoint their Chairmen and vice Chairmen. Its all rather procedural and boring at times.

BUT I have been wondering a lot about the formation of the council and who goes where to best serve the town, given the mass of skills the Conservative administration in Harlow has at its disposal.

I have also been thinking about the Scrutiny role, and considering that I don't believe an administration should scrutinise itself, I am fairly sure that we should not only let the opposition Chair that committee, as is tradition in Harlow, but that they should have the vice chairman position on it too.

I really would like to see Harlow Council operating in a more streamlined decision making process so that good decisions can be made faster and cheaper.

Working with the Lib Dems is morally right - but we may still end up being stung

My name's Andrew, and I've worked with the Lib dems....

There, I have said it.

Against all the warnings of other Council Group Leaders and CCHQ, whose advice interestingly was "Never do it!" I did.

And lived to regret it.

Well kind of....

You see in Harlow before 2002 the town was ALWAYS run by the labour party. It was laughingly referred to by those who lived and worked around it, as the "Socialist Republic of Harlow". So in 2002, when for the first time ever, the electorate delivered a council with the make up 12 Con, 12 LD, 9 Lab, not only did we cheer hard, but we had to think very hard about what that electorate were telling us.

We knew the years of disastrous profligate labour administrations had to end but I didn't have the votes to do anything about it in real terms.We were driven by high ideals of changing our town for the better, of a once in a generation chance to stop the financial rot and actually achieve something for our voters. It drove us to "want" to work with the Liberals, just to ensure that our town had steady governance and we could actually put things right.

The Libs just wanted power. To be honest, I realise now that is all they ever want. I and my colleagues failed in our logic when we ascribed to them the same high ideals of "sorting the town out" that we had

The first six to nine months went well. There were successes for the "joint administration", bringing in a council tax cut and starting to get committees working. But within 15 months the whole thing was on the rocks.

Why?

Because for the Lib Dems the grass was always greener, Labour were the more natural bed fellows of our left left leaning colleagues and the new Labour leader in the town was keen to offer lots behind close doors to the Liberals, who decided to turn on us with Labour in an orchestrated move to bring down the administration and frustratingly (we were a larger group by then due to a defection) put the smaller Lib Dems into a minority administration, just to "do over the Torys".

Did it work for us? Well we knew that we had done "the decent thing", we got the district council working, and gave residents a relief from the constant spend spend spend of Labour. But we got very burnt in the process. I doubt my group of councillors will trust another party in Harlow for many years to come.

Did it work for the Lib Dems? They got short term power off the back of it and even a couple of years coalition with the Labour party, but eventually the Lib Dem bubble has burst and Harlow has returned to a mainly two party system.

I see many parallels to the national situation to that which we faced in Harlow in 2002.

David Cameron has no choice morally, but to seek with the Lib Dems, unpalatable as it may be to many of us. It is the only sure fire way to get the Government working again. The Lib Dems are only interested in power and what they can get for themselves, and frustratingly we are going to have to give them that power;

My advice to David Cameron is do the deal for the sake of the country but know in the back of your mind that the Liberals will both plan to and try to do the dirty on us, so be prepared for it!