Harlow Tory

Blog Moving

2010-07-17T12:01:00.002+01:00

This blog is moving to a new location. If you're directly viewing the old site you will be automatically forwarded to the new one. If you're reading this in an RSS aggregator, please go to the new site to subscribe to the new RSS feed.

Thanks!

County Council Cash - Can your group get some?

2010-07-14T22:08:00.002+01:00

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

2010-07-13T12:10:00.003+01:00

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

2010-07-12T20:32:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-11T18:34:00.003+01:00

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

2010-07-09T13:34:00.003+01:00

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

2010-07-08T10:57:00.003+01:00

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

2010-07-08T08:45:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-07T08:16:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-06T22:05:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-04T21:21:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-02T08:30:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-01T16:13:00.004+01:00

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!

2010-07-01T08:50:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-30T21:14:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-28T12:55:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-27T21:11:00.002+01:00

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!

2010-06-25T08:43:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-06-24T08:21:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-23T22:15:00.001+01:00

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!!!

2010-06-23T14:38:00.000+01:00

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 rock O'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!

2010-06-23T08:32:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-22T21:23:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-06-21T23:11:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-21T22:13:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-21T13:57:00.004+01:00

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

2010-06-21T12:43:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-19T10:04:00.003+01:00

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?

2010-06-17T12:35:00.001+01:00

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!

2010-06-16T18:27:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-16T08:27:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-11T23:30:00.006+01:00

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

2010-06-10T22:22:00.002+01:00

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!

2010-06-10T18:30:00.003+01:00

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

2010-06-07T08:53:00.002+01:00

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)

Open the books up to public inspection and let the journalists/public know why the economic mess happened. Transparency is just the start though.
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
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.
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.....

2010-06-05T15:34:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-04T07:59:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-03T08:57:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-02T21:44:00.003+01:00

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

2010-06-02T08:47:00.001+01:00

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?

2010-05-20T12:46:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-10T12:32:00.000+01:00

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!

London!

2010-04-16T01:12:00.001+01:00

A night out with friends from work tonight for a bit of a change from the election fever!

It was good to catch up with John, whose official leaving do I missed earlier in the year because of full council.

We met up at liverpool street station and walked down to the lovely Tayyabs which I would reccomend wholeheartedly, although dont forget to bring your own alcohol if you want to drink.

It was nice to be away from politics for a short while, although the talk of the table was about the leaders debate that was on TV tonight (I recorded it to watch now - sad political junky that I am)

A day in Harlow

2010-04-14T22:27:00.003+01:00

So today I took a days annual leave from work to stay in Harlow and work on the election campaign instead.

First up was a meeting for all the Agents for the local elections (I am our Agent). Agents are there to keep the candidates within the law during election campaigns and to represent the candidates. It involves monitoring what is being spent and a lot of paperwork. Harlow Council is a good council for working with the agents of all the partys and holds helpful breifing sessions where all the agents can ask questions and hear the latest from the returning officer. I found out about the arrangements for the count on election night and such like.

The rest of the day was spent in the Party office, mainly printing leaflets for an envelope stuffing excercise on saturday morning; but I also spent a considerable ammount of time doing basic things like answering the phone and answering queries from the public, arranging for our poster team to visit with election sign boards and the like and handing out leaflets to vounteers for delivery when they popped by.

All in all a very satisfying day with lots achieved.

Mrs J's Birthday

2010-04-10T16:47:00.002+01:00

It was my wife, the other Cllr Johnson's birthday today.

So of course I spent the day treating her to breakfast in bed and bowing to her every whim? Nope - haven't you heard.... there is an election campaign on.

By 08:30 I was in the party office making sure that our delvivery and canvass teams had everthing that they needed for the day. Meeting with Russell the "agent" for the general election; I am agent for the local election and deputy chairman political of Harlow Conservatives so there is quite a bit of crossover in our roles so we keep in touch regualarly during election time to ensure everything runs smooth.

After that was finished we had a visit from my friend Peter, who helps me with anything stats and new media related. We had a very interesting discussion about how to use facebook to get our message to people, particularly those in the 18-24 year old age bracket.

Being very willing to pitch in, after our meeting Peter came out delvivering leaflets with me in and around Tye Green Village, one of the original villages that Harlow was built on top of and now is part of the Bush Fair ward that Dan Lucia is trying to win from the Lib Dems in the local elections. It was a warm morning and delivering with Peter, being able to chat as we went was nice.

The day was very successful in terms of outside help. Our MEP and good friend of Harlow Geoffrey Van Orden came to help campaign with Rob and James Cleverly the London Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley came over to help too! Many thanks to Geoffrey and James!

I finally left the party office about an hour ago.

So the Conservative Party has had my day, but the evening belongs to my wife. Her friends are all almost here and we are off out for a surprise... I wont say here in case it ruins its for her.

Ending the week with some crisps

2010-04-09T23:07:00.002+01:00

A busy day at work, followed when I got home with an urgent call from a resident with an issue of someone blocking their driveway. We managed to find the owner of the car and get it moved but the resident was obviously not happy.

After that I spent some time writing the last of some leaflets that I had been working on for our local election candidates.

Since it is the other Cllr Johnson's birthday tomorrow we have a house guest this weekend, and so with my wife and her best mate on the couch chatting and watching trashy TV I took the opportunity to head over to Robert's house in New Hall (just round the corner really) and meet up with the core campaign team.

We like to get together during election time at times when it wont impact on canvassing or delivery time so Friday night is an oft favorite.

First order of business Crisps - special ones that had been sent to Rob.

I think the thing that most amazes me about Rob's campaign team is that its so young! Four of the seven people in the room were under 33, which by most Conservative Associations is very good, but I suspect is reflective of our new town demographics.

The advantages of this are that nothing is done "just because its the way it has always been done" which makes the team innovative and dynamic.

I am TIRED!

2010-04-08T21:52:00.003+01:00

Today has been more tiring again. I think sleep deprivation may be catching up on me. The problem is that I already work full time in the NHS in a busy job, am Leader of Harlow council which is effectivly a second full time job and on top of that have been helping in the election campaign as much as possible in the few spare moments I do get. I sometimes wish we had 36 hour days, as I would be able to get more done!

So... can I look forward to good rest at the weekend? Of course not - weekends are the busiest times for election campaigners and not interrupted by work!

I have however been encouraged by the sheer number of volunteers that have descended to Harlow to help us try and win the General and Local elections. Thanks to all those people who are coming to Harlow to help out.

The election kicks into gear

2010-04-06T13:01:00.002+01:00

If there are two things I can say about election campagins it is that they are fun and they are exhuasting.

Spent the evening after work delivering leaflets to Church Langley, the ward I represent, about the election being called and the good work Rob is doing in Harlow.

But it was all done in good humour with the team I was working with. Everyone is in good spirits.

Finally!

2010-04-05T17:27:00.000+01:00

The general election has finally been called.

In many ways this is no surprise. We all knew it was coming and most people had been saying that it would be May 6th for quite a while now. I know all of that but it does not stop the slight butterflies in my stomach as we launch our general election campaign.

In Harlow there will of course be two elections as 11 council seats are up for grabs too.

So we are now electioneering again, and I can look forward to some very busy days and some very late nights. I hope that my wife (the other Cllr Johnson) will continue to be as understanding as always!

Its been the week from hell

2009-05-05T12:47:00.002+01:00

It really has....

Sorry I have not posted much but it has been appalling.

I got a phone call a week ago to tell me that my nan was dying in hospital, and spent the rest of the day trying to get their and ignoring most of everything else. The family were all gathered together, and despite us all knowing she had been ill for a while it still caused a lot of shock. She finally died Wednesday.

Thursday was a by election, which I have blogged about before. UKIP cost us the election, taking 66 precious votes (yes it was that tight).

Overall you will see that its not a great week, so I have not been posting.

Please excuse the lack of blogging.......

2009-04-28T12:40:00.003+01:00

At the moment, those of you who follow this blog will know that there is a by-election campaign going on in the ward of Staple Tye in Harlow. The election is on Thursday (30th).... so thats about 42 hours til polls open. Which kind of explains why I have not been blogging much in the past week. Apologies.

My days have been mostly:

Go to work (for those who don't know I work in the Health Service as a Business and Performance Manager for a large London hospital trust, mainly looking after contracts with a lot of PCT's and trying to get as much money for the trust to work on as possible)

Get home and spend a precious half hour or so with my daughter

Go out and knock on doors / deliver leaflets

Get home and eat

Then help write more leaflets / phone people to get extra deliverers/canvassers/organise other events.

In the odd gaps that can be found in that I have been doing my role as leader of the council and answering emails/calls through the day on my blackberry.

Most nights with all the council emails etc I have been getting to bed vvvvvery late.....

The thing is, I do actually enjoy it. I will however be looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend as a relaxation post by-election and before the County Council/Euro election month hits us!

If you are in or near Harlow on Thursday and want to help the conservative party win a by election please do get in touch.

Freedom of Harlow

2009-04-25T23:38:00.000+01:00

Today I was privilaged to attend the first time that Harlow granted the freedom of entry to the town to anyone. We presented it to the Essex Yeomanry. It was wonderful to see the result of the motion I moved at full council.

It was not only a wonderful parade, but it brought out the best in harlow. From people cheering and clapping our boys and girls to praising them afterwards, it was wonderful to see so many people supporting our heroes.

During the presentation of the freedom proclomation I have to admit that I got a lump in my throat....

Sadly not everyone feels as proud and supportive of them. There was apparently one minor incident where a group of people (who normally are seen with an armful of "socialist worker" publications ) shouted some abuse. But they were in the extreme minority.

I was really pleased to see so many people from Harlow celebrating the civic life of the town, and showing appreciation to Harlow's troops.

Green Fingers

2009-04-22T07:59:00.000+01:00

As I have got older I have found a growing (pardon the pun) affinity to my garden.

I like to grow things. I particularly like to grow things that I can eat!

There is something rather magical about popping into the garden to get ingredients, for my other growing passion, when I am cooking. Knowing where your food has come from and how it is grown is a wonderful thing.

This always used to be small scale, the odd herb in a pot. Fresh rosemary on my lamb, fresh bay leaves in my stews.

But in more recent years it has (ahem) mushroomed, to the odd mushroom, and a couple of chilli plants and a wider herb garden.

I really took the plunge this year though!

I have built a raised vegetable bed for onions, beetroot and and miniature sweetcorn , I have beans and peas growing up my trellis and have buckets with potatoes in.

My daughter (almost 3 years old) is loving playing in the garden with daddy and has some sunflowers growing as well. There is something quite magical about children understanding how the natural world works and where food comes from.

Of course I don't have that much time and so my efforts are limited to what I can do in my small back garden.

Many others though are taking the plunge and through a desire to go greener, a wish to save money, the chance to do something as a family in the open air, or maybe a combination of the three are driving a rejuvenation of "grow your own".

If you want to grow your own on a bigger scale or a group of friends and family want to work together, why don't you consider getting an allotment?

In Harlow, the council has 35 allotment sites, so there is probably one quite near you. It doesn't cost much, the typical plot is only about £18 for a year, and there are concessions for pensioners and those on benefits.

If you want to know more about allotments in Harlow, take a look here.

A wedding with a difference....

2009-04-19T21:32:00.006+01:00

Yesterday I had a wonderful experience!

I have been to many weddings over the years but never to a Sikh one.

That changed yesterday.

A guy that has worked with me for the last six months, invited Mrs J and I along with some other work colleagues to celebrate his wedding.

It was like no wedding I had ever been to.

There were some obvious differences, like the ceremony being in a language that I did not understand, and sitting on the other side of the temple to Mrs J.

The subtle differences were very interesting though, the fact that it was more than just a joining of two people but far more the joining of two families.

And the sheer size of the wedding was amazing. 600 people at both the temple and the reception. 600! Most weddings I have been to 200 has been considered very large, but 600 was just huge.

The reception was more like a giant awards ceremony than most wedding receptions, and the sheer vibrancy of the colours of the outfits that the ladies wore was incredible. Everyone had obviously put so much time into their outfits, and the tables and the food and everything else.

It was a real honour and a pleasure to have been invited to the wedding, to share the day with the happy couple and it was a wonderful experience culturally for me.

Alcohol Success - Underage drink sales reduced

2009-04-17T08:54:00.003+01:00

A year ago when there were some test purchases made in Harlow, over 30% of the tests were failed - that means that about 1 in 3 shops tested sold alcohol to under 18's.

Now any councillor will tell you that lots of their mailbag/email inbox of complaints is based around rowdy young people on street corners and associated anti social behaviour. Often it appears as though alcohol is involved. So this is an issue that concerns us all very much.

In that last year Harlow’s Community Alcohol Partnership has been established, bringing together the experts from Harlow Council’s Safety and Licensing Team and the Council's Community Safety Team working with both the Police and Essex County Council's Trading Standards supported by the Councillors on Harlow Councils Licensing Committee under the leadership of Cllr Nick Churchill (pictured) and Cllr Sarah Dangerfield the Chairman and Vice Chairman.

The results?

Alcohol sales to underage drinkers are falling in Harlow according to the latest test purchasing figures. The rate of test purchase failure has plummeted like a stone from over 30% to 11% in the last year, which is now better than the county wide target of 15%.

This is a real success for collaborative working between the County and District Council's and the Police, and my thanks for all the hard work goes to all those involved.

But the hard work does not stop there.....

For the coming year the team will be trying to ensure that the 11% does not slip, continuing to educate and warn retailers and now to target those who illegally buy alcohol for those underage.

Lib Dems "act shamelessly"

2009-04-16T00:02:00.004+01:00

Local politics sometimes provides a few amusements, but none so much as the activities of the Lib Dems in Harlow.

I and my fellow councillors had an email this evening from a Lib Dem councillor calling for all councillors to avoid gutter politics, respect others and promoting decency in public life.

And that would be great if the Lib Dems actually believed that. We know that what their Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors schemes is something completely different.

As was recently reported in the Guardian, and raised in the House of Commons the Lib Dems advise their councillors to "Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly."

The Libs also advise "Don't be afraid to exaggerate." but worse than that it advises Lib Dem Councillors to deceive the public by saying different things to different people "you can secure support from voters who normally vote Tory by being effectively anti-Labour and similarly in a Tory area secure Labour votes by being anti-Tory."

I suppose a message to all of us in Harlow, as they fight a council By-election in Staple Tye and then the County Council Elections, is that we should be prepared for lots of nasty negative campaigning since they believe that "Positive campaigning will NOT be enough to win control of the council."

The ultimate insult to voters in Harlow though, is that the Liberals advise their councillors that "You are NOT running the council. It's NOT your problem."

Surely all councillors are elected to work for the best of their abilities for their public, not to "be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly"!

Harlow gets tough on benefits cheats

2009-04-15T16:12:00.005+01:00

Harlow Council has got tough on Harlow benefit cheats with two recent prosecutions.

One case in particular caught my eye - Mrs Marian Wright of Old Harlow, claimed Council Tax benefit despite having whopping undeclared savings of over £48,000! She plead guilty recently at Harlow Magistrates Court.

I think not only is it good that the council is catching people who are cheating the system, but that they are now highlighting the cases like these to the press. Lets hope the local newspapers help us spread the word that Harlow and the Tax Payers of Harlow wont put up with people cheating the system.

For those who might be worried, a change in circumstances can effect your Council tax or Housing benefit, so its best to just talk to the Council and tell them about the change, or else you could be committing benefit fraud.

If you want to report a case of benefit fraud to Harlow Council, you can do so anonymously by calling 01279 446474/446655 or you can email them - fraud@harlow.gov.uk

Well done to the officers involved in detecting and prosecuting this fraud!

The Voice

2009-04-13T21:12:00.002+01:00

Saturday saw Mrs J (the other Cllr Johnson) and I heading into London to celebrate her birthday (she is old now!)

For her birthday Mrs J had chosen to go to the Royal Albert Hall to hear Russell Watson perform.

I can't say that I have ever been "The Voice's" biggest fan, however the evening was very moving. Not only does Mr Watson have a great voice, with an eclectic repertoire that stretched from a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria to Twist and Shout, but he certainly showed a real human side when interacting with the crowd; He posed for photos on stage after jokingly reminding people that flash photography was not allowed, and spent a long time wandering through the audience hugging and kissing many of his female fans.

We had a very enjoyable evening and certainly left the concert with a bounce in our step, ignoring the drizzle to stop off in Leicester Square and get dessert at the Haagen Dazs shop (also very good)

The journey home was ok; central line to epping, but it did make me wonder once again about the plan I keep pitching to anyone who will listen about bringing the Central Line out from Epping to Harlow.

Harlow leads the way for housing veterans

2009-04-09T21:41:00.006+01:00

I got a press release from the government today.

Now my normal reaction at this point would be an urge to bin it!

I actually tend to read with disgust.

Today I saw it was about "housing for heroes" and gladly read on.

It appears the Government has just recognised that there might be a number of members of the armed forces returning from active service or being discharged from the forces following injury, who might actually need support.

So instead of:

Paying adequate compensation to wounded service personnel;

Having a better way of readjusting personnel in their return to civvie street;

Generally improving the housing on military bases in the first place.... I could go on but you get the idea,

Instead of this, they tell local councils to take care of these Heroes.

Well you know what Mr Brown?

We and many council like ours are well in front of you, and we want to care for our Heroes!

I have already blogged about what Harlow Council is doing around this issue here. And we are very happy to be doing it. Just like we are happy to support the local reserve forces.

What makes me mad is that the Government had to be prompted by Councillors in authorities like Harlow, asking the questions of Government departments before they did anything.

But I wont stay mad for too long, because these Heroes need as much help as we can all give.

Hot Cross Buns

2009-04-08T22:27:00.005+01:00

A step back from politics for a moment for the most important debate of our times that is raging at the moment - Hot Cross Buns!

You see my friend Peter has been having a bit of a debate on his blog about Hot Cross Buns here.

Now having been brought up as a Catholic boy, I know that you should only eat them from Good Friday onwards, but like so many traditions that really has gone by the wayside these days, indeed growing up I remember with fondness the taste of freshly toasted buns with lashings of marg.

Still, I was going to try and keep to the Easter only idea this year.

That was until I got home from canvassing this evening to find my wife whipping some cream, with a pot of raspberry jam on the side and buns ready for toasting. Needless to say I was easily tempted and I can report to you all that Hot Cross Buns, served like cream tea scones are really most excellent!

No More Noise!

2009-04-07T12:49:00.000+01:00

Noise nuisance is often very upsetting to people and it occasionally makes an appearance in councillors mail bags as an issue raised by constituents, although it tends to be a seasonal thing, come summer and people throw open their windows and crank up the stereo.

I think we might all have played music loudly at one point or another in our lives and in the most part if you are having a party or a couple of songs on a summer afternoon then most neighbours wont be too bothered, and if they ask you to turn the music down then most people tend to realise that it might have bee a "bit too loud" and gladly lower the volume.

However it's a bit different if your neighbour keeps playing on and on, even ignoring Council Environmental Health Officers and prosecutions.... As was the case of Mr William Jordan recently.

Mr Jordan, a Harlow Council tenant whose music "caused misery" for neighbours, had his audio equipment confiscated and was also fined £565 when his case came before Harlow Magistrates' Court a couple of weeks ago.

Mr Jordan had a noise abatement notice served on him which he broke and was prosecuted for, then has a second noise abatement notice served after he continued to cause complaints.

When officers attended just before midnight one night last year they witnessed him in breach of the second noise abatement notice, playing music so loudly that it was stopping neighbours sleeping.

So in November a warrant was granted by magistrates to seize Mr Jordan's stereo and other audio equipment. The following day Harlow Council officers were accompanied by Police to the property and confiscated the audio equipment including a stereo, sub woofer and loud speakers, and the Council commenced legal proceedings for the offence.

I am determined that Harlow Council takes issues that matter to residents, like noise and litter nuisance seriously and will prosecute where people are making their neighbour's lives a misery. We all have to have a responsibility to make Harlow a better place to live.

Well done to the Environmental Health and Legal Officers for their work on this!

If you are plagued with noise nuisance in Harlow you can report it by contacting 446111 or email contact@harlow.gov.uk.

Easter Rubbish & Recycling

2009-04-07T12:06:00.000+01:00

The normal bin days and recycling days will be changing over the Easter holiday because there are not going to be any collections on both Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Harlow Council has published information about this here and details of which collection day you are already here.

I have summarised the revised collections dates below:

Normal date Revised date
Fri 10/04/09 Sat 11/04/09
Mon 13/04/09 Tue 14/04/09
Tue 14/04/09 Wed 15/04/09
Wed 15/04/09 Thur 16/04/09
Thur 16/04/09 Fri 17/04/09
Fri 17/04/09 Sat 18/04/09

Please remember not to put your rubbish out the night before if you don't have wheeled bins, as the foxes and cats as we know will have an Easter Party.

For those who generate an excess of Rubbish or Recycling over the Easter period and don't want to wait for the regular rubbish or recycling collection there is always the Civic Amenity Point (or Dump as it's known in my house!) run by Essex County Council, which is open all holiday including Easter Sunday, details here.

No Blogging Today

2009-04-06T13:28:00.002+01:00

Andrew is not feeling very well, so I agreed to post this, to let you all know that he wont be blogging today (No Andrew not even if you feel "a bit better" later! :-) ) Normal service will resume soon. Oh and I wont be putting this on twitter, mainly because I can't quite figure out how......

Mrs J (the other Cllr Johnson)

Essex gives £100 towards Council Tax

2009-04-05T16:19:00.001+01:00

Up to 30,000 people across Essex are going to be given £100 to help them with their Council Tax in these economically difficult times.

The Conservative administration at County Hall, have decided that those in most need, families with young children and those over 80 years of age should receive financial assistance.

Essex residents are of course already benefiting from the lowest council tax rise in the county in history.

A number of people reciveing this £100 will be from Harlow, and I was really happy when Lord Hanningfield the leader of Essex County Council told me about the scheme.

Harlow District Council are helping to distribute the money to those people who meet the criteria.

Of course the ability to pass this money back to hard pressed tax payers has only been achieved by the sound financial management of Essex County Council by Lord Hanningfield and his Conservative team;

A big difference to the previous Lib/Lab adminsitration who drained the reserves, a situation those of you who know Harlow will not be surprised by!

Further details of the £100 pound give back can be found here.

Well done Lord Hanningfield - this is the kind of thing that makes Conservative councils different.

Lib Dem Councillor Squirms

2009-04-05T11:44:00.004+01:00

Lib Dem Councillor Emmanuel (Manny) Doku was apparently so incensed by my previous blogs on his scheme to claim taxi journeys instead of paying £1 a day to park, just like council staff, that he has emailed me.

I wont go into the whole email but will just focus on one sentence:

"I do hope that your decision to attack me personally is not racially motivated."

I was very annoyed when I read this.

Firstly I totally resent the inference that Cllr Doku would consider me even capable of a racially motivated attack.

Second as you will be able to see here and here there is absolutely no mention of race in my previous posts on the issue. My issue with Cllr Doku is solely his scheme to cost the taxpayer more! I now have to wonder what has caused Cllr Doku to say such a thing? Was he attempting to gag my criticism of his expenses claim by playing a "race card"?

Thirdly I have made no "personal" attack on Cllr Doku. I have simply reported the details of his scheme and expressed my disgust at such a scheme to cost the tax payer money.

In 11 years in politics I have never been so upset.

Chamber of Commerce

2009-04-04T11:44:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I had the chance to meet, along with the Chairman of Harlow Council Tony Hall, the Harlow Chamber of Commerce, in the form of Sean Quinney and Ian Hudson their Chairman and Vice Chairman.

The Harlow Chamber of Commerce went through a bit of a bad patch a few years ago, with a few people leaving at the same time, but under the leadership of these chaps they seem to be doing very well.

We talked about the networking events that they host, the new members that they were targeting and the networking work they were doing.

It was good to tell them about the Council's changing view of business. Since taking over the Council the Conservative Administration have started promoting business in the District a lot more, including business for the first time in the Council's corporate plan.

I have invited the Chamber to my next business breakfast and look forward to finding other ways to help and work with them in future.

Stansted Airport (narrowly avoiding Obama)

2009-04-03T23:29:00.000+01:00

Today was a very busy day.

I took another days "annual leave" from work to spend doing leader of council things; something which I have blogged about before.

The day was a good mixture of catch up meetings, with senior officers from the council and paperwork/emails. I also had a very good visit to Stansted airport (and no not to see Obama take off as he had left a couple of hours before!)

The visit to Stansted was at the invitation of Ashley Rily, who is Head of Communications for BAA Stansted. Ashley has been getting very involved in Harlow recently representing the airport at all sorts of events. He came to my business breakfast last year, and has just agreed to represent the Airport on the Harlow 2020 partnership (the local strategic partnership).

At the Airport my Head of Regeneration and I met with Ashley and Stuart Wingate the MD of the Airport. We talked about the current issues at the airport, including the way they had successfully managed the arrival and departure of most of the high profile G20 participants. We also talked about regeneration opportunities for Harlow and how things like the rail line which serves both the Airport and Harlow could be improved for both of us. Importantly we also talked about how more people from Harlow could find employment at the airport, and not just in low paid low skilled jobs.

I will be hosting a return visit to Harlow at some time in the near future for both Ashley and Stuart, where I will be able to show off all the good things that the town has to offer. I am really looking forward to working with them in future.

Berecroft Improvements

2009-04-02T16:18:00.003+01:00

Cllr Lee Dangerfield has just breifed me on some of the happenings at a meeting with South Anglia Housing, on the Berecroft estate.

Apparently SAH have now given a commitment to:

Install CCTV on the estate to combat anti social behaviour, as requested by the residents.
Improve the hardstanding areas of the estate
Continue the process of removing and replacing guttering

They haven't yet given a commitment to work on the garage improvements.

Overall some really good news for the people who live in Berecroft.

Well done to Cllr Dangerfield for helping get this stuff done!

Further disgust at Lib Dem Councillor!

2009-04-01T23:55:00.003+01:00

I had only just published my previous post when another Harlow Conservative Councillor drew my attention to a previous email that Manny Doku wrote just a few days ago on the same subject.

I currently have a permit to park at the civic centre car park because I needed one. Without that 'perk', I may have to walk (and may be late for meetings as I do have other calls on my time), or take a taxi on every occasion and claim same from the council (which will add up to more than the cost of permit, perhaps).
Again we are not staff and, like some company directors ( and I am one), do have to have some form of 'special treatment' because of sacrifices they tend to make in some cases.
Thanks.
Manny.

It seems Cllr Doku likes his "perks" and considers being a Councillor makes him worthy of "special treatment"!

Perhaps Cllr Doku should be reminded, that it is a privilage to serve his community and that he already recieves an allowance for doing so. And afterall as he points out he is a "company director" as well, which I am sure remunerates him well too.....

Edited 00:12
For those that worry, like Cllr Doku, that he might be late if he walked to meetings, you may want to check a map. Cllr Doku's published address is CM18 6DN and the Civic Centre is CM20 1WG

Expenses & Lib Dems make me disgusted!

2009-04-01T23:21:00.004+01:00

I was shocked and disgusted today by the scheming of a Harlow Lib Dem Councillor to rack up a mass of expenses.

In Harlow, during the budgeting process, which I have documented in this blog for you before, we decided that we should introduce a charge to park in the Council section of the Watergardens Carpark, which was previously free to Council Staff. We were not excessive; £1 a day. More than anything, since it was a tough budget year, this was about sharing the pain of the budget with the tax payers. We also decided that Councillors will have to pay too. After all thats only fair.

Now the opposition voted against our budget, and as I have detailed the Lib Dems never even put a budget on the table themselves. However today when the car parking charges started there were a flurry of emails complaining about the scheme.

What has really taken the biscuit though is that one Lib Dem Councillor - Emmanuel (Manny) Doku today sent the below email to all the Councillors and a lot of council staff:

Dear Colleagues,

Again, I must appeal to your common financial sense to rethink the proposal to charge councillors to park at the Water Gardens. The logic of my suggestion is plainly this (and I repeat what said earlier): I took a taxi to the Civic centre this morning which cost me £4.00 - one way. I shall be claiming this expenditure soon and from the Council. Had I taken another taxi home, the total would have been £8.00, which will be claimed from the Council. Since I am not happy about the charging of £1.00, and as a form of protest, I shall continue to take taxi to meetings at the Civic Centre and claim same. What this means is that instead of paying £1.00 to park, the Council will be paying out many times more that the £1.00. It does not take a rocket scientist to realise that it makes good financial sense to continue with free parking for Councillors.
I rest my case.
Manny.

So lets just get that right, because Cllr Doku objects to paying £1 to park in the car park, he is going to try and land the council with an £8 a day expenses Bill!!! What makes it worse is that Council Expenses rules say that Taxi fares are reimbursable in cases of urgency or where no public transport is reasonably available, which is clearly not the case for Cllr Doku and his little scheme.

I can't believe that to protest aginast paying a £1 a day fee that our staff now pay, Cllr Doku would rather use £8 a day more of taxpayers money via his expenses!

And lets remember that the Lib Dem Group on Harlow Council also voted against Freezing Councillors allowances on budget night!

Earth Hour?

2009-03-31T12:11:00.002+01:00

I was reading a friends blog (very funny by the way!) and he blogged about Earth Hour.

Now although I am a fairly well read sort of guy and keep up to date with the different news media, this one almost slipped under my radar this year.

It's not that I don't want to "save the planet", in fact most of my friends would describe me as a bit of a green nut; which I probably get from my father, who has been "into" recycling for about 20 years or so, long before it was the "thing to do".

I push my family to recycle more at home, we are a one car family (I don't drive) and I love the idea of composting and growing your own food, reducing energy consumption (which also reduces my fuel bills) and above all I don't like to waste things. I think that is pretty green.

So why don't I support things like Earth Hour?

I'm sure that everyone taking part was doing it for the right reasons, sitting in the dark, feeling ashamed about Mankind's negative influences on the Planet, and it probably got a very nice "and finally" on the evening news. But how many peoples attention was drawn to the topic by all those sitting in the dark? And how many peoples attention was caught who didn't already know about Earth Hour and worry about climate change?

It would surely have been better to use that hour (and the electricity) to have coordinated mass email and letter writing campaigns to make various stores and companies more aware of consumer power and call for them to "do their bit". It would have been better to spend the hour sorting household rubbish and walking down to the local recycling point. It would have been better for the organisers to think up something more novel to do this year, rather than the same group of people doing the same thing, with diminishing press coverage and interest. It might have been better to donate some cash to charities and bodies that actually achieve green things (like all those firms that will offset your carbon for a fee).

Personally I think Mankind has an incredibly inventive streak, and yes we are responsible for messing our planet up a fair bit. But I think we will be able to figure out a way forward, with everyone playing their part. The one thing I am certain about is that not much is going to be achieved in figuring out a solution with the lights out!

An "expense"ive form of entertainment

2009-03-30T12:45:00.007+01:00

Every media outlet this morning that I read/listen to from my newspaper to the blogs I read, are all still talking about Jacqui Smiths husbands recreational habits.

At first I was (I know you will be shocked here) sorry for the way she was being treated by the media, after all I reasoned, its not her fault that she is married to a muppet, and anyway mistakes do happen in expenses claims and its only a tenner.

Then I read and thought more. It turns out that the muppet is actually her employed assistant. At £40k. Which is a damn site more than most assistants earn. You start to put that together with her bagloads of cash claimed for her second home... or was that family home (I get confused) and add in Mcnulty's claims on his mums house, and you start to see a pattern emerging amongst Labour MPs.....

Locally Jacqui's collegue Bill Rammell, despite claiming over £100,000 himself, is calling for a review of the system, which I totally support. I also think that any review should cover issues like husbands and wives not being allowed to be "paid for" by tax payers cash; I wonder what Mr Rammells view on that is too........

More Leaflets.....

2009-03-28T18:57:00.000Z

Waking me refreshed from my exhausted Friday, my alarm on my phone has the words flashing at me "time for more leaflets!!!"

Is that just my mind playing tricks or has Mrs J (the other Councillor Johnson) been up to no good with my phone? Hmmmmm

In case you hadn't realised from my previous blogs, we have a by-election coming up in Staple Tye ward in Harlow. The close of nominations for candidates is April 1st, but we already have our candidate chosen - Lorraine Calderella. She and her team have been working hard every day for months to knock on doors and deliver leaflets in the ward telling people about all the good work that the new Conservative council in Harlow is doing. Today we are having an action day to get a specific letter out to the whole ward and keep up the knocking on doors.

A team of about 20 people meet at the Party office at half nine and are all given handfuls of letters to deliver, those knocking on doors will be there at eleven (we try not to wake people early on Saturday) and lunch is provided from midday, before another session in the afternoon.

It's a miserable day! Rain, hail and wind are all not great when you are delivering anything, as your hands get very cold and the leaflet/letter gets very damp. But we soldier on. Meeting residents in Harlow and getting information out to them is very important to us.

It funny but when you have a group together to do something like that there is often very good humour despite the weather, and so it is today. Which makes the bad weather bearable.

All in all a good day, with over 3000 letters delivered and two big estates knocked on.

A good days Holiday!

2009-03-28T00:24:00.001Z

WOW

What a day. I said at the beginning of the week that it was going to be a roller coaster, culminating in Friday.

Every month, I try and take at least one day "off" work to spend in Harlow. Its a killer for the Holiday record at work but very worthwhile and means I am able to deal with those issues that cant be done over phone or email, or in the evening.

The morning starts with a nice lie in (if you call nice being jumped on by your two year old, excited that "daddy hasn't gone to work!" and then breakfast with the Wife and daughter (which is rare in itself) marred momentarily by the fact that our heating seems to have broken down.

On to the office (leaving the indomitable Mrs J to deal with heating situation) and the first hour is taken by paperwork with my hardworking PA, responding to invitations, letters and the like and making sure the diary till Easter is "right"

Then its time to stop and have a meeting with the Chairman of the local Hospital trust, who wants to talk to me about how far they have got with their Foundation trust application. It's always good to hear that the hospital are doing well, and important that leaders of big organisations in Harlow take the time to sit down and have a coffee and "catch up" - sharing intelligence and just briefing each other pays dividends in the end.

Then on to a meeting with the Head of Regeneration, an area that I have put top of the councils priorities. As you will have read me say before, Harlow is aging all at the same time, and many bits of it really do look over 60 years old. We need to regenerate the "experimental planning" of the 50's and 60's now, or risk handing little on to the next generation of use.

Lunch is outside of the civic centre, as I want to discuss the Conservative party plans for fighting the by-election, and rightly we are not able to use the council building for party political reasons. It may be a small difference to some but it's a big issue for me, so I eat just a few steps away from the civic.

At half two I put my leader of the council hat back on and it's down to "the grove" for the end of Harlow's first ever Youth Conference, organised by the Youth Council. I am there to participate in a Question Time style panel session, with The Labour MP, the youngest Harlow Councillor Joel Charles, a police officer and a youth worker amongst others; all chaired by the Chairman of the Council Tony Hall. The questions are superb, showing a lot of thought, and range from "Wouldn't it be better to legalise drugs and remove dealers from the streets" to "Why do the papers only report bad things about young people? We are not all bad". The latter question prompts some considerable anger from the young people in the audience, members of the youth council, the young Essex assembly, the princes trust and representatives of each school council, are all very upset that the local press didn't turn up to see or report on the event, and conclude that the press only like bad news stories about young people. Overall it is a wonderful conference and I hope the first of many!

From there it is a dash back to the civic centre (my thanks to Cllr Charles for the lift!) and a meeting with the Chairman and Chief Executive of Harlow Renaissance Limited, to clarify some challenges I set them recently as part of their ongoing business plan. Its a good meeting, and I always feel excited when we talk about regeneration of Harlow.

From there its off to the Latton Bush centre, which Harlow conservatives have hired for the Evening for a party meeting followed by the AGM of the party.

All in all a good but exhausting day. My wife jokes moments ago - "did you have a good days holiday?"

Would it be too sad to say "yes"......?

Essex Yeomanry

2009-03-26T22:36:00.004Z

Tonight was one of those good evenings, where the Full Council in Harlow got to talk about the good things about Harlow; and the future.

Full Council is a chance for all of the councillors to get together and discuss important issues, move motions for consideration and ask questions of me as Council Leader, and the Committee Chairmen.

The First motion that I had put forward for discussion, was one that I was really proud to speak on.

It was granting the Freedom of Entry to the town by the Essex Yeomanry as part of our St. George's week of celebrations. Its the first time that the freedom of entry to Harlow has ever been granted, and to do something to support our boys and girls, who are based in our town, we felt was important. The Essex Yeomanry, who have a 220 year connection with Harlow, are territorials and shortly due to head out to Afghanistan. We thought it would be a nice way for our community to show how valued they are. Its also nice to make it part of St. George's week (note WEEK not DAY!).

Since taking control of the Council last year, The Conservatives have made a number of these small but important firsts. We have hung a portrait of Her Majesty for the first time ever, appointed the first Council Chaplain, and held the first ever Civic service. Now the first ever Freedom of Entry, with full parade raising money for the Armed Forces Benevolent Fund, Help for Heroes and the Chairman of the Council's charity Child Victims of Crime. It promises to be a great day. So if you are in or around Harlow on the 25th April, then do please come to the town centre and see the parade!

Community Partnerships

2009-03-25T21:48:00.000Z

Not so many years ago, Harlow had a form of community engagement called Community Partnerships. I am sure if you have never been you can imagine the type of meetings that they were.

Go on - just imagine....

A school hall or a church hall, small child size chairs and an urn of tea. Just the same few regular faces turning up to complain about the same old thing.... Well that's how the Labour and Lib Dem wards CPs were, and that's why the Labour/Lib council cancelled them; and went for a series of focus groups instead.

The CPs in Conservative wards were, without exception, successful and well attended by concerned citizens who wanted to take a chance to interact with their councillors and be informed about what the council was doing. Yes you did get some people coming along with single issues, but if the councillors knew their audience, lived in or had a good understanding of the ward, then that was easily dealt with.

All of this became a large political campaign in the town, and a key manifesto pledge for the Conservative Party in Harlow was the reintroduction of CPs.

That's why I am really pleased that last night, at the Policy and Resources Committee, I was able to vote for just that. The scrutiny committee had been looking at it, and referred it to the Environment and Community committee who also referred it on to the Policy and Resources Committee for final decision, (A big danger of an Enhanced committee model of local Government is this type of referral and the associated scheme of delegation), which we gave.

The Lib dems, having scrapped the CPs in administration, voted for reinstating them, which rather makes me wonder what their "real" motives were for both courses of action. The Labour leader decided not to vote either way because "the report got to me late, so I haven't had time to properly consider it"..... this being despite the fact that the working group who produced the report had the previous labour leader as their rep on the group, the original report had been published at scrutiny committee on 10th Feb, had gone to the E&C committee on 19th March, and then come to our meeting on the 24th March.

I would normally expect an opposition group leader to be aware of all the reports that go to all the committees of the council, else how can they lead their group properly?

Anyway he abstained, but the Conservative Administration kept another manifesto commitment and I was pleased to be able to vote to bring back Community Partnerships.

Advice success

2009-03-24T23:19:00.004Z

Tonight's meeting of the Policy and Resources meeting was always going to be a tough meeting, the main item of business being the future of advice services in Harlow.

The day leading up to the meeting saw a number of twists and turns in a well reported saga. But culminated in what I believe to be a success.

We were able to agree a way forward that should see the advice centre remain open for a budget price that the council, and taxpayer, can afford. It also secures the future of CAB in Harlow.

The key movement today, was when the people from the Welfare Rights and Advice centre admitted that they could provide a service for £120,000. Something they previously had not admitted to be possible. My only sadness is that had they been reasonable about the issue in the first place, we could have reached this point much sooner.

We were always very open with people about what the council could afford to pay for advice services. We benchmarked the amount we were able to spend against other councils to ensure that the amount we had was reasonable compared to others, and it was.

Anyway, we have a way to move forward now, and the council has also secured CAB's services in the town as well.

All in all a good result.

Its a shame that the Labour and Liberal Democrats voted against all of the proposals, including the cash for CAB, which they had previously said they supported.

The week ahead

2009-03-23T07:18:00.006Z

OMG (for those of you not able to speak TXT that's Oh My God!) what a week!

Monday is never my favorite of days.... alright its my least favorite of days... but this morning I feel like I am about to be hit by a hurricane.

My week consists of four very busy days of work in my full time job in the Health Service, onto which I am piling:

Audit and Improvement Committee meeting on Monday.
Policy and Resources Committee meeting on Tuesday.
One to One with the Chief Executive of the Council on Wednesday &
Meeting with the Chairman of the Local Strategic Partnership (Harlow 2020) and Chief Executive of Rainbow (she is double hatted) also on Wednesday.
Full Council on Thursday.
Full day in the Council on Friday, including a meeting with the Chairman of the local Hospital trust, the Harlow Youth Conference and a meet with the Chairman and Chief Exec of Harlow Renaissance.... to name just three of the many things during the day.
Friday night - no not a relax, but not Council business, I have a special Executive Meeting of the Party, followed by the AGM of the Party... and at some stage I have to write my report of the year as Deputy Chairman Political of the Harlow Conservatives.
Weekend consisting of campaigning for the By-election, we have an action day on Saturday if anyone wants to help beat the Lib Dems in an election.

Mrs J (the other Councillor Johnson) is understandably not chuffed, although we do get to have dinner together on Friday, since she is also going to be at both the Special Executive and the AGM.... I feel takeaway beckoning already!

Weeks this busy are not the norm, but spare a thought for my daughter whom I will carve out as much time as possible for during weeks like this, and who (bless her) already understands that daddy has three different offices to work from!

Mothers Day....rest.....almost

2009-03-22T20:01:00.003Z

So, it's Mothers Day and that means a rest right? A chance to visit with and spend time relaxing in the comfort of your dear mother.... and no politics right?

Wrong!

The morning started well enough, getting up with the 2 year old daughter, to give Mrs J (the other Councillor Johnson) a lie in as befits the day and her station in our household. Then onto both sets of Parents to see our respective mothers, and shower them with gifts and attention. Easy right? No Politics can creep in there right?

Except for:

The A&I agenda for tomorrow night that I was flicking through here and here.
Checking through the latest leaflet ideas that had been produced by Cllr Lee Dangerfield.
Talking about the upcomming P&R with my dad, when I was with him.
Talking about the latest canvassing plans with my father-in-law, when I was with him.
Answering some emails sneakily to constituents and members of my group, whilst my wife was not looking......

and so on and so forth.

Because even a day off is never really what it seems to be.....

Still - all three mothers (mum, mother-in-law and wife) liked their presents and cards, so brownie points there!

New powers for community safety officers

2009-03-21T09:10:00.000Z

Harlow Council's Enforcement and Licensing officers were yesterday granted new powers under an accreditation scheme run by Essex Police.

The Community Safety Accreditation Scheme is a scheme that allows Police forces to pass on powers to organisations and individuals in the community that are carrying out enforcement or safety work.

It means that they have additional powers and gives them extra protection equivilent to police officers.

Harlow Council's officers will be able to use their powers for issuing fixed penalty notices for offences like graffiti, anti social behaviour, and littering. They will also have powers to remove abandoned vehicles. All things that the people of the town want the Police and the Council to deal with.

Cllr Eddie Johnson, who is the Chairman of the Environment and Community Committee on Harlow Council received the accreditation on behalf of the Council. Speaking afterwards he said "This is really good news for Harlow, under this scheme we can work together to ensure that those who don't obey the rules get caught."

Party Chairman visits Harlow

2009-03-20T23:42:00.006Z

Eric Pickles visited Harlow today.

He came as Conservative Party Chairman to see how the association was doing, and to Support our future MP Robert Halfon.

It was another great chance for us to show a senior member of the Conservative Party just how wonderful Harlow is.

Eric is MP for nearby Brentwood and Ongar, so knows Harlow well. He has often come over with supporters to help us in elections, and it was great to see him again.

He visited Harlow Town Football Club to see their new stadium and the Norman Booth Centre, where him and Robert took on all comers at Table Tennis.... Yes photographic evidence has been secured for later amusement!!!

In the evening, Eric was guest of honour at a Ladies Committee "supper club" and spoke about how very prepared for a General Election the party is. Although having seen Gordon Brown bottle one attempt at an election, I wonder if he now will just hang on till May 2010. Nomatter. The Conservative Party under Eric's Chairmanship will be ready for the election fight!

The Ladies succeded in raising some money for our election efforts and a really good night was had by all.

Knocking on Doors

2009-03-19T08:56:00.002Z

Last night I spent an enjoyable evening with a large group of friends.

No we were not down the pub, or having dinner, but we did have a lot of fun.

We spent the time knocking on doors in the Staple Tye ward, which will shortly be having a by-election. We were making people aware of the election, and finding out how they were going to vote. It was also a great chance to get feedback from them on the first 10 months of a Conservative Council in Harlow, and a feel for what people thought nationally of Gordon Brown and his government.

I'll be honest, not everyone liked the things that the new Conservative Council were doing, but those who didn't understand why we had to do them. The people of the town clearly understand the poor financial position we inherited from the Liberal/Labour led council, and that we were having to make difficult decisions.

One woman I spoke with, alongside Cllr Sarah Dangerfield, was impressed that we didn't try to spin or gloss over the problems, and that I was upfront and told the truth, even if she wasn't going to like it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if other political parties fighting the by-election were willing to be equally honest?

The thing that most impressed me was how well known and liked Cllr Lee Dangerfield, the current Staple Tye Conservative councillor, was by the people we met; and how well known our candidate Lorraine Caldarella was! She has obviously been doing a lot of work!

My thanks to the many people, who were out helping last night, and have been helping every night already. If you want to come out and join us, have a good laugh with the team and help win the Staple Tye ward for the Conservative Party, then drop me a message.

Drug and Alcohol testing

2009-03-17T23:52:00.004Z

At tonight’s meeting of the Environment and Community committee a group of private hire drivers (cabbies to you and I) presented a petition against random testing for drugs and alcohol.

It was one of those rare moments when all three political parties agreed, and told the petitioners so.

All groups were in favour of the new rules, which will help keep passengers safe and encourage use of the cabs in the long run.

Parking changes confirmed

2009-03-17T23:38:00.007Z

Tonight I was a guest at the Environment and Community Committee.

There were a lot of people in the audience and it was a heated meeting; then again it always was going to be. Parking is an extremely emotive issue.

What made the situation worse, was the attitude and position of the opposition councillors.

When I led the opposition, if we opposed an issue we always offered a suggestion for what we would do instead, or how else we would solve the problem. I think that's the role of a responsible opposition and it gives the public a chance to know what your party "thinks" on issues.

Tonight we heard a lot about what the liberals don't like, a lot about what they are against, but nothing positive in it's place. No suggestions. No alternatives. Just abuse to the administration.

I shouldn't be surprised really; it's what they did on budget night too. Criticise but offer no alternative.

What the Conservative Councillors did tonight, was to explain in detail why we have the problems with car parking that we do, why enforcement is needed and what we did with the consultation responses received.

We listened. For the local shopping areas we suggested an hour of free parking. We suggested creating dedicated spaces for businesses and that their staff could have annual permits, for less than £1 a week. We have even started to create extra car parking for businesses in a disused council depot area.

Not everyone was happy, but not everyone ever was going to be on such an emotive subject, but we showed that we were willing to listen to people.

Caroline Spelman visits Harlow

2009-03-16T22:31:00.005Z

Because Robert Halfon got so close to being Harlow's MP at the last general election, and because Harlow is important to the national Conservative party, we often get Shadow Ministers and senior members of the Party visiting Harlow.

I love it when they do, especially since we took control of the council, as we get to showcase what is good about Harlow, and how we are changing the town.

Today we were visited by Shadow Local Government Secretary Caroline Spelman MP, who told us much about the policies of a future Conservative Government; for example the next conservative Government will:

Abolish the East of England Regional Assembly

Abolish centrally imposed housing targets

Scrap the Government's Regional Spatial strategy.

But we didn't just listen to her; Caroline took the chance to have a lunchtime discussion with Conservative Councillors and then went on to visit a Crucial Crew session and to meet with the anti-social behavioural team.

Mrs Spelman was so impressed with improvements in the last year, that she said would seek to replicate the work of Harlow Council's anti-social behaviour team in her own area in Birmingham.

Robert Halfon who accompanied her for the day told me afterwards "I was pleased that Caroline visited Crucial Crew and the anti-social behaviour team. The work this team does for Harlow is ground-breaking and is having a significant effect on reducing anti-social behaviour."

Overall a really good visit. Next one we have is Eric Pickles the Party Chairman on Friday.

A Civic Service

2009-03-15T13:20:00.006Z

This morning Mrs J (the other Councillor Johnson) our Daughter and I went to St Paul's Church for Harlow's first ever Civic Service.

The Civic Service was arranged by Harlow's Conservative Chairman Tony Hall who was also responsible for suggesting that we appoint the first Chaplain to the Council last year.

It was a lovely service, attended by lots of people who are involved in the civic life of the town, and a great chance to showcase something good about Harlow to the rest of the county, who sent representatives in the form of many Mayors and Chairmen. Lord Petre, the Lord Lieutenant of Essex was also in attendance, welcomed by both the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Council.

There were readings and thoughts from Tony, Robert Halfon the Conservative candidate for Harlow, the Council's Chief Executive and the Labour MP - who snuck out part way through the service (I'm sure he had some important Government work to do on a Sunday afternoon) and a former MP for the town who is the Chairman of Harlow's Civic Society.

The congregation were also in rather good voice for the Hymns, and the National Anthem at the end of the Service.

The whole congregation were all then invited back to the Civic Centre for light refreshments by the Chairman.

There were only two things wrong with the morning, the first, something that irritated me - I sat behind Stan Newens, the former MP for the town, an ardent socialist who I don't get on with at the best of times. To give you an idea of his outlook on the world, he wrote a book praising Nicolae Ceauşescu, and his exploits in Romania. Anyway at the national anthem, Stan visibly shuddered and clamped his mouth firmly shut. I am sure it was only coincidence that the entire row behind him sang with even more gusto.

The second thing, which annoyed me, but really should annoy everyone in Harlow, is that there was not a single member of the opposition in the congregation; and just so I am not being biased with the evidence, the majority of the Conservative group were in attendance.

Now I know Councillors are busy people (seconded by Mrs J!) and I know that not everyone can make everything, but not to have any members of the opposition, either from the nine Liberals or the five labour members, is frankly disgusting.

An evening without politics.... I doubt it!

2009-03-14T18:03:00.001Z

When a work friend asked me what I was doing Saturday night, I told him we had friends coming over for dinner.

He remarked about how nice it would be to have a "night off" from politics.

And then I thought about it......

The couple who are coming for dinner are both District Councillors. My wife and I are both District Councillors... All four of us on the same Council. But its worse than that, it wont just be four Councillors round the dinner table.

Between the four of us there will be the Group Leader and Group Whip. The Chairman of the Conservative Association and the Deputy Chairman Political. The Chairman and Secretary of the Ladies Committe of the Association.

Yes - Politics take up a fair chunk of our life and time.

So to misquote the advert

Ingrediants £30
Wine £20
The ability to get to dessert without talking politics - Priceless!

By-election

2009-03-13T12:05:00.004Z

A by-election has been called in the Staple Tye ward of Harlow. A notice of casual vacancy for the ward was published yesterday, following one of the Councillors for the area not having attended a meeting for six months.

Well known local campaigners Lee and Sarah Dangerfield, immediately delivered letters to the Council calling for an election, which the Council has now announced will be held on the 30th April.

Lee told me after calling for the election "I have called for the by-election because the Independent councillor has not taken part in council meetings for six months. Staple Tye deserve a councillor who works hard to represent them. The Conservative party really cares about what happens in Staple Tye, which is why I work so hard here."

With the three seat ward having one Conservative Councillor and one Liberal Democrat Councillor already, with the Labour Party having an active campaigner in the ward, it's sure to be an interesting and close race.

I will keep you informed of developments and bring you details of and an interview with the Conservative candidate shortly.

Anyone for Bowls?

2009-03-13T08:44:00.004Z

An interesting visit last night to the Tye Green Indoor Bowls Club, which is one of the largest indoor bowls clubs in the country.

I went to meet them to talk about their concerns over the introduction of car parking charges for car parks in the area.

The club is lovely, and provides members with a bar and eating area and plenty of entertainment besides the bowls.

Whilst there was a good mix of ages in evidence, they admitted that the majority of their members were more mature, and had been worried by the consultation.

I was able to talk to them about and show them the details of the recommendation that is going to committee on the 17th which includes offering their members passes at less than a pound a week, like we are offering the shops in the area.

No one likes parking charges, but they understood all about falling income and rising prices, and understood why the council had to look at measures like these. By the time I left they were far happier about the situation than when I arrived.

A nice bunch of people and lovely to find out a bit about a sport, that as I admitted to them, I knew very little about. I might just pop back there sometime and learn a bit more about the game.

Council hosts business advice

2009-03-12T10:30:00.000Z

Harlow Council are tomorrow hosting a drop in advice service with Business Link, for anyone thinking about starting their own business, perhaps following redundancy, or for anyone who is already in business and needs advice about coping with the recession.

The surgery is on between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Further details can be found here.

When we took control of the Council, one of the immediate changes we made to the corporate priorities as well as the daily business of the council was to promote and work with business in the town - something the previous Labour led administrations had done little about.

I think a thriving business community is very important for driving the other changes that we need in Harlow, like improving our towns infrastructure and our in many ways our towns image.

I think it's that important that back in December I agreed to sit at a table with the prince of darkness him self - Lord Mandelson, at the opening of the new Business Incubation Centre in Harlow. Although as many commented at the time I did not look happy when he started to talk!!

Parking Consultation

2009-03-11T19:30:00.000Z

Monday afternoon was spent being fed back the results of the consultation into parking changes and charges that we have just conducted.

Now car parking is always an emotive subject to most people. And I admit sometimes I can be a bit dispassionate about these issues as a non driver, which is why when thinking about such items I always like to have other people to bounce ideas off. In this instance both my Deputy Leader Simon Carter and the Chairman of the Environment and Community Committee Eddie Johnson.

We had consulted originally on 20p for first half hour, but had said at the launch of the consultation that we ourselves favoured the first half hour being free. Having read the results of the consultation there is clearly the need for a period of time to be free or low cost, so that people are able to nip to their local shopping areas and buy a loaf of bread and some milk, grab lunch or put a bet on; all the sorts of things that people do at a local shopping areas. It was also clear that there were people who were abusing the parking at the moment, for whom steeper longer term parking charges are needed to dissuade them away from these parking areas.

So in the end we have settled on making the first hour free, which should enable any one to grab a few bits even if their mobility is severely restricted, and I hope people will be happy with. We have also suggested making the charge for between one and two hours parking 60p, with progressively steeper charges for over two hours.

I am sure not everyone will be happy but I don't think when you talk about car parking charges everyone ever is.

For me though its important that we have listened to the consultation.

Why do we do it?

2009-03-10T06:54:00.000Z

After my back to school experience yesterday, I headed to the civic centre.

I try and take at least one day a month, but often more, annual leave from work to spend time in the Civic centre.

Council politicians, contrary to popular myth are not well paid for the role they undertake; at least not in Harlow. The allowance that councillors receive is a small recompense to cover the time that they spend doing council "work". Frankly it works out far less than the minimum wage for the time we all put in. But we don't do it for the money! If I was just interested in money, my full time job would not be in the Health Service, and I certainly wouldn't spend so much time in public service.

It's an interesting debate though, If you rely on "volunteers" which is essentially what most councillors are, then you get people who have availability in the evenings and at weekends, which is why so many council meetings are in evenings.

However there is a strong argument to have councillors, even if only the senior ones, as professionals, working in their town halls 9-5 every day. This has the benefit of being there when the officer corp. are, being able to give strategic direction directly, instead of in the evening to the few, or via telephone and email. This happens in some local authorities now, but invariably as its not paid highly, becomes the preserve of those who are retired or have their own means of supporting themselves. Hardly representative of the people. I know I could not afford to make the Civic centre my "day job" without a reasonably pay packet attached.

Businesses are supposed to give time off for council duties, but this can be unpaid and very few "professionals" would risk even asking for this time, for fear of showing a lack of commitment to the job which pays their mortgage. So it comes down to should we pay councillors salaries?

The disadvantage of paying salaries to councillors is that you risk inventing the role of the professional politician, a career path all of its own, with people leaving university and seeking election, before gaining any life skills in the "real world". I think also that the general public already view the political system as corrupt - "they are all just in it for themselves" is a comment I have heard many times, usually inspired by the misdeeds of just one or two individuals around the country hyped by the national and local media. Very few councillors are "just in it for themselves"

Sometimes I am sure that all councillors wonder, like me, when sitting at a late night meeting of the tedious variety (there are a few) or looking at their annual leave at work and knowing that they wont be able to take a two week summer holiday this year because of the amount of time they have taken to spend in their council role, why they do it at all.

The truth is that most councillors, and in this I include those from all different parties, really do enjoy and want to keep serving their communities.

I know I do.

Back to School

2009-03-09T14:26:00.000Z

This morning I had the daunting task of speaking to a theatre full of sixth form pupils at their school.

Why is this daunting for me, when I speak regularly in front of large audiences?

I think its because for once I was an educator, and was conscious that I needed to not just be political, but stick to my brief and make sure I covered the issues that I was meant to, as part of their ongoing understanding of politics. And I think because most of these kids were likely to be able to vote next year (if that's when the general election is) and I might be the only Conservative to speak to them before then.

I have spoken in this school for 4 of the last 5 years and always seem to get a good session going.

The pupils listen to me explain my personal view of what makes me a Conservative, and what the Conservative party stands for; then we get to my favorite bit - the question and answer session which goes on for about 50 minutes, only stopping when the lunch break interrupts.

The questions I got, were really no different from the questions that adults ask when we knock on their doors, but are delivered in a more basic and honest manner; they really want to know the answers.

The questions range from - What is the Conservative Party going to do about the economy? What are our views on sentences passed by judges? What would we do differently to the Labour Government in our first term?

I have to say I love question and answer sessions like this and totally see why Cameron Direct has been received so well by people. There is something so very honest about a politician in a room answering all questions.

The session ends, and some of the pupils remain behind to chat with me and their teachers, taking the opportunity to ask more questions and take my email address so that they can get more detailed answers to some issues. I also get the chance to direct them towards a few Conservative websites (which I don't think they were expecting!)

My only regrets about the session is why I am there at all - you see the school in question is not in Harlow. But the teacher who organises the visiting speaker at this school is a friend, and has had trouble getting representatives from the different political parties over the years. This year just the Conservatives and Liberals will be doing a pitch, as the Labour party have still not been able to confirm attendance, despite what my friend said was "a dozen emails and five phone calls"!

We often, as politicians, wonder why young people are not interested in us. Perhaps if more politicians were interested in young people it would go some way to improving their interest in politics.

A Very busy Saturday....so far

2009-03-07T16:41:00.000Z

This morning started with some leaflet delivery. I actually love to get out and deliver leaflets. I think there is something comfortable about putting the Ipod on and the rhythm of door after door, plus I am told the walk and the fresh air are good for me. Here in Harlow we put out a lot of leaflets, all year round to keep people informed about what we are doing both locally and nationally.

Then Shopping with Mrs J and the daughter, something that I don't often manage to get out of! It has to be done!

Change clothes and off to Mark Hall School, for the Try Sport and Olympic Conference. I can't stay all day, but as Leader of the Council I have been asked to go along and support, and help publicise the event with a press photo call. Why do photographers insist at events like these, that are cross party, in standing me next to the Labour MP and asking me to smile?!?!

One thing that did make me smile was the Chinese Lion Dance. Very good. It makes me remember the Beijing Olympics. I wonder what sort of dance we will use to hand over the Olympics post 2012?

Back to Church Langley, to meet up with some of the other Councillors at Tesco, where we hold our monthly surgery. We are joined by Robert Halfon our parliamentary candidate. Its always good to speak to the people you are responsible to. A number of issues are raised with us, including litter, traffic and the details of a new zebra crossing.

Then its time to grab a quick drink and head out to knock on some doors for a few hours. We are knocking on doors all over the town, but this afternoon I have a chance to knock in my own ward. The other political parties in Harlow tend to knock on peoples doors only when there is an election on, but we try to do it all year round.

Finally I get to go home and spend some time with my daughter, catch up with some emails and spend a few minutes on the blog.

Tired already and the day is not over yet!

An evening of Housing issues

2009-03-06T07:30:00.000Z

An interesting evening at the Civic for me at the Housing Committee last night - as a Substitute for Mrs J (the other Cllr Johnson) who is unwell at the moment and can hardly speak.

Now, housing is not really my specialist subject, but I keep up with what is going on at the committee and read their agendas (if not always with glee!) But I found last night interesting because of the debates that took place, some good news, some really good news and a piece of bad news

Lets go with the bad news first (it helps me cheer you up at the end)

The discussion on "delivering decent homes" focused on Governments targets for council houses, really highlighted how badly Harlow has been treated recently by Gordon Brown and Co. Basically Harlow tenants have been mugged of a million quid!

Our housing subsidy this year shows a "significant reduction" (paragraph 12 here for those who want to see the document)

I asked for more details on this and was told that it would be somewhere between £800,000 and £1,300,000 that we have just lost from this years budget.

And the government had not yet clarified the details. Now remember that we had to set our budget a couple of weeks ago for the coming financial year and a gap this size is significant to our spending plans. Knowing that the new financial year starts in 20 days time, we asked when would the government let us know what the situation was. Sometime either late Spring or early Summer was the answer. What more can I say! Either the government doesn't understand that we have to set our budget while they keep us in the dark or they just don't care!

The Good News? We looked at a "Review of Housing needs and allocations strategy" for Harlow.
With this piece of work we were looking to strengthen the definition of local connection (which aids people in getting a house in Harlow) because previously it's been allowed to be too broad. My colleagues still thought that being resident in Harlow for 6 out of the last 12 months was not really much of a local connection - but we were told that this is Government legislation and we can't make it tougher than that. Shame really.

The really good news is that we added an amendment asking for a review of policy for homeless ex service personnel (who make up about 2/3rds of the homeless population). We may not all agree with the various wars that our armed forces have been asked to fight by this government, but we can surely get behind our troops when they come home. I look forward to seeing the result of this piece of work.

Renaissance and Rivers

2009-03-04T23:54:00.000Z

Tonight saw me at a meeting of Harlow Renaissance Ltd (HRL) of which I have recently been elected Vice Chairman.

HRL has been running since July 2006 and is focused on driving the regeneration and growth process in Harlow. Their key role is to deliver a range of renewal programmes in the short to medium term whilst having one eye to the longer-term growth opportunities of the future.
the company brings together four key members:

Harlow District Council
Essex County Council
East of England Development Agency (EEDA)
Homes and Communities Agency

As well as having people like The Government Office for the East of England (GO-East) and the Chairman of Harlow’s Local Strategic Partnership, Harlow 2020, and four independent Directors bringing a range of additional expertise all under the Chairmanship of someone from the private sector.

Its a lot of expertise to assemble around one table and should theoretically be able to bust through any problems holding up the regeneration of Harlow.

At the moment they are working on spending the "Growth Area Funding" that Harlow has received, with regeneration programmes for Old Harlow, Clifton Hatch, Prentice Place and Staple Tye.

The evening was good, with lots of work to get through, but the most interesting thing was a presentation from British Waterways.

The thrust of the presentation was to ask us think differently about the river Stort. Most councils etc see rivers as boundaries but we were encouraged to think wider about the Stort, as a key feature of the town, and as a gateway.

The comment that really hit home, was when talking about the fields around the river, near the A414, which for those of you who know Harlow well are the ones that flood all the time; So the chap from British Waterways said "why not flood them properly and make the area a water complex" When you think about it homes and businesses and leisure around water is very popular and doing something like that to this area could really make an iconic statement about an entrance to Harlow.

What do you think? Can every bit of river around Harlow be as well presented as loved sections like Parndon Mill (below)?

Tesco and Turbines

2009-03-04T17:58:00.000Z

Last night the Planning Committee of Harlow District Council voted to allow two new "micro wind turbines" at Tesco in Church Langley

Now I have been pretty interested in these, as a Councillor for the area, and so have a number of my constituents.

But I have kept quiet about it at home as Mrs J (the other Councillor Johnson) sits on the Planning Committee and I would not want to prejudice her in anyway, or bait her into forming an opinion before the meeting (yes the laws on planning are that stupid!)

In the meantime I have told a number of people how they can find out more, explained the details as I knew them to others and told people who wanted to object how to do so. I also got a phone call from a gent who wanted to support the application on environmental grounds but didn't want his name used in case his "neighbours found out"

There has been some confusion about these micro wind turbines, with a number of people I spoke to thinking that Tesco were trying to install huge 3 bladed propellers, which is not the case. I have attached an article here on them, (and have added a photo so you can see what they look like) and whilst it needs to be noted that the article is by the people who are working with Tesco and so are probably biased, they are certainly not what I thought of when someone said wind turbine either!

They are about 10 metres tall, which is the size of most lampposts and apparently produce little or no noise. Another Council, whose local Tesco has installed them claims you can stand next to them and not hear anything.

I think its admirable that a major retailer wants to do something about its carbon footprint, and I hope this is not just for show but really is about changing the way they operate. I would love it if more people and businesses in Harlow wanted to do more for the environment. But I think if they do they need to spend more time telling people about it before they do it.

Tesco's as far as I can tell undertook no publicity of this with their shoppers and neighbours during the planning process. The council did its statutory bit (advertising in papers, putting signs on lampposts and writing to those in very close proximity) but still got blamed for not consulting widely enough - even though we were not the applicants. I wonder if there isn't some way to pass the cost of increased consultation to the applicants in cases like this?

Essex as a joke....again

2009-03-04T05:08:00.000Z

My attention was drawn to this

Now I like a joke as much as the next man.

And I may have told the odd Essex Girl joke in my time... I am allowed as I was born in Essex

And I don't even have a problem with MP's having a sense of humour - and I know they do - have you seen some of Bill Rammell's suits?

What I do object to is the use of time in parliament to make such snide remarks about what I frankly think is a cracking county!

In the middle of a debate about what legacy the Olympics will leave behind it, following a question from Chelmsford's MP about serious issues, this Muppet thinks its OK to joke about white high heels and medallions.

Does he really care so little for Parliament and the honour he has in representing his constituency?

If that's the way he sees parliament then he should leave... then again he has already announced his intention to do so (on 12th May 2008), so it looks like he is "just having a laugh" until the election then.

There's something fishy going on......

2009-03-03T02:48:00.000Z

Last week the Department for Local Government and Communities (DeCLog) announced grants totalling £100M “to boost to council coffers as they help communities through the credit crunch.”

Harlow got (drum roll please!) £6,016 awarded, which frankly is an insult to Harlow and discriminates against the town.

The average amount going to all district councils in Essex is over £75,000, with Chelmsford receiving £190,000 and Epping Forest £165,000. Harlow is suffering just as much as other towns in the recession, so why are we losing out?

Everyone knows we have had to make to some very difficult decisions in setting our budget this year, and if this grant was the boost the government says it is things could have been very different.

Calculation of this grant looks very complex with plenty of room for manipulation. I think there has probably been some skulduggery within the Government. As to why, I can only speculate but previous LABGI awards to a Labour controlled council were very much higher. I wonder if that has anything do with it?

Cup loss....

2009-03-01T22:40:00.000Z

Ok - so an afternoon out from politics sees me at my parents house, on the couch with my Dad and Brother, glued to the TV.

My brother and I are both Spurs fans and with Dad being a Chelski fan, we were united (pardon the pun) in cheering against Man U.

It was great to spend some "boys time" with my Brother and Dad, and not to think about Council budgets, or writing political leaflets.

Football is of course the greatest of levellers, and sometimes its nice just to "be normal"