During the election campaign some mischievous remarks were circulated about Green Belt Issues.I did not reply during the campaign because it is not good form to enter into a ding-dong battle, however I should now like to clear up some things.
My opponent stated he would Stop Building on the Green Belt.How I wish he could but I am sure most of you realize it is not a simple as this.Your Councillor simply standing up and shouting, ‘Stop !Not here ! Go somewhere else !’would not work.
I do not want the Green Belt boundary to be breached.I have always worked vigorously to protect the integrity of our Green Belt.I have also worked to find an alterative site for the required housing to be built on, but without success.
I have attended Cabinet Meetings when invited; I have no right to speak at a Cabinet Meeting and can never vote. There have been times when I have entered a written response.
Electing an alternative CountyCouncillor would never have given Corfe Mullen a vote on the Cabinet.Many decisions on Tory Dorset County Council are taken behind closed doors (ie the doors of the Cabinet) and the LibDems have long fought to change this.
I have attended countless meetings about the Regional Spatial Strategy, I have spoken many times, however Minutes of these meetings are not verbatim, what I have said is not always reported in the Minutes.
Many of these meetings are concerned with other aspects of the RSS which is an enormous document; Corfe Mullen is only a small part of the whole Regional Plan.Many meetings have dealt with Dorchester, Bournemouth, Hurn airport etc etc.
I will continue to use all legitimate ways to protest about this development that few local people are happy about. Let me also remind you that it was a Tory County Council who suggested that Corfe Mullen was a suitable place for development in the first place.
Wonderful victory on Friday !! Thank you all so much. Thank you to all who voted and to all who helped in many different ways. it will be a continuing privilege to serve as County Councillor for Corfe Mullen for a further 4 years.
A lot of people are talking about MP’s expenses on the doorstep. First let me emphasise that these are not a local election issue, but you all know that. Sadly it has made many people distrust all politicians.
As County Councillor the only expenses I claim for are petrol and the occasional train ticket when travelling for Council business.
The LibDems have had their sticky fingers in the till less htan most. Our own MP, Annette Brooke hardly features. If you check her website you can find her modest expenses for a small rented flat in London, you can even see photographs which show that it is simply a place to lay her head and a tiny kitchen in which to have breakfast and prepare the simplest late supper. In fact I am thinking of going up there and cheering it up for her, it could do with a few pictures of Dorset and a couple of colourful cushions !
Nest most important on the doorstep is protecting the integrity of our Green Belt.
I am sure you all realise that we LibDems have been fighting this issue right from when it first reared it’s ugly head nearly 3 years ago. The Tory Council Council offered Corfe Mullen as a possible place in which to build in the first place, which is what has made this such an uphill struggle. Their protests now are too little too late and simply window dressing.
Elections in four weeks, activity building up, I will keep you all informed.
We have a County Council Election alongside the European Election, both conducted under different systems.
In the County Council Elections you have 3 candidates to choose from
Myself, the County Councillor who has represented Corfe Mullen for the past 5 years and worked very hard, every day, to try to keep Corfe Mullen the place that we all want to live in. We keep you informed all through the year, and you will get even more through the door over the next week or two.
A candidate who has been campaigning for 2 years as a non political person, who has suddenly accepted Tory funding ?!! He is passionate about preventing building on the Green Belt, are not we all ? But he has an added impetus, it is right in his back yard. He is promising the earth, I simply ask you all to judge for yourselves what is possible. We, the LibDems, promise never to offer you unrealistic outcomes.
UKIP, I need say no more.
For Europe you vote for a party list. You will get more information through the post. What happens is that the votes are allocated per party, the most successful party elects the first 3 or 4 on their list, the next probably 2 or 3 and so on.
Top of the LibDem list is Graham Watson who has been our LibDem MEP for the last 10 years, a hugely successful and respected MEP Graham is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the whole of Europe. He works incredibly hard and somehow manages to visit every part of his Constituency which includes 52 Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies, he represents the whole of the South West right down to Gibraltar on his own. If we can muster just a few more votes them we can also elect Dr Kay Barnard, a very well qualified candidate who will share Graham’s burden.
Pleas don’t elect another UKIP candidate, they never even turn up in Brussels.
In Corfe Mullen our Library opening hours have been cut from 30 hours a week to 20 hours. The staff report that during the hours they are open they are busier than ever, the same number of visitors and the same amount of work to deal with in two thirds of the time.
We are also very sad to lose both our long standing Library staff, we will miss them. However we are very pleased to welcome our new Librarian to Corfe Mullen.
We now have a Children’s Centre in our Library. This is available whenever the library is open and is also making full use of the days when the library is closed. Many local people have said that they are pleased to see that our lovely building is being fully utilized.
Across Dorset:
Staff numbers are being reduced and redundancies have taken place
Expensive Self Service machines are being installed reducing the personal touch even further. In Corfe Mullen the Library will be closed from March 16th – 20th to allow the installation to take place.
The cuts in hours all took effect in November, half of Dorset’s libraries are now closed on at least one day, one third are closed on 2 or even 3 days during the week, and evening openings are very restricted.
A further cut in the Book Fund means the shelves are looking emptier.
Charges are being levied for the use of computers.
Dorset have announced a Council Tax increase of 3.5%. On the face of it this sounds like good news but this is a blatant election ploy.
The Tories are desperate to stay popular now. However they plan to raise Council Tax by 4.9% next year and 4.5% the year after to catch up.
Their budget does not address any of the financial problems we have been highlighting. They have no plans to reduce expenditure on consultants or public relations, which this year amounted to £2.5 million.
Council Services will not be maintained at their current level.
The small increased budget will not address the problems in Adult Social Care. Dorset is rated among the lowest in England with one star. We are expected to assist people to remain living in their own homes with dignity. The average authority helps three times as many older people as Dorset does.
A slightly increased budget for Children’s Services will address some problems, but there is still a big backlog.
Liberal Democrats would invest in front line services, Adult Social care, Road Maintenance and Child Care Services. We rely on the council providing these important services.
Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole has also expressed concern over the poor financial management of Dorset County Council.
Don’t be fooled !! It will cost you more in the long run - 4.9% next year
I think I have an explanation for all this rubbish. It appears there was a party last weekend, usual story, parents away, 15 year old girl plans a party. Party got out of hand so was closed down which left 100 or so revellers loose in Corfe Mullen without a party, so some of them reconvened to the viewpoint.
After a party, YOU clear up please,, not me………………..
This morning I collected 2 black sacks absolutely full of rubbish at the Springdale Road Viewpoint. Mainly beer cans and beer bottles, with crisp packets and Jack Daniels. Now I know it is half term and I am delighted that you are out enjoying the fresh air and the Heath, but please, if you can get yourselves organised to take all that stuff up there, you can bring the rubbish back home again. It is lighter once it is empty.
Actually lots of the cans were still half full, can’t you even finish a whole can of Fosters ?
On Friday the children of Cheselbourne School, the smallest school in Dorset ( but the school with the biggest heart they say !) invited me to come personally to collect the books they wanted to give to the project.
There are only 45 pupils at the school but they wanted to give 7 boxes of their outgrown books, beautiful books, wonderful books, to the children in Sierra Leone. I couldn’t count them all but I think there were over 300 books.
All the children carried the books out to my car and we took some lovely pictures to record the moment.
