QE College

I attended an event held at the QE College, Several councillors attended to listen to presentation from students as part of their citezenship course. Topics on ASBOs, Facilities in the Borough. Enviroment, Employment , and transport were on the agenda. I was really impressed with the work they had done and the presentations were excellent.
They put forward valid arguments for change and expressed there thought on ways for improvements around the Brough.

Thank You to the QE for the invite and Well done to all concerned

Government Departments

I contacted a government department in Falkirk (CSA) On behalf of a resident yesterday, and to try and clarify a telphone call that the resident had received from this department. Now I must say I have lots of experience with dealing with Government departments and know how difficult it is to communicate with them. But I must say I have never experienced such arrogance and jobs worth attitude before. The lady on the other end of the phone was aggresive, rude, arrogant and unprepared to explain process and procedures used by them in corresponding with residents. It it was a case of we are right you are wrong and we don not want to discuss this matter to bring it to a agreeable conclusion. Now if I with a knowledge of how things are done, can not get answers then what chance has a resident.

I have written to the the department and made a formal complaint on not just for the resident but also myself. We will have to wait and see what the outcome is.

Safer routes to school

I Joined in yesterday with Heathfield Schools grand walk to school day. This is part of the schools programme in getting children and parents out of the car and walking or cycling to school. It was a great success with most of the children and parents walking to the school. The Broadway outside the school was quite and the road calm.

However not the case at the end of the School day I took my daughter to collect Bradley and the road was chaotic. We parked well away from the school and walked to collect Bradley. Double parked cars, Vehicles on the grass verges and footpaths, Drives bloked or partially bloked, I took several photos of the road and I have had again spoken to the police and officers at the town hall. But what it really need is concideration from the vehicle owners when taking children to school,

Potholes.

One of life's great mysteries. They appear all over the place mostly unexplained. However there are times when we can put a reason behind their appearance and over the last few months we blame the weather,water seeps into the road surface and freezes.As we all know water expands when frozen, this then breaks the road surface be it Tarmac or concrete. and before we know it there,s a pothole. But this is not always the case, poor reinstatement or materials can also be the cause of potholes.

Any way while out and about yesterday the number of pothole's in and around the ward seem to have grown, especially around Lingfield Green and Teal Road. We contacted the highways department and have had assurances that work on the actionable potholes is to be undertaken shortly. We have asked what actionable means and are awaiting a reply.

We will let you know

Day trip some time ago.

 

An old photo of a day trip from school, (Gurney Pease School)50 years ago. see now you have to believe the world was in black and white, Recognise anyone in the photo.

 

Grass verges

The parking of vehicles on grass verges and the damage this causes to verges sometimes diliberatly,is frustrating and annoying not only to resident but to councillors, and staff in the Twn Hall also. We campaign and and challenge officers in the Town Halland the police to deal with this form of Anti social behaviour.
However it become more frustrating when the limited success we have in resolving this matter in some of the ward causes greater problem than we cure.

Many residents across the ward have taken measures to protect the verges in there street/road by placing small boulders / rocks on the verge to stop vehicles damaging them.
The council now face legal challenges over this practice and because of this those properties identified with boulders / rocks on the verges will be contacted with the request to remove them immediately. There are issues around liability / insurance etc if damage is caused to vehicles or a resident is hurt by tripping etc by the object placed on the verges.

So it seems we cannot win. Cost affective cheap solutions I not sure how we can cure this problem,As much as I would like to see all verges protected from damage from vehicles, Perhaps the quickest and easiest solution is those causing the damage ticketed or charged with damaging the verges.

I think the council should prosecute and the police be more proactive in dealing with this problem. Maybe naming and shaming the the local media might help. There our verges yours and mine .