Building Design Awards

One of my tasks last week was to attend the launch of Fenland's Building Design Awards which are sponsored by the Cambs Times and the Wisbech Standard. The event was held at the home of last year's winners who live near Welney and have an extension to their home with a spectacular platform at the top offering an amazing view of the Fens. What interested me was that everything about the building suggests it would be imposing. It says something for the design that it really can't be seen until you are right on top of it (which is my excuse for being late!!)

I'm a big fan of the Building Design Awards. Planning is a difficult process, one that inevitably creates bad publicity because the decisions are often controversial and inevitably upset either opponents of schemes or supporters. So to hold an event that shows positive outcomes of the planning process has to be a good thing.

Election Count in North East Cambridgeshire

The Cambs Times is reporting today that North East Cambridgeshire's election count will still be carried out on election night and not the day after - a change that other authorities have made.

I wrote Geoffrey Harper about this a few weeks back and I am delighted the response has been the right one. There is something very special about General Election night and we ruin that at our peril.

Stroking my own ego

This is very helpful the week before an OFSTED inspection of Children's Services. It is an extract from an article in "Children and young People Now" magazine:

"Out of 10 lead members for children's services contacted by CYP Now, five were unaware of what ContactPoint is or where they stand on the debate.

Shelagh Hutson, Conservative lead at Norfolk County Council, conceded she knew nothing about the database. Sheila Scott, Conservative lead in Peterborough, said she was unfamiliar with the term ContactPoint.

Tower Hamlets' Labour lead for children's services, Abdul Asad, said he would have to get information on the issue as he had "been away" and Labour lead in Bolton, Ebrahim Adia, said he would have to "go away and think about it".

Glynis Vince, an independent in Enfield, said she was unable to keep track of everything in her portfolio.

Five other lead members, covering Barnsley, Hartlepool, Portsmouth, Cambridgeshire and Darlington were able to outline their position on the debate."

It is nice to get confirmation that I know the issues in Children's Services in Cambridgeshire. To be fair, I spend as much time as I can visiting and asking questions to make sure I am informed, and I only had a very quick conversation with CYP Now about the civil liberties issues involved with contact point.

And to be fair to other Lead Members. There are many, many issues involved with the portfolio and Contact Point is not one they can necessarily influence because it is a National initiative.

Cambridgeshire Regiment Memorial

We had our Town Council meeting last night. At the start of the meeting we had a short presentation from the Cambridgeshire Regiment about their plans for a memorial showing the history of the regiment at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

They are trying to raise funds and I understand are talking to Town and Parish Councillors across the County. We will be considering a bid for funding round about April next year.

Personally, I hope we can support it, it is important we do everything we can to keep the memory of the Regiment alive.

Planning Summer School

I am off to Exeter this weekend to the Planning Summer School. It is a chance to get an external view of planning, see where National policy is heading and to discuss areas where we can improve planning in Fenland.

Celebrating achievements

Today is a day where I absolutely love what I do. This evening I went to an event to congratulate two of our Looked After Children who were successful in the interviews for Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant.

I spent some time chatting to Marc and he is really something. He really was extremely focused and determined - as well as enjoying himself. Part of my job as Lead Member for Children is to be a champion to our young people, to make sure people are aware of how good they really are. With guys like Marc around it is really easy.

I wish him every success when he starts in London next week, I am sure he will do himself proud.

I should also say that our sixteen plus team in Cambridgeshire deserve recognition for the work they have done in supporting our people through the application process for Fifteen.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

I did my interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this morning about Social Worker recruitment. It was the first time I have done a live interview in the studio. I actually preferred it to doing telephone interviews. I hope I got the message across that we need to value the Social Work profession.

The Cambridge Breakfast Show for today is available here (you probably need to sign up to the iPlayer to listen). The interview is about 40 minutes in.