School Visits

Last week I spent time at Alderman Jacobs School talking to the Head about the recent outstanding OFSTED inspection as well as visiting and talking about Safeguarding and Special Needs.

Yesterday I was at New Road School to record a short interview about Groomfields, the County Council's grounds maintenance contractor.

Yesterday I went to Neale Wade and had a conversation with the head about their issues and also had the opportunity to talk to some of the school parliament representatives about March and Neale Wade issues.  I always wonder what they think being dumped in front of a politician.  But they were really good and I left with a few ideas to discuss with the locality manager that could help what we do with young people in March.

Today I have been to Sir Harry Smith CC to discuss safeguarding and behavioural issues.

It is interesting that there are some similar themes emerging - the most important of which is probably concerns about future funding.  We are heading towards some very difficult times and there is some uncertainty about how this will impact on schools. Cambridgeshire schools are poorly funded (by the Government!), so any cuts are likely to have a disproportionate impact.

Sorry for smiling

There is an extraordinary letter in the Cambs Times this week which has something of a personal attack on me.    I am not convinced it is responsible journalism to print anonymous letters of that nature, but I’m a big boy and I can take it.  But it does deserve a response.

I seem to be criticised for:

a.   Smiling some time during the Tesco exhibition.  I must remember not to smile in future.  Actually - if that person had been watching properly, they would have also seen me asking a number of challenging questions to Tesco representatives about certain issues - mainly to do with highways.

b.  Going to a festival.  When I take holidays, one of the things I do is go to Rock Festivals, I make no apologies for that, being a big fan of hard rock music is part of who I am.  I have a right to be me.  This is the second time I have been criticised for taking a holiday, so here is an advanced warning - I am going to a rock festival in early December in Wales and another one next June in France.  Actually I plan these things well in advance and pay good money for them.  So being notified at short notice of a public exhibition doesn’t allow me to change those plans.

c.  Voting against the previous Station Road application.  Fair enough.  If some people think that I was wrong, so be it.  But I stand by my decision; I felt there were some serious short-comings about that application.   My understanding of the revised submission for the same site is that there has been some serious work done to try to deal with the problems raised.  Whether they are sufficient to overcome them I cannot comment on - I am not allowed to - but, if this application is approved (note the word if, this is not a statement of either opposition or support) - it will be all the better because of the previous refusal.

Planning is a complex matter.  We are governed by a number of National, Regional and local polices, arguably, the most important in this case is the Government’s Planning Policy Statement 6.  The decisions made at Planning Committee have to be decided based on those policies, but are also informed by local views.  However, if a decision is made that contravenes the policy framework, Fenland can be challenged either through appeal or through the Courts.  For that reason, whatever decisions are made at planning committee, have to have a solid policy foundation.  This is something that it is really difficult to get across, because the process undermines local democracy.  Indeed, Nationally, I have pushed the Conservative Party to change some of this after the General Election (which they have said they will do), but that doesn't change where we stand now and it is the current planning framework that has to inform any decision I make.  


One aspect of this is that I am not permitted to make up my mind until I have listened to the evidence at planning committee.  Any suggestion I have already made up my mind has no basis in fact.

Anti-Bullying Week

This week is Anti-Bullying Week.  So I thought I would link to the Connexions video about cyber-bullying that I mentioned a little while back.

http://www.youthoria.org/bullying

I would also like to pass on my thanks to the children from Bottisham and Soham Village Colleges who attended the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee at Shire Hall last week to talk about the work they were doing to deal with bullying and to give us their own views.  Hearing about issues like this from young people is so informative.

Bullying can have a huge impact on Young People's lives.  As adults we have a duty to treat it seriously.

Not JUNK at all

The marvellous traffic around Cambridge made me a little late tonight for a preview of a film made by JUNK Theatre Group called "WASTED" which was shown at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.  But I was lucky enough to see most of it and was hugely impressed.

The film is to be shown in Cambridgeshire schools as part of the PSHE curriculum, telling the story of a young girl and her friends in the events leading up to a road accident which results in one of the friends being critically injured.

JUNK Theatre group is an organisation for Cambridgeshire Young People and operates out of The Junction in Cambridge (which is also a great music venue btw).   Judging by the standard of acting in this film, they have a great deal to be proud of.  I am told there is a possibility of it being put online some time.  If it is I will link to it.

Donarbon Waste Treatment Facility

We had the meeting between the County Council Cabinet and the Senior Management team at the new Donarbon  Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility yesterday.  It is quite something.  The idea of the site is to take the waste out of our non-recyclables bin (the green one in Fenland!!) and extract as much as possible from there to minimise what we send to landfill.


It does not fulfill the role of getting rid of our recycling bins because the value of the recyclable material from there is nowhere near as good as what we get from a recycling bin, but it will really help us to move forwards and make sure we improve the level of recycling - which is important because it will minimise the amount the County has to pay in increasingly costly landfill taxes.

Remembrance Sunday in Whittlesey

Remembrance Sunday is very important to me.  Those of you that know my background will understand why.  I was brought up as the son of a soldier, my father served 37 years.  I was born in Aden during the conflict there, and also served 6 years in the Army.  My 3 brothers also served, including in Iraq and the Falklands (where one of my brothers was on HMS Antelope).

This year is even more poignant for me, because a number of Ammunition Technicians have been amongst the casualties in Afghanistan - and that was my profession as a soldier.

Whittlesey always does itself proud on Remembrance day and today was absolutely no exception.  As well as being greeted by lovely weather, we were met by a huge crowd at the market square when we reached it today.  Once again there were loads of wreaths and crosses laid and the behaviour during the minutes silence was exceptional.

Remembering the victims of war is so important, it is heartening to see that recognised by so many people in the Town.  Congratulations and thanks to everyone who organised and took part especially to the Royal British Legion and the Ivy Leaf club who hosted us before and after the parade.

Sometimes I'm nosey

Last week I went to Huntingdon to be nosey in and around Connexions where there were some Young People filming for a DVD about cyber-bullying.  Once again some great young people involved, all of whom go to Stageworks in Buckden.  It was interesting, not only to see the acting, but to develop my understanding of cyber-bullying and to meet such interesting young people (as well as the Connexions staff who were there).

I really don't think us old 'uns understand issues like this enough.   The difference between this and the bullying that we experienced and understood is that you can never turn off from it.  The idea that you don't want to turn on your computer or mobile for fear of what might be on it is something we should all understand.

I also went to the Youth Fair in Whittlesey.  Again it was a pleasure to be there. I met one organisation Stonham, that I hadn't dealt with before but also chatted to a number of people and organisations that provide support to Whittlesey. It was interesting to see Drinksense there, and then to see them at the Scaldgate Centre on Friday night showing some videos to some of our young people.