tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72705191166539248912024-03-06T20:02:05.368+00:00Dan EssexA hyperlocal blog providing news, comment and<br> information since 2009 on the work of your local<br> Parish Councillor in Barnacle, WarwickshireDan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-51208110553911738292013-04-08T22:03:00.000+01:002013-04-08T22:04:35.744+01:00Parish Council Press Release<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtnlWVfjSP8/UWMv771dlSI/AAAAAAAAAZU/TqnGgK98ddg/s1600/football+foundation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="95" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtnlWVfjSP8/UWMv771dlSI/AAAAAAAAAZU/TqnGgK98ddg/s200/football+foundation.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council today issued a press release regarding the fencing that was erected last year in Shilton playing fields. I blogged about it <a href="http://www.shiltonparishcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/playing-fields-fencing-completed.html">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The press release reads:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Local MP to unveil Shilton’s new ball-stop netting</b><br /><br />Stray shots and passes from footballers that play at Shilton playing fields in Coventry will no longer endanger the motorists, cyclists and pedestrians that use the adjacent Bulkington Road. New ball-stop netting funded by the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity, will allow local teams in Shilton to play football without the inconvenience of losing footballs as well as minimise the potential damage that could be caused by balls being kicked into the road.<br /><br />Mark Pawsey, MP for Rugby, will officially unveil the new ball-stop netting on Saturday 13 April at 9.00am at Shilton Playing Fields, Wood Lane, Shilton, Coventry, CV7 9JZ.<br /><br />Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council and the Shilton Playing Fields Committee worked in partnership with the Warwickshire FA to secure a £10,484 grant from the Football Foundation. Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government (via Sport England), the Football Foundation is the country’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 8,000 grants worth more than £420m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £520m.<br /><br />Ron Lissaman, Groundsman of Shilton playing fields, said: “We are very grateful for the funding support from the Football Foundation, which has enabled us to provide much needed safety fencing to prevent any danger from the sports field to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians on the adjacent busy road, the B4029.<br /><br />“The fencing will also allow us to replace the now dead hedgerow without any fear of it being damaged by stray footballs or people having to go through and get the balls back from the roadside.”<br /><br />Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “It is so rewarding to see this new facility completed. Alongside the Warwickshire FA, Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council has worked extremely hard to ensure this project has come to fruition and deserve great credit for its endeavours.<br /><br />“Foundation investment is helping to transform the national inventory of facilities that supports the grassroots game in this country, and thanks must go to our funding partners, the Premier League, The FA, and the Government (via Sport England) for their crucial and generous financial support, without which none of this would be possible.”<br /><br />For more information about the work the Football Foundation visit <a href="http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/">www.footballfoundation.org.uk</a> or follow us on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/FootballFoundtn">Twitter</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ENDS</span></div>
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Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-4614465376889203972013-04-05T19:26:00.000+01:002013-04-05T19:35:46.725+01:00Warwickshire County Council Elections - 2 May - Fosse Division Candidates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The nomination period has now closed for next month's elections to <a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Warwickshire County Council</a>, and five people have put themselves forward to be the councillor for the Fosse division (which includes Shilton and Barnacle) for the next four years. The candidates are:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John Birch (<a href="http://www.ukip.org/" target="_blank">UKIP</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Andy Coles (<a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/" target="_blank">Labour</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Phillip Morris-Jones (<a href="http://www.conservatives.com/" target="_blank">Conservative</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ben Phillips (<a href="http://www.greenparty.org.uk/" target="_blank">Green</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marian Wakelin (<a href="http://www.tusc.org.uk/" target="_blank">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</a>)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The election will be held on Thursday 2 May. Full details for each candidate can be found <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/download.php?type=downloads&fileID=5930" target="_blank">here</a> (pdf document).</span></div>
Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-7491562193870925482013-02-19T21:19:00.000+00:002013-02-19T21:19:33.143+00:00Latest Update from CSW Broadband<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7gpQocROZSM/USPr0EFLCjI/AAAAAAAAAY8/BsKcfdFnWKw/s1600/broadband.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="65" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7gpQocROZSM/USPr0EFLCjI/AAAAAAAAAY8/BsKcfdFnWKw/s200/broadband.gif" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Coventry, Solihull & Warwickshire Superfast Broadband project team has produced a briefing on the latest developments in the plan to bring superfast broadband to homes in the county. The briefing is set out below:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>CSW Broadband Project Gets Results</b><br />A project that aims to improve broadband across Warwickshire has made improvements in some areas before a penny of the project budget is even spent. CSW Broadband has been gathering information from communities about the broadband challenges that they face and where the local infrastructure, such as communications cabinets, are located. As a result of the information received the project has been able to convince BT to upgrade cabinets at Coton Park in Rugby and at Warwick Gates so that those communities are now able to access superfast broadband.
Furthermore, as a result of information received from parishes around the county a further 45,000 properties are now to be included in the commercial broadband roll-out, meaning that the project funds can be utilised to help more communities in harder to reach areas.<br /><br />Looking ahead, the contract should be awarded in May of this year, and then the work can start on the design of the network. The solution chosen will depend to a large extent on which bidder is successful as they use different technologies, but in any event roll-out should start this year and is due for completion by 2015.<br /><br />CSW Broadband still needs businesses, individuals and community champions to engage with the project. There are areas where the levels of survey returns are quite low. This may be because there is little demand for faster broadband, or it may simply be that everyone is assuming that someone else is taking action. It will be easier to justify investing in those areas that show a high level of demand than in those were there appears to be little requirement. This has been evidenced by the fact that it is those areas that have been most active in completing the surveys that have now been included in the commercial roll-out. For more information about the project, including maps showing where surveys have been completed and the surveys themselves, please visit <a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/">CSW Broadband</a>.
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Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-55417173618628586092013-02-09T00:02:00.000+00:002013-02-09T00:09:16.975+00:00WALC County Committee AGM - 22 January<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWEUS9Q0e4E/URWQ9BvthZI/AAAAAAAAAYc/pmhch9v6kH4/s1600/walc.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="84" width="190" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWEUS9Q0e4E/URWQ9BvthZI/AAAAAAAAAYc/pmhch9v6kH4/s320/walc.png" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last Monday, I attended the AGM of the <a href="http://www.walc.org.uk/index.php/about-us/county-committee">county committee</a> of the <a href="http://www.walc.org.uk/">Warwickshire & West Midlands Association of Local Councils</a> in Leamington Spa. I, along with three other colleagues, represent parish councils within the Rugby area on the county committee.<br /><br />The first item of business was to appoint Eric Knibb from <a href="http://www.castlebromwichpc.gov.uk/index.html">Castle Bromwich Parish Council</a> to be chairman of the association, and for Vaughan Owen from <a href="http://www.burtongreenpc.org.uk/">Burton Green Parish Council</a> to become vice-chairman, for the forthcoming year. Vaughan Owen had been the chairman during the previous year, and a vote of thanks was taken in recognition for the work he had done representing parish councils within Warwickshire on the local, regional and national stage.<br /><br />I was appointed to sit on the Policy Advisory Sub-Committee for the next year, which meets occasionally to consider and make recommendations to the county committee on any changes to the policies of WALC.<br /><br />Amongst other business considered during the meeting, the latest financial position of the association was reviewed, details of WALC's annual briefing day for parish councils on 2 March were agreed, and there were update reports from the Vice-Chairman on his attendance at the <a href="http://www.nalc.gov.uk/">National Association of Local Councils</a> meeting in December. The county committee also agree to request <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Ball">Ron Ball</a>, Warwickshire's newly elected <a href="http://www.warwickshire-pcc.gov.uk/">Police & Crime Commissioner</a> to appoint a representative of the town and parish council sector onto the county's <a href="http://democratic.warwickshire.gov.uk/cmis5/CurrentCommittees201213/tabid/122/ctl/ViewCMIS_CommitteeDetails/mid/600/id/543/Default.aspx">Police & Crime Panel</a>, whose role it is to provide scrutiny and challenge to the Police & Crime Commissioner. As the tier of government closest to the people it represents, town and parish councils are very much aware of the safety and security concerns of the public, and could have an important contribution to make as a member of the panel.<br /><br />There was also much discussion over the government's recent decision to localise Council Tax benefit support. One of the less obvious consequences of this was that parish councils would receive a reduction in the amount of money they were able to raise from their element of the Council Tax, and were then reliant on borough councils passing on grant funding from the government to make up the shortfall (which boroughs were under no compulsion to do). Fortunately, <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/">Rugby Borough Council</a> stuck with its commitment to pass on 100% of the grant funding to each parish (which in the case of Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council equated to around 10% of its annual budget). There is concern that if this process is repeated again in future years (as is expected), borough councils will come under increasing pressure not to pass all of this grant funding on to its parishes, leaving parish councils having to decide whether to increase its share of the Council Tax or to cut back on services, for reasons none of which are of its making.<br /><br />The association wrote to the government expressing the difficulties this has caused parish councils. A response received from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/brandon-lewis">Brandon Lewis MP</a>, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government">Department for Communities and Local Government</a>, was not particularly encouraging, choosing to say:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"It is the Government's clear expectation that billing authorities will work with parish and town councils to pass down funding so that their precepts can be reduced to reflect reductions in their council tax base. Precisely how much funding should be passed down will depend on a number of factors ....... which could change from year to year."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It seems that we should prepare ourselves for an annual round of financial uncertainty as we plan and prepare budgets for the years ahead!<br /><br />The next meeting of the WALC county committee will be held on 24 April.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-58194218650080290172013-02-03T22:01:00.002+00:002013-02-03T22:06:07.832+00:00New Year, New Name<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KkiRnOXa9Ro/UQ7bzbSnMJI/AAAAAAAAAXs/mNKl0UomeEo/s1600/S%2526B_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KkiRnOXa9Ro/UQ7bzbSnMJI/AAAAAAAAAXs/mNKl0UomeEo/s200/S%2526B_logo.jpg" width="144" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lack of posts on this blog in recent weeks shouldn't be taken as a lack of news to report from the world of the parish council - just my tardy efforts at spending a bit of time on here keeping people informed at to what's going on, and sharing my views on the world of local councils! However, it is my intention that normal business will now resume, and so I'll use the next few posts to bring everyone up to speed as to what's been happening over the last few weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The purpose of this particular post is to let everyone know that, 118 years after it was established, Shilton Parish Council is no more, to be replaced by Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council. Actually, everything apart from the name has stayed the same, and in reality it's business as usual!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.shiltonparishcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/whats-in-name.html">I blogged back in July last year</a> that the parish council was considering changing its name to better reflect that it represented the villages of Shilton <i>and</i> Barnacle. The parish council itself voted unanimously to change the name, and residents were consulted to seek their views. No responses were received to an article in the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/basismagazine">BASIS magazine</a>, and an online poll on this blog suggested a 2 - 1 majority in favour of changing it (although disappointingly for me, none of the five people who voted to keep the name as it was actually said why they favoured the status quo - which might have allowed the parish council to address or allay their concerns).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The power to change a parish council's name actually rests with the local borough council, so at its <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/meetings_info.php?meetingID=294&attachmentID=-1">meeting on 11 December</a>, <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/">Rugby Borough Council</a> - on the advice of its Legal & Elections Manager - voted to approve the change in the parish council's name to Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council, and from the beginning of this year, the new name was adopted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A small change perhaps, but if a parish council is to speak on behalf of a community with authority, then part of that authority comes from the community feeling like the parish council is <i>their</i> parish council, and that it represents their best interests. Reflecting in the name that it's the local council for two villages in the borough will, I believe, help it to strengthen the authority with which it speaks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a consequence of the name change, the parish council's logo has undergone a refresh, which will be particularly useful as it seeks to increase its online presence (more of that later!) As ever, comments, criticisms or suggestions are very much welcome regarding the new name and/or its visual identity.</span><br /><br/ >
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Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-24939904447859813612013-01-03T22:56:00.000+00:002013-01-03T22:56:00.899+00:00Temporary Road Closure - Lower Road, Barnacle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sx1In8y3ZOU/UOYKhswpenI/AAAAAAAAAXE/MDR-JUOFguM/s1600/road%2Bclosure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sx1In8y3ZOU/UOYKhswpenI/AAAAAAAAAXE/MDR-JUOFguM/s200/road%2Bclosure.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk">Warwickshire County Council</a> today notified Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council that Lower Road in Barnacle would be closed from Monday 21 January to enable it to undertake resurfacing and reconstruction work.<br />
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For those who have seen the current state of the road surface following the continuous rain over Christmas, this will be extremely welcome news! The road is expected to remain closed for just under three weeks, as all the work should be completed by Thursday 7 February.<br />
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The county council intend that pedestrian access to properties and land adjacent to the works will be maintained at all times, and vehicle access will be maintained where possible. The diversion for through traffic will be via Wood Lane, Bulkington Road, Shilton Lane, Withybrook Road, New Street, School Road, Coventry Road, Top Road and vice-versa.<br />
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The contractor carrying out the works is Balfour Beatty.<br />
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The map below shows the roads affected by the works (click on the image to view it in larger size):<br /><br />
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If you require any further information, please contact the parish council, or Michael Rogers at Warwickshire County Council Highways on (01926) 412515.
Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-35537272247308016512012-11-28T20:08:00.003+00:002012-11-28T20:09:26.400+00:00Fosse Division Community Forum - 22 November<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last Thursday evening, despite the wind and rain, I attended the quarterly meeting of the <a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fosseforum" target="_blank">Fosse Division Community Forum</a>, held in Wolvey. Also attending from the parish council were Councillor Stephen White and the clerk, Margaret Cartwright.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The meeting received a presentation from the <a href="http://www.safer-neighbourhoods.co.uk/your-neighbourhood/rugby-district/rugby-rural-north/whitnash-intro" target="_blank">Rugby Rural North Safer Neighbourhood Team</a> on local issues they've been </span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">involved in during the past few months, along with a report back on the three local policing priorities identified at the last meeting. None of these related to Shilton/Barnacle area.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">However, in identifying the local priorities for the next three months, Stephen White referred to concerns regarding speeding traffic in Leicester Road, Shilton. This had been a matter that a local resident had recently contacted the parish council about, and it was therefore put forward as a matter that deserved extra attention. Fortunately, the forum agreed to adopt this as one of the three local priorities, and therefore the local Safer Neighbourhood Team will be visible during the next three months seeking to slow speeding traffic entering the village along Leicester Road. The on-going work the police are doing on this issue can be viewed </span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><a href="http://www.safer-neighbourhoods.co.uk/your-neighbourhood/rugby-district/rugby-rural-north/current-priorities/community-priority-speeding-leicester-road-shilton-set-22nd-november-2012/" target="_blank">here</a>.<u></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The forum then received two of its regular updates: from Leigh Hunt from <a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Warwickshire County Council</a> on the <a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/" target="_blank">superfast broadband project</a>, and from Anna Rose from <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/index.php" target="_blank">Rugby Borough Council</a> on planning issues and developments. A number of briefing notes were circulated with information on matters on interest, including the progress on a gypsy and traveller site allocations development plan, quality control monitoring of the highways maintenance teams, and the Warwickshire Director of Public Health's <a href="http://publichealth.warwickshire.gov.uk/annual-report-3/annual-report-2012/" target="_blank">2012 annual report</a> (the video at the bottom of this post is of Dr John Linnane introducing his report).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The next meeting of the Fosse Division Community Forum will be on Thursday 14 March from 7.00pm at the Village Hall in Monks Kirby.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nKpdXV_nghQ" width="420"></iframe>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-21882969681633158642012-11-18T22:00:00.000+00:002012-11-18T22:00:13.474+00:00Police & Crime Commissioner Election Results<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-COTkc3UALaw/UKlY_bW22AI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/q5h_6KZGEZk/s1600/ron%2Bball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-COTkc3UALaw/UKlY_bW22AI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/q5h_6KZGEZk/s320/ron%2Bball.jpg" width="115" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The election of Warwickshire's first Police & Crime Commissioner may not have gripped the county to the extent that I hoped it would, but on Thursday, 66,085 voters chose between three candidates in a poll to determine who would have responsibility for setting the objectives and budget for the county's police service for the next four years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The turnout for the election was a pitiful 15.6% (which was in line with the national average), and electors got to pick their first and second preferences for the post. If no candidate got more than 50% first preference votes, the second preferences of the candidate finishing third were re-allocated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The results were:</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First Round</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. <a href="http://www.jamesforwarwickshire.co.uk/">James Plaskitt</a> (Labour) - 22,308 (34.7%)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. <a href="http://www.ronball4pcc.co.uk/">Ron Ball</a> (Independent) - 21,410 (33.3%)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Fraser Pithie (Conservative) - 20,571 (32.0%) - eliminated</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Second Round</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Ron Ball (Independent) - 33,231 (56.9%) - elected</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. James Plaskitt (Labour) - 25,200 (43.1%)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's fair to say that it was something of a surprise to see Ron Ball winning, although he turned out to be one of 12 independent candidates elected to the 41 Police & Crime Commissioner positions throughout England and Wales, and there may be something in the idea that the public preferred individuals who weren't aligned to a political party.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two things strike me about the results though. Firstly, how close the first round was, with each candidate broadly getting a third of the vote each. If just 420 of Ron Ball's 21,000+ voters had chosen Fraser Pithie instead, then the eventual winner himself would've been knocked out in the first round.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Secondly, of the 14,713 electors who voted for Fraser Pithie first <i>and</i> expressed a second preference vote as well, 80% chose Ron Ball with that second preference. And that's what did it for James Plaskitt, for despite topping the poll in the first round (albeit by a fairly slim margin), he was unable to secure the second preference votes that this particular electoral system requires you to. I wonder if, in May 2016 when elections for the commissioner post are next held, we'll see candidates make more of a pitch for the second, as well as first, preference votes?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As Commissioner Ball takes up his new position, I've linked to his <a href="http://www.ronball4pcc.co.uk/my-manifesto/">election manifesto</a> to see what he's pledging to do in the role. </span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-78774965407927243862012-11-11T23:24:00.001+00:002012-11-11T23:26:39.081+00:00Police & Crime Commissioner Candidate Hustings<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's little more than four days to go now until the elections for Warwickshire's first <a href="http://www.warwickshirepcc.info/">Police & Crime Commissioner</a>. I've never hidden the fact that I think this new post is a really positive development, replacing the anonymous (and some might say ineffective) <a href="http://www.warwickshirepa.gov.uk/about-us/who-we-are">Warwickshire Police Authority</a> with an individual tasked with ensuring that policing in Warwickshire is better aligned with what the public wants from its police service.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite frequent doom-mongers talking about the politicisation of the police, abysmal turnout and a lack of public engagement, I've heard more public discussion and scrutiny regarding local policing in the last six weeks than I've heard in the last six years of the police authority's existence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Voting takes place on Thursday, and if you haven't decided who to vote for, have a look at the websites of the candidates <a href="http://www.ronball4pcc.co.uk/">Ron Ball</a> (Independent), <a href="http://www.fraserpithie.org.uk/">Fraser Pithie</a> (Conservative) and <a href="http://www.jamesforwarwickshire.co.uk/">James Plaskitt</a> (Labour).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You might also like to watch a 'Question Time' type event held last week in Stratford-upon-Avon and shown on the internet TV station <a href="http://stratfordtv.tv/">Stratford TV</a>. Questions were invited from the public, and I was pleased to see that the question I submitted was asked to the candidates (see 19 minutes 15 seconds into the programme).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="235" scrolling="no" src="http://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/26758592?v=3&wmode=direct" style="border: 0px none transparent;" width="360"> </iframe><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
<a href="http://www.ustream.tv/" style="background: #ffffff; color: black; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; padding: 2px 0px 4px; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; width: 400px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Video streaming by Ustream</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following day, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbccoventryandwarwickshire">BBC Coventry & Warwickshire</a> broadcast another candidates' debate, which can be heard <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/p010dxc5">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hopefully these can help you make up your mind who to vote for on Thursday!</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-62066844770845579032012-10-22T23:21:00.001+01:002012-10-22T23:25:42.798+01:00Police & Crime Commissioner - Election Hustings<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday, I received a 'comment' on my <a href="http://www.shiltonparishcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/police-crime-commissioners.html">recent blog post</a> concerning the upcoming Police & Crime Commission elections, from <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/councillors_info.php?councillorID=69">Councillor Howard Roberts</a>, an independent councillor representing the Dunsmore ward on <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/">Rugby Borough Council</a>.<br /><br />Because of the information he's provided, I've decided to give it a higher profile and reproduce it in full below for wider awareness. All of the following words are Councillor Roberts', not mine:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HEAR YOUR POLICE COMMISSIONER CANDIDATES DEBATE RURAL CRIME</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next month we, the people of Warwickshire, will be voting to elect a Police & Crime Commissioner. The person elected will control local police funding, have the power to employ our Chief Constable and set the objectives for policing in Warwickshire. An important role, I am sure you will agree.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many of you have raised with me concerns that looming police budget cuts could see rural officer numbers fall, meaning that crime in our villages increases. The new Police Commissioner will have a great influence on whether our villages remain safe places to live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the election to decide who will be Warwickshire’s first Police & Crime Commissioner taking place on 15 November, I have arranged a debate between the three candidates. The debate will focus on the subject of rural crime. I hope it will give anyone interested the chance to hear the candidates debate issues relevant to our villages at first hand. There will be an open floor for questions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The debate is free and open to all who wish to attend. Please just turn up on the night. The details are given below. I very much hope you will be able to attend - I look forward to meeting you there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rural Policing: The Views of the Police & Crime Commissioner Candidates</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Date: Wednesday 31 October 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time: 7.00pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Location: Dunchurch Village Hall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Duration: 1 hour
</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Councillor Roberts' blog can be found <a href="http://www.cllrhowardroberts.blogspot.co.uk/">here</a>.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-516683383333893022012-10-19T22:34:00.002+01:002012-10-19T22:38:47.378+01:00Police & Crime Commissioners<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N-Z8-lYjiKs/UIHGbKBPtoI/AAAAAAAAAVo/uTVafIrhnOg/s1600/Police_Elections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="136" width="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N-Z8-lYjiKs/UIHGbKBPtoI/AAAAAAAAAVo/uTVafIrhnOg/s200/Police_Elections.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 27 days time, elections will be held across England and Wales to appoint the 41 new <a href="http://www.warwickshirepa.gov.uk/about-us/police-and-crime-commissioner">Police & Crime Commissioners</a> whose job it will be to ensure an efficient and effective police service within their area, and to hold the Chief Constable to account. They will also have responsibility for setting the budget for the local police service for the year.<br /><br />The period of time for candidates to be nominated for this role expired today, and in Warwickshire three candidates have put themselves forward:</span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ronball4pcc.co.uk/">Ron Ball</a> (Independent)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.fraserpithie.org.uk/">Fraser Pithie</a> (<a href="http://www.conservatives.com/">Conservative</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jamesforwarwickshire.co.uk/">James Plaskitt</a> (<a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/">Labour</a>)</span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Vc2TocrbFg/UIHFgcOea6I/AAAAAAAAAVc/XFwhb5cTWGI/s1600/pcc%2Bcandidates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Vc2TocrbFg/UIHFgcOea6I/AAAAAAAAAVc/XFwhb5cTWGI/s320/pcc%2Bcandidates.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ron Ball, Fraser Pithie, James Plaskitt</span></div>
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Right from the very start I have been strongly in favour of the creation of these new Police & Crime Commissioner positions, to replace the almost invisible police authorities. I shall blog more in the lead up to the elections as to why I think they're a good thing. For the moment, I'll just make two comments:<br /><br />In response to suggestions that policing shouldn't be made political, I'd like to know why not? If housing, social services, leisure, highways, food safety, planning and education can be oversee by democratically elected bodies, why should policing be treated differently when it impacts so much on everyone's lives. And the election of Police & Crime Commissioners will actually help Chief Constables be <i>less</i> political, not more, as the most senior uniformed officer rightly becomes focused on being accountable for operational delivery matters and less on getting involved in debates on matters of public policy.<br /><br />But most of all, Warwickshire's new Police & Crime Commissioner will be publicly accountable for policing matters far more so than <a href="http://www.warwickshirepa.gov.uk/about-us/who-we-are/phil-robson">Phil Robson</a> ever was (he's the current chair of <a href="http://www.warwickshirepa.gov.uk/">Warwickshire Police Authority</a> for the 99.99% of the population who've never heard of him). I guarentee the public profile and awareness of either Ron Ball, Fraser Pithie or James Plaskitt in the first three months of their four year term of office will exceed anything that Phil Robson could ever dream of.<br /><br />In addition to the three candidates websites, there's also a dedicated website for the Warwickshire elections <a href="http://www.warwickshirepcc.info/">here</a>, which has more information.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-88470144845236223302012-10-10T22:54:00.001+01:002012-10-10T23:06:31.014+01:00Superfast Broadband Project Update - October Newsletter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1uW7axTbZU/UHXuZeLT_4I/AAAAAAAAAVE/qqFqZuVJbiM/s1600/broadband.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="66" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1uW7axTbZU/UHXuZeLT_4I/AAAAAAAAAVE/qqFqZuVJbiM/s200/broadband.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The latest newsletter from the <a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/">Coventry, Solihull & Warwickshire Broadband Project Team</a> has just been released. The focus this month is the procurement stage, where the team will be starting discussions with potential suppliers to better understand the infrastructure currently in place and where suppliers are intending in make investment themselves during the next three years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The latest timetable for the project is also interesting. The next key date for me is between November - December this year when there will be a public consultation on the so-called 'intervention areas' (ie. those areas of the region that will require public subsidy to achieve superfast broadband because the commercial market itself does not consider it cost effective to make investments there).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the latest newsletter in full:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A reminder of what we are trying to achieve</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Coventry Solihull Warwickshire (CSW) Superfast Broadband Project aims to deliver the Government’s 2015 targets, as set out in the December 2010 strategy document 'Britain’s Superfast Broadband Future' that every premise should be able to access broadband at speeds of at least 2Mbps, and that superfast broadband (defined as providing more than 24Mbps) should be available to 90% of premises in each local authority area. The intention is to procure open access wholesale network services that:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">any internet service provider can use to deliver retail superfast broadband services to residential and business customers;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">can assist businesses by helping to connect premises and mobile workers to the services they require;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">can assist any public sector organisation in building Public Services Network (PSN) compliant infrastructure;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">any community network can use for backhaul.</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our aspirations beyond 2015 are in keeping with the European Commission’s 2020 targets that fast broadband coverage at 30Mbps should be available to all EU citizens, with at least half European households subscribing to broadband access at 100Mbps. The project will endeavour to deliver infrastructure and services that can scale appropriately to keep pace with the increasing bandwidth demands of new applications and services.<br />
<br />
<b>Pre-procurement phase has started</b><br />
The project has now passed the B-zero gateway which was a significant achievement and reflects the amount of hard work that we (and our Community Champions) have been doing over the past few months to really understand the true state of broadband in our area. We now have the go-ahead from BDUK to enter the pre-procurement phase of our project and can start to engage with suppliers in readiness for a full procurement exercise (see timetable below). This is great news and means that we now enter an exciting time as the project starts to become very real.<br />
<br />
However there is still the issue of State Aid to be dealt with. We are informed by BDUK that the EU should be giving its approval for the UK to set up a National Competency Centre “imminently”. This means that rather than the EU dealing with approval requests from all of the UK projects individually, they will be dealt with at a UK level, which should speed up that part of the process.<br />
<br />
<b>Our timetable for the project</b><br />
The following indicative timescales are determined by BDUK with the stages following a prescribed process, subject to the State Aid issue being resolved:
<br />
<br />
<i>October – November 2012: Open Market Review</i><br />
Includes 4 weeks to engage with all suppliers and learn their future roll-out plans, and 2 weeks to update our coverage maps<br />
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<i>November – December 2012: Public Consultation</i><br />
Publish maps of our intervention areas and invite comment<br />
<br />
<i>December 2012 – January 2013: Initial State Aid Application</i><br />
Results from the Open Market Review and Public Consultation used to refine our intervention area<br />
<br />
<i>January 2013: Issue final Invitation to Tender</i><br />
This will go out to the two approved contractors on the BDUK framework – namely BT and Fujitsu<br />
<br />
<i>April 2013: Preferred bidder choice signed off by Warwickshire County Council Cabinet</i><br />
A required formal process<br />
<br />
<i>May 2013: Contract awarded</i><br />
We will work with the successful bidder will start designing our network.<br />
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<i>October 2013:Stage sign-off</i><br />
<br />
<i>November 2013: Commence Phase One roll-out</i><br />
We will be actively testing the solutions throughout this phase.<br />
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<i>February 2014: Commence full roll-out</i><br />
<br />
<i>March 2015: Full roll-out phase sign off</i><br />
<br />
As stated above – these are indicative timescales only. Full updates will be given as the project progresses<br />
<br />
<b>Open Market Review</b> (OMR)<br />
The OMR is intended as a precursor to a formal public consultation document. The OMR, in contrast to the public consultation document, is not a specific requirement under the European Commission’s Broadband Guidelines. However, we consider that early market engagement at this stage is an essential and extremely important part of our early market research. The results of the OMR will assist us with understanding the broadband infrastructure (basic broadband and Next Generation Access (NGA)) already in place and where there are definite plans for investment in such infrastructure in the coming three years and is a significant step in the design of our intervention area.<br />
<br />
We are sending the OMR to all known broadband infrastructure and internet providers in our area. It can also be downloaded <a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/documents/CSW-OMR-Oct-2012.pdf"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">here</span></a>.<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><br />We invite responses from any broadband infrastructure and internet providers in our area. All responses (as detailed in the OMR document) should be received by Friday 26th October 2012.<br /><br />We have also provided coverage maps and a list of postcodes for the sub-region which you can access here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/suppliers/procurement/omr-state-aid-sfb-map/">http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/suppliers/procurement/omr-state-aid-sfb-map/</a><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/suppliers/procurement/omr-state-aid-usc-map/">http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/suppliers/procurement/omr-state-aid-usc-map/</a><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/documents/OMR%20Postcode%20Lists%202012-10-01.pdf">http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/documents/OMR%20Postcode%20Lists%202012-10-01.pdf</a><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/documents/OMR%20Postcode%20Lists%202012-10-01.xlsx">http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/documents/OMR%20Postcode%20Lists%202012-10-01.xlsx</a><br /><br />The maps, which are fully zoomable, illustrate our current assessment of the State Aid status (white, grey, black) for each postcode area in the region – pink has been chosen to represent the “white” areas. The boundary of the region is shown by a thick red line and the area outside the boundary is the buffer area required by State Aid where communities either side of the boundary may benefit from upgrading the infrastructure. The coloured dots on the map represent both business and residential premises, with the different colours highlighting our current estimate of the distance of the premise from existing infrastructure (green is near, hence good, red is far away, hence bad).<br /><br />You will see this evolve as we gather more information from people filling in surveys and crowdsourcing the existing infrastructure.<br /><br />The postcode list covers all postcodes in the mapped area. The data is derived from the OS AddressBase Plus dataset released in August 2012.<br /><br /><b>Surveys and data collection</b><br />The survey responses that we have collected so far will provide crucial data to assist in our supplier engagement. We are all aware that Internet Service Providers will advertise and sell a service on an "up to" speed basis - in other words you are unlikely to achieve the headline speeds that are advertised. The survey responses that we have received have enabled us to build a partial picture of what the actual speeds are in many places in Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire.)<br /><br />However, we do have some significant gaps in our data and we do need to develop a much fuller picture. So, we would ask all of our Champions and individuals to redouble your efforts to ensure that we get 100% coverage of our survey data so that when we enter into negotiations with suppliers we will be smart clients and can show the picture as it really is rather than as we may be told it is.<br /><br /><b>Top questions this month:</b><br /><br />Q1. When will you know what speeds I will get?<br /><br />There are so many variables - right down to the wiring in your home or office - that until the roll-out is complete it will be impossible to say exactly what speed any particular property will achieve. However we will be working with our chosen supplier to design a network that will address the issues that we have discovered during our many months of public consultation and data gathering. When we do go out to tender we be using a performance-based specification rather than requiring particular technologies, so it will be up to the bidders to use their expertise to achieve our targets of 100% coverage at a minimum of 2Mbps and 90% at 24Mbps or above.<br /><br />Q2. Does this mean we don’t need to do the surveys any more?<br /><br />It is now more vital than ever that we get full coverage with our surveys. Throughout our tendering and design phase we will be looking to achieve best coverage for every area, and we cannot do that unless we know what speeds are actually achieved in each area and what the possible future demand for faster broadband might be.<br /><br />Q3. I am a community broadband provider – what does this mean for me?<br /><br />Our project aim is to provide a wholesale broadband network. That means that any ISP can provide services over the network. We have also stated our intention to get fibre as close to every community as possible because that is the best way to provide future resilience. Therefore the final network should provide affordable backhaul for community broadband providers.<br /><br /><b>CSW Broadband now on social media – come and join the conversation</b><br />We are now on the major social media channels and are already creating a buzz. Join in for up-to-date information and an opportunity to influence how the project develops:</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/CSWSuperfastBroadband"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook</span></a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/cswbroadband"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CSW-Superfast-Broadband-4403473"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Linkedin</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
</blockquote>
</span><br />Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-62890268698026798382012-10-05T22:32:00.000+01:002012-10-05T22:34:21.636+01:00Playing Fields Fencing Completed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rk-kSJyRHb4/UG9PJp_yrVI/AAAAAAAAAUU/yvwDuvSlrj0/s1600/IMG-20121004-00025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rk-kSJyRHb4/UG9PJp_yrVI/AAAAAAAAAUU/yvwDuvSlrj0/s200/IMG-20121004-00025.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you've been into the playing fields in Wood Lane at all this week, you'll have seen that the new fencing is now complete. I blogged about the work in progress <a href="http://shiltonparishcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/more-new-fencing-in-shilton-playing.html">last week</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm really pleased with the finished job, particularly in respect of the extent to which it blends in with the natural screening behind it. There was a danger that it could've looked imposing, but I'd go so far now as to say that you could almost drive past it without realising that it was there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.tbfencing.co.uk/">TB Sports Fencing</a> have done a great job installing it, particularly in respect of the lack of damage they've caused to the football pitches from the machinery that was required to install the posts and fix the netting. Two football matches were played last weekend before the works had been finished without any problems at all.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pEvnrnaSrk8/UG9Pcm582sI/AAAAAAAAAUg/iQzRbKg_I9U/s1600/IMG-20121004-00023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pEvnrnaSrk8/UG9Pcm582sI/AAAAAAAAAUg/iQzRbKg_I9U/s200/IMG-20121004-00023.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Particular thanks also needs to go to Ron Lissaman and Mike Randall. Both of them retired from the parish council in May, but have continued to project manage the scheme to ensure that the village gets the best job possible. Mike secured the 70% grant funding from the <a href="http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/">Football Foundation</a>, and Ron has liaised with the contractor throughout, overseeing the installation works. The end result is a great credit to them both.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0M9Ah2LocYE/UG9QQIKtBcI/AAAAAAAAAUs/f4Ghkr5zSSU/s1600/IMG-20121004-00027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0M9Ah2LocYE/UG9QQIKtBcI/AAAAAAAAAUs/f4Ghkr5zSSU/s200/IMG-20121004-00027.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The more observant of you might also notice that the bench that was located along the eastern boundary has had to be moved to make way for the fencing, but is now relocated to a nice spot backing on to Wood Lane itself.</span> <br />
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Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-52850204850068579482012-10-04T22:39:00.002+01:002012-10-04T22:44:56.801+01:00The Casual Vacancy - Fact or Fiction?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PsPReCmRm9g/UG4Ad_3j93I/AAAAAAAAAT8/5rW68XdpGGw/s1600/The%2BCasual%2BVacancy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PsPReCmRm9g/UG4Ad_3j93I/AAAAAAAAAT8/5rW68XdpGGw/s200/The%2BCasual%2BVacancy.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyone who's heard anything of JK Rowling in the last few months will probably know that the plot of her latest novel, '</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Casual_Vacancy"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Casual Vacancy</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">', is set during middle of a by-election for the fictional Pagford Parish Council.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A by-election on a parish council? I'm not sure her fans will be able to swallow such a preposterous scenario!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That notwithstanding, it has been quite good fun to see parish councils having their moment in the media spotlight as a result of the publicity surrounding the novel. Most of this has been - unsurprisingly - negative, critical or dismissive. But, as the saying goes, all publicity is good publicity, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the end of last month, </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9573579/JK-Rowling-has-turned-her-back-on-the-culture-that-made-her-great.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> was not much taken with Rowlings' depiction of middle-class snobbery. And he suggests that she also misses the mark in her understanding of parish councils themselves:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For JK Rowling, on the other hand, Pagford is a vehicle, not properly imagined. It is southern, provincial, class-bound and “therefore” contemptible. As a result, the book is negligent about reality. The mainspring of the plot of The Casual Vacancy is, as the book’s title suggests, the space created on the parish council by Barry Fairbrother’s death. It is important for nasty Howard Mollison and his gang that they get the right person (Howard’s son Miles) in to replace Barry on the council so that they can sever the Fields from Pagford and terminate the lease of the Bellchapel Addiction clinic, which helps the druggies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is implausible, because the powers of parish councils are far slighter than Miss Rowling portrays. It is unlikely, for example, that the parish council would own the addiction centre building in the first place (the centre is a former church: I wonder if the author is muddling up parish councils with parochial church councils).<br/ ><br/ >People seriously determined to do down the interests of the Fields would be much better off on the district council. And anyone who has had any association with a parish council will know that there is never hot competition to sit on it. Local politics can certainly be petty, but her notion that office-holding on the parish council can become almost literally a matter of life and death is preposterous. In Pagford, the chairman of the parish council wears a chain of office at meetings. I have never heard of any parish council with such delusions of grandeur.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His article has prompted a letter in today's paper:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SIR - Charles Moore is right that JK Rowling has overestimated the powers of parish councils in her new novel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From four years' experience as a parish councillor, I have come to the conclusion that they are a sop to local feeling. In their present form, they are a waste of money.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chairmen can be pompous, but the parish councillor's lot is a thankless one. Either more powers should be wrestled from county councils, or parishes would be better served by voluntary residents' associations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tim Coles<br/ >
Carlton, Bedfordshire</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A waste of money? Thankless? Pompous? Mr Coles' </span><a href="http://www.carltonwithchellington.co.uk/parish_council.htm"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Carlton & Chellington Parish Council</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> probably aren't best pleased with that description. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-12744039746642945712012-09-26T21:55:00.001+01:002012-09-26T22:01:51.020+01:00More New Fencing in Shilton Playing Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--AJEQWFqCGo/UGNqb1XQZvI/AAAAAAAAATY/IqiSjPnG0zw/s1600/IMG-20120926-00017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--AJEQWFqCGo/UGNqb1XQZvI/AAAAAAAAATY/IqiSjPnG0zw/s200/IMG-20120926-00017.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following on from <a href="http://shiltonparishcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/new-fencing-in-shilton-playing-fields.html">last month's post</a> regarding a section of new fencing that had been installed by the parish council in Shilton playing fields, if you're passing the playing fields this week, you'll no doubt now see workmen and machinery along its eastern boundary, running alongside Bulkington Road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Work is being undertaken to install 6 feet high chain link fencing along almost all of this side of the playing fields to address a continued problem of footballs and cricket balls straying onto Bulkington Road and causing a danger to both vehicles and pedestrians. In three sections along this length (behind each goal and adjacent to the cricket square), there will be additional higher netting to catch errant balls.</span><br />
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This is a significant project for the parish council, that has been in the planning stage for over a year. Part of the reason for this is that we were lucky enough to secure significant funding from the <a href="http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/about-us/">Football Foundation</a>, who are meeting over 70% of the cost of the fencing/netting by way of a grant of £10,500. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Work is progressing well (despite delays earlier in the week because of the heavy rain) and it should all be completed by Friday, and therefore not impacting on the two football games scheduled to take place on the playing fields over the weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From what I've seen so far, I'm confident that the fencing will do its job well, and without causing any significant visual impact in an otherwise open area of the village.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-39791638691082875052012-09-23T15:10:00.000+01:002012-09-23T15:10:45.643+01:00Free Computers for Community Organisations<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the Fosse Division Community Forum on 13 September, information was circulated regarding recycled computers that </span><a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Warwickshire County Council</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> was making available for community and voluntary organisations:
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Warwickshire County Council is making 125 recycled desktop computers available free of charge to community or voluntary organisations, including town and parish councils, within Warwickshire. Each organisation can apply for up to two machines each, which will consist of a Dell desktop with Windows 7 and a 80Gb hard drive, a monitor, keyboard and mouse, with a number of licence free programmes and a three month warranty. No laptops are available.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Locally based community groups or small-scale groups with little or no IT equipment can apply, but will be asked to demonstrate how it will help their organisation to grow. The PCs have been reformatted by skilled ICT staff so that they are reliable with a good memory.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For an application pack, email Ali Mainey at </span><a href="mailto:alisonmainey@warwickshire.gov.uk"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">alisonmainey@warwickshire.gov.uk</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> or call her on (01789) 260134. Applications are invited by 5.00pm on Friday 26 October.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you know of a local organisation that would benefit from one of these PCs, please get in touch with Alison.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-46026265055300121362012-08-23T23:04:00.000+01:002012-08-23T23:04:11.170+01:00What's in a Name? - Part TwoAs I write this, there's 12 days left to vote in this blog's first ever online poll, which is asking whether you support a move to rename Shilton Parish Council to Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council.<br/ ><br/ >The poll was launched at the beginning of July, and the intention is to report the findings to the parish council meeting on 4 September. I shalln't rehearse the arguments all over again; suffice to say that if you haven't voted, and you'd like to, it's best that you read this post first.<br/ ><br/ >The vote is current 10 - 4 in favour of changing the name to Shilton & Barnacle, so there's still everything to play for. And whilst the outcome of this online vote isn't the single determining factor on this issue, it is a useful tool to gauge what people think.<br/ ><br/ >Of the four people voting to say that they didn't want to see the name changed, it was unfortunate that none of them gave a reason why they voted this way (the blog does allows comments, including anonymous ones). It would be helpful for the parish council to know why people didn't want the name changed - whether its a straightforward attraction to the status quo, or some other, more personal, reason. All views are equally valid!<br/ ><br/ >My post on 9 July also contained something of a potted history of the parish council and its name. In response, I received an email from a resident of Shilton who was able to put me right on a few mistaken assumptions that I'd made, as well as adding more flesh to the historical bones of the parish.<br/ ><br/ >I've reproduced the correspondence below for anyone interested:<br/ >
<blockquote>
The reason that the council is called Shilton Parish Council is because it is the council for the Parish of Shilton. The hamlet of Barnacle has been within the parish of Shilton for hundreds of years. When the Act of Parliament was passed in 1894 to form parish councils, Shilton parish decided to have a council and, of course, this included the hamlet of Barnacle, as it was within the Parish of Shilton. As you know, the first meeting of Shilton Parish Council was held in January 1895.<br/ ><br/ >Most of the hamlet of Barnacle has always been within the Parish of Shilton. The part of Barnacle that belonged to the Parish of Bulkington was a small part in the Spring Road area. This was transferred to Shilton Parish in the 1930s.<br/ ><br/ >I think I am correct in saying that it was probably mostly fields that were transferred from Bulkington in 1938. If you look at a map you will see that the there is a narrow strip of land which borders the Coventry Road which is still in Bulkington, the rest of the fields are in Barnacle. There should be something in the minute books about the 1938 transaction. There was a later exchange of land between Ansty and Shilton which I think was about 1980-ish. This should also be in the minute books.<br/ ><br/ >The first meeting of Shilton Parish Council was held on the 2 January 1895 with six councillors under the chairmanship of William Birch of Barnacle Hall. William Birch represented the parish on the district council. His name is on Shilton Parish Council's chairman's chain of office as the first chairman, together with that of Sid Chivers who was chairman at the centenary.<br/ ><br/ >Incidentally, the very old minute books were unfortunately put on a bonfire by the widow of Norman Ashman. He was Clerk to five parish councils and when he died, as she did not know which belonged to which council, she got rid of the lot. Such a shame because the original minute books would have made interesting reading.<br/ ><br/ >Before Shilton Parish Council was formed, Shilton and Barnacle came under the auspices of the Foleshill Board.<br/ ><br/ >The parish council first met in their new meeting room in 1924 when Josiah Bolton was their chairman.<br/ ><br/ >I have a photocopy from a book about The City of Coventry and Warwickshire which says "....in 1649, too, Barnacle was being assessed for rates with Shilton, not with Bulkington".</blockquote>Fascinating stuff!! If anyone else can add to the story, please do get in touch.Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-6781822022579128002012-08-21T21:59:00.000+01:002012-08-21T21:59:46.035+01:00New Fencing in Shilton Playing Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MP1tLsnJuHo/UDP2OLeCBmI/AAAAAAAAARk/LpuEzKvS1bQ/s1600/IMG-20120809-00153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MP1tLsnJuHo/UDP2OLeCBmI/AAAAAAAAARk/LpuEzKvS1bQ/s200/IMG-20120809-00153.jpg" /></a></div>
The next time you're in Shilton playing fields, you'll hopefully notice that there is a whole length of new fencing along that part of the field that runs alongside Wood Lane.<br/ ><br />The parish council was aware that the existing fencing was looking broken and shabby due to its age, and so sought quotes to replace it. CJL Gates & Engineering from Clifton upon Dunsmore submitted the most competitive quote and were given the contract to supply and fit 60m of round post and half rail fencing. The cost to the parish council was £630.
Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-79203784168297261462012-08-14T18:52:00.001+01:002012-08-14T18:54:01.481+01:00Parish Council Meeting - 7 August<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last Tuesday night, I chaired the August meeting of the parish council.<br /><br />The meeting opened with two members of the public wanting to raise the issue of the maintenance of land in Ash Tree Grove that was now under the ownership of the parish council. A number of hedges were becoming overgrown and some of the trees needed pruning. The council undertook to address these concerns, starting with the hedges being cut back in the next couple of weeks. It was good to see members of the public attending the meeting in order to get matters of concern to them resolved.<br /><br />County councillor <a href="https://democratic.warwickshire.gov.uk/cmis5/Councillors/tabid/62/ctl/ViewCMIS_Person/mid/384/id/66/ScreenMode/Alphabetical/Default.aspx">Phillip Morris-Jones</a> and borough councillor <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/councillors_info.php?councillorID=76">Chris Pacey-Day</a> then gave updates on local matters of interest. Phillip stressed the financial constraints that were continuing to be experienced by <a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk">Warwickshire County Council</a>, along with attempts to attract more members of the public to attend meeting of the <a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/communityforums">community forums</a> that met around the county, and the upcoming election on 15 November for the new <a href="http://www.warwickshirepa.gov.uk/about-us/police-and-crime-commissioner">Warwickshire Police & Crime Commissioner</a>.<br /><br />Chris reported that he has recently been appointed to sit on <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk">Rugby Borough Council’s</a> new Gypsy & Traveller Strategy and Action Planning Group, which he hoped would provide a greater focus to the work being undertaken by the borough council to provide a satisfactory longer term solution to the accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers in the area.<br /><br />Streetlights have been a subject matter that’s exercised the parish council’s mind over recent months. On Tuesday, councillors received an update on the replacement of the damaged light in Church Road (which should happen in the next few weeks), and agreed to replace a unit in Hallway Drive that was reported to be flickering and buzzing intermittently. Both of the units will be replaced with more energy efficient LED lights, and so will look different to the streetlights that are currently there (this will be most obvious in Hallway Drive). The parish council was mindful of installing lights that had a reduced electricity consumption, and will be interested to hear the views of residents as to the quality and penetration of the light that the new LED bulbs emit.<br /><br />New signs will also be ordered to designate the reserved parish council/cemetery parking outside the meeting room in Church Road after the existing signage was recently damaged.<br /><br />The parish council has been formally notified that its clerk, Emma Raymont, will be leaving her post on 31 August, following her recent appointment to a full time job. Despite this being fully expected for some time, it is still disappointing that the parish council will soon no longer have Emma’s enthusiasm and dedication to call upon. In readiness for 31 August, councillors discussed the recruitment of a replacement clerk and what steps it needed to take to ensure that this key position was filled by someone willing and able to bring their own experience and ability to the role.<br /><br />The remainder of the meeting focused on the regular financial matters, planning application consultations and other matters of correspondence.<br /><br />The parish council will meet again on Tuesday 4 September at 7.30pm at its parish meeting room in Church Road, Shilton. Members of the public are welcome to attend, especially if they have matters/concerns they wish to draw to councillors’ attention.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-67462269635582760482012-08-05T15:00:00.000+01:002012-08-05T15:00:17.902+01:00Police Crime Report - July<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.warwickshire.police.uk/">Warwickshire Police</a> has released its latest crime report setting out incidents it wishes to draw to the attention of local residents that have occurred in Shilton and Barnacle during the last month. One incident has been highlighted:
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sunday 15 July - Vehicle nuisance - Top Road, Barnacle<br /><span style="text-align: justify;">Report that an unknown person was blocking the road, and when they were asked to move the vehicle the occupant got abusive. </span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Warwickshire Police has asked that anyone with any information about these crimes should call them on (01788) 541111.</span></span>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R0tbClTIa74/T_tIi-9LpTI/AAAAAAAAAQo/cx16kcuLUDQ/s1600/SPC%2Blogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="182" width="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R0tbClTIa74/T_tIi-9LpTI/AAAAAAAAAQo/cx16kcuLUDQ/s200/SPC%2Blogo.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At last month’s meeting, councillors discussed the possibility of changing the name of Shilton Parish Council to reflect the fact that the council covers both Shilton <i>and</i> Barnacle villages. There was a unanimous view that the idea of adopting the new name of 'Shilton & Barnacle Parish Council' was something that should be looked into further, and in particular there should be consultation with the residents of the parish to see if they also wished the name to be changed.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s not completely clear why it was originally called ‘just’ Shilton Parish Council, although my suspicion is that when it was created in 1895, it only covered the Shilton village area, with Barnacle being included within Bulkington’s local government structures. At some point in the past (<a href="http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10319973#tab02">and my best guess is April 1938</a>), Barnacle was merged into the parish, but the original name was retained.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The two obvious questions are: Why change now? And does it really matter one way or the other? For me, the reasons for formally including Barnacle in the name of its local council are about helping to raise the profile and awareness of the village amongst the outside world, and to give the residents of Barnacle more of an involvement and stake in their local council.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whilst a name is only a name, it does indicate the community that’s being represented, and it’s right that <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/">Rugby Borough Council</a>, <a href="http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/">Warwickshire County Council</a>, <a href="http://www.warwickshire.police.uk/">Warwickshire Police</a> and other official bodies know that the parish council is speaking on behalf of Shilton <i>and</i> Barnacle. It’s also hoped that a name change gives the people living in Barnacle more of a sense that the parish council is their parish council.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Changing from Shilton to Shilton & Barnacle isn’t going to change the world. It’ll still be the same councillors, trying to sort out the same problems, with the same amount of money available. But for me, it’s a further step in a process to update and improve the parish council, making it more relevant, responsive and representative of the area it covers.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Parish councillors now want to know what you think. Do you agree that the name should be changed to include Barnacle? There’ll be an article in the next edition of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/basismagazine">BASIS</a> asking for views, and if there is no significant objection, the parish council will be asking Rugby Borough Council (who has the actual power to change the name of a council) to formally make the change requested.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It would be great if as many people as possible gave their views, so please vote on the top right hand side of this blog, leave a comment at the end of this post, send an email to clerk-shiltonparish@hotmail.co.uk or use the council’s <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ShiltonParishCouncil">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ShiltonPC">Twitter</a> pages. The consultation will run until the end of August, and then the parish council will consider the matter again at its meeting on 4 September.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-21539429488617060842012-06-16T16:46:00.001+01:002012-06-16T17:09:59.528+01:00Participatory Budgeting - Ideas Needed!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qJs28136wPg/T9yvkWw70NI/AAAAAAAAAQY/xhxrmhbwClE/s1600/the%2Bpeoples%2Bbudget.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="104" width="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qJs28136wPg/T9yvkWw70NI/AAAAAAAAAQY/xhxrmhbwClE/s200/the%2Bpeoples%2Bbudget.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This month, the parish council is calling on all residents of Shilton and Barnacle to come up with suggestions as to how they would like to see up to £1,500 of council taxpayers' money spent locally within the villages.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The principle is simple: the parish council puts up the money; local residents make suggestions as to what this money should be spent on; everyone gets to vote on what they think is the best idea; and the parish council then carries out the suggestion that is the most popular.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's straightforward, but it does need people to come up with their own ideas as to where the money should be targeted, and the deadline for suggestions is Saturday 30 June. Contact the parish council however best suits you - email the Clerk at clerk-shiltonparish@hotmail.co.uk or ring her on 07961 834589, leave a message on the parish council's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ShiltonParishCouncil">Facebook page</a>, send us <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ShiltonPC">a tweet</a>, or post your thoughts on this blog. It doesn't matter how you make your suggestion, but so long as you tell us by the end of this month, you could find that your suggestion is the one that's implemented!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's more information about the participatory budgeting project in the current edition of the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/basismagazine">BASIS magazine</a>, which I've also reproduced below.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Participatory budgeting is about giving members of the public more direct control over how taxpayers money is spent. It's my belief that almost everyone living in Shilton and Barnacle - if they give it some thought - can come up with an idea how to spend that £1,500. What we just needs now, is for people to make those ideas known!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GnniClJCpDY/T9yuL0BT4TI/AAAAAAAAAQA/b6IeiFe2bSA/s1600/Shilton+PC+Participatory+Budgeting+BASIS+Article-page-001+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GnniClJCpDY/T9yuL0BT4TI/AAAAAAAAAQA/b6IeiFe2bSA/s320/Shilton+PC+Participatory+Budgeting+BASIS+Article-page-001+(1).jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mEOSkmXGkuA/T9ymc4LezxI/AAAAAAAAAP0/Ai9jKweNamY/s1600/Shilton%2BPC%2BParticipatory%2BBudgeting%2BBASIS%2BArticle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(<i>click on the image to view</i>)
</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-41515080876536176192012-05-29T22:01:00.000+01:002012-05-29T22:02:31.928+01:00The Spending Power of Parish Councils<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For anyone who thought that parish councils are an insignificant blip on the local authority landscape, without the money to do anything worthwhile, might be interested to know that the total amount of money raised through the Council Tax for all of the country's parish councils for 2012/13 will be £384m, and increase of 4.6% on last year's £367m.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The average Band D Council Tax precept issued by parishes was £47.74 (this year, Shilton's was just under that at £45.52 for a Band D property).</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether the parish tier provides good value for money for that £384m can wait for another day!</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-72549128922087762632012-05-28T21:36:00.000+01:002012-05-28T21:43:21.677+01:00Participatory Budgeting in NYC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O3WQIWXLd_o/T8Pgaeq8d7I/AAAAAAAAAPk/O3tbnnN2XYM/s1600/PBNYC%2Blogo%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O3WQIWXLd_o/T8Pgaeq8d7I/AAAAAAAAAPk/O3tbnnN2XYM/s200/PBNYC%2Blogo%2Bsmall.jpg" width="165" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyone who's been following <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ShiltonParishCouncil">Shilton Parish Council</a> over the last few months should hopefully be aware that it's looking to launch its participatory budgeting pilot project very soon. I spoke about it at the Annual Parish Meeting in April (which prompted sufficient interest that two people immediately submitted ideas as to what the £1,500 allocated to the project should be spent on!)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But June will see the official launch, with a feature in the upcoming June/July edition of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/basismagazine">BASIS</a> (which I'll reproduce on this blog). I'm also hoping to generate some publicity in the local newspapers, but we'll have to see how interested they are in a local parish council trying out something different and innovative.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Until then, I thought I'd whet your appetite with a five minute video from a participatory budgeting project run by <a href="http://council.nyc.gov/html/home/home.shtml">New York City Council</a>. Now, Shilton may only be putting up 0.1% of the $1.5m that New York has, but I hope you see enough of the principle of participatory budgeting in action to get you thinking as to what you'd like to see local taxpayer money being spent on where you live.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is evident from the film is the public involvement and engagement that participatory budgeting has generated in communities that might not otherwise have been interested in what their local council was doing. I'm hoping the same can happen in Shilton and Barnacle.</span><br /><br/ >
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pUh68ddaY1A" width="400"></iframe>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270519116653924891.post-73869683778830085262012-05-12T12:46:00.000+01:002012-05-12T13:26:58.190+01:00Parish Council Meetings - 8 May<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Tuesday night I attended two meetings of the parish council - its AGM, immediately followed by its regular monthly meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The AGM was the first meeting of the 'new' year, and our first meeting following the local elections held on 3 May. As such, we welcomed <a href="http://www.twitter.com/kelvictoria">Kelly Smith</a> to the meeting as a new parish councillor (our other new councillor, Dave Redgrave, was unable to attend because of a prior work commitment). Kelly and Dave replaced Ron Lissaman and Mike Randall, both of whom had decided to retire from the council after many years service.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The AGM appoints the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the parish council for the next 12 months, and it was a great honour for me to be nominated by fellow councillors to be our new Chairman. I have taken over from Bill King, who has served the parish council as Chairman for the past decade. It was fitting that councillors immediately paid tribute to the dedication and commitment shown by Bill over many years in what can be an onerous (and often thankless!) role. Councillors then voted for Stephen White to become Vice-Chairman of the parish council for the next 12 months.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We then commenced our 'regular' monthly meeting. Three residents from Church Road, Shilton had attended the meeting concerned at a decision the parish council had recently taken not to replace a street light near to the entrance of the public car park in Church Road that had been damaged following a road traffic accident. This had prompted significant concern from residents in the area, worried about pedestrian and traffic safety caused by the darker environment.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the time it made its decision, the parish council had been concerned that the cost of replacing the street light (£1,000 - £1,500) would need to be met from taxpayers because the driver responsible for causing the damage had not been identified. However, further discussions with <a href="http://www.safer-neighbourhoods.co.uk/your-neighbourhood/rugby-district/rugby-rural-north/whitnash-intro">Warwickshire Police's Safer Neighbourhood Team</a> had now identified the driver concerned, and a claim against his insurance was being pursued. This, coupled with the strong desire from Church Road residents for there to be a street light at this location, led councillors to reverse their earlier decision and now agree that it should be replaced.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This incident provided a reminder to us all of the impact that the parish council's actions can have on local residents, and the importance of improving the awareness and understanding of the decisions that we make.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Councillors then welcomed borough councillor <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/councillors_info.php?councillorID=76&viewBy=specificWard">Chris Pacey-Day</a> to the meeting. Chris had been elected the previous Thursday to represent the new 'Wolvey & Shilton' ward on <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/">Rugby Borough Council</a>, and although he's still very new to the role, it was pleasing to see him stay for almost all of the meeting and getting up to speed with the important issues locally. The parish council also took the opportunity to place on record its thanks to <a href="http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/councillors_info.php?councillorID=22&viewBy=name">Tony Gillias</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/rachwatts">Rachel Watts</a> for the help, advice and support they had both provided whilst they were borough councillors representing the area.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The rest of the meeting was taken up with our regular items of business: reviewing the correspondence received during the last month, authorising expenditure and noting income, considering a <a href="http://www.planningportal.rugby.gov.uk/fulldetail.asp?AltRef=R12/0532&ApplicationNumber=&AddressPrefix=kiln+way&submit1=Go">planning application at a business unit on the Kiln Way industrial estate</a>, and receiving updates on other on-going projects that the parish council is involved with.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally consideration was given to the notice board in Shilton. This needs updating and replacing, and the Shilton Village Hall Committee had recently been in touch to ask the parish council to help. We will be talking to the village hall committee further about agreeing a better site to locate the notice board, as well as arranging for a more suitable cabinet to be installed.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><br/ >
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next meeting of the parish will be held on Tuesday 12 June at 7.30pm.</span>Dan Essexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187095644493464497noreply@blogger.com3