The Power of the Blog

I enjoyed this story doing the rounds in the media today about goings on in Somerset. It seems the councillors of Somerton Town Council could take no more of the sniping of a local blogger - and resigned en masse from the council in protest!

Local resident Niall Connelly has been writing on his 'Muck & Brass' blog since 2006 about what he saw as secrecy and incompetence within the town council. But it all got too much for 11 of the 15 councillors at last Tuesday's council meeting, announcing their resignations mid-meeting and promptly walking out there and then. The town council is now suspended, the remaining four councillors being too few to legally conduct any business. South Somerset District Council now has to organise a by-election to find 11 new councillors to fill the vacancies.

Mr Connelly claims this as a victory for people power; an ex-councillor calls him "vindictive", and his supporters no better than "sheep"!

For me, it demonstrates the increasing power that the internet and blogging offers people to share their views with a wider audience. And if that means criticising the local parish council, then so be it. I can't help feeling a twinge of envy that so many people in Somerton care what their local council is getting up to!

Plenty more to read about this in the Guardian, Independent and Times.

Public Meeting - Proposed Closure of Brinklow Fire Station

Last night I attended a public meeting in Monks Kirby arranged by the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service for local residents to comment on the Improvement Plan that was being developed with the aim of improving the fire and rescue service provided to the residents of Warwickshire and to re-use the resources available in a more effective way.

Attendance at the meeting included Chief Fire Officer Graeme Smith (who gave a presentation on the Improvement Plan proposals) and Councillor Richard Hobbs, Warwickshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Community Safety.

The proposal that has gained the most public attention is the plan to reduce the number of fire stations in Warwickshire from 19 to 12, resulting in seven existing stations closing. The public meeting last night focused primarily on the proposals for the Brinklow fire station, one of those earmarked for closure.

As you might have imagined, it was a lively meeting with almost everyone in attendance opposed to the closure plans. I had attended with a somewhat open mind (unlike many of the more shrill voices being heard), as I genuinely did not think the Chief Fire Officer wished to put lives at risk, and nor did he wish to run down his service in order to save money. But listening to the debate left me more certain that the closure of many (but perhaps not all) of the seven stations due for closure was not, at this moment, necessary in order to introduce the many other good aspects of the Improvement Plan that we could all find favour with.

A number of the points made on the night that deserve further consideration included:

• would a more remotely-based fire station be operated by firefighters without the local knowledge of the rural areas in the county (and their peculiarities)?
• could the Improvement Plan be implemented in a phased approach, with station closures as a very last option, rather than the all-or-nothing approach proposed?
• concern that the proposals would result in an overall reduction in the number of firefighters working in the county.

Fires in Barnacle and Shilton are tackled in the first instance by fire engines from Bedworth fire station (Brinklow, Nuneaton and Rugby stations provide backup if required), so the proposals being discussed last night would not have quite the effect that the proposal to close the Bedworth fire station and amalgamate it with Nuneaton could have. Nonetheless, it was an interesting meeting that demonstrated the depth of public feeling against proposals that are being interpreted as placing people and property at a greater risk than at the moment.

Councillor Hobbs did confirm though that the final decision to adopt or reject the plan will be taken by all 62 county councillors at a full council meeting, rather than just by the Cabinet as originally planned. This is significant in that it means that local county councillor Phillip Morris-Jones will have a vote on the matter - and he made his opposition to the plans very clear at the parish council meeting on 6 October.

The consultation period runs until 8 December, with further information available here. A report on last night's meeting by the Rugby Advertiser, including video footage from the meeting, can also be viewed here.

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service Consultation

You may have seen reported in the local media recently that Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently conducting a public consultation exercise on proposals to review the number of fire stations across the county.

The draft proposals, if implemented, would see the current 19 fire stations throughout Warwickshire reduced to 12. For Barnacle and Shilton, this is particularly relevant because the plans include proposals to close both stations in Nuneaton and Bedworth and combine them into a joint fire station to be located between the two towns, as well as closing the Brinklow fire station.

At its meeting on Tuesday night, the parish council considered its views on these proposals, and expressed concern that they did not appear to be an improvement over the services currently provided. The combined Nuneaton/Bedworth fire station would be further away for residents of Barnacle and Shilton, resulting in a longer wait for fire appliances to arrive in the villages. This would be made worse by the withdrawal of the fire station in Brinklow. There was also concern that the proposals did not take proper account of the likelihood of the significant new housebuilding that will take place in the borough, as well as new industrial developments such as Ansty Park.

There is a public meeting to discuss the proposals (particularly in respect of the planned closure of Brinklow fire station) taking place on Monday 12 October, starting at 7.00pm at The Revel Primary School, Brockhurst Lane, Monks Kirby. I shall be at the meeting and will report back on the issues discussed. A similar meeting in the Bedworth area was held on Wednesday 8 October, and a report on the proceedings by the Coventry Telegraph can be read here.

Full information on all of the proposals, as well as an opportunity to respond to the consultation, can be found on the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue website. Submissions must be received by 8 December.

Planning Application Decision

Rugby Borough Council has reached the following decision on a planning application submitted in July:

• Plots 4 & 5, Top Park, Top Road, Barnacle - variation to existing temporary planning permission to change the permitted occupancy of plots 4 and 5 - approved.

The full decision on this application can be viewed here.

Lower Road Telephone Box

We're all familiar with BT's famous red telephone box (or the Gilbert Scott designed 'K6' kiosk, to give it it's proper name). First installed in 1936 to celebrate King George V's silver jubilee, there were once 70,000 of them all across the UK.

Unfortunately, the almost universal ownership of mobile phones today means that the red telephone box is used less and less, and when BT is looking to cut costs, the telephone kiosk is frequently on the hit list. It is claimed that currently only 40% of public telephone boxes generate enough usage to cover their operational costs.

BT have recently contacted the parish council to say that the telephone box in Lower Road, Barnacle is to be scrapped because it has not generated enough use to justify its retention. I must admit to being quite surprised to find out that it had been used 90 times in the last 12 months (I would've guessed at a tenth of that figure), but it seems that two calls a week just isn't enough for BT, and the telephone is going to go.

However, it is possible for parish councils to take over the ownership of decommissioned telephone boxes (without, I stress, any working equipment inside). There remains a huge fondness for the traditional red telephone box, and when villages up and down the country are losing their amenities (and often with that, their character), Shilton Parish Council agreed at its last meeting to take over the ownership of the telephone box in Lower Road and maintain it as a traditional feature of the village street scene.

It won't cost much: BT will sell us the telephone box for £1 and it'll cost around £17 per year in electricity to light it up at night. The process of adoption isn't straightforward (it never is!) with Rugby Borough Council, Ofcom and E.ON all becoming involved, but I'll keep people posted on here as to progress, including when the parish council formally takes over the ownership of it.

It'll then join the 350 other red telephone boxes across the UK that have been taken over by local communities to preserve this iconic symbol of British life. And if anyone has any ideas as to what to do with the inside of an empty telephone box, do get in touch!

Planning Application Consultation and Decisions

This week, a planning application has been submitted by:

• The Stables, Wood Lane, Shilton - erection of an agricultural storage building.

Full details of the application (including site plans) can be found by clicking here. All comments on the application must be received by Rugby Borough Council by Friday 2 October.

Rugby Borough Council has also reached the following decisions on planning applications submitted over the past few weeks:

• The Old School House, Church Road, Shilton - erection of a two storey link extension, erection of a two storey rear extension and provision of a first floor to the linked outbuilding - approved.
• Barnacle House Farm, Top Road, Barnacle - outline permission for the erection of an agricultural worker's dwelling - refused.
• Weavers Cottage, Lower Road, Barnacle - erection of a first floor rear extension - approved.

The full decisions on these applications can be viewed here, here and here.

Planning Application Consultation

This week, a planning application has been submitted by:

• Plots 4 & 5, Top Park, Top Road, Barnacle - variation to existing temporary planning permission to change the permitted occupancy of plots 4 and 5.

Full details of the application (including site plans) can be found by clicking here. All comments on the application must be received by Rugby Borough Council by Friday 4 September.

Death by Consultation

People tend to view the purpose of parish councils as either one of two things. They're there to deliver important services to the local area to be paid for from the Council Tax, or they are to be the advocate for local residents and should express the parish's wants and needs to borough councils, county councils and beyond. From my experience, Shilton Parish Council does plenty of the latter and a bit of the former (although I sometimes wish it was the other way round).

In an effort to be seen to involve the public in important decision-making, the parish council can be inundated with consultation documents seeking our opinion, on behalf of local residents. This does, of course, mean that you have to have an opinion on things that probably the week before you had no opinion on at all, and preparation for council meetings becomes an exercise in cramming in order to have a vague idea about what it is we're discussing. The upshot is that you soon become a bar room expert on things you never thought you would (although whether my life is enhanced to any degree by a working knowledge of Regional Spatial Strategies is something to consider at another time).

The parish council meeting last week was a good example of this. We were asked to give an opinion on:

• West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy Phase Three Revisions Options
• Warwickshire County Council Local Transport Plan 3: Transport Goals and Issues
• Warwickshire County Council Community Emergency Plans
• Rugby Borough Council Proposed Submission Core Strategy Development Plan
• Coventry City Council Core Strategy Development Plan
• Coventry City Council Rights of Way Improvement Plan
• two local planning applications

Different opinions are discussed, responses agreed and sent off, and the collective views of the people of Shilton and Barnacle are feed into the strategies and plans that will affect region, county, borough and parish for the next ten years.

Does any of it make any difference? The cynic will say no, but very occasionally a policy gets tweaked, or a plan slightly amended, and just for the briefest of moments it all seems worthwhile.

Suggested Bookmarks

If you're reading this blog on anything like a regular basis, you'll no doubt be quite happy to source your information online. And to help with that, I aim to periodically share links to website, forums, blogs and other online content that may be of interest.

To start things off, Warwickshire County Council are running a trial channel on YouTube where they will post video footage of news stories about council matters across Warwickshire. The first (and to date only) post is a story about the construction of the Rugby Western Relief Road, which can be viewed below:



The Warwickshire County Council YouTube channel is linked here.

Planning Application Consultation

This week, a planning application has been submitted by:

• Weavers Cottage, Lower Road, Barnacle - erection of a first floor rear extension.

Full details of the application (including site plans) can be found by clicking here. All comments on the application must be received by Rugby Borough Council by Monday 10 August.