Three storey houses on Sandhills

Around 10 days ago, I and Councillor Ray Berry received a copy of a letter a homeowner in a three storey house on Sandhills had received from Central Bedfordshire Council.

We all agreed the tone of the letter was disturbing and one that we could not support. It suggested that the Council "had evidence" that their home was being used as an HMO. An HMO is a Home in Multiple Occupation and is commonly used to describe a building let out as individual rooms such as student homes.

Both Ray and I asked to see this evidence and it would appear that none actually exists apart from the fact that there are some increased risks from fire and we can see no justification for this letter and certainly not for the tone.

We have also asked how many went out and to whom as we believe an apology is in order for each household that has received this letter.

This was being dealt with and now was see in Today's Leighton Buzzard Observer that people are not happy and I can see why.

Together with Ray we are continuing to pursue this matter and once again confirm that we are not happy with the way Housing officers at Central Bedfordshire have handled this. It is right that we make people aware of risks and requirements and it appears that the Fire Brigade had asked for our help to contact people who may be running and HMO but there are much better ways for instance using a polite letter or contacting the residents' association.

If your house is let out to more than one household, please get advice on the legal requirements and ensure all fire and other safety devices are working and used.

If you have been affected by this letter, please post a comment below.

Facebook and Twitter for the Town Council

After much lobbying, and even suffering by me, The Town Council has finally agreed to accept Social Networking sites as valid methods of communicating with residents.

I am a big supporter of social networking and so-called Web 2.0 sites but have always known that online communication is just one channel and should not necessarily replace other forms of communication such as News from the White House that we publish and the many face to face public meetings that we hold.

At the Policy and Finance Committee held on the 9th November (started at 19:30 at The White House) it was agreed that the Council's Strategic Policy for 2010-2011 would be in no particular order:

• Increase youth participation by providing activities and support.
• Continue to facilitate the delivery of a college building/associated services for learning and skills opportunities.
• Offer residents a wide range of first class sporting facilities
• Work with partners to provide tourism, attractions and recreational facilities for residents and visitors.
• Improve communication to residents using electronic means e.g. Facebook & Twitter.
• Continue to support the police and other authorities to deal appropriately with anti-social behaviour and crime.
• Create measures to deal with dog fouling, litter, park crime and vandalism.
• Continue to seek improvements in public transport.

So look out for lots more happening in your town over the next 18 months and a lot more happening online too!

Coldham Wind Farm Visit

Yesterday I went on a tour to the Coldham Wind Farm in Cambridgeshire run by the Co‑operative Group. I was joined by a number of Councillors from across Central Bedfordshire as well as many planning officers and those dealing with the growth area. They were also joined by colleagues from neighbouring areas.

The site at Coldham has 8 turbines and generates enough energy to power 9,000 homes. Turbines here are only about 50m tall but some are 110m tall with blades around 80m long. Each turbine has to be placed at least 5 times the diameter of the blades apart to ensure they wind pattern coming off of one does not interfere with the other.

I went there with 2 big concerns (although as an overall supporter of wind farms); one was the noise and the second concern was the look of the turbines.

As we drove in to and through Cambridgeshire we could see hundreds of acres of farmland with some houses and the odd shop dotted along the route. It became quite obvious early on that there were many small groups of even single wind turbines in fields already placed in a seemingly random manor. In amongst the fields were farm machinery, old brick buildings, wooden sheds, some farm animals and windfarms. They just appeared to be part of the landscape.

As for the noise, yes, let us be clear, each turbine does make noise and this is a noise unlike any other heard in the countryside, a "swoosh" every 10 seconds or so as the blades rotate and this does give some concern. The industry guidelines however are designed already to counteract this with turbines being at least 500m from homes and ideally further.

Once we were a few hundred metres away, I could not hear the sound of the turbines and as a result, having more turbines does not increase the sound, it is the closest one that is the potential problem.

While standing around the base of the turbine, the swooshing noise was irrelevant as it was the wind noise that I heard most but it was still not loud enough to stop us having a normal conversation and it certainly did not mean we had to shout.

Residents are right to express concern over wind turbines in their back yard and if they are within 500m of property I do not think they should be given planning permission.

If they were 500m away then I would be quite happy to have one in my back garden generating 1,000 homes worth of energy each year.

Fees and Charges approved

After months of work, the Fees and Charges list compiled by the Working Group I chaired has been approved by the Executive at Central Bedfordshire Council.

With just some small issue from Councillor Steve Male that the price of hiring a video from a library has gone up (the cost of borrowing a DVD has gone down) the new charges were approved. They are due to start in April 2010 but some prices may change now.

A number of charges came down and some bear no resemblance to existing charges as we have completely recalculated the fair cost based on the new combined authority area. Some areas were not looked at by us in detail as the departments were undergoing their own review such as in Taxi Licensing where changes have to be made to bring together the old SBDC and MBDC rates and rules.

In time, the charges will appear on the website which is also undergoing some continuous improvement through a Task Force made up of member and officers to look at ways to improve the information on it and allow more transactions to be made online.

Grants Working Party

Another week and another working party for me to chair.

With the creation of Central Bedfordshire Council came a lot of "legacy programmes" that need reviewing. We have done the fees and charges which involved bringing together some 700 services that we charge for but there is a lot more still to be done to truly bring together the old councils as one complete authority.

One area where we spend a few million pounds a year is our "Third Sector Grants". With some old County staff moving to Beds Borough and staff coming and going throughout the year as is normal, we have around 100 grants being made to third sector organisations that need to be reviewed. This included money being given to the Citizens Advice Bureau, BRCC, Voluntary and Community Action and more.

To be clear, the word review in this case means to check, go over, examine and study. While it is true that CBC needs to drastically cut expenditure and hence Council Tax, we must ensure we retain a good level of service and so this is not about cutting organisations off. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with encouraging a little efficiency so watch this space!