Some results so far

No blog post at all in April! Not good!

BUT, it was an interesting month none the less with pre election work and general ward work there has been plenty to do.

I am pleased that now Billington Park roads are adopted a problem tree has been cut back after its branches were pushing through an upstairs window so thank you Highways team for fixing that.

We have also been part of discussions with residents to change some bus timetables for an increased Saturday service on certain routes although I have to thank Grant Palmer for their speedy response to resident's requests.

The past couple of weeks since the ward meeting has involved me and other ward Councillors following up on the issues and I hope to report back with some results in the next week or so.

Central Beds working with Beds Borough is also working on a relaunched Outdoor Activity service and I will be going to that launch as well as taking with a resident who contacted me to help them start up a non profit activity group for young people so watch this space for updates soon.

Ward Meeting

I am organising a ward meeting for the end of April and subject to confirming the date we will also have a Portfolio Holder (David McVicar) coming who can directly help sort some of these minor issues out. In fact, David has just walked past me with a cup of coffee as I write this update in our Saturday morning group meeting!

I will also invite our local Safer Neighbourhoods Team (Police) and any one else that is relevant for Grovebury Ward.

There may be an election called but I don't believe holding a non political ward meeting will be a problem.

So bring your problems and I will hopefully have some updates from previous cases.

It is looking like the 27th April at Brooklands Middle School but I will confirm this and announce the time ASAP.

Leighton Buzzard is on the map!

We often talk about it but Leighton Buzzard really is on the map now after the Google street view car visited our town a while ago. I am not sure exactly when but I am sure people are already having debates about the date and time based on the traffic queues, road works, scaffolding on buildings and so on.

The Old Fire Station clock shows the time as 5:40 pm and the Total petrol station in Lake Street was selling unleaded for "only" 97.9p per litre. Aah, the good old days when you could fill up your tank for a shilling under fifty quid...

Is it a problem? No, I don't have any privacy issues with this at all although with many people questioning it let's see what the papers and gossip hot spots have to say. It makes people finding us easier and who knows, with a virtual tour around the town including a very small part of the high street it may even encourage more people to shop locally.

If anyone finds me or my car on the map let me know please!

Youth Provision in town

I had a very positive meeting today with officers in the Children, Families and Learning directorate at Central Bedfordshire Council regarding increasing the "positive activities for young people" in Leighton Buzzard.

I was joined by 4 dedicated people who have achieved great results running 2 independent youth clubs in the town on a voluntary basis and it is hoped that we can work with Central Beds to support the activities of these impendent clubs and even encourage more such as a Youth club at St Barnabas Church that I have offered to assist,

Prior to this meeting, I spoke to a number of organisation that are keen to work with us and help so if you want to help us get more activities in the town for young people then please get in touch.

All of this is in addition to the Youth Task Force that Central Beds has run and of which I am a member.

Flood Warnings

There are a number of flood warnings now in place across Central Bedfordshire and in particular around the South East of Leighton Buzzard.

for updates you can visit http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods or call 0845 988 1188 and use 'quick dial' number 032322 for Clipstone Brook or 0323211 for River Ouzel.

Parking, flytipping, traffic and so on

As mentioned just a few days ago, with the exception of the Full CBC Council meeting to approve the budget coming up on Thursday and the regular cabinet meetings and Executive meetings the Assistant Portfolio workload is easing for the next month or so and I can now really get my teeth in to the ward issues which when not being affected by snow, tends to focus on fly tipping, parking and general traffic nuisance.

This month is no exception.

Currently I am dealing with fly tipping problems around the Richmond Road area, some nuisance behaviour and vandalism around the Highfield Road area, requests for traffic control on Stanbridge Road and parking assistance on Billington Road in advance of the so called “civilisation” plans for Billington Road in time when the new housing leading up to the A505 is built.

I have invited Cllr David McVicar to a ward meeting to hear some of these concerns and constructive ideas that residents have put to me. If he is able to make it and we can arrange something I will be sending out invites to watch this space.

If you live in one of the areas mentioned and either do believe there is a problem or alternatively don’t see a problem, please contact me so as many views as possible can be taken in to account.

Grant payment conditions almost done

Well the last week without email has been in a way quite peaceful (I tend to only get 20 or so emails a day) but also has caused a bit of a hold up with the report from my Working Party on Grants that the authority may or may not make to typically non profit organisations in the Unitary area. This is not to be confused with Third Sector payments including Contracts and Service Level Agreements which will not make sense to most people but includes payments to such organisations in return for measurable outcomes - we will come back to this later!

Now that we are back with all of our limbs connected our report will make it to the executive just a little later than planned for implementation in April.

I just have to wait now, probably until after the Genera Election to be given my next task which of course gives me more time to work on local ward issues again.

Central Bedfordshire website and email is down

Last night around 10pm a massive hardware fault took down the Central Bedfordshire website, email and phone lines.

Early this morning the phones lines were switched over to a back up system and limited usage was restored. However despite receiving the new hardware and having engineers on site the system is still down and is unlikely to be back on until tomorrow.

2 separate pieces of hardware seem to have gone wrong at the same time which therefore meant the normal procedures in place to allow the service to continue on to a backup system did not work.

Hopefully it will be back to normal tomorrow.

Going on a gritting run

On Friday at 3pm I went with Bedfordshire Highways crew on a gritting run around Leighton Buzzard's A and B roads ready for the freezing weather to come.

I went along to show support for our gritting crews who have felt unappreciated by some local paper letter writers but also to see another important area of operation for Central Bedfordshire Council.

I learnt a lot on the run -

• often only a small amount of salt is used (I think we were on 15g per metre) and is not immediately visible
• about 20% of drivers are impatient and drive so close to the back of the lorry their car gets more salt than the road
• the A and B roads takes about 90 minutes to complete in Leighton Buzzard
• the lorry throws salt across both lanes on a road so does not need to come back the same way which is why they can't keep too far to the left when working
• lorries are tracked the whole time from the depot and drivers are contacted if the lorry deviates from the planned route or stops for too long (for safety crews will phone in first if they need to exit the vehicle due to a problem
• it is a very boring job with lorries automatically limited to little over 30 miles per hour when they are gritting!

Thanks to Richard for being "my driver" on the route and to all at Beds Highways for the experience.

Snow gone

I think we might have just had the last of it and I am pleased! As fun as it was the snow has been terrible.

So far this year I have been out and about on foot and on the roads and have noticed that with sensible footwear and a hiking stick or similar getting around has been far from impossible although certainly awkward. Driving using your gears and not being heavy on the accelerator also helps although it is slower.

But, just about every resident's issue has been snow related - just one being parking related.

I am keen to hear views on the Central Bedfordshire winter planning and I would be happy to dispel some myths too such as why we don't see gritters and why there was still snow on the road for days.

Firstly gritting lorries (18 of them usually go out across Bedfordshire) go out throughout the day and night, often very late at night or early hours of the morning when most of us are asleep. As for snow ploughs, they can be fitted to the gritters but with so many cars parked at the roadside, they would simply get snowed in as the ploughs pushed the snow to one side.

Suggestions are to put more resources in to clearing market stall pitches, bus routes and outside schools. All good ideas and subject to limited resources I will be putting all these forward shortly as we begin to plan for winter this year.

Gritting crews are still on standby and the weather is monitored throughout the day so Bedfordshire Highways are ready to jump to it if needed.

As for salt supplies, aside from the nationwide lack as already discussed on this blog, I copy below and interested set of facts from Cllr Richard Stay's blog -

• Road salt degrades above ground quite quickly & if damp turns into brine.
• Salt Union in Cheshire can only keep 100,000 tons above ground in reserve for this very reason.
• Yesterday the only underground excavator broke down & requires parts from Africa before they can mine any more road salt.
• Road salt only works when it has traffic passing over it & churns it into the snow or ice.
• Road salt only decreases the temperature at which the moisture on roads freeze over by a few degrees - so in very cold conditions it is useless.
• Road salt also seriously degrades & damages the road surface.
• Even if we wanted to keep large stocks of road salt in Central Bedfordshire the chances are much would go to waste.

The bins in the Richmond Road area should now be back on track and thanks to the Highways team for responding so quickly to a call from a town centre retailer asking for the pavements to be cleared!

PJ and Co - I will keep you posted regarding the paths around the retirement homes.

Road salting

We are continuing to suffer from really bad weather and once again teams of people and gritters, some with snow ploughs fitted have been patrolling the streets of Central Bedfordshire in the evening, night time and early morning.

As it stands, supplies of "salt" are running low here and across the country. We are receiving supplies periodically and therefore have to conserve resources to ensure our A and B roads (major roads) are salted and kept as clear as possible.

Bedfordshire Highways at this stage simply cannot consider salting of footpaths and roads that are not major roads and hence crucial for a town to continue functioning.

Conservative* members of CBC are looking at our whole winter maintenance and planning strategy but we are realistic as to what can be achieved. Anecdotally other Countries may not suffer so much or "come to a complete standstill with a bit of snow", but if you search on the internet a little you will see that the truth is actually very different. Many other Countries, even those where snow is more common, along with most of the UK is suffering from the continued and out of character bad weather.

I have had a number of valid enquiries from residents relating to the salting of non A and B roads where they are on hills and also salting of bus routes. I think both are valid questions and I will ensure this is considered.

I could be wrong but I don't think any Council salts footpaths on a regular basis so please be careful on your travels if you do need to go out. Where sensible footwear and if driving, go easy on the accelerator pedal and ensure all windows, lights and number plates are clear to avoid running in to problems with the Police!



* I am quite sure other parties have also said something about it but I can only speak for the party I am a member of so no need for accusations of libel or half truths