An odour free week. With temperatures rising it is good to report no odour in the village. Talked to a traffic policeman in car at Merston keeping an eye on speeding through the corners. A pile of car parts, mostly plastic gas tanks and seats, dumped in stream at Runcton end. Landowner, Langmead Farms, disposes of promptly. Start of gas gun season. Some early shots starting at 06:00 from east of Marsh Lane, not Langmead Farms, most probably Groves Farms. Will have to report when I can identify the source.
A councillor's week
Visited MRF at Ford; attended seminar on community cohesion at Oving; watched the turf cutting at the site of the new museum; attended a lunch at Brighton for one of the region's new MEPs and played a full part in supporting the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Martin Loury in leafleting and canvassing.
Attended with gritted teeth the ceremonial task of turf cutting for the new museum in Tower Street. In one sense I wish it well as we are now committed to it. But I am still concerned we are building a white elephant we can't afford either from the capital budget or revenue budget.
Attended a seminar at the Oving Jubilee Hall on cultural and ethnic diversity, with considerable focus on the place in our community of migrant workers, the education and other support provided for them. Rather impressive work being done by the Expanding Communities Project under the aegis of the local Council for Voluntary Service, headed by the authoritative Helen Spencer. I was disappointed that little reference was made by the lead CDC speaker to the early work in this area conducted by members of this authority.
Visited the new materials recycling facility (MRF) at Ford. At a cost of £15 million, owned by Viridor, it opened just one year ago. It takes all our recycling except glass that we sell to bottling customers direct. It has the capacity to take 100K tonnes per year on three shifts. Currently at 65 per cent capacity on two shifts, which amounts to about 300 tonnes per day. Operated by 25 staff on a shift, using 93 conveyor belts to separate the waste mechanically via sieves and by optical scanning. County target is 45 per cent recycling by 2015 but this includes green waste which is a cheat in my view.
The issue for CDC is whether to have our glass collected along with the other recyclate in the burgundy bin as the other six districts in the county do. We may be given a financial incentive by county to go that route but the result is that the glass will be ground to powder and be good for little else but aggregate for the roads. Today our bottles get recycled as bottles and bottling companies are pleased to use recycled materials in place of virgin. I think that it is the right thing to do but CDC officers take a different view. What do visitors to this site think? Does it matter what happens to the glass when it leaves our house?
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A councillor's week
Council gets to grips with predicted cuts in government grant from 2012 onwards. Talked to Ashington residents association about green waste composting in light of pending application from Olus for a 50,000 tonnes facility in the parish. Attended briefing by Langmeads on proposed changes to anaerobic digester application.
Briefing by Langmead Farms on AD plant application amendments that will result in smaller footprint. Details at AD Campaign.
First leaders debate. See Election Special
At the invitation of Ashington Residents Association attended their annual meeting and commented on proposal by Olus who run a green waste composting site at Henfield to build a site at Ashington. The company has has been consulting the local community before submitting its application. Good for them, that's the right way round. What struck me about the proposal is the planned capacity of the site which is double Langmead's at Runcton and I think Woodhorn's. I wonder, as indeed wonder the residents, where the green waste is to come from. Sounds as if much of it will need to be imported from across the border. Vehicle movements will be one problem because of the local road network and noise from shredding as beside green waste there will be wood that has to be shredded.
Executive Board. A really sensible paper tabled by new District Treasurer on criteria for achieving balanced budget and sustainable capital programme. Not before time. Would have been good to see this 12 months ago. Several points of note include methodologies for establishing priorities, given a situation from 2012 onwards if not before when we shall not be able provide all our services at current levels. Chief executive predicts cuts in government grant between seven and 10 per cent. Another criterion is the need for savings if new revenue commitments or capital projects with revenue implications are taken on. Possible disposal of non essential assets and getting residents take on choice between increased and reduced service were two others that caught my eye. Could prove an excellent road map for financial management.
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Odour at six out of 10 on Wednesday April 7 near flint wall at 14:00, four out of 10 the following day same time, same place. Is this the start of problems with warmer weather?
A councillor's week
Quiet during school holidays.
Letter in FT suggesting action against Macdonalds because of littering that included dumping litter on their premises. This may not be the best approach but the problem is widespread and we need to do something about it. I may propose a member's working group to study the issue.
Martin Loury adopted as LibDem Parliamentary candidate. He could do well. As a teacher from Bognor is in touch with ordinary people, has an easy, relaxed manner. Of course his task against a sitting Conservative is uphill but nothing is certain in this election. Cameron and his mercurial shadow chancellor have still to convince.
The debate about national insurance contributions shows how well the Tories have big business behind them. It also shows, depressingly, how gullible business leaders are when they start getting involved in politics. How can they support reducing national insurance increases without any idea where the savings to offset the cut are to come from. Also they speak for their companies when by no means all make political contributions. They should speak in a personal capacity. But given the small impact the NI increase is likely to have on jobs they are setting themselves up to just look silly.
Oving Parish Council. Got roasted for encouraging the two members of Development Control South to vote for the wall rather than the trees, the parish council's preference, in respect of a Sampson's Drive application considered on March 31. But it seemed to me when the agenda papers with the tree officer's report were published that while the matter was finely balanced, the case for the wall that would fill the gap, against the trees that were not of high quality on a bank that was susceptible to erosion, won on a short head. The tree report was not available when Oving's planning committee met in February.
North Mundham Annual Parish Assembly. Arrived late as assumed it was a regular parish council meeting. Small attendance and few questions. Very much in the shadow of MARRA's March 24 meeting. Without a speaker or a burning issue not much to bring in the residents. Reported on major Council activities during the year: service reviews, governance review with more place for scrutiny, new management structure. One question: what can be done about litter, seems to be the fault of 'foreigners'. Probably not 'foreigners' whoever they may be. More likely just the usual badly behaved British whose littering is a European scandal.
Last worship at St Giles. Well attended service. Those who want an evensong will be able to worship at North Mundham for an experimental period of six months beginning May 9 on the second Sunday of the month. Let's see if there are takers both from St Giles and from North Mundham to make it viable. I shall not miss St Giles. As treasurer for the last two years, I have found it extra work I could have done without. And the school room in which we have met since the church became unsafe has been a dingy venue.
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