Cllr Pearl Lewis

Archive for the ‘Conservative Party’ Category

I’m not sure where the last few months have gone! Time seems to be going so quickly – things were very busy in the Spring preparing for the re election of the Council, I’ve recently started a new job at the University, and AVDC is moving forward with it’s Vale of Aylesbury Plan and broadband work.

Canvassing in Maids Moreton with Iain Stewart (MP for Milton Keynes South), James Elles (MEP), Jeremy Quin (Chairman of Buckingham Conservatives), my brother, and my friend Oli

I began my election campaign in March. There was glorious sunshine for my canvassing days which helped (I’ve now realised that was the extent of our ‘summer’)! It was great to meet lots of new people on the doorstep and let them know what I’d been working on for the past year. It was a very different campaign to my by-election, with lots of new issues and obviously it was nice to feel more aware of local issues and be able to inform residents of things happening with the Council.

I was absolutely delighted to be re-elected to AVDC with 63% of the vote – it is so humbling to know I have the support and trust of the people in my ward, and I’m working hard to continue making contacts and going to parish meetings. It was an exciting election and we had a turnout of 49% in Luffield Abbey.

I was also pleased to see the referendum on the Alternative Vote system return a resounding 70% ‘No’ result in Aylesbury Vale, and across the nation. The future of our democratic principle of ‘one person one vote’ remains, and I am proud that Britain has had a chance to have it’s say on such a fundamental constitutional question.

We were delighted to maintain our majority in the Council chamber, and to welcome lots of new members, including some younger councillors.

Campaigning for the No to AV vote in Buckingham

ENTERPRISING THINKING

I welcome the Government’s decision to abolish our expensive Regional Development Agencies and instead allow local authorities to join up and create Local Enterprise Partnerships. The South East Midlands LEP is currently in formation and will be nurturing the creation and growth of businesses in our area – linking up institutions with common areas of expertise – like education or engineering. It’s been particularly exciting to see the proposals for the development at Silverstone – a brand new business park, education centre, museum, visitor centre and the necessary infrastructure investment. It’s pleasing to see that the circuit will now be a venue for events all year round and continue to provide jobs for local people. The millions of pounds that the circuit’s activities create for our local economy are much valued. In 2009, AVDC helped to secure the Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone for the next 17 years – a massive boost for our local economy. I attend a sub group chaired by South Northants Council which feeds back residents concerns and comments about the activities at the race track to the circuit managers so that all events can continue to be managed with the support of local people in the future. This will be particularly relevant with the phased development that is planned.

THE LOCALISM AGENDA AND THE VALE OF AYLESBURY PLAN

Our new, Conservative led Government has provided some exciting opportunities for localism and the Big Society in our communities. I’m proud to see the red tape being stripped away and a chance for communities to have an input into the development of their areas. I will be working with parishes over the coming months on the creation of their parish plans, which will need the input of all residents. We are working on our Vale of Aylesbury Plan at present, and I have been to several Member seminar’s to discuss how the plan might be formulated. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when looking at housing need and housing demand – things like sustainability, community consultation, land availability, infrastructure requirements, demographic changes (for example, the rise in the number of pensioners in the future will provide new and different challenges to the type of development we need in the Vale), employment, and the growth of the surrounding cities and ‘hubs’ – Aylesbury Vale can currently be considered a ‘dormitory’ district where people live but commute out to work. But of course the key factor – and the most unpredictable – the economy itself. There are challenging times ahead, but it is refreshing to see our plan being lead by the parishes, towns and districts rather than by national government targets.

CANALS, COMMUNITY AND CABINET

The Buckingham Canal Society are working hard with their plans for restoration, and are currently undergoing planning application processes to re water the Buckingham end. They have also acquired permission from British Waterways to begin work on the Cosgrove end of the canal, and hope to have at least one of these sections in water by the end of the year. It continues to amaze and impress me that not only are the Canal Society working hard to reach their ultimate aim, but the means by which they get there – through community involvement, events, education and fundraising – are always so innovative and focused on the best values that community projects thrives on, like joining up thinking between public and private sectors and leveraging opportunities for the good of all. Part of that leveraging of opportunities was creating a formal partnership for the Society with AVDC. Terry Cavender presented the Society’s proposal to the Cabinet in February and then BCS on to form a partnership with South Northants Council in July. AVDC’s Cabinet Member for Leisure said of the partnership:

Cllr John Cartwright presenting a cheque for £2000 to Buckingham Canal Society

“The restoration of the canal is a large and ambitious project, but one that AVDC is proud to support. It will create a fantastic waterside environment that will bring real benefits to those living and working in Buckingham and the surrounding area. We look forward to working with the canal society to help take the project forward.” (Cllr David Thompson, Cabinet Member for Leisure).

My thanks must also go to Cllr John Cartwright for his generous donation of £2,000 to the Society from the Community Leader’s fund at Bucks County Council.

£2M BOOST FOR BUCKINGHAMSHIRE BROADBAND

Buckinghamshire (in the form of Bucks Business First, formally Bucks Economic Learning Partnership) were delighted to have their application accepted for a grant of the Government’s money for broadband development in the county – Bucks has been given £2.1m. This will be split among some of the already ongoing projects in the Vale (where there are the most ‘not spots’) and other areas in Buckinghamshire. At present, BAC3 (the community interest company that Terry Cavender and I created), is looking at some new exciting options for providing some pilot projects north of Buckingham, and once again Terry has come up trumps delivering on some fantastic private sector collaborations. The Economy Scrutiny Committee (of which I am vice-chair) at AVDC has agreed to look at broadband provision in the Vale as part of a three-stage (or more if necessary) review, and I hope that this will provide an opportunity for AVDC to consider what work is being done at present to improve broadband provision – with particular reference to our rural economy – and suggest ways that we can move forward with some of the good work already being done. It should also be a great opportunity for us to identify all the smaller community projects that are going on at present and link their work up to create bigger and better opportunities for the district and surrounding areas outside of small villages.

Meeting Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP at the CCA Conference in February 2011

OUT AND ABOUT

2011 has not been without its field trips! I spent a weekend in February up in Warwickshire at the Conservative Councillor’s Conference, and met some Cabinet ministers and councillors from all over the country. It’s a great event to show you that actually local government isn’t just confined to your own district or county – there are common challenges being faced by all local authorities at present, and it was very interesting to talk about how to approach these.

My favourite event was on the Big Society, the outcome of which I am always thinking about – that the Big Society is not just about volunteering as the media so often conveys, it is about a changing the relationship between people and the state, the ethics of stewardship, a partnership, taking responsibility. It is about fresh thinking towards our services, who provides them and most importantly – why do we need them and how can this be reflected in their delivery?

PARTY EVENTS

Conservative Future at the CCA Conference with CF President Ben Howlett

Our newly established Conservative Policy Forum meets for the first time next week in Winslow. Conservative Associations all over the country set up local groups to discuss policy and then it gets fed straight back to government ministers: http://www.conservativepolicyforum.com/.

Finally, October brings our second Conservative Party Conference, and I’ll be heading up to Manchester for a few days in October – once again there are hundreds of fringe events and receptions happening, and hopefully this year we’ll make it into the hall to hear David Cameron’s closing speech!

The new Conservative Future Association for North Bucks is taking shape! We’ve got lots of ideas about events that we can hold in the upcoming year, including dinners with prominent MP’s and ministers, lectures, trips, community project action days and campaigning events and canvassing.

We want North Bucks Conservative Future to be both a social network for you to enjoy the company and intelligent conversation of other young Conservatives, as well as provide you with the opportunity to debate and discuss politics, help out with election campaigns, maybe stand for election yourself (!), and meet national political figures.

Please join our Facebook group here: Conservative Future North Bucks to keep up to date with the latest developments and event news! If you want to join our branch, let me know!

Things have been so busy since the election, so I’ll try and briefly outline a few of the things I’ve been working on:

Canal Restoration: The most exciting project I’m working on, with the Buckingham Canal Society. At present we’re trying to raise awareness of what a great project the restoration of the Buckingham branch of the canal is.

Residents of the Old Ragdoll could be coming to Buckingham once the canal is restored...?

We’ve put together a draft ‘prospectus’ to present to local authorities, interested parties, organisations and individuals to raise awareness, and hopefully funds for the work to continue. The restoration has exciting benefits for the local economy, wildlife, flood defences, tourism, history and heritage, leisure and tourism, and possibly even the freight trade.

Bourton End Clearance of the Buckingham Canal

Wifi grant application: Terry Cavender from Akeley Parish council has been working really hard on this, and the Community Interest Company we want to set up to help fund the canal restoration in Buckingham has applied for a grant to expand the broadband supply and internet access to some rural areas in our community that are still without acceptable standards of internet connection in 2010. The idea is that the restoration of the canal works in conjunction with the laying of cables under the towpath.

Flooding group: We’re hoping to get this group as a sub group to the Local Area Forum up and running again. The work that I’m doing with the canal society to push for the restoration as part of a wider flooding planning strategy is part of this.

Speed review, Area 14 (North Bucks): I went to the briefing session for this along with parish and county councillors. While it was a little frustrating to spend an hour being told what you’re NOT allowed to do with speed limits, each parish has now submitted their ‘wish list’ of how they want the speed limits changing in their areas, and I think we could see some interesting results – particularly in Maids Moreton where the new development has big consequences for the density and speed of traffic along the A413. Once the review is completed in the Autumn we can look at what we’ve managed to do and go from there if people still feel things like SID’s are useful.

High Speed Two – the buzz phrase on everyone’s lips! Although ‘Route 4’, which is a suggested route that affects the areas north of Buckingham, is not the proposed one, it is one of the alternative proposed routes, and I’ve been working with the parishes to keep them up to date with AVDC’s consultation on the Exceptional Hardship Scheme to work for the rights of all those not just on the proposed routes but also all the routes shown. I’ve also been working with Beachampton to create an action group to examine the feasibility of Route 4 alone.

High Speed Two trains threaten the areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Buckinghamshire.

They have sensibily pointed out that we need a coordinated forum with proper arguments against the route should the government change their mind about the proposed route in the south of the Vale. Lets hope that the public sector cuts mean that HS2 goes off the national agenda for a few years – £18billion is hardly spare change. We must be sensible as an authority and make sure that we are fully informed about all the HS2 proposals to make a well rounded and sensible suggestion to government when the formal consultation begins in Autumn 2010. It’s an interesting time, and I am sure that AVDC is united in its feelings about the blight on our countryside that HS2 will bring.

Silvertone IAG briefing group: I went to a meeting for all local councillors at Silverstone race track a few weeks ago. It was a briefing session run by Jean Morgan, CEO of South Northants District Council to explain to us the role of the Silverstone IAG, which is an officer-based group that means regularly to discuss the impact of the events at Silverstone on the local community. It is made up of local fire, police and council authority representatives and the briefings we hope to have as an aside to their meetings will enable us to feed in local residents feelings about how events are managed. It is mainly logistical discussions to do with camp sites, traffic flows, crime and health and safety, but this is still important as it affects the local residents of Dadford, Silverstone, Stowe and Whittlebury. It will be even more relevant over the coming years with the growth of the site now we have secured the F1 Grand Prix for another 17 years (yey!), and the Moto GP which had its first year at Silverstone last month. Each event brings different crowds of people, different kinds of traffic, and different kinds of problems.

Planning Applications: I’ve had several applications where residents have asked for my input lately, and its been complicated at times. I’m going for some planning training soon to understand the basics of planning law and my role as a member in planning situations. It can be an emotional time for applicants and residents and I would like to think I could support them through this.

Housing: I was pleased to be able to help a constituent who was being unfairly evicted from their home a few months ago. I would like to thank VAHT for being so understanding and sensible in this matter. They do a great job and are a housing association to be proud of. The presentation that I saw from them at my last Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting was most impressive, particularly their work to reduce crime and Anti-Social Behaviour in the areas of housing they control, using measures like varying the types of dwellings that are grouped together.

Party Conference 2010/CF North Bucks Branch: I’ve bought my ticket for the Conservative party conference! October 2010! Very excited, there will be so many people there, and lots of networking opportunities. I’ve also met lots more young people in the party (I did some campaigning for Conservative Future during the election) so it’s nice to have some councillors my age group to chat with.

Setting up a Conservative Future branch for the under 30 Tories of Buckinghamshire...

I’m also hoping to find some time to set up a Conservative Future branch for North Bucks and Milton Keynes – there isn’t one between Oxford and Bedford, a lot of ground to cover! It could be great fun and I’m sure there are lots of Bucks based Tories out there who would definitely enjoy all the benefits of a well run CF group. I’m meeting the Regional Chairman next week in London to discuss how I could go about it.

Phew – that’s just a taster of a few things I’ve been doing! I’ll try not to leave it so long next time… I’m just enjoying it too much I keep taking new things on…

It’s been a while since my last update..! The election was fabulous fun – it made me so proud to be part of our democracy. Seeing queues out of the polling stations was the best feeling.

A Beautiful Sight - Polling Day, 6th May 2010

Its so nice that for a few months every five years people are talking about the thing I want to spend my life doing… Election day was very tiring – I was up at 5am to go telling in Milton Keynes, and then I was darting back between the campaign office in Winslow, and then over to Whitchurch to helps Johns campaign out – riding around in the car in Haddenham with John on the loud speaker was particularly fun!

John Bercow and me in Haddenham on Election Day

Then I was telling in Milton Keynes in the afternoon again, back to the office in Winslow, back to Milton Keynes and then home by about 9pm to watch the coverage start. By 3am when the results started to come in I was dead to the world in the chair! On the Friday I went over to watch the count for the Buckingham constituency in Aylesbury and then over to Bletchley for a drink to celebrate the win of the two constituencies in MK. Overall I think the mileometer showed around 400miles for the two days! Worth it though.

Every seat is going to count in this election, as the Conservative Party need the biggest swing since the war to gain a workable majority. Therefore, when the Conservative Future asked me to join their Regional Action Day in Winchester yesterday, I thought it might be good way not only to canvass to win back the seat there for the Conservatives – Steve Brine is the PPC, who only has a 6,000 Lib Dem majority to overturn – but it would also be a great way to meet some younger people in the party, and enjoy the spirit of the election with a crowd of excited supporters all hitting the streets to talk to voters and remind them that they should vote Conservative on May 6^th if they really want things to change in this country. The weather was incredible too yesterday – glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky – and we had about 70 people turn out to help!

Canvassing In Winchester with the Conservative Future

Canvassing is brilliant fun – there is nothing more democratic than physically going out there trying to win votes, talking to voters about the issues they are concerned about, and reminding them how their vote does count – especially in 2010.

There is an interesting article about canvassing here on the BBC News website, take a look, and join us if you really fancy it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8605756.stm