Cllr Pearl Lewis

Archive for the ‘Environment’ 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!

I am chairing the newly reformed Local Area Forum flooding sub-group in response to the Great Ouse Catchment Flood Management Plan Consultation, produced in July 2010. The plan has failed to take into account some important considerations in respect of the impact of flooding on the infrastructure around North Buckinghamshire. We are hoping to lobby the Environment Agency (EA) and other organisations as follows…

The grading of flood risk is based on the threat to infrastructure. The flooding group will aim to provide the EA with the considerable amount of data about infrastructure damage in past floods that has not been taken into consideration in the report. For example, the closure of the A422, and the records showing the shutdown of the power substations, evacuation of student accommodation etc. The data should demonstrate that Buckingham’s grading should be moved from a Level 5 to a Level 4. Such re-grading will bring extra investment.

In addition to providing previous ignored data, we also want to show how a cost effective solution to the flooding issues can be adopted, using methods like drainage restructure, balancing lakes and the restoration of the Buckingham Canal arm. All of these are covered in the EA flood management plan as concepts for the Ouse Valley and we aim to work in partnership with them and others to drive this forward for the villages affected in Bucks and downstream in South Northants. The Buckingham Canal Society has already obtained substantial data regarding the drainage system layout on Page Hill with help from Transport for Buckinghamshire and has a possible solution to divert water and restructure the drainage system to move excess surface water to a higher level at flood time.

The flooding group will also be monitoring and lobbying local developments that are likely to impact on the general likelihood of flooding, for example, new planning developments, farmer’s maintenance of gulleys and ditches, and the maintenance of clear drains by the local authorities and water boards.

Next to our banner for the canal restoration

The canal project is moving along swiftly – we are close to finalising the briefing document to present to local authorities, supporters, politicians and donors. We had a membership drive in the town centre on Saturday 11th September, and gained 19 new members. Everyone was very interested to hear about what the Society has been doing and our new campaign ‘The First Million Litres’ that aims to raise the first £75,000 through fundraising, grants and donations so we can put in water the Bourton Mill section of the canal.

Our flooding sub group meets on Wednesday to discuss the Environment Agency’s response to our feedback on their report, which seemed to ignore the flooding problems on the A422. Then the LAF meets on the 23rd September where we are reporting on the canal progress and the flooding sub group’s work. Busy busy!!

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…

We should hopefully be making some progress on the flooding outside Church House  – the drain was due to be cleared on the 9^th March. The agencies seem to be passing the buck a little on this one, due to the nature of the drain – it is unclear whether it is storm (AVDC) or foul (Anglian Water). The investigations on the 9^th should have hopefully answered this question for us and we can get onto getting it fixed.

Is 'Akeley WiFi' the way forward?

The most exciting bit of this meeting was the discussion about village WiFi. Grants are available to cover almost all of the set up costs of such a scheme and it would mean Akeley residents internet access would be considerably cheaper – and covered by the parish precept. It would widen access to the internet for villagers, prove a selling point for things like the pub, village hall and school, and be an attractive advantage for potential buyers of houses in the area. Culturally and socially, it could unite the villagers more if they are reminded that every time they go onto the internet they are logging on to ‘Akeley WiFi’ – we discussed earlier on in the meeting how disspointing it is that people do not seem to get involved in village life any more. This could be a new way of reminding people of the community around them, as well as convincing them that we are aware of the needs of the 21^st century village. Perhaps it might even attract more people to get involved in the governance of their village?

Of course it could pose problems: wireless access inevitably has ‘blackspots’, and it may be that such a scheme would not interest villagers. We decided to bring the discussion up at the next meeting, perhaps with some ideas of costing, and then present it to villagers for their opinions. It would have to be ‘sold’ right to the villagers to convince them to use it. I’m meeting with Terry Cavender, whose idea this is, on the 2^nd April to bounce some ideas around about this.

It could be a great thing for the village.

On 6^th March I attended the Conservative Councillors Association Annual Conference at Hotel Russell in London. David Cameron was the key speaker, and opened the conference urging councillors to ‘go forth and mobilise’ in the run up to the election in 2010. He promised more powers for councillors to make decisions under a Conservative administration and encouraged councils to be more transparent with their expenses, salaries and expenditure – publishing records online for the general public’s information.

David Cameron spoke to the Conservative councillors at the conference

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, came on to much applause – and did not disappoint. His speech was vibrant and encouraging, recognising the challenges that the upcoming election will bring. He reminded the party that a win is not certain: there is a long way to go and we should not be complacent. His humour throughout was not misplaced, and meant he came across in a very honest manner.

Caroline Spelman MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) outlined the plans for housing and the abolition of the infrastructure quangos preventing elected councillors from making decisions about planning. She committed to opposing Labour plans for a revaluation of council tax (Council tax rates would be based on the market/rentable value of a property under Labour plans), to much agreement from councillors. She spoke of the Green Belt protection under plans for flexible land use (for example, using old retail sites instead of carving up our fields and countryside). A matched council tax scheme for all new developments would mean council tax incomes would be matched by the Government to fund relevant infrastructure. She committed to abolishing the Standards Board and its accompanying bureaucracy and money wasting, by increasing the powers of the Local Government Ombudsman and also the District Auditor to scrutinise local government and deal with cases of maladministration.

I had the pleasure of meeting Caroline Spelman – she was pleased to see a young face and reminded me that we needed more women politicians.

Boris Johnson came on to much applause

There were few young faces at the conference – I discovered in one of the breakout sessions that the average age of Conservative councillors is 68 (!) which shocked me greatly. We discussed that it is unfortunate that councils are not more representative of the people of Britain. Most who are younger need their full time jobs to keep going, meaning they cannot progress higher for time constraints and some councils holding daytime meetings. The younger people that were at the conference were standing for London boroughs that hold their elections on May 6^th alongside the General Election.

I met some interesting people – two brothers from Tendring council in Essex who are both councillors, a candidate for Westminister City Council, the leader of Ealing council who spoke to the group of the challenges of being effective after taking political control of a council, Grant Shapps MP, the Shadow Housing Minister who was also the after dinner speaker, and Cllr Merrick Cockrell and Cllr Rory Love of the CCA Board.

The most valuable part of the day was seeing councillors being given the opportunity to quiz members of the Shadow Cabinet about their policy for a new administration.

After all, we are the ones that are delivering the services to our people.

The Council Tax rates were formally agreed at this meeting: a rise of 1.95%.

Aylesbury Theatre - CO2 friendly!

10:10 Campaign: Council members agreed to sign AVDC up to the 10:10 Campaign which encourages organisations and individuals to work towards making a 10% cut in their carbon emissions. Councillors commented that while regardless of the controversy over whether or not global warming is occurring, this initiative would save taxpayers money, and therefore make sense economically. The new theatre is a good example of the new ideas for saving carbon – they are installing ground source heat pumps for energy, leading to a 30% saving in carbon emissions.

A motion was also passed to confirm that the Council is committed to saving our public assets from sale by the Government, and to protect them for the benefit of the local people in Aylesbury Vale.

The Housing and Homelessness Strategy was renewed for the following year, and it was agreed that the housing team at AVDC are doing a wonderful job.