Merry Christmas to All

I would like to wish all visitors to this Blog a very Merry Christmas and every good wish for 2008.

I has been an exciting year for me as I have become a new Councillor on the Aylesbury Vale District Council and there has certainly been a lot to learn. One of the highlights was Steeple
Claydon winning the Best Kept Village award; the village football team is doing very well too.
I hope to continue to get to know the local residents and their concerns and to take up issues
on their behalf.

A very Happy Christmas to all.

Handrail to go up outside Doctor's Surgery

I am delighted to be able to report that following my request to Bucks County Council,
a handrail will be erected on the pavement outside the Steeple Claydon doctors' surgery
at the corner of Challoners Hill and Vicarage Lane.
The work will begin on 7th January 2008. Not a moment too soon, as our residents face
a steep and slippery slope and the prospect of ice and snow making it all the more treacherous.

This is the latest in a list of improvements which have been carried out to roads and pavements
in and around Steeple Claydon following my 'badgering' of the County Council:

- resurfacing of Addisons Road
- repair to pothole in West Street
- repair of large hole in road between Padbury and Steeple Claydon caused by a badger's sett
- inclusion of road from Steeple Claydon to Calvert in list of priority roads for winter maintenance.

I fully intend to keep up the good work on your behalf.

Steeple Claydon wins

Best Kept Village Award

I am delighted to be able to report that Steeple Claydon has been presented with the De Fraine Cup for the best kept village of its size in Bucks.

The cup was presented to the Chairman of the Village Council by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant.

We are the proud possessors of a 'Best Kept Village' sign which we can keep for at least a year.

The award is tribute to all those who worked so hard at keeping the village neat and tidy. Particular effort went into the surroundings of the village hall, the recreation ground and the well.

Congratulations to all concerned !

Touring the Ward with our local PCSO

On Sunday afternoon I toured the whole of the Ward with our local PCSO, Wendy. How lucky we are to have her as the officer responsible for the area. We travelled around in her fine Land Rover Defender, which took me back to my time in Tanzania when I was driving around in a Mark III ex-army Landrover which I shipped out from England.
We visited all the villages in the ward - Middle Claydon, Sandhill, Verney Junction, East Claydon, Botolph Claydon and Steeple Claydon - covering all the villages on foot. It's amazing how many details you notice by just walking round. We spotted what looked like a caravan encampment in the distance from Middle Claydon which we thought must be somewhere near the railway line, but couldn't work out how to get closer. We saw a vehicle with an expired tax disc and obscured number plates in East Claydon, and an abandoned vehicle with a smashed window in Steeple Claydon. We inspected the thatched seat in Botolph Claydon with an oak tree growing out of the roof which has had some graffiti inflicted on it and needs a small repair which I shall tell the parish council about. The public phone box in Middle Claydon was out of order and rather dirty.
There was a large fallen branch in Botolph Claydon, and some uneven patches on the pavement.
In Steeple Claydon, the Vicarage Orchard needs tidying up and a new dog bin is needed on the
adjacent path. It is also being used as an unofficial compost heap for garden waste. We spotted
several hedges which need trimming back. The wall along the footpath beside Sportsmans Close has lost a number of bricks and tiles which need replacing. The pavement in Addison's Road is in a very poor condition (the road itself has recently been resurfaced) and the pothole in West Street outside Willow Farm has subsided again.
Lots of small things to take up with the relevant authorities.
Another need is for a handrail outside the doctor's surgery on Vicarage Lane at the corner with Challoner's Hill where the pavement is very slippery with fallen leaves and will get worse when it is icy.
Wendy has 200 square miles of north Bucks to look after and clearly is an extremely dedicated and popular officer. It was a privilege to spend the afternoon with her. PCSO's have my 100% support.

Aylesbury Waterside Scheme

I have been very preoccupied recently with the plans for the new Waterside scheme in Aylesbury, which is causing a good deal of local controversy, mainly expressed through the pages of the Bucks Herald.
There are undoubtedly some good aspects of the scheme: notably, the improvement and opening up of the area around the canal basin and the Bear Brook, and the plans for the new
Theatre which looks great.
However, there are some justified concerns being expressed about the new shopping centre planned as an extension to the existing Hale Leys Centre, with the feeling that the plans that have been put forward by Warner Estates show little appreciation of the surrounding architecture and environment of the Exchange Street / Civic Centre area. There is regret for the loss of the horse chestnut trees and green space in front of the Civic Centre car park.
There is also a concern about the size and location of the proposed new supermarket on the south side of Exchange Street, and some questioning over whether Aylesbury really needs an additional supermarket at all.
I waded into the debate with a letter to the Bucks Herald, which the paper gave the rather misleading heading ' Waterside Plan will improve town'. This is not what I said, although I very much hope that the plan will improve Aylesbury. I said that the plan was designed to generate profits for both the council and the developers ( in response to a suggestion that it was an exercise in municipal socialism) , that the discussions over the details of the scheme were still going on, and that I hoped that those discussions will result in a scheme which is financially sound, and environmentally and architecturally sensitive.
2 points to emphasise: the development plans have not yet been formally proposed, so nothing has been decided as yet. Also, it is necessary to view the scheme as a whole and not just one element of it.
I am still optimistic, and hope that the council will take note of the very valid concerns which have been expressed about aspects of the plan.

My first month as a Councillor

I am gradually getting used to my new role as a District Councillor. I have been appointed to three Council Committees - resources, audit and economy - and have attended one meeting of each. I have also attended one Council meeting, and there is another special council meeting in July to discuss the plans for new development in Aylesbury.
There is some concern about the limited time and opportunity for response to the development plans, but in this the Council is obliged to follow the Government's timetable, or run the risk of losing its planning powers altogether.
More locally, I have been following up some of the concerns which Steeple Claydon residents have been contacting me about since my election. These include:
- orange cones at three different locations in and around the village. Bucks County Council have told me that they will carry out the necessary repairs at two of these locations (West St. and North End Road) and the third location is the site of a badget sett ! It's good to know our County Council is concerned about the local wildlife.
- one resident is concerned about the pumping station below West St which has an outlet pipe going into Padbury Brook. We went to visit the location last weekend - a good place to walk the dog. I have contacted Anglian Water who are responsible for the pumping station to see if they can check the quality of the water going into the brook.
- there is concern about youths misbehaving in the recreation ground, with broken bottles on the skateboard park.
- I have raised concerns about the condition of the roads in three places: the bottom of Addison Road, the road going out of the villiage towards Charndon (which I go down every day on my way to work) and the junction of this road with the road to Twyford which is very bad. The
County Council have said that none of these roads is in a 'dangerous condition'.

Success on 3rd May

It's been a while since my last blog - I was too busy campaigning. I was out on the doorsteps for most of April - usually an hour in the evenings on my way home from work, and all day on Saturdays (Sunday as well in the week before the election). I visited every house in the Ward at least once, and had fantastic help from 5 supporters who helped to deliver leaflets - I could never have managed to cover the whole area without them. The farms particularly appreciated
a visit, even if my car suffered on some of the tracks. Generally speaking I had a very warm reception, and I have spoken to several people who said they heard about me from a neighbour who had been visited. So I really think the personal contact made all the difference, and it certainly helped me to learn what are the priorities in the area.

These are (in no particular order): the roads and pavements, getting streetlights fixed, providing something for teenagers to do , stopping petty crime and vandalism, flytipping (particularly tyres apparently), concern about losing the weekly rubbish collection, and
better public transport. Plenty for me to follow up on.

I was up all night on the 3rd May celebrating the nationwide Conservative successes, but
unfortunately I had to fly to Barcelona on 4th May for an Oxfam meeting (my employers)
which had been fixed a long time ago and could not be rescheduled, so I missed my own count.
My wife Angelina attended and said it was very exciting. I won with 379 votes, which was exactly the total of the two independent candidates, so if one of them had refrained from standing it would have been a much closer contest.

One issue which came up during the election was the planning application for a composting
(brown bin) recycling facility on the edge of the village. I could see some advantages (cheap compost for the local farms) but also some disadvantages (lorries on the minor roads), and felt
that if it happened at least the village should be able to benefit by introducing brown bin
collections there as well. Anyway, it now seems that it will not be located here after all.

Another issue which I have learnt about since the election is the application by an organisation called the Trail Riders Association to upgrade the bridleways through Romer Wood into a 'byway open to all traffic'. I have looked at the submissions to the County Council, which include
references to various maps dating back to the 18th Century in an attempt to establish whether there has ever been a road through the woods. The Bucks County Council have rejected the request, and it has now gone for appeal to the Secretary of State for the Environment.
I hope that he confirms the decision, as it would be a great shame for the woods to be disturbed
by motorbike trails which would be a hazard to pedestrians and horseriders.

Campaigning in Steeple Claydon

My nomination papers have been accepted and there is no turning back now. I have had a great
deal of support and encouragement from the generally positive reception I have had on the doorstep so far. I have canvassed in parts of East Claydon and Steeple Claydon: today I covered
West Street and Addison Road.
It is always good to have something to hand out to voters as I go along, and so far all I have is the 'sorry you were out' cards, which only give my name and contact number. The main election
leaflets should be printed this week and then I will need to get them out as soon as possible.
I am hoping to cover as much of the ward as possible in face to face meetings as they are so important in getting myself known.
There is a Labour candidate standing, and two independents, but no Liberal which is good news for me. At the last election the Conservative candidate was returned unopposed, so it is hard to gauge the strength of the various parties.
As far as local issues are concerned, one major concern is the state of the roads, which is poor even for north Bucks, and the fact that they were not gritted in the winter. Another is crime and vandalism: I came across one house which had obviously been broken into with a broken glass panel beside the front door. They need a bus shelter, but one person I spoke to said if they had one it would just be vandalised, which is sad but probably true.
Happy Easter to all readers.

Induction of the Revd David Knight

Yesterday evening I attended the induction of the Revd David Knight as Vicar of the Claydons,
in the beautiful parish church of St. Michael's Steeple Claydon. The Church was full of villagers, friends and well-wishers and there was a lovely atmosphere. There are three churches in the parish: Steeple Claydon, East Claydon and Middle Claydon, which is in the grounds of the National Trust property Claydon House. Sir Edmund Verney Bt. of Claydon House, the patron of the living, presented Fr. Knight to the Bishop of Buckingham, who appointed him to the 'cure of souls' in the parish. The service was a lovely mixture of the formal and informal, with some fine singing by the church choir.

Getting to know Steeple Claydon

Since being selected as Conservative candidate for the Steeple Claydon ward in next May's Aylesbury Vale District Council elections, I have been taking every opportunity to learn about the villages and their concerns. The ward covers Steeple Claydon, Middle Claydon, East Claydon and Botolph Claydon, as well as Sandhill and Verney Junction. Last week I attended the Steeple Claydon Parish Council meeting in the beautiful new Library which has been created by the efforts of the whole community and shows how much people care about the village and its amenities. Some of the subjects discussed included gritting the roads (this was just before the heavy snowfall), maintenance of the village hall and sports pavilion on the recreation ground, planning applications, the mobile library, and the state of the roads. I drive through the village on my way to work every day and am getting to know it well. Last weekend despite the snow I
joined a group of party members in delivering leaflets to most of the houses in the village together with a questionnaire to ask people what their main local concerns were. I shall be interested to see the replies. I was pleasantly surprised when at one of the first houses I visited
I was welcomed by a man whom said he was a strong supporter and would be happy to help.
This has to be balanced against the kids who threw snowballs at me a bit later on !! But generally it was fun to be out and about in the area I hope to serve as a District Councillor for many years to come. Today I composed a message for my first election leaflet and will copy it onto this blog later. My next task is to assemble a team of local supporters who will be able to help with canvassing, delivering leaflets etc. between now and the election. The election is less
than 4 months away so we need to get organised. On Monday I am hoping to attend the service of installation of the new Vicar at Steeple Claydon parish church at 7.30 pm.