Merry Christmas

I would like to wish all readers of this blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Click here for the e-card.

I would just like to apologise for the lack of posts over December which has been for a number of different reason including holiday and work commitments. I hope to resume a more normal service, including more local news in 2008.

Indecision Clegg

New lib dem leader Nick Clegg has a hard act to follow, wth Vince Cable having been surprisingly effective over the past weeks. However while he might need all the help he can get, it does seem a little over the top to appoint half his MPs party to front bench positions. It looks like either he can't identify who is good enough to be in his top team, or else he fears alienating any of them.

New Local Core (Planning) Strategy

The main agenda item on tonight's meeting of the TDC Planning and Environment Committee was the draft submission on the Core Strategy. This document is the key part of the new Local Development Framework, which will govern how planning policies and development decisions are formulated and decided over the next ten years or so. It was therefore key that we got it right. The strategy has therefore been long in drafting, and all Councillors present paid tribute to the hard work of the officers in putting together such a high quality product which we decided with some minor amendments will now be sent to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for an inspector to rule on its soundness (this will take around a year or so).

Unfortunately because of the strong level of central control the result will still not be what either local residents, Council officers or Councillors would ideally want. Despite the fact this document has been put together following consultation and approval by democratically elected councillors, the controlling tendency of Government Ministers mean that national policies can and will override the wishes of local people and if there is just one aspect that the inspector doesn't like he will declare the whole thing unsound and we will be back to square one.

I think what was approved tonight was a good document (and the best the officers could be expected to produce), but the only way for a truly excellent Core Strategy would be for Central Government to respect that local decisions made by local people, for local people, will have the most legitimacy and in the long term willbe the only way to restore any faith in the electoral process. For an unelected inspector to (regardless of his or her qualities) to be able to hold so much sway over local decision making should not occur in modern Britain.

Anti Social Behaviour

On my walk to the station this morning, I spotted that someone had again driven across the Village Green. Given the very wet weather they have churned up the grass to leave a scar in the surface. No doubt it will be there for some months. Perhaps this was their intention, perhaps they just wanted to make a short cut without using the road, who knows. In other parts of Oxted South the grass verges by the side of roads are often turned to mud by people parking inconsiderately in wet conditions - something a lot of us are probably guilty of occasionally. These are both examples, however far down the spectrum of how anti social behaviour by a small minority in the community can negatively impact the lives of many.

However there are things we as individuals, but also collectively, can do about it.

In this season of goodwill to all men we can of all moderate our own behaviour to make sure that we consider the lasting effects of parking on that bit of grass in the wet. We can also report criminal anti social behaviour to the Police on 999 or if less urgent on 0845 125 2222

We can act as community; for instance following some trouble a couple of months back around the Pollards Oak Road shops, local residents have set up a petition to get better lighting and a CCTV camera installed; Tandridge District Council and Surrey Police have both responded and protecting residents there is a priority for the local crime reduction partnership.

And your council the Police and other public bodies can act with authority - as Tandridge District Council did last month in being awarded its first ASBO on a Council House Tenant.

If we act together it is possible to strike back against anti-social behaviour.