Posts from — March 2007

The HGV situation in Shenstone village improved considerably in September last year when I helped Wille Betz, the largest HGV user at the time, to move outside the district to a more appropriate location.

Village residents had been plagued by more than 350 lorries, mostly 44 tonnes in weight, driving through the village on narrow and highly inappropriate roads each week. The relief from villagers when they went was palpable. It’s a tough one because the operators were acting completely legally as the real problem is that 40 years ago when the industrial estate was given planning permission nobody envisaged HGVs the size of today’s.

Over the past couple of months it appears a couple of new HGV users have moved into the ex Wille Betz site and HGVs are again on the increase. I arranged for Highways to do a radar count on Pinfold Hill and Lynn Lane and although there are more large lorries than just after when Wille Betz moved out it is still a fraction of when they were there.

Now I need some opinions from residents to see what they think of HGV numbers and also, importantly, whether the number is still causing possible safety issues if they pass in opposite directions on the narrow roads and also how much effect they are having on normal village life.

With that in mind I’ve arranged a public meeting to discuss the situation and I’d like to hear as many opinions from Shenstone people as possible.

It is at the Cooper Room on 4th April at 7pm.

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I wrote a few weeks ago about the County Council’s decision to propose what was likely, over time, to mean a 21,000 increase in the number of houses in Lichfield District.

Now remember, currently there are about 31,000 houses in the whole of the district so the proposed near 70% increase would totally change the character of the area.

So last week I had lengthy meetings with colleagues and planners at Lichfield District Council to discuss the situation. The planners were clearly very concerned because County’s proposals, as the Strategic Planning Authority, will carry enormous weight when central Government makes the final decision on housing numbers for England later this year.

Having listened to what was said at the meetings at LDC I decided the only way forward was to arrange for our Conservative Group at County to challenge the Labour Cabinet’s decision on the housing numbers. We did so, by ‘Calling In’ the decision of Cabinet. That basically means that the County’s Corporate Policy committee looks at how the decision was made and has the power to require Cabinet to look at it again.

The Corporate Policy Committee Members met a couple of days ago. Four Labour and two Conservatives make up the committee which, as I say, can require the Cabinet to think again but has no actual power to change any decisions. It was a very interesting meeting; dare I say, enjoyable if it wasn’t such a crucial issue. It was also a ‘touchy’ meeting. The Labour leadership seem cheesed off that we, as the opposition, keep challenging their decisions.

The housing numbers decision has two principle parts to it. The overall number of houses for Staffordshire and then the concentration of extra housing in Lichfield and Tamworth. Conservatives are not against some robust but sensible housing growth for Staffordshire; it is needed to help people get on the housing ladder. But we believe that housing for Staffordshire should be spread more evenly across the County as a whole and should not threaten the very nature of any locality. The number proposed for Lichfield and Tamworth would do just that.

The upshot of the meeting was that after nearly three hours of questioning and some very heated exchanges between myself and the County Leader, Terry Dix, I was supported by Steve Norman, a Burntwood County Councillor, to force a change in the orginal County housing proposal. I’m not sure I’d describe it as a U-turn, as much of the media has, but the change in the County’s proposal to say it is ‘unacceptable’ to expect Lichfield to accommodate that amount of housing, is crucial.

A small wording change but very significant change of policy by the County. Very satisfying from a personal point of view and proof that democracy can still work. Central Government will make the final decision but it’s very unlikely they will go against the new proposal. We shall wait and see but it looks much more positive for this area than it did a month ago.

You can, however, still sign our on-line petition just to keep the pressure on…. click here for details.

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Bellgrave Bullets & Longwood Primary School Development Club celebrated their first birthday last week.

I was delighted to join them last Sunday morning at the Rawlett Community College to celebrate a year which has seen tremendous work by the club. The development club, which began in March 2006 and is based at Mile Oak, provides football education to local children of both sexes from 3 - 11 years of age.

The club’s main focus goes beyond just football training. The kids are taught to be considerate, fair and well mannered with swearing, bad language and any form of agressive behavior strictly forbidden and, if necessary, enforced. Family members and others from the local community are encouraged to take part in all aspects of the Club’s activities.

They really are doing some marvellous things and anyone interested in getting involved should call Lisa Downing on (01827) 735425.

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Three weeks ago I wrote about the pointless and stupid vandalism which is taking place in parts of Fazeley and Mile Oak. You may remember I’d been asked to go and look at some of the damage and also talked, at the time, to a dozen or so residents who are really fed up with the situation.

In response to that I said I’d arrange a questionnaire survey to get an idea how widespread the problems are and use it as evidence to persuade the police and local council to enforce a drinking ban. Well, I’ve had a small team knocking on doors in the Deer Park over the last couple of weeks and we’ve now got the results.

First of all, I want to thank Cllr. Ian Lewin, one of Fazeley’s district councillors, Ben Adams and Brian Yeates, who all helped to conduct the survey. We covered 400 houses and asked everyone to complete a questionnaire on police responses to complaints, the level of anti social behaviour and whether people think there should be an alcohol ban on the streets plus some other related issues. Because the team returned to collect the completed questionnaires from houses 40 minutes after delivering them we had an excellent response to the survey with a 41% return rate. Athough time intensive, doing it the way we did, the quality of results were well worth it and I want to thank everyone in Deer Park who completed the questionnaires in person or on-line after we’d left. It was really useful.

Why are the results so useful? Basically because they back, in written evidence, what you have been saying to local councillors and others for a while. The questionnaire results confirm that in the Deer Park Road and Sambar Road area there is alcohol related anti social behaviour. Far from it getting better as the police think, the reason they aren’t getting as many complaints as they were 12 months ago is because people don’t think anything will be done if they do report incidents and so they aren’t bothering.

The positive news is that the questionnaire we’ve done is great evidence. I think it’s people power in action and I’ll be furious if nothing is done about the problems. Actually I think it will be. I’ve had initial talks with the Authorities concerned and they are saying the evidence is useful evidence. The key results suggest that over 70% of local people believe that alcohol leads to anti social behaviour and over 85% of people would support our campaign for a public drinking ban in the Deer Park / Sambar Road area. It aslo shows that over half the people questioned thought it pointless to report yobbish behaviour to police because of a lack of action.

Now, let’s understand this. As I’ve said before, Fazeley isn’t the Bronx. Most of the time it is a pleasnt place to live. That said, on some evenings when young people have had a few too many drinks it is not pleasant in places. Low level crime and yobbishness is plagueing a small area of Deer Park and that is where I intend to make sure that action is taken. I want to see a greater police presence at key problem times and I do want to see parts of the area designated as zones where drinking is prohibited by the police. That is my aim and that is what I will ensure happens.

I see no reason at all why law abiding local people should have to put up with nonsence from a few loud mouthed and often drunk youngsters causing grief into the early hours of the morning. I’ve got a couple of meetings comining up with regard to this and I’ll let you know how I get on.

Ian, Brian and Ben will be starting to survey parts of Mile Oak along the same lines in the next week or so.

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