Royal Wedding

Every young girl in the country will at some stage dream of a fairytale wedding and marrying a prince, in Great Britain it really happens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-13231282

I suppose I must be a royalist but I don;t think on a day like today it matters, we are currently the today the envy of the world, we have a strong democratic system and a monarch, where else in the world would you have such a huge event like a Great British Royal Wedding.

This country is built on it's traditions and to join in and watch, celebrate the royal wedding is for me what makes us British.

Going to get soppy now so will end with that

Savings Verses Cuts

With election fever gripping the nation and the media getting all excited about providing a 'balanced view' I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about how myth, rumour and hype are running away with us.

This year (as I have already covered) the council tax bills for the people of Tamworth have not increased and there have been no cuts to services. however in order to achieve this there has been some savings made over the last 7 years and to make savings as everyone knows you have to change the way you do things. Recently there has been some scaremongering about the numbers of police in Tamworth and we have a statement from the local commander to state that this is not the case. so how does the public sector make savings without cuts to services.

The way I look at it is reasonably simple, I want better services costing less, so somewhere savings must be made either without cutting services or where possible making them better. The police argument is a great one as the public has said for years they want more police on the street and officers top spend less time in the office doing paperwork and feeding process chains. So with the savings that must be made to get this country back to where it should be the police are looking at and changing the processes they perform thus allowing more police on the street without the cost of extra personal. So doing what the public have asked of them changed systems to make savings without reducing the number of police on the street, and reducing the huge amount of paperwork generated by a simple arrest.

Another example I can think of is the new waste management system that Tamworth Borough Council and Lichfield District Council have joined forces on.

• The new service launched last year saves over £500k per year.
• All Tamworth Bins are done in half a week.
• All dry recycling is mixed
• More items can be recycled
• Food waste can be collected every week.

So how can this change to a service and saving produced be deemed a cut in front line services, it simply can't. there may have been a cut to staffing levels somewhere (contractors and back office) but the service is bigger, faster and what the public asked for, the removal of blue boxes.

It would be wrong of me to comment on the savings over cuts argument without mentioning swimming. Now in Tamworth we have the chance of free swimming at Wilnecote Leisure centre for the first time ever and we still have the same services we had at peaks before the sale. The difference is we are getting those services at Peaks for only £70k per year and not the £600k that it was costing the tax payer of Tamworth. Peaks needed over £1m spending on it at the time of sale to keep it running. The extra investment needed has been put in place by the new owners and the swimming facilities, gym, sports halls are brighter, better and more used than ever still at affordable cost, so a saving and again a better service.

My last example of a saving has to be the opportunity costs of running 2 outlets in the town centre at different times of the day rather than one building. The new TIC in the Phil Dix centre took more money in the first day than the old one in nearly a week, it is bigger and brighter and has most to offer than the old one could giving the opportunity to develop the service further.

So now onto cuts, for me cuts should only be made if a service is under used and not just for cash savings. My approach to the council is simple money is a scarce resource and as councillors we have to allocate that scarce resource correctly. It is not easy to run all services at a profit and this is where the council should be taking up the slack, but for me we should not be providing the same services as shops and local business.

I don't want see any cuts to services that are used but I do want to see less paperwork and better services.
I think that's enough for now because I'll end up listing and dispelling some of the local myths of present

Jeremy's got it wrong again

Can I just breifly clarify a mistake I have made on here.
It was in fact Ian Gibbons who set up and created the St Georges's Day celebrations that have been held in St Editha's square for years.

I did not know this and I apologise to Ian for not giving him the credit he deserves for this.

St. Georges Day celebrations

Once again this weekend Tamworth Borough Council will be delivering another fantastic Free event to celebrate St. Georges Day, whilst reading the promotional material I remembered the difficulty we had getting the event started. This year the thought of a bank holiday for to celebrate our patron saint also crossed my mind and how would it possibly have fit into Easter, royal weddings and may bank holidays.

Tamworth has for years had St Georges day celebrated with the kind help of local volunteers in St Editha's square and not only were we grateful for what they did we also didn't want to take that away from them( I would name them but I'm really not good with names and have forgotten them, the gent that runs the cooked meat stall in the indoor market organised most of it). When I was leader of the council the now leader of the council came to me and said we should look at doing something about celebrating St. Georges Day and off we went to discuss it with officers at the council. the initial response we got was not as positive as we had expected  but was based on common sense. Once again the proposals of a pair of 30 something year olds had been clouded by the behaviour of others in other areas in the past and the hijacking of St. Georges Day by shall we say fascism. This left us with a small problem, how to push the idea further without causing trouble or providing opportunity for trouble

St George's Day in Tamworth has become a great family day of celebration, this is the theme that Tamworth Borough Council strives for in all its outdoor events, they are about bringing the people of Tamworth together to celebrate our history. Over the last few years we have seen one and two days events, activities in the old lido building, civil war re enactments and so much more. The thing I love about all of this is that in Tamworth St George's Day is really an annual celebration as are other patron saints in Wales and Ireland etc and they are a family affair.

The reason we can do this is down to some clear determination from politicians and a can do attitude from staff at Tamworth Borough Council.

I'm looking forward to taking the kids to the Castle Grounds this weekend and hope to see many other families in Tamworth enjoying the weather and free event,

Have a good weekend.

Bring Back Our Gold, Glascote Torc

It's been around 2 years since the Staffordshire Hoard was discovered just down the road and triggered a modern day gold rush with all sorts of local authorities trying to get in on the action or raise funds to acquire the collection.
This year the hoard will be coming to Tamworth castle allowing people to see it for FREE, tickets are available at the new  Tamworth Information Centre and are just for crowd management. This is a fantastic thing for Tamworth and serves a s a great reminder of some of the history we have to offer, remember and celebrate. Tamworth has a colourful history, which other people will know better than I, including evidence of Saxons, a Norman castle, Sir Robert Peel, Thomas Guy and so on, all of which have helped shape Tamworth as a place. For me there is one thing missing from the above list and it is something I spoke about at a cabinet meeting in 2004, I want to see the Glascote Torc brought back home and back to Tamworth.

The Glascote Torc is currently ( I believe) in storage at Birmingham Museum, (click this link). The fight to bring it back to Tamworth has gone on before and has been raised in the local press a number of times, it was actually a relative of Tamworth's Mayor Lee Bates who found the Torc which became treasure trove and went to Birmingham.

So why do I want it back now? Well the Staffordshire Hoard will be coming to Tamworth this August with an amount of security around it and the argument has always been we don't have anywhere secure to display it (it has been said for at least 5 years now that this is no longer the case) so why not put the two together and let the people of Tamworth see the Glascote Torc in Tamworth this August. It's our history let's celebrate it together in it's rightful home and along side the Staffordshire Hoard.

So please re post this and lets start a campaign to get our Torc back.

Bus Passes for Young and Old

This year the Bus pass over pensioners recieve has been returned to the service they deserve in Tamworth, 24 hours a Day 7 days a week, this has been done by moving the responsibility of the Bus Passes to the county council.

Also as from June evryone under 20 years old will be able to have a bus pass in staffordshire that will allow them to make a bus trip for no more than One Pound.

Just thought you might like know.

St Editha's Square Canopy

A few years ago the borough council built a tent top or canopy in St. Editha's square, at the time it was perceived that this would hide the frontage of the first floor of the indoor market and provide a space for performance, cafe culture and including space for the market. This never really started with the exception of some lectures that were organised by a good willed local couple.
Councillors were aware it wasn't working but late last year it was time something was done to rescue the investment. The committee I am chairman of set about defining a purpose for this structure and attempted to put a strategy together for usage and promotion. Last week Cabinet accepted the committees suggestion and so the st Editha's square canopy now has a purpose.
We found that there was very little interest in running cafes underneath ands so have suggested the council does not pursue that avenue but considers any approach for cafe use. The council will now improve the way they advertise the canopy and push for more usages as a display/performance space, a place to advertise large goods like cars etc and house the markets.
The key thing we found was that currently the council does not push the canopy as it should and so we have suggested this improves and that groups such as schools and youth groups should be made aware that it is let able.
So look out for more usage, better signage and easier booking for the canopy.
A nice piece of scrutiny work there I think.

Sitting Thinking in Traffic

Earlier I was queuing in the traffic caused by Ventura Park and had the time to think a little about the traffic I was in. I don't think I could see any commercial vans or lorries so all these cars are taking people to and from Ventura of Tamworth for either leisure or shopping, that has to be a success story for Tamworth.

The downside is the Traffic I have talked about, every weekend Ventura grind to a snails pace and for many years nothing has been done about it. This year things are going to change.

In a few weeks work will start on the two roundabouts where problems occur, this will see traffic lights installed on the roundabouts and while the works go on this is going to be hellish but once finished some benefits and improvement will be seen. The traffic will still remain at Ventura and there will still be queues BUT with traffic lights every cycle there will be gaps created in the traffic so where as now we are reliant of drivers finding gaps in the traffic gaps will be created. These Traffic lights will also monitor traffic flows and respond accordingly giving priority to the queue that need clearing quickest or is longest.
   So you will still queue but you will queue for less time.

The success of Ventura park is fantastic for the local economy but without massive investment I fear the traffic issues will never be completely removed, almost a price of success. but works can be done to help and assist the driver going through the retail park, this year new lights will be put in along with new units to towards the Bonehill road side and by the CIN building, this will improve and grow Tamworth's retail offer. Once this is done traffic studies can be done and future changes to other exits to ventura could be funded and built. I know it's a long process but each step will make an improvement.

Whilst talking about Ventura it would be wrong not to mention the town centre, this area has a different offer to ventura, smaller shops selling different products etc. i would love to see the town centre as busy as it was when I was growing up and I hope that when the Henry boot development is complete it will be. I must remind people that the council didn't own the old precinct or the land it stood on, it was privately owned.
We had some great shops in the town centre and still have some great building these need to be preserved and this will only happen if we use them, the delays in the redevelopment do frustrate me but i know it's a marathon not a sprint.

Wouldn't it be nice to have the town centre as busy as Ventura.
I think the message I am sending out here is improvements are coming, they may not be quick or provide a utopia but they will provide further improvements to or town