I received an email this morning from the Senior Waste Management Officer this morning telling me that the new blue recycling bins are going to be delivered in Stonefield and Christchurch ward over the next week. And, a couple of hours later as I was delivering the lunches for the Age Concern Luncheon Club, I drove past three very large lorries loaded high with the bins in Newcastle Road.

The introduction of the blue bins and the associated fortnightly household waste collection has been rather controversial, to say the least. Personally, I don’t think it will cause Janet and me any major problems. We are avid recyclers and compost everything compostable anyway. I do however understand the concerns especially of large families. This is clearly an issue that will need to be carefully monitored.

The email from the Borough Council did state that if anyone has any queries they should contact the Council’s Customer Contact Centre on 01785 619873

Tonight, Stone Twinning Committee launched their DVD entitled “A Year in Stone” at Alleynes School. And it is wonderful! Professionally filmed, edited and produced, it vividly showed Stone in it’s full glory.

Farmers’ Markets, Craft and Collectible Markets, Continental Markets, Stone Festival, the Food and Drink Festival, Bonfire and Fireworks and Christmas Lights Switch on - they’re all there and more.

The invited audience were all very appreciative and everyone agreed that the DVD will be a superb marketing tool for the town. Surprisingly, though, the DVD was not on sale. I do hope it is soon available. I’m sure there are many people who would love to own a copy or buy it as a present for friends. Well done to the Twinning Committee.

Last night’s Borough Council meeting provided the perfect example of the Tory’s view of democracy. In their book, democracy means that you win control and then adopt the ‘winner takes all’ philosophy. You stifle debate and use your majority to force through two important issues in under fifty minutes.

The first major debate was in relation to the debacle about appointing a new Chief Executive. As regular readers will know, the appointments process was put ‘on hold’ after it was announced that Cannock Chase District Council had approached Stafford with a view to sharing back office functions and possibly the position of Chief Executive. Then, within days, Cannock Chase very publicly called off the discussions.

Not surprisingly, the Labour group put down a question to allow a debate to take place about the whole embarrassing situation. Under the ten minute rule, it was possible to extend the time limit but - no - the Conservatives out voted the proposal to extend time. So all we really learnt was that the discussions with Cannock were back on as were discussions with ‘another local authority’. And the Tory leader tried to explain away the problem by referring to the approach from Cannock as being ‘informal’. That’s the first time I’d heard that description and I don’t recall it being so described in any press releases! So ten minutes was all that allowed to discuss this important issue - well, actually that’s not quite right because the Tory leader managed to keep talking for at least another minute after her allotted time. What a shambles!

And the budget debate was over and done with in the blink of an eye! It seems that the Tory mantra is ” we’ve presented a balanced budget”. Of course they have! They are required, by law, to do so! Whilst I do have some sympathy for the Tories who are having to balance the books after an appalling government settlement, the facts are very simple. Their stubbornness in refusing to levy a proper level of Council Tax in the last four years has come back to haunt them. And I hate to think how they can now hope to balance the books over the next few years.

Well, it’s the end of the first week of my sponsored slim in aid of Andy Whitehall’s ‘The Right Stuff’ boxing club. And I’m fairly pleased with myself! A week ago I weighed in at 16 stone 3 pounds and this morning the scales showed 15 stone 11 pounds - a loss of six pounds! And, people are being very generous in their sponsorship. I’m only half way down the first page and already the total is almost £100. So far so good!

But I have a confession to make. Last Friday Jan had tired herself out in the garden and I’d had another busy day. So we treated ourselves to a meal out. It’s been a long time since we ate at The Blue Rooms so we gave it a try. A fantastic meal! Good simple honest home cooked food - and was it good! I had George’s home made Steak and Mushroom Pie (yes - with hand-cut chips) and Janet had Steak and Onion. Both were superb. I had a starter (I daren’t tell you what it was!) and Jan a sweet. A bottle of good red wine and  a super evening. I won’t do it again until the Sponsored Slim is over, I promise you! There was an element of ‘the condemned man ate a hearty meal’ to the evening!

The following applications relate to properties within Stonefield and Christchurch ward. For further details contact the Planning Officer at Stafford Borough Council, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ or telephone 01785 619337 quoting the application number.

________________________________________________________________

Application Number: 08/09590/FUL                Type of Application: Full

Date registered: 23 January 2008                 Applicant: Mr and Mrs D Reay

Location:  137 Newcastle Road, Stone

Proposal:Two storey extension at rear of dwelling..

Case Officer: Ms T Brown

Six or seven years ago, Stone Town Council published three leaflets detailing Doorstep Walks. Devised and prepared by Stone Ramblers, each leaflet contains details of a short medium and long walk in and around the town. We’ve suspected for a while that the passage of time may have rendered some of the walk descriptions inaccurate - so yesterday morning councillors and ramblers donned their boots and went off to check the leaflets.

Janet and I joined the group checking the Pirehill walk - a five mile route across Crown Meadow, along Stafford Road, over the A34 footbridge through the estate to the very top of Pirehill Lane and then over the fields at the back of the Fire Service headquarters, back over the A34 to Aston and back to town along the canal towpath. And how quickly things change. A hedge has been removed, a stile is missing, a double fence has been reduced to single and a gate is now a stile. These major changes and a few other minor ones will be incorporated into the next edition of the leaflets. So we all had a very pleasant walk whilst performing a very useful task!

The Doorstep Walk leaflets are available free of charge from the Council offices in Station Road and from the Library in Market Square.

I’ve just emailed the Borough Council officer  responsible for the Christchurch Way car park in the hope that he can quickly resolve a potential major problem. This morning a resident of Bromfield Court phoned me to say the a 38 ton HGV lorry had parked overnight on the car park alongside the boundary with her property. And at 4 a.m. my complainant was awoken by the sound of the lorry’s engine as it was driven away.

We’ve had problems with overnight sleepers before. A campervan has been using the car park on several occasions. I was assured that a height barrier was to be installed but, to date, the entrance is wide open.

So I’ve contacted the Borough again pointing out the problem and asking for the barrier to be installed without delay. The nearby residents have suffered enough with the various problems around the building of this car park. This latest incident is really distressing for them.

The main item on the agenda of last night’s meeting was the 2008/9 budget. This had already been discussed at the Budget sub committee last week and was now before the all councillors for approval. I was delighted to chair a meeting at which no serious objection was mounted to our proposals. We encountered the usual bluster from Cllr. Jones but he clearly hadn’t got his heart in it. He can be quite amusing but, sadly, very predictable!

And I was absolutely delighted that all councillors agreed with a request that I made for a grant to Andy Whitehall’s boxing venture, The Right Stuff. Technically, I should have waited for the next Management Sub Committee meeting and asked for the request to be placed on it’s agenda. Then the minutes would have been presented to the following Genaral Purposes Committee for approval and then the minutes of the GP committee would have been placed before the next meeting of the full Town Council for approval before a cheque could have been drawn! Life is too short! Thankfully, everyone agreed that it was a case that should be ’short circuited’ and we all agreed that the sum of £500 should be immediately handed over. A wonderful gesture that will be appreciated by the youngsters who are involved in the scheme.

Apart from a few minor skirmishes, everything went through according to plan.

Last night, before the Town Council meeting, a group of us went up to St. Dominics Priory School for a presentation by Groundworks, the company carrying out the canal improvement scheme. I mentioned before Christmas that a community artist had been commissioned to create a piece of Community Art alongside the towpath and that he wanted local groups, businesses and schools to create a ceramic tile which will be included in the piece.

Well, tonight had been billed as a meeting to explain the scheme to local businesses - but sadly only a handful turned up. I was not surprised. The letter of invitation rambled on for two sides and only the really dedicated reader would have persevered to the end of the letter to find the invitation. I’m sure the vast majority would have been ‘binned’ at first sight.

And the choice of venue was baffling! We all thought we knew our way around Stone but on this ocasion we were beaten - at one point we were being escorted by a Sister down corridors in the Convent to no avail. We did eventually find the meeting room after making a phone call - and even then after making our way down a pitch black lane. And we later discovered that our Town Mayor, Philip Leason, tried to find the venue but gave up! If Philip, who knows more about Stone than any other person I know, couldn’t find the venue then no one else stood a chance!

And the meeting itself was a grave disappointment. I worry that a lot of public money is about to be spent on a scheme that is going to upset a lot of people in the town. It is a pity that no-one had the gumption to involve the community before calling a meeting to present a ‘fait accomplit’. I just hope it isn’t too late to retrieve something from this scheme that might benefit the town.

The following applications relate to properties within Stonefield and Christchurch ward. For further details contact the Planning Officer at Stafford Borough Council, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ or telephone 01785 619337 quoting the application number.

________________________________________________________________

Application Number: 08/09606/FUL                Type of Application: Full

Date registered: 15 January 2008                 Applicant: Mr S Harrison

Location:  1 Mount Avenue, Stone

Proposal: Construction of conservatory at rear of dwelling.

Case Officer: Ms T Brown

________________________________________________________________

Application Number: 08/09611/FUL            Type of Application: Full  

Date registered: 16 January 2008                 Applicant: Mr and Mrs Hagemeijer.

Location: 144 Oulton Road, Stone

Proposal: Proposed two storey side and rear extension

Case Officer: Ms S Brown

Suddenly the progress of the Youth Cafe took a massive leap forward yesterday morning when over a dozen of the potential Youth Leaders gave up a Sunday morning ‘lie in’ to attend the first meeting in the Youth Cafe’s new premises. Earlier in the week, the Youth Cafe committee had arranged to hire the Walton Suite in the Frank Jordan Centre for most days of the week so that the Cafe could get up and running.

So, on a rather bleak Sunday morning, over a dozen young folk turned up and threw a lot of ideas around about how they saw the Cafe being organised. I popped in just to get an idea of what they wanted and I was very pleasantly surprised. Some very sensible ideas were mooted and there were loads of suggestions regarding the design and layout of the room.

There were several common themes from all concerned. There would be a cafe bar serving drinks and food, an area where the kids can chill - probably a raised bean bag area, a section with computers with Internet access and tables and chairs - possibly in booths - for those who wanted to sit down at a table. Graffiti walls and space for gigs - perhaps with periods set aside for rehearsals - were also mentioned.

Several of those present are soon off to look up a successful Youth Cafe in Cockermouth. It will be interesting to see what ideas they bring back. Of one thing I’m sure - the Youth Cafe is off to a good start!

Stone town centre is served by several car parks, some owned by Stafford Borough Council, two leased by the Town Council and two operated by the supermarkets. Whilst all the locals knew where they were, it was brought to our attention some time ago that visitors to the town would have severe difficulties in finding the car parks because there was no signage anywhere around the town.

So a couple of months ago, I  and a couple of other town councillors walked around the town with a representative of the County Council’s Highways Department examining the problem and suggesting solutions. Within a few weeks, Highways came back to us with detailed suggestions which provided for signs around the one way system and also from the A34. We were happy to agree the proposals (particularly as Highways had agreed to fund the project!) and this week - lo and behold - the signs have gone up!

Visitors will now be able to find somewhere to park without difficulty. A big Thank You to everyone involved!

The other day I  had an email from Andy Whitehall. You may recall that a couple of months ago Andy, a local police constable, raised over two thousand pounds for the Youth Cafe by organising a Sparathon in which he ‘took on’ twenty youths for a two minute round in  a boxing ring - with just a one minute break between rounds. And he survived!

I’ve no doubt that Andy went home afterwards and was glad that it was all over. Well, it wasn’t! The lads so much enjoyed the event itself and the weeks of training prior to the day that they want to form  regular boxing sessions. So Andy has agreed to set up a project called “The Right Stuff” to provide the kids with the opportunity of taking part in training as amateur boxers. Aimed at youngsters in the 10 to 20 age group who are involved in anti social behaviour or criminal activity, they will be provided with boxing tuition free of charge in return for signing good behaviour contracts and taking part in projects to improve the local community.

This is a fantastic project which I am convinced will be extremely successful in helping to reduce many of the problems surrounding young people in the town so I am eager to help Andy as much as I can.

He needs £1200 to buy gloves and kit. I am going to suggest that the Town Council makes a grant towards this sum but I have decided to try and raise as much as I can by going on a sponsored slim! After all the festivities over the Christmas period, I now weigh in at 16 stone 3 pounds - and I’m only five foot ten! Yes, I am seriously overweight. So I have set myself a target of losing two stones in ten weeks. And the more people who sponsor me, the greater the incentive to achieve the target! So please don’t be surprised if I thrust a sponsorship form in front of you next time I meet you. And I will report back on this website each week with a progress report!

After having got rather wet going down to Westbridge Park, it was back into town to meet two town councillors from Kidsgrove in the Crown Hotel. Jill Hood had met one of them at a new councillors’ training meeting a while back and he had asked if he could come down to meet us to discuss ‘the canal’. So Jill arranged for John Moss, Karen Wyatt and myself to join her to see what we could do to help.

It appears that they look at Stone with envy. We have ‘canal town status’ and obviously use the canal to the town’s advantage. So they wanted to pick our brains to see whether they might be able to do something around the canal in Kidsgrove. We had a very interesting discussion and I’m sure they went back to Kidsgrove with their minds spinning with advice and ideas.

We explained that John has been ‘hard at it’ in Stone for thirty years - so don’t expect results overnight! And involve the community and other stakeholders. We gave them quite a few names and contact details together with a few ideas about possible partnerships.

After we said goodbye to them, we all agreed that it was rather satisfying to have been asked for this sort of advice. We must be doing something right in Stone!

Another consultation is taking place this week about the possible new Community Building on Westbridge Park. This project has been dangled in front of us for years and I just hope that we are now nearing some form of positive outcome.

Stoke architects, Hulme Upright and Manning, are consulting with interested parties so last night I went down to Westbridge Park Sports Centre to add my ‘three pennyworth’. I was interviewed by a very pleasant couple who seemed to know their brief and made a full note of all my comments.

My main concern is that Westbridge Park should retain its green credentials. It sits bang in the centre of an important green corridor alongside the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey canal. It must retain, and perhaps enhance, it’s park status so that retains it’s connection with the Stan Goodall Nature Reserve and the Crown Meadow to the north and the Southern Meadow to the south.

As far as the proposed building is concerned it must include a theatre/cinema space, conference and meeting rooms and perhaps, Town Council offices and Chamber.

And I also asked them to include skateboarding facilities for our young people. The existing ramps are totally unsuitable and even dangerous. Many of our youngsters travel to the Potteries to go skating - surely a little bit of funding could be found to make suitable provision in Westbridge?

I’ll be interested to see the outcome of the consultation. But more importantly I’m waiting for a commitment from Stafford Borough Council to drive this scheme forward.

Our Food and Drink Festival isn’t until October but the hard work and planning has already started! Over the last couple of days I been involved in meeting after meeting - and enjoyed every minute! It is so satisfying to be dealing with people who have enthusiasm and ideas.

So what have we been up to? Well, it looks as if we shall be working with Stone Rotary in their Young Chef of the Year competition. We have agreed in principle to bring the Competition within the Festival banner. This is really exciting and raises the prospect of heat winners demonstrating their skills in our Demonstration Kitchen during the Festival.

And, although the details are still ‘under wraps’ at the moment we hope to have some really good news on the Park and Ride front in the next couple of weeks. If this comes off, we shall be able to offer Park and Ride facilities within a stone’s throw of the town. Watch this space.

And good progress on the publicity front. Can’t say much at this time but again - watch this space!

These are are just a few of the plus points this week - and there are still eight months to go!

The Town Council’s budget proposals for the next financial year were agreed at a meeting of the Budget Sub Committee last night. The recommendations will be placed before the General Purposes Committee next Tuesday for ratification. And everyone seems happy with the outcome!

Next year the Council will support the Cycle Race, the Music Festival and several other events in the town. We shall refurbish all Town Council owned bus shelters and we shall create a disabled friendly footpath across Crown Meadow.

And the really good news is that we shall be able to do all these things, and more, without any significant increase in the precept. In fact, after factoring into the calculation the number of rateable properties in the town, the average Band D council tax payer will see  a zero increase  in the Town Council payment next year. Now that’s better news than they will be getting from the Borough!

The following applications relate to properties within Stonefield and Christchurch ward. For further details contact the Planning Officer at Stafford Borough Council, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ or telephone 01785 619337 quoting the application number.

________________________________________________________________

No applications were submitted this week

What a week I’ve been having! And to end it all , a day full of meetings yesterday - but with a lot more satisfaction! After dashing up to the Potteries on personal business first thing, it was straight back to town for an 11.00 o’clock meeting in Granvilles. Here the Food and Drink Festival group was presented with the results of the Feed Back survey carried out by the independent market research company, New Horizon Ltd. They have polled shops and businesses; farmers’ market stall holders and exhibitors in the Gourmet Food Marquee about the 2007 Food and Drink Festival. And the results are quite amazing!

For example, 72% of town centre shops and businesses thought the Festival was ‘much better’ or ‘better’ than the previous year. 78% thought that the Festival had increased footfall past their premises and 94% felt that the Festival had raised the profile of Stone.

And it was a similar story from the Gourmet Food Marquee traders. These people exhibit at Festivals around the country so their opinions matter to us. So please forgive us if we all have large grins on our faces for a few days - 83% of these traders rated our Festival as ‘good’, ‘very good’, or ‘excellent’. And 96% want to come back again. I think we nearly got it right!

 And the good news continued at a meeting in the afternoon when Jill Hood and I met two representatives from Staffordshire DMP. The initials stand for Destination Management Partnership and the organisation’s objectives are to promote and support Staffordshire as a tourist venue. Two of the DMP’s specific areas of interest are Food and Drink and Events and Festivals - so it’s hardly surprising that they are interested in what we’re doing with our Festival. It’s obvious that we are already ‘on their radar’ and I am very optimistic that we will be able to work with them to our obvious advantage. 

Life is never boring as a councillor. And there are times when you wonder whether you have time to take breath!

Take the last two days for example. On Tuesday morning I was in Stafford to sit on the appointments panel tasked with the job of selecting the new Chief Executive for the Borough Council. The meeting had been underway about an hour and a half when the Chair, Cllr. Judith Dalgarno, announced that the process was to be suspended. The Borough Council was negotiating with Cannock Chase District Council about the possibility of sharing ‘back office’ facilities (a euphemism for job cuts?) and possibly sharing a Chief Executive. I’ll be writing again about this in a lot more detail when I have a few quiet moments.

Then in the evening it was down to the Town Council chamber for two sub committee meetings. We are fast approaching ‘Budget Day’ when the Town Council fixes it’s precept, so these meetings enable sub committees to put in a bid for budgets for next year’ projects.

Then on Wednesday meeting I was off up to the Potteries for a piece of private business and then straight back to Bromfield Court where Age Concern put on a New Year Thank You party for those of us who volunteer throughout the year. Then down to town for a meeting of the Anti-Social Behaviour Group - again I’ll try to post a more detailed item about this meeting later. Then straight down to Stafford for an adjourned hearing of a case before the Public Appeals Committee of the Borough Council.

Then it was up to Stone again for more two more evening sub committee meetings to deal with next year’s budget. There will be a meeting of Committee chairmen next week to finalise the whole budget and then it will be placed before the full council in a couple of weeks time.

No wonder I was ready for a pint in Granvilles afterwards! And no wonder I’ve overslept this morning!

I went into town on Saturday and was stopped several times by people wanting to know why there was no Farmers’ Market in town. Unfortunately, it seems the Newsletter had printed an article stating there was to be a market when, in fact, we never have a Market in January. Our Farmers’ Market is always held on the first Saturday of the month and we learnt in our very first year that January was a total flop. We attracted very few stalls - most stallholders have sold out of stock in the run up to Christmas - and equally important, most of the public have spent all their money! It’s just a pity the Newsletter got it wrong!

At least one smiling face greeted me - that of Bill Cash MP, who wished me well for the New Year and then sought confirmation of a ‘rumour’ he’d heard - that I would not be standing against him at the next General Election. I explained that I was too busy these days and that the local party had selected a candidate who could devote her full time to the task of winning the seat from him! After passing some very flattering remarks about me, he walked back to the Conservative offices. Did I detect some worry lines across his brow when he took his leave?

The following applications relate to properties within Stonefield and Christchurch ward. For further details contact the Planning Officer at Stafford Borough Council, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ or telephone 01785 619337 quoting the application number.

________________________________________________________________

Application Number: 07/09419/FUL                Type of Application: Full

Date registered: 21 December 2007                 Applicant:Cottage Furniture Limited

Location:  Unit 9 Whitebridge Way, Whitebridge Industrial Estate, Stone

Proposal: Variation of conditions on planning permission for new commercial unit to permit manufacture and upholstery of contract furniture including addition of mezzanine floor and installation of dust extraction system and external flue.

Case Officer: Mrs K Wilson

________________________________________________________________

Application Number: 07/09507/FUL            Type of Application: Full  

Date registered: 21 December 2007                 Applicant: Mr J Kelly.

Location: 3 Cedar Park, Stone

Proposal: Two storey side extension utility room and bedroom

Case Officer: Ms T Brown

________________________________________________________________

Application Number: 07/09489/FUL            Type of Application: Full 

Date registered: 2 January 2008                 Applicant: Enterprise Inns plc.

Location: The Vine Inn, 104 Oulton Road, Stone

Proposal: Retaining wall with brick piers around existing drinking area. Make good floor and add two new jumberellas plus new timber canopy with new door opening.

Case Officer: Ms t Brown

A couple of years ago, I was heavily involved in promoting and preparing the first Calendar of Events and have played an active role in preparing them ever since. I make no apology for the fact that I ‘cribbed’ the idea from a leaflet I picked up in the Tourist Information shop in Ludlow some years back. That super little town has something happening every weekend throughout the year and it clearly drags the tourists in. As Phil Mayell, Ludlow’s Food and Drink supremo explained to Jill Hood and me on an early visit,  ”visitors to Ludlow know that there will be something going on in town - they may not know what but they can be sure there’ll be something happening!” Oh, that we could attract visitors to Stone on that basis!

Well, perhaps we are beginning to get there! The Calendar of Events is a leaflet that fits into leaflet display stands and is distributed throughout the Staffordshire Tourist Bureau network as well as in local hotels, shops and restaurants. And the latest edition is now in the course of preparation.

Yesterday Jill and I spent a very productive couple of hours with Sharon Douce, the Town Centre Co-ordinator, who is producing the next edition. We were cross checking the dates and details of various events planned for this year. And what a year it promises to be! In addition to our regular monthly Farmers’ Market and the monthly Craft and Collectibles Market, we’ve events at Easter, a cycle race in June, the Stone Festival in early June, a Music Festival in July, the Food and Drink Festival in October plus Bonfire and Fireworks in November, Christmas Lights Switch on in late November and events leading up to Christmas. And there are several other events in the pipeline too! Alleynes School is 450 years old this year and St. Michael’s Church has a significant anniversary.

So look out for the 2008 Calendar within the next few weeks. It’s essential reading about what’s on in Stone this year!

For many months Alleynes Sports Centre has been the venue for Sport and Chill, a Friday evening event for 10 to 15 year olds who can spend three hours using the sports facilities or just ‘chilling out’.  It has been so successful that an average of 220 youngsters turn up each Friday - and that has raised some issues which we tried to address at a meeting of stakeholder partners this afternoon.

The first issue is one of staffing levels. Because of the numbers involved, Stafford Borough Couincil are at the limit of their resources - so it was decided to approach the County Council’s Youth Service to see whether they could offer some assistance in supervising some of the activities.

And whilst there have been very few problems with the kids inside the Sports Hall, inevitably there have been a few issues involving older youths who hang around outside and in the local area. Thankfully, our Specials and PCSO’s were represented at the meeting and I’m in no doubt they will be around on a regular basis to keep an eye on things.

One thing is crystal clear. The Sport and Chill sessions have already had a significant effect upon Friday night problems. It was reported that incidents in Westbridge Park and Stonefield Park on a Friday night had decreased considerably and taking a couple of hundred youngsters off the streets of the town for three hours can only have a beneficial effect.

So the issues must be resolved so that Sport and Chill can continue unhindered.

The festivities are over and the phones are ringing again! And it’s the Christchurch Way Car Park issue again. Two residents of the Millstone Heights development, which backs onto the new car park, are furious about the destruction of the hedgerow between the car park and the footpath to Granville Terrace. They called me within an hour of each other this morning. Their properties now look straight onto the car park with the associated problems of noise and light pollution.

They were assured that the original hedge would be retained as a screen and I can confirm that the original plans showed that to be the case. As one resident said to me this morning “when we bought this apartment it was our dream - now it’s a nightmare”.

I assured them both that I will be pressing the Borough Council to create some form of proper screening. One resident shared my own view that the chances of success are small bearing in mind the comments of Cllr. D. Davies printed in last week’s Newsletter. She deeply resented his comments suggesting that she was ungrateful and that she and her neighbours were always willing to stand on the side lines and criticise anything the Borough does.  And I thought he was referring to me!