Tonight’s Town Council meeting was over and done with in about an hour and a half and with little in the way of filibustering from certain members. If only all meetings were like this!

Important issues arising? Well, Councillor Philip Jones made the astonishing announcement that he’d heard “from an impeccable source” that Roseneath was to be demolished “within days”. This came like a bolt from the blue to everyone present. The County Council has always maintained that whilst the residential home itself was to be closed down, the building itself would always be retained for the provision of other services. My understanding is that planning permission would be required before any building could be demolished - we have seen one for Roseneath yet. It was agreed that our Town Clerk makes urgent enquiries an reports back.

Other decisions included agreement to make a grant of £250 to Stone Ramblers to help with the production of a book of local walks; agreement to object to British Telecom plans to remove the telephone kiosk in Marlborough Road and confirmation that the Town Council is willing to host the final Hotspot Sprint of the Tour of Britain Cycle Race on September 10th when the tour passes through Stone on its Worcester to Hanley leg.

And so to the pub for an early debriefing meeting!

The Cycle Race is just over a week away and the last minute hiccups are being sorted out! There’s no point in panicking at this stage - so today we reviewed the position to date and made the final arrangements. We have another meeting tomorrow with the local cycle clubs who will be providing the Marshalls and then it’s all sysyems go!. I am really getting excited. I am now beginning to realise just how big this event is!

This evening we held not one but two sub committee meetings in the Town Council Chamber. I enjoy sub committees much more than the larger General Purposes Committe and the Town Council meetings. Sub committees attract the committed councillors who are interested in putting forward constructive ideas and getting involved on a practical level whereas the bigger meetings serve as an arena for the ’spoilers’ and ‘point scorers’ who simply try to create a sound bite for the press and do little or nothing between meetings. Tonight’s sub committees were good meetings but we’ll have to wait to see what happens when their recomendations come up for approval! 

We all know that the Frank Jordan Centre used to be an old Victorian school  before it became a Community Centre in the 1970’s. But what did the Lichfield Road frontage look like before the 1950’s style entrance foyer was erected? The Town Council’s architects are preparing some plans for a refurbishment of the building and are curious about the original features of the front of the building.

So if your memory goes back far enough or if you have any old photos which might throw some light on the query, the Town Clerk would be interested in hearing from you. Any photographs would be treated with great care and would be returned after scanning.

Last night Mark Green was duly installed as the new Town Mayor for the next Civic year. Jill Hood was appointed Deputy Mayor. Mark’s wife Kristen will be the Mayoress and Steve, Jill’s husband, will be her consort. During the ceremony grateful thanks were extended to the outgoing Mayor, Phillip Leason and Deputy Mayor, Debbie Wakefield.

These occasions are meant to be happy and non contentious so it was rather sad that Cllr. Phillip Jones thought it appropriate to do a some party political grandstanding - much to the disgust of some councillors, amusement of most members of the public and apparent embarrassment of some of his own members.

That apart, the evening went very well and most councillors stayed on afterwards for a buffet supper provided by the new Mayor. I’m sure Mark and Kristen are going to be wonderful ambassadors for the town. Phillip and Edith Leason will be a hard act to follow but I’m sure the new Mayor and his wife are up for it! Best wishes to them both!

By law, Stone Town Council has to hold and annual public meeting at which the Mayor presents a report of the previous twelve months. Tonight’s meeting was held at Stone Station and, sadly, was rather poorly attended.

Cllr. Philip Leason , the Town Mayor, gave his report and a member of the public raised a question about parking problems in the Stonefield area. I agreed to look into the issue and promised to report back to him. Ex councillor Harry Brunt also raised a couple of issues - follow ups to problems he had raised when he was on the council. I was very sad that Harry failed to get re-elected last year. He was a long serving, hard working councillor and the fact that he is still turning up to meetings like this to keep these issues ‘on the boil’  is proof that he is still committed to the town. Most defeated candidates are never heard of again until the next elections!

So forty minutes later I was able to rejoin my son, daughter-in-law and grandson for a drink in the sun at the Star. Very enjoyable!

Last night’s Council meeting agreed upon the nominations for the new Town Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The Civic Year runs from May to the following April so the current Mayor, Cllr. Phillip Leason, will hand over the chain of office to the new Mayor on May 13th.

On that date, Cllr. Mark Green will be elected Mayor. Mark is well known in the town having been landlord at several town centre pubs and finally at The Rising Sun before he retired a couple of years ago. Elected to the council last year, Mark has been a tireless councillor - in fact I think he has attended every meeting without fail. He has also been the first to volunteer for any ‘extra duties’ and has also given very freely of his time to Age Concern. He will make an excellent Town Mayor and I extend my congratulations and best wishes to him and Kristen.

It was also agreed that Cllr. Jill Hood be nominated as Deputy Mayor. This nomination gives me particular pleasure because Jill thoroughly deserves it. Jill is a fantastic advert for Stone. Involved in so many projects, her bubbly enthusiasm is contagious. It’s no surprise that Jill has been heavily involved in the setting up of the Den and this year’s Music Festival and is also chairman of the Tourism and Town Promotion Committee responsible for this year’s Bike Race. Yes, if you want something done give it to a busy person! Jill will be a superb Deputy Mayor.

Congratulations to Mark and Jill.

Last night’s meeting of the Town Council’s Tourism and Town Promotion sub committee covered a lot of issues. There are numerous events in the pipeline and the meeting received reports on the up to date position on several of them. The Cycle Race in June and the Music Festival in July promise to be fantastic new events in the town this year. Progress reports were presented and I’ve no doubt that we shall see thousands of visitors streaming into town for all the fun.

Another item on the agenda was a proposal to consider festooning the High Street with flags or banners on purpose made flag poles using the existing Christmas tree brackets. Obviously there is a cost involved and the management of such a scheme would require some thought - but it was agreed that the idea be investigated further. I can just imagine what a fantastic sight would be created with fluttering flags flying from above the shops in the High Street. I’m sure the Food and Drink Festival, for one, would be interested in using the brackets to fly F&D flags.

A good, positive meeting! I enjoy working with this committee - it’s got a “roll your sleeves up and let’s do it” attitude under the chairmanship of Cllr. Jill Hood!

Last night’s Town Council meeting was, in the main, positive and constructive. Minutes of four sub committee meetings were read and approved. Apart from some minor skirmishes, most issues were disposed of without any major arguements.

However the evening was marred by a display of petulance from Councillor Geoff Collier who, in a moment of pique, lost the plot, grabbed his papers together and stormed out of the Chamber. Geoff had raised the important issue of the future of Stone in Bloom. We have heard rumours but have received no official communication from Stafford Borough Council as to what exactly is happening to ‘In Bloom’ this year. Geoff wanted the Town Council to take it over and almost everyone agreed with him. It was then suggested that we should ask to meet the Borough to find out the facts and I suggested that a small working group should be formed for this purpose, suggesting that the three Town Council representatives on the Stone in Bloom group should form this Working Group. And at that, Cllr. Collier exploded into his bad tempered outburst, all because he wanted to be involved.

And the irony of it all was that after his departure, it was agreed that the working group should be enlarged to include Cllr. Collier - not because anyone felt threatened by his behaviour (although it was most unpleasant) but because he had raised the issue as a Member’s Item.

On the evidence of last night’s performance, Cllr. Collier clearly has a short fuse! What a pity he felt unable to remain in the Chamber in order to engage further in the democratic process called debate.

The Tory controlled Borough Council is skint and are doing anything and everything to save money. I’ve already mentioned the fiasco of the appointment of the new Chief Executive and the increase in car parking charges in Stone. Add to the equation the increase in burial and cremation charges - and don’t forget that the new Blue Bin collection scheme was the cheapest option on offer. And just when you think you are coming to terms with all that, a Tory councillor ‘lets the cat out of the bag’ by admitting that the Tory group have already agreed to close the toilets in Station Road. Yes! Geof Collier probably spoke out of turn when he informed us of this fact at the last Estates Sub Committee!

Which all goes to explain why the Town Council had been approached by the Borough to see whether we would be interested in taking over the management of the toilets. The Sub Committeee was unanimous in agreeing that the Station Road toilets must be kept open. With the increase in visitors to the town resulting from our extra markets and events now taking place we were all agreed that closing the toilets would be a retrograde step.

However the financial implications need to be studied in some detail before any final decisions can me made. But everyone was agreed that if we do take over responsibility, the toilets will need to be refurbished and maintained to a much better standard than exists at present.

It’s been a quiet few weeks at Stone Town Council and we are now playing ‘catch up’! Last night I attended two sub committee meetings and shall be doing the same again tonight.

Our first meeting was the Environment committee chaired by Mark Hatton. We spent a lot of time discussing Crown Meadow. Last year we put in a wheel chair accessible footbridge over Scotch Brook, improved the footpaths around the river path and created the amphitheatre. We are anxious to continue the project and Mark was pleased to announce the completion this week of the resurfacing of the path across the meadow. This will provide a very pleasant direct walk across the meadow into town from Walton.

In addition we approved plans to create three wetland ’scrapes’ and the planting of native wildflowers, including fratillaries, in the Spring. Whilst it will take a few years to become established, I am in no doubt that Crown Meadow will soon become a real haven for wildlife. It’s very exciting.

Other items on the agenda incuded a reprint of the Doorstep Walks leaflets, dealing with a request to consider the felling of a sycamore tree on one of our allotments and agreeing to meet a local developer who has exppressed an interest in providing a piece of public art.

The second meeting was much shorter - thank goodness! The Management sub committee chaired by Lin Davies, dealt with three grant applications and then discussed International Relations i.e. twinning issues. Sadly there is a tormented history of issues relating to the Friendship Agreement that Stone signed with the Italian town of Bagnacavallo a few years ago. The work of a very committed and hardworking twinning committee has been sidelined by various personality conflicts between certain persons who have, at one time or other, been town councillors and members of the committee. It has now reached a point where I try to ensure that the Twinning Committee is left to deal with twinning issues (and I will give them my fullest support) and the Town Council simply attends to its civic responsibilities and courtesies. I hope that we can proceed on this basis but I fear there are too many bruised egos around ! And tonight one councillor very properly declared a personal interest. I am convinced there are at least another three who should do the same whenever twinning is discussed.