Future High Street Fund refresh

 Why am I writing this?

Simple because people forget where we have come from and where we are going so we get stuck in a loop of the same arguments and same idle "councils are crap" rhetoric. 

Assuming we all know the government provided a future high street fund pot of funding, we applied and failed, tweaked our plans and then were awarded a big chunk of cash. if it had been a crap plan it wouldn't have got the funding (cue allegations of other influences 🙄). The successful bid contained a program of projects which were to be funded by the government, the council and other stakeholder which in Tamworth's case is South Staffordshire College. Before I give an update I'll list the projects and add their justifications, which I'm sure the experts on social media or sitting with friends chatting will disagree with. 

Staffordshire College and the Co-op building. 

South Staffordshire college have operated the Tamworth campus for many years now along with Cannock, Lichfield and Robaston. I am aware some won't have realised this or the fact that a large amount of the current college building is empty, unused and mothballed. It has long been an aspiration for the college to move to the town centre and discussions have failed with land owners for a number of year. South Staffordshire College want to move to the town centre. 

Why is Tamworth Borough Council supporting the college's desire to move ? Simple, a thriving town centre is a busy one which houses reasons for people to be in the town centre offices, businesses, colleges and universities provide reasons to be in the town centre which brings disposable income to support the hospitality and retail of a town centre. I am very aware that a lot of people don't like the generations that follow theirs and label them as a problem, all generations have a small number who make the same mistakes as the previous ones did and maintain the narrative but these are limited and the rest of that generation suffers. A college brings day time students, night school students and then a group of staff from admin to teachers etc, a whole load of people operate within a college campus. So thats in a nutshell why Tamworth Borough Council supported the project. 

Progress - 

Middle Entry

Whilst at the time middle entry met the then vision for the town centre and retail offer times have changed and so have opinions. Middle entry and its architecture detract massively from the historic elements of Tamworth, almost creating a barrier between the castle, town hall, market street and the magnificent St Editha's church.

The project here originally was to change the whole design of middle entry with 2 sweeping buildings  creating a flow and visual lines connecting the above heritage assets. 

Clear line of sight and pedestrian flow along with improvements to the facade of the buildings was the ultimate aim. 

Progress - 

The Flex

This is the name of the shop fronts from middle entry to market street. 

Castle Entrance

Nationwide

Market Street. 

2 Data Breaches !!!!

 2 Data breaches identified on the same day. I'd say one is more serious than the other but the "less serious" one effects more people. The reason I'm writing this is just to view the way these are reported and a view as to what is meant by a data breach as opposed to what is already out there in the public domain.

The Police Service Northern Ireland has had a breach which has given personal details of all their staff, for me this is a serious security issue and this is probably due to my childhood listening and seeing the troubles being broadcast on a daily basis. The shocking thing here is the "breach" was actually a data hand over, a Freedom of Information request was answered with a simple hand over of all this data. Something i would describe as clumsy at best. 

The other data breach relates to the electoral register. . . So almost everyone over the age of 17 in the UK is signed up on the electoral register, this is administered and kept by the local authority and then reported to the electoral commission. According to some media outlets it could be a hack by the Russians, I assume this makes the story more dramatic. 

So why am I writing about this? 

Simple, the electoral register holds quite simple information which only a few years ago was very public, remember when everyone's name, address and telephone number was printed and delivered through everyone else's door in the local area, yes phonebooks were a thing but the world has moved on as well as our desire and need for privacy. 

The electoral register does contain peoples name and address, with those approaching voting age it will also contain their date of birth. This data is stored by the local council and electoral commission. BUT HOLD ON theres some questions here - 

Is literally everyone on the electoral register ?

There's the full register and the open register, i also understand there's a way of opting out of both but still being able to vote. When you apply to be on the register you can opt to not be seen on the register and so not appear on a published copy of the register, YES THE ELECTORAL REGISTER IS PUBLISHED. 

Who can see the electoral register ?

The full electoral register is used by credit reference agencies to update information held on individuals' credit reference files. 

The open register can be bought by any person, company or organisation.

And then there's political parties 

• Registered political parties, candidates and campaigners are entitled to receive copies of the full electoral register which includes eligible voters’ names and addresses.
• They are also entitled to access the “marked register”, which enables identification of individuals who have voted in previous elections and referendums, but not how they have voted.
• Access to this information is important for promoting political participation. Its use can be compatible with data protection law, which must still be complied with. 

The electoral register is used in a variety of ways by a variety of groups of people. so my question is, how a big a story is it that this has been accessed by a hack and not by a simple payment through a normal route, second to that question - what is Russia going to do with our phone book, I mean we now need photo ID to vote, imagine a world where a passport is needed to vote but you can get into the country on a small boat without one. 

So couple of years off and another rambling from me, unedited and posted before I sleep on it. 

Tamworth’s retail challenge Wren Kitchens arrives.

  It’s announced that Wren kitchens is coming to Tamworth and filling the void left by pound stretcher in the newly refurbished retail units.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/wren-kitchens-announce-plans-ventura-15657011

image used from http://www.midlandsbusinessnews.co.uk/businesses-in-exciting-bid-to-unite-tamworth-town-centre-and-ventura-retail-parks/tamworth-cropped-os-map-v2-approximate-area-for-web/

  As ever this story has garnered some opinion on social media so I thought I'd share mine and I'm going to do this is two parts, firstly about Wren Kitchens and the other potential clients and secondly my view on the broader debate.

  I am really pleased to see Wren Kitchens come to Tamworth (I'm NOT in the market for a new kitchen). For me this represents a new stage in the retail offer Tamworth has, complementing Bensons for beds, oak furniture land etc. as a shift from 'convenience' shopping further and further down the line of quality bespoke goods. The draw of such products reaches far beyond the boundary of Tamworth and Staffordshire. bringing spend and secondary spend into Tamworth as well as employment. We are slowly building a reputation as a place to buy good quality products whether its a car, kitchen or furniture.

  I see regularly the comment whenever a company chooses to invest in Tamworth that we "should have" or "need" a Primark. can someone please convince me what the argument is and why we need a Primark. We can already shop for relatively cheap clothing with ASDA, Matalan etc, step up to the next level of spend with Next, New Look, Outfit, JD or M&S. so whats the fascination with Primark too? My personal opinion of Primark is one of those which fuels consumerism for the sake of consumerism, yes I'm generalising and primark does fill a gap in the market, but in Today's age we have mountains of waste building up of cheap unwanted furniture,  t-shirts and vest tops in every colour of the rainbow just being used once or twice and thrown away.

Companies come to Tamworth to make money and if they believe they can make a profit, these decisions aren't made on the hoof they are made as a result on very fine detailed analysis of information about footfall, spend levels regional draw, competition etc etc, And this brings me onto the second part- the broader debate.

The broader debate.
Tamworth, retail and the retail revolution.

Tamworth has for many years been debating the conflict between the Town centre and Ventura park, one of the few tools that Tamworth Borough Council has in this is the Local Plan Policy that units outside of the town centre must be of a minimum size large and where possible sell larger goods thus attempting to reduce the competition with the offer of the town centre, This is somewhat high level but the council simply does not have powers to get directly involved in retail.
Time for another reminder. Tamworth Borough Council does not set rent (aside from the few shops it owns) does not set business rates, does not run shops, does not have any say on what shops run their business in Tamworth (unless they need a license).

So the Challenge-
Whats the impact of the Internet?
Why do stores choose to come to or not to come to Tamworth.

   I worry about the future of retail shops full stop, and have said this before, with the onset of the Internet more and more spend is shifting away from shopping trips and more to sofa shopping. I know that in my household around 80% of Christmas presents were bought on line, the majority of which was delivered next day to my front door. This has been the same for the last three years and seems somewhat less stressful and easier than visiting stores,

    Now the worry is everyone does the same as my household we end up with less and less shops in either Tamworth's Town centre or Tamworth's Retail centre. so what can be done to save these assets. both others and I have speculated about stores offering samples would become prevalent and your purchases are made with the good being delivered to your property at an agreed time, so bridging the gap between traditional stores, Argos, and amazon. As time goes by I'm not sure this is actually going to become mainstream across the full range of products on offer in our stores,
  There are items though that will always attract that touchy feel purchasing and these include cars, furniture, kitchens, carpets etc where the purchaser has an experience spends time considering options and making very personal choices which you simply can't do on a glass or plastic screen.
So for me the Internet retail revolution is a danger to Tamworth's retail offer but i feel the stores here are beginning to look towards what I've described. (including Wren)


  Earlier I raised the question why do store choose to come to or not to come to Tamworth. whilst this is complex there are some simple things we can pull out of the methodology. I must state thou first, if you talk to people from Tamworth the competition is between the town centre and retail centre of ventura park if you talk to one of these stores looking at Tamworth its the competition between ANY part of Tamworth and Cannock, Burton, Solihull, Stoke, etc.

  For many years prior to the aspiration of a Primark many people in Tamworth wanted to see a Marks and Spencers, eventually we got one but it was a long journey. The key to many decision is not just location, infrastructure and the like but relates to data held about spend per head of visitor. Many stores are now in Tamworth and would never have come to the town centre because the average spend per head of customer was below their threshold. this is no longer the case at our retail park. larger brands with higher spends attract other higher brands with higher spends. of course this also means employment opportunities and growth in the local economy.

The key for me to the retail challenge is ensuring we get ahead of the curve in terms of retail as a leisure and link into eateries, beauty, fitness and well being. Tamworth geography and growth puts us in a great place to continue to thrive if we look forward and embrace the challenge not back at what we thought we had.

Conkers and the community

A couple of years ago I spotted a story about the demise of the humble horse chestnut tree so I wrote a blog about it. What I didn't know was this was going to be the start of an amazing story.
I've included the link to the original story :-

https://jeremysnewsthoughts.blogspot.com/2016/10/bonkers-its-end-of-conkers.html?m=1

So I wrote that and a few people read it, around a year later I was chatting to another Councillor prior to a meeting. During this conversation with Richard Kingstone I explained the situation of the reduction in Conker trees, Richard then used this to create a press release connected with the work he does in Wigginton Park.
And this is where the miraculous happened.

At the start of the month I was taking part in a litter pick with Dosthill Park Wildlife Group when I spoke to Mr and Mrs Moseley who were sitting on a bench over looking the river. Mr and Mrs Moseley had seen the article that Richard Kingstone had got in the Tamworth herald about conkers. The two of them had not only read the article but taken it upon themselves to plant and grow 10 conker trees AND they would like to give them to me and Richard to plant and support the growth on the conker tree.

So having spent the weekend in my care they have now been passed to Richard for planting in Wiggington Park.

So a big thank you to Mr and Mrs Moseley for growing these trees!!!

I have to comment on the whole series of events, 2 councillors having a chat and generating a tiny bit of interest sparked a year long project by two members of the community who we didn't know and now we have 10 new conker trees in Tamworth.

So linkages between 2 members of the public, the use of social media, printed press, public open space and the community groups looking after them all coming together with no intention as such and doing something small yet mighty.

It's just amazing how communities work when we have a mutual goal.

You must not be allowed in

Today I have witnessed two people driving in a way which just really winds me up. Now before it seems like I'm just picking on the VW Golf and Audi A3 this rant is not limited to those two drivers and this behaviour is a common sight delivered by all sorts of drivers in all sorts in vehicles.

So dual carriage ways and queues.

Dual carriage ways have one role and contra to belief dual carriage ways are not for creating race tracks and an opportunity to put your foot down, they are built to increase the capacity of the highway. Ooh stop and think about that a queue of 50 cars will take up half the distance on a dual carriage way that it will on a single carriage way. BUT only if we use it correctly and here lies my rant.

Why do drivers feel the need to negate the purpose of the dual carriage way and straddle the white line to stop anyone going passed them? I generally look ahead and pick a lane to get in. If the other lane is moving quicker then so be it. What I witnessed today was one of these drivers straddling the white line and when another driver went to drive passed without leaving the lane they were in the first drive literally drove the passing car off the road.
So my question what was the benefit to the first driver of extending the queue. Now the impact on me of this was one car passed me and joined the end of the queue ahead of me, so about 15 feet. Surely no one needs to get so stressed about progress of others they swerve to stop someone quite legitimately driving passed them in an open lane.

So moving on to the golf, we all make mistakes and sometimes don't realise what's on the road ahead. Today a bus was stationary at a bus stop so a couple of cars pulled up behind, it was then they realised it had its hazard lights on (I was 4 cars back). The first car indicated and began to pull round the bus and yes that meant into a queue of slow moving vehicles, the golf did all they could to stop this car getting in infront of them and passing the bus. No one cut anyone up or made anyone change direction or brake but the fanfare of car horns was almost orchestral. Just let the car out and let's all stay calm. If you're in traffic being a selfish person isn't got you help you progress.

OK got that off my chest

This has not been proof read yet so please excuse predictive text and spelling errors

Size really does matter, Maybe

I've just had the radio on and listening to a news story about clothing sizes, particularly female clothes sizes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44367791 . It was whilst listening to this that I thought about a conversation I recently had with a fellow council who has successfully lost weight. His target is now to be of a certain chest and waist size rather than a particular weight. Combining the conversation I had and the news story I have to ask 'what is size all about ?

I have no idea what a size 12 is, or a 16, 20 etc and as clothing is often imported I wouldn't have a clue what a US size 0 is compared with Uk sizes, and then we get onto small, medium, large, xl, xxl, xxxl etc. what? no sorry not  a clue.

What I do know is that my waist size is larger than is like it to be but its measured in inches as is the length of my leg so if i go out to buy a new pair of trousers I look for those measurements, and should they be labelled small large etc then they generally get ignored.

Maybe its a sign of the times, with less outfitters and more mass produced garments that we are always looking for an average fit, trying to put labels on clothing and apply those labels to ourselves.

The news story featured an interview with someone who had taken to social media to voice their concern at not fitting into a particular size they thought they were. This interviewee went on to say how devastated she felt that she could not get into the clothing that was labelled up in her size. In a world of fast passed social media and todays unreality Tv shows I can quite sympathise with the impact this would have had.  Another tweeted "It's called UK size for a reason, it means all clothes UK stores should measure to that guide.". I think this however falls short of addressing the problem.

The problem is we ar all different in so many ways, and whilst i understand this creates a challenge for clothing manufacturers i still have to ask why do we not apply simple measures to clothing? In my halls at university there were a group of 6 of us in the same area, i recall one conversation whilst out shopping with one of them who had a slim waist and long legs with wide hips, he used to buy jeans that fit his waist and leg but went for an anti-cut to get a pair that fit him correctly.

Boom there's a solution - stop putting people into boxes and judging them accordingly and label clothing up based on actually measurements and different cuts from highwaisted to skinny, from anti-cut to boot cut. There's a reason bra sizes have more than one measurement why do we not apply some thought to clothing and scrap the meaningless sizes for actually measurements. 

Baby born with heart on the outside !!!

https://news.sky.com/story/mum-of-baby-vanellope-born-with-heart-on-outside-ive-been-on-rollercoaster-11168888




The above link will take you to a news article from today where a baby has been born with her heart outside of her body and survived. This is fantastic news!!! a big well done to the teams involved in this and all the best wishes for the future of this little girl and her family. Miracles do happen.


I have written before about the stress and anxiety of expecting a baby, its a really worrying time for all involved and finding out at the 9 week scan means there's months and months or worry ahead before you can even see and hold the baby, then years of worry ahead. those who know me or have read my blog will be aware I have not experienced some of the worst case scenarios but I do try to empathise, and that's what I am trying to do here so please indulge me for the next paragraph as its all about me then I'll talk about others.


It was 2003 when my wife and I went for a scan at Good hope hospital, during this scan the mood changed a little as the scenographer spotted something. With the scan finished we met a consultant and had a very quick and blunt discussion about what was found, talk about worst case scenario, the scan had should some cysts on the baby's brain which can be associated with a number of syndromes including ultimately baby loss, of course the last part was the bit that we picked up on. every 2 weeks we were at Good Hope hospital for scans as our babies brain developed these cysts dissolved as part of normal development (I'm not a medic). The fear and stress at the time was horrendous but fortunately for us the baby was born healthy and well. So in trying to apply my experience in understanding the position of the family of the baby in the news all I can say is its incomprehensible and well done to them.


As time goes by we often lose contact with friends and relatives but every now an then paths will cross and it was only in the last 2 years that I was back in touch with someone who I had not spoken to for decades. I am only raising this because I'd like to use the above news story to raise a little awareness. This person has grown up (as we all have) and started a family, one of their children was also born with a heart problem, I understand part of the heart didn't develop and so its only partly working. I am not aware of all the details so please forgive my ignorance. Again I will say the stress and fears involved in this must be horrific and I admire their emotional resolve. Stories like this in the news and effecting people you know really brings it home and puts perspective on some of the issue we worry about daily. I'd never considered heart development in any of my children's development or any other part of my life before this, its just something that we all lock away and hope doesn't effect us.


So what can we do? Praise the teams who are making a difference and support them, families and charities who are involved in or affected by with this type of issue on a daily basis. one of which is www.chuf.org.uk who have raised tens of millions of pounds to support families and children affected by heart development issues.


The big thing is talking about these things and being aware. They a problem shared is a problem halved, emotionally it maybe or a conversation may just open a door to someone that they didn't know existed.  I suppose what I'm saying is whilst this is a special case as the baby girl is the first in the UK to survive there are many others effected by embryonic development issues and we don't know or discuss them.


Once again Well done to the team involved in the case above and well done to the families staying strong facing life's challenges.

Green Bin charges, how did we end up here ?

Like many people in Tamworth I am not happy with the implementation of charging for garden waste to be collected. Yes I did vote for this in full council only a few months ago but this wasn’t a “put your hand up when you’re told we need this” it was in fact the position I had come to after many hours of contemplation and thought right up until just before the council meeting began. I thought that now the charge is imminent I’d share my thought processes.

Before I do I will just list a couple of facts about the charge.
1, the fee is £36 and this covers the calendar year regardless of when you pay within the next twelve months the renewal/repayment date will be December 2018 for 2019. So if you pay in June you get 6 months not 12.
2, it’s an annual fee, £36 for the year (not per collection as some have thought)
3, no one has to pay, if you don’t use your green bin you don’t pay.
4, the green bin service will cost around £250kpa extra due to changes to credits, it’s expected council will collect around £500kpa from the charges and I’ll pick up on what happens to the excess later.

So as I said I thought about this a lot and where did we come from to get here.
When I grew up we had metal dustbin about 90l capacity and a separate lid, everything could go in here including ashes from the fire in the lounge ( I wonder how we didn’t lose the lids?), then a Councillor by the name of John Garner came along and we moved into a privatised system with big black wheely Bins, Eventthing went on but not got ashes, and these were emptied weekly,
Back in 2004 the then labour  council introduced a recycling scheme where black bins were empties fortnightly, dry recyclate was sorted curbside (in blue boxes and we did lose lids) and in Tamworth the green bin was born for garden waste and emptied fortnightly. Contract was signed for a July implementation at the May election there was a change of political leadership and the Conservatives were left as my neighbour at the time put it “getting the blame for something that’s not your fault”. Gosh remember the litter from curbside when the wind blew. This was also the time that John Garner came back on charge of waste management in Tamworth.

John like many of he conservative group was not happy with the fortnightly food waste collection and the curbside recycling methods, with John’s passion we had all sorts of presentations for invessel composting and the like where the council would buy the machinery and then sell the compost product afterwards. The financial return simply didn’t add up to cover the investment in the machinery. Ooh looks like someone has now recycled this idea and is claiming it as their own!!!! It didn’t stack up back then.

Anyway John found a solution and we moved to foodwaste in Black Bins and green, at last weekly food waste collections, but it was costing a fortune. John also lead us in creating the joint service with our neighbours in Lichfield, this was a cheaper service than external providers could supply and saw the end of the blue boxes from pre conservative days, we now had three big wheels Bins green black and blue. I remember these negotiations and remember the fight to keep the lichfield approach of charging for a second garden waste bin out of Tamworth.
In the history I’ve explained above the council had managed to negotiate actual millions of pounds worth of savings in the service and maintained the costs within everyone’s council tax bill.

This brings us to where we are now.
The costs of running services continues to increase as demand for different types of service increase and with the backdrop of reducing government hand outs to councils some difficult decisions have to be made. When I talk about increased demand I wan things like homelessness prevention and adult social care.
As I mentioned above changes to recycling credits will increase costs of the green bin service by around £200-£250k a year and is currently paid for by council tax contributions. Whether you use the green bin or not whether you live in a house of a flat your council tax is paying for those who use the garden waste collection service.
The council is expecting to generate around £500kpa from the charges, so half the charge pays for the service and generates a ‘saving’ in council tax expenditure and a the rest of the income will be used to support other vital service that we need to grow to support the vulnerable. There’s also some complex stuff about recycling credits in the coatings and surplus but the headline figures are about there.

So as ever where does the council get cash from? £80m budget with council tax income of £3.5m, it’s got to come from somewhere so things like industrial unit rents, non domestic rates contribution (after all other agencies have their cuts) car parks and charging for services, and this is where the decision came from. The collection of garden waste is not a statutory service and is therefore optional, the council have a number of options with it including continue as we are, cease the service, charge for it etc etc, in the same way the council charges for other services.

Wow that’s made it sound simple :(  I’m still not happy we’re going down this line but what are the other options? Savings into the hundreds of thousands have been built into the budget over the years and will be again this year, underspends will be made and rolled back into the next year, gone are the days of “have budget will spend before year end”. I don’t want to see any vital services reduced to support new pressures, so whilst I’m not happy with the green waste charges I realise something has to give somewhere.

So it’s a green bin and £36 bill for me, unless I share it with a neighbour and spend £18 each.




Written on my phone not spell or grammar checked yet

Baby Loss Awareness Week

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37584827
I was updating this blog and have posted early, baby loss week this year is 9-15th October 2017


I have to be honest I wasn't aware that this week was baby loss awareness week until I stumbled across this article.

This entry is not a rant or suggestion its just simply a note which might be thought provoking, for information please use the Sands website

Before I write this there are a few things I should just mention, I am a bloke so don't have a mothers perspective, I am lucky enough not to have experienced the loss of a child and I have seven children, BUT  this does not mean I can not sympathise and empathise with those have suffered such a tragic loss. During this blog I may refer to other people but will try as much as possible to keep them anonymous and not give away their identity,

100 babies die every week just before, during or shortly after birth.
In 2008 it was 17 per day, by 2013 this had dropped to 16.

   I remember being about 11 when a relative excitedly announced that they were to have their first child, a few months later at Easter the couple were watching film (may have been Clash of the titans) when the expectant mother began to suffer a miscarriage. As a family we visited the the old general hospital at Burton on Trent (long since knocked down) to see the couple. This was the first time I had known of this sort of thing and had loads of questions I didn't ask, to be honest I remember not wishing to talk about any of it. For me being an 11 year old I just took it for granted that women became pregnant and then a baby was born , All nice and simple and safe.

  Since being 11 I have learnt a lot and have first hand experience of looking at a scan screen and seeing some shapes but not a heart beat or movement. Then spending time with my wife either at hospital or at home recovering. During my working life I have worked in photo processing shops where I have developed and printed photos taken by family members in hospital of babies which didn't make it, this being one of their few memories of that child (only once did I get warned what I was about to see).  I also know of two families who have had still births or suffered neo-natal deaths, the whole thing scares me.

   Pregnancy , birth and infancy are really really dangerous times in life and we so often take it for granted that everything will be ok. We take it for granted that baby and mother will all be ok.  Earlier this year on my sons birthday I posted the below on my facebook wall, detailing one of our experiences with childbirth.

8 years ago 19th June Oliver was born, I woke up to Nicola telling me the baby was coming and she had called the midwife, We arranged for Chloe . Ellesse  , Bethany and Thomas to go to school (or nursery). At just gone 9am Oliver was born, over 9lb, at home in the lounge, mom and baby went up to have a bath and came back to the lounge. About 2 hours after the birth the midwives were packing up to leave when Nicola's heart stopped beating.her blood pressure plummeted as well as every vital.

With the student midwife I packed a case and got Oliver in a baby seat, as Nicola was loaded into an ambulance I loaded Oliver into the car, I got to Good Hope before the ambulance and waited in room 1 with Oliver for 30minutes for Nicola to arrive, telling him Mommy is coming its all ok, he was 3 hours old.

Thankfully with some medical care, drips and oxygen all was ok Nicola was revived and recovered. We have had 2 more kids since. Well done both, happy birthday Oliver and thank you Nicola.

   As I mentioned I have not experienced a still birth or neo-natal death and can't imagine the feeling I can only compare it to the emotional blow when  looking at those screens in the darkened clinical scan room and seeing no movements, no heart beat. All of this following the euphoria of finding out you're having a baby and then suddenly you're not. To go full term must be absolutely horrific and a destructive emotional force.

    I can only imagine the pain of having spent so much care, time, money, effort, emotion on health, a nursery baby clothes, prams, car seats, pushchairs etc and then having to face the emotional loss of having lost all that happiness.

  I have seen 2 families go through this, both for different reasons and both dealt with it in different ways, 1 family I have to say amaze me in how well they have coped with both the event and life afterwards and I often find myself wondering how they have been so strong.

  In similar ways to Mr Quince, MP for Colchester, discusses in the BBC article the first family's unborn baby had passed away at a very late stage in pregnancy leading to the mother having to give birth to her baby. The trauma this caused was horrific. . This was over 10 years ago and around the time when my wife was pregnant. their eldest daughter at the time went to school with our eldest and so everyday at the school gates updates on the pregnancy were shared and then the devastation came. My wife did everything she could to help this couple and whilst we ll go our separate ways we still stay in touch. They have gone on to have more children and as far as I am aware they still have a photo of their little girl in their lounge. for a young couple at the time this could have easily destroyed everything they have and its a credit to them that they didn't let it.

 The second family suffered from a neo-natal death shortly after birth, I do not know this couple as well as I did the first however my wife has become quite friendly and chat regular, this couple have other children and have had one since, a rainbow baby, The strength that they have shown has been tremendous. The lady I refer to here works with children and when she found she was pregnant she obviously had to tell the children she worked with at the time including one of my children, so as a result the whole of her pregnancy time was shared with these children who at a young age were quite excited about this. I do not know the details around the loss but I do know the death was shortly after birth, a matter of hours and do remember hearing the news a few hours after it happened. the family were as you would imagine devastated as were the children she worked with.
Not being close to the family I don't know much about this time. what I do know is that this lady had to return to work after a maternity break, Here she would have to face the children she worked with prior to taking time off and of course have to face their questions and inquisitive/naive insensitivity's. I know my child took flowers to her, in particular a flower that she associates with her lost child. at the time I thought how on earth does she cope with both inquisition and acts of kindness from children without breaking down. I really don't know how she did it,
The family i refer to here have gone on to have a baby since and so this lady has not only had to face the fear created by what happened but she has again had to do it in front of the same children she works with. There are some amazing people in the world and i have total admiration for this couple, who whilst still mourning and remembering their loss have shown how life must go on,

To have the euphoria of a new baby stolen by a tragic event like these is a horrific thought that I would hate to happen to anyone.

This happens 100 times a week! Some people can talk about it some people can't, I know of relatives who have never spoken about it happening to them 30 years on.

This is a sensitive issue and I repeat what I said at the top

I am a bloke so don't have a mothers perspective, I am lucky enough not to have experienced the loss of a child and I have seven children, BUT  this does not mean I can not sympathise and empathise with those have have suffered such a tragic loss. during this blog I may refer to other people but will try as much as possible to keep them anonymous and not give away their identity,

I don't think I have actually said much here just contemplated and typed as I've gone along.

   I have included 2 links below, The Sands Charity web page for information and would recommend a visit to the National Arboretum SANDS memorial garden, its a place to think.

SANDS
National memorial Garden   

How Do You Pick Yours ? Elections & Voting

Every year in Tamworth we have elections whether that be Borough/District, County, General or in recent times referendums and this means for me delivering leaflets and knocking doors. This year during April I walked 100.1 miles on the 'campaign trail', and as in every year on polling day I spoke to a voter who told me they had not had a leaflet of anyone (I delivered that street myself so I know they did). This and seeing many variations of signage on doors stating 'No cold callers', 'we do not need...', 'No junk Mail', 'posted mail only' etc made me think more and more about how people in 2017 decide who to vote for?
(This is not a politically motivated way of improving my campaigning its a genuine thing I've pondered.)

The picture has changed so much in a relatively short time, I remember electrons when some areas always returned councillors from a particular party and some parties even stopped producing leaflets for these areas. Now I feel society seems to be engaging again in politics and as a result campaigning has changed. It's not only society becoming more engaged there have also been some significant changes, the onset of 24 hour news and of course social media.
24 hour news is a great thing, well I say that. Recently I had a job where I worked nights and slept very little this exposed me to many hours of BBC and Sky news, the repetition was mind numbing and then in a way to stretch the news further there's the whole raft of opinion or editorial pieces thrown in often without clear identification. So no we have opinion and discussion drip feeding into the news and of course discussion and opinion is to an extent reliant on speculation.

Let's not forget the influence of social media!!!! Social media can be a great tool to get a message out to a large number of people. What social media doesn't do is discriminate, anyone can post anything they like via a variety of platforms and once that has been shared a couple of times it's difficult to control and becomes perpetuating, we saw so much incorrect information during the with referrendum and the US presidential election the messages of the conpaigns were often lost but this still influences people's vote.

Just 2 more points I'd like to share before finishing for now.
It is said that parents influence the vote of their offspring until on average the age of 24 where the offspring will decide for themselves.
I saw a news stand/box containing The Sun newspaper last year, on this was printed "The Sun, for Entertainment,gossip,sport". It never mention news anywhere!

I don't want to go into solution mode as I would like to know what other people's thoughts are on voting influence. What makes you vote a particular way?
Leaflets ?
A knock at the door ?
Ever read a manifesto ?
National papers ?
Radio & TV ?
Friends?
Family?
Social media?

Potholes, Here There Everywhere

   We all know everywhere you go on the roads there's a pothole to rattle your front wheel and throw the steering wheel out of your hand. If your anything like me they will royally **** you off  too (annoy you).
    Now I live and drive around Tamworth and Staffordshire and whilst we are blighted we have no where near the problems of Liverpool and Manchester, but that doesn't matter unless you are in Liverpool or Manchester.

So the below is a list of things I know or have learnt about potholes.

 Staffordshire county council have already purchased a number or Pothole Zapping machines which to me are awesome, (I have a thing for machinery mounted on a lorry chassis I think its the combination of tools and transportation)
Its actually quite impressive. Not only that but the Conservatives have an election pledge of a further £3m to tackle the potholes of Staffordshire in 2017.

Apparently this piece of kit has been to Tamworth already. hopefully we will see it again.

How does the county know where to repair? there are 2 options, survey the thousands of miles of highway in Staffordshire or there is reliance on local people to report them. I know some people are very good at this and report them regularly, but there are many who don't. for example Two gates traffic lights have been reported.
 There is clearly and issue with potholes and we all know it. But from the documents I have seen not many of us are reporting them, I have read through the 34 pages of pothole defects reported last week by residents in Staffordshire and this has made interesting reading. Last week the county council only received 13 reports of defects to road surface in Tamworth, and these reports related to only 4 problems. we have to start reporting them. I may not be a county councillor at the moment but I think I have a duty to make sure the county know they have to come to Tamworth and sort out our roads.

 Right now for some of my knowledge about potholes, 

When I was a county councillor 2009-13, there had been a problem with St Georges Way for years and promises were not delivered, I was elected and immediately raising this with the local description of the road as the "surface of the moon". For following year Glascote road was to be resurfaced as a county councillor I managed to negotiate whilst the plant was in the area to get St Georges Way resurfaced,  I drove up there the other day and with the exception of a little stretching/cracking at one point its holding up very well.  I proud I was able to deliver that little piece of work albeit part pf the job.

Last week I got into a conversation about the standard of repair work. The person I was speaking to commented he saw some workers run into a gap in the traffic, scrape out a pothole, run into the next gap to pour in tarmac and then use the next gap to pack it down meaning the hole would repair in the weeks to follow. Now my knowledge is not at expert level but my understanding is the county council have a duty to remove danger and so may well  perform the style of repair above BUT this is a temporary repair until a patch can be dug out and rebuilt permanently. What I don't know is the turn around of permanent repairs.

Whilst talking about roads, it would be remiss of me not to mention the very quick surface dressing that has been added increasingly over the last 2 decades, this is where a tar is spread over the road followed by chippings and then a roller quickly runs over it, you know the loose stuff that we all hate. I have campaigned in the passed about this but I have since been told why its used. Firstly it apparently seals cracks in the road surface below. Secondly this surface is expected to last 3-5 years and can be done enough times to last 15 years for the same cost as resurfacing which lasts 10 years. So whether I like the use of this surface or not I can at least understand the reasons behind the use of this.

To conclude, Keep up the good work and report the potholes, lets not assume someone else has.
Well Done to those who report Potholes regularly are doing their bit regularly.   I'm certainly going make more of an effort not I've seen those figures because it seems not enough people are.

Report a Pothole online








Oh because it's election time and I'm a politician I have to include an imprint. 
Promoted by Michael Oates on behalf of Jeremy Oates, Tamworth Conservatives, The White House, 93 Lichfield St, Tamworth B79 7QF. 

22/03 Terror in broad daylight

In this blog I am going to try to look at the act of terrorism and also respond to a thought provoking tweet I received today.

Yesterday we witnessed a man deliberately driving along a footpath mowing people down, crashed the car, ran towards parliament and stabbing a police officer. As I write this 4 people have been killed, 4 families have lost someone and many more affected in this incident. Innocent people going about their daily business.

Praise, Thanks, Thoughts and Prayers  go out the family and friends of Keith Palmer and the others who died yesterday. And also to all Emergency services, members of the public and Tobias Elwood who all selflessly stayed on the front line and tried to help the injured.

Earlier I was listening girl Brendan Cox, who lost his wife in a terror attack last summer, whilst I can't directly quote him, his point was we see people in isolation often characterised by their profession but everyone has a back story they are a father mother sister brother etc. what I would say about profession and isolation there of is that some people go to work to just earn money others go to work not only for a wage but because they believe in what they do.

 I going to quickly refer to the tweet I was in copy yesterday.

   that's the story? . Police officer and 2 others dead but mp locked in is the story!!!

I have now had more information about this tweet and I have clearly Miss understood, the point was about attempts to create s local story and not as I'd assumed. please scroll to the end for update

 I suppose it depends what eyes you are looking through. I've included above my narrative on what i saw through the media, but as for the story, I saw something bigger than whats suggested in the tweet. so I'm going to split this into 2 parts.
    Part 1 an individual caused a number of incidents which triggered a Blue Light response, Their role includes protection of all and our way of life, cordons were put in place and then the area cleared. The area being cleared included a building with over 1000 people in some were emergency services some were administrators, visitors, researchers, MP's, Business people, managers even school children so in light of the situation just outside the building the last thing emergency services need is all these people spilling out into danger or endangering those already caught up in the incident and so lock down the building. Its not only safer for them its also a potentially large problem that can be dealt with later. I fully believe the emergency services did the right thing.
    Part 2 Yes that group of people included MP's. Now in the UK we have a hatred of MP's and a feeling that these people aren't worthy of protection. MP's work really hard to try and improve the Uk or manage particular problems, despite common belief these people work very long hours and put in a great deal of effort. I know Tamworth MP not only increased the number of hours he worked but also took a pay cut when leaving his job to be an MP.
Not one politician that I know is there to cause any harm or distress to anyone they are there for the right reasons the issues become clouded when it comes to priorities and the public purse.
  Despite the above, we have the right to elect and MP to represent our needs and so I do believe they should be protected as should the public and international visitors who walk around London and enjoy the freedom our democracy and services provide for us.


The Uk is no stranger to Terrorism

Wikipedia has a great page listing attacks since 1970

I remember as many of us do some of the troubles we have had, I was in Brighton when the Grand Hotel was bombed, I visited London the week after the 7/7 bombings, i remember reading about the soldiers being shot at Lichfield station.
This week we heard of the death of Martin McGuiness a few years a go we saw tributes following the death of Nelson Mandela and now we are focused on the group who attempt to hide behind Islam. for me it doesn't matter what the cause, it doesn't matter whether its instructed, lone wolf or someone just pushed over the edge. Anyone who creates fear, panic and ultimately injury and death is acting in a terrorist manner, they are terrorising other people.
The above named people moved away from violence and began to negotiate, it was only at that stage that they made progress, (I know there is a whole debate as to who called who terrorists with these)
It has been said a number times but its still true we must not give in to terrorism.

And we must not punish the innocent in the way that terrorist are trying to, we must not let ourselves be consumed by the hatred.
An Irish man I know had his vehicle vandalised repeatedly in the 1974's following the Birmingham pub bombings, it had nothing to do with him. The Muslim community talking their children to school today should not be judged because this guy in London may have been inspired by a terrorist group using their religion.


Again, a massive thank you to all who protect us and they way we live in the UK.

The tweet I referenced at the top was about the localisation of a story and the reference to the local MP not as I interpreted it. I do have to agree with the tweet in regards to the fact that this terrible incident is terrible regardless of whether it has a local angle.

School Run and the reliance on the car

picture found on google search

   It doesn't matter what time of year it is the school run is stressful and blocks roads and footpaths, any professional driver will tell you the roads are so much clearer during school holidays than they are during term time.

Whats the problem and whats the solution ?
  If only it were that simple,

Lets start with the problem.
Parents taking their children to school, all at the same time using the car because they believe it's quicker and more comfortable than alternatives. Combined with not enough room and parking to accommodate all the vehicles and boom that's where we are now.

So lets look at each element of "the Problem" and either address or make sense of it.

1, Numbers
Firstly there are literally thousands of children going to school each and every day, quickly looking at Tamworth. 26 Primary schools with about 150 pupils in each plus 5 high schools with 1000 pupils and a 2 colleges, All these figures are based on nothing but my guesswork. So around 8900-10000 pupils or children moving each day between 7:45 and 9am and again between 3:00 and 4:30  WOW
maybe I should look at those figures again.but that is a lot and they need to get from home to school in a limited time.

2, Parental choice,

"Parents have a right to express a preference for a particular state school, and all schools (except grammar schools) must offer a place to every child who has applied if they have enough places.  But where schools are oversubscribed, the school admission authority (the local authority or the school governing body, depending on the type of school) must use over subscription criteria to determine admissions in accordance with the recently strengthened School Admissions Code."

Whilst there are positives to this policy just like taking a pill there will be side effects. One of these side effects is that the parents of children living "out of catchment" can quite rightly choose to send their children to a school of their choice based on whatever reason they choose such as family, they went there, friends, hearsay performance or absolutely what ever reason they want. The problem that this causes is that the child will then need to travel to said school and due to living "out of catchment" this will mean a distance that could well involve a motorised vehicle.

3, Working Parents
  More and more in today's world financial commitments is shared and families have 2 working parents. this changes things slightly with the school run. Assuming the parents have been able to find part time work or their shifts permit one of them can take the child to school and one could pick them up. This means the school run is no longer a stand alone task but can actually be a stop off point on the way to or from work, evidence of this can be seen with many parents in works uniform or logo'd clothing.

4, School age
  Many schools are still housed in the Victorian buildings that were built in the middle of villages which have been consumed by the urban sprawl . Or they late 1960's and 1970's, all of which were times when cars were not only a luxury but also a relative rarity. This means just like many housing developments of the same age they were built without the capacity for parking that we now.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION

Well back in 2000,2001&2002 I was an opposition councillor for Belgrave and was invited along with a select group of local residents,councillors,head teachers and staff to attend a "safe routes to school" local committee because Birds Bush, St Gabriel's and Lakeside had been picked for the latest round of funding. I wont go into all the details but I will tell you about how my suggestion was thrown out.

  Birds Bush road in Tamworth is a estate loop road with wide grass verges and footpaths either side, along this loop there is a high school and a primary with nursery (that used to have a goat).

   I suggested that due to the daily congestion and parking issues take advantage of the wide verges and create parking bays either side of the road to allow parents to park safely without blocking the carriageway and therefore make it a safer place, the answers I got still astound me.

   "No we can't do that. The government policy (at the time) for safe routes to school is that any grant funding spent should be used to slow traffic down and discourage people using the car, your scheme will allow traffic to flow at speed and make it easier for people to use their cars"

And being in opposition at the time I quickly lost the debate. I still think I was right but we got speed humps

So what do we do?

• I Walk my children to school, 1.4mile round trip, more of us should if we can, it less stressful. and good for exercise and mental health. 
• Remember our highway code. Do not park on the foot path. Stop at a zebra crossing when people are waiting whether or not there is a crossing person there.
• Don't offload the most important thing in the world ,your child, into a live lane. Use the nearside door and let your child out onto a path or verge. 
• Planning committees etc when considering school building applications should ensure that drop of points are included and become a standard for new schools along with fire sprinklers. 
• Councils need to do more when planning schools in new developments, future proof the access routes.
• Just be considerate to others including residents and other parents and be polite it costs nothing

Whilst walking home from school with my 8 year old recently we talked about the number of cars on the route and we noted that including his school there are 3 in the area. My son asked the simple question "why don't the schools all have different start times half an hour apart?" this was followed with "my school can start at 10 so I get a lie in!"

I do wonder what appetite would be for local park and rides, such as park at Morrison's for a shuttle bus to the Belgrave schools, Wilnecote co-op for shuttle bus to Wilnecote and Dosthill schools etc etc. 

picture found on google search

Tamworth council budget 2017, oh and there is a new play area in there

Another year and another budget is presented to full council, this is my 17th year here but once I left the meeting due to sickness and missed the vote.This year feels a little different, this years budget is a growth budget! And is happening at a time when other authorities are announcing reductions to services.
Just for information Tamworth has a council of 30 members and the vote on the budget went 19 for 1 against so a clear majority of 95% in favour of the budget. (I believe I counted correctly). This in itself is unusual and before people jump up and down about abstentions I have a clear view if you have abstained you haven't voted, you are elected to make a decision abstaining is not a decision.
The meeting was also very positive and for the first time in years I chose not to speak and influence the vote, this was mainly because with the exception of a few niggly points there were no real arguments for or against.

So on to the budget,

• it balances for the 3 year term and sees a council tax increase of £3.87 per year for the majority of Tamworth residents, whilst some could see an increase of £5 per year going to Tamworth Borough Council, (any other increases are for other public services)
• £50m investment in housing including investment in new social housing regenerating tinkers green and the Kerria centre.
• Savings/Income targets for green waste being reviewed an included, (more on this when I have details but we all know who voted for the savings, its the detail that was not in the report).
• £60k spend available for a play area. 

There's loads more in there (click here for the report) but I wanted to highlight the play area.

It was only a few days before this budget was passed that I read the BBC/LGA article warning of play areas falling into disrepair and being closed. And this reminded me of something I was involved with in 2003/4. As councillors the late Jerry Pinner and my self visited all the play areas in Tamworth logging and taking pictures of the state of the play areas in Tamworth which at the time had suffered from neglect and had items removed leaving steel stumps in the ground. We took this back to the council and began to put pressure on for play areas to be invested in.
It was long after this that we became part of the leading group at the council and immediately set about reviewing the situation. The decision was made to build new play areas and support them with repair funding, A policy on play was developed by a scrutiny committee chaired by Danny Cook and taken to cabinet paving the way for 3 strategic play areas, Wiggington park, Castle grounds and Dosthill park. there were also recommendations for a few smaller play areas in other areas to serve local communities but not the number we saw when the estates were built.

Photo borrowed/stolen from http://www.tamworthcastle.co.uk/castle-grounds 

So Tamworth received a £250,000 new play area in the castle ground and as councillors we were lambasted by a minority, mostly about design. albeit at the time one of the best play areas in the area. Wigginton Park and Dosthill park had smaller investments but also had climbing rocks etc for slightly older youths. It was all about diversionary activity. If we can get teens to sit on the climbing rocks and do what teens do then they aren't doing it on the swings. I personally think we should have more swings all over the place, they are like benches but more fun for all ages. whilst on the subject lets not forget about the partnership work moving and improving the skate park

The key for me is informal diversionary activities, This is what I wrote about late last year (follow this link) http://jeremysnewsthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/ninefoot-park-place-to-play-idea.html
I know realise that entry could do with more info. We have an opportunity here to get this play funding spent in a really good way to divert some of the irritations that young people bring. There is nothing worse than a kid kicking a ball against a garage door, they are only doing it because there is no one else out playing and on your own the ball just doesn't come back and its boring.

So that's my ideas for a play area to serve Belgrave and Wilnecote (and my street as it happens).

But as an aside, does anyone remember the radio controlled car track we had on Robeys lane, I wonder what the market demand would be like for something like that in a couple of places in Tamworth, its only takes a bit of concrete and landscaping.(blog on potholes to follow don't worry) This could be like the BMX track, used formally and informally.

Squirrels on pills

 This week The Times newspaper reported an alternative way of controlling grey squirrel populations in a hope to protect the native red squirrel and also native trees for future generations, Read it here.

Its estimated there are 3 million grey squirrels in the UK compared to around 200,000 reds, oh and there might be around 25,000 black squirrels. since greys arrived reds have been squeezed out of the uk by these immigrants (I suspect as they came from the usa Brexit ain't going to bother them). i didn't realise that aside from the impact on the red squirrel greys also strip bark from native trees leaving them exposed to disease. Oh and Greys also carry Squirrel Pox !

Photo borrowed from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7573535.stm

So why have I decided to write about this ?

I suppose it links to my "End of Conkers" entry in October, The British countryside is changing !!!

The first thing that springs to mind is "oh Red Squirrels are cute with their hairy ears". Then I thought, I wonder when i last saw a squirrel, well it was the other day on the way to the school run and yes it was grey squirrel, I don't think I have ever seen a black squirrel. And this made me ask the question  is it better to see a red squirrel or no squirrel at all ?

Living in Tamworth Squirrels are not uncommon and its always fun to spot them when out with my children. 

So the suggestion supported by Prince Charles is not to cull but to put contraceptives in Nutella in specialised traps that will only feed grey squirrels and stop them breeding, this will reduce the population from 3 million to 300 thousand in 5 years. What the article doesn't tell us is how fast the red squirrel population will grow with the absents of greys. I'm no expert in this field either but surely greys have now to a large extent become a part of the british eco system and so I would suggest that any action must be carefully measured. The last think we need is a Myxomatosis crisis but in squirrels. 

I don't know what the answer is to be honest but what i do know is human intervention brought them here and I always worry about human intervention to try to reduce any human created issue, I have way to many questions to get to a conclusion including Is there actually a problem to be solved here or a change to our country. I'm sure we have done more damage to the country side through industry than we care to measure.

I've sort of ran out of steam with this as I'm not sure of my conclusion. 

There is something that doesn't feel right about this but I'm not sure what, for now I am going to enjoy looking out for squirrels (like the one below outside St. Edithas church Tamworth) and leave the debate for those who have actual knowledge and not based solely on emotion. 

Housing crisis !

There are 25 million homes in the UK housing a population of 65,255,164 (at time of writing) with an average age of 40. As the population continues to grow the government aims to build 1 million more homes before 2020, which equates to a growth of 4%

So first thing, do we need more homes ? according to the ONS the answer is yes and the main reason for population growth is the birth rate being higher than the death rate.

Births and deaths by year

Lets not ignore the current situation with housing prices in both the rented and owner occupier markets. To me these high prices are simply a case of supply and demand, there's high demand and short supply so competition drives prices up.

I think there are 2 different parts to this discussion, one is about who, where and how, the other is about the type, style and build of housing.

Not a year goes by in Tamworth without the question being asked, does Tamworth need more homes? and the supplementary question where else can more houses go we have built nearly everywhere now and brownfield is running out.

 The government has pushed house building for local authorities and has incentivised local councils to be pro house building. This has been a 2 pronged attack and may well have been necessary for many places but I have repeatedly said I feel Tamworth has provided above its share of new housing over the last 50 years. So what is the incentive to continue to approve housing? New Homes Bonus. This bonus is as ever not entirely simple but the council will get 6 years worth (reducing to 4 years)  of council tax for each new property completed from the government as well as the council tax collected via the normal means. OK its a bit more involved than this but I'm keeping it simple. And at the same time the austerity measures we see mean that all councils no matter of geography or population will have to be self sustaining and no longer rely on an annual government grant. I personally think this is a good scheme particularly in prompting local authorities to start allowing new build, Its a fact that for the last 40 years not enough housing has been allowed and now we are in this situation of too few houses. Tamworth however has never stopped building houses and has made its contribution.

 So the pressure is on to squeeze more housing in.

 Late last year we saw on Sky news, and read in news papers that the government sees 100,000 pre- fabricated houses could provide some of the answers as they are cheap and can be put up in a day. I think there might be something in this as long as these prefabs are done correctly and are either given a appropriate life span to be replaced or are built in a way that does not store up the same problem for a near future time.

   Pre-fabricated housing is nothing new and looking at today's media you could very easily think that the only time we have used them is during the post war 1940's and 1950's. but this is not the case, it was not many years ago that John Prescott visited Castle Bromwich to watch prefabricated timber frames for housing being put together. the company in question was Space 4 and the visit was featured on  BBC west midlands . for those that aren't aware at the time Space4 were supplying timber houses to Westbury homes who built a brick wall layer around the timber house, this reduced the price and increased the speed of building and happened a lot in the early 2000's though I'm not sure if it still does.

  I have often taken my family away on holiday and whilst its only been for short periods I have always noticed or even admired the efficient use of space that static caravans have. there are many people in the UK who live in static caravans and in mobile homes. if the efficiency of this type of housing could be used when building in the future we may be able to provide cheaper quality housing with more space around them in the same tight land availability. My grandmother lived in sunset close in her later years and whilst it was a great bungalow the space was certainly not efficiently used, with thick walls, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge all connected through a hallway/corridor without any interconnecting rooms. This to me screams out to be learnt from when building smaller dwellings. I've stayed in caravans less that 12ft x 40ft with 2 en suites a kitchen diner, lounge and 3 bedrooms

   So maybe small units with high spacial efficiency of a high quality prefab type may well be part of the answer.........but please lets not build stacks of rabbit hutches.

 I have argued that if each village in the midlands were to expand in a sympathetic way, maybe 100 homes on each, they could maintain the village renaissance and address some of the housing crisis. The side benefit would be supporting local shops post offices and pubs assuming the village had not already lost theirs. This is a sensitive point and would need to be done right to maintain character.
Instead the councils of Lichfield and North Warwickshire are that afraid of development in their back gardens they are fully intent of building on our borders!!! Robeys lane to the M42 and the north of Tamworth along Lichfield's borders will become extensions of Tamworth with green space between them and the town or city they pay their council tax to. Tamworth residents are being ignored by our neighbours and so we get development times 3. .

God forbid that this point is linked to the below on as I do not what a Judge Dredd style megalopolis of the mega cities

   One solution has already been tried and tested with various levels of success and that is building upwards, the success of this type of housing very much depends on where you are in the world and the assumed usages these have in many parts of the UK. In Tamworth do we have flats and maisonettes or do we offer Luxury condos with a river view. Lets face it we have flats and apartments which are often used to support the affordable housing need of a development to gain the planning permission and stay compliant.

Tamworth has it's fair share of apartment type accommodation but the demand for 2 bed properties is huge and whilst I believe an individual must be able to sit outside in the fresh air not everyone wants to have a garden.

 I remember one of the early Tamworth Listens where a member of the public suggested we build along the river with luxury apartments and the ground floor ones having moorings etc. Another suggestion I heard many years prior to councils being given the right to charge market rents for housing (should they wish) and this was to one by one empty the H block in Stonydelph as people left so not re let, Then once empty redevelop these as luxury apartments with panoramic views of Tamworth, generating an income for the housing department and raising the building out of some of the problems it had at the time.


I'm not sure what the ultimate answer is but I do know we need to look at all the options available and be creative with our solutions.

So becoming a bit nimby myself, Tamworth has done its bit and its now in the situation of going over and above whilst others haven't pulled their weight.


NOW THE BIG QUESTION..
house building is one thing but infrastructure MUST be in place to serve new development.. This is a topic for a whole new entry but expansion does not offer the same opportunities as new towns.

....MORE ON INFRASTRUCTURE TO FOLLOW

Please follow this link to see some of my thoughts on Tamworth Town Centre

Planning, Tamworth's town centre, retail and leisure

     I tend not to comment on planning meeting or decisions after my points have been made in the meeting, but I feel it might be time to start doing so; well at least I'm going have my say on a few recent things not just planning committee meetings but also some of the wider issues that affect Tamworth.
    It is often tempting for the public and committee members to say things like "I'd prefer to see a shop here instead of this application for a cafe" or "I think this land is better suited to shops than housing" but the committee can only consider the application in front of them for approval or not, the committee cannot refuse an application just on speculative desire, if it fits policy it's difficult to argue against.

In January we had planning meeting with 4 applications for discussion and decision. 1 was a change to existing, 1 was a new application following refusal of a previous scheme, 1 was a change to a scheme and 1 was final details about a foot bridge.

 One was for a new footbridge over the Birmingham Derby railway line giving pedestrian access to the Anker Valley development keeping pedestrians off the carriageway.  The main controversy on this one has already been aired and discussed with the Anker Valley development and at previous committees so was simply around final details on the bridge itself. Previously the committee had been asked its collective opinion on the style of the footbridge and what would be acceptable or not such as a high arch bridge or low profile, enclosed roof etc.

But the application that garnered the most discussion was that of the new multi-use development adjacent to the co-op garage opposite the former site of the Jolly Sailor public house. This was the 4th time the committee had been presented with information of the development. They received an issues paper, which is an opportunity to raise issues which the committee feels are important prior to application, then a planning app which in this case ignored the comments made by the committee at issue paper stage. This first application was refused as it did not meet either policy or the views given by the committee. The cycle was repeated and this time the new design and plans were approved. For the committee this was an important applications as not only does it sit next to the old Co-op garage site which will be coming forward for development at some point it is also located on the route of one of the Gateways to the town centre which the borough and county council have been investing in through the gateways project over the last 6 years. Evidence of this can be seen in the works done to Ladybridge surfacing, changes to the pedestrian crossing on Riverdrive and also the works around Tamworth Train station roundabout.  The ultimate goal is to marry up the 2 different offers of Ventura Park and the town centre and walking onto the Train station.

Tamworth Borough Council and many other groups and individuals have been grappling with the challenge of keeping the town centre vibrant in an ever changing world of retail and leisure.
There are a few things than need to be stated before we go too far.
 
Tamworth Borough Council-

• does not set business rates
• does not own Ankerside or most of the town centre properties
• does not and did not own the land formally the precinct
• does not operate bus services
• does not maintain or build highways (but Staffordshire County Council does)
• does not have any control of what planning applications are received but all must be considered
• Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly

The issues start with what does Tamworth have to offer. Tamworth has Ventura Park as we know it locally but it's actually a collections of sites, This area is one of the biggest retail attractions of the Midlands, it's not on the scale of Trafford Cnetre or the Bullring or the big city high street experience but in fact there is a lot more there than we realise and take for granted. I know people who travel to Ventura park as an activity in shopping and tell me they have been to Tamworth. And actually the traffic issues are nowhere near a bad as we say or think they are I travel through there at various times of the day without problems, in fact I often choose that route to get to the town centre between 4:45pm and 6pm.

So what's the blocker for the town centre? Why aren't these shops there?
Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly, the retail units on offer in traditional town centres are simply not as suitable as they were in the past. There are different demands on vehicle access, different demands on safe pedestrian areas and the size of retail units in demand has changed significantly.

As mentioned earlier the planning committee at Tamworth often receives planning issues papers where a developer will allow early discussion of a proposal and get a feel for the bigger issues the committee will have on a development, this week we have had sight of an application for changes to car parking at Ventura and a the redevelopment of the Gungate Precinct. Yes it's another outline permission maintaining the outline permission given in the past.

 So what should be done ?

In the past I have had some of  my ideas reported in the Tamworth Herald including a tramway from the station along Victoria road to the town centre and a series of venues 'New Orleans' style along this route. yes maybe this was just blue sky thinking but it was still an idea.

As I have mentioned before retail is changing in a way no one predicted, or at least didn't predict well and in the longer term I do worry about all retail shops with the progression of internet shopping so what should be built in Tamworth?

I was walking through Ankerside this week looking at the shops that were open and noted a number of jewellery shops, hair and beauty outlets, and opticians. This got me thinking could Anker side move away from traditional retail and become a place to be pampered? hair salons, perfume and make up outlets, Jewellery outlets, nail bars, tanning salons etc etc, this would probably need so proactive chasing on behalf of Ankerside management but it's just food for thought.
And whilst I'm just imagining the opportunities here's another, should the Henry Boot development on the precinct be mixed retail and leisure or should it be heavily weighted on leisure and becoming a match for Star City in Birmingham, More leisure, restaurants, cafes, venues and a few retail outlets that fit the theme of the development, maybe even some nice flats and apartments similar to the top of Ankerside. Again this would take a shift in the approach of the owner.

I'm hoping the above stimulates some thought and debate outside the "another nail in the coffin" or " we need a Primark" or " too many card and phone shops". You never know the glass might be half full if we make it half full if we use the town centre for retail it may stay as a retail centre, its a bit like  local pub if they are empty the pub will close.

Consumer sovereignty will prevail

Plastic in the ocean PT2

When I wrote my previous entry on the sky campaign to reduce plastic going into the worlds seas and oceans I didn't expect to be returning so quickly but a story today on the link below made me think and pick it back up again.
http://news.sky.com/story/sick-whale-found-to-have-30-plastic-bags-blocking-its-stomach-10754077

Whale dies with 30 plastic bags in it's stomach By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent, Sky News

 In brief the whale had repeatedly beached prior to death and at post-mortem it was found that the whale had swallowed 30 plus plastic bags. Again this got me thinking about our plastic usage. Now the sky story does hold some provocative details such as English writing on some of the bags and the fact that a whale has died as a direct result, tragically I do not believe for a second that this is the first instance and I agree with the journalist for including this detail.
   It was no very long ago, less than 2 years, that the UK was up in arms at the suggestion that we should pay 5 pence for a plastic bag. the uproar was amazing when you consider the other issues of the day. I am really pleased to see that this charge has actually lead to a reducing in plastic bag litter on our beaches. So the charge seems to have had the desired effect in reducing the increase.
   It's not often that i hold McDonald's up as a good example (and we probably should for their community sponsorships, Ronald McDonald house etc etc) but I remember one of my first visits to a McDonald in the 1980's in Tamworth town centre with one of my neighbours and his mother Pauline. Whilst passing the wrapped burgers around the table Pauline exclaimed "look at all this paper, the Americans must have a lot of litter". Now 30+ years later i am remembering that statement and thinking "yes but paper doesn't last in the ocean as long as plastic, even waxed paper breaks down"
    Maybe just maybe many of our answers have been staring at us for years? my last blog on this referred to battery/electric milk floats and washable glass bottles, now i am talking paper bags for takeaway and hey why not supermarkets like the Americans. Sustainable forestry and recycling techniques are improving all the time so maybe we should have more food or shopping packaged in paper. I'm happy to buy fruit on a market in a paper bag why cant i select loose fruit and veg in a supermarket and weight it into a paper bag or just like the accusations from the self check out tills we are more obsessed that everyone is a shoplifter and trying to scam the machine or hide something in an opaque paper bag that we must use clear plastic.

     Right hold on I've just had another rant come into my head.

Who's idea was it to start putting eggs  in thin plastic trays/boxes/cartons that lock together so well its an art to open them without  firing a ballistic egg in some direction. Not only are these difficult to open especially using one had during baking etc but they also do not protect the egg from anything stronger than a light breeze and as mentioned throughout this subject they do not break down in the environment. although my eggs do in these awful packets. Just use traditional card egg boxes and stop ruining my eggs through neglectful packaging. 

The bottom line is we need to do something about the plastic we use and simply recycling is not going to be enough we need a fundamental shift away from plastics. I haven't gone into any of the arguments about use of petrochemicals and the origins of plastics that's a whole section on its own and supports many countries in its trade.



So my suggestions so far
Electric milk floats
Bring back glass milk bottles
Start using paper food packaging where possible.

http://jeremysnewsthoughts.blogspot.com/2017/01/plastics-in-ocean-skys-ocean-rescue.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34346309

Update !!!! 6th February 2017

Ooh just been thinking about this issue.

Why the **** does my toilet roll, kitchen roll and other paper products come packaged in plastic!!
Come on that's just taking the biscuit!!!!