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.

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.

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

Anti-bullying hero

http://news.sky.com/video/man-runs-401-marathons-in-401-days-10606598

This is a great story, chap gets bullied and turns his life around to do so much as both a personal achievement and a great fundraiser.

Earlier this week I attended a meeting looking at Multi Agency Centres in schools I'm Tamworth. These were set up to focus service delivery of a number of agencies serving young people. I'm not going to go into the full details but the biggest thing that young people said they got from these centres in Tamworth schools was having someone to talk to.

The sky story about Ben Smith shows what can be achieved and shows that even when someone is feeling low they can turn things round. This guy should be held up as an inspiration to many, especially with some of the tragic stories we hear of where young people have even taken their own lives.

Today the pressures on kids seem so much bigger than the things I had to deal with at school. When I was at school home was a safe haven but now with technology and social media etc there are few let and fewer places to be safe. Thinking about it I was lucky, some kids don't have that feeling of security. I have to say I am really pleased the centres I mentioned above are being used for what some would say is a warm and fluffy chat with no measurable outcomes. Sometime the none measurables are the most meaningful.

I really hope my children can speak to me or their mom and if not I really hope they can visit their health and wellbeing centre at school if they ever need to speak to someone.

So to conclude, a cracking service in place in Tamworth with the Mac's.

401 marathons in 401 WOW
  true hero well done, I hope the bullied gain from your work