Tuesday 7th June 2011
Councillor E Harsant and I attend the Peter Jones Academy launch at the top of the James Hehir Building. It will offer the town a fantastic hub for entrepreneurs to learn their trade and, with luck, bring real investment to Ipswich. This really was exciting – especially the direct links that have been created with Suffolk One!
Hang on!? Where are all the Labour Councillors?
Monday 13th June 2011
Another Conservative Group Meeting. John brings us up-to-date with recent events and we look ahead to the next Executive meeting scheduled for Tuesday 21st. I will miss this meeting as I’ll be wearing my other hat; as a teacher at a parent’s evening… Sorry John!
Tuesday 14th June 2011
Back to the good old Orwell Room for another induction session; this time on how to be an effective ward councillor and community leader. Thankfully, I can fall back on the experience of mentors like Liz, Russell and John, because I find some of these sessions a little dry and tend to learn by doing.
Thursday 16th June 2011
The first Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting; again in the Orwell Room. The group looks at areas to be scrutinised and have an overview of for the coming year. Interestingly one area to poke our collective noses into is Ipswich Academy. I hope they make solid progress, but know that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Monday 20th June 2011
Ward business! I play middle-man between the Safer Neighbourhood Team and a restless lynch mob being formed over some anti-social behaviour on the Australia Estate. I will continue to follow this issue to ensure that it is dealt with to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Wednesday 22nd June 2011
A double-header! First, I head off to an Induction on “Ipswich’s Vision” in, you guessed it, the Orwell Room. I enjoy the session as it gives me a good overview of where the town is going and some idea of how we hope to get there. Mind you there is now a Labour lead council, so…
Later on I joined Cllrs Carnall and Harsant for a North East Area Forum at St. John the Baptist Church on Caudwell Hall Road. This meeting was well attended. There is some concern from residents about street lights being turned off in the town in the early hours in order to save money. Although we (IBC) are responsible for only a small proportion of the street lights in Bixley, as councillors we need to allay fears of residents.
Thursday 23rd June 2011
A second governor’s meeting at Broke Hall Primary School. They seem to have a policy for everything. We spent some time approving them. In addition plans are made for the school’s Open Day and end of term get together. Might be a good chance to have a proper nose around the school and meet some more of the staff!
Monday 27th June 2011
My very first Full Council Meeting at Endeavour House AND I get to ask questions! Group Leader John Carnall, in his wisdom, asked me to be the Shadow Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development. That means that sitting just across from me in council is Cllr Carol Jones (Labour). Essentially my job is to hold her to account. I asked my two questions bravely (if I do say so myself) and had the presence of mind to conjure up supplementary questions to go with each. The Tory faithful seemed pleased, so onward and upward.
Thursday 30th June 2011
Yet another induction session; this time on Budgeting and Finance. I couldn’t help thinking that the entire Labour Group should have attended! Know what I mean…
Oh, it took place in the Orwell Room.
Saturday 2nd July 2011
Visited a fete held by the Friends of Westbourne Library along with Cllr Goldsmith. I think we would all like to see the county council pull out all stops to save this important local resource.
Monday 4th July 2011
I looked in on Broke Hall Primary School Open Day and got what I wanted; a grand tour of the school with the Vice Chair of Governors. I got an overview of the structure from Reception through to Year 6. I promised to return to observe when some teaching was taking place. This was particularly interesting for me as all my experience is in high schools.
Later on I had another Group Meeting. This was looking forward to the Executive meeting on the 12th and the Full Council on the 20th. I was to ask another question! I’m new so that is still exciting.
Tuesday 5th July 2011
Visited the TA Base on Yarmouth Rd for an “Army for Today” presentation. This was interesting, informative and very well attended. It was a real pleasure to hear a positive slant given to the important work our armed forces do. The media don’t always do the armed forces justice in my opinion. I came away feeling immense pride in the way our forces fight to protect us and our way of life.
Monday 11th July 2011
I paid a visit to the Mayor’s, and indeed the Mayoress’s, Parlours tonight. I knew things would get more interesting eventually if I stuck at this “induction lark”. I found this session very interesting, particularly with respect to the history of the town. It is hard to sum up 800 years of Ipswich history in an hour or so, but our hosts gave it a good try. I made a mental note to encourage a visit from pupils at Broke Hall.
By-the-way, having asked if the town hall contained any Thomas Wolsey memorabilia, I was told that we were fighting Colchester for two paintings. I thought that as we had the eye-catching Wolsey statue, we should also have the paintings. Watch this space…
Tuesday 12th July 2011
Cllr Stewart and myself sat in the council chamber in Endeavour House to witness a short Executive Council Meeting. There wasn’t a great deal of business done and the meeting lasted little over ½ hour.
Wednesday 13th July 2011
Tonight’s menu is Human Resources Induction followed by Human Resources Committee in the Elizabeth Room in Endeavour House. The main focus of this meeting was something called ‘Single Status Harmonisation’ (basically it’s about equality) The unions are holding up its implementation and it has been rolling on as an issue for years.
Thursday 14th July 2011
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting tonight was dominated by a discussion about plans for the waterfront. Cllr Jones and Mike Tee presented an overview of how it is developing. In my opinion this committee feels a little rudderless at present, but hey what would I know…
Monday 18th July 2011
The end of year Broke Hall Primary School get together put on by the governors was very pleasant. The school said goodbye to four retiring lunchtime assistants, but such is the stability of the school, no teachers. I ate cake, drank tea and got to know a few more members of staff.
Wednesday 19th July 2011
I went to the launch of “The Big Local Trust”. This is a bank of money that residents from Whitton, Whitehouse and Castle Hill can use to develop projects of their choice to improve their communities. This is a project that seems to me to link in nicely with Big Society thinking. It means £1 million over 10 years. I am interested to see how it develops.
The launch was followed by another Full Council Meeting. This time with little on the agenda, except gaining cross party approval for forming stronger links with Nettuno in Italy, and no water provided. We went the distance (about 1 hour) without anyone collapsing with heat exhaustion. Phew, that was lucky!
Monday 25th July 2011
Our fortnightly Conservative Group Meeting began with a presentation by IBC’s Lois Seddon and Renu Mandal on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This strategy will support GPs and be a sound basis from which to go forward. However, one couldn’t be blamed for thinking that individuals taking greater responsibility for their lifestyles would also be an advantage. Would you like fries with that?
Tuesday 26th July 2011
On countless occasions I’ve driven past the Ipswich Transport Museum; it always appeared as a well appointed shed not open to the public. How wrong I was! Beautifully presented exhibits result from the genuine love highly skilled volunteers (perhaps for the want of a potting shed) show, who work tirelessly on the exacting task of bringing Ipswich history back to life. I can not recommend more highly a visit to this wonderful collection.
Thursday 28th July 2011
One of my many roles as Ipswich Borough Councillor is as an ‘observer’ on the management board of Ipswich Central Management Ltd. Essentially this is a group of local businessmen who in conjunction with the IBC are committed to creating a better town centre. Happily, though technically only an ‘observer’, I was not placed in a corner of the room and ostracised by my peers, but was able to contribute to the meeting.