Nick Hollinghurst

And so will we! Lib Dem Norman Baker, Under Secretary for Transport in the Coalition Government is to introduce an electronic transport card which will be national and eventually able to be used on local trains, boats, buses, trams, underground etc - a kind of super bus pass. Follow  http://bit.ly/aN4UCF

Success for Rosemarie at the Wigginton Gardeners Association Annual Show on Saturday. Picture shows the indefatigable Roger Whyborn presiding over the awarding of the sundry cups and trophies. (No, Rosemarie wasn’t that good!). But she did get 1st for ‘3 Carrots’, 1st for ‘3 Dahlias’, 2nd for ‘5 White Potatoes’ & 3rd for ‘1 Cucumber’. And on Sunday, a little bit more success - this time at the Aldbury Garden Club Annual Show where the standard is significantly higher. Only a 3rd for ‘3 Carrots’ and a 2nd for ‘Cottage Garden Flowers in Mug’ this time.

Rosemarie Hollinghurst, the new Dacorum Borough Councillor for Aldbury and Wigginton today attended at the Civic Centre to sign up for her duties, the Declaration of Interests and to the Code of Conduct. Now the work begins - starting with training courses to enable her to sit on the Planning and for Licensing Committees.

Dacorum Borough Council has a duty to promote well-being within its boundaries. But it seems to have forgotten this. The local economy would be boosted - and a large amount of personal distress would be alleviated - if it was made easier for people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled. But no, despite my asking last year, in January, in March, for more resources for the Revenue and Benefit Section they are still not forthcoming. There is still a 4 to 6 week backlog in processing claims. Families could get evicted for the lack of rent within that sort of time-scale. The council officers do their best to prevent that - but they have to work within a rotten and inadequate system.

What makes it worse, however, is not just the 4 - 6 week backlog to the processing of a claim, but the policy of putting a claim to the back of the queue again for any change in circumstances or for any mistake in filling out a form, however obvious or trivial. Claimants are under stress, most are not familiar with the forms - it’s not surprising they might occasionally tick the wrong box.  The claimant climbs the ladder for 4- 6 weeks till the officer gets round to processing the claim then - oops! - a mistake is found. So it’s slithering down the snake back to square one again for that to be corrected and another 4 - 6 weeks wait. Not only is this an inefficient way of working - to an anxious claimant it is sheer cruelty.

Claims once started should be processed by officers to completion, correcting any errors and assessing changes to circumstances along the way. The Benefits Section should be properly resourced to reduce the excessive wait. The duty of well-being should be taken seriously.

After the stress and strain of a hard fought campaign (we’ve never known the Tories to work so hard!) we can at last get back to harvesting some vegetables - the best part of the whole process.

          Nick with Keith and Hilary on the Bat Walk August 27th, 2010.
Well, we did the walking - along the canal between Bulbourne and Marsworth and beside Tring Reservoirs - and the bats contented themselves with flying around (as they do). We learned a lot from Keith Parnell and Hilary Phillips of the North Bucks Bat Group (see Link List) about the nearly two dozen species of bat you can find in the UK. Did you know that bats are not at all blind? Apparently their eyesight is excellent and some of them are quite capable of hunting in daylight. With the aid of “bat detectors” - electronic gadgets that receive the bats’ inaudible (to us) high frequency squeaks, lower the frequency and re-emit them so we can hear - we were able to tell when a bat was close by. After a bit of practice with the detectors we were able to tell from the frequencies and the audible patterns of sound what type of bat was out and about. One member of the bat group came with a small, special low-intensity red searchlight which, when his bat detector gave the right signal, he swept low across the water surface so we could see the Daubenton’s bats which take insects off the water surface with their hind legs and flip them forward to catch them in their mouths. (Too fast for us to see, of course).

Admittedly not many bats were out and about that night (Friday) but the clear sky, the early stars and the gibbous moon hanging low in the sky, reflecting off the reservoirs, made for a beautiful and enjoyable evening. Why not contact the North Bucks Bat Group at Haydon Mill, Rabans Lane, Aylesbury HP19 8RU? The evening was arranged by the Friends of Tring Reservoirs (FoTR) - see the Link List.

With a swing from Conservatives to Liberal Democrats of 26%, local candidate Rosemarie Hollinghurst won decisively with nearly 600 votes and a majority of 288. With a larger than usual turnout of nearly 50%,  Conservative support collapsed as 65% of voters chose Liberal Democrat.

Commenting on her success, Rosemarie Hollinghurst later said,
“The people of Aldbury & Wigginton have amply demonstrated their confidence in the Liberal Democrat brand of community politics. We ran a positive and inclusive campaign highlighting borough-wide as well as purely village issues. We stated clearly and simply our strategy as the Opposition on Dacorum Borough Council and, unlike the Tories, made no undeliverable promises.

Liberal Democrats are back in government for the first time in 50 years and we are once again seen as an important political force. This result must be truly worrying for both the Conservative and Labour Parties. It is a ringing endorsement of the coalition at national level, combined with a recognition that in local politics we still need effective and competent opposition in our shire areas, for so long run badly by under-performing and complacent Tories.”

26th August. Aldbury and Wigginton Ward of Dacorum Borough Council. By-Election caused by disqualification of previous Conservative councillor due to non-attendance.
RESULT
Liberal Democrat (Rosemarie Hollinghurst) 593   64.7% (+28.0%)
Conservative                                            305   33.2% (-23.7%)
Labour                                                     18      2.0% (  -4.4%)
Total votes                                               916 
Turn out                                                          46.71%

Regular blogfollowers might remember my June 8th posting showing how one of Hertfordshire’s beautiful 30 mph signs was obscured by the branches of an over-exuberant sycamore tree. Despite Herts Highways being informed it was still not clear this afternoon. So, since we are now in a coalition at Westminster (though emphatically not at either Dacorum Civic Centre or County Hall), I decided to respond to wee Davey Cameron’s call to take part in his Big Society - and I cut the branches down myself.

The 30 mph sign is now revealed (and found to be in need of a wash) and I hope motorists will start to take heed.

I noted today a small announcement to the effect that the Hertfordshire County Councillor for South Oxhey, Deidre Gates, elected as a BNP member has resigned from that party. It seems she now wishes to be known by the somewhat contradictory description of ‘Independent Nationalist’. It would be nice to think that the councillor has changed her social and political views. However resigning from the BNP is a good first step.

Anyway it is good to be able to say that there are once again no BNP councillors on HCC