Monday - prioritising at its most intense

In my diary for Monday night I had four appointments.

All four at 6pm

All in the ward

All important

What is a dedicated councillor to do?

Panic, is the first response, followed by a bit of delegation and some urgent attempts to persuade some of the groups to move their meetings!

There was a GEARS meeting. If there was ever a competition to find the best residents association in the country I would be confidently putting them up for an award. They do lots of social events, lots of fundraising, always meet all the agencies that serve their areas, and possibly uniquely also run a junior arm, EAGERS made up of local youngsters who have a passion for their area too.

Thankfully, after a brief scurry at the beginning of the Neighbourhood Committee meeting, Wendy agreed to go there and cover that meeting for the Labour Party.

Then there was the Holt Road neighbourhood Assembly which is one fifth of the Kensington New Deal for Communities area. They were meeting downstairs in the Lifebank. I did contact the organisation to tell them that I wanted to be there but that they had clashed with a meeting I was obliged to attend. They didnt respond, which is not the best news, maybe the email is lost in the ether, many of mine have been lost since last Friday when the server went down at work. They were going to talk about issues very pertinent to their streets as part of the new deal area, there was a lot to talk about but I had to miss it. I do go to the housing focus issues group on Holt Road though, so hopefully I wont be too much out of the loop.

Then we were meant to have a meeting of the Park Forum looking at the Heritage Fund Lottery bid for Newsham Park. This was cancelled in the end, thankfully. I was starting to stretch like a plasticine lady.

In the end I went to the Neighbourhood Committee, which is more or less obligatory. We had an early meeting at 5pm to talk about plans for neighbourhood agreements. This is going to be very important but I cannot do it justice in here in the middle of another entry, more later on that.

Then at 6pm we were straight into business as usual, and as usual there were 6 members of the public (actually two more than usual if I am honest) and three times as many officers and councillors.

There were lots of controversial planning applications to comment on. I did my best for the people of Berwick Street worried about the bin cupboards that will back on to their back gardens. Cllr M and I shared concerns on the plans for building on the "M" street square and a few others. I dont know how much notice planners take, but we have to say our piece.

Mainly though I steeled myself to express my deep concern and disappointment at the ongoing failures to address problems in K&F in those sizeable places that are not in the new deal area.
I do keep going on about it but that doesnt mean I am not right to do so.

The place is knee deep in litter and fly-tipping, graffiti, vandalism, anti-social behaviour, crime, prostitution, speeding stolen cars and general neglect.

And the council treats it like a waste ground or a twilight zone

The miracle was that everyone agreed with me and supported me.

Could this finally be the beginning of some attention in the area?

I truly hope so, watch this space.