So who is in fantasy land Adonis or Byers? What is clear is that Labour has completely lost its moral compass and is heading down the tube. Gordon Brown’s much vaunted ‘end of boom and bust’ is lying in dust – but then it was always a fraudulant claim from a chancellor who did so much damage to the pension system. And now with  Labour MPs trying to avoid court and more Labour MPs indulging in fantasy one can only wonder about the ability of any of them to govern.

And whilst on expenses how can they possibly justify the huge salary being paid to the top man just to manage an expenses system. No wonder the public are fed up with the Government.

The MoD had recently announced plans that could see all their staff leave Bath for Abbey Wood.  Bath’s Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster secured a meeting with the member of the government, and spoke of the need to keep jobs in Bath. Following their meeting last week, Undersecretary of State for Defence, Kevan Jones MP, has written to Bath’s MP Don Foster saying that further local opinions will be sought in making a decision on the future of the MoD in Bath.

A working group will now be set up, involving local agencies including Bath & North East Somerset Council, which will work to resolve the issues over the three sites in Baths.  The MP has also requested a timetable on the future of Foxhill and Warminster Road.

What is clear is that the Government should be looking how it uses redundant MOD sites which afterall are public property to further Community goals and ambitions. Instead I imagine its first priority will be to secure maximum capital to get itself out of the deep hole it has dug uitself.  What Bath needs is land where it can build communities that cater for all income streams and a mix of jobs. We do not need land turned into identikit housing estates that look like toytowns.

As chair of Governors at The Link Specialist Behaviour School I am in and out of the school on a regular basis. Today apart from discussing several issues with the Head I also introduced a two day training course put on by the staff to a number of teachers across the authority to award the Team Teach accreditation award. Team Teach is about managing behaviour and defusing situations that arise with young students with bahavioural issues.

Several years ago now a group of volunteers won a lottery project to build a new cycle route from the city to the country travelling along an old rail track and passing through two tunnels. The previous Council signed up to putting funding in. We had the public art project Bladud’s Pigs raising money. But in between the Conservatives won control of the Council in 2007 and it has taken us three years of hard work with them to get the project under way. Instead of starting today we should be nearing completion.

But then not a single Conservative councillor turned up for this important event – not surprising really.

More pictures at THIS LINK

The Conservative administration has now delegated so much that it ensures all controversy is kept away from Cabinet meetings.

5 major papers and no members of the public and one statement from the business community.

On revenue I have again challenghed the Conservative administration to account properly car parking revenues and estimates and to stop simply raising the fees when targets are not met

On the LAA I called on the Leader to challenge the Labour Government on its failure – over two years into the process – to be able to set goals and targets for its own NIs. 

On the economic strategy I made several points which can be read in detail at http://docs.google.com/View?id=dq825ch_0fccj9rck  . The main issue though being how local government deals with the treacle that is the MOD hierarchy. They are considering closing three sites in Bath but getting them to work in partnership with local government seems to be a nightmare. I called on the Conservative leader to take an all party leadership delegation to London to speak to the Government Minister in charge of MOD sites. Cllr Chris Watt made an interesting point about a presumption in favour of industrial development in planning. Pity his colleague on the chair of planning could not have heard that as his last decison to refuse to hear the LIDL application in public effectively lost us a good scheme on the Lower Bristol Road.

West of England Partnership continues to grow like topsey. I called on the cabinet to resist further sections of WEP to be developed and that each of the 4 UAs should be allowed to lead on areas of expertise for all 4. I suggest that our project team had a great track record of success over the last 5 years and should lead the infrastructure development for WEP rather than allow another section of WEP to be created.

BEACh – Bath East Asian and Chinese friends group held their community New Year party today. It was great to be invited to join the celebrations again. Guests this year included the Mayor of Bath and Don Foster MP.

The annual celebration gets bigger each year and the range of entertainments gets better each year. There is a real cross culture of East meets West happening in Bath. I practised my Mandarin with several people with varying degrees of success.

It was a real family get together and with no alcohol it was much better for all generations to have a good time together.

Pictures at THIS LINK

As a ward Councillor for Southdown and as the Leader of the the Liberal Democrat group I have a large range of duties and tasks to perform over the Council area only a few of which I claim expenses for. This month I visited Bristol Port, Radstock 3 times, Keynsham twice, Whitchurch once and Peasdown twice – outside the Bath and Bathavon area

Below is a summary of costs for the month followed by what I claimed for:

Miles by car or cycle (walking not included)  231 (210 car 21 cycle)

First Bus day bus passes   1  plus 2 returns on Faresaver

Train to Bristol for a West of England Partnership meeting

Coffee/tea/sundries  £69.53

My expenses claim for January

12 miles of travel £5.26 : 1 First day bus pass £4 : 1 return train to Bristol £5.90 : No sundries claimed for.

Total = £15.16

Congratulations to Stefan Di-Finizio for winning this years Youth MP election in B&NES

Results of Youth Parliament Elections announced

Bath and North East Somerset has a new Member of the Youth Parliament (MYP), following the results of the nation UK Youth Parliament Elections.

Nearly all Bath and North East Somerset schools and youth projects participated in the elections, with 6,552 11-18 year olds casting their vote. Stefan Di-finizio, from Wellsway School, was elected as the MYP (Member of the Youth Parliament) for Bath and North East Somerset with 1,253 votes. Runner up with 1,122 votes, was William Holmes from Norton Hill School, who now becomes the Deputy Member of the Youth Parliament for B&NES for the next year.

The elections were organised by the young people of DAFBY (Democratic  Action For B&NES Youth) with a coordinating volunteer, Mike Evans, and the support of Bath and North East Somerset Council Youth Service. Ten young people stood as candidates from eight different schools.

Visit the B- Active Youth Zone website http://www.b-active.info/info/Youth_Parliament2.php

Bath was lucky to win a grant over two years ago to develop the Two Tunnels cycleway project. The bid was won by a community coalition including the Two Tunnels group and sustrans. The year of the Pigs public art project raised a lot of money for it. It was only the slowness of the Conservative administration of the Council that has put a break on the project.

Now finally the Council has finally signed up to its side of the deal. Lets hope we can get some speedy progress now.

Funding released for Two Tunnels Project

A £1.8 million project to create new cycle routes in the district is being financially supported by Bath & North East Somerset Council following a decision made this week. The Two Tunnels Project is being overseen by sustainable transport charity Sustrans as part of their Connect2 project that once complete will see hundreds of miles of walking and cycling routes spring up around the UK – providing extra bridges, extra links – improving travel and reducing our carbon footprint. Patrick Tully, Senior Engineer Bath Two Tunnels from Sustrans, said, “We are very pleased with the progress that is being made to make the decision for the Bath Two Tunnels scheme to go ahead.  We look forward to signing the finalised paperwork very soon and getting on site so we can start making this route a reality and the local communities can start to benefit from it.”

Councillor Charles Gerrish (Conservative, Keynsham North), Cabinet Member for Customer Services, said, “The Two Tunnels Project is an initiative that will make walking and cycling more attractive and enjoyable. Bath & North East Somerset Council is delighted to invest money in this project that will improve transport and the public realm. It will help promote sustainable transport use and support people to get active through improving health and fitness. I’m very aware of the high levels of community support for this scheme.”

The multi-user path will join Bath and Midford by a virtually flat system of tunnels and impressive overland paths following the existing disused railway. The route makes a wide sweep through Oldfield Park, surfaces in Lyncombe Vale and finally emerges in beautiful open country at Tucking Mill, before joining the long distance Sustrans NCN24 route at Midford.

The Council will contribute £269,000 in 2010/11 and £100,000 in 2011/12.  £31,000 has been spent this year on principal inspections of Combe Down Tunnel, Devonshire Tunnel and Tucking Mill Viaduct, making a total contribution of £400,000.

Councillor Roger Symonds (Lib Dem, Combe Down), the Council’s Cycling Champion said, “Two Tunnels is a fantastic project and will put Bath on the map as far as cycling goes. The Council must now get on with the planned cycling improvements throughout the city to make it safer for the thousands of cyclists who will be attracted to Bath to use the Two Tunnels.”

This season watching Bath Rugby has not been easy. Teatering around at the bottom of the table, going nowhere in the European cup and then suddenly exploding to life in the LV cup against Sale. Great rugby from the team. Fantastic tries and a well deserved win.