Rural Communities working group - so, let the fun begin…

It would be fair to say that even my best friends wouldn’t describe me as a policy wonk. Yes, I’ve been known to come up with a compromise or two at ALDE Party events where policy making can resemble speed dating for ideas, but actual serious policy making is not an area of the Party’s activities that has been graced by this liberal bureaucrat.

That is, until now.

A few weeks ago, having read a piece in Liberal Democrat Voice seeking applicants for places on a new Rural Communities policy working group, it dawned on me that someone from the town and parish council sector ought to be included. And, given that I’ve held roles at local, county and national levels (and still hold many of them), I concluded that I might toss my hat into the ring, so to speak.

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting very much. Like most people, I assume that policies are formulated by experts - academics and sector professionals - because, in truth, that’s a pretty good way to make policy. I don’t consider myself to be an expert. Frankly, Ros knows more about rural communities and how they work than I do and has the track record to prove it. I suspect that she’s forgotten more than I know.

And so, it was with some surprise that I received an e-mail from Party HQ, advising that my application had been successful and that I was invited to a meeting to discuss the remit and meet my fellow working group members.

There was a moment or two of doubt - my underlying sense of imposter syndrome is still there after all these years - but I was rather committed, and there would be a bunch of experts to lean on, so nothing too bad could happen, right?

The meeting took place on Wednesday evening, with an introduction from our Chair and a Policy Manager, then a brief commentary from a Parliamentary spokesperson. The members present then introduced themselves, and a varied bunch they are too, from a broad spectrum of locations and backgrounds. I focused on my parish council experience, my interests in rural transport and the implications of devolution of services to the town and parish council sector.

And so, the work begins. We’ll start by taking evidence from sectoral organisations and interested parties and, over the course of a year or so, draw up a policy paper for Conference to adopt. Hopefully, I’ll be able to contribute effectively to that process but there’s a learning curve to be navigated along the way and relationships to build.

It promises to be challenging and intellectually stimulating, which is perhaps just what I need at this stage of my life. But we’ll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

A transition plan emerges…

I am in the midst of what I self-mockingly describe as a Frank Sinatra-esque farewell tour from the Town and Parish Council sector. What with my tenure on Creeting St Peter Parish Council fated to be terminated next May, I’ve taken the view that an organised handover of my various posts was a necessity, predominantly for the organisations concerned.

And so, I advised my colleagues on the Board of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC) that I would stand down as our representative on the National Assembly of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) on 31 July, allowing me to attend one last meeting to say my goodbyes. Given that I couldn’t make the September meeting anyway, it gave time for a successor to bed in whilst I was still available to support them.

It also meant that I could attend one last meeting of NALC’s Smaller Councils Committee - I serve on the basis that I am an eligible member of National Assembly, which I have now done.

I remain Co-Chair of NALC’s Micro Council Network, representing the 4,000 or so smallest Parish Councils, for the time being, and I’m still on the SALC Board until elections take place in the autumn.

There was, and is, the question of what I’m going to do instead. I don’t really have what you’d describe as hobbies, although I do like to travel, keep up with current events and play computer games (mostly badly but nonetheless…).

Fortunately, as has often been the case, something has turned up. In my guise as an experienced Returning Officer, I’ve delivered committee elections for the Federal International Relations Committee and the Liberal Democrat European Group and have the Social Liberal Forum on the blocks. I’ve also delivered the easiest Returning Officer gig ever, as the Scottish Women Liberal Democrats had no contested positions and thus left me with nothing to actually do.

And now, one of the Party’s Regions has approached me to see if I’d be happy to act as their Returning Officer in the autumn. Admittedly, some of their current Executive might not be wildly keen on my appointment but I wouldn’t be terribly upset if it fell through.

I’ve also been asked if I’d take up the position of East of England representative on the Executive Committee of the Liberal Democrat European Group, to which I’ve responded positively. I am, and always have been, pro-European, in the sense that I see the advantages of pooling sovereignty in pursuit of economic and social advancement. And, whilst it isn’t entirely clear what I’d add just now, I do see an organisation which can influence the Party’s policies across the piece, not just in terms of the relationship with the European Union.

There is, however, something else which was rather more unexpected… but I’ll save that for another day…

Long, long ago on a Policy Working Group far, far away…

I am reminded this week of one of the more quirky items on my political CV, something I did at a time when I was rather (incorrectly) more confident in my views than perhaps I am now.

Back in the days when I was a young Liberal Democrat, indeed Secretary of the Young Liberal Democrats, our then International Officer concluded that, in order to protect his budget, it was a good idea to send the organisation’s Chair and Secretary to a LYMEC (Liberal Youth Movement of the European Community) seminar entitled “Youth Culture in a Coca-Cola World” in Aarhus, Denmark. And whilst he probably wouldn’t have listened his budget anyway, it sounded like fun and so, off we went.

Much alcohol was consumed, and friendships made, and whilst my appetite for European politics was greatly enhanced, I didn’t think that it would lead to much.

That was, however, until Peter Ladanyi, our then Chair, was asked if he’d be willing to serve on an ELDR policy commission on culture. In those days, the European Parliament political groups were funded for policy making activity, and ELDR (now ALDE) had been granted funds for a culture policy working group. And, for reasons that never entirely became clear to me, Peter passed the invite onto me. With no real idea as to what I was getting myself into, I accepted without hesitation and became the European Liberal Youth representative on the ELDR Commission on European Culture.

It wasn’t an onerous task, consisting mostly of relatively short meetings in Brussels broken up by long and generally excellent lunches. And, after eighteen months of discussion during which we barely defined the meaning of culture, we broke up without reaching a meaningful conclusion.

My primary “partner in crime” on the policy commission was the Liberal Democrat representative, Dame Penelope Jessel, a former International Officer of the Liberal Party and one of the “grande dames” of the Party. Penelope chain smoked, thought nothing of travelling across the Sahara with the Polisario Front and was ever so slightly daunting. I suspect had I known more about her past, I’d have been rather more daunted. Our Chair, Professor José Augusto Seabra, learned quite quickly that we weren’t exactly seeing things the way he did, and tended not to push ideas that Penelope wasn’t convinced by.

Whilst the policy commission itself wasn’t a success, it did teach me a lot about collaborative policy making and how politics varied across Europe, lessons I occasionally put to good use later on.

And now, thirty-six years later, it looks as if I have another opportunity to use those skills again…

#interrail2026: day 3 - I'm sure that Denmark's lovely, but...

Flensburg lies at the head of an long inlet of the Baltic Sea, just south of the Danish border with Germany, and is probably most famous for two things - rum, and for being where the Third Reich took its formal dying breath. It's probably less famous for being twinned with Carlisle, but that's how the cookie crumbles, I guess.

I had about three hours to look around - I had a train to catch, oddly enough - and so I set off into the bright sunshine of a lovely day to walk around the harbour and take in some fresh air and a little scenery. And, as my first meaningful stop, the opportunity to stretch my legs and make a dent in my daily 10,000 steps was entirely welcome.

The waterfront has a nice promenade, with bars to drink the local Flensburger Pils should you be so inclined, but Flensburg is never going to attract tourists in huge numbers. It's a well to do sort of place, like so many small German towns and, having taken in the marina and a small museum on fishing, I headed for the town centre.

Flensburg has a quite good science museum, Phänomenta, where you can carry out various experiments, although time didn't permit a visit, and next to it is one of the old city gates, the Nordertor, which has been preserved and restored.

But I did have a train to catch, a Danish one. The Danes have trains that appear to have a rubber front for reasons you'd have to ask DSB, the Danish State Railways about. They are comfortable though, and their first class has a nice feature, unlimited tea and coffee, plus a light snack. And, because they trust their passengers, you can pour your own hot drinks - they have thermos flasks of hot water plus all the makings of your drink at the end of the carriage and if, like me, you like a corner seat away from your fellow passengers, you don't even have to get up to do it.

I had a connection at Kolding and, with a scheduled half an hour to kill, I chose to take a stroll into town - it wasn't far. Kolding was a pleasant surprise and, thanks to a delayed train, I ended up with time to stop for coffee and explore. Back on another train and this time, a little bagged lunch for the journey across the Great Belt to Copenhagen, which came in handy after I missed the next train, an Oresundstag service across southern Sweden.

My final destination was Karlskrona, a naval town in the south-east of Sweden, and I arrived as the sun was beginning to set, which meant that the walk to my hotel on the other side of the central square was done in that sort of gentle half-light which gives everything that vague dreamlike quality and gives the decided impression that you might really want to take a longer look.

I needed a beer though, and where better to find one than the Brewery Hotel which, in addition, serves some surprisingly good pizza. What better way to end a day…

Creeting St Peter: putting the administrative stuff to rights, one task at a time...

In my eight years as Chair of the Parish Council, I've held a number of roles. At one point, I was Chair, Acting Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer, a period which caused me huge levels of stress and was, in organisational terms, highly unsatisfactory. But sometimes, especially with a micro-parish, needs must. The show must, if you like, go on.

In my earlier incarnation, I was the Wildlife portfolio holder, which was a source of great amusement given that I still couldn't confidently identify even the obvious stuff and was still convinced that wolves stalked the land.

Now, I hold the portfolios for Website and Communication and Finance, which sounds harder than it is. Balancing a budget of £6,000 or so really shouldn't be that difficult, and the website isn't overly burdensome if I remain focussed.

Tonight, I've been setting payments up for authorisation - our Clerk's salary needs to be paid and invoices for our streetlighting, website, membership of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils and the drainage rates need to be settled, as well as our annual subscription with the Information Commissioner.

I've also written to our District and County Councillors to let them know what our meeting dates are for the next year - I could leave it to our Clerk but I sense that it's a better use of my time than of his (I have copied him in).

The next thing on my list is to help with preparations for our annual internal audit. We're pretty much ready, and it's as much a case of making sure that all of the invoices are readily available, that various reports have been uploaded to the Parish website and so on. We dealt with a lot of the essentials at our meeting on Monday, and our finances are healthy and properly reported, so I'm reasonably comfortable this year.

I'm also intent on preparing everything for a handover to whoever takes on my various responsibilities - I want them to not have to spend weeks wondering what on Earth I was doing.

Only a year to go...

#interrail2026 - day 2: across the Low Countries to Schleswig Holstein

It's time to catch up with the trip now that I'm back, so let's do just that... 

Early morning, Antwerp, and my first intention was to deal in a little nostalgia. But isn't Antwerpen Central just a little special? There's some outstanding architecture (and a very convenient zoo). And, as a place to start your journey in earnest, it's so much of an improvement on any of the Brussels stations.

Sadly, it was early, and I had miles to go before I slept. The obvious route to my intended destination would be via Amsterdam and a series of German high speed trains but where's the fun in that? And so, I was off on the 8.35 EuroCity Direct to Lelystad Centrum. Except, where was it? There was an 8.35 EuroCity Direct to Almere Centrum, which was in the right direction, and there was supposedly a connection that would work, so that was going to have to do.

But why Lelystad, capital of Flevoland? Many years ago, when I was still doing international youth politics, I attended a LYMEC (Liberal and Radical Youth Movement of the European Community) Congress there, which was one of the stranger events that I'd ever been to. And, whilst nostalgia isn't what it used to be, I thought that it would be nice to go back, if only to see if the place had changed much.

It hasn't. When I was there the first time, it had the architecture you would expect from an era when brushed concrete was fashionable and it still does. The town was en fete though, crowded with people selling their surplus possessions in the pedestrian shopping arcade that is the centre of the town. Apparently, this is part of the Koningsdag celebration, and that's what was going on.

I didn't stay long - I had trains to catch, first to Zwolle and then to Deventer, where I stopped for a quick walk. Deventer was unexpectedly charming, and they were clearly getting ready to have a good time, with a stage set up in the central square and plenty of orange clad people with beer. I might have to go back there sometime...

Onwards to Osnabruck, and another quick explore, before what was supposed to be the penultimate train of the day to Hamburg, which is where things started to go wrong, thanks to Deutsche Bahn. My connection lost by mere minutes, I took the opportunity to take a walk across Hamburg, skirting the Binnenalster, passing the incredibly impressive City Hall and making the train to Flensburg with enough time to spare to allow the purchase of a surprisingly good chicken sandwich.

Flensburg was dark, and quiet, but it had a hotel bed, and I'd survived the first full day of travel. It was going to be alright...

Creeting St Peter: like Frank Sinatra, I’m doing it my way…

As I noted a few months ago, 2026 is a bit of a transitional year for this bureaucrat. I’m gently stepping back from the world of Parish Councils and, on Monday, there was another key stage in that process as Creeting St Peter Parish Council held its Annual Meeting.

I had been flagging up the need for Council to replace me as Chair for some months, although the impression given by my colleagues was of rather wanting the problem to go away. But, when at the meeting, I made it absolutely clear that I would not offer myself for re-election under any circumstances, my Vice-Chair, Ayse Singh, nobly, albeit with conditions, accepted the chalice of power for the next year.

The conditions involve rather greater engagement from the Vice-Chair and, as part of the transition, and I suspect much to the relief of Council, I have taken that role on for the 2026/27 year.

Having seen Ayse chair her first meeting though, I think that she’ll do just fine.

Me? I’ll carry on with my finance and communication portfolios, and cover for Ayse as required. As part of that, I’ll be producing some medium and long-term strategic papers to take Creeting St Peter Parish Council forward and work with our Clerk, Mark Knight, to ensure that everything is ready for a new Council after next year’s elections.

After the appointment of a Chair and Vice-Chair, the business of the meeting was dealt with briskly enough. Our finances are healthy, we have our policies in place for another year and, in what I think is very good news, the Parochial Church Council, who I pointed in the direction of a grant opportunity at the end of last year, have received funds to restore the roof and replace the heating in the Church Room.

I’ve updated the Parish website to include the dates of our meetings for the next year, and to reflect the identity of our new Chair, and so I’m feeling a bit more up to date.

And so, the farewell tour gathers pace…