An evening at the Suffolk Association of Local Councils Area Meeting

To Claydon this evening, for the quarterly meeting of the Mid Suffolk South Area of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, the gathering of Town and Parish Councillors from the borders of Ipswich to a line south of the railway line to Bury St Edmunds.

I’ve been attending these for a while, in my former capacity as Creeting St Peter’s “Foreign Minister” (if it’s outside the Parish, Mark’s happy to go). It’s a useful opportunity to find out what’s happening across the District, and to get a heads-up on emerging issues. There is usually much talk about planning, highways and infrastructure, and whilst we don’t have much of those dots of things, we are impacted by decisions affecting our neighbours.

You also get to learn a bit about local representation and the responsibilities of a councillor, which can prove most useful.

I was slightly late due to a delayed bus, and the meeting was already underway, but there were some familiar faces, and a free seat, so I made myself comfortable and eased myself into the flow of discussion.

SALC has a new(ish) Chief Executive, who is immersing herself into the role and is developing a sense of what needs doing and how it might get done - there will be technology involved. She reported back on some of the developmental opportunities that are available to local councils, and we talked about how councillors might take advantage.

Much useful material is available via the website, but is password protected, limiting access to those who are given (and can remember) the means to access it. I suggested that we might move more of that information into the public domain, an idea that seemed to meet with some approval. At the moment, most information flows via the Parish Clerk, and whilst they usually pass that information on efficiently, not all Clerks are as enthusiastic or, worst still, competent in doing so. Whilst we’re lucky like that in Creeting St Peter, it isn’t so everywhere.

We discussed neighbourhood plans, which have run into difficulties due to the general unhelpfulness of Mid Suffolk’s chronically underresourced planning department - my fellow councillors are pretty scathing about their failings, it appears.

There was a brief discussion about possible motions to the County AGM, and I suggested two things, firstly for a SALC campaign to encourage younger people to come forward as potential Parish Councillors, the second to call for meetings to take place at more accessible times and in easier to reach places. By holding meetings during the working day, you exclude potentially good people, and send out a message that younger people aren’t really welcome.

We ended with a discussion of future guests/speakers. I suggested either one of the new Suffolk Constabulary Community Engagement Officers, or someone to talk about Suffolk Highways proposals to devolve some minor works to Parish and Town Councils. The other popular suggestion was to have someone explain what would be happening as a result of the merger of Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals, a matter of grave concern in some quarters.

It was a surprisingly good meeting, well chaired by Josephine Lea from Needham Market, and we were done pretty much on time, so I’d have to mark down the evening as a success.

Giving away surplus food is sensible, not radical. It isn’t original, either...

I was, I admit, somewhat disappointed when I saw the final shortlist for the Ashdown Prize. Yes, they were all terribly sensible, but radical? No, not really, unless you consider sensible to be the equivalent of radical. And, given that I am probably one of the least obvious to be described as a radical - I have some seemingly radical views on the importance of process, but radical bureaucracy is probably an oxymoron - if I don’t think that something is radical, it probably isn’t.

And of the three proposals, probably the least radical was to oblige supermarkets and the like to give surplus usable food to charities for distribution.

I therefore wasn’t terribly surprised to see it win.

It’s not a new idea, the French already do it, although I haven't seen anything that indicates how successful it has been. And yes, I understand that radical and original are not the same thing.

But I had heard the idea somewhere before. So, I dredged my memory and rediscovered this;

148. Another fiscal option already operated in some countries is to offer tax deductions for redistribution schemes. In the US, which has extensive networks for food redistribution on a far larger scale than European operations, Section 170(e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code allows certain businesses to earn a tax deduction for donating food and can claim tax breaks on shipments of food if donated food is transported using spare capacity in delivery vehicles. Feeding the 5,000 noted that government incentives for diverting surplus food for human consumption are rare in EU countries, although France is reportedly moving towards tax breaks for businesses that donate their food for charitable redistribution. The idea of exercising such fiscal options was described by FareShare as potentially “transformational” if it succeeded in creating an economic incentive for private operators to redistribute food, beyond the current moral incentive.

Good, eh? And where did this come from?

The answer is, a House of Lords report called “Counting the Cost of Food Waste: EU Food Waste Prevention”, published by the European Union Committee, Sub-Committee D. Their conclusion was that;

there are fiscal tools available to support the redistribution of surplus edible food, ranging from value added tax (VAT) exemptions to tax deductions and tax breaks.

The report was published in 2014, and moved in the House of Lords by none other than the Chair of the Sub-Committee, one Baroness Scott of Needham Market, a name which seems strangely familiar. That’s right, the person I am astoundingly blessed to be married to.

And whilst I would be delighted to see the idea come into practice, and it will help some people who need help badly, it isn’t radical. Finding a way of helping people to reach a level where they don’t need food banks, now that would be radical...

Is Western democracy a nut to be squeezed between Trump and Putin?

It has been obvious for some time that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is no friend of the western democracies, enthusiastically supporting political forces determined to undermine the existing consensus, as a means of weakening our political structures and our economies.

Such a strategy is so much cheaper, and more effective, than military action, and whilst Russia has a nuclear arsenal, its conventional military is less of a threat then it theoretically was during the Cold War. And so, if you can level the playing fields by using the strengths of western democracies against themselves, why not? Vlad does enjoy his judo, after all.

What is more shocking though is that Donald Trump appears to have the same strategy, blatantly misrepresenting events across Europe so as to strengthen the nationalist and populist forces that undermine the open, tolerant societies of Europe. His intervention in German politics, so soon after the open confession of his newly appointed Ambassador that he would seek to support groups such as Alternative fur Deutschland, has been an unwelcome blow to Angela Merkel’s attempt to stabilise German politics after an inconclusive election.

We know that he is happier dealing with dictators rather than democratic leaders - a dictator can make a deal knowing that he isn’t accountable to anyone, whereas a democratically elected leader knows that he or she has to secure enough support to seal any bilateral arrangement. We also know that he doesn’t play by the conventional rules.

His working assumption seems to be that, for America and Trump to win, somebody else has to lose, and the currently preferred losers are America’s traditional allies. From our perspective, that’s deeply worrying. Europe is too dependent on America for its security to be anything other than fretful about the possibility of an isolationist Administration.

And yes, Europe does need to step up to the plate in terms of defence spending, but it also needs to be smarter, more collaborative, more disciplined than in the past. Multinational brigades, greater purchasing co-ordination to ensure that allied forces use similar equipment for ease of combined strike capacity, that sort of thing. Taking advantage of national specialisations, rather than each country attempting to cover the entire range of threats independently.

That means a European defence strategy, linked to that of the EU External Action Service, which would stray into territory that the British, Liberal Democrats included, have staunchly opposed over the years. Ironically, Brexit offers an opportunity for the rest of Europe to develop such a strategy, isolating Britain yet further from the core of European defence infrastructure.

Under other circumstances, one would seek to renew links to the United States leadership, overcoming the scepticism of an unenthusiastic American President. I’m not convinced that this is a credible option at the moment, given the stances that Donald Trump is taking, and the historical perspective of those from whom he takes advice.

And so, we British isolate ourselves further in a world of regional blocs. Depressing, really...

An unexpected encounter at dusk...

I have walked around the village quite a lot over the past two and a half years. My laps get longer in the summer, and cleave closer to the village core in winter, especially during the week.

But, as a result, the village is very familiar, and anything unusual tends to catch my attention. I ought to be our Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, I guess.

This evening, my evening constitutional was delayed somewhat by the England game - and wasn’t that a nerve-shredding affair? - so the light was beginning to fade as I wandered down Pound Road towards the bridge over the A14. And then I noticed something black, sitting on the gravel outside 7 Peterhouse. It wasn’t very big, but it seemed out of place.

Suddenly, it moved, and to my surprise, a small rabbit was heading onto the road towards me. It stopped in front of me, and clearly wasn’t a wild one. So, I scooped it up.

I knocked on the door of number 7, small, cute rabbit held tightly against my chest. It wasn’t theirs. But I had someone to help, as we knocked on doors to see if anyone had lost a rabbit. At number 11, we had our first lead, and I headed down the street. And yes, a rabbit had been lost, the rabbit in my arms.

I handed it over to a happy owner.

Job done.

It’s never dull in Creeting St Peter...

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils to pilot pioneering developer contributions database

I don’t normally reproduce Council press releases, but this one might be of wider interest...

Residents and those in the development industry will be able to see how money collected from developers as part of planning agreements is being spent on providing infrastructure for local communities when a new database goes online. 

Both Babergh and Mid Suffolk are working with the software provider Exacom as part of a pilot exercise involving two other local authorities to hone this innovative, new database which will transform the way that information is held for developer contributions paid for by legal agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils Section 106 and CIL data will be used by the software provider in the launch of the Planning Obligations Public Facing Module across the country. This will be hosted on the Councils’ websites later in the summer and will enable people to search for information by district, ward, parish or infrastructure type with details of where monies are collected, allocated and spent. It will also allow people to see legal agreements secured as part of the planning process. The information will be updated daily.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk expect to be able to host this database on their websites in the summer. Today, their data was used as part of the national launch of the database by Exacom. 

The Public Facing Module, comprising of information on infrastructure funding in Babergh and Mid Suffolk can be viewed online at: http://pfm.exacom.co.uk/midsuffolkbabergh/index.php

Ralph Taylor and Geoff Kirby, Directors of Exacom, said:

We believe that this is a revolution in planning obligation transparency and will set the future standard in planning obligation transparency for the rest of the UK. We would like to thank Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council for their assistance in launching this project with their planning obligation data.

Babergh District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Nick Ridley, said:

This is ground breaking technology and we are sure that residents across the district will be interested to see how contributions secured from developers as part of planning applications are benefiting their local communities. We are proud to be the first local authorities in the country to demonstrate this database.

Mid Suffolk District Council’s Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment, Councillor Nick Gowrley, said:

This exciting project is the culmination of two and a half years’ work which will bring together a range of detailed data on our website in the summer for the benefit of residents, people in the development industry, our Parish Councils, Councillors and community groups. This speaks to the Council’s agenda of openness and transparency and the database will provide information in real time in that it will update every 24 hours.

Pedalling frantically towards the cliff edge?

It may be because I am, at heart, someone who believes that you can affect real change only by building coalitions of interest, that I find myself increased perplexed by what this country has become in the past two years.

Winning a referendum by a relatively small proportion was hardly a staggering endorsement for leaving the European Union, but I did expect there to follow an inkling of the strategy that might lead us to a stable outcome. I was to be disappointed it seemed.

I then assumed that those tasked with guiding the country through the negotiations with the European Union would understand the issues, plus the implications of a range of choices. And, when negotiating with an institution that is extremely rule-bound, understanding what their red lines were likely to be. Again, I was to be disappointed, as minister after minister demonstrated an apparent absence of any knowledge of how the modern, interdependent world operates, where production lines cross and recross national borders, and where standards are increasingly set by multinational groupings or institutions.

It was all rather depressing.

I reassured myself with the thought that, regardless of any lack of knowledge or understanding, no government would be insane enough to drive the country off of a cliff by leaving the European Union without a pretty conclusive deal. After all, when 80% of your exports are financial or other services, and you’ve made your way in the world by encouraging international investment to your country as a gateway to the wider European market, wilfully cutting yourself off seems like the height of madness.

And I still don’t believe that the government intend to do that. The problem is that, as is so often the case in British politics, they seem to think that the European Union has;

1. More to lose than we do, and;
2. The ability to be almost infinitely flexible in pursuit of a deal.

The first argument has been pretty conclusively trashed - yes, the amount of trade at risk is weighted in cash terms in our favour, but in terms of relative proportions of each economy, we are much worse off.

But the second argument is undermined by the very different approaches to politics, which brings us back to the rules-based nature of the European Union. Yes, the European Union is often involved on last-minute bargaining amongst itself. The catch is, there is a status quo to revert to if a deal can’t be cut. That’s not true here, especially as any deal must be at least acceptable enough to all. That limits the European Union’s room for manoeuvre - there are a whole slew of things that simply aren’t negotiable.

Our negotiators seem to disregard that, which appears to demonstrate a terrifying naivety. Not only that, but our view of politics as a game is positively toxic in an environment where, if a government says it intends to do something, then there is a working assumption on the other side of the table that it will do exactly that, and that it understands and accepts the consequences.

The European Union will shake its head sadly, and walk away, having been given little alternative by a group of people will think that their opponents will blink first.

And then we’ll find out whether or not the whole “Global Britain” thing is credible or just fantasy. I hope, for our sake, they have a plan for that phase which doesn’t just evaporate in the face of reality...

I may not be what Mid Suffolk District Council expect...

I take my newly awarded responsibilities as Chair of my Parish Council seriously, as one should. 

In that capacity, I see myself having a role in lobbying for things that we need or want, and in attending meetings so that I might better anticipate things that might impact on us sooner or later. And so, the receipt of an invitation to attend a Town and Parish Council Liaison Meeting, organised by Mid Suffolk District Council, seemed like an obvious thing to attend.

I was, I have to confess, therefore somewhat surprised to discover that the meeting would take place at 10 a.m. on a Thursday morning, in Walsham-le-Willows.

In fairness, Walsham-le-Willows is a very nice place for a meeting, especially on a summer’s morning. It is, unfortunately, rather a long way from a railway station, and the only buses run between Bury St Edmunds and Diss every two hours or so, making it rather hard to get to if you don’t drive.

That is trying enough as a non-driver, but I find myself wondering what message it sends about the sort of people who might be Town or Parish councillors, that it is thought appropriate to hold a meeting on a work day, during regular office hours. I am, I suspect, fairly common in having a job, and for most people who have jobs, attending a mid-morning meeting requires the taking of leave from work. The assumption must therefore be that Mid Suffolk District Council expect most councillors to be retired, hardly an indication that they represent the broadest swathe of our community.

We’re lucky in Creeting St Peter, in that our councillors come from a broad spectrum of age groups, and I tend to think that this means that we have a diversity of views and approaches that makes us more effective than we would be if we all had a similar perspective. But Mid Suffolk District Council doesn’t appear to think that diversity of representation either exists or is important if it does.

The accessibility issue troubles me as well, although I acknowledge that, as one of the 10% of rural people who don’t drive, I am rather more of a minority that the under-65s are.

It sends out a message though, a message that I am not particularly welcome, and that younger councillors aren’t worth making an effort to engage with.

Trust me, I will be making this point loud and clear at the meeting, and will press Mid Suffolk District Council to hold at least some of these meetings in more accessible locations and at more convenient times for people with jobs. And, unless these events are designed simply to be convenient for the District Council, I expect them to at least understand why I’m annoyed.

Eight hundred and forty-six days, and still counting...

When I started my original “Building a Better Walrus” programme at the beginning of 2016, the intention was to walk 10,000 steps each day. It was, if you like, an aspiration which soon turned into something rather more serious. And, as the days went by, the idea of not reaching my target became rather like an obsession. That was, until I contracted food poisoning in Cuba and was confined to a sofa for three days.

I’d managed forty-five straight days of 10,000 steps and was feeling quite proud of myself, and was determined to get back into my stride, so to speak. My first day back wasn’t pretty as a rather pale and shaky bureaucrat ambled slowly around our beach resort. That was February 18, 2016.

I haven’t missed a day since.

Admittedly, I’ve had to be pretty creative at times. Walking around the promenade deck of a small cruise ship forty-eight times was one solution on the day we didn’t go ashore due to the lack of shore. Airports have become a means to cover distances rather than buy duty-free. And I am often seen walking up and down station platforms if I get to the station early enough. You never know, after all, what might stand in your way later in the day, so better to get those steps in early.

And one interesting side effect is that, as I am able to walk further, I become more likely to do so, and have taken to walking journeys that would have seemed onerous before. For example, when I come to London for FIRC meetings, I walk from Liverpool Street to Westminster, varying my route according to the time available. Last time, I crossed the Millenium Bridge for the first time and followed the South Bank from there to Westminster - it’s a rather pleasant stroll.

Best of all, everywhere feels so much closer, something which became obvious after two Spring Conferences in York. The first time, one tended not to walk as much whilst, a year later and somewhat lighter, on the second trip, we tended to arrive at places rather earlier than expected.

Now I acknowledge that walking isn’t for everyone - friends of mine have a variety of methods for keeping, or getting, active - but if, like me, you’re not keen on rushing about, a gentle stroll is quite a nice way of stirring the blood. And if you happen to have some leaflets, all the better...

Highways maintenance: was I accidentally surfing a wave in the Creetings?

A couple of years ago, I decided to clean a road sign that was annoying me. It seems as though somebody was paying attention, because Suffolk County Council have concluded that this is something that Parish Councils should be taking on.

Suffolk Highways is currently developing its Community Self Help offer. The scheme will aim to enable local community groups, including town and parish councils, to undertake work that Suffolk Highways does not have the budget to undertake.

However, it seems that their intention goes a bit further than just cleaning the odd road sign...

So, how can our communities help? We know that many are willing and able to help in undertaking minor works in their areas. We have been considering what our community self help offer would look like. In order to ensure that our offer meets the needs of the community we approached town and parish councils across Suffolk to better understand what areas communities are most interested in doing for themselves. This is not about communities undertaking work that we are able to and do undertake, but about how communities can add to and undertake more, on top of what we provide.

I can’t say that I’m keen. With a total budget of about £6,000, and a disproportionate amount of road per resident, I can’t see that we could do very much other than to clean the odd road sign, and tidy away any foliage that might be obscuring it. And it does raise the question, once again, as to what the County Council does for villages such as ours.

At our last Parish Council meeting, I did ask our County Councillor if he had any understanding as to what this might imply for us, but he seemed to know as little as we did.

However, we are apparently going to find out at some point this month, and I look forward to discussing it at the Mid Suffolk South meeting of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, scheduled to take place in a fortnight’s time. I have a funny feeling that I might not be the only person with concerns...

Creeting St Peter welcomes careful (and somewhat slower) drivers...

On returning to the Parish Council some two years ago, I was told that an application was in train to introduce a 20 mph speed limit in the village. And, subsequently, at every meeting, the apparent lack of progress was noted, despite the promises made by our County Councillor.

Well, in fairness, I should report that, on Friday, the Order was published confirming that traffic through the village will need to be a bit more cautious in future. The new speed limit comes into effect tomorrow, and all credit is due to my fellow councillors and to Gary Green, the Conservative County Councillor for Stowmarket North and Stowupland.

The speed limit covers the area north of the A14 bridge to the northern edge of the village, as well as The Lane, so not a huge inconvenience to those who drive through on their way to the great metropolises of Stowupland and Needham  Market, I trust.

I assume that there will be some new street furniture, with the 30 mph signs replaced by 20 mph ones, and some road markings will need to be redone, but I’m hoping that this will follow shortly.

There is a modest irony in all of this, in that I was once quoted by the BBC as being opposed to mandatory 20 mph speed limits in built-up areas, and I stand by that. Here, though, the village wants it, and thus I have no cause to oppose it. We don’t have pavements, so children, walkers and other pedestrians are sharing the road space with traffic, and having it travel more slowly is frankly in everyone’s interest. It also makes it a little safer for traffic emerging from The Lane, given that the hedge on the corner makes visibility a little tricky.

But it also demonstrates that a Parish Council with a strategy and a simple plan can achieve something for its community, and I think that that’s something we can all get behind...

Building a better walrus - time for phase 2...

Nearly two years ago, my stepson and his lovely fiancée got married. This meant that I would have to wear a suit and, having concluded that having a similar build to that of a walrus would make that less than enjoyable, I concluded that shedding some weight was necessary. The target I set myself was to lose twenty-eight pounds, or thirteen kilograms, and by dint of walking ten thousand steps a day (and often more) and cutting my calorie intake, I made it with a bit to spare.

And yes, I was still carrying a lot more weight than might have met with the approval of the medical profession, but I was in much better shape. By last summer, and our trip to Svalbard, I’d actually lost twenty-one kilograms - about forty-six pounds, and was, if not sprightly, then comfortably mobile enough to climb in and out of zodiacs, hike across the barren wilderness and outrun at least one other member of our party (I assumed that a polar bear would eat the easiest of us to catch and then concentrate on that, leaving me to get away).

Since then, unfortunately, I took my foot off of the pedal a bit. I was still walking at least ten thousand steps a day, but the diet was rather more haphazard. The pounds were slowly creeping back on.

In Sofia, I decided that enough was enough, and I’ve climbed back on the “diet and exercise horse”. Calorie counting is in, extra steps are being walked, and I’m broadly back where I was this time last year. And I have seen a future.

Now, despite the fact that I am still somewhat heavier than I ought to be, my health is remarkably good, as demonstrated today during my work-organised health check. Blood pressure is well-nigh perfect, blood sugar level is almost dead centre of the recommended range (given my genetic risk of Type 2 diabetes, that’s very welcome) and my cholesterol level is far better than my love of cheese might suggest.

Really, my only significant risk factor is those extra pounds.

So, time for phase 2 of the “Building a Better Walrus” programme, I think. My target date this time is my birthday, and my aim is to lose ten kilograms from my weight after Sofia. It’s an achievable target, albeit a stretching one, and it would leave me lighter than I’ve been for some years. It would also offer an excuse to go shopping, and I’ve seen a jacket that would be a suitable reward.

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye...

Creeting St Peter: a new Chair reflects...

Well, that was somewhat unexpected.

I had turned up at Monday night’s Annual Parish Meeting and Annual Parish Council Meeting (not the same thing at all) with the sole expectation of a smoothly run meeting, the pleasure of some time with my fellow Parish councillors and a relatively early finish. Our Chair, Machala, is not one for lengthy meetings and chairs them with good humour and efficiency.

The Parish Meeting went according to plan, with the reports from the Chair, the County and District Councillors, the Parochial Church Council and our Tree Warden - we’ve learnt not to expect a report from the Suffolk Constabulary - and we then segued into the Parish Council meeting immediately thereafter.

The first item of business was the election of the Chair for 2018/19, and it was noted by a fellow councillor that Machala had originally intended to serve as Chair for no more than two years. Frankly, I was of the view that she’d done a good job and was perfectly happy for her to continue, but she agreed that this was the case and that, in any event, there was the possibility that she might not be able to serve another full term anyway.

I should have been suspicious at this point, and the suggestion that there should be a natural progression from Vice Chair to Chair did make me wonder, especially as I was the incumbent Vice Chair. I was thus nominated and seconded, and, in the blink of a procedural eye, I found myself Chair of Creeting St Peter Parish Council.

It’s an appointment with immediate effect, so I signed the papers proffered to me by our Parish Clerk, Jennie, and set off, running through the agenda.

Funnily enough, despite more than thirty years in politics, I’ve not chaired very often, although I have had to deal with some pretty haphazard chairing over that time. What that means is that, whilst I may have quite a bit to learn about how to do the job, I have some pretty good ideas in terms of how not to do it.

I managed to steer Council through its business in about an hour, thanked everyone and brought my first meeting to a close.

So far, so good.

I went home, and explained to Ros what had happened. “What do I do now?”, I asked. Her advice was to find out exactly what my responsibilities are, both legally and organisationally.

And so, the reading begins. Luckily, there are plenty of resources out there, primarily via the National Association of Local Councils, and its county affiliate here in Suffolk. I've already contacted the Suffolk Association of Local Councils office to seek access to the NALC website, and notified them of my election.

I also need to think about my priorities for 2018/19, and what I might hope to achieve during my term in office. Of course, this is limited by an obvious lack of resource, and I don’t intend to do anything that is contrary to our ethos as a Council, whereby everyone has a role to play, and we eschew the ‘strong leader’ model so beloved by central government.

I’d better get on then...

Ros in the Lords: East Suffolk (Local Government Changes) Order 2018

It’s not all Brexit glamour in the House of Lords, and whilst most attention is on the series of defeats inflicted on the Government with regard to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, the business of government limps along otherwise.

Here in Suffolk, the various District and Borough Councils have been pairing off in an attempt to staunch the financial bleeding, merging back office functions, creating joint teams covering planning, council tax collection, and all of the various things done at sub-County level. Waveney and Suffolk Coastal have sought to merge into East Suffolk, whilst St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath aim to merge into a new West Suffolk District. To do so requires authority from Parliament, and thus the appropriate Orders, allowing them to proceed, came to the Lords recently.

Usually, these go through without much comment, but there were questions about the quality of the consultation, and thus then Secondary Legislation Select Committee raised some concerns. And, to be honest, the consultation did look a bit lopsided, with many of the voices in favour coming from other (Conservative) Leaders of neighbouring, or in the case of Suffolk County Council, overlapping authorities. Parish and Town Councils didn’t seem to be quite so keen, and in that context, Ros spoke in her capacity as a resident of Suffolk...

My Lords, I also speak as a Suffolk resident of almost 40 years, although not of either of the areas covered today. I am a former district and county councillor in Suffolk so I have a keen interest in this. 

I have always advocated unitary government for Suffolk, perhaps going back to the old, two-council days before 1974, or possibly 1973, with serious devolution to the towns and parishes which want it. I felt that way because I truly believe that service delivery would be better if we brought together planning and transport, for example, under one council. Local people would not have to sort out which council does what. As a councillor, I know that that is a significant issue. The financial savings that can be made from creating unitary councils have been well established across the country where this has been done. 

Opposition to my view has always been on the grounds of saying, “Well, district councils are important because they’re small and they’re local and the wards are small. Everybody knows everyone and they’re close to the people”. I buy that; I can see that argument. However, it seems that in merging these councils—I am talking about councils as opposed to their back-office functions—big wards will be created and the council offices will, in many cases, be moved away from the area they represent. The advantages of districts are lost without the benefits of unitary government. Bins will still be emptied by one council and the waste disposed of by another, for example. 

I remain concerned about that. I accept the point that Suffolk councils have been in the process of merging their back-office functions to save costs for some years now. That is entirely sensible. However, my council in mid-Suffolk, having done that with the neighbouring authority of Babergh, has now gone completely mad and moved its joint offices to the middle of Ipswich. There is no local connection there. If you are going to defend three-tier local government on the grounds of local connection, you have to show local connection. 

I am worried that all this is being driven by the parlous state of local government finance in this country, rather than some sort of rational, thought-out plan. It feels as though people who live in Suffolk are somehow not being properly engaged with—I will come back to ​that—or brought along in the process. It was interesting that the Secondary Legislation Committee shared some of those concerns. I appreciate the trouble that the Minister has gone to to allay those. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to do—to be charitable—to convince people in Suffolk and in town and parish councils that the proposals will work. 

To give what I think is an important piece of context, the report that went to Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councils on 14 March 2016 stated: 

“The potential benefits and pitfalls of unitary local government have been well rehearsed previously”— 

through LGR—and, 

“have not been reproduced here. It is uncertain whether the new Secretary of State will be open to such discussions … Similarly, this could not be done in any format without … an impact upon Suffolk County Council. It is assumed at this stage (and without any discussion with the County Council) that this would be strongly resisted”, 

by the county council. In other words, in East Suffolk at least, this was kicked off in 2016 without really knowing what the Secretary of State or the county council thought. 

With regard to the support to which the Minister referred, the problem was that nobody ever had a say about the benefits of unitary councils—which I think, had it been put as an option, would have been more significant—but that did not take place because a unitary authority had been ruled out. 

This continues to be a model. On 21 March this year, the leader of Suffolk County Council announced that he had commissioned a report from ResPublica to look at options for local government in Suffolk over the coming years. This afternoon, the local press are reporting that he has suspended this work, saying that it is because his opponent in a leadership bid is opposed to it. I have no idea whether the second part is true but it shows, given the importance of local government to Suffolk and the services that it delivers, that it deserves better than this.

FIRC: a personal response to the Alderdice Report

Federal International Relations Committee will be discussing its response to the Alderdice Report on Thursday evening, and we have been asked to give some thought to the matter. And, perhaps because my expectations are quite low in terms of useful outcomes, it seems sensible to put my thoughts into the public domain. I’ve adapted the five questions posed in the report, in order to make them suitable for the Committee...

Are there barriers to participation for BAME members? If so, what and where are they?

The barriers tend to be similar to those affecting other underrepresented groups. The cost of attending international events, and the lack of financial support for all but the six members of the ALDE Party Council, reduce the pool of potential participants to those who can afford airfares and accommodation, and this is even more so for Liberal International, whose events are, for obvious reasons, more far flung.

Given that the Party has no budget for international relations activity, other than grudgingly paying our membership fees for both ALDE and Liberal International, and that there is a danger that there will be no staff resource available at all shortly, it is hard to envisage how this might change. A fund to support potential delegates to international events might address the issue of participation, but would not be seen as a high priority at the moment.

Ironically, recent delegations to ALDE Party Congresses have seen an improvement in the diversity of our delegates, and much credit should go to the Party’s former International Officer, Harriet Shone, who did much to make this possible.

Do barriers differ in the Committee?

In terms of the Committee, diversity isn’t bad, with two directly elected BAME members out of six, plus the Federal Board’s nominee. However, the representatives of all of the other various groups entitled to nominate members of the Committee are all white (men), and the co-opted members are both white.

How effective are existing mechanisms/procedures in addressing the issue?

Elections have clearly been effective, nominees have not, thus far. That said, election results offer little guarantee of appropriate levels of BAME representation, and attention needs to be given to the three potential co-options as a way of making good any deficiency. This requires more active and imaginative approaches by Committee Members than has sometimes been the case recently.

Does the Committee do enough to engage with BAME voters and ensure accessibility for potential BAME members?

The mechanism for formally reaching out beyond the Party is unclear, and the Committee has no means of doing so other than articles in Liberal Democrat Voice, lacking as it does a presence on the Party website, or on social media. The communication plan is not taken seriously, and no effective effort has been made to take it forward.

What further steps should, or could, be taken by the Committee to address the issues identified in the review?

Firstly, the Committee needs to strengthen its profile amongst Party members, so as to increase the pool of potential candidates in future elections, and increase engagement. Secondly, it needs to establish what people might be interested in, becoming less Eurocentric along the way if at all possible. Jointly hosting events with groups such as Chinese Liberal Democrats would be a way of doing that. Building links with the various “Friends of...” groups would also help.

A sense of dissonance in Sofia

So, here I am in a cafe on Vitosha, the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, surrounded by men enjoying a shisha pipe, a Mozart string quartet on the headphones and a Grapefruit Sour by my side. The sun is shining in a perfectly blue sky, it's warm. Life is good, right?

If only it was that easy.

I've spent the weekend at an ALDE Party Council meeting which has, in itself, gone well. The main business ran smoothly and, as a member of the Financial Advisory Committee, seeing the financial reports earlier than most, I had no questions to ask.

I feel a bit semi-detached, to tell the truth. I'm a member of a party which, through no fault of its own, feels as though it is drifting to the periphery of the ALDE Party as Brexit draws closer. My colleagues are passionate in their belief that we can somehow avert the cliff edge, but I have an uncomfortable sense that our sister parties have moved on and look upon us in the same way that motorists look at accidents on the opposite carriageway - "there but for the Grace of God, but I'm glad it isn't me". They listen to the messages coming from Westminster and take the Government at its word when it talks about when we leave, not if.

Where does a member party from a country that isn't either in the Union, or aspiring to be in it, fit in an organisation whose goals are free trade, freedom of movement, and so on? I don't know that I have an answer to that.

So, what did happen in Sofia? Well, I've got to write that up for Liberal Democrat Voice, so I ought to give that some thought.

However, Sofia is a much nicer city than I remember, although it was December when I came here the first time, and most cities are improved by sunshine. But twelve years of European Union membership have certainly changed Sofia for the better. It's a city of leafy side streets, of Orthodox churches in that curious Turkish style whereby they look like a giant hand has squashed them from above.

I've taken the opportunity to walk around, somewhat randomly, as it isn't a city with that much 'must see' stuff. As a result, I've found some interesting neighbourhoods, a cafe culture that I hadn't expected, and a liberal link. William Gladstone has a place in Bulgarian history, having spoken out for Bulgarian independence in the 1870s. So, naturally, I found ulitsa Uilyam Gladston and took a photograph.

I'll be back in London tomorrow, and it will feel a little like leaving Europe in a psychological sense. Forget geography, being European is a bit like being part of a family. And when your Government are determined to convert the bonds of family into a formal business relationship, you know that it's never going to quite the same after that...

Some thoughts on Ipswich Town, courtesy of an outsider....

I ought to declare my (lack of) interest straight away - I’m a Luton Town supporter, more in the technical sense than the “turning up in rain or wind” one. My life is too complex, and the journey too much hassle, to be anything more than an interested observer. But, living in the heart of Suffolk as I do, the one thing that you can’t help but notice is the place of Ipswich Town in community life.

It perhaps does help that there isn’t an acceptable, credible alternative for some distance. Norwich City are beyond the pale, except perhaps in the borderlands towards Diss, and the other two teams near the county’s edge, Colchester United and Cambridge United, are irrelevant.

But it never ceases to surprise me just how many people I run into who either are season ticket holders, or were at one point or another. And given that, for some time, they’ve been relatively ordinary - no current Championship team has been there longer - being a Tractor Boy (or Girl) is not an easy option.

If the Town are doing well, the town and county seem a little sprightlier, if not, then their failings are a matter of general debate.

But it’s only little old Ipswich, population 130,000 or so, hardly likely to be able to compete at the top level in the modern era. Well, not so, as I’ve already hinted, for they are a county team, as much as a town one, with a hinterland of nearly 750,000 to draw on. And in a corner of the country with little sporting heritage to call its own, the football team is an important emblem.

In recent years, the team struggled, and seemed to be on its way to the oblivion that is League One and away trips to Shrewsbury and Fleetwood (no disrespect to either is meant, but older Ipswich fans still have treasured memories of European nights), until Mick McCarthy was brought in to steady the ship.

To that extent, he was successful, and, for six years, kept Ipswich afloat on the cheap, with little money to spend. The problem was that the football itself was mostly hardworking rather than entertaining, and the fans aspired to better. My colleagues didn’t demand success, but they did want some attacking football and a bit of quality, and that never seemed to come.

It does need to be borne in mind that, compared to a number of other Championship teams, with their parachute payments for Premiership failure, or wealthy owners willing to spend, Ipswich have become relatively poor relations, and similar sorts of teams - Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers, for example, have fallen further and harder.

As a result, I’ve been modestly sympathetic to McCarthy, because bringing a new man in with a mandate to be a bit more positive is fine, if it goes wrong, someone who can shore up the defence and scrap away will be in demand pretty quickly.

But we’ll see who ends up being unveiled as the new manager. If they seem promising, they might reverse the recent downward trend in season ticket purchases, and improve the fairly negative atmosphere that hangs over Portman Road these days. It might even make Ipswich (and Suffolk generally) a happier place...

Merging Suffolk Councils - a glitch emerges...

I must thank Ros for bringing this to my attention, and the noble Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope for bringing it to hers.

Times are tough in local government, and Suffolk is no exception to that. In the absence of any agreement on forming unitary authorities for the county, the District Councils have paired off to combine services, Waveney with Suffolk Coastal, St Edmundsbury with Forest Heath, and Babergh with Mid Suffolk. Inevitably, I guess, that has led to proposals to form merged authorities, West Suffolk to cover St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath, East Suffolk to cover Waveney and Suffolk Coastal. Consultations have taken place, and the Parliamentary Orders have reached the House of Lords.

There, they have been considered by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which has concerns... Here’s the summary of what they have to say...

These instruments provide, respectively, for the abolition of Suffolk Coastal and Waveney districts and their district councils, and for the creation of a new East Suffolk district and council which covers the same geographic area; and for the abolition of Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury districts and their district councils, and for the creation of a new West Suffolk district and council which covers the same geographic area. 

The Government’s own criteria for council merger proposals include the demonstration that any such proposal commands local support. There is no doubt that the merger proposals for East and West Suffolk are seen favourably by a number of local stakeholders. At the same time, however, significant numbers of residents and, it seems, parish councils have voiced concern about, and opposition to, the proposals; and it may be questioned whether the opportunities provided for such views to be expressed have allowed enough scope to opponents to voice their concerns and have them properly recognised.

It is, naturally, a decision for the full House to consider, but it would be unusual for the Committee’s advice to be disregarded.

I have been unimpressed by the consultation by Mid Suffolk and Babergh thus far, which as reported, has generated a favourable reaction from those surveyed. Of course, what information has been given to respondents is an interesting question, and one that somebody might like to pursue. And it wouldn’t entirely surprise me if the quality of the consultation in East Suffolk and West Suffolk hasn’t been equally sketchy.

It’s worth reading the Committee’s report in full though, and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s briefing, which forms an Appendix.

Personally, I think that moving to unitaries is inevitable - provision of services is probably more important to voters than the intangible benefits of having local authorities closer to the level of residents. But if you are going to consult, and you should, you should do it properly. It is, after all, our choice as to how our money might be spent.

Adventures in Transnistria (part 2)...

I had rather forgotten to report back on the rest of my trip to Moldova, so let’s see if we can remedy that. If you haven’t read the earlier posts on my trip to Transnistria, you can find them here, and here.

Transnistria is not really oriented towards tourists - getting to it is not easy without an airport, or any trains from further west than Chisinau. The lack of knowledge that it even exists can’t help much either. What it does have, other than the KVINT distillery, is the fortress at Bender/Tighina, on the west bank of the Dnieper.

This has always been border country, between the Russians and the Ottomans, amongst others, and command of a major water artery was worth having. In other words, a big fortress was a must.

The number 19 trolleybus runs from the centre of Tiraspol across the Dnieper to Bender, and if you get off at the bus station there, you are tantalisingly close to the main castle. But no, arrive at what looks like the entrance to the fortress site, and a sign directs you around the western side of the fortress walls. It’s a long walk, the signpost suggesting that it’s nearly a mile. That doesn’t feel as though it’s true, because you then arrive at a rundown, of not actually derelict, industrial complex at the back of which is a nondescript building which is the ticket office.

A somewhat unfriendly woman sold me an admission ticket for 50 Transnistrian rubles (a little over £2) and I followed the signs past more post-industrial wasteland until there it was, a quite impressive castle. Yes, it does appear to have been restored somewhat, and a conservator would perhaps not be wildly impressed with how it has been done, but nonetheless, it looks good enough. You can fire crossbows, climb up to the battlements with caution, and there is a graphic display of medieval torture instruments with explanations (in English too) of how they worked.

I did have to get back to Chişinău though, so I made my way back through the post-industrial wasteland, caught the trolleybus back to Tiraspol, and set off for the station. On the way, I stopped at the KVINT store and picked up a half-litre souvenir.

At the station, having confirmed that the next train to Chişinău was in four days time, I went to catch a minibus. Slightly surprisingly, I was greeted in German and encouraged to buy a ticket quickly, as he was due to leave. He escorted me to the ticket office, I handed over most of my remaining Transnistria roubles, and we were off.

At the border, the same border guard approached the bus to collect my entry visa. And then, in fluent English, he rather surprised me by saying, “Actually, why don’t you keep it as a souvenir of your visit to Transnistria?”. I thanked him politely, and we rolled back into Moldova...

@ALDEParty: a day of advanced bureaucracy for political parties

It does sometimes seem hard to believe that I’m now in my seventh year as a member of the ALDE Party’s Financial Advisory Committee. Perhaps that’s because, when I was first appointed, it was on the basis that we would serve no more than three two-year terms, but for various reasons, we have all been extended, some of us for one year, the remainder (including myself) for two.

And in that time, the Committee has evolved. We still do financial advisory stuff, but we also consider grant applications to the Political Projects fund, we examine proposals for new types of spending and advise on such things as fundraising strategy. We are, perhaps, a sounding board for the Secretariat and the Bureau, given our experience of the internal dynamics of political parties. My history as a Regional Secretary, Treasurer and all around bureaucrat gives me an unusual perspective, which comes in handy.

Our relationship with the Secretariat is a healthy one, in that we are willing to ask challenging questions, but have, over time developed a genuine respect for the ability of the senior management team. Indeed, I find myself wondering how the similar relationship between the relevant bodies of the Liberal Democrats and the executive team works. Fortunately, that remains someone else’s problem.

Today, we examined the recently completed 2017 audit, looked at the 2018 budget figures to date, and discussed the relationship between the Committee and the Bureau. We also gave some thoughts on how the Bureau might look at filling the vacancies on our committee as they arise. 

I can’t, for reasons of organisational integrity, discuss the audit. It remains to be considered by the Bureau and the ALDE Party Council, each of which has legal responsibilities, but I am personally reassured that the Party’s finances are healthy and that the fiscal controls are in good hands.

We have had an influence over the years, drawing up an ethical fundraising strategy for the Party which, I understand, has been duplicated by the European People’s Party (plagiarism is the ultimate form of flattery, I guess, although a payment for our work would be nice...), and leading on a restructuring of the membership fee system to make it easier for small member parties from poorer countries.

One thing that does vaguely worry me though is that we appear to have become, almost by stealth, the only group holding the Bureau and the Secretariat to account. Council seems to take increasingly little interest in the day to day running of the ALDE Party, which is rather its constitutionally defined role. In an organisation where transparency is considered important, that might not be critical, but there is a principle here.

When the Liberal Democrats elect members of the ALDE Party Council, candidates tend to talk about ideas, about policy. They don’t talk about how a liberal political party should be run and operated, perhaps because it’s rather dull. And yet, a political party should, in the way it works, reflect its philosophical roots, within the confines of legislation.

I suspect, though, that our delegation is not alone in being more interested in ideas than in process. And if people aren’t interested in process, they are, not unreasonably, not going to pay much attention to such things, trusting the professional staff and the Bureau to take care of it.

Which is why I wondered aloud about reforming Council to sharpen its focus...

Adventures in Transnistria (part 1)...

Tiraspol’s railway station is rather grand, and utterly wasted on the few trains that serve it, but like a surprising number of stations at home, it is a little way from the centre, at the end of a tree-lined avenue. I had a sense of where I was going though, and headed in the direction of the centre of town. This took me past a rather attractive monastery, and then I blundered across the Tourism Information Centre. Now I would admit to not having expected to find such a thing, but there it was, so I went in, in search of a city map.

My sense is that, whilst it was apparently staffed by three women, as they were all sitting in the side office, they didn’t expect to be very busy. However, seeing me standing there, one of them came out to greet me and, upon my request, handed me a colour photocopied sheet of A4 with a map of Tiraspol on one side, and some useful information. She talked me through some of the things to see and do - mostly see, in truth - including the war memorial. Transnistria commemorates three wars, World War II, the Afghan War and the War of Independence against Moldova. It was explained in a matter of fact sort of way, as though I should not be in the least surprised. I was also offered a chance to buy some souvenirs, but as I hadn’t actually been anywhere yet, I opted to wait until later.

Equipped with a map, I set off to explore the delights of Tiraspol. It doesn’t take very long, although what there is is interesting in a kind of bemusing way. The big Soviet style buildings, with Russian flags on, the enormous Russian consulate building, far bigger than you would think it ought to be, and the armoured personnel carrier that commemorates the victory of the “evil Moldovans”. There is even a consulate building (above a shop) shared by the representatives of North Ossetia and Abkhazia, neither of which is recognised by anyone either.

The other thing which is interesting is the dominance of the Sheriff Group in the Transnistrian economy. according to Wikipedia;

Sheriff owns a chain of petrol stations, a chain of supermarkets, a TV channel, a publishing house, a construction company, a Mercedes-Benz dealer, an advertising agency, a spirits factory, two bread factories, a mobile phone network, the football club FC Sheriff Tiraspol and its newly built Sheriff Stadium.

I can testify to a lot of that, and they also now appear to operate gyms/fitness centres, if the adverts showing various muscly men and women are anything to go by. The football stadium complex was rather impressive, a modern facility with what looked like a decent-sized capacity.

What you probably don’t want to ask too much is, where does the money come from to pay for all of this stuff. Transnistria has a population of less than half a million, so one can only presume that the Sheriff Group effectively controls much of the economy and that its relationship with the government is a strong one, or at least has been in the past.

I popped into one of their supermarkets to buy some snacks, and found it to be well-stocked with familiar brands. Clearly, Transnistria is not clinging on to communism despite retaining the hammer and sickle on the flag. The chocolate was Lithuanian, the crisps manufactured by Lays, a brand familiar to Americans. I didn’t seem to attract any attention, or even much interest.

It was time to see one of the most famous attractions in Transnistria. First, I needed to catch a trolleybus...