Nick Barlow's blog:
- May 18, 2012:
- Castle Ward planning applications, week ending 18th May 2012
As I've seen other councillors around the country doing this, I thought I'd give it a try. As a councillor, I get automatic notification of consultations on planning applications lodged in my ward, so it seems a good idea to share them with my local readers. All the links take you to the full application on the Council's website, where you can read it and comment on it as you wish. I'll likely post these at the weekend to cover all the applications made during that week.
Application 120689: Listed building application to repair of damaged tie-beam in loft area of bar in main restaurant area. Red Lion Hotel, High Street.
Application 120884: Signage on construction hoarding, Greyfriars.
Please note that I am set to be a member of the Council's Planning Committee for the next municipal year. This means that I'm required to act in a 'quasi-judicial' manner with regard to applications before the Committee and as such, can't make comments in favour or against planning applications as I may then have pre-judged them before they come to Committee. I can give advice on planning issues and what to do if you have a comment or objection. However, my ward colleagues Bill Frame and Jo Hayes aren't members of the Committee, so they're free to comment as they wish.
- May 8, 2012:
- Stepping back
After the elections here in Colchester last week, the various political group leaders are busily discussing the future of the Council - who's going to lead it, who'll be in the Cabinet, who'll fill the various committee positions etc There aren't any final answers to those questions yet, but I can tell you one thing about next year's Council Cabinet: whatever the political make-up of it, I won't be on it.
I'm writing this piece to explain why, rather than let the news dribble out and have people make up their own reasons. The simple reason is that while I've enjoyed being on the Cabinet for the last two-and-a-bit years, I've decided to take a break from it. It's an enjoyable job to do, but it's also one that's incredibly time-consuming both in terms of the number of meetings you need to attend, and the amount of time you have to put into dealing with the sheer weight of emails and information that come to you as a cabinet member. It's been great having that responsibility, and getting a chance to shape the future of Colchester, but I feel that now is a good time to take a step back and use the time that it frees up for other things. I'll remain on the Cabinet until the Annual Meeting of the Council at the end of this month to tie up loose ends and ensure things are ready for my successor to take over, but after that I'll be returning to the backbenches.
What other things? On a local level, I've taken on the role of being Treasurer of the Colchester Free Festival, and I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the team there to help develop the festival into something long-lasting and sustainable. I'm also planning on spending more time writing, both working on my fiction and also trying to write more about local government generally, expanding on various ideas I've had and discussed over the last few years.
What I want to make clear, though, is that this is my decision, and it's a personal one, not a political one. I chose to step down on my own, and this definitely isn't jumping before I was pushed. It's also not for political reasons. While I do have issues with the way the coalition government is operating nationally, I fully support what the administration has done here in Colchester and I'm not walking out over policy differences here. (Given that I led the writing of our local election manifesto this year, that would be a particularly self-hating thing to do) This is simply me stepping back and taking a break, not resigning or storming out in a huff. Anyone looking for scandal really ought to go elsewhere, as there's nothing to see here.
I don't rule out returning to the cabinet or another senior position in the future, but for now I'll be happy to be a backbench councillor, working in my ward and doing the best I can for everyone I represent from that position. To all my Cabinet colleagues, the Council officers, external partners and others I've worked with, I can only borrow the words of someone much older and wiser than me: "Go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."
- May 6, 2012:
- What if Colchester had been moved to Suffolk?
Here's an interesting bit of local history for you all, going all the way back to when I was born in 1972. This was a year of many interesting events, and also the 1972 Local Government Act which brought about wholesale changes to the way large parts of the country were governed. It brought in the two-tier system of local government (counties and districts/boroughs) that's been continually tampered with since, and also carved many new counties out of the old borders. I grew up in Redditch, so was under the auspices of the county of 'Hereford and Worcester' for a while, though if things had gone slightly differently I could have known it as Malvernshire or the County of Wyvern.
But today, we're not looking at H&W, Avon, Humberside or any of the odd agglomerations that were created then, but one that was proposed and never came about - Colchester becoming part of Suffolk.
The proposal was for the bulk of what's now Colchester Borough and Tendring District to become part of a new Suffolk (until 1974, East Suffolk, West Suffolk and Ipswich were entirely separate authorities) as part of a wholesale redrawing of borders in East Anglia. Much of West Suffolk around Newmarket would join Cambridgeshire, while northern Suffolk would find itself as part of Norfolk. As what remained of Suffolk would then be a very small county, dominated by Greater Ipswich, Colchester, Harwich et al would be removed from Essex and put into Suffolk. The three main arguments for this were that the area looked more to East Anglia than Essex, that it would bring all the Haven ports (Harwich, Felixstowe and Ipswich) under the same authority and that it would put the whole Dedham Vale and Stour Valley into the same county.
There's an article here from the Southend Echo discussing it from the perspective of one of the PR men employed by Essex County Council to lobby against it, but it seems the idea was proposed and discussed with much more seriousness than that implies.
I've found an interesting House of Lords discussion from September 11, 1972. By this point, the Local Government Bill had been amended to remove the Colchester proposals, but Lord Alport (who'd been MP for Colchester from 1950 to 1961) proposed an amendment to put them back in, and the ensuing debate provides an interesting recap of the discussions that had gone on around the proposals. Of particular interest to me is the noting of a three-hour debate on the proposals at Colchester Borough Council before they were rejected in a vote. There's also another interesting 'what if?' buried within that debate where they discuss the new town and airport to be built at Foulness and Maplin Sands (the 1970s version of Boris Island).
The proposals did have some local support, however. There's a summation of the consultation responses in a Parliamentary written question here which shows that while Colchester, Harwich and Clacton councils were opposed to it, others were in favour of it, including West Mersea, Wivenhoe and Lexden & Winstree councils (all now part of Colchester Borough). However, the largest number of voices were strongly against it and it didn't happen.
But what if the Government of the day had ignored the objections and gone ahead with the changes? Given that they did decide Humberside was a good idea, there's every possibility a redrawn East Anglia could have joined it on the map, but how different would things be? One obvious point made in that House of Lords debate is that the University of Essex would have had to change its name, but would the University of Colchester have fared any differently over the years?
The most likely result, I think, would have been the new Suffolk being about as successful as all the other new counties that were created in the 70s. Like Humberside - though the Stour is obviously a narrower barrier - the old differences could well have proven too much to overcome, and the 90s wave of re-reorganisations could have seen new Suffolk dismembered into a series of unitary authorities (which, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing). The strangest outcome of that might be the name of Suffolk entirely disappearing from the map, joining Middlesex in the land of former counties as all its constituent parts sought new identities.
However, the possibility of the new arrangements being a success can't be entirely discounted. Sure, there'd be a rivalry between Colchester and Ipswich - especially if Colchester grew at the same pace it has in our version of history - but similar rivalries haven't torn other counties apart. There's also the intriguing prospect of a county that's very focused towards the major ports and how that might effect its outlook. Would it be able to look out across the North Sea to find new partners and take advantage of Britain's then-new membership of the EEC?
It's easy to speculate and create an East Anglian utopia or dystopia according to your wishes, but it is interesting to look back at the discussions that surrounded this and ponder how those behind the proposals saw the future developing. Though they likely saw us all clad in bri-nylon jumpsuits and eating food pills for lunch while watching out for the hypersonic New Concorde taking off over the North Sea from Maplin Sands.
- May 4, 2012:
- 2012 Colchester local election results
First up, the result here in Castle Ward was:
Jo Hayes (Liberal Democrat) 861
Peter Lynn (Green Party 395)
Shamim Rashid (Conservative Party) 382
Bob Fisher (Labour) 285
Ron Levy (UKIP) 206
Thanks to everyone who voted to make Jo our next councillor, and with a larger majority than me!
Yet again, there was very little change in Colchester, with Wivenhoe Quay the only seat to change hands, with Labour gaining it from the Tories. The full results are:
Berechurch: Labour 1084, Lib Dem 286, UKIP 219, Conservative 192, Green 52
Dedham and Langham: Conservative 596, Lib Dem 81, Labour 81, Green 78
East Donyland: Labour 488, Conservative 209, Green 39, Lib Dem 21
Harbour: Lib Dem (Julia Havis) 663, Labour 298, UKIP 91, Conservative 84, Green 77
Highwoods: Independent 1211, Conservative 167, Labour 145, Lib Dem 110, UKIP 80, Green 72
Lexden: Conservative 833, Lib Dem 390, Labour 174, Green 131
Marks Tey: Conservative 313, Labour 162, Lib Dem 50, Green 50
Mile End: Lib Dem (Martin Goss) 1467, Conservative 535, Labour 184, Green 91
New Town: Lib Dem (Peter Higgins) 771, Labour 273, Green 166, Conservative 131, UKIP 120
Prettygate: Conservative 1048, Lib Dem 665, Labour 332, Green 177
Shrub End Lib Dem (Nigel Offen) 745, Conservative 514, Labour 334, Green 106
St Andrews: Labour 926, Independent 194, Lib Dem 175, UKIP 108, Conservative 107
St Anne's: Lib Dem (Helen Chuah) 825, Labour 305, Conservative 234, Green 130
St John's: Lib Dem (Paul Smith) 994, Conservative 333, Labour 136, Green 81
Stanway: Lib Dem (Laura Sykes) 1194, Conservative 520, Labour 297, Green 111
Tiptree: Conservative 772, Labour 580, Green 156, Lib Dem 97
West Mersea: Conservative 1196, Green 138, Lib Dem 130, Labour 67
Wivenhoe Cross: Lib Dem (Jon Manning) 477, Conservative 192, Labour 175, Green 59
Wivenhoe Quay: Labour 915, Conservative 559, Green 159, Lib Dem 122
Full results are on the Council website.
- Jan 4, 2012:
- Upcoming roadworks on Westway
Just to let people know that I've had notice from Essex County Council about roadworks that are going to be carried out on Westway (the A134) between the Balkerne Hill and Colne Bank roundabouts. These are some important safety works, centred around fitting in a proper barrier system on the central reservation, but they might cause delays while they're happening.
They're scheduled to start next Monday (the 9th January) - weather permitting - and will continue for about six weeks, though the work is only scheduled to take place during the day from 9.30am until 3.30pm, so it should hopefully not be causing delays during the rush hour.
- Jul 5, 2011:
- Colchester Carnival lineup
It's Colchester Carnival a week on Saturday (the 16th) and there's going to be a whole day of activity going on in town. Keep an eye on the official website and this Facebook page for more information, but as I write this, the current plan for the day is:
Here are just a few of the amazing things you will be able to see in the parade - in no particular order.
The Main part of the parade starts from Abby Fields at 5.30 pm on the 16th July and goes via Butt Road, Headgate, Head Street and High Street, finishing in the Castle Park. However, for logistical and technical reasons, some parts of it will start from Headgate instead: so if you want to see the whole parade in all its glory, we recommend you to watch it in Head Street or High Street.
Martin Reed and the Obby Oss: Derek Wray and Dagmar Engelken as Old King Coel and the Town Trumpeter: The Town Watch: Colchester District Pipes & Drums: The Indian Rickshaw with the local heroes: Footprints Theatre Company: Colchester 2000 Travel Plan Club/Sustrans: Slack Space Colchester with the SlackJazz group: Colin the Dragon and Dragonettes: Colchester Karate Academy: Suffolk Samba: Destination Colchester with Nepalese Dancers. Colchester Historical Enactment Society:Malkiat Singh: Akula Tribal Belly Dance: Kingsland Promotions and the Valhalla Crew: Open Road - SOS Bus: Colchester Scout Band: Braiswick District Girl Guiding: 44th Colchester Scouts: 9th Colchester Scouts: 3rd Stanway Brownies: Colchester Gangshow: First Strokes Swim Schools: Funky Voices Choir: Colchester Cat Rescue: The Laura Rampton School of Dance: The Ormiston Children and Families Trust: Annie's Fantasies Clog Morris and Dobbin: Go Bananas: Carol Gale School of Dance: Colchester Gladiators: Valentine School of Dance: Fisher Jones Greenwood: LEPRA: Essex Samba: Greenstead Community Association: Time Bank: Jazzhands Stage Academy: African Drummers and Indian Dhol drummers with the workshop drum group: The Big Bamboo: Colchester Community Voluntary Services: Ashanti Yard Sound System: The WIGS (Women Institute Girls): Gerry, Jo, Ellie and Ben Stockwell:: Urban Allstars: New Horizon Majorettes: St Stephens Pre School: Boudica Samba: Harwich Brass Band
All in all, we expect at least 700 people in the parade!
Colchester Carnival's Street and Park Festival
Colchester Carnival is not just a parade! We have arranged an entire day of music, dance,and sheer family fun for you throughout the streets of Colchester and in the Castle Park to put you in the party mood for the most spectacular procession that Colchester has ever seen!
A dazzling array of entertainers, dancers and musicians has been assembled by the artistic Director of the Carnival, Dorian Kelly, of Illuminati on behalf of the Colchester Round Table.
It will take place from 11.30 am on Saturday 16th July on Culver Square, Lion Walk, Trinty Street, and Sir Isaacs Walk with buskers through the rest of the town centre, and of course, throughout the Park.
CULVER SQUARE
Free Face Painting for children at Costa Coffee House, Culver Square
11.30: Starting with an opening by The Mayor, The Mayor and Mayor's Escort Cllr. Helen Chua and Cllr Mike Hogg. With the Town watch and a chance to meet Colin the Dragon and Old King Coel
11.40: Compered by Street Poet MARK BRAYLEY we kick off with the amazing 26-piece contemporary choir FUNKY VOICES.
12.15 ANNIES FANTASIES, Colchester's own traditional clog morris dancers with live concertina and melodeon music from Paul McCann.
12.50 This is followed by some fantastic and highly enjoyable operatic arias from CORRINA DOLFO.
1.15 AKULA TRIBAL BELLY DANCERS then take the square by storm with some amazing set-piece dances from various cultures.
1.45: A real treat from Colchester's rising stars LADY BIRD AND THE LARKS, with their own self-penned songs which take a highly entertaining but wry look at life.
2.30 THE CAROL GALE SCHOOL OF DANCE: Street dance display
3.00: THE MEDDLARS - traditional songs and music from the Brisish Isles.
3.45: A special treat THE HAT CHECK HONEYS- Helene and Julie - a sassy, witty duo will be bringing their own brand of glamour and swing.
LION WALK,
Free face painting for Children at The Costa Coffee House, Lion Walk
Opened by the Mayor at approximately 11.45 and compered by Street Poet ANDREW BUDD:
11.30: AKULA TRIBAL BELLY DANCERS- exotic!
12.00: LADY BIRD AND THE LARKS - 5 piece girl group- unmissable!
12.30: CAROL GALE SCHOOL OF DANCE - Street dance exrtraordinaire!
1.00: Colchester's Very own Slum Poet Fred Slattern.
1.15:THE MEDDLARS, Traditional Songs and instrumentals
1.45: ANNIES FANTASIES CLOG- from the NW of England Morris Tradition with a touch of Border wildness!
2.15: VALENTINES SCHOOL OF DANCE - more street dance
2.45 THE GITANE HOT CLUB a new band who will be serving some French-style café jazz Django/ Grapelli style
3.30: FUNKY VOICES 26 incredible voices.
TRINITY STREET
A full programme of Dance events including Clog Morris dancing, Belly Dancing, Street Dance and much more besides:
LUSH! Live music at SIR ISAACS WALK - in the shop or in the Street if fine weather
Lush - the ethical cosmetics shop in Sir Isaac's Walk (a few shops along from Scheregate Steps) - is providing a live music venue as part of the Colchester Carnival programme to raise funds for the Colchester Round Table's charities, but with a lot of emphasis on fun for the community. Call in to Lush; listen; shop; and make a contribution..
Arranged and curated by RICHARD BRAZEAR on behalf of Illuminati and the Carnival
11.00: GRASSHOPPER - Bluegrass trio with cool harmonies and fine songs
11.30: HARMONISE - A gifted a cappella choir with music from around the world
12.00: THE MEDLARS:
12.30: GRAHAM TIDD - a man of many instruments and some great songs
1.00 THE HAT CHECK HONEYS - Helene and Julie - a sassy, witty duo bringing their own brand of swing to any occasion
1.30: DINOSUAR BLUES- Singer,/guitarist and harmonica duo, old and new blues
2.00: TEA TIME ASSORTMENT - a curious assortment of musicians with a curious assortment of music! Traditional and contemporary folk, new and old.
2.30: PAUL RILEY AND CAROLE - a gifted guitarist together with a chanteuse with an attachment to Edith Piaf
3.00: NO STRINGS ATTACHED - Anglo-French acapella duo with songs in English and Breton.
3.30: ADAM HAYES -Talented singer/songwriter with a satin voice and a subtle guitar style
4.00: SHANTYCLEAR- Rumbustious practitioners of the traditional British shanty
4.30: JON RICHARD AND MIKE ( Three of the Four Blokes)
BUNTING ROOMS, Headgate: 2.00- 5.00
2.00 pm: Free African Djembe Drumming workshop followed by a place in the big parade! For people of ages 16 up to 25 - as long as they are big enough to carry a drum for a mile! Drums provided. Register for your free place on artisticdirector@colchestercarnival.com Non-drummers welcome to watch.
THE BUSKERS
Everywhere else in the town centre including the market area will be all your favourite buskers.
IN THE PARK:
A wide variety of attractions, good food and things to do. Dancing in front of the castle at various times, Food and drink. Come and get your own back with a few well-aimed damp sponges …
Give local politicians Will Quince,Nick Barlow,Dave Harris, or Jordan Newell a soaking!@
ON THE BANDSTAND FROM 11.00 TILL LATE
COLCHESTER ROCK PROJECT, Colchester's own rising stars from seven at adult will show what they can do!
M.C. LINGUAR - Award-winning body-popping and breakdancing like you have never seen before!
THE ARENA: HOLLYTREES MEADOW
11.15: COLCHESTER VILLA F.C. Training session - open to all.
12.30 BEST FOOT FORWARD: creative, street and contemporary dance styles as well as encompassing other art forms like video and drama to a range of people, specialising in working with people with learning disabilities.
12.45 LAURA RAMPTON SCHOOL OF DANCE:
13.30 COLCHESTER UNITED TRUST - Football practice: Come and join in!
15.00: DIVERSAFIT: Zumba dance and fitness workshop- open to all
15.30 STAGECOACH
5,00- 7.00 ARENA CLOSED DURING THE PROCESSION
7.00: The Colchester Pipe and Drum band
7.30 THE GREAT SAMBA ECONTRO: Boudica Samba, Essex Samba and Suffolk Samba
THE CASTLE STAGE (Sponsored by Dream 100 FM) from
11.15: VIXATION: Local classic rock: Richard Young, Russell Briggs, Elliott Brock, Victoria Eldon.
12.15 ADP Stage School: ADP Theatre school is based in Wivenhoe, Colchester and run by local professional singer ANGIE DIGGENS.
1.00 JAZZHANDS: Performance from this friendly and fun dance class.
1.30: EXALTATION CHOIR: gospel, spirituals and more contemporary songs.
2.00 STAGECOACH: Performance by this down-to-earth training school for four to eighteen year-olds in the disciplines of dance, drama and singing.
3.45: GITANE HOTCLUB. -purveyors of Manouche Jazz (Gypsy Jazz), and play an intriguing melange of Hot Club de Paris swing (Django / Grappelli) and French / German cafe standards of the 1930s / 1940s (Edith Piaf / Marlene Dietrich)."
5,00- 7.00 STAGE CLOSED DURING THE PROCESSION
7.30 MAIN BANDS: Darien Prophecy / Rainbow band. Prophecy has been defined as "A divinely inspired utterance" and this description is fitting for this amazingly talented singer who has come out of the Mandeville countryside in Jamaica to reside in the UK.
Reggae Rainbows have been in the recording business since the 80s where their first recording was in the group called Jah Warriors which Lloyd Duppy Clarke was the founder member. They have toured with the likes of Curtis Mayfield, the mighty diamonds, yellow man, culture, plus many more to name a few.
Well done to everyone involved in the Carnival for putting together what sounds like a very impressive lineup - now lets all hope for great weather on the day!
- May 28, 2011:
- Simple answers to Googled questions
Someone came here on a search for 'when is rubbish collection day in Colchester when there is a bank holiday?' and I can tell you that next week it's one day later than your usual date. So if your waste is normally collected on a Monday, it'll be collected on Tuesday, if you normally have a Tuesday collection, it'll be on Wednesday and so on with regular Friday collections being picked up on Saturday morning. Hope that helps - for more information you can check the Council's website here.
- May 26, 2011:
- May 18, 2011:
- Maths, Hanningfield style
You may have heard that Paul White (aka Lord Hanningfield), the former leader of Essex County Council, is currently on trial on charges of false accounting in Chelmsford.
While I'm not going to comment on the substance of the trial until after it's concluded, there's one comment of his that's been reported that does deserve some attention:
He said: "Essex is as big as Northern Ireland. So my job is something like the equivalent of being prime minister of Northern Ireland. It is bigger than Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia.
Leaving aside the different roles of the Northern Ireland Executive and the leadership of a County Council, let's look at the 'bigger than Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia' part.
The population of the part of Essex governed by the County Council (Southend and Thurrock are unitary authorities) is, according to Wikipedia 1,396,300, in an area of 3,465 square kilometres.
Croatia, by contrast, has a population of 4,483,804 and an area of 56,594 sq km. (source)
Lithuania has a population of 3,535,547 and an area of 65,300 sq km (source)
And Latvia has a population of 2,204,708 and an area of 64,589 sq km (source)
Again, leaving aside the difference between running an English County Council and an entire nation-state, I can't quite see how one can claim Essex as being bigger than any of those countries. I think it's clear that neither geography nor mathematics are amongst Lord Hanningfield's strong points, which may go some way to explaining why he is where he is today.
- May 11, 2011:
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