Baroness Ros Scott, Lib Dem President, was in town tonight talking to Lib Dem members at the South Weald Parish Hall.

Ros is an inspirational speaker and I’m sure the party will go from strength to strength as she steers the party with Nick Clegg.

Some of you may have read a press report regarding a Tory councillor reporting David to the Standards Board.  I’m pleased to say that David has been completely cleared of all charges against him by an independent report into the “incident”. 

It is a shame that someone decided to leak this story to the press last week and the story broke yesterday, the day after the report cleared him. 

Well done to everyone who attended and spoke at the Citizens Panel today.  It was refreshing to see hear new voices and see new faces debating matters in the council chamber and you certainly made your voices heard!

I saw a few Brentwood West residents there raising issues that were important to them and I applaud them for that!

I wasn’t allowed to attend - it was decided best that you were uninhibited by councillors and I agree with this stance.  But I couldn’t resist tuning in to the webcast!

We would like to make you aware that Weald Road, from High Street to Western Road, will be shut from 1st  February 2009 for around eight weeks for the demolition of 141-147 High Street (Sir Charles Napier pub etc.)

There will be a diversion via High Street, Ongar Road, William Hunter Way and Western Road. 

This is all the information we have at the moment but, as soon as we get updated, they will be posted on the site.

I’ve added a link to my site for my residents to help you save money in these tough times. 

Martyn Lewis’ moneysavingexpert.com site is one I have been using for a long time and it has loads of tips on saving from everything to petrol to high street discounts.

Click here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

Parking issues are raised with me more than anything else!  Recently, I’ve conducted surveys in some areas, such as Clements Park, to canvass residents’ views.

If you have any issues you’d like to make me aware of, please send me a comment.

Hoping you all have a good New Year’s Eve!  Talk to you in 2009!

Karen x

Anyone who knows me will know that I’ve been fighting the closure of Keys Hall since last March and Old House for the past year.

I firmly do not believe that either of these halls are “surplus to requirements”.

In the case of Keys Hall, the council could ask that any developer come to us with a development that includes a community facility that would ensure the continuation of those groups who use it.  Recently, with the council unable to find a suitable development (great news as far as I am concerned) I have asked for them to book at least 12 months in advance, but they will only concede to extend it on a rolling 6 month basis, rather than the 3 months they have now.  I do hope that some remedial refurbishment work will take place in the interim.

With regards to Old House, we feel that there have been missed opportunities here.  The administration would not agree to our request to look at refurbishing the building and then renting out the top floors whilst keeping the ground floor for community use and this is also to close.  A sad day for those who enjoy “Learning for Pleasure” there and will be unable to make it to Merrymeade House as they do not have a car, and the bus does not reach this building.

I’m further surprised to learn that, after initially backing the campaign to Save Old House, Cllr Russell Quirk (Con) has now said, on www.thisisessex.com today:

“I too opposed the closure of Old House, until I was taken on a tour of it by our then Chief Executive, Bob McLintock. Once enlightened, I saw that most of it is completely unusable and in fact dangerous in its present state. There are holes in the roof and the staircases do not meet current fire regulations. To refurbish the building would require around £300,000 of council tax payers’ money. So before simply shouting ‘Rent the upstairs to businesses’, Cllr Chilvers and Co should acknowledge that such a scheme could not take place without significant public funds being spent to make the facility safe and habitable.”

I didn’t “shout” anything by the way!  But I did ask for this option to be investigated, with all finances presented to councillors at the next meeting.

It’s a sad day when we aren’t even given all the information we request, particularly when the agendas are only presented to us a week before the event and yet the Conservatives, with their huge majority, go ahead and vote for closing community facilities without investigating every option.  We had the same with the cricket pitch in Warley and other things besides!

Read the full article, with comments, here: http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/brentwood/BRENTWOOD-Campaign-save-community-halls/article-567412-detail/article.html

We’ve launched a business survey today…see below:

http://www.brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk/news/000119/local_business_survey_launched.html

I know quite a few of my residents in Brentwood West have small businesses so please do fill it in if you have a chance!

We’re asking for the Conservative Leader of Brentwood Council to confirm whether he lives in Brentwood or Hemsby.  We’re just a little confused after this letter appeared on his website: http://www.brandonlewis.co.uk/ul/Hemsby%20letter.pdf

Full story here: http://www.brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk/news/000113/lib_dems_ask_tory_council_leader_brentwood_or_hemsby.html