Well, things go awfully quiet once the council “breaks up” for Christmas!

The New Year will bring continued debate on William Hunter Way with a special Citizens Panel meeting, Planning Committee, Stakeholder meeting and another debate at Ordinary Council where a decision will finally be taken.  For those interested, the Citizens Panel is on 7th January and I will keep you updated on this one.  The other meetings are to be confirmed.

For all of you who sent Nigel, David and/or me a Christmas card, thank you!  It’s nice to have such kind wishes at this time of year and your Brentwood West team like to hear from you!

For all those who I’ve done case work for, it was a pleasure to help where I could!  For those who have a burning issue, give me a call and I will see if I can help!

Finally, I wish you all a lovely Christmas!  I’m now off to plan the cooking schedule for Christmas Day in Brentwood West with my family!

Karen

I’ve just returned from the Full Council meeting and the news is that the decision on the cinema/retail complex/multi storey car park has been delayed.

More news to follow!

Just after I was elected, the Conservatives voted in some fairly extensive parking restrictions in Clements Park. 

I’ve always been of the opinion that they were too much and that a more staged approach would have been better, but I am really interested in knowing how you feel.

So let me know!  Follow this link and fill in my survey: http://www.brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk/surveys/6/

Like Brentwood Theatre, our local radio station plays a very important part in Brentwood life.  Over the last couple of years, it has become a feature of Brentwood life and it is a very rare thing indeed.  It’s a very local station at the heart of the community and carries very local stories, covering local elections and news from local people and is DJ’d by local people.

The Liberal Democrats tried to get funding from the Assizes Fund last night, the same place the £80K for the theatre is coming from, but this wasn’t going to get agreed by the Conservatives.  Therefore, we supported a revised motion that we would look for CIF funding (Community Initiatives Fund) instead. 

It’s a bit of a disappointment, but we hope they will be successful.  If not, we’ll be back again.

See the full story here: http://www.brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk/news/000096/disappointment_for_phoenix_fm.html

Albeit briefly…Cllr David Kendall and I had a lot of fun last night!  When discussing the possibility of an £80,000 grant for Brentwood Theatre, the entire Conservative group and the Labour leader declared a prejudicial interest and had to leave the chamber!  This left just the two of us and one labour member able to vote with Cllr Ross Carter in attendance!

So, David was left to chair the meeting and, for a brief but sweet time, we were the majority group!

The good news is that we did approve the grant for the theatre and this very important feature of Brentwood is able to complete their refurbishment.  The theatre brings a lot of enjoyment to Brentwood residents and I hope to see Fantastic Mr Fox this year!

I’ve added a link to Brentwood Theatre under “Fun Things” on the left.  You can also see the full story here: http://www.brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk/news/000098/lib_dems_move_brentwood_theatre_grant_forward.html

I have a letter in the Brentwood Gazette today, here it is:

Dear Editor

Such a very one-sided view of the Conservatives’ refusal of planning permission for a Multi Use Games Area at Sawyers Hall College appeared in the Gazette (5th November) that the balance has to be sensibly redressed.Opposition councillors were particularly surprised to see this rejected as it was fully supported by the Conservative Mayor of

Brentwood, Cllr Dudley Payne, who sent a statement, read out in support of the application.Liberal Democrats have a strong record of standing up for the Green Belt, but a facility which would encourage young people to participate in sport is certainly not harmful to the green belt and, in our view, would be welcomed by the many residents who tell us there is nothing for their children to do. The application complied with all the relevant policies and was, therefore, recommended for approval.

Specifically, it was considered that the proposed development of a sports pitch would not have an unacceptable detrimental impact on enjoyment of the countryside, would not have resulted in the permanent loss of the best or most versatile agricultural land, would not have an unacceptable detrimental impact on a SSSI, a County Wildlife Site or an area of special landscape and would not have required unacceptably prominent ancillary facilities.Yes, it is appreciated that fencing and floodlighting would be required but not to an unacceptable level. The site benefits from existing tree screening and the fence constituted netting, not a palisade fence.

It’s a shame that the Conservatives did not apply the same attitude to the retrospective application for two classrooms on the Green Belt (recommended for refusal and approved by them) when we were considering an application for Woodlands School.

Cllr Karen Chilvers

Liberal Democrat Councillor, Brentwood West

…in Brentwood’s safest Tory Seat!!! 

Well, a turn up for the books, we have more support than some would have you believe and in the oddest of places! 

The by-election, held in Hutton South yesterday, showed a swing to the Lib Dems of 6.4%, with us increasing our vote and the Conservative party mislaying over 200 voters since May!  Not a shocking result that they held this seat but we are delighted with what we achieved here.

Another month, another planning committee.  Another shoe-horned development turned down in Ingrave Road and a house extension in Hanging Hill Lane approved.

I am disappointed that the committee were not minded to approve a Multi Use Games Area in Sawyers Hall Lane at the college.  As a ward councillor, I am always being asked why there is not enough for youngsters to do in the evening but the Conservative majority turned down a solution in our town centre.

Although it is on green belt, the planning officers considered this to be an appropriate use of the area, as did I, however, most of the Conservatives didn’t agree.  This was a bit of a surprise, given that the Mayor of Brentwood, Cllr Dudley Payne, wrote a letter of support for the facility, read out at the committee, saying that this should be approved for the good of the community.

Oh well!

Power to the people!

I’m delighted to report that the Conservatives have had to do a fairly big about-turn and give up on their preference to go to a Cabinet System for Brentwood Council.  This would have seen a small clique of councillors making the decisions.

The Lib Dem team may have highlighted the issue: we ran petitions, we spoke about it in the press via press notices and lettrs, we spoke to you on the door and made the case for keeping the status quo on our websites…but it was you, the residents, who sent, in support of our preferred option 3, the following to the council:

• 468 consultation papers by post
• 104 responses on-line via the Council website
• 21 responses on www.brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk
• 32 responses from a door-to-door petition
• 93 responses from a postal petition

A total of 718 responses in favour of Option 3 with only 281 in favour of the Leader and Cabinet System (Option 1).  In addition, it’s still worth watching the recent Citizens’ Panel where 99% of the attendees wanted Option 3!

Well done to everyone who got involved!  The committee system stays and we can continue to speak up for you and put your points across in the chamber and live on the internet!

Following on from my “heated discussion” with Cllr Phil Baker last week over his “Bring Back Go Ape”statement, the Gazette have reported almost a full page on the issue.  I do feel the word “squabble” makes light of a very important issue - these parks are supremely important to me and are nothing to do with political point scoring.  I just think that a “Friends of…” anything group should be allowed to proceed without being over-shadowed by Conservative councillors.

Here’s the piece quoted in it’s entirety from this week’s paper:

“Councillors squabble over Brentwood’s parks

POLITICAL squabbling filled the council chamber as town leaders clashed over decisions on the borough’s parks.

Brentwood Tories were accused this week of politically hijacking a parks group supposed to give residents a greater say on what should happen to green spaces.

A partnership of Brentwood Borough and Essex County councils is set to take joint control of open spaces in a bid to hand back more power to the town.

Lib Dem councillor Karen Chilvers suggested at a leisure meeting last week that a “friends of” group be created to join the panel of four councillors.

Although the idea was accepted, council leader Brandon Lewis proposed that the group comprise 10 residents, three Conservative councillors, one Lib Dem and one Labour – a motion passed by the policy board committee.

Cllr Chilvers said at the meeting: “I just think that is too politically loaded.

“A lot of people have contacted me saying they want to be involved, but not in a political group. I am very disappointed.

“It should be one from each political party or not at all.”

The four-member parks panel will have two county councillors and Cllrs Joan Holmes and Michael Golding.

The three Conservative councillors sitting on the friends group will be Cllrs Holmes, Golding and Jean McGinley.

Cllr Lewis said the group set-up would be reviewed at the annual council meeting, but parties also clashed over the decision on who to appoint to the partnership.

Lib Dem leader Cllr David Kendall said Cllr Chilvers would be best placed. “In terms of knowledge, expertise and understanding, there is no other member who has got that,” he said.

Cllr Chilvers was heavily involved in the Save Thorndon Country Park group which campaigned against the Go Ape climbing centre which was later turned down after intense opposition.

But Conservative councillor Phil Baker said: “All of us have an understanding of the park.” He had been approached by many people who said it was a shame Go Ape had not been give the go-ahead.”