One vote for Commitment, Community & Creativity

Tomorrow is election day. Tomorrow you get to choose who will work for you at county hall. Tomorrow you get to vote for the people who will help you realise your dreams and ambitions - for yourself and all those you care about. Please vote. 

And I earnestly ask for one of your three votes. As an independent councillor, I can promise you:

• Hardworking Commitment
• Community Focus
• Creativity & Innovation

Commitment

• Very proactive and visible Mayor for two years, working hard to help Buckingham become an even healthier, wealthier and happier town
• Buckingham town councillor for ten years and Maids Moreton parish councillor for two, teamworking with fellow councillors and officers to improve our streets, parks and homes
• Establishing and co-moderating the biggest local social media discussion group: helping people connect, debate and build better lives for all for the last six years
• Solid contributor to several local charities concerned with young people, housing and health over several years

Community

• Deeply committed to developing public services that work in partnership with local people and associations, harnessing everyone's energy to create more health and wealth for all
• Always searching for ways in which the voices of our local communities can be heard through petitions (eg the skate park or the infamous roundabout), public meetings and social media
• Very concerned about how the public appears to be shut out from big planning decisions and denied transparency (eg Maids Moreton development) & will resolutely challenge this
• Looking for ways to make sure the public and parish/town councils have more of a say over s106 agreements to improve local infrastructure (eg street lights for people to walk home by)

Creativity

• Tapping into 'community ingenuity' and finding new ways to solve old problems (eg facilitating a local idea into community safety legislation in partnership with our MP)
• Coming up with fresh ideas and innovations to improve life in our towns (eg the first promenade to Stowe through the Corinthian arch since Queen Victoria, the Good Endings Fair, a warranty scheme for pothole repair, and - see below - an idea* to boost solar power investment)
• Importing innovation from elsewhere (eg the Happy Benches to help with mental health and tackle loneliness)
• Generally being free and unchained like the Buckingham Town swan, unshackled by petty party political game playing, able to forge creative partnerships with all who want to see things improve

*The idea I awoke with this morning!

We need solar panels on every public building (indeed every building!) to make the most of the free energy from our wonderful sun. (Which shines quite a lot on our town and nearby villages!) Moreover, we need these solar panels to be complimented by batteries inside the buildings because often the energy is needed when the sun is going down. And I know from my own experience, there is still energy to spare which gets pumped back into the national grid. 

But, and now here's the idea: why don't we connect up electric vehicle (EV) charging points to the solar panel / battery arrays in all of these public buildings? In this way, the public buildings can sell clean, green and excess solar electricity to EV owners thus boosting the income for the public services...? This will help pay off the investment in the kit in the first place as well as harness the resources of the public services (the sunny roofs!) And... it reduces our overall carbon footprint!

I have not heard of this happening anywhere else. Why shouldn't it happen here first?!

The more votes I get tomorrow, the louder will be my independent voice - to seek to persuade the people with the power to make this and lots of other changes happen. 

The montage below represents my commitment to

• adding the spice of creativity
• community safety through community action
• innovation to sort potholes and other 'old' problems
• our community life as evidenced by my time as Mayor (see my blog if you want to know more)
• new ways to address flooding (why aren't all new homes built with grey water recycling?)
• access and equality for all (let's design out disability and anything that holds people back)
• battery and solar power to help us get around with less carbon
• addressing the scourges of loneliness and poor mental health
• making our environment cleaner, greener and sustainable through working together!

The Hustings

On Sunday 2 May, our University of Buckingham hosted hustings for all the candidates for both East and West wards covering Buckingham and the nearby villages. My huge thanks to Dean Jones who pulled all this together, ably supported and sponsored by technician Matt Thompson, Student Union President Chris Sheard & VC James Tooley. Thanks to all who took part and made this happen. This is democracy in action! 

Dean has posted a link to the event on MS Teams - and soon there will be one on You Tube as well. Meanwhile here is the link to the MST recording. The recording is now also up on Vimeo and YouTube. Thanks Dean. 

Like all the candidates, I scripted my answers to the preset questions. Here is what I wrote and later said:

First - my 'pitch':

I want Buckingham and our nearby villages to be even better places in which to live, study, play, work, grow up, grow old and visit. I want our community to be part of a sustainable world in which everyone - and I mean everyone - has dreams and ambitions and the wherewithal to achieve them. If that chimes with you, then I simply request one of your three votes.

If I am elected I promise that I will work my absolute hardest as your local Buckinghamshire councillor to tackle the issues that matter to you - and which matter to me. Those concerns include:

• Sorting the damned potholes! (and I have new ideas on how to do that)
• More clean green energy and action to renew biodiversity
• The scourges of loneliness and low well being
• Making our streets and homes safer - and feel safer
• Housing that puts communities first not second (or even third)
• Boosting local businesses with council purchasing
• Inequalities and discrimination whereever they occur
• More transparency & more accountability
• Cleaner streets, parks and countryside

You may say - ‘how will you do this? What is it going to cost?’

To which I respond - I don’t exactly know yet because I don’t know what the new Council will look like and who will be elected. And so forth.

But I do know I am good at persuading people, coming up with new ideas and listening to the ideas of lots of other people. Just last week, our local MP presented a Bill in parliament that will go some way towards tackling power tool thefts. The original idea came from a local woman on Facebook. I saw it and thought - hah! That could work. So I sent it on to Greg Smith - and he thought so too. I am good at facilitating community ingenuity - and I am not bad at coming up with ideas myself. If you elect me - just watch this space!

And if you want to know more about my pitch and my ideas - please go to votejonharvey.blogspot.com. And if you want to know how hard I can work, please visit the blog I wrote about my two years as Town Mayor - just search on Buckingham Mayor Blog and you will find it.

Thanks for your support.

Q1. Why should/ and how can Buckingham do more to protect the Environment? ....

Like most people I have renewed my love of our countryside and municipal parks over the last few months. All this environment has added an immeasurable boost to my well being. I know I am not alone in this. So of course, we should protect, develop and enhance our wonderful environment!

And we must remember that our environment is limitless. To adapt John Donne, ‘never say for whom the iceberg melts, it melts for thee’. Protecting the environment also means preventing our world going up in the flames of gas and oil. We have to tackle the climate emergency - head on and with speed. The clock is ticking and we are at 2 minutes to midnight. So what is to be done?

We need to stop throwing litter away for starters! All our councils can help with this by providing plenty of bins (including in laybys like Oxfordshire does) and litter pickers too. I was on a beach in Cornwall a few days ago - and there was a box with plastic bin bags and pickers for people to borrow and help keep the beach clean. We could have those in our parks.

We all need to buy from local shops and farmers. We need to help farmers markets thrive? I don’t know the answers - but I think if we ask the farmers and consumers some more - we can find out.

As for reducing our carbon footprint - there are so many ways we are all trying to do this. But we need to do it more. And Buckinghamshire Council has a leadership role here. Much more of the Council’s newsletter needs to inform and educate people on how to make a difference. And the council needs to show by example by investing in public transport and reusable energy. Why don’t all council buildings have solar panels and batteries?

I am confident that with deep partnership working between the councils, our communities, local businesses and everyone of us - we can together make a real difference. Indeed, we must!

Q2. What actions will you take to deal with resident’s concerns about housing development and its impact on our small market town and surrounding villages? ...

My first action is always to listen and listen some more. And watch closely what happens.

I was part of the team of councillors and officers who debated the ideas and put together the Buckingham Neighbourhood Development Plan over many months. The plan is filled with local people’s hopes and ambitions for the future of our town. The plan is about to be revised - and there will be many more meetings to listen, learn and debate

The Neighbourhood Plan sought to balance the need for more housing with the need for this to be carefully matched with suitable infrastructure - roads, schools, drains etc etc. We also need local housing to be affordable for those people who need to move on or move out of where they are currently living.

I was also the person who wrote to the Housing Minister to ask him to stop the development of Moreton Road phase three as it was outside the boundary in the Neighbourhood Plan. Thankfully he did and AVDC were forced not to approve the planning application. Although the threat has not gone away.

Many of the problems in the past have been when the planning authority has taken its eyes off the ball as it were when it comes to approving the layouts and section 106 agreements. For example, why are there no street lights for people walking home at night to the new St Rumbold’s estate? Why did the town council have to argue and argue for there to be a proper path between the phase one Moreton Road development and the nearby bus stop? Minor details that can be sorted with the proper involvement of parish and town councillors.

So in sum - my main action will be to keep banging the drum to insist that local people have a real say in local housing developments - directly and via their parish/town councils.

Q3. How will you ensure all residents have the opportunity to thrive in our town and surrounding villages? ...

I love this question!

For me everyone thriving means everyone having dreams and ambitions and the wherewithal to achieve them. This is at the heart of my politics. That is the world I am working towards - indeed it's the world I have always been joyfully working towards - professionally, personally and politically.

As a Buckinghamshire Councillor - I won’t claim that I will be able to ‘ensure’ this though! But this is what I will do that I believe and hope will help:

I am going to do my best to shift the debate on fast broadband to all areas from - ‘how much will it cost to install’ to ‘how much will it cost our local businesses, the education of our children and ourselves, and the well being of our communities if we ‘don't install fast broadband..! I will be looking for ways to measure this and thereby build effective business cases for the expansion of our BB networks throughout the county.

Secondly we need to turn Buckinghamshire Council into an ‘asset aware’ council so that all of the council services compliment, harness and develop all the existing passionate energy in our town and local villages that is already aiming to create thriving communities. As taxpayers and residents, we are partners in this enterprise - not merely customers of council services - and we need to be treated as such. This is called ‘Asset Based Community Development’ and there is more on my blog about this.

Thirdly, I will carry on campaigning for the shire Council to use more of its purchasing power to boost local businesses and local not for profit providers. The legislation, in the form of the Social Value Act 2012 already exists to do this. I will be pushing for the Council to spend much more of our money inside the county so that lots of small local businesses will benefit.

And there is so much more that can be done to help people thrive but my two minutes is up!

Q4. What part does party politics play in a local council elections? Why is standing as a (conservative, Independent, Liberal Democrat, Labour, Green etc.) Important to you? ...

To answer the first part of the question: too much! Far too much.

As a manager I wouldn’t appoint someone to a job based on the colour of their jacket. Why should we do this as voters? In my view, people should vote for people not parties.

At the age of 16, for my O’level certificate in Spoken English, I argued that there is no place for party politics in local government. I got an A. It has taken me a few years, but I am now resolutely back to that position.

It seems to me, the only people who really benefit from party politics in local council elections are those in control of those parties. I happen to think the people should be in control.

It really doesn’t have to be this way. I have been a member of the Town Council for nearly ten years - and we make decisions after just talking about stuff. There are no pre meetings where different factions work out their party line - just straight talking passionate town councillors thrashing out what we think is best for the town. And guess what, most of the time we agree!

As we now wake up blinking in our post pandemic world, Buckinghamshire Council has some very important decisions to make - in order to help everyone thrive in what are going to be some very tough times ahead. The last thing we need are parties, tribes and factions arguing about the numbers of angels on political pinheads. Just like the Town’s swan, I will be not held down, hobbled and chained to hardened party rules, policies and positions

As your independent councillor I will be standing up for voices of local people and our local communities. I will be standing up for decisions that are evidence based and consensual. And I will be standing up for creativity, innovation and fresh thinking.

Because this is what we need right now - more than ever!

Ten minutes to stop tool thefts

I saw a tweet from our MP this morning that made me very, very happy. You can see my reaction to it below:

The Express article which Greg's tweet links to is here. 

This story began with a discussion on the social media group that I founded six years ago (Buckingham: What Matters to You) where a woman put forward an idea that people selling power tools on FB market places should have to show the serial number. When I saw this, the back of my neck tingled. I knew this was a cracking idea that could make a real positive difference to closing down the market in stolen goods. And so I wrote to our MP, Greg Smith on 3/11/20:

Dear Greg, You will have noticed how many tool thefts have happened from vans in recent times in our constituency. This is a national problem, of course. As I am sure you are aware from your past involvement in community safety and crime prevention, there are many ways to stop or reduce crime. The other day, a member of the social media group I help to look after, suggested what I considered to be a rather clever way of reducing this kind of theft. 

See: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuckinghamMatters/permalink/1617314731783434 for the full discussion. 

Her idea was that FB marketplace should demand that people selling second hand tools must be required to show the serial numbers of such items. Brilliant I thought! This would potentially close down ways for people to turn their stolen goods into money - because it would facilitate crime victims, the police and insurance companies being able to track down stolen items. Building on her idea, may I ask that you consider sponsoring a ten minute rule bill or some other motion that would push government towards: making it a legal requirement that all online selling adverts for expensive items such as power tools, TVs, phones etc must show their serial number and record that number in the searchable text of those adverts. I look forward to your thoughts on this matter. Thank you.

Greg wrote back enthusiastically, promising to take the idea forward. He was not able to get a positive reply from the minister concerned so, with determination, he has taken this matter forward to a 10 minute rule bill. Hopefully, it will gain support. In due course, it should (it really should!) become law - hopefully!

I want to pay tribute to the woman who first had the idea and I am sorry that I cannot name her as the *link is broken for an unknown reason. She started this particular ball rolling and deserves credit for her ingenious piece of creative thinking. 

Also, of course, I want to thank Greg Smith MP for not giving up on this idea and taking it to this point. This is great use of political power. Whilst Greg and I disagree on many things, we both agreed on this, as we are both resolutely in support of all action that prevents and reduces crime. This shows what can be achieved when politicians of all hues and none come together in a spirit of joint problem solving. This is another example of the kind of joined up community politics I have already blogged about below: bringing together ideas, leaders and shared purpose to add to the well-being of our communities.

Finally, I would add, that this story for me, is yet more reason why I started the local social media group in the first place: as a place for local people to come together to share and debate ideas about how to improve our communities. There is just so much creativity, energy, commitment and purpose in all of our communities! We just need to find more and more ways to tap into all of this. And I think that takes a different kind of politics: one that sees the public not merely as consumers or users (and occasional voters) but one that sees the public as a deep well of the energy we all need to build a better, fairer, wealthier and healthier society - in which everyone has dreams and ambitions - and the wherewithal to achieve them... 

If you want that kind of politics too, please use one your votes for me on May 6 in a few days time. Thanks. 

It is all about the outcomes

 I have just started a new book called: Rekindling Democracy by Cormac Russell: 

Finally, a book that offers a practical yet well researched guide for practitioners seeking to hone the way they show up in citizen space. Rekindling Democracy, A Professional’s Guide To Working In Citizen Space, convincingly argues that industrialized countries are suffering through a democratic inversion; where the doctor is assumed to be the primary producer of health; the teacher of education; the police officer of safety, and the politician of democracy.

Through just the right blend of storytelling, research and original ideas Russell asserts instead that in a functioning democracy, the role of the professionals ought to be defined as that which happens after the important work of citizens is done. The primary role of the 21st century practitioner therefore is not a deliverer of top-down services, but a precipitator of more active citizenship and community building. And then he goes about showing us how to do so effectively.

I particularly like this remark: The primary role of the 21st century practitioner therefore is not a deliverer of top-down services, but a precipitator of more active citizenship and community building. 

In other words, the job of local politicians & the professional officers of local councils is to nurture community action and good citizenship rather than be the all knowing deliverer of services. What matters ultimately are the outcomes for people and our communities, not a list of activities (or spurious unmeasurable promises) ...

Take this for example (and it is just one example - I could have done much the same to any other political leaflet from one of the local political parties) from the local Conservative Party campaign. 

Looking at the 'record of progress' first:

• good and outstanding schools: this is positive but this says very little about the achievements of the students. Are more pupils getting good qualifications? Have numbers of excluded pupils gone down? Is the gap between the less able and more able narrowing or widening? What do the students and their parents say about how the schools are? What about the mental and physical health of young people - is there nothing to say about this? 
• community boards: some committees have been set up. Wow. What have they achieved? Do communities know about these boards? Do more communities feel empowerd to take action on matters that need investment?
• mitigation funding: again, it sounds good, but what will (has?) this £60 million be spent on? Who gets to decide? What does it include? How much of this is compensation for the homes being destroyed by the HS2 construction? How will communities benefit, exactly?
• spending on social care: is this a success? If more is needing to be spent, does this mean that needs have risen? Why and what could have been done to prevent those needs rising? How much of the spend has gone up because central government subsidies have gone down? Again, how are people, families and communities being assisted to prevent such needs rising?
• vfm: sounds good but it is pretty short on detail. And again, where is the community benefit? Where are the beneficial outcomes that people can experience?
• eliminating rough sleeping: this is a positive and obviously supported by extra funds made available from central government during the pandemic crisis. Of the six, this is a palpable and positive outcome and I hope it continues long past the end of the pandemic. 

Now let's turn to the plans for the future:

• protecting the environment: planting trees is always good of course! How will this be done and how will communities get involved? The other points sound good but I am wondering whether Buckinghamshire Council has the power to increase environmental standards alone, or is this a central government initiative? Doubling EV charging points is good. But again, where are the measures of outcomes? What percentage of the Bucks population currently own an electric vehicle? How will this be increased? 
• further reducing crime: much of what is mentioned is outside the scope of what BC can do (for example it is the PCC and Chief Constable who are recruiting police officers). Where are the outcome measures? Has crime been reducing in the county over the last few years? I think it is rather the reverse: violent crime has been going up by 20% and overall crime (according to the Office for National Statistics) has increased by 1% in the last year. And what about the fear of crime (especially amongst women on streets at night) which can be as disabling as actual crime. No mention of fear and also no mention of how to help the public and communities take action to reduce crime. These are the outcomes that matter...
• safeguarding: all good things but note the terminology of 'supporting' not 'enabling' or 'empowering' vulnerable people shape and achieve dreams and ambitions.  
• supporting job creation: again note the 'supporting' way of thinking. And the desired objective is... (small fanfare...) a plan! And it is remarkably short on detail and what outcomes need to be achieved. For example if the leaflet said something like '60% of our villages do not have fast broadband and our target is to enable those communities to reduce that figure to 30% over the next four years' would be much, much more impressive.
• investing in roads and pavements: investment is good but it isn't an outcome! How will this money be spent, where will it be spent? How will overall 'road health' increase? How many fewer tyres and wheels will the Buckinghamshire public have to replace over the next four years? Measurement of ourcomes is key here and this is spectacularly absent. 
• mitigating HS2: leading an unsuccessful campaign to stop HS2 is not something I would have mentioned! But putting that aside, aiming to reduce the disruption connected to HS2 and East West Rail is something worthwhile and feels closer to an outcome for the people and communities directly affected. How will this be measured? And saying something more positive like 'we will ensure that lives of the people most affected by these large construction projects are improved through better logistical planning of groundwork and community engagement' or some such would have been so much better. 

As I say, I could have done a similar analysis of another party's leaflet. The Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates seem to locked in a battle over who has been and will be the best opposition. I have chosen this leaflet to analyse as Buckingham East is a Conservative held ward. In all honesty if I am going to win a place on Buckinghamshire Council, I am going to have to earn more votes than at least one of the Conservative candidates. 

My plan is to bring positive and fresh ideas to a council that I think has become complacent and out of touch with our local communities. I want to persude the council to invest more in community building and becoming an enabling and empowering authority - with a real focus on outcomes. 

That is my pitch! I hope I can earn one of your three votes to help make this happen. Thank you. 

Campaign Video: answering people's questions

A few days ago, I requested for people to submit questions they would like me to answer. This video records my answers. 

Thanks again to all who asked the questions. And if anyone has any more - please email me at JonSHarvey@Ymail.Com. Thank you. 

Here is the link to the video

Oliver Twist - Part Two (Do we want a councillor led planning process?)

The other day, I documented my concerns about the proposed changes in the Buckinghamshire Council constitution with regards to planning matters. 

On Monday 19 April, we had a meeting of the planning committee of the Town Council (agenda papers here - see page 42 - Appendix E) when I was able to explain my deep concerns to fellow councillors and the Buckingham public. 

You can watch what I said here at the recorded broadcast of the meeting - it is at 1:17:38 into the tape. (My contribution goes on to 1:28:26)

Protecting (and enhancing) the Green stuff!

This morning I recieved a letter in the post from the Chair of CPRE Buckinghamshire asking me a series of questions as a candidate. They were great questions! Here are my answers. 

Dear Paula

Many thanks for your letter and the packet of wildflower seeds!

I am very happy to answer your questions:

1) How will you support the development of a new Local Plan - to prioritise brownfield development, protect the green belt, support the rural economy and challenge Government dictated housing assumptions?

• Short answer - in every way possible!
• Increasingly the draft Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan is being found to be lacking. Any plan which can insist upon the massive and disproportionate expansion of a rural village (Maids Moreton), which blithely seeks to overturn the need for large numbers of affordable housing (25% as opposed to the 35% in the Buckingham Neighbourhood Development Plan) and which ignores the need for local infrastructure to sustain housing developments (Buckingham Western bypass) is not a good plan. 
• And if, if elected I will do my utmost to ensure that the new Buckinghamshire wide local plan is one that does all the points you mention and more! For example, I regard the beautiful countryside around Buckingham to be Green too. It also deserves protection just as much as the Green Belt in the south of the county! 

2) How will you challenge the OxCam arc development numbers to ensure they are focused on meeting local needs?

• To begin with the OxCam Arc should be renamed the 'Buckingham Bow' to emphasise that it is our area that is going to be most impacted by the proposals being discussed to develop industry and housing etc between the two famous university cities. And we have our own famous University here in Buckingham which should be at the centre of helping to ensure that local needs are met
• It is vitally important that any developments are created in tune with our local communities and countryside. Public engagement is key.
• Indeed, should I be elected, I will be using my influence to site any agency tasked with the job of planning for these developments (should they proceed) to be based in Buckingham. Indeed, it is something I would hope that the University would be able to partner with so that together we can create a Centre for Sustainable Development Excellence in our town.

3) How will you improve the county's transport networks and support access to transport for rural communities? 

• I have been campaigning for a fast north/south coach service linking Northampton, Towcester, Silverstone, Buckingham, Winslow, Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe since 2013 (https://ajustfuture.blogspot.com/2013/03/x444-bucks-northants-economic-express.html) in order bring people, jobs and low carbon together. As a Buckinghamshire Councillor I hope to be able to make this happen.
• I have been an active member of Aylesbury Vale Transport Users Group which aims to develop and problem solve issues around local public transport for several years
• Thinking of the future, we need to find bold and imaginative ways to subsidise and support public transport and low/no carbon travel. This means more charging points and partnership with industries keen to bring workers to their locations. It also means investing in local workspaces so that people can gain from the camaraderie of an office without travelling half way across the country to do so. 
• And we need to reframe how the council funds (for example) school transport which can mean more damage to the environment rather than less by encouraging, albeit probably unwittingly, a growth of car ownership amongst sixthform students and more car journeys to transport children to and from schools. 

4) How will you protect our farmers and farmland? These provide jobs, skills, biodiversity and land stewardship.

• The Council needs to review its policies for sourcing locally to begin with. When it comes to buying food for school and care home meals for example, are the products bought locally to help sustain the county's and country's farms? 
• What more can be done to support apprenticeships in rural communities and specifically on farms? Perhaps the Council can enable farmers to work together to develop such ideas?
• But the first thing I would do is listen, lots, to the needs of farmers and farmworkers and discover what ideas they have.

5) What support for the county's rural areas will you give, to provide affordable housing and better broadband?

• Short answer - lots and lots!! 
• As I say above, we need to ensure that the County wide local plan ensures adequate and fair distribution of affordable housing.
• When new developments are built, unlike in Lace Hill, Buckingham for example, fast, optic fibre broadband, needs to be built in from the outset. This will probably necessitate involving parish and town councils far more in the creation of 106 agreements as it is evident that the planning authorities have, shall we say, not quite been as much 'on the ball' as local parish/town councillors are!
• Getting fast BB to remote rural areas is undoubtedly a challenge but solutions have been found for villages through imagination and industry support. We need some fresh thinking in this area

6) What action will you take to promote local, sustainable, affordable produce?

• See above about local procurement using the County's purse as it were.
• I think the Council could do more to inform consumers about what is grown in the county and what is imported by working with local food growing associations and food retailers. 
• There are some very successful farmers' markets and some that have nor survived. I would hope to explore what are the differences that make the difference between success and failure and help local farmers and towns establish and expand such markets.

7) What action will you take to prevent further destruction to our countryside environment - from over-development, deforestation and the degradation of our rivers?

• Measurement is key here. As a local town councillor in Buckingham, I have worked with colleagues to monitor and count the number of trees lost over the last few years in the town. It is a creeping problem which might otherwise go unnoticed. Hence we need something like this countywide. By measuring we can raise the topic up the political agenda and spot any patterns which might be either enhanced (if they are good ones) or disrupted (if they are bad). 
• Much of this comes through assessing the applications to develop housing and other other infrastructures. We need a planning system that is much more tuned towards protecting and enhancing the green stuff in our environment rather than focusing on concrete and tarmac. 
• I am surprised that you have not mentioned flooding as an issue which is crying out for more imagination, investment, and radical action 
• And where is HS2 in your questions? Although it is going ahead - the development of which needs urgent mitigation to ensure that trees and countryside are not destroyed any more than absolutely necessary. 

Please do publish my answers. I will be doing so on my campaign blog as well (https://votejonharvey.blogspot.com) 

Thanks for your letter. Some great questions to get my teeth into and which has helped me to do some more thinking about all these matters!

Oliver Twist?

On Wednesday morning, Cllr Warren Whyte, who currentlys holds the Buckinghamshire Cabinet portfolio for planning tweeted this: 

Below are the two pics of quotes he has highlighted (a little larger): 

I responded with a series of tweets (to which at the time of writing, Cllr Whyte has yet to reply):

(Please forgive the density of this debate - but please trust me - this is really important to the future of housing and other developments in the towns and parishes of Buckingham and the rest of the county)

For the last year, Buckingham Town Council, along with other parish and town councils, has been battling with the new Buckinghamshire Council (uBC) to be properly heard on planning matters. When AVDC existed, the Town Council could require that a planning application be 'called in'. This meant that the application would have to go to committee with a full report from the planning officers of the then district council. And importantly a member of the Town (or Parish) Council then had some committee time to explain the reason for objecting to an application. This has not been the case since the new Buckinghamshire Council came into being. 

The situation now is that if the Town Council Planning Committee decides, after careful advice from the TC's very experienced planning officer, to object to an application, the committee has to plead with a local uBC councillor to 'call it in'. The automatic right to have the application considered by the shire council planning committee was removed. 

This has meant that several contentious applications have simply been approved by planning officers with no decision being taken by the uBC members. When the TC has written to some local uBC councillors asking them to call in an application, these requests are often simply ignored. Or indeed in one case, the uBC councillor decided that, in his opinion, there were no grounds to object to the application and refused to call it in. Later, that same application was rejected by the planning officers - on planning grounds...

And now, having made promises to sort this matter out, Cllr Whyte seems proud of the proposals going to Buckinghamshire Council. In fact, if these changes are instituted in the constitution, this situation will be far, far worse! 

• Parish and Town Councils still have no automatic right to require that a planning application, after due consideration by them, is called in to committee
• Instead, the local (independent, elected and legally advised) parish/town councils will have to go begging, like Oliver Twist, to be granted that the application is called in
• Whereas currently any one of the local uBC councillors can call it in, this new arrangement will mean that only ONE councillor (the Chair of the local uBC planning committee) has that decision to consider. Everything will have to funnel through them as the other local uBC councillors will have had their democratic wings severely clipped. 
• Moreover, the chief planning officer is to be given the prime decision making role in deciding whether a planning application is to be called in or not. This means that the council will no longer be member led when it comes to local planning decisions. Is this democracy?
• All this makes a complete mockery of parish, town and county wide councils working together in partnership since this is a further erosion of local accountability and democracy. 

And frankly, I do not understand how such a major change can happen during purdah, when major political decisions should not be made. And moreover, this means that the outgoing uBC council (in its dying days) will be deciding the constitutional groundrules for the incoming council. This is not democracy. 

What we are seeing is a power grab by the executive and senior officers of Buckinghamshire Council. I hope these changes are thrown out by uBC councillors on 21st April. I hope we can expect these councillors to be most concerned that local people and local councils should have a proper say in local planning decisions. 

I am not writing any further about the strategic sites committee changes - as this blog is probably long enough already! Please note my tweets above. These are not good changes either! 

Leadership, creativity and teamwork

In this coming election for the Buckinghamshire Council you will have THREE VOTES to cast in Buckingham East (and in all other wards too). 

So you have a choice: do you accept the decision that has been taken for you by each of the political parties (Conservative, Labour and LibDem) and simply put your crosses against the three candidates that they have chosen...?

Or do you want to take full control of whom you vote for, and make sure that you decide which candidates are the three that you believe will make the best team to work for the people of Buckingham East? 

I hope I will earn one of your three votes. Here are some reasons why:

For me, being a councillor over the last ten years has been all about these three things: 

• Leadership
• listening to people
• spotting the social patterns and economic trends 
• thinking about the future
• deciding the best course of action on a particular issue
• taking a stand and promoting the chosen path
• Creativity
• looking around for good practice elsewhere
• benchmarking ideas from one realm to another
• asking petinent questions
• using one's imagination
• experimenting, testing, trialling...
• Teamwork
• having conversations with many fellow councillors and officers
• understanding others' perspectives
• seeking consensus, building bridges and finding common ground
• supporting others' ideas 
• recognising that not only was Rome not built in a day, but nor was it done by one person alone!

I intend to take this forwards if I am fortunate to become one of the three councillors for the Buckingham West ward of the Buckinghamshire Council. 

Here's an example of what I mean. 

Two years ago (stealing a LibDem councillor's idea from Winslow Town Council) I proposed that Buckingham Town Council makes its annual grant to Citizens Advice based on the number of households in the town - £1 per household. This was agreed. 

Then this morning, I posted this on Buckingham: What Matters to You Facebook group with the comment...

As I gazed at the notice for parish council elections outside Dadford village hall the other day - I got to wondering - whether all parish councils do that... should do that...?

There are many parish and town councils in the northern half of Bucks (see below). And if each parish played their part, the Citizen's Advice Service would be far better funded. And so I tagged Jane Mordue (wife of Conservative candidate, Howard Mordue) who importantly now chairs the county wide Citizens Advice service (recently merged) and asked her this question. 

I was delighted with Jane's response. THIS is teamwork, creativity and leadership in action! 

If I am elected as one of your shire councillors, I look forward to many more examples of this - bringing together ideas, leaders and shared purpose to add to the well-being of our communities. I promise I will do everything I can to make more of this happen. 

*NB For Buckingham Town Council, most people will have several votes to cast. In Buckingham North, you will have seven votes unless you live in the 'anomalous' (due to old AVDC boundary changes a couple of years ago) ward of Highlands &Watchcroft. In this case you will only have one vote to cast. Whatever is your maximum - you can of course cast as many votes up to that number. You are not obliged to vote for seven or three - you can just one or two etc

For information - here is the list of all the (old) Aylesbury Vale parish and town councils. Quite a few! If they all contributed £1 per household to the coffers of Citizens Advice, that service would be helped enormously. 

Flooding - good news - well... maybe?

I awoke this morning to news that the Government is investing in 25 innovative schemes to tackle the scourge of flooding. And (excitement) that there is a Buckinghamshire project! 

Apps alerting residents to flooding, permeable road surfaces to improve drainage and schemes to protect vital sand dune beaches are among 25 new flooding and coastal resilience projects across England awarded funding today (Monday 29 March).

The pioneering projects, led by local authorities and delivered over the next six years, will receive a share of £150 million from Defra as part of the government’s new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme and will be managed by the Environment Agency. They are part of the government’s long-term plan on flood and coastal erosion and a renewed effort to develop and test new approaches to tackle these threats.

The schemes will trial a wide range of different approaches to resilience tailored to local communities. These include plans to restore sub-tidal habitats like kelp beds, oyster reefs and sea grass near South Tyneside, as well as the installation of specialised property flood resilience measures and an app for local residents to tackle the threat of groundwater in Buckinghamshire.  [my highlight]

I am thinking: this could help local people affected by the risk of flooding. Good stuff! But, I scroll down and discover this:

Buckinghamshire: Trial for a new approach to groundwater flooding in Chilterns and Berkshire Downs, including plans for property flood resilience measures in up to 200 homes, groundwater monitoring (including innovative technology such as gulley sensors) and a Groundwater Flood Alert App for householders and businesses.

Even though Buckingham has had more than its fair share of flooding events in the county, the south of the county (again) is favoured... 

In the Buckinghamshire County Council: Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (2013 - 2018) there is this table: 

Why was the Chiltern chosen as the area to have this project?

I will be doing my best to make sure this scheme is brought to our area as soon as possible... If I am elected, I will be doing everything I can to ensure that the voices of North Bucks are heard loud and clear in the Buckinghamshire Council.  

Right now, the last thing Buckinghamshire Council needs is petty party squabbling

As lockdown slowly eases, it might be tempting to think that the UK and our local economy will spring back to where it was before Covid19 changed the world. Sadly, I don't think that will be the case: not only has the disease taken and damaged people's lives (in so many ways) but the pandemic has also damaged people's livelihoods hugely. It will take a long, long time for our families and communities to recover from all this. 

Local government has a massive role to play in helping to regenerate local economies. We need fresh and imaginative thinking within councils in order to develop action plans that will tackle this challenge robustly and effectively. What we don't need is petty squabbling between the political factions or activities designed to launch skirmishes against the other parties.

We need our councillors to be focused on one thing alone: what can we do now to create Buckingham and county wide communities that are healthy, wealthy and wise, in these unprecedented times? This means we need councillors who are:

• pragmatic (not dogmatic)
• collaborative (not tribal)
• open (not closed) to new ideas
• loyal to communities (not loyal to party flags or whips)
• prepared to do new things (not the same old, same old...)
• unchained and free from diktats (not subordinate to party machines or greasy poles)  
• willing to experiment & innovate (not stuck in the past)

If the new Buckinghamshire Council looks much like the last, it will not be as effective at helping local communities 'build back better'. Large majorities stifle fresh thinking and close down debate. All political parties are based on conformance and 'sticking together'. 

And so... we need more independent councillors: free to challenge, to create, to innovate, to nudge, to scrutinise, and indeed to upset the old ineffective ways. 

Ignaz Semmelweis was a young doctor in Austria in the 1840s. After careful observation and experimentation, he discovered that if doctors washed their hands before helping a woman give birth, it dramatically cut the number of deaths of both babies and their mothers. 

In the spring of 1850, Semmelweis took the stage at the prestigious Vienna Medical Society and extolled the virtues of hand washing to a crowd of doctors. His theory flew in the face of accepted medical wisdom of the time and was rejected by the medical community, who faulted both his science and his logic. Historians believe they also rejected his theory because it blamed them for their patients’ deaths. Despite reversing the mortality rates in the maternity wards, the Vienna Hospital abandoned mandatory handwashing.

 Semmelweis was drummed out of Vienna and a few years later his health began to deteriorate. 

In 1867, two years after Semmelweis’ death, Scottish surgeon Joseph Lister also propelled the idea of sanitizing hands and surgical instruments to halt infectious diseases. His ideas had their critics, too, but in the 1870s physicians began regularly scrubbing up before surgery.

I mention this story as I think illustrates something very profound. Not only is Semmelweis credited with starting 'Evidence Based Medicine' but his story also shows the vital importance of having people who can stand back from the 'accepted wisdom' of the time and challenge it: carefully, compassionately and coherently.

We need local councillors who can do this. We need independent thinkers... We need independent councillors..

Shocking increases in Management Fees

For a long time, I have been very concerned about how many new residents of our area are having to pay management fees on top of their ordinary council taxes. Residents on the new Moreton Road estates for example have to pay for grass cutting and play areas while residents elsewhere in the town get similar services as part of their council tax. As the new residents still have to pay their usual council tax, this is a form of double taxation as it is called. I think it is wrong just on that basis. 

More than this, these schemes are socially divisive. For example the Clarence Park estate residents pay towards the upkeep of the play space next to the river. This area will soon be used by the residents of the newer estate that is nearing completion, who won't be paying towards towards the upkeep. Unsurprisingly some of the residents of the older estate are fed up about this and I fear this is a matter which could become divisive. 

And then... on top of all this, it would seem these management companies are just exploiting the situation where they can increase the charges with impunity. There is no accountability or transparency. This cannot be right for public spaces, can it? 

Here is one example of the increases in the last year for one management company's fees. And as you can see, I have already raised this with our MP.

Once elected as your councillor, I will be doing everything in my power to sort this matter out. It will probably take some national legislative change. But there is much that can be done now by both the Buckinghamshire and Buckingham Town Councils.

The Mayor's Bear (an origins chapter)

I am in the process of writing a book about a Town Mayor called Roxie Riverbloom and a magimistical stuffed bear called Strumbold. I was inspired to write the story after opening the library at Lace Hill School when I was mayor and not being able to find a book about mayors to read to the children on the occasion. So I thought, I ought to write one. 

A couple of weeks ago I joined a book writing club and this morning's exercise was to do a 'writing sprint' where 30 of us got together on zoom and we each silently wrote some stuff all at the same time for 30 minutes. And then we talked a little bit about what we had written. It was fun.

I chose to write a new chapter for my book, which explains why Roxie chose to put herself forward to become a Town Councillor. I thought you might like to read it. (And you can read the whole story here if you wish. This chapter below comes in the middle of #6 when Roxie and her sister are driving north...) 

Why did you become the Mayor anyhow?

By two o’clock, Roxie and Soosh were speeding up the M40 heading north. It was going to be a long drive. But they had stories, music and each other. And Soosh had some probing questions for Roxie.

Strumbold sat in the back of the car and listened carefully to conversation between the two sisters. Even before he found his voice that midsummer’s morning, Strumbold loved listening to conversations. He enjoyed the up and down, the inside and out, and the ebb and flow of how people chatted. Everything began with a conversation, he thought to himself. He wondered what first conversation happened that led to someone walking on the moon, or discovering DNA or even, deciding to become a Town Mayor…

“So, Roxie, you’ve never really told me why you wanted to be a town councillor, let alone become the Town Mayor” said Soosh. “I mean, didn’t you have enough on your plate beforehand? Your four lovely children. Your home. Your job. Wasn’t that enough? Heck I struggle to keep my garden looking good. Why? Just why? I mean it’s great and all that, and I love the fact that my big sister is Town Mayor. But why…?!”

Roxie stared out of the window and looked back at her sister. “Well to be honest, I am not entirely sure. It just sort of happened. I mean it probably started with a conversation I had.”

Strumbold smiled. “It is always a conversation”, he whispered quietly to himself. 

Roxie went on. “You see, one day I was chatting with one of my customers. I had just booked her a holiday to Greece. Kos I think it was. Beautiful hotel with a sandy beach as soft as silk. And she mentioned something about the skatepark where her children played whenever they could. How they loved it, even with the scrapes and bruises. Just being there with their mates. And then she looked so sad for a moment and said ‘but guess what, the blooming council has decided to dig it all up and put in some flowers instead! My two are so unhappy about this. And I am really angry!’ I asked her what she was going to do but she said there’s no point, the councillors never listened to anyone. So I said to her ‘well if I was a councillor, I would make it my job to listen to everyone’. And she said ‘Why don’t you become one? You care about this town. I would vote for you.’ That was it really. I kind of had to do it then!”

A few metres of tarmac sped by as they settled into a silence for a while. Soosh chewed on her gum thinking about the story that Roxie had just told. “Yes, I get that. You have always wanted to change the world. But you didn’t manage to stop them digging up the skate park did you? I mean what is the point?”

“No, I didn’t. By the time I became a councillor a few months later. The job had been done. The ‘crumbling and dangerous skate park’ (so it was described) had been removed and petunias put in their place. I mean, petunias?! But I started a petition to build a new one and got over two thousand signatures. And now, there are plans to build a new skate park in a better place and all the young people are helping to design it. That one example is why I became a Town Councillor. I am not going to make World Peace happen. But I can make a small piece of it better!”

 

The Whole Truth? (about your Council Tax bill)

Is Buckinghamshire Council telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about your council taxes? Worryingly, I think not...

A few years ago, the Government required insurance companies to give you last year's price and as well as the new one they are asking you to renew at. It makes sense and it saves looking up last year's bill to make sure some clever wool is not being pulled over our eyes. I think it was a good change to the law. 

Should we not expect the same for our Council Tax bills? 

A few days ago - I received the bill for next year's council services. It listed various precepts including Buckinghamshire Council, the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner and the Fire service. (In Buckingham, they managed to miss off the Town Council from the listing. A poor error to make but I don't want to focus on that.)

What I want to focus on is the item labelled 'Bucks Asw' which means Buckinghamshire Adult Social Care. It is part of the Council's overall budget but has been listed separately since it was introduced a few years ago, to raise extra money for this essential part of the Council's services. 

On the bill sent to me, the ASW figure was listed as having a 2% rise. (Thames Valley PCC was a 6.9% rise by comparison.) But I looked at the figures and something didn't quite add up. I dug out last year's bill and discovered that in fact the ASW item has risen by a staggering 25.12% In other words, not the 2% being shown.

Did you know this?

I asked the Council to confirm that my maths was correct and a senior officer who came back to me assured me that it was. He went on to explain that the legislative guidance from central government meant that they had to present the figures in the way that they had. The rise in the ASW budget accounted for a rise of 2% in the overall Buckinghamshire budget. Hence that is what is shown.

I don't know about you, but this seems to be an example of, dare I say, creative accounting. The 2% figure is not exactly wrong (and is compliant with the legislation, I understand) - but it is not exactly clear or right is it...? 

If elected, I will be pressing for the bills next year to show all the arithmetic involved including the figures from the previous year (like insurance bills) so that people can compare one year to the next. (In fact, I will be doing this even if I am not elected!) 

A vote for me is a vote for transparency and a vote for making sure you know the full story about your council taxes! True Vale For Money means a great deal to me. If it it does to you too - please give me one of your three votes. Thanks. 

The Bridges of Buckingham (County)

One of my abiding and most treasured memories from the time I was Town Mayor was going on a roadtrip with the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, Sir Anthony Seldon. We spent two nights away in Wales, visiting the towns and universities of Bangor and Aberystwyth. We were researching how their 'town & gown' relationship worked. We returned with lots of ideas and later on established the Pontio Committee: a joint committee of the Town Council and the University, leavened with other organisations too. 

Pontio means 'bridge' in Welsh. It also means 'transformation' as well. But we stole the name, in truth, from a wonderful project in Bangor. It is the name of a beautiful arts and education building that straddles the hill between the town and the university there. (Go see it one day if you can - it is an architectural and cultural delight!)

The Pontio Committee has continued to meet, although not so much over the last year due to the pandemic and attention on other more critical matters. But do watch for its activities again as we come out of lockdown. 

The vision of the Committee is simply expressed: to create a place where everyone in the town talks about OUR university and everyone (staff & students) in the university talks about OUR town. 

Bridges have always been so important to me: I love their form and their meaning. 'Building bridges' means so much. We all need to find ways to reach across divides and build pathways between the gaps in understanding and experience that exist. Indeed the symbol of my consultancy business is a bridge. 

We are surrounded by some beautiful bridges. Here are some pics of them. Let's continue to build bridges!

Some of 'The Bridges of Buckingham (County)'