By just 511 votes, Nick Clegg has been voted the new leader of the Lib Dems.

Hooray!

I’ve been waiting all day to find out…. Who is the next leader of the Liberal Democrat party?…

 and I still don’t know!

 Update assured for tomorrow!

said lovely, four year old, Ryan shortly before I got out the clippers and shaved his head back to a grade one!

“Sweet heart… you’ve done nothing wrong… sometimes when you’re playing with your friends these little bugs jump into your hair”, I reassuringly told him.

“No Mummy… I know why I’ve got them”

“Oh yes… why?”, I asked, thinking I’d find out which child has caused tonight’s upset in the Batt household…

“Well Mummy…. It’s because I eat my snot”

What on earth do you say to that?!

Did you miss me?

Last week my beautiful children were all christened down at All Saints Church in Maidstone. I spent a week preparing for the celebratory party and now I’ve spent a week tidying up!

Normal service has now resumed!

Sadly, I learned today (via the Mayor’s office) that a second member of 36 Engineer Regiment (stationed at Invicta Park Barracks) was killed in Afghanistan last Friday (9th Nov). Lance Corporal Jake Alderton was just 22 years old.

I’ve been thinking and thinking about how to finish this posting, but there’s nothing more that can really be said is there? I looked up his details on the Ministry of Defence’s website where it was clear to see that Jake was clearly a popular, friendly and dedicated soldier who will be very sadly missed and grieved for by his friends and family. My condolences go to them all.

Big excitement in the Batt household this morning, as I’ve made it to the front page of the Downs Mail town edition under the headline “The city of Maidstone”.

The story reads:

Tentative moves are being made to revisit city status for Maidstone.
Cllr Julia Batt raised the question at a borough council scrutiny committee meeting and inital enquiries will be pursued by officers.
Cllr Batt said she felt the issue had been dropped too readily after Maidstone’s bid for city status at the Millennium ended in failure.
Vice-chairman of the committee, Cllr Stephen Beerling, said any renewed effort had to carry more clout than the previous attempt.
He recalled: “When Maidstone went into it before, it seemed to be with the approach that we wouldn’t get it anyway - so it proved.”

I thought I’d take the time to explain this story in more depth, as in all honesty, prior to election, I wouldn’t have understood much of it myself!

Firstly, what is a scrutiny meeting?

Every aspect of the work done by the council is covered by an ‘Overview & Scrutiny (O&S) committee. There are currently four of these groups; Regeneration, Environment and Leisure, External and Corporate Services. The scrutiny group that I sit on this year is Regeneration - as the name implies this scrutinises all decisions to do with the regeneration of Maidstone. Topics that have been investigated so far this year include ‘Maidstone Market’, Maidstone’s Housing Strategy, closure of the Coombe Quarry Park & ride closure, and we’ve also touched upon Concessionary bus fares (more to come on this topic!).

Members of the public are welcome to attend these meetings and are invited to suggest topics for overview. They can also be viewed online. However, the truth is, for whatever reason, that no-one ever comes to meetings (unless the Tories rile them up!) and it’s very rare for people to offer suggestions for review.

As well as scrutinising decisions that have been made, topics can be reviewed by these committees. ANYTHING can be covered (providing it’s under the right group). As an example, the Borough Council could research the possibility of organising trips to the moon from the High Street. The committee would investigate this topic from all angles with interviews from relevant experts in their fields…

• would it bring in additional revenue via tourism streams?
• would there be a Health & Safety risk with people singeing their hair (from rocket fumes)?!
• how big would the launch pad exclusion zone need to be?
• could we advertise Maidstone on the sides of the rockets?
• would the rockets be reuseable?
• etc etc…

At the end of the investigation, a recommendation or policy suggestion would be made to either the borough or county council, or indeed to national government.

So that’s the O&S committee explained, the next part to explain is the city status application:

Occasionally, oppurtunities are given for Council’s to apply to be granted city status. Maidstone did apply at the last chance (for the millenium) but the bid was rejected - allegedly due to ‘lack of history’.

I honestly don’t know what (if any) the benefits of city status are - this would all be for the scrutiny group to investigate. However, should the chance present itself again, I wouldn’t want to think that we’d miss out on something that may be excellent for us, purely because we hadn’t fully prepared for it.

To see this meeting in progress, click here.

Good grief - I am addicted… to facebook that is…

For those of you who have not yet heard of it, Facebook is a “social utility that connects you with people around you”.

It’s sort of like an up-to-date friends reunited, without having to pay any money to subscribe. You join by entering a few details and then go searching for friends - you’ll be amazed how many you can find! It’s a bit harder finding old girl friends as their surnames may well have changed, but once you’ve found one, they’ll normally lead you to another. You can then message your friends, load applications, draw pictures, check out your friends political allegiance’s (good for me!) and a whole heap of other time wasting activities.

You can join groups too, and so I’m a member of the ‘Nick Clegg is more of a hottie than David Cameron any day’ group as well as (without wanting to give away my voting preferences) ‘Nick Clegg for leader’.

So, if you find yourself with time on your hands, I thoroughly recommend Facebook!

The Kohima Epitaph:

When you go home,

Tell Them of us and say,

For your tomorrow,

We gave our today.

I have just had one of the best days out with the kids ever and it only cost £2. It was great for the following reasons:

1. It was cheap (meaning we can do this often);
2. The kids didn’t whinge once and had a great time;
3. It wore them out completely;
4. It was very educational;
5. It was an outdoor and healthy day;
6. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself too, rather than just enjoyed their pleasure in a childish activity (which is what I normally do).

So what did we do?

Well as the title probably suggests we went to Trosley Country Park, just by Trottiscliffe and Vigo. Parking for the day is £1 (half the budget gone!) and for a further £1 we invested in an orienteering course around the park. The £1 gets you a map, instructions, a plastic protector wallet and SEVEN different courses to try. Obviously we only did one today, so we’ve still got six trips left without any more expense (other than the car parking).

Trosley Country Park is run and maintained by Kent County Council (KCC) - much as I find myself normally slagging off KCC (think Highways department here), I have to congratulate them on a fantastic service. The park is accessible to all (including young Travis in his pushchair), puts on loads of events throughout the year, has lots of fun ‘trim trail’ equipment as you go round, and to top it all off is slap bang in the middle of some of the most beautiful countryside… all this and practically on my doorstep.

When you arrive there is a visitors centre with a log fire burning away to keep it heated (presumably this doesn’t run in the summer!) and some really friendly staff that run a cafe in the centre. Obviously you don’t have to spend any money at all to walk around the park and there are several maps and plans of different suggested walks of varying difficulty. Personally though, spending that additional £1 on the orienteering course meant that I could easily keep the kids occupied (in looking for our next marker) while I enjoyed the tranquility and beauty of the place.

For more information call 01732 823570, click on this link, or pop into the Tourist Information office in town and pick up a leaflet.

St. Andrew’s Park is a beautiful listed (grade II) building that was previously part of Barming mental hospital. Around 5 years ago, it was converted into apartments with a lovely amount of open green space around it. Sadly though there have been issues with the development and it’s been difficult to get the developer to complete the works to the standard expected. Local homeowners have campaigned hard to have many of the problems fixed and have felt they’ve met with silence from the developers and that the council hasn’t offered the support they expect.

Today saw a meeting held with members of staff (known as officers) from Maidstone Borough Council, residents of St. Andrews Park and myself. Finally, things are moving along with this. The developers have been written to with a letter which states all that needs fixing and clearly states a time frame in which it should be done. A schedule of works should be submitted by 2nd December, followed by completion of works three months after that.

The items to be fixed on the building are:

• rendering on blocked out windows
• rendering & colour of both walkways under the buildings
• repointing
• replacement of plastic drains with metal ones

Separately, officers will be meeting with the developers on site to discuss the problems with the open space. This area should have been ‘adopted’ by the council by now. However, it is in such a poor state that they are unable to. The issues that will be raised here include:

• The lighting (poor quality, mostly broken inappropriate street lights)
• Poor finish and maintence of site - trees and grass etc
• Bins not emptied (the developers responsibilty until council adoption)
• Pavillions - what will/can be done

In addition the officers are investigating whether local residents can begin to lock the gate by the lodges in the evening (a condition disallows this on the plans). Currently the poor quantity of working lights means the area is full of youths getting up to no good and then disappearing into the darkness (which is what happened on halloween). With the gates locked, hopefully these problems will calm down.

In mid December, officers, residents and myself along with Peter Hooper will re-meet to discuss what’s happened. If the schedule of works has not been received by this time, the issue of enforcement will be ‘brought to the table’.

Following the sad deaths of so many, through Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff) Maidstone Hospital has been in the press for all the wrong reasons in the last few weeks. Because of this I really didn’t want to take baby Travis for his outpatient appointment (to have his squint checked) today.

Since my last visit (a couple of years ago) things have changed. The first thing you now see when you walk in through the big doors is a MASSIVE display asking you to clean your hands with the alcohol sprays provided there. There’s at least 8 bottles - all at different heights so everyone can use them. In addition, there are leaflets to be found on C. Diff and hand hygiene in many points around the hospital. The alcohol sprays are to be found all around the hospital and at the entrance to every ward.

I watched for a short while, (before going to Travis’ appointment) all the people entering the hospital. I was horrified to see less than 50% of people stopping to clean their hands. Whilst, I obviously believe it is imperative that Doctors and Nurses ensure that they keep their hands clean and use the sprays between each patient, illnesses and germs such as C. Diff will only go if EVERYONE gets on board and starts using these sprays.

I only met Rose Gibb once - during a council scrutiny meeting. She is an incredibly articulate woman who spoke clearly on her vision for the hospital, however I did find the meeting rather like being spoken to by a brick wall. She spoke and then ignored every question and suggestion made. Her mind was clearly made up on the changes that were proposed with a real ’stuff local worries’ attitude about herself. Now I don’t know if these ‘clean your hands’ stations were placed in the entrance and all around the hospital while Rose Gibb was in post. If they were, having seen people ignore the oppurtunity to clean their hands today, I actually feel that the blame cannot lie with her and the trust alone. We as patients, visitors, volunteers, in fact anyone entering the hospital MUST take our part in hospital hygiene seriously.

All we are being asked to do is clean our hands and we must do this.

It takes seconds, isn’t sticky, doesn’t smell and helps ourselves, our loved ones we’re visiting and indeed the hospital itself….

… rant over - and if you’re interested, the lovely orthoptic doctor has given young Travis the all clear with the squint!

The next focus is off at the printers as we speak. Big excitement here in West Maidstone as we’ve decided to do an A3 focus for the first time outside of an election.

You can see it before it comes through your door here

Anthony Hull has resigned from his position as Borough Councillor for Shepway South ward on Friday. This means we will be having a bi-election in the next few weeks.

Elections always mean extra work - delivering leaflets, telephone canvassing, etc  - and for this reason I was incredibly grateful to Gordon Brown for deciding against a General Election just a few weeks ago.

Typical - you think you’re off the hook and then someone comes and puts you straight back on it… thanks Anthony!

Jo Bennett (husbands neice) and Rob Osbourne tied the knot today in Torquay.

Congratulations and lots of love to you both.

I’m not a great fan of trick and treating… I do go out with my children, but we go to only 4 or 5 houses - all of which are pre-arranged and with the persons approval.

In contrast, trick and treating around here seems to involve any person that feels like it, knocking on my door asking for treats. Some of those that came round were what I would classify as young adults - and they didn’t even dress up…

Anyway, unlike last year, when some git nicked the pumpkin Ryan had carved from our front door step, this year we escaped these sorts of actions. All in all, a good year…. or so I thought….

Sadly, my ward colleague, Peter Hooper was informed by a resident (who actually lives on the same estate as me) today of a broken window caused by a youth throwing stones. Even sadder, this is now the third time they will have to replace a pane because this is the third time it’s happened.

Peter and I are working with the Police, Maidstone Council’s community safety team, and also the relevant departments to get increased lighting in the area. Peter is also working to get CCTV cameras moved to the area for a while to see if we can catch anyone up to no good.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please remember, REPORT ALL CRIMES TO THE POLICE. This is the only way that a good picture of what’s going on in an area can be recorded.

Today marked day one of six weeks of ‘clean sweeps’ in and around Maidstone. These are for those of us fed up with fly tipping and litter around the town. All equipment is provided - litter pickers, high vis jackets, gloves and bin bags and you set off to pick up what you can.

The photo shows just some of us that were litter picking today. Travis looks exceptionally bored, but the rest of us look pretty happy. It was a nice day for it though! One passer-by asked us if we were doing community service and couldn’t believe that anyone would willingly pick up other peoples litter without a big reward. A nicer area to live in is reward enough for me though!

Groups and individuals are invited to come along to one of these arranged events, or indeed arrange their own. For further information please contact Annika Fraser at Maidstone Borough Council on 01622 602559.

This morning I awoke at 9:30am. This meant I then had to gently break the news to the kids that we’d missed church today.

They love church - and they’re the reason we go in all honesty. Rachael has asked to be christened and so we felt it was important she went regularly to church. The first time we went, we were convinced Rach and Ryan would be bored silly so we packed lots of colouring books and pens and set off. As soon as we arrived, Rachael was herded off to Sunday School and Ryan to the ‘creche’ managed by two of the regular parishioners. Peter, I and Travis then spent the whole service nervously sitting on our own and wondering what they were both up to. - We spent the whole week finding out, with them begging for us to return the following week.

And that’s how it’s been now for nearly two months. Until this morning that is, when I broke the devestating news that we’d missed the service. There were many tears, and row’s. Rachael even told us off for letting her stay up late last night for a halloween party we’d been to that had resulted in her over sleeping. All this before I’d even had breakfast.

At lunchtime, Peter pointed out that the clocks had gone back an hour overnight. He then pointed out that this meant we’d actually all woken with an hour to spare before church…

Why oh why do we never remember before lunchtime?

Once again, I’ve reached the point in the year where I’m down in the dumps and less focused on what I normally manage to easily. And, once again, I haven’t realised what’s the matter for weeks meaning I haven’t really achieved anything for at least a fortnight….

For about eight years now (diagnosed five years ago) I’ve suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Thankfully I don’t suffer too badly, but it does affect my working life (and now these days being a Councillor) a lot.

My main symptoms are;
I struggle to get out of bed and when I do get up I’m really tired no matter how many hours of sleep I’ve had. I feel miserable, fed up and then guilty because of all the stuff I haven’t achieved. I’m an even more grumpy git than normal and then to cap it all off I have no interest in talking to or socializing with anyone.

However, every year as soon as I actually ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ as it were and realise it’s just ‘that time of year’, I’m as good as cured! All I have to do is pop over to the chemist and buy some wonderful homeopathic solutions and ensure that I start making the most of every moment of daylight there is! This year, I’m going to buy some ‘daylight’ bulbs too, which I used to use, but have all since blown and need replacing.

So, to cut a long story short - I’m back! and here to stay (at least until this time next year…)

Before the school summer holidays, residents in Ashdown Close had been suffering a large number of ASB incidents.

These were all related to secondary school children from the Oakwood Campus and ranged from general nuisance and litter dropping incidents up to criminal damage.

Cllr’s Dan Daley, Peter Hooper, David Pickett along with myself have had met with heads from all the secondary schools on the site and discussed the problems with the PCSO for the area.

Nearly a month has passed since this meeting and local neighbours to the school have happily reported a massive reduction in problems. This is to such an extent that we can now mark this issue “Case Closed”.

All of us, will of course, continue to monitor the situation and we have a follow up meeting arranged at the end of November to discuss how matters are continuing.

Lack of posts have been due to an overloaded schedule this past week. Four Council meetings, a few campaign literature meetings, a PTA disco (for which I’m treasurer) to help with arranging, a ‘Morsbag’ making session, attempting to arrange kids Christening, general kids taxi service, full-time mum and a fair few constituent problems cropped up this week as well.

I can honestly say that this week I’ve discovered what the saying “my feet haven’t touched the ground” really means, although it might be more honest to say “my backside hasn’t touched a sofa!”

So for all this running around, there should be lots of positive outcomes to report…

• Buying from Bookers for the PTA disco meant I discovered that Wispas are now being sold again - I’ve emailed Cadburys regularly for their return - ’bout time too!
• PTA disco raised £374.21 - well done everyone involved
• Lib Dem Members newsletter will be posted out in the next couple of days
• We’ve got about 20 bags made and have approached the Mayor’s office about help getting publicity when we hand them out.
• I attended a very positive “Fant/Heath MAPS” meeting this week. MAPS stands for Multi-Agency-PartnershipS”. These are meetings where all local agencies (Police, Primary Care Trust (PCT), Maidstone Housing Trust (MHT), Maidstone Council etc etc) all come together in one forum to share experiences and work together for positive outcomes in the area. There is a fair danger that these can just be talking shops. However, at this meeting we discussed the Springwood Estate in detail. It has been subject to a fair amount of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) but this has finally ‘come to the top of the list’ and is now to become a ‘PACT’ (Police And Communities Together) area. There was a community day held on Barming Heath yesterday for this - more information will be updated when the ‘results’ are in. Residents should also be represented on MAPS, but we currently don’t have any. If you would be interested in attending, please get in touch and I’ll give you more information.
• I’ll post the link to the webcast of the Regeneration and Sustainable Communities Scrutiny meeting (when it’s available online) here. Topics under discussion were Maidstone Market and Maidstone Housing Trust.
• Constituent problems are being addressed
• Christening plans have been thwarted by lack of a postal service… must be number one priority next week…

And the negatives of the week:

• Bookers is a bulk sale cash & carry meaning that Wispa’s mentioned above were sold in packs of 48…. I have come out in a MASSIVE spot due to over-indulgence…

I’m glad Gordon Brown decided not to call a General Election last week - If he had, I think I’d be a gibbering wreck by now!

Following the sad death of Corporal Ivano Violino after just 16 days in Afghanistan, a fundraising event for the 36 Royal Engineers Benelovent Fund was held today.

Six teams of six people took part in a sports challenge event in the Mall Chequers. Each team raised a minimum of £500 to take part and a tombola raised a further £200.

Maidstone’s Mayor, Richard Ash (who always seems to do well at these things!), won some pantomime tickets as well as some body lotion.

Congratulations to The Bob Prowse Health Club, who won the event and commiserations to Maidstone Borough Council who may not have been in the top five, but who put up a very respectable fight!

Coriander Drive 

• Case opened 18th Sep ‘07 - Lamp posts have been placed around the shops on the Oakwood Hospital estate without proper consultation with neighbours. I am investigating the possiblitiy of having them moved.
• Update - 25th Sep ‘07 - Have confirmed that these are not Kent County Council lamp posts and have been placed by the developer as this land on which they’re placed will not become ‘adopted’ by the Council. Am now investigating whether planning permission was sought and gained, or whether it wasn’t necessary prior to placement. Will then approach developer to discuss.
• Update - 4th Oct 07 - These lamp posts were not part of the conditions of building or included in the original developments permission. Therefore the lamp posts must come down and planning permission applied for. Developers have been informed and have agreed to meet with Cllr Hooper to discuss proposed new siting.

If you have any views on this siting of these lamp posts, please contact Cllr Peter Hooper on 729302 or by email here.

Today saw the start of Brunswick House Primary School joining the ”Walk On Wednesday” scheme. At it’s simplest, the idea is that pupils walk to and from school on Wednesdays. My kids couldn’t wait, as you get a sticker every time you walk. After so many stickers, you get a certificate.

It’s a well known fact that kids will do ANYTHING for a sticker, so this morning saw the kids up, dressed, washed and teeth cleaned with hardly any nagging. Even Mr. Mouse (Ryan’s imaginary friend) got ready without putting up a fight which makes a big change. Putting on our wet weather over clothes took more time than anything else, so we didn’t leave until 8:20am. Thankfully though we made it to school just in time (the walk took about 30 minutes) although we did have to walk at a very brisk pace.

As we walked into the school gates, I shouted for Rachael to run on ahead (her class starts 5 minutes earlier than Ryan’s) and encouraged Ryan to go with her. However, he pointed out that his running legs were worn out and he only had walking ones left!

Anyway - we did it - and the kids will be getting their first sticker added to their booklet. I have also requested a sticker, but it appears parents don’t qualify!

What a fantastic idea this is. We’ve (the kids and I) been toying with the idea of setting up a walking bus but in all honesty I just can’t face the walk there and back, twice every day - especially with all the car and bus fumes that we have to pass. However, once a week is certainly achievable and Rachael and Ryan really did enjoy it - I think even Travis (in sling) did too. On the back of this initiative, I’ve already hooked up with another mum, that lives around the corner, and agreed with her that we will set up a walking bus just for Wednesdays. We’re all going to walk to school, grab a cake (we’ll have earnt it) from Dunelm Mill, then walk home.

I’m sure other mums and dads will be doing exactly the same - well done whoever it was that thought up this idea!

I’m feeling really sorry for myself today. I’ve come down with tonsillitis, which I get really often. I’m already on penicillin for an unrelated thing, and top it all off, I’ve got a headache. To cut a long story short, Rachael’s going to write todays post…

Today was a grat day. I had Frech-club computr-club and Teagn Oscer Tory and Andrea came roude for tea. Travis was fast aslep all day today.

At scool we did big cat phonics. We did some litrsy some numrsy, mats praktis and lots more. I got to play with my frends. The lunch was fandabydosy. Scool is just the best place in the wolde to learn. I am in the batt family. Some pepole think we are called the batt family becase in the nite we tern in to bats but it is not true. My favret coluer is definitly pink. I wish I was still in year one tho because I want to see miss Marchant. I like her so much she was a relly cind lady so I did not want her to leave. I tryed not to cry, but when I got home I burt in to tears.

My mum has got a big head ake.

Well there you have it; the word on the street according to a six year old:

• schools great
• it’s the best place to learn
• school dinners are good too
• and most importantly, Rachael’s favourite colour is pink

Have just been sent a link about Hebden Bridge, a town that’s just made become free from plastic bags.

More information can be found here: http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/news/news07/59.html

One of the initiatives I particularly liked, was a session organised in the town with material and sewing machines, which gave people the chance to make their own reusable canvas bag.

Cllr. Tony Harwood (Cabinet Member for Environment - Maidstone Borough) is keen to see the practise of shops giving out carrier bags stopped, and instead replaced with a reuseable “Maidstone bag”. Following some publicity in the papers with this, Pat Fyfe contacted all Borough Councillors to bring to our attention the “Mors bag” concept and to encourage us to advertise it widely.

The idea is that people arrange social events where everyone turns up, drinks a few glasses of wine (that’s what got me interested!) and makes reuseable bags out of leftover material, charity shop finds, old duvet covers etc. The bags are then given out to people with a little information about the idea. The estimate is that each one of these bags, reduces the need for around 500 plastic carrier bags.

The only extra thing you have to do when you’ve got one of these bags is get into the habit of taking it out with you. To quote the website, this is just like cleaning your teeth, only with less toothpaste…

What with Rachael being back at school full-time, but Ryan starting part-time this month (he’s now full time) and young baby, I haven’t had time to arrange anything. However, last night I had my first oppurtunity to sit down and make one of these bags. The bags are very strong. If you have even the most basic understanding of how a sewing machine works, they are also very easy to make.

At clothesmaking classes (started a fortnight ago) I’m making a beautiful (at least I hope it will be) denim skirt. All I’ve done so far is cut the material for my skirt, and because there was a fair bit left over, I’ve cut material for Rachael to have a dress too. Still there was some leftover and with this I made the bag.

From start to finish, it took me about an hour to iron, cut and sew the bag, but I’m sure can be done a lot faster. It took me a fair while to work out all the measurements and because I hadn’t done it before was a lot slower than necessary.

The link to the pattern and more information can be found here: www.morsbags.com. If you want to come round, drink wine and make these bags just let me know - The more the merrier….

While I was googling “Making bags” trying to find the morsbags wesite, I also discovered this from YouTube which is all about making bags out of old carriers. Next time I have some free time I might give this a go too…

No point carrying on sulking - it’s not like it’ll achieve anything.

I’m going to make a bag. Update tomorrow.

The KM didn’t print my letter… again…

Have given away said paper to friend Lisa whose daughter Katy did get a mention!

The highly contested, controversial, multi-million pound incinerator at Allington was shut down today following further problems. For some weeks local residents and those that drive near the area have been overwhelmed with a truely awful stench eminating from the incinerator. This has allegedly been caused by a backlog of waste to be burnt.

Thousands of tonnes of stinking rotting rubbish have piled up and are now an explosive risk due to methane build up. This rubbish will now have to go to landfill.

Due to what can only be described as major design faults (the lining of the furnaces are falling off), the incinerator will be closed for up to 6 months. As well as burning our waste, the incinerator is designed to generate electricity. However, this too has broken. Parts that needed to be, were not being oiled - this was missed due to an electrical fault on the system that should have warned them! Apparently this will not be fixed for up to 12 months.

As Cllr Malcolm Robertson (who represents Allington) said on Meridian news this evening, this time we’ve been lucky… it may cost in excess of £1 million to fix, but at least there has been no damage to human health.

According to Kent County Council, the millions of pounds it will cost to repair the incinerator will not be paid by tax payers. Well who will then? At the end of the day, whether it’s via higher running costs in the future, or in some other way, of course we’ll end up paying for it…

Further information can be gained by calling the incinerator’s “community line” on 0845 803 8845 or by emailing info@kentenviropower.co.uk

It was full council tonight. The main topic for debate was funding of the recycling strategy. If people voted against it (as many of the Conservatives did), it would have meant we would have had to continue with the previous administrations plans to switch to alternate weekly collections. Thankfully, the recommendation was carried, and in February additional recycling will take place along side our existing weekly refuse collections.

As usual, there were Councillors talking a load of rubbish at the meeting -  I guess trying to win some points from somewhere… However, there were one or two valid points raised by members of the opposition. Councillors Chris Garland, Paul Oldham and Eric Hotson (all Conservative) made some fair comments against the proposals. Paul in fact proposed that the suggestion to take profits from the museum to pay for increased recycling should be removed. This motion was seconded and I’m very pleased to say unanimously carried.

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that some Councillors (from all parties) do not listen to the comments made by members of the opposition, having already made up their mind which way their vote will go. When I arrived at the meeting last night, I was certain that I would be voting for the proposal - it was one of our key election promises that we would do whatever we could to retain full weekly refuse collections. However, when Councillor Oldham made his proposal, I felt he was spot on, and was left panicing as to what to do… Could we afford to drop this money from the budget and still have enough to fulfill the increased recycling?

Thankfully the leader of the Council, Councillor Fran Wilson, quickly pointed out that we could afford to drop this and so with a major weight lifted, I very happily voted “for” this proposal.

Final votes were:

24 for the proposal (all Lib Dem, Labour or Indepdant); 18 against the proposal (all Conservative) and 5 abstentions (2 Lab - Hull & Moriaty, 3 Con - Ash, Garland and Ring).

No joking here… for those of you with a sensitive disposition, please don’t read the rest of this post…

If you’re still reading, but not sure if it’s going to be for you or not, I’ll tell you now it’s about periods. They’re half taboo and half just bloody embarressing to talk about, but lets be grown up about this - they are just a part of nature - and an important part at that - however, please don’t read anymore if you’re in anyway going to be offended, upset or just grossed out.

OK - You’ve been warned. This post is about “Moon cups” - for those of you that have already discovered and are possibly using Moon cups - why didn’t you tell me? I found about these quite by chance from a friend on the school run today (many thanks Andrea!).

Moon cups are a healthy, hygenic, environmentally friendly alternative to tampons. You buy one, wash and reuse time and time again. A moon cup is about 2 inches long, and as the name suggests like a small cup, that collects menstrual fluid rather than absorbs it. Every 4 - 8 hours, it’s removed, contents emptied down toilet, rinsed and then reinserted.

I’ve told Ryan’s teachers about them already, half the mums on the school run, the two lovely ladies in the school office (Donna and Sue - real diamonds who are forever helping/bailing out the PTA - many thanks guys!) and the receptionists at Mote Park Leisure centre where I went swimming this morning.

 More information about moon cups can be found at their web site here. Check it out and spread the word!

I’ve sent the following into the Letters page of the KM today:

Dear Sir,

I refer to Councillor Pollington’s letter (KM 21/09/07) regarding Maidstone’s local planning policy.

Had Councillor Pollington attended some of the planning training provided for all elected Councillors, he would have heard an independent trainer praise the fact that our local plan is signed by representatives of all political groups on the Council.

Indeed, had he ever opened the local plan, (which I would expect every person who ever sits on the planning committee to have done) he would have seen this signed testament clearly stating it has cross party support.

Perhaps Councillor Pollington’s time would be better served helping his constituents, rather than just spouting nonsense – the facts of which he has clearly never investigated.

Cllr Julia Batt
Heath Ward, Maidstone Borough Council
01622 721432

I know as local Councillor’s we’re all supposed to be ‘politicians’ but quite frankly, I’m sick of all the ’spin’ that goes on for the sake of a few illegitimately won votes. It’s not rare for me to lose my rag privately, but to put down on paper something like this shows I’m really cross!

Apparently, I have a regular reader of this blog - Olu who sits opposite husband at work.

Allegedly, he only reads this blog to see if Peter’s got into trouble (or not) following coming home too late! Well Olu - it’s official - Peter got in BIG trouble following last Thursday’s outing!

And seeings how husband doesn’t read blog, you can pretend you’re a mind reader!

Bridge, Fant and Heath Wards all held their quarterly Councillor’s surgery this morning. As usual it wasn’t particularly well attended, but people that did come had never before contacted any of us (their local Councillor’s), and so it was worth putting on.

Issues brought to Peter Hooper and myself (representing Heath Ward) were very close to the hall which we’d hired this time - so clearly there is value in changing venue each time and moving around the wards.

Sadly, as with every surgery we’ve run, the majority of problems people have is with anti-social behaviour - mostly aimed at teenagers. When I was a teenager (about 100 years ago according to my 6 year old), I was no angel, and I defy anyone to prove they were a perfect teen! However, I’d never hurt anyone, damage property or ‘answer back’ if caught doing something bad.

I remember one occassion when I was about 17, I had a boyfriend who had a car (this was a big deal and I was the envy of a few mates!). Anyway, this being in the days when there wasn’t a certain fast food outlet on every street corner, my boyfriend drove my mates and I, about 30 minutes away to buy a load of burgers etc and then we ate them on the drive back to my friends house. When we arrived, I left all the rubbish on the pavement opposite my friends house. A lady who lived there, saw what I had done and shouted at me to pick up my mess. I was so ashamed of myself, I immediately picked everything up and to this day have never dropped litter again.

By contrast, I recently (while still pregnant with Travis) watched a kid chuck down a half eaten burger in the town centre (right in the middle of the pedestrianised bit) surrounded by about 50 people. Seeing history repeat itself, I asked the lad to pick up his rubbish, thinking he wouldn’t do it again in a hurry. I got told to f**k off. Being a bit hormonal, and not quite believing my ears, I asked again for him to pick up his rubbish. The response I got this time was a little more eloquent, but still peppered with a fair few choice words. The burger remained on the floor. In the end, I picked up the burger and put it in the dustbin (that was about 1 metre from the drop point). I felt a complete idiot, until an older lady came up and congratulated me on having the nerve to stand up to the lad. She said, she’d had much the same response that I’d received in the past and wouldn’t ask anymore.

When did kids stop respecting their elders?

Whilst at the surgery, husband phoned to let me know that he’d just arrived at local (under 5’s) playground with kids, only to find it covered in obscene images and words. Trust me on this, you never want to answer a 6 year old asking: “What does **** mean Mummy?”

A local resident was cleaning down the worst of the graffitti, but there’s only so much you can do without industrial grade equipment - unfortunately, the remaining graffitti must stay until Monday, when Maidstone’s ‘hit squad’ go back to work…

A few days ago I found a book whilst on my travels around Maidstone. I settled down to read it today - I have officially given up now having hit a block at page 3!

The following is a quote from the book (and I’m really not making this up) in the opening chapter which rather worryingly is entitled “How to read this book”:

…This volume has made no effort to use resounding or thunderous phrases, frowning polysyllables or prefessorial detachment. When one is delivering answers which are simple, he need not make the communication any more difficult than is necessary to convey the ideas. “Basic language” has been used, much of the nomenclature is colloquial; the pedantic has not only not been employed, it has also been ignored. This volume communicates to several strata of life and professions; the favourite nomenclatures of none have been observed since such a usage would impede the understanding of others…

In other words - this book is easily readable and straightforward… Well - when I sit down to read a book, I do it to unwind, not to get in a right old tizzy… This book will be “released into the wild” very soon!

I’ve added a new page to this web site entitled “Current Issues“. I think this will be easiest way for anyone to monitor what it is I get up to and what issues people have advised me of!

I’ve found it frustrating writing up just a few of the issues that I’m working on as it reminds just how much of my role as Councillor is just chasing up people time and time again.

One of my favourite films is “Shawshank Redemption” a film all about a wrongly convicted prisoner who after 19 years escapes having dug a tunnel with a rock hammer…

I digress because for years the lead character writes one letter a week to various authorities requesting funds to expand the prison library. Eventually he receives not only funds, but also box upon box of second hand books along with a letter telling him they expect to never hear from him again! Instead he states, he’ll write two letters a week!

Sadly, a lot of my time seems to be spent sending one letter a week (well email in all honesty) but I’m just not sure my (and my constituents) needs are sinking in. I guess it’s time to start sending two a week…

Last night, I experienced first hand Maidstone A&E - and it was very good.

While on the phone to husband, Travis started crying. Rachael went off to talk to him and the crying stopped - Rachael deserves a lot of credit for the help she is - although last night she ended up in a heap of trouble. About 40 seconds after Rachael had wandered off, there was an almighty crash. I was in the room before any crying had even started…

It turned out that Rachael had taken Travis out of his rocking chair and climbed up on to the coffee table so he could see himself in the mirror (a trick I often do - without needing to climb on the table). Unfortunately, Rachael fell off the table whilst carrying Travis…

He mostly landed on her, but typically his head didn’t, and from Rachael’s explanations, his head hit the table edge on the way down.

After about a 15 second pause, Travis started screaming and I mean really SCREAMING. I cuddled him, rubbed his head, bounced him up and down, tried a dummy, tried to feed him, more cuddling, more head rubbing, couple of nursery rhymes and still he continued screaming. After about 15 minutes I got on to NHS Direct, but they were all busy, so I phoned Maiddoc (Maidstone’s out of hours Doctors). They registered my call, and I was to wait for a call back.

I waited, but still he screamed. I was getting more and more panicy… at this point I made the decision to go to hospital - just a short walk from our house. Kids got dressed while I continued to try to settle poor Travis. We walked out the door just as Maiddoc phoned back and agreed with them to take him to hospital.

Travis settled about 30 seconds before we arrived at hospital - after at least 50 minutes solid screaming, I think he was just worn out. I registered him, beginning to feel like a timewasting fool and sat down. He was probably quiet for a total of 5 minutes and then the screaming started again. Again, no matter what I did, he screamed - we were seen after an hour, which in my opinion is really fast for a busy evening in an A&E ward. Possibly they were all getting headaches.

Shining a torch in Travis’ eyes finally stopped the crying and gave them (and me) an oppurtunity to really check him over. Because of all the crying and screaming, his face had gone really red, so it had been difficult to see if there were any bruised areas. When he calmed down, it was pretty obvious he had a bruise above his left eye but nothing else of concern. The Doctor checked his pulse, checked his general awareness/alertness and assured me all would be fine, but what signs to look out for. I was simply advised to give him a calpol and keep an eye on him.

As we left the cubicle the screaming started again and I think everyone was glad to see the back of us! All’s well now and after a good nights sleep, even the bruising has gone down.

While there, I noticed  that it’s A&E has been renamed “Emergency Care Centre”. I hope this isn’t a sign that the much feared withdrawal of ‘blue-light’ services will happen. Although Travis turned out to be absolutely fine, I’ve always had serious reservations about the assurances that moving such an important service so far away will not have an impact. If I hadn’t been using the services last night, I would have been (where I was supposed to be) at a scrutiny meeting with the Kent & Medways Primary Care Trust (PCT) discussing their revised plans for the future of the hospital. I will have to watch back the meeting which was webcast to find out what I missed. You can view it here.

I found a bookcrossing book in town today. It’s only my third find - I actually squealed with delight when I saw it.

For those not in the know, Book Crossing is where you “release books into the wild” by leaving them in findable places (this one was on the wall of a church in town). Inside the book, a [BCID] code is written which when entered into the book crossing website tells you the travelling history of the book. After you’ve read the  book, you ‘release’ it and watch it’s progression.

For book lovers, it’s great fun and gives you the oppurtunity to try out lots of different genre’s of books and different authors that perhaps you wouldn’t normally try.

 Time to go - I have a book to read!

I attended a meeting this evening organised due to the ever increasing number of  complaints regarding Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) around the Oakwood Campus. In attendance were local and County Councillors, the Police & PCSOs, heads of the three secondary schools and representatives from the Community Safety Team (Maidstone Council).

There have been a number of incidents of missiles being thrown from or around Astor of Hever school (mostly rocks, but I’ve had the pleasure of sandwiches being chucked at my car - marmite in case you were wondering). In addition, local residents have been intimitaded by large groups of students out of class hours hanging around by their properties. These ‘visits’ often culminate in large amounts of litter being left, and often with some amount of verbal abuse occurring.

The meeting today highlighted each parties problems with the estate. The general consensus was that parking (and overspill), security and lack of definition of boundaries around each school are all contributing to the problems. All three schools, Astor, St. Simon Stock & Oakwood Grammar, agreed that any allegations of misbehaviour by a student wearing their uniform will be fully investigated and dealt with. But they each went on to say that this is detracting from their main priority, which is of course to teach.

The PCSO assigned to this estate has been absent due to illness for four months and is only just back in post. Hopefully, his renewed presence on and around Oakwood will help ease some of the problems. In addition, County Councillor Dan Daley has offered to pay out of his budget for appropriate lamp posts to be wired up with CCTV cameras. Maidstone’s Community Safety Team have been asked to investigate examples of best practise on simliar campuses across the country, and we did discuss, although not in detail, the idea of students being surveyed to discover what they thought might help the problems.

All these actions will be reviewed in November, hopefully with a positive outcome. Please remember that we need you to report any issues you have either to myself or to the local police. By letting us know all the issues you have, we can build up a file and really see the bigger picture.

I went to my first ever party conference, just for the day, yesterday - and I loved it! It was great meeting so many like-minded people, having the oppurtunity to pick up some great ideas, attend some really well thought out training and in between dashing from one thing to another, see a little of Brighton!

My only regret, is that I could only stay the day - time constraints and young family mean that’s my maximum this year.

On top of all the positives mentioned, I learnt a new word (not as unusual as you might hope):

SUBSIDIARITY - I knew the concept (in short, the principle which states that matters ought to be handled by the lowest competent authority), but had never heard the title before. Now, I don’t know about you, but the only way I can ever get a new word to stick in my head is to use it frequently for a few days - you should have heard the nonsense I was spouting when I learnt ‘onomatopoeia’and don’t even think of getting me started on ‘crenellations’.

Anyway, try as I might, I can’t think of a single, even half way sensible, sentance I can use on the school run containing subsidiarity. Email suggestions welcome here!

To ease some anti-social behaviour occuring on the Freshlands Estate, it has been agreed that one of the pieces of trim trail equipment will be moved.

Currently, one of the pieces is just a few feet from a property and has become a ‘hang out’ bench, rather than the fun activity it was designed for. To discourage people using it as somewhere to sit and have a cigarette, or ‘nose’ into the neighbouring property, it will be moved to a site behind the playground, further away from houses.

The cost of moving it will be covered by the developers, so there will be no cost to any individuals or the council.

Whenever a new development is built, the council can ask for a contribution (known as section 106) towards the local area. It can cover contributions towards highways, local Doctors facilites, local education/schools, and play equipment (as in this case) as well as many other things. The design of the Freshlands estate was established and approved well before I was elected, but I really think the developers and council got it right - with a great play area, and a good amount of beautifully maintained green space.

My kids and I often wander around the edge of the estate playing on all the pieces of equipment culminating with a trip to the play area. This is one of our favourite activities and is, of course, FREE - making it that much the better!

Well - If any of my friends or family read this they won’t believe it! I’ve finally gone and joined a gym.

We promised the kids that from now on, we’ll take them swimming once a week on either a Saturday or Sunday. The cost of a trip to the pool is £4.50 per adult (Mote Park Leisure Centre). In other words nearly £20 a month. However, for just £14.95 a month - price fixed for life as well - I can have unlimited use of the Gym and Pool all weekend and between 1pm and 3pm, Monday to Fridays. What a bargain!

As a new member, one of the first things you must do is have an induction to the gym. This is to learn how to use all the equipment correctly, and I was assured, not just to show me up!

I arrived bright and breezy ready to learn what (and how) I needed to do each visit. First, a 10 minute warm-up on the cycling machine - and that’s just the warm up! I did 5 minutes, and said to my instructor - OK, I know how to use this machine now, shall we move on. Truth was I was worn out already! We moved on to a ‘cross-trainer’ where you sort of step up and down whilst holding on to bars. I was advised that I should do about 10-20 minutes on this to start with. I managed 2, then made up some story about needing to move on, as I hadn’t really allowed enough time to do a full work out today.

Next a running machine - now I actually quite like running, but it seemed a bit pointless to me just staring at the pool in front running on a machine, that simulated hills (well the ups anyway) when I could be out running and seeing a bit of the local countryside and getting to go down hills as well as up. I lasted about 5 minutes on this machine and then muttered about moving on.

I have a real phobia about the size of my thighs - because I used to run so much, they’ve always been big and muscley - even now that I’m post pregnancy and really unfit, they’re still large. Thankfully, this meant that I shouldn’t use the step machine as this targets thighs, so it was on to the rowing machine. This was fun, as I just played a game where you have to catch fish by rowing at an appropriate speed. I played for a little while and then said that I was comfortable with how to use this machine.

“So” says the instructor “I’ll work out a program for you, and each time you come, you just pick up your card and work through the steps on it”.

Well - having been overtaken on the bicycles by 2 octogenarians, broken out into a major sweat at walking speed on the cross-trainer,  decided I’d rather go for a run around the local fields and knowing that I’d never in a million years return to the gym - I said to him “That’d be great - thanks - I’m really looking forward to coming back each week”.

Back down at the main leisure centre reception I changed my membership. Just hours after signing up originally, I’m now paying £18.95 a month, but this time, it’s for unlimited use of the swimming pool and no gym - much better suited for me and still a bargain!

If you’re interested in any of the fantastically priced memberships, check out Maidstone Leisure Centres website for more information.

From the 1st October, the No. 8 bus service that runs from Maidstone Hospital to Downswood is having a slight cut in service.

The detailed changes are that the following journeys are withdrawn on Mondays to Fridays:

0845 Downswood to the town centre.

1555 Hospital to Downswood,

1643 Downswood to Hospital,

1730 Hospital to Downswood

1815 Downswood to the town centre.

The Saturday service remains unchanged.

Timetable for No. 8 Bus service

Kids… who’d have ‘em?

Well, OK, I admit it - I would - but sometimes my patience wears thin. This morning being no exception.

I have a list as long as my arm of things I absolutley, positively MUST do yesterday (or earlier). The day started well - up, dressed, Travis (baby) fed and dressed, Rachael (6) dressed, fed, school bag packed, washing in machine, kitchen cleaned, my room tidied, quick blitz in dining room, check of emails - and then I realised - Ryan (4) still hadn’t come downstairs…

“Come on Ryan” I called upstairs - nothing - not a peep - oh no - please don’t still be asleep… It’s practically time to leave for the school run… I get upstairs and find Ryan, having messed up my very recently tidied bedroom, standing on the landing naked (if you ignore the pair of boxers he was sporting in place of a hat).

OK - I was angry and perhaps this is inexcusable but I really was at my witts end so I stamped on Mr. Mouse. Who’s Mr. Mouse? Well he’s Ryan’s imaginary friend and a right little trouble maker to boot. Unfortunately, being invisible, Mr. Mouse apparently wasn’t actually standing where I’d stamped, so he’s survived another day. Not content with ruining my early morning, he’s since gone on to inform me (via Ryan) that I can’t go to his birthday party today (he has one every day), and he’ll be telling Peter (husband) about my murderous instincts when he gets home from work. However, all this can be averted if I spend the entire morning answering to Ryan’s every whim.

Well Mr. Mouse - unlike Chelsea and Deano, I’m going to come clean in advance, and get out of your blackmailing schemes. HA !… Oh crickey… I’ve got to go… if I don’t take Ryan to the playground this very minute Mr. Mouse is phoning the police…

With so much negative campaigning being done by the Conservatives, its time the record was set straight…

FACT: Conservatives commissioned report into future of Coombe Quarry Park and Ride.

FACT: Conservatives set the parameters for the report including consultation levels.

FACT: The park and ride report proposing closure of the Coombe Quarry park and ride was programmed to be published in February – for some reason it did not appear in the run-in period to the local elections.

FACT: We assumed control to find the report recommending closure waiting for us.

FACT: Conservatives set a 2007/8 park and ride budget falling far short of the cost of running the service in 2006/7.

FACT: The Council is locked into the Conservative budget for 2007/8.

FACT: Liberal Democrats introduced park and ride to Maidstone in the face of Conservative opposition.

FACT: The Liberal Democrats are ensuring that resources released by the closure of the Coombe Quarry Park and Ride will be used to deliver improved public transportation in south Maidstone.

FACT: Local bus services were decimated by Conservative deregulation of public transport.

If you have any further comments or questions on the Park and Ride service in Maidstone please get in touch.