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!

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).

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!

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!