Fact follows fiction?

In 2012 I published this April Fools' Day article:

http://kentcommunityactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/all-change-in-kent.html

This week the Times of Tunbridge Wells has the following story:

 Council split talks 

The splitting of Kent into eastern and western authorities will move a step closer on Thursday (October 6) when five local authorities will meet to discuss meeting to form one 'super council'.

Any moves to combine Thanet, Canterbury, Ashford, Dover and Shepway districts could result in the scrapping of Kent County Council.

It is an option supported by Thanet North MP Roger Gale, who wants to see the county council replaced by three unitary councils, with Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks likely to make up a West Kent authority.

Pounding the streets

When I was a councillor (1996-2000) a task I set myself was to pound the streets in search of potholes, uneven pavements and faulty street lighting and report defects to the council.  It was time-consuming but now the web has made fault reporting easier and quicker, as I discovered when reporting a fault in the street light outside my home.

Cycle routes strategy for Tunbridge Wells or away with the fairies

How much did this cost to produce?  What is the cost of achieving  the proposals?  Austerity? Strapped for cash?

http://consult.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/portal/economic_development__regeneration/cycl/cycl?pointId=1442496491425

Just think of the proliferation of street clutter with all the signs.  Pembury Road is a good example of clutter.

Route 9 will be a nightmare on Rusthall High Street.

Ashford went mad over cycle routes - hardly used.

Best thing would for this strategy to be kicked into the long grass and give the thumbs down to the vociferous cycling lobby. Spend the money on improvements to public transport.

Kent Tories wobble but not toppled.

The Conservative held on to control of Kent County Council....just.

UKIP came from nowhere to win 17 seats, Labour failed to regain all the seats lost in 2009 and the Liberal Democrats trod water.  Had UKIP been able to mount contests in more Conservative seats, as distinct from fielding 'paper' candidates, we could have been looking at a council with no overall control.

As it is the Conservatives will form the cabinet.  We await with interest signs that opposition councillors are capable of mounting  effective scrutiny.

UKIP gained Tunbridge Wells East from the Conservatives.  A good result, followed by a stab in the back.

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Successful-Tunbridge-Wells-UKIP-candidate/story-18881621-detail/story.html#axzz2SENnnEGj

The UKIP challenge in Tunbridge Wells North came to nothing as the electorate followed the lead of Capel's electorate last year and refused to elect Brian Ransley.

The English Democrats had a hopeless campaign and dismal results.  At least they brought comedy to the elections with a candidate living at a non existent address and two candidates who live in Swanley, stood under other names and gave as their home address a location outside the county.

The English Democrats performance in Kent was matched  in Doncaster where they lost the Mayoral election having been successful in 2009.  It wasn't even close.  Hower, in typical English Democrat fashion, a gloss was put on the heavy defeat.

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Sherwood School knees-up opprobrium

When Keith Marden retired after 25 years as head of Sherwood Park Community Primary School the school governors decided to hold a party for him.  According to reports in the local press the party included a barbecue, plenty of booze and a hired band.  The school budget picked up the bill to the tune of  £6,000.   The governing body has resigned en bloc, although there is some doubt whether the chairman has resigned.

However one looks at it, the cost to the taxpayer of the party is grossly excessive.  What does surprise me is that no-one took the governors to one side before the event and warned them of the impropriety of making such a payment.  Who knew?  Why didn't those in the know do anything?

Keith Marden was very well thought of in Sherwood and for many years ran  very successfully a school in an area of severe deprivation.  To state the work of  a teacher at the school is challenging is an under-statement.    It was a sad end to Mr Marden's career that the school was put into special measures.

To put this in context:  Kent County Council has an appalling  performance record for primary school education.  It is one of the worst in the country. All this happened under a Conservative administration at county hall. Instead of sounding off about the cost of Mr Marden's leaving party, let us read of Councillor Tansley engaging in 'blistering criticism' (to use the local newspaper's phrase) of his cronies at county hall.  Oh, I nearly forgot, it is county council election time in 2013.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248046/Sherwood-Park-Community-Primary-Schools-entire-governing-body-forced-resign-spending-6-000-public-funds-headteachers-farewell-BBQ.html

Kent County Council's version of localism

The Conservative Party has proclaimed the virtues of community engagement, community involvement and community action wrapping it up in the concept of 'localism' which in turn is part of the Big Society agenda.  One of the leading proponents of localism is Greg Clark the MP for Tunbridge Wells.

The theory looks good, however turning theory into reality is somewhat more difficult. Step forward Kent County Council, under the kosh for its poor showing in the primary school performance league tables. The Council is responsible for youth services and as part of its budget reduction measures has decided to reduce funding for the youth service and moved away from a grants process to a commissioning process.

Kent County Council's commissioners rightly are looking for value for money but in so doing are able to influence the way in which the voluntary sector works, by encouraging mergers to reduce administrative costs and by reducing the number of organisations it has to engage with.  Money talks, so the voluntary sector is controlled by the policies and decisions taken in County Hall.

A stark example of this is what has happened in Tunbridge Wells.  Two organisations have fallen foul of the new commissioning regime and their future work, indeed the very future of the organisations now is in some doubt.  At this point I declare an interest: I have been the chairman of both of the organisations, although my  involvement ceased a few years ago.

One organisation, Number One Community Trust,  put in a bid for funding, was unsuccessful and has been left high and dry.  The other, Rusthall Community and Youth project, was put off applying by the 107 pages long notes for guidance.

Both organisations feel aggrieved  that funding has been awarded to an organisation based in Ashford which will provide a mobile bus to service youth provision in the areas covered by the two organisations.  The real worry is that the cuts in funding could lead to the demise eventually of both organisations, each rooted in and supported by the communities they serve.  It makes a mockery of localism and reinforces my belief that when it comes to budgets statutory authorities  (with a few exceptions) know the price of everything and the value of nothing,.

Hotting up in Tunbridge Wells East

The Conservatives are out in force as they seek to hold the Kent County Council seat at next Thursday's by-election.  The Liberal Democrats are campaigning hard as are the supporters of the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Too close to call?

UKIP has thrown its big gun into the campaign with a visit from Nigel Farage MEP.

Tory turmoil in Tunbridge Wells?

The Conservatives in Tunbridge Wells are nervous about the outcome of the Kent County Council  by-election in the Tunbridge Wells East Division.  The local newspaper carries an article which refers to an e-mail to party members (which I have not seen) in which (according to the press) reference is made to more party members from Folkestone and Dover delivering literature and canvassing in the Division than members of the Tunbridge Wells Association.   UKIP is seen as the main threat, either by winning the seat or taking Conservative votes and letting the Liberal Democrats in.

The article mentions that the leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, who lives in Westerham, may join the campaign trail.  To win a county council seat in Kent would be a major achievement for the party.

I commented on the impending by-election in an earlier post.

http://kentcommunityactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/close-contest-in-tunbridge-wells-east.html

The by-election has been triggered by the tragic death of Kevin Lynes whose work in the Division championing in particular deprived communities earned him respect and the votes of people whom one would not consider 'natural' Conservative voters. Has the Conservative candidate in the by-election a track record of community engagement and responsiveness to local issues?  Is he known in Sherwood, where Kevin Lynes did so much of his work?

Of course, the steady drip of bad news about the Conservatives nationally will not help, not should it assist the Liberal Democrats who are yoked to the Conservatives in the Coalition.  Labour and the Greens will not win the by-election, but who will?

In recent years at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council elections the Conservatives have had comfortable majorities in Sherwood and the Liberal Democrats easy wins in St James.

The joker is Pembury.  When the Conservative Group on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council ousted Roy Bullock as leader of the council a Conservative councillor representing Pembury resigned. At the by-election to fill the vacancy the seat was won by the Liberal Democrats, it is believed mainly because some Tories voted UKIP.  In May 2011 UKIP did not contest the seat and the Conservatives won the seat quite easily.

In May 2012 the former Conservative councillor stood as an Independent and won with a good majority.  However, a second seat in Pembury was contested, as the Liberal Democrat victor at the by-election stood down. The sitting Conservative councillor was re-elected, but the second Conservative candidate was only one vote in front of UKIP.  To complicate matters further, UKIP and the Liberal Democrats had only one candidate each.

Until a few days ago I was of the opinion that the Conservatives would hold on to the seat.  However, my opinion is changing.  It cannot be helpful to the Conservatives that their concerns are paraded across the local press. The fear of losing the seat will be pounced on by opposition parties as evidence to present to the electorate that the result is not a 'shoe-in' for the Conservatives.

See:  http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Tories-fear-repeat-UKIP-battering/story-16249273-detail/story.html

Close contest in Tunbridge Wells East?

The by-election in Tunbridge Wells East to elect a replacement for Kevin Lynes on Kent County Council could be a close contest.  The voting at the May elections in the three Tunbridge Wells Borough Council wards which make up the county division produced the following:

Conservative: 1543, Liberal Democrat 1225,  UKIP 1041, Independent 836, Labour 646.

The Green Party is contesting the by-election.  It is not possible to extrapolate the borough results into a prediction of the outcome of the by-election, the reason being that in the borough election in Pembury two seats were up for grabs and the Independent won with 836 votes.  A Conservative came second with 736 votes.  Third place went to the Conservatives with 506 votes and UKIP came fourth with 505 votes. The Liberal Democrats secured 312 votes.  UKIP and the Liberal Democrats both fielded only one candidate. How did people who voted Independent, Liberal Democrat or UKIP use their second vote?

A Green or Labour win can be discounted, but what of the others?  The Liberal Democrats had a massive hold in St James, came a poor last in Sherwood and with 312 votes were well behind UKIP in Pembury.  UKIP came a strong second in Sherwood and last in St James.

The Liberal Democrats are mounting a strong campaign and have the Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council as their candidate.  UKIP will be hoping to cash in on their success in Rusthall  in ousting the Conservative Leader of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

The Conservative candidate contested St James at the borough election and came a distant second.

It should be a Conservative hold, but who am I to judge?  After all, I predicted the Conservatives would hold on in Rusthall.

Confused Courier

According to The Courier newspaper there is going to be a by election on 14th  June in the Kent County Council division, Tunbridge Wells Rural East.

'Rural' is hardly descriptive of Sherwood.  The by-election is in Tunbridge Wells East.  The county councillor for Tunbridge Wells Rural is Alex King MBE.

2009 result:

Turnout %	Majority %
37.30	840

Candidates	Party	Votes	Swing
LYNES, Kevin Graham	The Conservative Party Candidate	2372	9.67%
NEVE, David John	Liberal Democrat	1532	-4.81%
GAYLER, Eileen Alice	U.K. Independence Party	585	12.15%
RICH, Tim	The Labour Party Candidate	324	-10.92%

The rise of UKIP in Tunbridge Wells

UKIP is celebrating its success in winning a seat in Rusthall, defeating the Conservative Leader of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. The party now holds two seats on the council, both in Rusthall. Elsewhere in the borough, UKIP had a solid second place in Sherwood (30%) and managed second place (just) with 15% of the vote in Culverden.

UKIP won its first seat in Rusthall in 2011 following a strong campaign and a very poor Conservative campaign.  The Conservatives put a huge effort into retaining the seat in 2012, contrary to the opinion expressed in the local newspaper that they were complacent and took the electorate for granted.  The MP for Tunbridge Wells was seen pressing the flesh in Rusthall.

The recent success of UKIP on Tunbridge Wells is a consequence of a number of factors:

• Growing anti-EU sentiment.
• Traditional Tory voters perceive UKIP as more in keeping with their views that the 'modernised' Conservative Party.
• The party the 'protest vote' moves to.  The Liberal Democrats no longer attract protest votes as the party is part of the coalition.
• The Labour Party is insignificant in Tunbridge Wells.
• The poor performance of the coalition government in the weeks leading up to the local elections.

In Rusthall the election literature of the UKIP candidate made no reference to any issue local to the ward.  Indeed, apart from a swipe at the decision to  raise Council Tax, the literature concentrated on the EU and immigration and made no reference to borough issues.

So, whatever motivated the Rusthall electorate it was not the merits of UKIP's policies for Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells.

The next challenge for the Conservatives is the election of a new Leader of the Council.  A number of potential candidates have been mentioned in the local press, but we do not know who has decided to throw a hat into the ring.

The election caravan now moves on to the vacant Kent County Council seat in Tunbridge Wells East Division. A few weeks ago I would have had this down as a routine Conservative hold. Now I am not so sure.  UKIP will fight hard following the good result in Sherwood and people who voted Independent in Pembury might be tempted to vote UKIP.  Although the Liberal Democrats did well in their stronghold, St James (62%), the party secured only 9% in Sherwood and 10% in Pembury.

The seat became vacant on the death of Kevin Lynes, who built up a strong and deserved personal vote.

2009 result:

Turnout %	Majority %
37.30	840

Candidates	Party	Votes	Swing
LYNES, Kevin Graham	The Conservative Party Candidate	2372	9.67%
NEVE, David John	Liberal Democrat	1532	-4.81%
GAYLER, Eileen Alice	U.K. Independence Party	585	12.15%
RICH, Tim	The Labour Party Candidate	324	-10.92%

Notice of vacancy

Kent County Council has published the notice of vacancy for the electoral division that was formerly held by Kevin Lynes prior to his tragic death.

It will be an interesting contest and not a shoe-in for the Conservatives.  Kevin will be a difficult act to follow.  He had a high personal vote: earned by his strong support for the communities he served, the organisations he supported and the causes he promoted .  A highly pro-active councillor, he made things happen.

KCC Rumour

KCC has issued a statement denying that the Managing Director is leaving the council.  See:

http://www.yourtunbridgewells.co.uk/news/kcc_denies_katherine_kerswell_to_quit_rumours_1_1128624

Kent failing children....still

OFSTED's annual assessment of children's services in Kent concludes that Kent is performing poorly and in so doing fails to meet minimum requirements.  This is appalling.  See: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/local-authorities/kent and click on the first PDF file.

Clearly it is not uniformly bad, some areas  of the service are doing well. The Cabinet member responsible for children's services resigned a few weeks ago.  Hopefully the replacement will oversee signficant improvement.

Update:  http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/lib_dem_leader_demands_inquiry_into_children_s_services_1_1122300

Paul Carter wins KCC Leader contest.

Easy win for Paul Carter today. Details on my other blog:

http://johnhopkinsonconservative.blogspot.com/2011/10/paul-carter-holds-on-to-kcc-leadership.html

A County Tale: Resign? Not me!

I have commented before on the scandal of inadequate provision by Kent County Council for the protection of vulnerable children. Last year a damning report was published by OFSTED. Today, KCC's Cabinet met and set out what the Council proposes to do to remedy the position.

The concerns are: why the failure was permitted to develop, that nothing significant was done about it and that no-one feels sufficient shame to resign over the issue. What has happened is a scandal from which no amount of special pleading can absolve those responsible.

One officer is to take voluntary redundancy.  But what of the councillors we elect and expect to run the Council  properly and in particular not to fail  in its duty to vulnerable children?  Not a hint of a resignation.

At one time government ministers felt obliged to resign for failings in their departments, even though the matter on which they resigned had been in the hands of civil servants.  It was regarded as the honourable thing to do.

Unfortunately, now that politics has become a career rather than a matter of public service, self-preservation to ensure careers continue has become the order of the day. Rather than resign the mantra now voiced is along the lines: well we got into this mess on my watch and I am best placed to get us out of it.

In my opinion this is condescending tosh.  It is unacceptable. There should be councillor resignations in KCC.  There won't be of course, the aphrodisiac of power will  persuade them  to stay in post.

No longer glad new day for KCC

I have been perusing the Quality Care Commission/Ofsted report on KCC childcare services. It is a damning document and the overall conclusion is that the provision is inadequate, defined in the report as failing to meet minimum requirements.

An apology and a promise to do better from Councillor Paul Carter, the Leader of the Council.  No hint of resignation though, not even from the councillor who holds the Cabinet portfolio in this area.

The Ofsted site has a report on the Annual unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements within Kent County Council's children's services.

In a letter to KCC dated 9th September 2010 is the following:

In addition, it is considered by Ofsted that the findings of this inspection and the

identified area for priority action are likely to become a limiting judgement of the
annual children’s services assessment when considered with other evidence. This
means the annual assessment is likely to be limited to ‘performs poorly’.

In December 2009 the assessment was performs well.

Why this quite dramatic reversal?  What has KCC Overview and Scrutiny been doing during this period?  A response from KCC is needed, not simply apologies and a determination to do better.

Remember, in all this the subjects of this inadequacy, vulnerable children.  They deserve better, we as people living in Kent deserve better.

KCC: Childcare services

A matter which must be investigated urgently is what the Overview & Scrutiny Committee of KCC did or did not do in respect of the issues raised by the OFSTED report. Was it supine or pro-active in the exercise of its functions? We should be told.

The NHS Overview and Scrutiny Committee did not do a very good job in investigating the problems at the Kent & Sussex Hospital and Maidstone Hospital when these places were killing fields. I will say this much for Councillor Carter: he had the chair of the committee replaced, but by then the horse had bolted.

Arrogant and inadequate: a political epitaph, hopefully

A damning OFSTED report concludes that Kent County Council's childcare services are inadequate. The Great Leader of KCC, Councillor Paul Carter is interviewed by the BBC. A hand-wringing performance in which an apology is proffered and a promise made to improve the services to meet the failures identified in the report, but no hint of a resignation.

Why is it that politicians who are responsible for a mess then think they are best placed to retrieve the position? Breathtaking arrogance. If they were any good the problem would not have arisen. The smell and exercise of power overcomes any sense of humility, responsibility and, to use an old fashioned word, honour.

Whilst letting matters rot in his own back yard Councillor Carter has been strutting the Kent stage exclaiming how wonderful it is that the council will have more power in the future. The council should get its own house in order. A good start would be to replace the Leader.

A secondary school for Edenbridge?

'You never appreciate anything until you have lost it'.  Thus spake an Edenbridge resident to me yesterday concerning the closure a few years ago of the town's Eden Valley School. There were problems with the former school. Many Edenbridge parents chose not to send their children to the school and the buildings were expensive to maintain.

A few residents have started a campaign for a new secondary school in Edenbridge. As might have been expected, Kent County Council has shown no interest apart from the usual buckets of ice-cold water being dispensed.  The campaigners are meeting the local MP, Sir John Stanley, later this week to try and elicit his support.

One avenue open to Edenbridge residents is to go down the free school route. It is long, complicated, tedious and time-consuming, but it cuts out KCC.  It is probably the only route residents can take.  Now we are in the era of the Big Society, Localism and community empowerment it will be interesting to see who joins the campaigners and supports their cause.