tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82088522008-07-25T08:17:27.539+01:00Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comBlogger280125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-43119360178604818692008-07-25T08:06:00.002+01:002008-07-25T08:17:27.556+01:00

A week or more ago the Stockton South Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate, Jaquie Bell, said that she thought the SNP were on track to take Glasgow East from Labour. This wasn't a newspaper pundit looking at statistics, but someone who'd just spent several hours walking the streets delivering Liberal Democrat leaflets. In the early hours of this morning she was proved right. A sliver of a majority

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-86202048003450390802008-07-23T21:39:00.003+01:002008-07-23T22:01:26.224+01:00

That odd mix describes today's meeting round. First up was a planning session for the Fairtrade Wine tasting which is being planned for October 17th - put the date in your diary now if you're within reach of Stockton on that evening. There'll be lovely Fairtrade wines to taste, some nibbles to snack on and fun all round. This afternoon the planning committee had to decide on a number of

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-45807685819610277742008-07-21T22:18:00.002+01:002008-07-21T22:38:06.198+01:00

The long slow process of BSF grinds on, with the next stage going before Stockton Council's Cabinet tonight. Residents of Eaglescliffe will know that I'm often critical of how the council consults residents, often seeming to treat consultation very superficially. This consultation has been different. Many changes have been made to the proposals after residents across the Borough voiced their

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-44767110021041479942008-07-19T17:52:00.006+01:002008-07-19T19:06:14.405+01:00

Today was the first day of the Mayor's sponsored walk, raising funds for his charities (Daisy Chain and Justice First) by walking the Teesdale Way from one side of the Borough to the other. It dawned bright and clear but turned to rain in the afternoon. The walkers were undeterred however, and can be seen here emerging onto the worst part of the walk - the bit that goes through a housing estate

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-37147241150544736422008-07-18T22:37:00.002+01:002008-07-18T22:52:17.436+01:00

I heard a snatch of a radio programme that I don't usually listen to today and found myself laughing aloud. The comedian said (not a verbatim quote so forgive me if you heard the original) "We've put so much effort into causing global warming and what do we get? Cold, wet miserable July". He went on to suggest that we all find another appliance to turn on and warm the world up a bit more!

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-77964942654541241032008-07-16T21:38:00.002+01:002008-07-16T21:48:38.230+01:00

A day with only one meeting was the un-looked for bonus of the strike by some council staff. Several meetings were cancelled and so there was a chance to catch up on some phone calls and emails as well as doing a little of the filing and reading which has piled up over recent weeks. The one meeting which did take place was of a small group of school governors who meet about once a term to

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-26869716012068500872008-07-15T21:14:00.005+01:002008-07-16T08:26:04.531+01:00

I had a very interesting conversation with a local stamp collector today who told me that there is an increasing problem for stamp collectors with modern post offices. The post office likes to use sticky labels showing the postage paid rather than sticking stamps on parcels and letters, so increasingly he finds them reluctant to sell an entire sheet of stamps to him. It seems to be part of the

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-12173278274059762192008-07-14T09:19:00.006+01:002008-07-15T21:14:46.071+01:00

And it's been a very long week for me indeed. Our second grand-child's arrival in the big wide world took a bit longer than we'd expected at the beginning of the week and I've seen rather more of the national road network than I'd hoped. But all's well that ends well and she's a beautiful baby (of course!) Many, many thanks to the rest of the Liberal Democrat group for keeping things going so

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-72555068399029702662008-07-04T17:49:00.003+01:002008-07-04T18:01:58.101+01:00

I know that this isn't anything really to do with Eaglescliffe ward, except that it involves two residents of the ward, but it involves one person well known to many in this ward so the story and photos are here for all. Cllr Julia Roberts who represents Elmtree ward and my former Eaglescliffe colleague, now Preston Parish Councillor Mike Cherrett married this afternoon. It was supposed to

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-8366691283429265972008-07-03T23:03:00.005+01:002008-07-03T23:28:46.782+01:00

In the week that the NHS celebrates its 60th birthday Eaglescliffe Health Centre bit the dust. The demolition squad moved in and the building is no more. Councillor Suzanne Fletcher took these photographs when out with her trusty camera looking for something else entirely. Residents haven't been deserted by the doctors, nurses, physiotherapist, health visitor and countless other professionals

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-7969676519603265342008-07-02T22:02:00.003+01:002008-07-02T22:54:54.243+01:00

The agenda for today's meeting was particularly heavy, containing as it did the draft Strategic Housing Land Allocation Assessment. This document, 2cm thick, contains an assessment of every conceivable plot of land in the Borough capable of having more than 10 dwellings put on it in. It then tries to assess whether they're likely to become available and if it might be possible to develop in the

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-17108956479168269412008-07-01T20:22:00.002+01:002008-07-01T20:41:30.374+01:00

This morning I was invited to visit The Norton School for the opening of the exhibition “Escape to Safety”. This is a multi-media exhibition demonstrating the experience of people seeking asylum in the UK. It takes students on a journey from a war-torn part of the world to Heathrow and eventually to a detention centre. Using an MP3 player and headphones each person moves through the exhibition

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-54212265506638999212008-06-30T22:54:00.003+01:002008-06-30T23:00:50.134+01:00

Tonight's meeting of the Western Area Partnership Board was taken up to a large extent with a discussion on the Momentum project. This had been mentioned last month but this month we had a presentation and debate which could have gone on for a lot longer. People have real concerns about concentrating services in too few locations, about how the villages will be served when they can't have a GP

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-72153298149276846262008-06-29T21:26:00.000+01:002008-06-30T16:45:43.045+01:00

A rare opportunity this afternoon to just drop everything and go out. The initial intention was to walk along to Preston Park and see something of the Fire Engine and Vintage Vehicle rally, but a sudden downpour changed our minds. We drove out to the moors and enjoyed the scenery even though it was grey and rather more wintry looking than we might have hoped for this time of year. Our walk

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-82083487891928683152008-06-28T15:32:00.002+01:002008-06-28T15:46:32.082+01:00

The Government still hasn't made up its mind about who will run the Post Office Card Account after the present contract expires in 2010. This is the account which replaced the Pension book for many over 60s, allowing them to go to the Post Office as they always had and draw the money out each week. For people like my mother who can't get into her bank branch it's a godsend, helping her to

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-41427758324506686272008-06-25T22:05:00.003+01:002008-06-25T22:31:13.222+01:00

The McCarthy and Stone development on The Avenue which was so unpopular as it went through the planning process last year is nearing completion. Timothy Hackworth Court sales office is open for business and today a range of people from local businesses and the community were invited to see for themselves what is on offer. John Fletcher and I went along as ward councillors because we will

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-80649959151514203302008-06-24T22:19:00.003+01:002008-06-26T18:14:22.572+01:00

A day without meetings - a rarity indeed. So what does a councillor do on such a day? Well, we do have a life other than council of course but multi-tasking is common place for us. Thus a walk to do some shopping, rather than a quick call in the car en route to somewhere else, was a chance to check up on the state of some little problems reported earlier in the year. Some things never seem to

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-62342361328803475572008-06-23T09:31:00.003+01:002008-06-23T09:43:58.645+01:00

Stockton Council's engineers asked the people applying to develop these two sites to calculate the effect of not only their own traffic but each other's, especially on the roundabout near Tesco. Those calculations are done using standard computer programmes that are accepted right across the country and it's very difficult to argue to a Planning Inspector on appeal that they are wrong, even when

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-27311879454064699772008-06-21T22:26:00.000+01:002008-06-23T09:30:56.010+01:00

That was the title of a conference I attended this weekend. I'd been asked to speak at the annual conference of the National Board of Catholic Women about being a Borough Councillor and a woman of faith. The other speaker was Prof. Tina Beattie (photographed with the NBCW president, Mrs Yogi Sutton), a wonderful theologian with the gift of being able to express deep thological concepts in

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-84795114408995212202008-06-20T22:17:00.002+01:002008-06-20T22:31:16.650+01:00

This year is the 60th anniversary of the declaration of human rights and a group of eminent people including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu have launched a campaign to celebrate and strengthen the declaration by getting a billion people to sign a personal commitment to uphold the Declaration. When I signed there were over 21,000 signatories so there's a long way to go to get the billion.

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-39500278533912877322008-06-19T22:34:00.002+01:002008-06-19T22:49:51.231+01:00

Residents of Larch Crescent have been plagued for a number of years by teenagers playing football on the patch of grass in front of their bungalows, kicking the ball into their gardens and causing damage. It's the age old story of the patch of grass available being too small for what the young people need. Quite why they won't go over the road to Preston Park I don't know. Tristar have done the

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-43952721327287230882008-06-19T08:47:00.002+01:002008-06-19T09:02:46.841+01:00

A complete waste of time was my reaction to the morning's event. I went to a workshop which I'd been led to expect would be useful in my role as Chair of Western Area Board. Unfortunately this was one of those rare occasions when I found absolutely no value at all in the session. In fact I don't think I've ever been to something where I've come away feeling quite so cross about wasting time.

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-91013877179989781182008-06-18T08:33:00.001+01:002008-06-19T08:49:48.753+01:00

A breakdown in "the system" meant that I realised this morning that minutes of a previous Fairtrade meeting hadn't been sent out, nor the agenda for today's. Consequently no-one but the two of us responsible for doing that had remembered the meeting! We took the opportunity to sort out some things which we've been meaning to do and not done because of pressure of other work, so it was a very

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-7456526978110907822008-06-16T22:26:00.002+01:002008-06-16T22:44:40.424+01:00

As residents know, the health service in this area has been looking at changes to hospital provision for several years. The latest scheme involves building one new hospital to serve Hartlepool, Stockton and parts of Easington and Sedgefield, closing both North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals and having a lot more services available "in the community". Of course that phrase means different things

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8208852.post-62384860759324572072008-06-15T11:34:00.005+01:002008-06-15T12:12:46.483+01:00

Liberal Democrats have always been the party which most values local government and our local government conferences are always well attended. This weekend was no exception. Councillors from all shapes and sizes of local authorities gathered in Birmingham, along with MPs with a special interest in local government. Although not of direct and detailed interest to the residents I mention

Maureen Rigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09668706709158698743noreply@blogger.com