The Mayor of Wallingford, in Oxfordshire, is seeking to de-twin with Luxeuil-les-Bains in eastern France. They send the French Christmas cards and the Wallingford magazine each month but haven't had anything back for the last ten years. The Council for European Municipalities and Regions say they have no procedure for ending twinning. But surely Wallingford could […]
Somerset County Cricket Club are playing away at Northamptonshire in the Twenty20 Cup on election day, but the players did not want to miss out on voting. So, earlier this week, Conservative County Councillors and candidates met with the players to hand a postal voting application form to each of them. Stephen Martin-Scott, Conservative County […]
Cllr Robert Gordon, leader of Hertfordshire County Council, on their plans to build on achievement. Conservatives are ambitious for Hertfordshire and its people. We have used the strength of our County Council to promote Hertfordshire and to protect our residents and communities. The current economic crisis is already having an impact on local jobs and […]
The Sunday Telegraph reports that local Councils spend £1.5 million sending councillors and officers on foreign junkets. Labour run Greenwich spent £25,000 sending a six strong delegation to Beijing for the Olympics. They flew Business Class. Labour run Glasgow Council sent is Film Commissioner to last year's Cannes Film Festival. Lib Dem run Eastbourne Council […]
Cllr David Parsons CBE, the Leader of Leicestershire County Council, is asking for a mandate for zero Council Tax increases. Since 2001 under Conservative control, Leicestershire has become one of the country’s top performing councils. We have been recognised as “The Council of the Year 2009” – the first ever County Council to win this prestigious award. […]
Cllr Peter Jones, Conservative leader of East Sussex County Council, of their record of success and vision for the future. In June we will again seek re-election of our Conservative County Council, enabling us to continue improving services. We pledge to work to cut Council Taxes. We would have cut taxes already if the Government […]
County Council elections are being held on June 4. (Have you started canvassing yet?) This site will provide full coverage on the messages Conservatives will be fighting on. We begin with Cllr Tim Stoddard, the Conservative leader of Cumbria County Council. The key risk to manage for any administration in the next few years is […]
Further to Conservative Home's scoop about Boris Johnson unveiling a portrait of The Queen at City Hall, a call has been made for a portrait of her to be put up in the Council Chamber at Tower Hamlets Town Hall. Cllr Tim Archer, a Conservative councillor on Tower Hamlets, has written to the Council's Chief […]
The Daily Telegraph reports that two Lib Dem Cornwall County Councillors, David Bryant and Sarah Townrow ended up fighting after they ceased having a relationship and Cllr Townrow started going out with someone else (a hapless art gallery owner who was then attacked in a "jealous rage.") Cllrs Bryant and Townrow are both still Lib […]
The Guardian reports this morning that only 73 of the 472 local councils in the UK has an RSS feed of their website's news content. An organisation called Mash the State is campaigning for more Councils to provide this. They want non-personal data to be more widely available to the public. There is a lot of […]
The Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail both have reports of dissent among backbench Conservative councillors in Birmingham at some of the policies of the Conservative-led Council. Two points of dispute have emerged. Firstly, the proposal of the Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr John Lines that firms bidding for a repairs contract should have to buy vans from a […]
Good article in The Guardian this morning about how local papers are coping with the challenging economic climate. There has been a lot of gloom and doom on this subject but it sounds as if where they deserve to survive they will survive. The article by Stephen Moss says even with the recession "most local […]
It's a new dawn. It's a new day. As of today dozens of district councils cease to exist and millions of people in seven English counties now find they are living under unitary authorities. The counties concerned are Cheshire, Bedfordshire, Cornwall, Northumberland, Durham and Shropshire. Cllr Lionel Grundy, erstwhile Conservative leader of Kennet District Council […]
The Culture Secretary Andy Burnham says that some Councils which produce their own newspapers are "overstepping the mark." His comments come as 50 local newspapers face closure. Many Conservatives would agree that Councils spend too much on publicity. But as Burnham says this is essentially a choice each Council to make. My own council produces […]
Cllr John Letford, a Labour councillor on Dundee Council has quit the Party to sit as an Independent, after claiming the Leader of the Labour Group Cllr Kevin Keenan offered him an OBE if he agreed to stand down early as Lord Provost. The allegation is denied but the motive would have been to have […]