Regular hikers will be familiar with this picture. It shows the right of way going straight ahead. There’s just one problem. Alongside it is the “Bull in field” sign. In other words, there’s a theoretical right of way which is very different from the reality on the ground.

That’s exactly how I felt when I got back from my brief break to my council emails. The Monitoring Officer confirmed to me that, in her opinion, the constitution had not been subverted by the decision that Member Area Panels (MAPs) would not meet.

The constitution may say that that MAPs exist. The bull in the field (aka Labour’s built-in majority) proves otherwise.

And I feel just as protected by the rule book as I did in North Yorkshire.

There’s only one answer in the long run. We’ll have to get rid of the bull.

Last month this blog was heading for a record number of hits - and then the servers went down so I’ll never find out whether it would have made the 6,000 mark.

I got a couple of contacts, however, that made me think, and which led to my three targets.

One was a comment saying that one reason why people wouldn’t make contact was a fear of having political capital made at their expense. That’s a very reasonable comment - a website/blog like this is very one-sided because I control what goes on it and people who comment are therefore at my mercy/discretion. At the same time, however, I’m sure that readers recognise that this is not a forum but a website designed to promote what I and my party are doing, inform people about things which they might otherwise never hear about, and provide some space for debate and contact.

Target One: To achieve a position where people are confident that if they respond with a comment they’ll get a fair hearing/say.

Other contacts I got were were in the nature of “tip-offs” letting me know stuff that I might otherwise not hear, but which it could be useful for the people of Consett if I knew. Obviously people may feel that these need to be anonymous (though I’m bound to treat more cautiously an anonymous contact than a named one where I can check out details) but anyone who choses to contact me using their own name and marks it “confidential” can be sure that I will not disclose anything without their agreement.

Target 2. To achieve a position where people think it’s worth letting me know things they hear that could affect the well-being of where we live, and trust me to keep confidential anything that they tell me in confidence (where it’s legal to do so!).

And the third target? That’s easy

Target 3. 6,000 hits in August

Addiction is a terrible thing.

I’ve been suffering “cold-turkey” as I’ve been unable for days to satisfy my craving to write my blog. I rather doubt if any reader has felt quite the same!

Apparently the problem has been caused by the failure of all three of the server back ups for this website’s host. Whilst they have now manged to restore the site, it seems to be running very slowly.

Normal service will be restored very shortly.

I’ve spent five or six hours this weekend helping Keith English, Lib Dem district councillor for Benfieldside, put out leaflets in his ward. Keith, together with local branch members, has just about covered the ward over the week-end. We’ve been really grateful to the rain for holding off!

Meanwhile some of you in Consett North will have already received our July Focus which is only possible because of the wonderful dedicated band of volunteers who help me with it.

Those of you who haven’t received it yet can click on consett-focus-july-2008.pdf or just wait for it to come through your door.

Perhaps though, just perhaps, there’s a reader out there who values getting these newsletters and would be willing to put a few out in their immediate area. If that’s you, drop me a line. Every little helps, and the team we’re building is changing the face of local politics in Consett.

It’s been an interesting twenty four hours for me. I’m still not used to the slippery nature of local politics, and the fact that what’s being said to your face is almost certainly not what’s being said behind your back. If only I hadn’t lead such a sheltered life!

In the twenty four hours I received an email from a friend telling me how I was being slagged off for “doing a deal” with the Labour Group. It was news to me, but probably not to the politically motivated few in the pubs and clubs who need a good conspiracy to be going on with.

At the same time I found the Lib Dems being excluded from the District Council’s publicity machine, until it reached my ears and I “kicked off”. Then suddenly we were valued members of the Derwentside District Council team again.

Finally, I heard again some rumours which I intend to investigate. The problem is that sometimes I think rumours are as likely to be designed to walk my head into a noose as they are to provide useful information to help improve or protect our town!

So that reminds me who my friends are - the ordinary people of this town who elected me and who just want to hear the truth and be given a voice. It’s important in politics to remember who your friends are, and that the people who matter are the people you are elected to represent. That’s why it’s a real disappointment to me every time I log in to the website and find no comments. Today I’d even have appreciated an offer of dodgy pharmaceuticals or cheap motor insurance! Any communication beats the indifference of silence.

I’m passionate about consultation - talking to people, listening to people. It’s vital in politics - not because you’ll always end up doing what everyone wants, but if you don’t know what people really need and want you’re going to make a lot of lousy decisions.

I’m not having a go at the NHS staff who ran tonight’s consultation at County Hall; they were doing what they have to. That was clear from the opening sentence “it’s a requirement” rapidly followed by “we have had to do a twelve week consultation…” 

The basis of the meeting was to tell us that they have decided to locate the one new “super-surgery” that government has decided to give County Durham in Easington. So where’s the “consultation” in that?

I wasn’t angry that Easington was getting the new facility (even if paranoia suggests that they get everything these days), just weary that I’d turned out on a wet night in the vain hope that my presence might make a difference only to find that I was taking part in a pointless game that younger and wiser heads have learnt to avoid.

What we don’t need is more consultation. We need different, and probably less, consultation reserved for important (or really local) issues, and entered into seriously with the intention that it shapes decisions. When we get consultation like that we’ll fill the meeting halls. We’ll also raise the turn-out in elections. Those are both prizes worth striving for.

The words in this headline were spoken to me by a resident.

He had a small local issue and had been thinking of going up to the council offices to sort it out. Then he thought better of it - why not go and see his councillor because “you get more satisfaction from a councillor.”

This set me thinking. Its a terrible criticism of the local council if people think they’ll get better treatment if they get a councillor to raise their case instead of dealing with it themselves.

Resident, councillor, we’re all just neighbours and equal human beings. There should be no difference in the way we are treated.

And if ordinary folk thought their problems would be dealt with sympathetically and courteously their councillors would have much more time to do the strategic thinking they should be doing instead - like considering countywide education, value for money from the budget, or building up the local economy.

It’s a fine line, whether what The Liberal Democrats and I put out locally is information or propaganda. You probably have your own view, and if I’m honest I’m sometimes not sure myself.

Those who read the comments on the site will see a pretty critical one published last night in response to the piece about the traffic lights. The anonymous reader just sees it as a piece of self-promotion on my part, and who is to say that there’s nothing in that?

At the same time we live in a world where lots of people walk past problems. Some don’t even notice. Others notice but just walk on by anyway.

When you offer yourself for election you take on new responsibilities. You become expected to notice problems, and expected to act on the ones you see. You are then judged on how you live up to those expectations.

In the light of that I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say what you’ve seen, what you’re doing about it, and what happens.

So in that spirit I’m pleased to report that some of the potholes I identified on May 2nd have now been filled in, some listed for work in the coming weeks, and Spencer Street recognised as having multiple patching needs. Indeed it is described as “needing to be considered for a scheme to include kerbing and channels”.

Unlike the traffic lights, for most issues there isn’t an overnight solution - but it’s good to make a start. Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it was built. And it was built by a whole lot of people each doing their bit. You can do yours by reporting road and streetlight defects to http://www.durham.gov.uk/feedback.nsf/Highways+Fault+Report 

“It will have in place a wholly new style including innovative community engagement arrangements…, new and enhanced governance, strengthened leadership and new ways of working and engaging with local people.” Thus saith the Government about the new Durham County.

It hasn’t quite got the force of Old Testament prophecy has it? It smacks more of the “Mills and Boon” of political fiction.

The New County Council meets for the first time on Friday, and we’ll get the first indication as to whether the Labour Party will follow its usual pattern of hugging all power and position to itself, or whether it will embrace the “new style” promised. Will it give the chairmanship or vice chairmanship of any committees to the opposition? Will it seek to change any of its restrictive rules?

So far I’ve been horrified to find that if a scrutiny committee wants to “call-in” a decision for review it can only do it with the agreement of a chair or vice-chair of the comittee. How much chance of a “call-in” is there, then, if all those posts are held by Labour councillors.

Apparently, too, if a councillor wants to attend a training course they have to get the approval of the council leader. So what chance will I and my colleagues have if we want training that will make us a more effective opposition?

And will this “new-style” council scrap its policy of having all its meetings at 10.00 a.m? This clearly discriminates against any younger, working councillors in favour of those who are retired or on benefit.

Friday will be the first time we can read the new political barometer, and the first decisions will tell us whether the outlook is “Stormy” or “Fair”. I know what I’m looking for. I’m just hoping we don’t get what I expect.

Read this blog on Friday for the latest political weather forecast.

You’re right. This should have been posted yesterday, but yesterday passed in such a rush and by the time I got logged on I was too tired to do anything.

It’s been a tiring six weeks, and I simply could not have been elected were it not for my terrific co-candidate Natalie English and two groups of people:

1) a tireless band of about ten helpers who put out our leaflets, addressed and stuffed envelopes, worked the printer, and worked on all their friends to get behind us

2) the voters of Consett, many of whom had a real struggle of conscience before breaking the ingrained thinking of a lifetime, and who trusted us to work harder and smarter for Consett than our rivals.

I’ve been touched by the number of phone calls urgently wanting to know if we’d made it, the heartfelt congratulations for me and commiserations for Natalie.

The task is only just beginning, but it will be a whole lot easier in the knowledge of how many people willed us into getting it.

And just one final thought. The people of Consett have told Councillor Clive Robson and me that they require us to co-operate to deliver what Consett needs. It’s a challenge which I hope means we can both put behind us the ill-will that emerged during the campaign. The future well-being of Consett is more important than any inter-party rivalries.