Monday morning saw us both at our desks (okay, our desk)catching up with phone calls, paperwork and e-mails from over the weekend. This included casework from the Saturday advice surgery and contacts from people in the ward needing help. One of these was a follow up on the broken sewer pipe that Keith had been to see on Sunday morning. The couple had been bravely sticking it out but some water(?) had seeped into the kitchen and damaged the carpets. This will all have to be claimed for.
That afternoon we went to the Elections Office to put in Ken Wood's nomination papers for the upcoming elections. Sue went to a farewell gathering for Ian Coghill who is retiring after a lifetime of work for the Council. Ian was Assistant Director for Community Safety and his contribution on waste management, environmental services and community safety has been immense. He is going to carry on working on the PFI scheme for 2 days a week but we are sorry to lose him. If anyone has earned a long and happy retirement it is Ian. Best wishes.
Keith missed this event as he had to attend the pre-group meeting before the group meeting.
On Tuesday it was the Council Meeting. This was again not as rumbustious as it might have been considering it is just before the elections. The Labour Group is still in a sorry state. Some news though, Cath Grundy is not stepping down after all. She had announced that she could not continue due to pressure of work although rumours from a Labour source suggested that she had jumped before being pushed. However it now seems that she has decided to fight for re-selection despite not being able to do the job properly due to pressure of work. A bit of a rum do but another rumour was that former Cllr Stewart Stacey, the Butcher of Broad Street, was thinking of applying for the seat. Albert Bore may possibly view this with as much delight as he would body surfing in the product of the broken sewer referred to above but that is of course speculation.
Today, Wednesday, we held a public meeting on Lickey Rd to discuss traffic accidents that have claimed several lives mainly due to speed. Ken Wood has organised a petition for a speed camera and we are hopeful of getting one.
