Keith is writing this whilst looking out the window at the back gardens covered in snow. It looks marvellous but it is very different at the front. The road is a bus route and had clearly been gritted this morning as it was absolutley clear. We have had to cancel two advice surgeries this morning as the keyholder could not get to one and the other was cut off.Now however after several blizzards it was looking a bit dodgy. Hopefully it will be clear for when Sue and I go to the Council House for the group meeting this evening although the forecast is for a lot more snow this evening.
There were some interesting things going on last week besides the usual meetings.
On Wednesday Keith was at Longbridge Technology Park for a meeting of the Central Technology Belt. This discussed developments at Worcester (2) Malvern Hills Science Park, Bromsgrove Technology Park, Quinetic, Longbridge and Pebble Mill. In the present economic climate changes are occurring constantly and we really have to be on top of things in order that investment goes to the right places at the right time.
Straight from there Keith went to the Beeches Conference Centre for the afternoon session of the Birmingham Summit, organised by Be Birmingham and looking at how the Strategic Partnership can help improve things for our sitizens in the coming years.
On Tuesday Sue had to make a housecall for a disabled resident who had some problems with some alterations to his home. Hopefully Sue's intervention will get that sorted out. Later she attended an advice surgery at the Frankley Plus Childrens' Centre on Frankley whilst on Wednesday she was at a meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Theme Group of which she is the lead member. That evening Sue and Ken went to the Frankley Library for a meeting of the Frankley & Cockhill Housing Liaison Board. Keith had another hat on as Chairman of Northfield Conservative Association whilst paying a visit to the Northfield Branch. A robust meeting followed by a swift visit to the Northfield Conservative Club.
Thursday was another busy day. Keith was at Frankley Library to meet Vanessa Nichols who is the Director of Crime at the Home Office. It was nice to see such a high ranking civil servant actually coming to Frankley to find out what we were doing to combat anti-social behaviour through the "Yes" group set up after the Frankley Summit. We hope this will act as a model for other areas.
Sue spent most of the day at the Adoption Panel. As we have said before this requires an enormous amount of reading before the panel meets and is quite intensive.
Immediatley after Sue went to Colmers Junior School to chair a meeting of the Finance committe before going to Longbridge Technology Park for a meeting of the Consultative Group. Keith was at the AGM of the South West Birmingham Community Association at Northfield Fire Station before joining Sue & Ken at Longbridge.
On Friday Keith & Sue were at a meeting at the Constituency Office to meet with the Head of Constiuency and Randal Brew, Constituency Chairman. Also there was Stan Banting, Chairman of SWBCA, to discuss the lease for Oddingley Hall which SWBCA will be managing as soon as we can get the legal details sorted out.
From there Sue & Keith went to Callowbrook Elderly Persons Home for a Section 33 visit. This is our annual inspection that all Councillors are required to carry out at all Childrens Homes and EPH,s in their ward. The Callowbrook specialises in people with dementia and their dedication and hard work has to be seen to be believed.
