Tourism Awards

I was at a dinner last night promoting Lancashire Tourism. Fylde had nominated two special individuals for their continuous hard work in Fylde Tourism. The competition was tight and I am afraid to say neither ladies won an award. However, it is important that we continue to nominate people and support the tourism industry in Fylde.

You'll see from the picture that it was a black tie dinner, except Eddie Collett, the Tourism Cabinet Member from Blackpool seemed not to adhere to this code.

Petition to the Prime Minister

Hello,

I've had my e-petition approved.

Go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/weightlimit/ and add your support to stopping heavy vehicles from using Wesham's roads as a short cut.

Thanks,

Simon.

Further Action on Bridge Limit

Morning,

Just so you don't all think I am idle on a Sunday Morning. I'm not talking the rejection of the weight limit lying down. I've done a number of things to escalate this issue.

I've set up an e-petition on the Prime Ministers Web Site (this has not yet been approved so I can't give you the address yet).

I've asked for the issue to be put on the Lancashire Local Agenda.

I've asked the leader of the council, John Coombes, to raise the issue with Hazel Harding, leader of Lancashire County Council at the next leaders meeting.

If these fail, we may need to take some more direct action. If you are happy to partake in some direct action, e-mail me on simon@wesham.com and let me know.

Regards,

Simon.

Is Lancashire County Council the worse Council in the World?

Hello,

A little disappointing news. Despite a petition and strong campaigning and the might of common sense, Labour run Lancashire County Council turns down any move to restrict heavy good vehicles putting Wesham peoples lives at risk!

Lancashire County Council shows us what it really thinks of small rural villages and towns. They spend millions destroying roads and making them single carriageways, but when a few hundred pounds would make all the difference to one small area of population, they turn their back on us.

Help me by e-mailing trafficandsafety@env.lancscc.gov.uk and telling the county what you think of their betrayal of rural towns.

I will not give up on this, or on getting Wesham station sorted, so please help me and send an e-mail.

Thanks,


Simon.

Christmas Trees.

There is a really nasty rumour being put out in the press by the leader of the opposition, a member from Elswick and his cronies a little closer to home, that the Conservatives are cutting rural Christmas decoration grants next year.

There is no truth in this rumour, no intention and contrary to be the Scrooge, we've increased Christmas light money, steam lined the process and have allowed Town and Parish councils devolved responsibility for providing their own Christmas lights and trees while being supported financially by the Borough.

These stories will appear with increasing regularity in the press in the next few months, as the election draws nearer. When you see these stories you have to ask what life was like during the 12 years of independent control. Well, we were judged a weak council, we had our housing department run by inspectors following the poor management of the last chairman, we never made a decision and council tax rose by 30% in the last three of their rule.

I'm putting out a leaflet in the next few days that details some of the successes the Conservatives have had, you can compare a confident, stable and achieving Council with what's gone before.

If you want to know more, give me a ring, e-mail me or leave a comment.

Ta,

Simon.

Good News at the Station.

Hello,

Firstly, sorry for not updating for a week or so. No excuses just work, council and family pressures have seen less free time, but we now have a lull in it all for a bit.

Good news, my campaign to get the litter cleared away around Wesham Station has been successful, and the people at Network Rail have agreed to clean up. I am also asking the council to put a litter bin at the bus stop to try and encourage people to use that instead of the embankment the other side of the bridge.

Another glimmer of hope is that Network Rail have underspent by £96m on station improvements, I wonder if this now means we may get out lift. I will speak to Michael Jack to see if he can ask this question.

Regards,

Simon.

Continental Market

The Continental Market visited the Fylde again this weekend. It was in Lytham Piazza. I visited with my family and had a great time walking around and sampling different tastes and flavours of Europe. We had a Bratwurst for our lunch as you can see in this picture. I think it is great when this Marker and the Farmers market are on. It brings many more people into the Towns, visiting our great borough. I think the Staff at the Town Hall have worked very hard to sort these kind of markets out for us. We are currently planning an Antiques Market on Mill Street car park in Kirkham. I'll keep you all informed of this progress.

Young People

We've had two issues on young people in the news this week. First was the national report about how Britain's teenagers are 'the worst in Europe' and secondly David Cameron saying lets show them more love. As I am sure you suspect I have strong views on these issues.

Firstly, young people are the product of their parents, and we can't blame young people without blaming adults for their behavior. Having said that it's not always the case. Most young people are honest, law abiding young adults who will grow up to make positive contributions to society, the fact they hang around park corners in groups will not affect this out come. Most young people currently live decent lives doing decent things, helping their grandparents, going to school all day every day, studying hard. Most have decent pass times and show increasing skills in these sports and hobbies.

However some young people are thugs, and criminals and ASBO collectors, but not as many as we have amongst adults. More adults are rude, drop litter, swear, drink, take drugs, commit crime, you get the picture. And if these kind of adults become parents, what will the children be like! Vicky Pollard became Vicky Pollard because her parents made her like that.

I am in no way excusing bad behavior, yobs need dealing with, but I also am not jumping on the anti young people bandwagon. In the same vain just as a few Muslims may blow themselves up, it does not mean every Muslim will.

This leads onto David Camerons remarks. Although I am sure they were well meaning, showing yobs love may work in some cases, hard cash and targeted resources will work better. The sentiment is there, but is the substance and also, is it right to invest in those that are off the rails at the expense of those who are not?

The results of Fylde's listening day are in and they show a high concern amongst residents is 'something for teenagers to do'. This shows that adults (in the main parents and grand parents) are happy for Council Tax Payers Money (your money) to be spent on youth projects. Which is good news, but do they want money spent on making the lives of their own children and grand children more fulfilled with better facilities or do they want money spending on intervening in bad parenting situations to steer potential and actually trouble makers away from the dark side of life into the lightside of love and hugs?

What I think I am getting at here, and it is my policy as Cabinet Member at Fylde to do is;

People want better facilities for young people.

People want better young people.

So therefore, lets put our money where our mouth is; lets provide the support to those that may go off the rails, but lets also support and provide the resources for the decent, honest, studying, positive future contributors to society which make up 99% of our children.

Let me have you views, e-mail me on simon@wesham.com or leave a comment.

Regards,

Simon