On the Eve of the May Bank Holiday

I have read and re-read The Mid Devon Advertiser, The Teignmouth Post and the Herald Express and I still can't believe the madness of our newly elected Liberal Democrat led Teignbridge Council.

1. Front page news - the days of maggot filled bins are over - but only if you are one of the 8,000 pilot households for the new weekly collections - which may not be permanent. And how is this going to be paid for? No ideas have been offered as to how the funding gap is to be met! Was this just another election promise which will not be met?
2. Despite and in the face of objections being raised to the Core Strategy by the Inspector, the Council Executive has voted unanimously to push it through! There is no housing needs analysis, no proper review of the consequences and implications of building on a flood plain, no robust plan to fund the development proposed - are they mad? The case has not been made for the Northern Option and the longer this "dead duck" is championed, the longer it will take to give the green light for a viable plan to build homes - and right now any homes wold be a bonus, affordable or not!

And what is Mr Younger Ross doing......

• campaigning to change the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest
• bemoaning possible post office closures - but doing nothing to stop them
• building his Eurosceptic credentials - sorry I am not convinced - and no doubt Menzies isn't either. As a member of the European Scrutiny Committee he has a lot to answer for! The best he can offer is "I may or may not agree with what they come up with but I reject their way of doing it" Eer...so what are you going to do about it Richard?
• explaining how he is paying his way on a twinning visit - and what about the other expenses which have been incurred to such a high level -well above average
• oh and the Lib Dems can't stop the data protection changes - so they didn't bother to turn up for the vote!

And so another week of democratic decision making comes to a close!

Devon County Show - and grammar schools

What a fabulous event the Devon County Show is. It is quite wonderful to see such a huge variety of livestock all in beautiful condition. Being able to go behind the scenes so to speak and see how a cow is prepared for showing is fascinating. The show jumping events always have me gripped - something I used to do in a minor way when I was much younger (and I have the broken tooth to prove it!). I did not know we had such a variety of Devon beers and cheeses - a delicious discovery. Everyone was represented, the schools, hospices, NFU, Countryside Alliance to name but a few. Teign School gave a very spirited performance with a selection of pop songs performed by a group of very talented youngsters which attracted a good crowd. Three good days - and surprisingly with weather to match.

On Wednesday, Dawlish Town Council held its formal Council Meeting to welcome in and instate the new mayor, Ros Prouse and formally appoint the new committee members. I felt very privileged to be there. Some traditions are very special and this is one of them. On Friday Sir David Hoare opened Luscombe Castle and with the Dawlish League of Friends gave a splendid coffee morning for the community raising funds for the local hospital. Well done to all the devoted carers who skillfully pushed wheelchair bound residents to the castle - quite a challenge even for the very fit! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many of you.

I was very surprised at the press coverage given to David Willets announcement on the party's position on education. For me, a good education means providing a range of institutions meeting the diverse and complex needs of our children. Be in no doubt , I strongly support Grammar Schools along with City Academies and other schools in all their diversity. I do not believe in a one size fits all approach which is what Labour's Comprehensive Schools were established to provide. Only this week a young 19 year old told me that his generation felt let down by this government and in particular its failure to provide vocational training which would lead to real job opportunities. More university places had done very little to improve employment prospects - just raised expectations only to see them dashed.

This government's behaviour as regards Post Offices beggars belief. Nothing like leaving it until after the District Elections to announce massive closures! No attempt has been made to explain where the money being lost has gone and why. No attempt has been made to help and support Post Offices - instead all we have seen is increasing cuts to what they can provide. There is clearly no understanding of or support for the role Post Offices play in the community. I will be fighting to keep our Post Offices open and offering practical help and support, not just words.

Moving on

Total exhaustion had set in and it took a few days to get back the energy spent on the elections. I am now however well stuck in to a round of debriefing meetings and capturing the feedback from each branch. There are always valuable lessons to learn which need to be identified and acted on.

My Campaign Group met for the second time to look at the election results and lessons across the whole constituency and to put in place the steps needed as we begin to prepare for the County Council elections in May 2009. Key tasks for the immediate future are a major fund raising campaign and a new calender of Constituency events which we will be publishing on our Newton Abbot Conservatives website which is now under development.

Lots of local events this week. The highlights were the Street Market in Kingsteignton on Bank Holiday Monday and Beating the Bounds of the Borough of Newton Abbot on Saturday. The weather was reasonable for both - not too hot but not pouring with rain either although both were threatened by black cloudy skies and a bit of drizzle. I found a great pair of silver earrings made by a local artist and bought some yummy home made plum and gooseberry jam -but missed the cakes! I must get to the market earlier next year!

Beating the Bounds was absolutely fascinating and took me to parts of Newton Abbot I had not yet discovered. Eveline, our Town Crier did a fabulous job and her lace and velvet costume was wonderful - her three cornered hat was a bit of a challenge in the wind - but she kept it well down on her head! The other civic court members were equally well dressed and I was absolutely delighted to be so much a part of a tradition dating back to the 8th Century. Newton Abbot is muddier than you might think - next time I will wear my walking boots!

While I have been living in Coffinswell, I have been looking for a house to buy in Newton Abbot. After a number of false starts I have now found the perfect house in Sandford Orleigh - I am absolutely delighted and hope to have moved in by the end of June. Indeed while chatting to fellow beaters on Saturday I discovered that there is a plaque which used to be in my future dinning room which is currently sitting in a builders yard. It would be wonderful to reinstate it and we talked about how we might do that.

Next week - the County Show to look forward to!

3rd May - election day!

A very busy week which was hugely successful. Following the last election four years ago we held 14 seats on Teignbridge District Council. During the last administration two independents crossed the floor to join us taking us to 16. We won four seats from the Liberal Democrats on Thursday last week and lost one to them in return. This takes us to 19 seats as against their 21. The second seat in Kingsteignton West nearly fell to us - we lost it by one vote after several recounts! That would have put us at 20 seats.

This gives us a very healthy picture. Dawlish is now completely Conservative. We won our first seat in Newton Abbot - Ken Lewis wiped the floor in Bushel polling the most votes in the ward as a whole. Kingsteignton was a hold with Joan Lambert and Mike Walters holding their seats - and nearly a one seat gain if we had polled just one more vote. In Ambrook Denis Smith gave us our first Conservative seat in this recently acquired part of the constituency from Totnes. Shaldon turned blue with the ever popular Chris Clarence standing for the Conservatives rather than an independent this time around. Ipplepen returned Victor Elliot, perhaps one of our most colourful candidates! Teignmouth will be the battle ground for the future - we fought every seat but only returned one Conservative, Sylvia Russel. Similarly but surprisingly we also failed to make headway in Kerswell with Combe.

After a breath of fresh air and some sleep, I am looking to the next challenge - the County Elections in May 2009!