Helping Rochester

We took time out from our own campaign in Chatham & Aylesford this morning to help colleagues in Rochester & Strood deliver their latest In Touch. It was nice to lend them a hand since they often provide us with help, especially if we have a big delivery, but boy were we hot afterwards. The landlady of the house designated as today's HQ clearly didn't know what had hit her when we all arrived back gasping for cold water, juice and mugs of builders' tea! However, the sandwiches, sausage rolls and mini pork pies all went down very well after our morning of hard work - we'll come back with service like that!

Pottering

I have spent a lovely day with my other half wandering around various events. We started off at the Pottery Market at The Friars in Aylesford. There were potters, sculptors and ceramic artists from across the UK and Europe exhibiting their wares and I was rather tempted by some wonderful vases and a splendid water feature. However, I didn't buy anything today but will certainly go back to the pottery shop once the builders have finished in my house and I can begin to decorate the house with beautiful ceramics more safely! We watched a bit of the Mass before leaving to go to Burham's Fun Day - and jolly good fun it was too. They had all sorts of fairground stalls which would keep children entertained for some time. We were rather amused by some shocking attempts by golf enthusiasts to chip balls into certain holes - one went flying over the top and into a field never to be seen again! It was also good to see Cllr Roger Dalton doing his bit by serving beer to thirsty mums and dads in the Beer Tent!

After Burham we headed up to the Robin Hood for their Beer Festival barbecue and lunch time jazz. The Kent beers on offer were fabulous but sadly since I was driving I had to stick to the homemade lemonade - and lovely it was too. It was wonderfully relaxing to sit in a beer garden with the newspaper listening to some live music - who needs Glastonbury?!

A Saturday Montage

The day started with the opening of the Aylesford Village Festival and ended with the Red Arrows. Words can't describe how brilliant the air and sea display was on and over the River Medway to celebrate the first Armed Forces Day so instead here is a photo montage of my day.

Kingfisher allotment

I was at Kingfisher School last night for the Meridian Girls AGM and couldn't help but notice how fabulous the new allotment looked. Their sweet peas and lettuces looked fabulous! They have come a long way since March when Cllrs Pat Gulvin and Matt Bright reported on the opening of the allotment HERE.

I am very much looking forward to an Armed Forces Day reception tonight and watching the various events tomorrow. It is great that we are finally having a day to celebrate our services and even better that it is happening in Chatham!

Today's post!

This is today's postbag of returned Capstone petition cards...keep them coming!

A great end to a really busy week

This week has been extremely busy but despite being exhausted I can't help but feel really pleased with what we've achieved this week.

As well as going to work, this week I have been dealing with the Capstone Valley announcement; was invited to a "new generation" dinner at the BBC; attended my Association's Executive meeting; coached the girls football team; went to Norwich where I bumped into the Conservative campaign team for the Norwich North by-election; drove down to Hythe to see my best friend who is over from Australia and 4 months pregnant with her first child; and been to the wedding of a friend in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

And all this fitted around a Friday off in the constituency where I met with the Snodland based Valley of Visions team to hear about the variety of projects they are co-ordinating to conserve the Medway Gap within the Kent Downs. It was fascinating to hear what they are trying to do, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and to learn about all the wonderful wildlife that exists within the valley. After leaving Snodland I headed up to Chatham to attend a seminar hosted by MCCH Medway about Pathways to Inclusion. Bizarrely I knew the man from Cabinet Office who came to speak about the Adults facing Chronic Exclusion programme and it was good to hear him present to the group. He spoke quite candidly about future spending issues and the need for reviews to ensure that proper cost benefit analyses could be done on programmes. I got the impression that the Pathways to Inclusion scheme was (rightly) very well regarded and I certainly look forward to hearing more about it in the future. That meeting was followed by one at the Council with the Deputy Leader, Cllr Alan Jarrett, to discuss current initiatives across Chatham and to give my views on certain 'live' issues concerning people. As the only candidate in Medway not on the Council I found it an extremely useful meeting.


Then yesterday, a large group of Conservative activists, including Gravesend MP Adam Holloway and helpers from Bearsted, Faversham and Rochester, gathered to help deliver 23000 petitions to residents across Chatham calling for the Government to stop trying to build houses on Capstone Valley. The petitions are already coming back and people are emailing me to get more cards. I hope this time, third time lucky, the people of Chatham are listened to!

Save Capstone Valley...AGAIN!

For the THIRD time, proposals to concrete over Capstone Valley are being consulted on despite opposition from the public and our Conservative controlled council.

Thanks to planning laws and rules imposed by the Labour Government, Medway Council is obliged by law to put development proposals to concrete over Capstone Valley out to “public consultation”. If they refuse to do so the developers will have the right to apply for planning permission and even commence building work.

With overwhelming support of local people, Medway’s Conservative Council has defeated these proposals twice already. Not only do they want to keep Capstone Valley as it is but they have already identified sufficient land for new homes without the need to concrete over Capstone. But this Labour Government seems determined to ruin one of our last remaining open spaces.

I have to say this is getting ridiculous. This is the third time in five years that the public have had to fight against developers concreting over Capstone Valley but every time local people reject them, another piece of legislation is passed favouring the developers.

Two years ago, along with my Conservative colleagues in Chatham, we organised a referendum to give local people a chance to comment. Over 95% said NO. See these links for the full story:

http://blog.traceycrouch.org/2007/09/capstone-referendum.html

http://blog.traceycrouch.org/2007/10/what-amazing-day.html

http://blog.traceycrouch.org/2007/11/98-say-yes-to-save-capstone-valley.html

I will be encouraging everyone to make their views on Capstone known and if that fails I will be left with no other option than to lie down in front of the bulldozers!