As some of you have been good enough to notice, this microscopic speck of dust in the internet has been in a state of stasis for some months. Not a word has been published under its name since last October. But things have changed. Like the mighty Sky Blues, we are back.
What has prompted this unscheduled return? A hole in my macular and a bizarre post-operative protocol is not the reason. Dylan’s performance at the CBS was not enough. Nor were a succession of superb performances from Super Frankie’s Coventry team. The frustrating shenanigans of Your Party were strangely insufficient. Even seeing off the racists in Warwick and being one of the half million anti-fascists demonstrating on the streets of London failed to provoke a post.
Nevertheless, I am sitting at my laptop again having rekindled the outdated software which underpins this blog. Here’s why.
Last evening, Jill and I attended a public meeting. Its purpose was to alert the residents of our settlement in the Green Belt just north of Warwick to the dangers presented by a plan authorised by the councillors which we elected three years ago to represent us.
What has prompted this unscheduled return? A hole in my macular and a bizarre post-operative protocol is not the reason. Dylan’s performance at the CBS was not enough. Nor were a succession of superb performances from Super Frankie’s Coventry team. The frustrating shenanigans of Your Party were strangely insufficient. Even seeing off the racists in Warwick and being one of the half million anti-fascists demonstrating on the streets of London failed to provoke a post.
Nevertheless, I am sitting at my laptop again having rekindled the outdated software which underpins this blog. Here’s why.
Last evening, Jill and I attended a public meeting. Its purpose was to alert the residents of our settlement in the Green Belt just north of Warwick to the dangers presented by a plan authorised by the councillors which we elected three years ago to represent us.
The least worst option
Warwick District Council, the so-called local authority, is controlled by a coalition of Green and labour. Their plan is to concrete over vast swathes of prime agricultural land in the middle of which we live in the Victorian Gothic structure of the county mental asylum (that’s what was called for a hundred years or so).
The council has already authorised an addition to our estate. It has taken over an attractive area of floodplain. During its construction, Union View, or Onion View as it is known locally, increased the five minute drive-time into Warwick by a factor of five, causing huge queues at the “temporary” (they lasted for just short of a year) traffic lights on the main artery.
I remember the decision of the Planning Committee to allow this disruption. It was, of course, recommended by the officers and resented but not opposed by the councillors. But it was proposed by a Green and seconded by the then Leader of the Labour Group and passed.
This was the moment when I realised how the hierarchy of Warwick District Council operates.
The councillors are in thrall to the officers. The officers are in thrall to the developers. And the developers are in thrall to profit.
The mantra at successive council meetings was that the plan was "the least worst option". You may not think that this is the greatest recommendation, but it's enough to get the vote out.
Even though the inspectorate has warned them that the plan is not "sound" and that it is not "viable", the leadership of Green and Labour continue to push it through.
Currently, they have allowed a pause in the process, as the officers have refused to share the (lack) of viability report with neither the public nor the councillors.
I suspect this is either illegal or barely legal, but it does allow the officers time to cover their tracks and traces.
The triumvirate in charge - Head of Local Plan, the Head of Place and the Portfolio Holder for Place - is running scared.
We shall continue to fight against this disgrace. We deserve better than the least worse.
Today from the everysmith vaults: A beautiful release entitled The Poet's Echo: music from Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Britten, from whose Opus 76 the title is derived. Thank you to the musicians: the voices of Gemma Summerfield and Gareth Brynmor John, the cello of Abi Hyde-Smith and the piano of Jocelyn Freeman.
The council has already authorised an addition to our estate. It has taken over an attractive area of floodplain. During its construction, Union View, or Onion View as it is known locally, increased the five minute drive-time into Warwick by a factor of five, causing huge queues at the “temporary” (they lasted for just short of a year) traffic lights on the main artery.
I remember the decision of the Planning Committee to allow this disruption. It was, of course, recommended by the officers and resented but not opposed by the councillors. But it was proposed by a Green and seconded by the then Leader of the Labour Group and passed.
This was the moment when I realised how the hierarchy of Warwick District Council operates.
The councillors are in thrall to the officers. The officers are in thrall to the developers. And the developers are in thrall to profit.
The mantra at successive council meetings was that the plan was "the least worst option". You may not think that this is the greatest recommendation, but it's enough to get the vote out.
Even though the inspectorate has warned them that the plan is not "sound" and that it is not "viable", the leadership of Green and Labour continue to push it through.
Currently, they have allowed a pause in the process, as the officers have refused to share the (lack) of viability report with neither the public nor the councillors.
I suspect this is either illegal or barely legal, but it does allow the officers time to cover their tracks and traces.
The triumvirate in charge - Head of Local Plan, the Head of Place and the Portfolio Holder for Place - is running scared.
We shall continue to fight against this disgrace. We deserve better than the least worse.
Today from the everysmith vaults: A beautiful release entitled The Poet's Echo: music from Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Britten, from whose Opus 76 the title is derived. Thank you to the musicians: the voices of Gemma Summerfield and Gareth Brynmor John, the cello of Abi Hyde-Smith and the piano of Jocelyn Freeman.
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