District councillors are carrying out a review of day centres. People who run and use Stansted’s day centre will be invited to contribute. As with most council services, the use of day centres has been changing over the years so the time seems right to have a fresh look at making best use of these community facilities. 

I am part of a team within the local strategic partnership called Uttlesford Futures which has commissioned a survey of over 300 local businesses to get their views of what it’s like to do business in Uttlesford. We are still analysing the results, but two caught my attention. Four out of five businesses have five or fewer employees and one in eight of these businesses are thinking of leaving the district in the next three years because either they can’t expand locally or they find premises too expensive in Uttlesford. This suggests that a fresh approach is needed to planning in Uttlesford if the local economy is to climb out of the recession in the best possible shape. I have for some time felt that the planning system in Uttlesford is good at stopping what it doesn’t like but bad at promoting the area to encourage enterprise.