I had hoped to have a rest from blog posting and social media for the Christmas and New Year period. Unfortunately, a lack of transparency by the Council on Tuesday does justify a break from walking, reading, television, phone calls with family and sad self-isolation from that nasty virus. Well before Christmas, ten councillors from […]

In my over 34 years as a councillor at Uttlesford District Council, I have not witnessed worse behaviour by councillors than occurred last night (Tues, December 8th). All Residents for Uttlesford councillors, together with their four ‘independent’ allies, acted badly by failing to vote to reaffirm the Council’s commitment to the twenty-five-year-old Standards of Conduct […]

Green, Liberal Democrat and Conservative leaders at Uttlesford today demanded in a public statement that the Residents for Uttlesford ruling group should come clean and explain why the Council’s auditors are refusing to sign-off the annual accounts for 2019/20. Liberal Democrat Councillor for Stansted South and Birchanger, Ayub Khan, was stone-walled at the Council’s Governance […]

Donald Trump’s loss of the US presidency – despite his reluctance to concede – might be seen as a first step away from populist political leadership on the international stage. There is a long way to go to achieve a more normal politics. It will be well into 2021, or beyond, before the end of […]

Cllr Alan Storah Member of Uttlesford District Council for The Sampfords Ward May 2019 until October 2020 Alan sadly died suddenly in the past few days Alan was a mild mannered and kindly spoken man A former planning officer at Uttlesford until 2012 A planning spokesperson for the Residents for Uttlesford Party At his death […]

My To Everest or to spitefulness post last Monday has stirred up some reaction from the Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) party and its allies. They think I am acting bitterly and unfairly by challenging and criticising their handling of Uttlesford’s Local Plan since R4U were elected into office with an overwhelming majority in May 2019. But […]

The Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) election manifesto in 2019 promised: “We will review and improve or replace the current Cabinet system to make the District Council fairer and to ensure all that all voices are heard.” This matters. It goes to the heart of local democracy; that people vote for what they’re promised and can […]

That’s the sign one weekend commentator suggested Boris Johnson should have on his desk at No. 10. “Not me, I’m not responsible for what goes wrong.” That contrasts with US president Harry Truman’s actual desk-top sign “The buck stops here”. Even Conservative MPs are now speaking out against a Johnson cabinet of incompetent people whose […]

The Government is expected to publish plans next month to re-organise councils in Essex. In my opinion, the time is not right for such an upheaval whilst local councils are still dealing the consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging economic recession. Reorganisation would be extremely resource intensive and an unwelcome distraction at […]