Mimi Harker

Re-Opening of Chalfont St Peter Leisure Centre

Yesterday, I attended the opening of Chalfont St. Peter Leisure Centre after an extensive refurbishment over the Christmas period.

The guest of honour, was Adrian Moorhouse, Olympic Gold medalist at the Seoul Olympics, and Bucks Ambassador for 2012 Olympics.

I first heard Adrian speak at an Olympics conference at Green Park some 18 months ago and listening to Adrian speaking at that event, his passion, his enthusiasm and his commitment to Bucks being part of this once in a lifetime opportunity was infectious - I was hooked and became the Chiltern 2012 Champion.

Rick Durrant, MD for Nexus, kicked off the event with a short speech thanking partners and describing the successful working relationships that make it easier to run an organisation as efficiently as Nexus does.

I followed this expressing my thanks to all those teams of people who work so hard to deliver the excellent services our residents experience at the centres across the District.  Nothing and nobody is perfect, but because of the services we offer, the leisure centres are well populated, busy and thriving and the staff will do everything they can to ensure your visit is up to your expectations.  The feedback I get is usually excellent and where there are problems, they are dealt with efficiently and effectively and as quickly as possible.

Adrian Moorhouse is an absolute gem.  No airs, no graces, a decent human being who really believes in the power of sport.  He’s a fantastic ambassador for the 2012 Olympics and so ‘normal’ he persuades and convinces everybody to his way of thinking - his ‘normality’ is his charm.  Down to earth and genuine, he spoke of the importance of the Olympics and us, in Bucks, making the best of the opportunities we are being offered, and he spoke of the talent we are nurturing and support for our athletes. He praised the leisure centre, Nexus, Sport England and Chiltern District Council for maintaining the constant support for health and fitness throughout the District and the fact that every resident could benefit from our dedication to ensuring that we always had good facilities to offer.

The speeches were followed by a race between partner organisations followed by a family swim, which Adrian participated in with his two young children.  Other visitors to the centre were thrilled to enjoy family swimming time with Adrian and his family and were delighted at the added bonus to their day!

All in all, a fab day and event!  Thank you to all who worked so hard to ensure its success.

EVENTS!

Wow!  These last two weeks have been frantic with not one single day ending before 1am and up again at 6am.  And what a variety of different things each day has brought.

Theres been the cast and crew screening of my sons’ latest film;  the 60th Anniversary of the Republic of India; the best Cabinet meeting ever with every space in the room packed to the gills; speaker at LGC conference on Member Engagement;  Speaker at the National Cohesion Forum on what we deliver locally to fulfill the cohesion agenda on a shoestring budget; meetings at Westminster; meetings at Chiltern; and earlier this evening, a meeting with PCSO Tony Churchill at Amersham police station, and residents and young people from Dane Close, in a further step to resolve inter-generational conflict.  It has been busy and fulfilling with lots of outcomes - just the way I like it, aha aha!

VICTORY!!!!! Planning Meeting 28th January 2010

Where shall I begin?  I have been so busy with everything, I’ve only just got round to writing about our success last night at planning!

Kevin Redford,  has been a fabulous neighbourhood leader and his research and immaculate attention to detail have contributed to the application on 10 Long Park Close being refused at planning last evening. He presented the case on behalf of the objectors.

Cllr. David Eldridge also came along and spoke against the application in his very melodious, deep tone, which wouldn’t go amiss in a radio studio!

Whatever the magic, we won our battle and the application was refused, much to the delight of neighbours who applauded the decision enthusiastically!

Another victory was at 1 Ashdown Way - a nem com refusal for a totally unpleasant application which is not only unsightly within its own boundaries but also a total misfit in its surroundings.   Horrible.  Thank goodness it was thrown out.

And yet another application of common sense - the Beacon withdrew its totally unsuitable application for a nursery with all the changes that involved.  The neighbourhood was up in arms.  It is so important to get on with your neighbours and especially in the case of a school, its really important to have an excellent relationship because the good will of the neighbours is really important to the welfare of the school!

Blair Makes the World a Safer Place!

Tony Blair has just finished his day as a witness and ended with the statement that because of his decision the World is a safer place.  Incredible.  Perhaps I live in a different World, or maybe he does, but in my World, people live with the constant fear of terror attacks since the invasion of Iraq.  How on earth must the families feel who have lost their loved ones!

Funding, initiatives, id cards, but to name a few have all been created as a result of the incredible unsettled feeling the world now has to slowly digest day after day.  You do have to get on with your life, but at the back of your mind is always the slight thought that you are vulnerable.

I really don’t know what the Inquiry achieved today.  This morning I thought the questioning was soft, now I feel it was just incompetent.  There were so many issues that could have should have been probed further.

Tony Blair Blurts on Iraq

The questioning so far is SOFT!  Blair has just stated that the invasion of Iraq was linked to 9/11 and Al Qaeda.  Instead of probing this further, they have moved on and he is now waffling and paper shuffling.  He also claims that the decision he made had nothing to do with the US and their views.  Saddam Hussein used the Trade Sanctions to blame the West for the unrest and resentment.

What the country want to know and the families who have lost their loved ones, is did we go into this war was on a lie and for the sake of an ego? After all, we have a world platform here at stake!

Blair appears nervous - his skin looks very clammy.

The Options Paper included as option 3: Remove Saddam (but not disarm him, not invade and destroy, not dessimate and create world unrest and escalate terrorism)

He says ‘we got the full range of views from the very beginning and I had to take a decision.’

Why doesn’t somebody pick up the fact that Saddam Hussein has nothing to do with Al Qaeda and using the Al Qaeda 9/11 attack as the reason for his opinion shifting is just not enough for the hundreds of British lives lost in flattering this mans ego.

The Beacon School Planning Application

Congratulations to all the local residents who did such a fabulous job especially Robin and Frank - the application has been withdrawn so everybody can relax for a bit.

Me? No time to relax - still writing up speeches for planning tomorrow night.  I have such a busy day ahead that I must get it done now or never! Number 10 Long Park Close is up for consideration and theres still a lot of work to be done!

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to get the right result for the neighbourhood.  I bet there was some celebrating going on in their road tonight!

Meow Mix Up

Meow Meow, Sparkle and other such cute names disguise a new, seriously addictive and possibly dangerous drug available easily and cheaply to our youngsters, over the internet.

I was shocked to see an item on the news this morning about a methodone related drug, which has the physical effects of speed and the euphoric effects of Ecstacy and its available legally, cheaply and over the internet.  Young people are buying this product with no restricitions on age and selling it on and taking it without understanding what they are taking and how dangerous it is.

The producer for Inside Out, a BBC documentary programme, which is exposing this product, talked of how shocked she was at how easily available this product is and how dangerous it is as there are no restrictions on its availability.  Some of the side effects are palpitations, a racing heart and it distorts the signals in the brain creating a feeling of euphoria.  According to her,  Professor Nutt stated that he would classify this easily available drug as a Class A drug.  This is serious folks!  The more people who know about this, the faster we can do something about it.  We MUST do something about it. Its all very well talking about the welfare of children - let our politicians actually put their money where their mouth is and DO something positive.

What I find amazing is that orgnaisations like NICE seem to drag their feet when it comes to allowing drugs that will help people with  medical disorders cope with their illnesses better, and yet something like this is straight out there, with no barriers and hoops to negotiate.

The Week to Come!

There are so many great things happening next week - as well as speaking at a conference, I am going to the reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of India becoming a Republic!  Should be absolutely fabulous and I’m looking forward to that enormously.

I  will let you know how it all goes in another bulletin next week!  in the meanwhile, have a good one yourself!

What A Frantic Week!!!

Letters have been flying to and fro between me as portfolio holder and the Post Office to try and help Chesham resume a postal service. The good folk of Chesham haven’t had a postal service since 9th November last year when their branch closed suddenly.  I find it totally unacceptable that there was no postal service in a town the size of Chesham with 22,000 residents.

On Wednesday I attended a meeting organised by the mayor at the town hall.  Unfortunately the post office was unable to attend as they thought travel would be difficult with all the snow that we were supposedly buried in!  Shame on them but no surprise really.  A number of excellent issues were raised and it was agreed that another meeting would be held where hopefully the post office would show its face.

I have written to the Minister responsible for Post Office Ltd and also to the post office directly.  I will let you know if and when I get a response, what they will do to help reinstate a service in Chesham.

I did a quick tour of Chalfont St Peter Leisure Centre to see how it was looking after its refurb. I was delighted to see how fresh and clean it looked everywhere.  New air vent systems have gone in, new filters for the pool and better, more up to date electrics.  In the changing rooms, the walls have new tiles, new showers and lockers and look really chic. The official opening is at the beginning of Feb and this week we had it confirmed that Adrian Moorhouse would do the honours for us.

Also this week, huge credit to residents in Chesham Bois and Weedon Hill for the superb representations made to the planning department on two applications, both of which are recommended for refusal.  We still have the committee hearings on Thursday and I hope the recommendations are approved.

Branch meetings, Core strategy committees, strategic partnership - just a flavour of the other meetings that took place this week, with of course the disappointment of having the candidates  for Bromsgrove announced without the seat being advertised.  All that research I had already done….oh well.  At least the recycling rates here will benefit from it!  And the great article in Asian Voice - thanks to Keith Vaz for that!

Take Care as More Snow Hits Chiltern

More overnight snow has increased the danger factor on untreated roads in Chiltern District so please take care.  If you don’t have to go out and can work from home - do it!  It’s not worth the risk.