There are so many things that it is difficult to know where to start. Due to the change of Leadership the budget which was ready for scrutiny and which we should be looking at now was scrapped. Therefore the officers are desperately putting together a new one, complicated by the fact that until 11th December and full Council no-one knows whether there will be a Joint Venture or any other form of partnership either with a private company or with health partners or whether CC continues to look for cost cutting measures from within. We expect to be considering the new budget at scrutiny in late January with the decision at February Council.

Someone has been smashing the gates at the cattle grids. This is mindless vandalism but the cost of replacing (they are past repair) will of course come from the same budget as other road works so think of them as the potholes jar your teeth when the budget runs out.Unfortunately I am unable to spend my highways money on repairs only road improvements. The cattle grid which was proposed for Darite did not find favour with the local residents so if anyone has any good ideas for small schemes which would improve roads or road safety let me know.

I am still receiving reports of uncollected rubbish and recycling. To be fair, when I report these on, action is very prompt but it really shouldn’t still be happening.

The bidding for Community grant funding has now closed. I shall be sitting down with the Localism team next week to see what the requests are and decide which will get some money. It will not be an easy task and I’m sorry if some are disappointed but at least the money will have been well spent right across the patch.