Steven Heddle and the Secrets of The Chamber

Let's get back up to speed

2009-12-15T10:18:00.004Z

You know how it is, post County Show the nights draw in and everything becomes more of a slog (except when I was kid in Kirkwall in the 70s and the dark meant playing hide and seek in the schemes and lighting bonfires i.e. great fun), so creative writing has hit the back burner.

There have been a number of hot topics hitting the news since August, such as the Stromness Lorry Park furore, and the recent Sheltered Housing Warden controversy, and they are worth a post on their own, and I'll get onto this later- it'll be called 'Communication...'

Here I'd just like to update on things happening in the ward.

First thing to note is that the Black Building has gone, more quickly and finally than any of us expected. I was torn over the decision to demolish, as it was clearly A Unique Thing, but equally clearly had been destroyed internally (as can be seen in the Orkneycommunities Image Library pics of it). Magnus Tullock is compiling an archive related to it, and I hope that Orkneycommunities.co.uk can help out, and bring the information to a wider audience as well. I believe that the cost of demolition was significantly lower than early estimates, but I am waiting to get this clarified.

The Schools Investment Programme (now known as Orkney Hostels and Classrooms- no, I just made that up) is well under way, with construction hoped to start in one year, with the new KGS expected to take 2 years to build. The hostel, new pool, and Stromness Primary will take less time, maybe 18 months. Assurances have been given that the new pool construction/old pool demolition will be phased so that Kirkwall will not be left without a pool for any significant period of time. Much more about the SIP here. I am on the advisory working group for this project, and am impressed with the huge amount of work that has been put into it already. There is no question that the Council made the right decision to keep the programme on track, when the debate took place about whether to prevaricate about the Stromness Primary site. As I said at the time, what is the worst that is going to happen to Stromness? Assurances had been given re. a lorry park, there is a commitment to look at developing the harbour for renewables, and the town is getting a brand new school in the site that still seems to be the most popular amongst all the options from the last survey. Meanwhile megabucks are being spent on the Townscape Heritage Initiative, and the town is positioning itself as a centre for creative industries and renewables. Any more mass there and it'll turn into a black hole that will suck all of Orkney into it... Personally I'd sooner see all of this in Kirkwall anyway, and see no reason why the Stromness Lorry Park can't be at Hatston ;-)

Festive lighting- now there is something that splits the Kirkwall councillors. I'm in favour of the festoons, and am delighted that they are back, and coloured. More of them, and with warmer colours for next year please. On a related topic, cathedral lighting is being looked at, with a view to more economical but better (i.e. switched on) illumination of the Red Building. Nice planters for the Kirk Green have also been promised for 2010.

And 2010 is just around the corner. Will I get my posts addressing flooding, Dounreay, the Year of Islands Culture 2011, the H&I Film Commission, the Kirkwall Town Centre Partnership and Communication... in before then? Hope so.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year just in case.

For the record

2009-08-31T18:46:00.002+01:00

So far I've received two messages about the proposed byelaw regulating drinking in public places in Kirkwall, one against it, and one for it, but regretting that it does not go further.

My considered viewpoint is summarised in my letter to the anti campaigner, as follows.

Thanks for your message. I share your concerns, and indeed have voiced the same ones in Committee and at the Working Group to discuss this byelaw. Despite being initially opposed, as you are, I have come round to allowing it to be trialled.

What has to be understood is that this is not a byelaw to prevent drinking in public, but a byelaw to give police the ability to curb blatantly antisocial behaviour resulting from drinking in public. Asking someone to stop if they are being a nuisance gives them a fair chance to avoid trouble, and if they continue then it is a cut and dried offence in a way that breach of the peace isn't, which then allows action to be taken. Assurance were sought from the police by the Working Group looking into this that that anyone drinking in a public place who was doing no harm would have nothing to worry about, with specific assurance sought that this would be applied with such discretion as to not impact on Kirkwall's traditional festivities (e.g. 'Broad Street', the Ba, blackenings), and the police were happy to supply such assurance.

I am against additional legislation and restriction of civil liberty in principle, as evidenced by my futile but well intentioned Northlink ID card campaign, and was initially completely against such a byelaw, to the extent that my fellow councilors punished me by putting me on the Working Group. But we need to take into account external factors such as a Scottish Government that is looking towards its local authorities helping to promote responsible drinking, and that as of two years ago 27 out of 31 authorities (including Shetland and the Western Isles) have implemented similar byelaws and found them useful. The Kirkwall version uses the least onerous form of wording of any of the forms suggested by the Scottish Government, and the assurances given mean that the byelaw need not prevent even a Munich-style beer festival taking place on Broad Street (which I for one would welcome). Further, this is being approached on a trial basis, so if it is seen to not work it will be revoked, as sure as West Castle Street is two way.

So on balance I am in favour of giving it a try. I agree we should hold it as a right to be able to drink alcohol in public places, but do not feel it is my right to behave in an antisocial fashion while doing so. Consequently I do not believe that our civil liberties will be infringed, but if they prove to be I will campaign to have this bylelaw revoked.

Dave Gray from Radio Orkney has asked all the Kirkwall councillors for their views for an article tomorrow, and I have said the same to him as I have here. I am of course happy to discuss this further with you if you wish.

Yours sincerely,

Steven Heddle

Painful piles

2009-06-22T23:51:00.006+01:00

Well, I challenge anybody to slog through this pile of stuff and not experience some pain...

These are the papers for two days of meetings (P&R and Monitoring and Audit) and I'd like to point out that it is printed double-sided as well, with very few pictures, so P&R has taken a day to slog through. I'm taking a camping stove for the meeting, so if the honk of Bangers'n'Beanz from Heinz permeates the gallery by item 14, don't be surprised. That'll be just before dinner time on day 2...

But the point I am slowly coming to make is that even when nothing seems to be happening, a lot is. Just rather slowly. Let me mention an example- permit parking.

I've been pressing for permit parking to be considered since I've been on the Council. Not because I want to see more restriction imposed, nor because I think it could be a money-spinner for the OIC, but because the OIC itself makes life difficult for anybody near School Place who wants to park near their house Mon-Fri, 9-5. This is mostly in Kirkwall East, viz. White Street, Willow Road, Thom Street, Palace Road, Willowburn Road, St Rognvalds Street and even East Road, so a hot topic. I feel that people in these areas (based on everybody I have asked) would welcome the chance to have preferential parking near their homes for a modest fee, say £50 per annum, with short stay parking still allowed in the marked bays and long stay only for permit holders. Nothing sorted yet, but it is bubbling along now, and hopefully we'll get something to vote on soon. But it has had to queue behind the Papdale Primary 20mph zone, and the successfully contested one-way proposals for Willow Road and Willowburn Road, and a previous failed attempt to consider it meant there was little appetite at the outset.

However, the problems become greater, with long stay parking to be displaced from the Shore Street car park creating even more pressure on East Road, and parking restrictions planned for Place Road too. Permits could allow a resident/short stay user balance very well, but how they are implemented and policed needs careful planning.

So things are happening, but slowly, but not for want of prodding.

There's lots more. Keeping paths clean, flower bed maintenance, abandoning of caravans, boats and building materials in car parks, etc.

I'm too tired to recall them all though. I've been doing a lot of reading...

Tales from the labbook

2009-05-05T22:48:00.004+01:00

Conscious that the blog has neither sparkled with wit nor gleamed with insight for a while, I dip into my Council lab books for highlights of the last couple of months. As I am currently working out of 5 books for the various things I do, writing things down becomes more and more important.

1) Planning Reform

A seminar on 26th February, entitled 'Small Country, Big Plans' introduced the upcoming new National Planning Framework. It made a lot of good noises- more planning applications are to be in the jurisdiction of the local authority to reduce timescales for decisions and appeals. The planning reform aims to simplify things (reducing policy document from 350 pages to 35) and enable development. The Government aims to be more hands off about Local Development Plans, and will instruct agencies that they are bodies of the government, not pressure groups nor cheerleaders for environmental issues.

2) Charities and bequests

I succeeded in getting the recommendation to roll up a large number of bequests into a single charity referred back to P&R for a rethink. My issues were that while many of the bequests were at the winding-up stage, others were significant and worthy of preservation as entities with the original aims respected, and that not respecting this would put off future bequests as well.

The revised scheme takes account of this for the larger funds, and makes clear the options for designating funds within a charity fund. This revised scheme was passed at P&R and Full Council and is a much better one- however it still needs the nod from OSCR, the charities regulator. Hopefully this will take place and the funds can be promoted and disbursed- currently they are in limbo.

3) The Council and HIE

The Council received an update on 3rd March on what HIE is up to these days from chairman Willy Roe and chief executive Sandy Cumming. Local businessman Craig Spence has recently joined the HIE board, which is good.

The update basically said business as usual, but with measures to address the Credit Crunch/Global Economic Crisis/Recession. Call it what you like, but I find the way it has exposed the greed and naked self-interest at corporate and national government level even more depressing than the outcomes so far. The banks stole our money to pay for their crazy incentive structures, now the Government is stealing our money to bail them out. Grease the ledges on the banks and wedge their windows open I say. Meanwhile our country has no utilities as the Tories asset stripped them to pay for tax cuts and 'widen share ownership' (but I thought we all owned them before), no heavy industry as it wasn't as sexy as gambling with peoples savings, and we are borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds. But from who? I thought this was a Global crisis. Aren't we still basing the future on wealth that doesn't really exist?

Despite my gloomy feeling that our future prosperity will be based on peats, neeps and home brew, the strategic issues for HIE here are Marine Renewables and the Transhipment Hub.

(Food and Drink did get a namecheck, but nothing about peats. )

Key point is that HIE is doing far less, and only for 'businesses of growth potential' and 'not serving only local markets'. That means about 30 businesses in Orkney this year, and 500 in the Highlands and Islands. Small businesses will get any help that is going from the Business Gateway, a Scottish Enterprise way of working and/or the OIC, and all the Global Connections stuff is heading down the Scottish Development International (run by Scottish Enterprise) route. See the way this could go? It's a concern, as HIE are a far better bet for us as a separate body than as SE Area 6.

4) KGS Surgery #2

A sequel to KGS Surgery #1, which was not the slasher pic I had envisaged but instead a very encouraging series of one to one discussions with intelligent and informed young constituents.

Issues raised to me related to the state of the school building and progress towards the new one (tatty but functional, slightly delayed but definitely well under way). There is a feeling that nothing is being done to KGS as it will be supreceded soon.

Credit Crunch and Council response to it came up (new small grant schemes, acceleration of capital projects and spends etc.), and also issues relating to specific teachers and subjects.

That's me up to 10th March now...

Burning issue

2009-03-04T22:43:00.006Z

The issue of the font used has captivated the select readership of this blog, and it is clear that I am one of Orkney's least legible non-bachelors.

I have responded promptly and restored my favoured Trebuchet MS to the body text, and increased the size of stevenWriting where it has been retained. Now this looks OK to me, but as the template has been hacked to first make everything bigger, then the body text smaller again I can't guarantee it works everywhere.

Give me a shout if it has gang agley. Thanks to Sue, Sian and Anon for your helpful comments.

Check out Sian's blog at http://sianthom.blogspot.com/, and marvel as I do at how she gets three pictures per post, as well as enjoying the posts.

It was a mistake to customize my template to the extent that I can't face upgrading to New Blogger- but hey, after New Labour who could blame me for being sceptical?

Back to business with the next post.

Trivial interlude

2009-02-20T14:50:00.004Z

Just to check if anybody reads this (or if anybody can read it), what do you think of the font used on this site?

It's used because it is actually derived from my own handwriting, and the aim is to personalise things a bit. And give the graphologists a field day. Or garphologits as I typed first, as the house is so cold I can hardly feel my hands.

But I realise that even though it turned out better than my usual writing it tends to be a bit small, and flies in the face of accessibility. So if the people speak out against it, I'll switch back to Trebuchet MS or Verdana.

However if you want to create your own font, nip along to http://www.fontifier.com/. To get it on a website you'll need to use WEFT to create an EOT file that you will reference, with exclusions to stop others using your font (and bandwidth). Further advice at reasonable rates from Steven Heddle Consultancy...

[Further update: Sue comments below that a free service is available at http://www.yourfonts.com, and it looks even better than Fontifier!]

Errr... Happy New Year

2009-02-08T22:03:00.006Z

Well, a lot of things have happened since the last blog.

Fuel prices have come down again, as a side effect of global economic catastrophe. Innovative measures of getting fuel from outwith the local monopolies has shown that the price could be much lower (even if shipped by road from Scrabster to Aberdeen!), and points the finger at the distributors. Of course they are fighting back now, and evidence from Shetland shows that our brave pioneers (Tullock's, Shearer's and Brass's) are liable to be squeezed- I hope their stand is rewarded with some loyalty in the face of the backlash from the distributors.

Interest rates at 1%- surely that is madness, and simply prevents the necessary correction in house prices, and penalises savers to bale out the reckless. Bah.

The Stromness Pierhead Regeneration worries me, as all the exemplary designs look hellish, and Stromness deserves more than a white box and some flagpoles. Having said that, I have every faith in the Stromness councillors to help influence design towards something worthwhile, and will keep my Kirkwall nose out of it.

Closer to home, there has been a number of meetings with Papdale East residents provoked by nuisance neighbours, but also encompassing difficulties in parking, refuse collection and maintenance of walls and footpaths. These issues are being addressed (slowly) and efforts are being made to revive the Papdale Residents Association, which would be excellent as it could call the Council (and the councillors) to account, and also receive annual funding to put towards any projects or ideas it has for the area, in addition to all the stuff the Council has responsibility for.

The All Weather Pitch debate is raging, and I have sympathy for both sides. The residents of Reid Crescent are understandably concerned that the empty and unused green space in front of them might become considerably busier, with potential parking, noise and light pollution issues. On the other hand the Orkney Football Trust are doing a good thing in trying to get a first class facility for Orkney, and have arguments that suggest the pitch will be an amenity and not a nuisance. It should be clear that the Council is not leading this, though may be asked for a financial contribution. The deciding factor may be whether this is forthcoming and whether Planning approves. If it can be shown to fit at The Meadows site, with no significant disturbance to residents, it would seem worth supporting given the benefit to the school.

Regarding KGS, the new build project proceeds, with a completion target of May 2012, building taking place over an ambitious 2 years. KGS now has a Parents Council and I understand that they have a number of issues they wish to see the school address. I hope to attend the next meeting, as both a parent and a councillor, and one of the questions I have is where is the homework for S1 and S2? As a parent I feel really out of the loop as to what my boy is meant to be learning, and yes I realise I should take this up with the school rather than bumping my gums here. I will.

[Update: I have. It would be inaccurate to say that Iain Ballantine and myself were in total agreement, but we had a good discussion and I think we are less far apart on this issue than appeared at the outset. To be continued! I'd still welcome any views from my readership (yes, all 7 of you), and encourage parents to get in touch with the school if they have any concerns they wish to discuss.]

Possible topics for the next blog: Tesco, Woolies (sob), Community Wardens, the empty Travel Centre offices, merits or otherwise of joint working with NHS Orkney, and why we must value having our own Council (see the state of Wick for further details).

Where was I?

2008-10-28T21:10:00.002Z

I promised a few topics in the last post but failed to deliver... until now!

Kirkwall Masterplan

The Masterplan has now hit the streets, and is available for inspection and comment- please take this opportunity. There is a lot in it, but remember these are the opinions of the consultants and not definitive statements of what is good or bad. Certainly there are things in it I don't agree with, and things not addressed that I would have expected to see. For example, coastal protection at Weyland, and questioning why Kirkwall should grow, when the movement to Kirkwall is from the country and isles.

The consultants presenting the Kirkwall Masterplan did so at the same meeting as different consultants presenting the Stromness Masterplan. I asked if the different groups agreed with each other's findings, but got no takers for a straight reply.

Business Improvement Districts

This is a scheme where an area can be designated as a Business Improvement District following a vote of business ratepayers in the area, and if the vote agrees this a mandatory levy can be imposed on all the business ratepayers in that area to be used by the group set up to manage the BID, generally with match funding from the local authority. I'm not sure about this, as the voting mechanism suggests to me that it could be forced through with only about 30% of businesses actually supporting it- but the nature of the proposed improvements will determine whether it is worth going for.

New Arts Theatre

This seems likely to happen as part of the new KGS. I think this is great, as it is more community facilities in the Papdale area of the town, and will get a lot of use from the school as apparently loads of KGS expressive arts groups are using the Mill Street Arts Theatre at present.

I share misgivings as to how the money for this can be found when it is not a priority, but accept the arguments that this has been spoken about for 30 years and there is no way we'll ever have such an opportunity like this again for generations- savings accrue from the fact that part of the rationale for KGS is greatly improved expressive arts facilities, which can share elements of a new Arts Theatre.

New Tesco

It's here and it's getting bigger. But it could be worse for local retailers as it could have been in addition to Somerfield (although that would have become a bigger Co-op, following further supermarket takeovers). What we must do is ensure planning gain from the new development, so that AT LEAST we get a much better looking store, and road improvements.

Fuel Prices, Councillor's Surgery at KGS, Steven Slags Off The Stromness Pierhead Proposals coming up next. Heard that before?

What's coming up after the summer...

2008-07-31T21:41:00.009+01:00

Having not posted for so long (sorry, sorry, sorry...) I had intended to dip into my Council labbook to give a flavour of what had happened- however looking at what I've noted, many of the topics are tasters of what might be of greater interest in the coming months.

As to why I have not brought this to the small but select readership of this blog earlier, let me skip over that point and note what a fine summer of televised sport we have had, with a good European Championships, great Wimbledon and the best Tour de France for many years... and the last weeks of the SPL were particularly enjoyable.

But as the Olympics are now tainted by professionalism, riddled with drugs and poisoned by the smarmy presence of 'Lord' Coe, I'll not be immersing myself in them.

Let's just think about the London Olympics for a moment, as we wonder why less community projects are being funded from the lottery for the next 4 years. I'd like to point out that when I was a committee member of the IPMS whilst working at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, I got a motion tabled at the IPMS national conference in 1997 (or 98?) decrying the Millennium Dome as a huge waste of money that discriminated against the rest of the country... this led to a choking on pizza incident as I read my motion verbatim in the Evening Standard (I was down in London on an adaptive optics course) under the heading 'Top Government Scientists Slam Dome'.

But I digress, and will continue to do so, as I recommend a summer blockbuster to take to the airport. The new Scottish Government's relationship with each council has radically altered, with ring-fencing largely gone (with a notable exception of Gaelic broadcasting- ochone! ochone!) and councils set a limited number of national targets to meet, recast in the context of relevant local outcomes. This is enshrined in the Single Outcome Agreement between the OIC and the Scottish Government, and is well worth reading- this crystallises the council priorities, national priorities, community plan, Best Value Improvement Plan etc. into a single document, with a rash of interesting facts and figures.

----- Click here to get a copy -----

The Scottish Government likes this sort of thing, with the Government Economic Strategy being a similar single reasonably brief document that spells out the rules of the game for Economic Development. If its not in there, HIE won't be doing it. Some stuff will fall under the umbrella of the Business Gateway that councils are now to deliver, but it seems likely that anything beyond a minimum one-size-fits-all national service will be at the discretion (i.e. cost) of the council.

This post is long enough, so I'll stop.

Coming Up Next Time: Kirkwall Masterplan, Business Improvement Districts, New Arts Theatre, New Tesco, Fuel Prices, Councillor's Surgery at KGS, Fuel Prices, and Steven Slags Off The Stromness Pierhead Proposals But Concludes Please Yourselves...

P.S If you feel a new post is necessary anytime, give me a prod at council@kw15.co.uk.

Hardy annual

2008-05-12T20:45:00.004+01:00

Well, Northlink didn't listen to the majority of the correspondents, and have received some of the bad press they deserve. However their ever changing excuses regarding the stranded rugby player and assertions that he is the only person to that date to be denied travel strain credibility to say the least. I still maintain the big problem is that this is bad for Orkney, so will rack my brains as to what more can be done- all suggestions gratefully received.

On another front, the Christmas bonus is still up for consideration, and looks likely to remain in a targetted form. There is a balance to be struck here, as many rightly complain a) that at present people who clearly don't need it get it, and b) that a lot of people do need it and should continue to get it. Targetting seems the way to go, and note that this is not means testing by the Council, as nobody wants to get into that. A suggestion has been made at successive meetings to base this on eligibility for Pensions Credit and this is likely to be one of the options to be presented to a seminar on 3rd June. Suggestions from the seminar will then be considered in a paper in the next cycle of meetings. It'll all be over by Christmas!

Talking of the next cycle of meetings...

The third cycle of meetings for 2008 is as follows (remember the acronyms are explained here):
SSH - Tue 3rd June
EPPS - Wed 4th June
Development - Thu 5th June
T&I - Tue 10th June
ERCS - Wed 11th June
Land and Property sub-committee - Thu 12th June
Information Services sub-committee - Thu 12th June at 2.15pm
P&R - Tuesday 24th June
M&A - Thu 26th June
Full Council - Thu 3rd July

It's been an year since the Council elections, and the letterbox scars on my knuckles have healed (although the mental scars never will). People often ask 'How are you finding it?' or 'Are you enjoying it?' Difficult questions to answer, as the sands are always shifting, so you never feel on top of things, and enjoyment doesn't come into it, as sitting in meetings for days at a time is surely something that nobody would do for fun. But it can be satisfying, and it is necessary for somebody to do it. It's often interesting, and I'm pleased with the things I have achieved.

Northlink Photo ID survey results

2008-04-08T22:18:00.005+01:00

The survey has closed and the results have been counted. I've written up a report that can be viewed in pdf form by clicking here, but if you just want to read the second page of the 38, it is reproduced below.

Executive summary

The large response to the survey (1186 responses) shows that the introduction of the photo ID requirement is a matter of concern to the people of Orkney and Shetland and arguably should have been the subject of some consultation between Northlink Ferries and the customers it is imposing this on. While this survey is by no means definitive, it allows all opinions to be expressed and thus should be at least indicative of the overall balance of opinion in the islands.

The response was particularly good from Orkney residents, and while a diversity of opinion was shown, particularly in the 500+ text comments submitted, the dominant impression is of dismay and some anger that the photo ID scheme is to be implemented by Northlink. The overall figures show that 64% of respondents are not in favour of the ID scheme as opposed 27% in favour, with more opposition from those who travel to Orkney from Scotland (77% against and 10% for), and less from Shetland (55% against and 34% for) where the arguments regarding security are more credible, but still questionable. For those who question these arguments the proposed scheme is highly unwelcome, unnecessary and to be resisted, perhaps by choosing another operator.

Indeed, when asked if the proposal would affect the choice of operator 43% of respondents said they would be less likely to use Northlink, and only 10% said they would be more likely. In the case of Shetland respondents the predominant responses (83%) were ‘No choice’ or ‘No difference’ reflecting Northlink’s monopoly position. For those travelling to Orkney from the mainland, who cannot benefit from the Islander discount, and for whom the fraud prevention argument is irrelevant, 64% were less likely to use Northlink and only 3% more likely.

These results are mirrored for the final question which asked what effect the photo ID scheme has on the respondent’s opinion of Northlink. In Orkney 61% responded that they have a more (or much more) negative opinion as a result, with 19% more (or much more) positive. For those travelling to Orkney from the mainland it was 78% and 7% percent respectively, and in Shetland the opinion was more mellow at 53% and 30% respectively.

It is apparent that the proposed photo ID scheme is unwelcome in Orkney, and is particularly opposed by travellers to Orkney, the fare paying passengers who are not subsidised to travel and can be seen to be most disadvantaged.

Travel to and from Orkney is currently possible with another operator and as 50% of the responses from those who make this journey said they are less likely to use Northlink, Pentland Ferries look likely to benefit while our lifeline service is undermined, by a policy decision that Northlink do not have to make.

Northlink photo ID proposals

2008-03-19T12:00:00.000Z

From 1st May 2008 all passengers over the age of sixteen will have to prove their identity through a nationally recognised form of photo ID before being allowed to embark on any Northlink ferry.

Participate in a short survey about these proposals by clicking here.

What's been happening

2008-03-19T10:42:00.003Z

Let's have a look in my Council lab-book and diary and see what's been happening...

Back in February I was asked to see if the OIC could introduce a childcare vouchers scheme like other organisations, that works in the same way as the Bike to Work scheme, i.e. a proportion of salary is committed to the vouchers (or bike) and avoids tax. Winningly for the Council it also reduces the National Insurance contribution it has to make. I approached Personnel and got the very encouraging response back that it was something they would consider and try to progress, but that it wouldn't be happening before June.

About the same time I had a meeting with Iain Ballantine, rector of KGS. Iain had read my previous blog that expressed concern about the school results, so we met and compared our sets of statistics. I was reassured by what I learnt, as the trends over the last years have generally been upwards, and KGS performs well for most measures with respect to comparable schools. Significantly Stromness Academy is not one of these, and comparing KGS with Stromness directly can be seen to be flawed when it is apparent that KGS has the entire Orkney Secondary intake of pupils with special needs in year 4, and that the size of the roll in year 4 is used as the baseline for all the percentages in years 5 and 6. Nonetheless last year's Higher results for KGS were against the upward trend and particularly disappointing- this has been recognised and is hopefully being addressed successfully.

The General Meeting on the 26th February was nerve-racking for me as I had to stand up and speak to two motions, one requesting postponement of the Northlink photo ID cards requirement, and the other speaking in favour of retaining the Christmas Bonus in some form and asking for the recommendation to scrap it be overturned in favour of further consideration. Happily both were passed, and the Christmas Bonus consideration will hopefully look at better targetting towards those who need it most (as opposed to means-testing), how this can address fuel poverty, and indeed how much it should be. I'll have more to say (or ask) about Northlink ID cards in another blog.

All Kirkwall councillors were asked along to a Roads and Transportation Working Group, and many things were flagged for consideration and added to the to-do list, viz:

car parking at the old bus station
LIDL junction
20mph zone around Papdale Primary
traffic calming and parking in Thom St/White St/Willows area
bus stop and possible crossing on Palace Road
counteracting speeding on Palace Road, Berstane Road and East Road
consideration of parking permits

What becomes of these, time will tell... The 20 mph zone around Papdale Primary should be fairly imminent though.

I'll sign off with an apology- a group of Papdale pupils wrote to me at the end of January with a plea for a flat area of grass to play football on after school hours, and I haven't managed to do anything about this yet. I have a lot of sympathy for this, as I spent most of my youth playing football (badly) at Broadsands Road, and it breaks my heart to see that this is a No Ball Games area now. I must write to my councillors.

Democracy!

2008-02-14T09:24:00.004Z

Despite my long-held belief that benign dictatorship (from an open-minded and community-orientated person like, ahem, myself) is perhaps the ideal political model (apart from issues of succession planning) I must concede that there might be mileage in democracy yet.

As I alluded in my last post, the Schools Estate site and scope were to be determined (subject to ratification by the full council) at the ERCS meeting on the 30th January. I was expecting this to be round three after two seminars of extremely vigourous debate where I was fighting to retain KGS at Papdale for the very good reasons I have explained elsewhere. Consequently I had prepared and edited my arguments to fit the time limits and rules of the committee meeting and discussed all manner of scenarios for days in advance, until finally the moment came to debate the recommendation that KGS should be rebuilt at its present site... and it was agreed without dissent!

Now obviously I'm very pleased about this, as it was a big issue for me, and it is unquestionably the right decision. (It is also the only decision that allows flexibility to save more money, as that would require retaining facilities such as the existing hostel or pool, only possible at that site.) Back in May however it wasn't going to be an option, and I have to raise my tammy to the senior officials who listened and put it on the agenda, and ultimately backed it. Also to my fellow councillors who took on board all the arguments at the site and scope seminars- there has been give and take on both sides, and I think we have a genuine consensus that'll let the whole project crack on and succeed.

However until the full council agrees it I'll keep sweating. If this happens we are into a more exciting phase where the argument will be to see what community facilities we can incorporate, and how to make the school a place where everybody wants to go. Good ideas always welcome.

The First Cycle

2008-01-16T22:10:00.000Z

The first cycle of meetings for 2008 is as follows (remember the acronyms are explained here):

SSH - Tue 22nd Jan
EPPS - Wed 23rd Jan
Development - Thu 24th Jan
T&I - Tue 29th Jan
ERCS - Wed 30th Jan
Land and Property sub-committee - Thu 31st Jan
Information Services sub-committee - Thu 31st Jan at 2.15pm
P&R - Tuesday 12th Feb
Full Council - 26th Feb

All these meetings are open to the public, and take place in the Council Chamber at 10.30 am unless otherwise stated.

ERCS on the 30th will include recommendations for the siting of KGS, and the first public debate and vote, which I am sure will be interesting. Whatever results from this will go to P&R on 12th Feb and whatever comes from that will go to Full Council on the 26th for ratification or otherwise.

Happy New Year

2008-01-16T21:37:00.000Z

First let me wish all readers a Happy New Year. If you send me an email with your address I'll come round with my bottle if you want!

I shouldn't make too many drink related promises, as anyone reading on from the last posting would think I must have been in a home-brew-related stupor for the last six weeks. This was not the case, but hey, there's always next year.

There's really been no time for high jinks, as December saw business continue with meetings up till the 19th, and the topics being addressed in this include budget setting in light of the Council's priorities and the settlement from the Scottish Government. The latter is not as Orkney would have liked as the disappearance of the budgeted-for million pounds for the ferries means that our relative position to the Western Isles is getting worse, and pressure on the various Reserve Funds increases. Not good, as the money going into these funds has effectively stopped, and the Harbours operation has been losing money now for a number of years, which I had been unaware of, and this has been brought to a head by the loss of the Foinhaven contract. Even with the proposed slimming down of the Harbours operation the year on year deficit is increasing, so revisiting charging and attracting new business must take place.

More people are contacting me about ward issues, which is good in so far as the contact mechanism is working, but bad in so far as there are issues. Examples include the proposed changes to the junction of Weyland Terrace and East Road, which has moved more than 50 residents to petition the Council to reconsider, the poor results for KGS in December's league tables, what measures are being taken to control speeding in the town, and the poor efficiency and high cost of heating in the Lynn Crescent houses. All serious issues, and ones which are being followed up. Hopefully good news will follow in a future post. If any of these issues affect you, please get in touch, as any further information is helpful to me.

The Council business is in full swing now for 2008, with the first cycle of committee meetings starting next week. I'll list them in the next post.

Cheers
Steven

Download the future

2007-11-13T22:52:00.000Z

I'm conscious that my posting has been, well, absent for the last month. Let me be honest and say that after putting in the time at the council, looking after Orkneycommunities, and working till late in the evening/night to keep my business alive so that my life doesn't depend on being a OIC councillor I feel more like opening a bottle of home brew and/or heading out for a game of snooker than sailing into the blogosphere. But I'm not looking for sympathy- I'm unrepentant!

But like any good agnostic I suffer from both Catholic guilt and a Protestant work ethic, so here goes...

I'd like to pass on all the juicy stuff that will come out in due course, but can't, because until it gets the nod at a General Meeting nothing is confirmed. And don't assume that everything will get the nod, as that meeting can (and does) change recommendations and sends things back to the other committees for further rumination.

However, anyone who wants to know what's coming up can look at the committee papers up to a week in advance on the council website, as this council has been big on communication and the papers are posted assiduously. This is an important source of information- the local press and Radio Orkney get a lot of their stories from here, and if you are a councillor this is where you find what is happening on the committees that you are not on- it's a primary source, in research parlance.

But as it is not easy to find let me show you the way: http://tinyurl.com/25tk6r (the tinyurl thing is a handy way of condensing long web addresses to stop them being broken by line breaks- this free advice sponsored by Steven Heddle Consultancy of Kirkwall).

That link takes you to the page for the General Meetings, with papers for all other committees accessible through the links down the left.

In the next post I'll summarise some of the work of the last month, and give the schedule for the next round of meetings- but I feel the home brew calling now :-)

Surgery report

2007-11-13T22:37:00.000Z

The surgery passed quietly, with only a few people showing up, but all with good and valid points to make, e.g. if the polling station is to move, why not have one in the Papdale area, such as at Lambaness or the BB Hall; why are buses still going up Palace Road when the Broad Street stops were meant to be phased out (although that doesn't seem to be the case in practice); can more be done to protect the shore at Weyland; and what are the rights of way between the Work Road and the shore?

All these are being acted upon, but the ways of the Council can be slow, or dependent on a waiting game being played to allow a funding stream to be opportunistically accessed. The key point for me is that it is important for the points to be raised at all, for if you don't ask, you don't get...

Thanks to all who came along. The numbers were such that doing the surgery any other way would have been overkill, so I can see us doing this again. Anybody in two minds about coming along should not be put off, as there was no element of public speaking, and very candid discussion.

Surgery! Tonight!

2007-10-10T17:37:00.000+01:00

Tonight, Wednesday 10th October, in the Community Room at Lambaness (off Muir Drive) a complete set of Kirkwall East councillors in near mint condition (some marking to edges and general discolouration) will be available for inspection and cross examination from 7pm.

Mike Drever, Bobby Leslie, Janice Annal and myself will be present to answer questions collectively or individually to the best of our abilities. Small prize to the person who manages to get four different answers.

Grey Sky Thinking

2007-09-19T21:40:00.000+01:00

No, I don't just fart about going to music festivals (if only). Though the absence of updates could indeed signify laziness, busyness or death. In this case it is busyness- the twin demands of The Cooncil and my beloved Orkneycommunities would tax the time management of J Arthur Filofax himself.

Since the last post half a cycle of Council meetings has taken place, as detailed below. At Education, one of the main topics was the Service Level Agreement for Picky Centre, which will (finally) enshrine a contractual arrangement and definition of responsibilities between the Council and Pickaquoy Centre Trust. This was in draft, and the version for approval will be presented at a seminar on October 1. Note that as this is a seminar no decision can be made, as this would be beyond its powers (or ultra vires, for my readers from Latin America, as George W Bush might say).

Seminars have been the order of the day, almost every day recently: Housing and Homelessness on Tuesday 11th; Investment Policy for Oil Reserves on Wednesday 12th; and all day Monday and Tuesday morning this week was dedicated to determining the Council's political and/or Strategic priorities.

The latter aspired to Blue Sky Thinking, but the harsh financial realities looming over the OIC restricted this to more pragmatic issues to be addressed, and bigger problems or ambitions to be borne in mind at the same time. Essentially it will end up as wish lists from the various committees organised into a smaller number of themes or aspirations that the Council will seek to live up to. As communication is a hot topic for a lot of the current councillors, getting the message across and spelling out how we are getting on will be an ongoing task.

And there's more: a special meeting of the Council last Friday to approve the STAG submission for our transport aspirations; presentation from Fairwind Statkraft tomorrow; and a Design Awareness Training session on Friday related to Planning - sounds interesting. The week after is similarly packed, with a P&R meeting in the middle.

Constituency representations have focussed on e.g. speeding on Berstane Road, progress with Traffic Orders, Main Street and Victoria Street flooding and blocked sewers, Weyland Terrace one-way system, and more, much more. Within Kirkwall East the 4 councillors are getting better at working together as a group, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

There will be divisive issues, and the school location is potentially one- I think it is fair to say that not all my Kirkwall East colleagues favour Papdale as much as I do (and all the people who have approached me to agree, and the Kirkwall Community Council, and most of the staff...). The results of the consultation will be presented at a seminar on 10th October, along with other information of a more technical nature, and responses to questions from councillors, which I believe have just come from myself and Jack Moodie. The Department hopes that a consensus on a site will be achieved, so that the detailed business case for that site can be then be developed. I will as ever make the Papdale case strongly, but have misgivings that this seminar may result in a de facto decison of the council which is beyond its powers, and also in camera. I'll be seeking reassurance on this before it takes place.

I did enjoy my music festival by the way- it was great, and raised £3546 for the project in Nepal and also donated £500 to local Moray Firth charities. Next year's dates are 12th and 13th September- it's better than T in the Park: see http://tinyurl.com/3xlc2o

Bootstock 2007

2007-08-30T21:22:00.000+01:00

Not strictly relevant, but worthwhile nonetheless. Through my good friend Hugh Mackay, the creator of and driving force behind Bootstock, I am a founder member of the Bootstock Association, a charity which puts disadvantaged children in the Humla province of Nepal through school. The money raised by previous Bootstocks has provided education for more than 100 children per year, so let me plug this years event taking place NEXT WEEKEND (see above).

Visit http://www.bootstock.org/ to find out about 'the North East's friendliest music festival' and how it has grown from a party in Hugh's garage in a little over five years.

A location map for the venue is here: http://www.kelvaris.co.uk/eastgrange/our_location.htm

Back in the saddle

2007-08-26T23:41:00.000+01:00

Long time between updates, and this is because a) there has been a recess from Council meetings for the bulk of the school holidays, b) I've been doing a lot of Orkneycommunities stuff, general catching up, and house maintenance while I've had the chance, and c) I've had problems with the parts of this site hosted elsewhere due to an ongoing dispute with my erstwhile webhost which has crushed my spirit a bit.

But I can't complain, and it's back to business in earnest from tomorrow. Representations from constituents have continued, and have included access in Meadowbank, the road closure of Inganess Road, and issues related to the Schools Estate project, amongst other things. With regard to the latter, I agree with Jim Rousay and the others who have made the same point to me, that the project will affect everybody in Orkney, so everybody should have a chance to have a say. One way to achieve this is to contact your councillor(s) and make your opinions clear, and I encourage everyone to do this.

Of the many people who have spoken to me about the Schools Estate project all but one have shared my views stated below, with the sole contrary opinion from someone in the adjacent area who suffers from the school banishing smokers from its grounds. This is a serious problem, and should be addressed now, by preventing cigarettes from getting into the wrong hands (that's any, in my opinion), rather than having to wait till 2010 for a change of site for the school.

Meetings coming up in the next fortnight:

Kirkwall and St Ola Community Council- 7.30pm, 27th August
Social Services and Housing- 10.30am, 28th August
Env. Planning and PS- 10.30am, 29th August
Development- 10.30am, 30th August
Land and Property sub cttee- 10.30am, 31st August
Kirkwall East councillors meeting- 10am, 3rd Sept
T&I- 10.30am, 4th Sept
Ed, Rec and CS- 10.30am, 5th Sept
Personnel s/c- 10.30, 7th Sept

These will report where appropriate to P&R on Tuesday 25th Sept, and all committees will report to the General Meeting on the 4th October.

Where should Kirkwall Grammar School go?

2007-07-16T22:15:00.000+01:00

I believe that if a new KGS is to be built, it should be on the sports fields adjacent to the existing school, and that there is plenty of room to accommodate a spacious modern building demonstrating best practice, without significant disruption during building. Building a community school in this location will enhance the amenity of the area and the town, and retaining the KGS sports centre will maintain rather than diminish the provision of facilities to the wider community, and offer best value to the Schools Estate project.

The Orkney Today allowed me to argue this case in their 12/7/07 edition, and the full version of the piece I submitted can be viewed here (pdf, 287 kB).

The version reproduced in the paper omitted my carefully researched references for reasons of space, but they are listed below:

References

[1] Falkirk Council Community Schools 2008 Design Workshop- click here

[2] More than just a place to learn- design guidance for new schools- click here

[3] Balfron High School PFI Project Full Business Case - click here

[4] The Orkney Local Plan, p118- Policy LP/S3 re. retaining and improving existing recreational facilities

[5] The Orkney Local Plan p122- Policy LP/S5 re. educational facilities designed and located for maximum convenience, and incorporation of community facilities.

Add your comments to the debate

by clicking on the Comments link below this post.

Active, schools

2007-07-04T22:57:00.000+01:00

Another lull in the posting, but this is because the Council activity has cranked up over the last two weeks.

Getting back from south my diary looked clear with only P&R on the 26th and the General Meeting tomorrow, 5th July. Not the case- checking my pigeon hole and email when I got back, all available space filled up. Week commencing 25th June started with Media Training and Personnel seminars and an evening meeting of the Last Monday Group, a business networking thing. P&R on Tuesday, a meeting of the Legalised Police Cells Visiting Committee and cell visit on Thursday followed by the Best Value Working Group pre meeting, with a meeting at HIE Orkney sandwiched between them (literally, as I choked back my rolls throughout it), and on Friday the Heritage and Museums Study Day followed by farewell presentations for Education staff.

So in between all that I tried to keep up with my business commitments, and constituency business- tricky, but I'm getting better at it. I need to! This week has followed the same pattern.

At the weekend I wrote up my thoughts on the siting of the school(s), and I'll post that next week. The consultation that is going on now does not really widen it out to the whole community- and this is probably the biggest public building project since the Cathedral (I'm not counting WW2 as a public building project). It's also a bit backside foremost, as a public debate has not taken place. I'll be doing my best to start the debate and contribute to it, but let me come off the fence right now and say that it would be CRAZY MAD to put the Kirkwall Grammar School anywhere other than Papdale, and I've got 2000 words and counting that backs this up.

Anyone who wants to see what the Schools Estate Consulation questionnaire says and asks can find a scan of it here. It's about 2MB.

Meeting frenzy

2007-06-23T14:34:00.000+01:00

It was great weather coming back from my wet and windy bike run (typical...) and Hoy looked spectacular on Monday night. This panorama was taken between spells of reading the Monitoring and Audit Committee (M&A) handbook and papers for the meeting the next day.

I was initially complacent about this week, thinking that the M&A meeting was the only meeting, allowing me to do some work for my business, and also to sort things out for constituents. The creepie was kicked out from under me on that by finding notifications of four more meetings in my pigeon hole on Tuesday morning.

M&A proved interesting, with the £10,000/year overtime for some Tech Services employees revelation occurring. The report lacked any detail as to what was going on there, or why someone was working 20 hours a week overtime on average, so this looks like something that the committee should be investigating in the future.

Monitoring and Audit is a fairly low-flying committee generally, but with an important oversight role, as well as approving the Council's internal audit and best value review schedule, and receiving the reports. I was elected vice-chair to Alistair Gordon's chair, but it is not the first time we've met, as Alistair was one of my teachers at KGS. If you think something is rotten in the state of Orkney (Islands Council) bring it to M&A.

Halfway through the first cycle

2007-06-22T22:51:00.000+01:00

The cycle of committee meetings continued last week, with Transport and Infrastructure (T&I) on Tuesday, Education, Recreation and Cultural Services (ERCS) on Wednesday, and Environment, Planning and Protective Services (EPPS) on Thursday.

I'm not on the first and last of these, so my focus was on ERCS on Wednesday, where I stood for vice-chair against John Eccles, and lost. I'm not distressed by this as I think John will do well, and he later made an impressive case in favour of building a nursery at the North Walls School. This was one of a number of contentious issues at the committee, and was subject to a lengthy debate, and the decision in the end was a difficult one. The recommendation to build was passed, and I was one of the supporters, swayed in part by the fact that it should have started long ago, and the fact that the compromise amendment to place the build on hold but reserve the funding for the use of the school at some future date could not be guaranteed at all.

Another contentious issue was that of the linked headship of the Evie and Firth Schools. Peace seemed to have broken out from the School Boards' perspective, but the teaching union rep on the ERCS committee was unhappy about this. Now the fact that a representative from an interest group is present on the committee at all is an issue that my colleague Jack Moodie has raised, and it is a good one- why should this committee have teaching staff and religious representatives taking part in the debate as of right, while for example parents and pupils are not represented, even by the school board? In the case of the religious representatives the anomaly is worse, as there are three, and all can vote- on a committee where the majority is 8 this can potentially make a mockery of democracy.

Anyway the committee recommended to link the headships, unanimously- the teaching representatives do not get a vote. About this time the meeting paused for lunch, after 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, returning to conclude the private business at the end of the agenda in the afternoon. A long meeting.

The recommendations from this and all other meetings now go to full council for ratification, passing through Policy and Resources first, if there are implications of resource or policy.

After that I was ready for a break (not had one since last summer, honestly) so on Saturday I headed south for my charity bike run (from Edinburgh to St Andrews), which took place in Orkney weather- constant light rain, and a force 4/5 NE'ly wind in my face for the last 45 of the 68 miles... Completed it in good time considering the wind (people were pushing their bikes on the DOWNHILL part of the Forth Road Bridge). The picture shows me at Freuchie, having enjoyed two cups of tea and a fancy at the church hall. I'm not dour, merely sardonic.

A fine relaxing way to spend a few days, when you add in the day of car breakdowns on Friday, spraining my ankle going down stairs on Saturday evening, and driving back on Monday having to hit the starter motor with a Mole wrench every time I needed to start the car.

Cycling

2007-06-11T17:10:00.000+01:00

The first cycle of meetings is well under way now, although as yet only half way through. This means that only half the vice chair positions on the main committees have been determined, with Russ Madge vice chair of Social Services and Housing (hereafter SSH), and Rob Crichton vice chair of Development (Dev), in a nail-biting vote-off with Sam Harcus, new boys both.

(You'll note the novelty of writing long committee names has waned already. I'll add a glossary somewhere!)

This starts to address some of the Orkney Today fears as to where the new councillors have gone, after the main committee chairmanships went to veterans. Education, Recreation and Cultural Services (ERCS) is likely to see a 3 way battle of the new councillors, one of whom will be myself. This will be decided on Wednesday 13th, but first there is Transport and Infrastructure (T&I) on the 12th, and Environment, Planning and Protective Services (EPPS) is on Friday 14th. Who is standing for VC on them- I couldn't possibly comment, but it'll no be me, as I'm not on these committees.

The meeting cycle started last week with SSH, and I took part as a spectator in the viewing gallery, which has just enough space for small baying mob. I resolved then always to sit at the sides so I could see who is there, and equally make it hard for my acerbic notes to be read.

First meeting where I was an active partipant took place the next day (Wed 6th), the Information Services sub-committee, where I am now vice chair to Ian Johnstone, proving people from Kirkwall and Stromness can work together. Well at least in theory, it hasn't been tested yet. Interesting meeting, and the developments discussed should see the council providing much more information through the website, more quickly, and with greater assurance it is definitive.

Development followed on Thursday, and included a container hub update. No controversial content in this meeting, but a few recommendations were overturned. Anything that happens here will still have to be ratified by the full council, but it was encouraging to see that a number of us were applying a reasonable amount of scrutiny to all the topics that were being discussed.

On Friday, it was the Land & Property sub committee, and wow, the council have their fingers in a lot of pies. Headline recommendation was not to take on the Kirkwall reservoir, on the basis that it is pure liability as it has to be maintained as a reservoir under the Reservoirs Act, rather than presenting an interesting development opportunity.

It's not just the Council meetings that have been cycling, I've been out on my bike myself, managing a couple of 20 mile runs through the week, and a 36 mile one on Saturday. This is my ridiculously compressed training regime for the annual Edinburgh to St Andrews Bike Ride on Saturday 16th, in which I am participating for the 10th time. I'll buy a tee shirt this time to celebrate.

If you want to sponsor me, send me an email!

What's been happening

2007-05-31T09:47:00.000+01:00

The inactivity on this blog might suggest that nothing has been happening, but that is not the case. What is the case however is that the processes of the Council are very formalised, and that for anything to happen in terms of a decision of the Council being made the process may easily take 6 months.

A typical timeline might be (I think- let me get through the process myself) that a councillor calls for a report on something at a committee meeting, the officials go away and prepare the report as requested, the report gets presented at the next committee meeting and approved with recommendations for the full council, it goes past P&R and is approved as being within policy and with resources, it goes to the full council. At this stage it will be proposed, and each member has one chance to say something for or against it, having seen the agenda and had the opportunity to post an amendment which should be done in advance of the meeting. The proposer can reply to the amendments. Then there is the vote, and it can be approved, rejected or more likely referred back to committee for further consideration. Then the loop recommences.

So if all goes according to plan, 4-6 months will have elapsed, if it goes back to committee, an year may come and go.

So for us new councillors the challenge is to see what is lurking in the pipeline that we may not necessarily agree with, and see what can be done to influence things for the better, and in line with what we said we would do and what people have asked us to do.

You can be sure that the Kirkwall Traffic Plans and KGS redevelopment have been high on the agenda, and meetings with the relevant directors have taken place, and representations made. On the latter point, Kirkwall councillors have had a tour of KGS that I arranged with Mr Ballantine, and I've pushed to have a Papdale site considered for any rebuilding option (rather than just Picky!). I hope this is now on the agenda, but if you feel strongly about this, please tell me all about it.

First meeting, and committees

2007-05-22T16:54:00.000+01:00

Bit to catch up on here, but there has been a bit to catch up on everywhere, which is why it has gone quiet.

The first meeting on Tuesday was preceded by a mock meeting on Monday, and a run through the standing orders, which are the rules of engagement for the full meetings. The mock meeting featured a debate on whether the Roses sweetie tin that is used to collect all the ballots for votes should be retired and replaced by an electronic system. The tin lived to fight another day, following a recorded vote demanded by the anti-tin faction, the heretics that they are.

Down to real business on Tuesday, and the sorting out of committees and chairmanships. My own ambitions for this were modest, and I was pleased to be elected to the Policy and Resources committee in one of the four places for ordinary councillors (i.e. not chairmen, convener or vice-convener), and also Monitoring and Audit, both of which should get me up to speed with the machinations of the Cooncil fairly quickly. As everbody serves on 4 committees, this left two more to be allocated by the mysterious program, and after some swapping, I am also on the Education, Recreation and Cultural Services and Development committees. And the Orkney and Shetland Joint Valuation Board, but not Licensing, as I don't want to be thrown out of a pub for the wrong reasons. Even for the right reasons isn't good.

Being on P&R also carries an extra workload though, and this was apparent in the first additional meeting in the afternoon of the same day to determine membership of the P&R sub-committees. There are a lot.

After a blur of voting I believe I am on the following sub-committees: Personnel; Land and Property; Information Services; Legalised Police Cells (my concentration slipped for moment there); and Oil Development. I've sussed Jimmy Moar as a smooth operator here, as he shrewdly nominated others throughout this process! This may be sour grapes on my part, having lost out to him on the vote for Sustainable Energy, following the drawing of lots after a 6-6 tie...

So that's 10 committees, boards or sub-committees, each generating a three inch pile of double-sided paper to be read before each meeting. The Hercule Poirot books might be getting a rest for some time...

Induction

2007-05-09T19:51:00.000+01:00

The induction has gone on for two days now, and we've all learnt a lot about the structure and mechanisms of the council, and how all the committees relate to the services that the council provides.

There are five main committees:

Social Services and Housing
Environment, Planning and Protective Services
Development
Transporation and Infrastructure, and
Education, Recreation and Cultural Services

of which each councillor is on four. We've expressed our preferences and some obscure undocumented system allocates us in a way that keeps the most people happy. I get the impression there is no right of appeal.

These committees (and their sub-committees) have powers of their own, but the most important decisions should come back to the full council at a general meeting, at the end of each council cycle.

But what about Policy and Resources, Monitoring and Audit, Licensing and Orkney Ferries? I'll come back to those later, once I've filled in my Disclosure Scotland form, election expenses forms, Declaration of Interests, and information systems acceptable use form...

What happens next

2007-05-07T00:21:00.000+01:00

I've signed on the dotted line, and pledged allegiance to the community flag (metaphorically speaking), so I am indeed a councillor for Kirkwall East along with Janice, Bobby and Mike. We'll be discussing how best to work together and represent the area from Tuesday, but of course any constituent can contact any (or every) councillor.

The next week will be filled by an induction course for new councillors, and this will be followed up by a Statutory General Meeting on Tuesday 15th, and Special Policy and Resources to elect sub-committees. Thereafter we are into the first cycle of meetings and their preambles.

The meeting dates for this first cycle are:

Tue 5th June, Social Services and Housing
Wed 6th June, Environment, Planning and Protective Services
Thu 7th June, Development
Fri 8th June, Land and Property sub-committee
Tue 12th June, Transporation and Infrastructure
Wed 13th June, Education, Recreation and Cultural Services
Thu 14th June, Information Services sub-committee
Tue 26th June, Policy and Resources
Wed 27th June, Monitoring and Audit
Wed 4th July, Environment etc. dealing with planning applications only
Thu 5th July, General meeting

The next cycle of meetings will follow a similar pattern commencing on 28th August, which is a larger gap than all the other cycles due to the school holidays. Agenda items must be requested at least two weeks in advance of a meeting, but as yet we do not have the agendas and papers for the first meetings. I'll be supporting Jack Moodie in pressing for as much of these as possible to be posted on the Council website in advance of the meetings, as a matter of course.

I've been voted in!

2007-05-04T05:42:00.000+01:00

I'm very pleased, and very grateful to the people who voted for me yesterday. I view this as being the first part of a bargain that I now have to live up to, and I fully intend to do this.

Having insisted communication is a key priority, my first act on being elected was to gabble incoherently to Dave Gray of Radio Orkney, when he interviewed me. This was largely due to being stunned at getting in on the first round of the voting system by passing the quota on first preference votes, and due to extreme tiredness as it was 4.30am by this time. I'm not sure what I said, but it should have reiterated that I will be inquisitive and open-minded in approach, and approachable, diligent and do a good job. I don't think it did though- lets hope they edit me kindly!

For all the complexities of the STV system, the result just mirrored the figures for first preferences, viz.

Janice Annal 460
Steven Heddle 359
Bobby Leslie 280
Mike Drever 218

I genuinely feel sorry for the candidates who didn't get elected, with Alastair MacLeod and David Murdoch both fighting particularly good and positive campaigns, and they would have made good councillors I am sure. I'm also very sorry that Ian MacDonald didn't get back in Kirkwall West, while being pleased that Jack Moodie and David Tullock both were elected there, as I've spoken to them a lot throughout the campaign.

The count finished very late, but the fact that it finished at all on this night of count suspensions is a credit to the Returning Officer's team.

Now it's time for bed, then first Council business tomorrow. An immediate action will be to set up a meeting with Janice, Bobby and Mike to pool the issues reported, and make sure they are acted upon.

I'll keep you posted as to what's happening here, and work this into a better site for information and reports.

Thanks again, and special thanks to my dad (Barry Heddle) and Ray Norris who gave me invaluable help in distributing leaflets.

Steven

Hello and thanks for visiting

2007-05-03T23:59:00.000+01:00

Here I hope you will be able to find out more about me and what I stand for, and see that I would make the best job of representing you in the Council. See 'In summary' for the short story and follow the links to the 'My pitch' articles for the long one! You can comment on any of the posts by clicking on the 'comments' link at the bottom right, and as long as the comments aren't too profane I will respond.

New posts will appear immediately below this one.

As there are 1844 households in the ward it won't be possible to speak to everybody before polling day (even if I am, at 42, clearly the youth candidate!), but I'll be putting out leaflets to every door and would encourage anyone that wishes to speak to me to give me a shout in passing, or by phoning 877119 and I can come and visit you.

As the campaign progresses I'll keep you posted here as to what's happening, and what people are saying.

If I have the opportunity to represent you I will apply the same diligence and thought to this as I have to all my work, and anybody who knows me can reassure you that I will not sit on my hands as a councillor. I hope you can vote for me on May 3rd, preferably number 1. Treat yourself!

Cheers
Steven

Orcadian banner ad on day before poll

2007-05-02T17:00:00.000+01:00

The campaign draws to a close

2007-05-02T14:08:00.000+01:00

It's been a hectic few weeks of campaigning, and I think all the candidates have had a fair chance to put their case to the voters, through leaflets (lovingly hand-crafted on the trusty printer pictured), canvassing, hustings and news and radio articles, and hopefully this has been useful in helping everybody to form an opinion on who they are going to vote for. The coverage of the election in The Orcadian has been scanty however, with all candidates scratching their heads as to why we were sent a questionnaire and why it hasn't been used (at least yet).

Personally, I've been everywhere in Kirkwall East over the last few weeks and spoken to many people, but not as many as I would have liked to. The sheer vastness of the ward (1844 households, 3327 electors) meant that it was only ever going to be possible to knock on a fraction of the doors, and this is how it has turned out. However, I'd like once more to extend an invitation to anyone who'd like to talk about the council and the issues of this campaign to give me a shout on 877119, and I can come round and speak to them. If I'm elected of course this will become an open invitation.

But will I be elected? I hope so, because I am sure I could do a good job.

Who gets in? You decide! Like my amigo Jack Moodie says on his blog, "Vote for whoever you want!"

More word from more streets

2007-05-01T11:14:00.000+01:00

I must confess I took a break on Sunday to reacquaint myself with my family and my lawnmower. Having now apparently killed the lawn but thankfully done less damage to the family,I was back out canvassing on Monday.

It has to be said that my fellow Kirkwallians are a very pleasant group of people, who take a keen interest in local issues, while recognising that by and large life here is not bad at all. Nonetheless there are issues that crop up again and again, and these are parking, speeding, and the Kirkwall traffic plans.

I've mentioned parking earlier, and there is certainly a consensus that the huge number of cars associated with School Place should be reduced by some means and the Guide Hut car park freed for short stay and/or metered parking. The current lack of parking near here is a big problem for anyone attending funerals from the kirks in the vicinity (including the cathedral). In fact increased levels of free short stay car parking like that at the back of Boots would be most welcome. Let me also make a personal plea for increased bike parking facilities in the form of Sheffield Racks , the railing like things that you can lean and chain your bike against.

Speeding is a hot topic, especially in the vicinity of the Papdale School, Willow Road and Thom Street. The long awaited 20mph zone should help, but we need to get the area it covers right. Ideally it could take in the bit of Thom Street between Meadowbank and White Street as well to calm the traffic there. More yellow lines on Willow Road? Traffic calming around Papdale Primary to slow down the boy racers picking up their girlfriends from KGS at lunchtime? All ideas gratefully received!

Kirkwall traffic proposals- don't get me started (again). Pleasingly my own opinions reflect those of everybody I have spoken to viz. NO Broad Street pedestrianisation, NO unnecessary one-way systems, and hey, let's keep it in perspective...

Fishing

2007-04-29T11:01:00.000+01:00

Candidates were sent a message from the Orkney Fisheries Association:

What is your policy towards fishermen and the important issue of harbours and facilities?

Hi Christine

The only reference that I've made on my manifesto is having "investing in agriculture and fishing to develop premium Orkney brands and organics to safeguard industry against globalisation" as a longer term strategic issue.

Having said that I am aware that there has been a big loss of slipping and boat storage facilities in Kirkwall, and also of areas where gear can be left to dry, as a result of the sailing club taking over Smith Foubister's yard, and because of the lifeboat berth. I would be keen to press for such facilities to be restored in some form, at the very least ensuring that water and power were available at the Hatston slip, and that the slip area was kept clear enough to enable short periods of working without having to go elsewhere.

However I am not an expert in this field and would welcome guidance and advice about what facilities are desired and could make a difference.

Cheers,
Steven

The word on the streets

2007-04-28T21:10:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I completed my leaflet coverage of Kirkwall East, finishing up in the Carness and Craigiefield areas, once more enjoying the good weather. While I have been speaking to everyone I've seen, I'd like to speak to a lot more people in the ward, and I intend to do this in the remaining days before the election.

Today I've been out and about in George Street, St Rognvalds Street and Meadowbank.

The burning issue in St Rognvalds Street (and I assume in Thom Street, White Street and Willow Road) is the use of the street for long stay parking for council workers, leading to difficulties getting deliveries or getting the car out of the garage. This ties in with complaints about the Guide Hut car park being a de facto council car park, preventing people from parking to visit the street and the OIC. It would seem sensible to zone off more of this car park for short stay parking, or metered parking, but this will serve to make the problem in the adjacent streets worse unless something else is done. An option that has been discussed is to have one or more Park and Ride areas e.g. at Hatston or off the Deerness Road, and this would seem worth considering. It would need to be available for everyone, not just council workers, and could give the much maligned airport bus a good name if it was used at the necessary peak times.

This leads onto other issues, such as abandoned cars at Papdale East and occupation of parking spaces by cars for sale. This should be clamped down on by towing away unlicensed vehicles. Another option that would help St Rognvalds Street would be to have one side of the road yellow lined.

In Meadowbank a big issue is the fact that there are steps everywhere but next to no path lights. The steps to the houses are probably too much to tackle, but paths should be ramped or have level access at least at one end. This seems fairly easily possible, and could often be achieved by cutting gates in the walls of the car parks. Similarly providing adequate lighting should not be impossible.

It's been very encouraging to see how concerned most people are for their areas and for the well being of the County in general. I also appreciate the phone calls and emails of support I have had and would like to thank the people who have offered me this support, very much. If I get elected I will do my best to live up to your expectations, and my own.

The Orcadian questionnaire

2007-04-27T11:59:00.000+01:00

The Orcadian sent out a questionnaire to all the candidates, but do not seem to have used the responses. These were mine anyway.

Why do you want to stand for council?

Firstly I think it’ll be an interesting and challenging job, and very satisfying when I help somebody, or help in some development to the ward's or Orkney's advantage. Equally importantly I think it's a job I could do well, and want to get stuck into.

What policies and issues do you see as being of primary importance in Orkney?

Funding of services will remain the big issue and real savings and efficiencies must continue to be identified, as opposed to inventing new charges for services and passing them on to others. The OIC must serve its community and earn its support to fight against centralisation and loss of local control, and develop joint working with other agencies within Orkney. Lower funding than other island groups is the same issue as 4 years ago, and we should review our position towards COSLA, and how best to make our oil reserves benefit the community. Care of the elderly, including personal and respite care, will remain an issue until funded adequately. Economic development must be funded to grow our economy, but we shouldn't bet heavily on a container hub.

How will you represent your constituents?

By any means possible! I'll encourage people to get in touch with me at any time, run regular surgeries, and maintain the kw15.co.uk website for two-way communication and to gauge opinion. At the OIC end I'll seek out the officials or committee best placed to sort out any issues, and represent the opinions of my constituents fairly and firmly. At all times I'll keep people informed as to what is happening.

Why should people vote for you?

Because I'll be easy to find, show up when I'm asked, work hard, and make sure their voices are heard. I can approach the OIC with an open mind, and all my career I've been paid to think as well as do, so I'm quick on the uptake. I'm committed to the community, the area, and its people and I can demonstrate this.

I must protest

2007-04-26T22:27:00.000+01:00

The report of last week's hustings in the Orkney Today contained some inaccuracies which I have been moved to write to John (Ross Scott) about to put the record straight, viz.

Dear Sir

I must offer some corrections to your hustings report. Firstly, we all did not agree that a new school was required, as my stance was that I didn't know for we require far more information before we could state that, or otherwise, but that any developments should see KGS become a community school providing amenities in the south of Kirkwall. Secondly it was Alistair MacDonald (and not Alastair MacLeod) who responded to a question from Angus Fraser (and not Angus Campbell) about traffic plans, making the 'Kirkwall is not Milton Keynes' point. Thirdly I think that putting services out to the public sector should be investigated rather than being completely against it, but have grave misgivings due to the service you get being inflexible and limited to the contract that is put out.

Yours faithfully

Steven Heddle
Candidate for Kirkwall East

The Road Warrior

2007-04-26T20:36:00.000+01:00

Road, Close, Lane, Drive, Park, Place and Crescent warrior actually. In the last 4 days I have walked 500 miles to beat a path right to YOUR door (if you live in Kirkwall East), and have broken the back of the leafletting in the same way that the leafletting has broken the back of me. I'm sunburnt!

The views from the doorsteps or herbaceaous borders (come on, you don't get prose like this from the other candidates, vote for someone with a sense of humour) are myriad and diverse, but here comes a sample:

The council tax is far too high, and is driving pensioners and the poorly paid into poverty. Recall too that Orkney is (on average) one of the most poorly paid areas in the country.
Those who default on their council tax would benefit from coming to an arrangement for payment with the OIC rather than having Scott & Co set on them- and when this happens they are told not to speak to the nice people at the council, now you belong to us...

This a big deal actually- 171 tenants were in arrears to the council (rent or otherwise) when there were only 790 council houses left, according to last year's Council accounts. That's 22% of tenants (down from last year), and I don't accept that this is through their choice. If they are all being hounded by the bailliffs as the first step (and I haven't had the chance to verify this yet) it seems another case of not looking after our people, like the care situation. We should be able to do better than this.

Also

The crows at the Willows are driving the people mad with the mess, as the nests are no longer poked from the trees.

Would this not be an ideal Community Service project?

More Points of View

2007-04-24T23:37:00.000+01:00

More questions and replies...

Anonymous said...

Hi Steven, I would like to hear your views on 2 issues. (for a start anyway)..;-)

Firstly you in your literature that, as an issue of immediate concern, "young people should have more facilities". Does this mean that the play areas in your prospective ward would get more equipment and better maintenence?

The second question is what is your opinion of a prospective tunnel under the Pentland Firth?. Could a project like this not rid us of an inefficent and costly ferry service, provide an ideal export conduit for energy generated from the huge potential of alternative energy. Provide cheaper transportation for local produce thereby opening opening up a far wider range of markets.

Or.....

Would something like that "spoil" Orkney by connecting us to the mainland, thereby deminishing our island status. Perhaps reduce the subsidies given out by central goverment because of our remote status, (although seemingly not as remote as the Western isle, or Shetland, and finally leave us open to hordes of illegal immigrants?...(yes, I do mean Wickers)....;-).

Steven Heddle said...

The 'more facilities for young people' statement is based on the lack of facilities for play or activity. This is even compared to when I was younger, with the demise of Costies, now Powerbowl, and removal of play equipment from the Bignold Park, King Haakon Street, Manse Road, and the Willows, imposition of 'No Ball Games' rules at places like Broadsands Road, and impossibility of playing on the road (not that it was ever a good idea). Also I've seen what is in place in Westray for the young people (The Hofn) and it seems an excellent facility.

More play equipment would be a part of this certainly, and as it is mainly a capital cost with little revenue implications, and as it ticks lots of activity agendas I don't see why this should not happen. Another aspect would be to see what can be done for teenagers- Walter Gorman is doing good stuff with the bands nights, and, in an ideal world where KGS was a community school in the current location, I would like to see its hall and stage etc available for use.

A further aspect of this is that the new housing developments are high on density but low on amenity and I would hope that equipped play areas could be incorporated as a condition of planning consent.

Regarding the idea of a tunnel under the Firth, I suppose it would enable easier, cheaper access (if it was free), but I think it would be a disaster for Orkney. We would lose our local authority and Health Board, and create a lot of unemployment or relocation South. The outer isles would suffer as a consequence of control shifting south. The whole ethos would change with a more transient population, and crime would increase because there would the chance to get away with it, rather than having the 'border control' of limited ferry crossings.

The renewable energy export benefit doesn't come close to making up for any of this, and would the cable not need to be buried in the tunnel anyway, making it more costly than just laying one on the seabed?

So I say no to any Pentland Firth tunnel idea!

How the voting system works

2007-04-24T13:44:00.000+01:00

The voting system is fantastically complex, and while the lower preferences (2nd, 3rd etc.) can be significant, it is definitely the first preferences that count the most. So if you really want me to be elected, put a 1 next to my name!

The whole complexity of the system, including Droop Quotas and the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method, is laid bare here.

Sunshine and showers

2007-04-23T22:53:00.000+01:00

Today's relentless leafletting and canvassing saw me sunburnt by the forenoon, and soaked by the grimlings. The wide open spaces of Lynn Park led to a lot of walking in the heat of the day, and later I noticed with some horror that the razor sharp letterboxes of Lynn Crescent all have edges smeared with the blood of the local posties and hapless canvassers. It's true!

I'm starting to develop an unhealthy knowledge of letterbox types now, and the difficulty of forcing thin leaflets through draught excluders. I won't bore you with the details, but leave that to my new website, www.letterboxesanddraughtexcluders.co.uk . I'm kidding.

More seriously, some good issues raised today that deserve to be raised in the Council chamber. Despite being in a residential area, good business questions were raised, regarding the unfairness of charges to businesses on top of business rates. It would seem reasonable that business rates would cover refuse collection, but businesses have to pay extra for a special 'green bag' collection, with (I believe) no opt out. Similarly businesses premises with not plumbing still have to pay water rates, ostensibly because of the rain run off from roofs. This seems to suggest that the roof is attracting additional water from somewhere, rather than just returning the same amount to the ground!

I'm tired from the walking around- goodnight!

Canvassing, not dourly

2007-04-22T23:51:00.000+01:00

Canvassing closer to home tonight, on the Holm Road and the roads off of it, and most enjoyable too, as I had some fine yarns with good folk. Issues discussed included the overstretched community care service, and the lack of affordable housing.

The picture above is not of the Holm Road, the more geographically aware of you will have spotted that already. It is at Kirbuster on the jovial occasion of the launch of 'Stumpy' my home-made boat. Reason for this later.

The council hopefuls were out in force tonight, as I met Jack Moodie at my gate when I headed out, and as we discussed the finer points of shoving things through letterboxes David Tulloch passed by the Bignold Park. Later I bumped into ward rival David Murdoch as we covered the same area in opposite directions, so I managed to give him the leaflet I couldn't put through his letterbox as he doesn't have one. David, I know you read this (I'm an IT consultant, I have my ways)- see this post for why you should have a letterbox!

However, my confidence in my public image was dented when Jack revealed that Bryan Taylor thought I was coming across as 'too dour', reinforcing what my wife had recounted from a conversation with a taxi driver - "Oh, is he the dour-looking boy"? That was the last time anyone in this house phoned Craigie's Taxis. I'm not dour! I like a laugh! I invented the Ba' Humbug idea, for goodness sake!

I soon got over it. But the picture above at least shows that I do crack my face on occasion.

Tomorrow I plan to continue leafletting through the day, and canvassing by evening. If you want me to call past, please give me a shout on 877119.

Points of View

2007-04-21T21:19:00.000+01:00

(The comments that are made and their replies are often missed due to the need to navigate to the comments for a post. I've cut and pasted the comments so far here.)

Anonymous said...

Steven- I'd be interested in your views on the recent aquisition of Garden House by the council. Is it a decision you would have supported ?-DustJunkie

Steven said...

Good question DustJunkie.

I accept the argument that Garden House is a good investment that will give a better return than how the money was invested already, is a secure asset that will apreciate in value, and is an asset that is now secured in local control.

I don't agree with how NHS Orkney seem to be balancing their books with a fire sale before the end of the financial year, and that it was rushed through without the scrutiny of the full council, or without apparent evidence that the Council secured the best possible price for the buildings.

I think there is a misconception that money has been spent on these buildings, where it could have been spent on a care home. The money has not been spent so much as invested in a way that will provide a return that could help with the ongoing revenue costs of a care home (with the initial investment secured in the value of the buildings, which can be realised in the future if need be), rather than depleting the reserves by a capital investment on a care home that will incur revenue costs. And such revenue costs will be harder to afford if the reserves are depleted and no improved settlement from the Scottish Executive is forthcoming. As the capital for such projects seems to be available from other sources it seems sensible to use the reserves in a way that will provide an ongoing return.

However this latter argument must be explored by the council with no preconceptions. We should question whether the rainy days that our reserves were set by for are here now, and perhaps spend on quality projects or investments that will benefit future generations.

Community owned renewables are clearly things that could be considered.

Anonymous said...

Hello Steven - I'm looking at the "About me" section of your site and I was having a look at the photo of youself. There was an option of "see full size" but the result of clicking on this would suggest that you are only around 14 inches high. Do you think it will be difficult for a man of your small stature to effectively represent the ward ? - Cinnamon Girl

Steven said...

Hi Cinnamon Girl

You have picked up on another side of my Action Man persona

Russell said...

Best wishes on your campaigning and election. I am sure your IT experience will come in useful!Great idea to have a blog.Do you have a RSS feed or have I missed it?

Steven said...

Hi RussellThanks for the comments and good point about the RSS feed. There is an Atom feed, but it isn't obvious when using IE6 as your browser.

The URL of this feed is http://kirkwalleast.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Anonymous said...

Steven, you were vocal about the Kirkwall traffic plans last year- what do you think of the latest version of the plans?

Steven said...

Anonymous, good to see you posting again!

Re. the plans, I'd love to see them and be able to offer to comment. It still looks as though Kirkwall is moving towards being built around an ugly bus station rather than a magnificent cathedral. Changes that had been promised to the community council and Town Centre Traders that would have allowed buses to leave the stances in both directions have been ignored and we can expect to see this used as a means of driving a one way system that we neither need nor want.

In this we have been badly let down by the existing councillors, as the consultation was meant to mean something after the shabby way the proposals emerged in the first place.

When we discussed this on Radio Orkney, Bob Sclater conceded that the 'Travel Centre' location consultation favoured the existing site but then shrugged and said 'But you know about consulation'! Well the same is happening again, but literally being set in concrete now before we can do something about it. Another aspect is the new taxi rank on West Castle Street, which has come as something of a surprise to the unconsulted residents of the street.

I recommend that you vote for me and I will fight to make sure that such things stop happening.

Kirkwall East hustings and care homes

2007-04-20T09:23:00.000+01:00

It was the Kirkwall East hustings last night, and all 7 candidates showed up to face about 50 people who definitely had questions to ask over the two and a quarter hours it lasted for.

At the start the candidates each had three minutes to make a pitch, and I took the reasonable approach of introducing myself and what I believe I could bring to the job. It's a daunting task as bragging yourself up to a crowd is not a comfortable thing for an Orcadian to do, but I started to relax into it. This was not necessarily a good thing, as my tightly plotted spiel was embellished for what seemed like seconds, but left me 30 seconds to do the last minute's worth. Some hasty mental editing at least let me finish on time.

I'm still uncomfortable with the approach I took, but figured it would be more informative and honest than making empty promises about getting in and being able to sort out that shower at School Place. I have reasonable amount of respect for the Council, but do think it would be much better with me on it!

Into the questions, and it becomes apparent that in a situation like this the existing councillors hold all the cards, being privy to the entire back story of an issue, and inside information from committee meetings that have not made it into public. New candidates such as myself working with the information that they can dig up can often only surmise what the council is up to, and are left open to put downs from the existing councillors, with more facts at their disposal.

At one point I innocently asked why the council, with all its support infrastructure in place and access to cheap finance, cannot run care homes more cheaply than the profitable private sector, and was patronised by a comment from a councillor implying that I was naive beyond belief if I thought this was possible. Well, the council charges approximately twice as much per week (£710/week I believe, reduced to £590/week after the 'free personal care' element is taken off) as Highland Park House, which I don't think can be all be put down to better terms and conditions for Council staff, or providing a 'gold plated' service- especially when St Rognvald's House was recently closed to new admissions from the Care Commission.

So yes, I do think it is possible to provide better care more cost effectively than present, and would strive to get to the bottom of this, rather than accepting it as fact.

Among other issues raised were the Kirkwall traffic proposals, an issue that I've worked hard on already, and I was pleased to see that most of my views on this (viz. no Broad Street pedestrianisation, enforcement of existing traffic orders on Albert Street, no unnecessary one way systems, REAL CONSULTATION) are now also shared by the bulk of the candidates. Similarly, two way communication through all media including websites such as this was widely endorsed, and I must point out that kw15.co.uk was here first too!

Use of the reserve funds was discussed, and this is a complex issue that needs a lot of study and debate, as opposed to trading opinions as last night. Having said that, you have to have opinions to start with, and mine include that using them simply to reduce the Council Tax by a small amount each year will leave asking us 'Was that it?' when the reserves do run out. Saving them to benefit OIC council tax payers in 30 years time might seem long sighted, but is in fact short-sighted if it does not recognise that if we don't get our act together the OIC might be gone by then, with our rainy-day money being spent outside Orkney by a Highlands and Islands Council instead. Better to consider right now what lasting institutions can be created in Orkney to benefit future generations, such as facilities and a culture of providing for our people, through education and care.

Of course there is more to it than that, as the capital versus revenue funding arguments must be considered, and also how the existence and use of the reserve funds equate to the funding we get from the Scottish Executive- but we should be having this debate now.

Orkney Today article

2007-04-19T16:48:00.000+01:00

Last week Orkney Today asked all candidates to submit 200 words on why they should be voted for. I wrote:

When we are all campaigning on similar issues it can be hard to differentiate between the candidates- this is particularly true in Kirkwall East where almost all the candidates are retired council officials or public sector employees. However, being 42 and having broader experience of business and industry, I feel I can bring a more inquisitive and open-minded approach to the work of the Council, and different, relevant, skills honed in R&D and project management.

Additionally I can demonstrate a commitment to the community by membership of Kirkwall Community Council and the Papdale School board, and by having publicly voiced concern about the lack of consultation and unnecessary scale of the Kirkwall traffic plans, and seeming desire to replace KGS with a PPP initiative at Picky.

My commitment to the area is obvious from having come home with my family in 1999, but being Kirkwall born and bred it was always my intention to do so.

However a councillor's main commitment must be to the people of the ward, and if elected I will always be available to discuss and represent your concerns, from first day to last. If you want to start now please get in touch through 877119 or http://www.kw15.co.uk/. I would be proud to be able to represent Kirkwall East.

Barked knuckles and holey pavements

2007-04-18T17:49:00.000+01:00

It's brutal work this campaigning and I have the barked knuckles to prove it. I hasten to add that this is from getting my hand caught pushing fliers through letter boxes, rather than any 'old fashioned' electioneering.

I've had a taste of the door to door delivery doing the Scout Post in years gone by, but this is a different scale altogether. If I get in I'll be moving that people without letterboxes should be disbarred from voting, on the basis of humanity!

Hitting the streets is invaluable, as I've had the chance to speak to people, found houses that I didn't know existed, and discovered that our telephone exchange now is full of big empty rooms where huge frames of wire and moving parts stood when it opened 30-odd years ago.

The other things you notice are the holes in the pavement, that I believe have to be reported before they get fixed, rather than an enterprising road team looking for things to fix just coming along and doing it. I realise that this leads to spending money, but surely in the long term it is cheaper to fix things before they get too bad, or lead to an accident? I understand that the guys who work on the roads are going up the wall because they have so little to do, and because if they are sent to fix a hole, they can't fix others nearby until someone has been sent to draw round them in yellow!

Now you may ask yourself why the council has made up a charge for men to work on the fireworks or St Magnus Fair when they are not being kept from doing something else, and why there is a reactive approach to repairs rather a proactive one towards maintenance. Me too, and I would be happy to ask that question on your behalf.

Flier still, and KGS viewpoint

2007-04-17T17:41:00.000+01:00

I've added the flier inside pages here, and changed the links so that clicking on the thumbnails now opens up the full definition pdf versions of the pages (the files are quite small).

Campaigning hiatus last night as I was in Eday to do IT training for the Fire Service, and enjoyed the hospitality of Malcolm and Moira Scott. Actually very informative as well, as the isles transport present and future got a full discussion. Good shop on the island too.

Heading back to Kirkwall this morning I got a summons to Radio Orkney on my mobile, for a short interview to go alongside ones from the other candidates. I suppose it went OK, but the questions kept changing just as I was about to hit my stride, so I will appear to insist that KGS stay where it is without justifying why.

But for the record, I think that

it is in the ideal location, both for Kirkwall as it expands south, and for the buses from the country
it is the only leisure facility on the South and East of Kirkwall, through the pool and the sports centre
incidentally, new housing developments should enhance community facilities and put something back
if it moves to Picky, hundreds of pupils will have to trek across the Back Road and Picky Road twice a day, with Picky Road destined to be an Inner Ring Road in the original Kirkwall traffic proposals
though it is claimed to be not fit for purpose, I'm young enough to actually have attended it myself, and it was OK then- though I'll take Iain Ballantine up on his offer to look around and reserve the right to change my mind!
new facilities will be needed, but they could be developed adjacent to the school with minimal disruption
flagship PPPs show that they end up costing more, and are not necessarily fit for purpose themselves (e.g. the too-small Edinburgh Royal Infirmary)
PPPs do not generally offer community access
a redeveloped KGS should be more of a community school, with greater access to its facilities.

And yes, it should stay in Papdale!

Flier

2007-04-15T23:18:00.000+01:00

The flier, ready to go, as long as my printer doesn't melt in the process. Note the arms crossed, slightly leaning back, direct look at the camera stance, or 'Helen Gardiner pose' as I believe it is known.

We will fight on the beaches

2007-04-15T17:37:00.000+01:00

Orkney Today required a head and shoulders picture, so Donna was pressed into action as campaign photographer as we took the fight to the beaches.

In the end the picture that we came up with was taken down the pier, and that can be seen as the new profile picture on this blog. The beach picture has been pressed into action for my flier, which has been designed and is being mass produced on the printer to my right as I type.

Anyone looking for hidden meaning in this picture will notice that Work is looming over my shoulder...

Hopefully I'll get out on the streets with it tomorrow or Tuesday, and some real feedback from the people I speak to when I'm out and about can be posted here. Only two and a half weeks to go, and a lot of work to put in yet. I'll post links to the flier once I've started distributing them.

Next task, responding to The Orcadian's questionnaire...

Out of the blocks

2007-04-13T19:46:00.000+01:00

No door to door visits yet as pamphlet design and production dominates my life. The writing involved in campaigning has been surprisingly time-consuming, and The Orcadian and Orkney Today are both wanting statements from all candidates. "300 words in total, or 300 words for each of last four sections?" I queried, before realising the mindnumbing effect that would be created by 44 candidates contributing a total of 53,000 words in the latter case.

It's interesting to consider how to differentiate yourself from other candidates- obviously I'm quite sure I'm the man for the job, but conveying that to you is more difficult when all the candidates are campaigning on a limited number of issues. I think I can manage it though, but let's see if my pamphlets and personal charm live up to my expectations!

I had a very interesting meeting today with Rose Guthrie and Ernie Donaldson of the Care Pressure Group which opened my eyes further to the plight of those needing care, and which also emphasised that there is much more to the care of the elderly debate than just care homes. This, quite rightly, will be a key issue in the campaign.

In summary

2007-04-10T23:39:00.000+01:00

I'm Steven Heddle, born and brought up in Kirkwall. After KGS I graduated from Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities and worked in R&D and engineering. Since coming home in 1999 I have taken an active part in community life through the Community Council and School Board, and run a business and technical consultancy, and have advised hundreds of local businesses. I'm responsible for a number of websites, including Orkneycommunities.co.uk, and through this have worked with dozens of community groups. I'm married with one son. (More detail...)

I'm standing because I want the Council to be active, forward looking, and representative of the people of Orkney, and thus it would benefit from younger economically active Councillors. I believe I have the drive, determination and sense to make a significant contribution towards representing the people of Kirkwall and securing the future of the County, and am motivated by the great satisfaction I would derive from being able to do so. I would be proud to represent the people of Orkney - I'm not looking for a hobby or a supplement to my income. (More detail...)

You should vote for me as I would take the responsibilities of being a councillor for the ward and for the county very seriously. If elected I will always be contactable and approachable and will keep you informed and seek your views through this website and regular surgeries. I will represent your concerns and opinions firmly and with clarity. I will not make promises I can't keep, and will be well prepared for all meetings. I believe my experience and background means that I should prove to be an excellent councillor, and if there is anything else I can do, ask me and I will try my best. I have already campaigned as an individual on a number of the issues below so my commitment to the community should be clear. (More detail... )

Issues of immediate concern to me are: that the council has to communicate much better and engage in genuine consultation; housing and planning needs to be carefully managed and understandable, and new developments enhance community facilities; care of the elderly must be comprehensive, fair and affordable; young people should have more facilities; Kirkwall's traffic management should be sensitive, and ensure access; KGS should remain where it is and be redeveloped to the necessary standard, but with prudent financing and community access to facilities; Scottish Executive led initiatives should be adapted imaginatively to suit Orkney's context; the owners of the Shore Street oil tanks must be pressured to relocate. (More detail in responses to comments.)

Strategic issues include: improving efficiency and promoting joint working within Orkney to guard against centralisation; using this and the support of the electorate to achieve a fairer funding settlement; all options for use of oil reserves should be considered; sensible investment in development; consideration of North Sea decommissioning at Lyness; investment in agriculture and fishing to develop premium Orkney brands and organics to safeguard industry against globalisation; community owned renewables; supporting rural and isles shops e.g. by providing access to council facilities through them. (More detail in responses to comments.)

Why you should vote for me

2007-04-09T20:11:00.000+01:00

You should vote for me as I will take the responsibilities of being a councillor for the ward very seriously.

If elected, I will make it easy for you to contact me with any concerns that you wish brought to the council, and do my utmost to assist in their resolution, and keep you informed as to what actions are taken and what are the results. I will make it easy for you to contact me, and arrange regular clinics for informal discussion of any issues. I will represent any concerns or opinions fairly, even if they might be at odds with my own. I will endeavour to always act in the best interests of the people in the ward. Additionally I will maintain this website whereby my contact details are clearly stated, and which I will use to help pass on information and seek opinion.

You should vote for me as I will also take the responsibilities of being a councillor for the county very seriously.

I will take an active part in all meetings and debates, and be well prepared for them. I will encourage the council to take a proactive yet prudent approach to development, and discourage unnecessary regulation. I will support imaginative use of ring-fenced funding and posts to derive maximum benefit for Orkney. I will also encourage the council to pursue best practice and joint working with other agencies within Orkney to safeguard local control. I will maintain an open mind to all issues and judge them on their facts. Again I will strive to communicate clearly and effectively.

You should vote for me as I have the experience and track record to do this well

My experience gained in research and project management as demonstrated in my CV shows I am adept at clear thinking and problem solving. My knowledge of Kirkwall in particular and Orkney in general, and work with community groups, means that I know the area and people and what the issues and expectations are. My work with businesses, public sector agencies and on international projects means that I understand how to work effectively in this wide range of situations. My experience in representation means that I will take my opportunity to get my point across, which might well be your point as well.

Why I'm standing

2007-04-08T23:11:00.000+01:00

I'm standing because I believe that Orkney needs a dynamic forward-thinking council to tackle current and future issues, and to fight for a fairer deal for Orkney and against loss of control of more of our services through centralisation.

As my entire career has focussed on problem solving and project management I feel I can offer new and well reasoned thinking, and a wide breadth of relevant experience particularly with regard to economic development.

Equally, as a public-spirited resident of Kirkwall I am concerned about the local issues such as schools, traffic, facilities for young people, personal care, and the Shore Street oil tanks,and keen to vigorously represent the interests and opinions of all the people who live here.

My long term willingness to get involved is demonstrated by my participation on the Papdale School Board over the last 6 years, and the Kirkwall Community Council and Orkney College Management Council for the last 4 years.

The change in payments for councillors now makes it possible for younger economically active people (such as myself!) to participate in the council, and make it more genuinely representative of the electorate. Whilst this enables me to stand it is unlikely to cover the reduction in income from scaling back my business involvement if I am elected. But that's OK, I'm not motivated by thinking this might be a nice hobby or might supplement my income. I am motivated by wanting to do a good job for the people of Kirkwall and Orkney,and for that job to be interesting- in a good way!

I’m grateful to live here, and I want to do all I can to make sure it’s a great place for my son to grow up in, and for me and mine to grow old and retire in.

Let me introduce myself

2007-04-07T18:37:00.000+01:00

I'm Steven Heddle, aged 42, born and brought up in Kirkwall and a former pupil of Papdale Primary and Kirkwall Grammar Schools. I left Orkney to go to University in 1983 and graduated from Aberdeen University in 1987 with a BSc Hons (First Class) in Physics, and Edinburgh University in 1993 with a PhD in Physics for research done as part of the Applied Optics Group.

After longer than I expected, the opportunity arose to return to Orkney with my family in 1999 and I founded Steven Heddle Consultancy, initially carrying out contract research for the UK Astronomy Technology Centre and later diversifying into IT support and advice. This latter role was of great benefit whilst employed by Orkney Enterprise (OE) as e-business adviser, and I still carry out work for OE's successor, HIE Orkney, and other development agencies on a regular basis as a SFEDI accredited business adviser, as well as a diverse range of consultancy activities for private businesses.

Since returning I have been a member of the Kirkwall Community Council and Orkney College Management Council for four years, and spent almost 6 years on the Papdale School Board which has included helping lead a successful campaign to attract £3.5 million to refurbish and extend the school.

As an e-business adviser for Orkney Enterprise/HIE Orkney (as both an employee and consultant) I've advised hundreds of Orkney businesses and OE/HIE Orkney itself, on IT, e-commerce and telecoms issues, and developed projects such as Orkneycommunities.co.uk and the Orkney Business Directory and Access Guide. I'm also the webmaster of Orkneycommunities.co.uk, and look after the highly popular Orkney Image Library.

Interests include music, cycling, football, snooker, photography and sailing. I'm married with one son.