Paul Lobley
I drafted this email for sharing with the Save Heage Greenbelt Group, but thought it deserved to be shared much wider. After all, I am elected to represent ALL of the residents of Heage and Ambergate now. Paul.
First of all can I thank everyone who supported me to take the role of Borough Councillor representing the Heage and Ambergate ward yesterday. It was a bit of a hectic two days and it didn’t finish for me with the announcement of the final result. I didn’t even get chance for a celebratory drink as I had so many emails, messages and Facebook posts to respond to when I eventually arrived back home.
At 6.30 last evening, the existing and new Labour members of the Council got together for our first meeting. We made decisions on which of us were to fill which roles within the new regime when the Council is formally formed at its first meeting. As you would expect, at the heart of our discussions was the issue of our promise on the greenbelt, how quickly we could act and what steps we could take to get things moving, even before that first Council meeting. All members were of one accord and we now have a series of actions which we will implement as soon as the Bank Holiday is over. You will be pleased to know that one of those steps is to involve members of the action groups to help us formulate plans going forward, not as a token gesture, but as real partners in the planning process. We also decided that key decisions will be made in a public arena and not behind closed doors.
For my own part, I have been selected to Chair the Governance and Audit Committee, finally being able to draw on my 25 years of experience as a local authority external auditor to benefit my own community. Sadly, we have been left with the task of finding approximately £1.7 million in service efficiencies or savings to bridge the gap in central government funding allocation, so I have also got the task of conducting an in depth review of the latest accounts and the current budget. Hey ho. I put myself forward knowing that might be the case, so I am looking forward to starting that challenge too.
I will try my best to keep everyone informed of what is going on, where I can do so without damaging progress or revealing confidential information.
One of my other promises was to hold regular surgeries across the ward and as soon as I am able I will work with the council officers to set those up. I intend to use them to share information as well as receive questions, queries and complaints so watch this space.
Hopefully, I will soon have an official AVBC email address and will be able to receive messages through there, but in the meantime, please feel free to use this email address to contact me: paullobley@msn.com
Once again – THANK YOU.
First of all can I thank everyone who supported me to take the role of Borough Councillor representing the Heage and Ambergate ward yesterday. It was a bit of a hectic two days and it didn’t finish for me with the announcement of the final result. I didn’t even get chance for a celebratory drink as I had so many emails, messages and Facebook posts to respond to when I eventually arrived back home.
At 6.30 last evening, the existing and new Labour members of the Council got together for our first meeting. We made decisions on which of us were to fill which roles within the new regime when the Council is formally formed at its first meeting. As you would expect, at the heart of our discussions was the issue of our promise on the greenbelt, how quickly we could act and what steps we could take to get things moving, even before that first Council meeting. All members were of one accord and we now have a series of actions which we will implement as soon as the Bank Holiday is over. You will be pleased to know that one of those steps is to involve members of the action groups to help us formulate plans going forward, not as a token gesture, but as real partners in the planning process. We also decided that key decisions will be made in a public arena and not behind closed doors.
For my own part, I have been selected to Chair the Governance and Audit Committee, finally being able to draw on my 25 years of experience as a local authority external auditor to benefit my own community. Sadly, we have been left with the task of finding approximately £1.7 million in service efficiencies or savings to bridge the gap in central government funding allocation, so I have also got the task of conducting an in depth review of the latest accounts and the current budget. Hey ho. I put myself forward knowing that might be the case, so I am looking forward to starting that challenge too.
I will try my best to keep everyone informed of what is going on, where I can do so without damaging progress or revealing confidential information.
One of my other promises was to hold regular surgeries across the ward and as soon as I am able I will work with the council officers to set those up. I intend to use them to share information as well as receive questions, queries and complaints so watch this space.
Hopefully, I will soon have an official AVBC email address and will be able to receive messages through there, but in the meantime, please feel free to use this email address to contact me: paullobley@msn.com
Once again – THANK YOU.