Councillor
Terry Jermy; Log of activities undertaken
A round-up of activities
undertaken as the Norfolk County Councillor
for the Thetford-West Division
and Thetford Town and District Councillor for the Thetford Saxon Ward
Telephone: 01842 750722 (Home)
/ 07742157967 (Mobile)
E-mail: terry.jermy@googlemail.com
Website: www.jermysjournal.blogspot.com
Twitter: @CllrTerryJermy
October
2013
Thursday 3rd
October: Breckland
Council, Full Council meeting in Dereham at 10am. It was the last Full Council
meeting for Mark Stokes, the current Deputy Chief Executive. Tributes were paid
to Mark by Councillors. On behalf of the Breckland Labour Group I said that we
were very sad to see Mark leave the authority. I said that Mark had actually
worked for Breckland for longer than I had been alive! He first started working
for the authority for a YTS training scheme in 1985. I said that his hard work
and dedication should serve as an example for other young people. Later in the
meeting, myself and other Labour group members supported proposals to make
better use of some of Breckland’s assets by supporting a local asset backed
vehicle (LABV).
Saturday 5th
October:
I travelled to Wiggenhall St Mary with Thelma and Albert Paines and Brenda
Canham for a meeting of the Norfolk Labour Local Campaign Forum. We discussed,
amongst other things, the Norfolk County Council budget consultation and the
importance of encouraging people to participate with this process.
Monday 7th
November:
I attended the Norfolk County Council Cabinet meeting. I noticed that NCC is
due to receive some funding to assist with the creation of social enterprises.
I am keen to access some of this money to support local initiatives so I will
be talking further with the Cabinet member for Finance. In the evening, I
attended the Annual General Meeting of the Croxton Road Community Association.
It was encouraging to see several members of the public present and they had a
number of interesting speakers.
Tuesday 8th
November:
I attended the Norfolk County Council Community Services Overview and Scrutiny
Panel. The Agenda included the need to elect a Vice Chairman. I supported Labour
Cllr Emma Corlett for this role as she has over 20 years of experience working
in the social care sector. The Conservative members voted for a UKIP Councillor
with no apparent knowledge in this field. Another example of how Norfolk Conservatives
are trying to appease UKIP and get them on their side. Also on the Agenda was a
discussion about Adult Education. Conservative members were very, very critical
of the service and I would imagine that they are keen to progress their
previous intention which was to reduce adult education completely and make it a
service not provided by Norfolk County Council. This was immediately halted
when Labour took over the Leadership of the Council. I spoke in support of
Adult Education. I think it is a very worthwhile service and the report before
the committee clearly demonstrated this with the service being ranked as
‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. I’m sure this will be an issue that comes up again
soon.
Later on Tuesday I met with representatives
from Thetford Tennis Club and the Thetford Town Clerk. The Club are working on
improving the tennis courts within the Kings House gardens and I have
volunteered to assist them with applying for funding. Following this I attended
a very quick Town Council Planning Committee – lasted for approx. 30 minutes, but
I was pleased to see that Lidl had submitted a request to slightly alter their
proposals for the London Road site which clearly confirms that they are
intending to progress with their new store – good news!
Following this, there was a Special Full Council
meeting to discuss the heating system in the Carnegie Rooms & Guildhall.
The boiler had recently been condemned and Councillors were asked to vote to
spend approx £11,000 on fixing it. I voted against this proposal and spoke out
strongly against it. I did not think it was appropriate that only one quotation
for the work had been obtained, despite knowledge of the fault for several
weeks and furthermore, there was no guarantee that the work would be effective,
i.e. the boiler may still not work after the repairs. This did not seem to be a
prudent use of tax-payers money in my opinion.
Thursday 10th
October:
I attended the Norfolk Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting from 10am
– 1pm. This is one of the committees that I serve on as a Norfolk County
Councillor. Wheelchair provision in Norfolk plus the Queen Elizabeth Hospital
in Kings Lynn was dscussed. I am keen to discuss health provision in Thetford
as well as sexual health related services for young people – drawing on my past
experiences as a youth worker. These are pertinent issues given the withdrawal
of both the Youth Service and the Connexions service. Following this I attended
a specially arranged meeting with the Chief Executive of Norfolk County Council
to discuss future management proposals for the Council. That evening, I
attended the public meeting of the Safer Thetford Action Group. I made the
point on Twitter that of the 17 elected representatives for Thetford, only
three were present at the meeting – myself included. Following this, I attended
a meeting of the South West Norfolk Constituency Labour Party that heard a European
report from Sandy Martin, number 3 candidate for the Eastern region Labour
team.
Friday 11th
October:
I attended a meeting of the Moving Thetford Forward Board. I spoke against the
plans for the temporary bus station and was pleased that representatives from
Breckland Council were prepared to consider allowing the bus station to remain
where it was and then move straight to the new site, thus minimising
inconvenience to the public and saving approx. £50,000! I also queried how the
£600,000 spent on the King Street square could be justified – there wasn’t even
an attempt made to try and justify the expenditure, which seems incredibly
wasteful to me!
Monday 14th
October:
I completed a funding application to the Breckland YAB on behalf of the TCA,
working with other staff and volunteers. In the evening, I attended the Town
Council Amenities Committee. Much discussed as ever.
Tuesday 15th
October:
I gave Robert Ashton a tour of the Charles Burrell site and then Robert came
along to the Town Council’s Charles Burrell Committee meeting. Robert is a
social entrepreneur who has volunteered his services to help get Charles
Burrell re-opened – check out his website, www.robertashton.co.uk He agreed to
work on an initial business plan for the project that can be presented to a
Special Town Council meeting sometime in November. Following this, I went along
to the Brecklad YAB board meeting to review funding bids for projects across
the Breckland area.
Thursday 17th
October:
I met with representatives from Flagship housing association today. It was a
very encouraging meeting. They outlined things from an organisational point of
view and I highlighted frustrations on behalf of Councillors and residents. Various
matters were discussed and actions agreed.
Monday 21st
October:
Special Town Council Planning Committee to discuss minor amendments to the
proposals for the Thetford North application. It was very encouraging that the
hour before the meeting was set aside for members of the public to attend and
give their views about the changes.
Tuesday 22nd
October:
Town Council Finance Committee this evening. We are beginning to look at budget
options for the next financial year. Much depends on whether Breckland Council
keep in place a grant to make up the loss of income that we normally receive
through Council Tax.
Thursday 24th
October:
I was in Norwich this morning to attend a training course on community asset management.
This highlighted some fantastic funding sources that we could potentially
access to support Charles Burrell. I then went along to North Walsham to help Labour
colleagues contesting a Norfolk County Council by-election for the seat of
North Walsham East, this was won by a Lib Dem.
Friday 25th
October:
I went to Great Yarmouth in the evening for a reunion of Norfolk Labour
Councillors from the 1993-2011 period. The reunion was held at the Great
Yarmouth town hall which is a very impressive building.
Monday 28th
October:
Special Council meeting to discuss the incinerator at Norfolk County Council. I
was pleased to be able to speak during the debate, my speech can be found here,
which explains my reasons for voting against the incinerator:
However, a majority of Councillor’s
supported the incinerator progressing, the vote was 40-38.
In the evening, I attend the monthly meeting
of the Redcastle Action Group.
Tuesday 29th
October:
Full Council, at Thetford Town Council. A very packed agenda with some very
good things agreed to. I was very pleased that Thetford TC has agreed to take
on the 11 play areas in Thetford that Breckland Council does not want and has
neglected for so many years.
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