James Wharton MP

Last night I attended a dinner with a number of local business people and Alan Clarke, Chief Exec of One North East (the Regional Development Agency).  There was an excellent and wide ranging discussion about the role of the agency and possible developments in the way regional development might be handled if there is a Conservative government after the next election.

I attended an extremely positive meeting with Sean Price, Chief Constable of Cleveland Police.  We discussed a range of local issues and I raised some specific queries on behalf of residents who have contacted me in recent weeks.

Today I have been speaking to residents in Ingleby Barwick who are concerned about the proposal to site the new Youth Cafe near their homes.  The Town Council took the decision after no alternative site was secured, some residents will no doubt be contacting the Council to ask it to reconsider.  Ingleby’s Youth Cafe has been promised for a long time and this issue needs to be properly resolved in the interests of all residents.

I have joined the facebook group opposing moves in a minority of local authories to count the general election votes on Friday,  rather than the traditional Thursday night.  This is a terrible idea for any number of reasons (ruins election night, scope for fraud as ballots left overnight, volunteers who want to attend the count needing to take an extra day off work, etc).  If you agree I hope you might consider joining the group also.  I know Stockton is considering moving to the Friday, if the Council does it will be yet another example of so called “consultation” being ignored, as when I and others were consulted we gave a resounding thumbs down… you start to wonder why Stockton Council bothers going through the motions of consultation at all.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126713799469

Yesterday I visited Thornaby show and met some of the residents who were enjoying the event.  It was well attended and the weather was quite good (last year it was sadly cancelled because of wet weather).  Congratulations to those involved in organising the day and who had stands and, of course, to everyone who won a prize!