A Lesson in Crime Prevention

I have just read an interesting article in City View. It said that Satellite Navigation devices were stolen from more than 300 cars been January and May.

Well my car was broken into on my drive two weeks ago (the day before I went on holiday!). I had foolishly left my docking cradle attached to the window. So they wrenched it off and took it. The SatNav wasnt in the car but I was still left with a bill for the window. Theres a lesson there I think...

The article advises:

- Mark your SatNav with your postcode and house number.
- Make a note of the make, model and serial number.
- Take your SatNav with you.
- Wipe away suction pad marks on the windscreen (thieves will notice these).
- Don’t leave your SatNav in the glove box (thieves will check here first).

The article says that if people want more advice, they should call crime prevention officer John Bailey on 023 8059 9860.

Aitken Dinner Goes Down a Storm

Former Conservative Minister, Johnathan Aitken was the guest speaker at the Conservative Supper Club last Wednesday. Speaking at one of Southampton's oldest pubs, the Duke of Wellington in Bugle Street, Johnathan spoke about his new book "Heroes and Contemporaries".

There was a lively question and answer session afterwards, with subjects ranging from prison reform to the problems in Lebanon.

It was when the topic of conversation turned to religion that the most incredible thunderstorm erupted. Despite the flashing lightning and driving rain in the background it proved to a fantastic evening.

A long absence and 500 missing emails

I have just got back from holiday and recovered from my jet lag. I am back on the blogging scene again.

So apologies for the lack of posts! Also apologies to anyone who may have emailed me during the past couple of weeks. It seems that while I was away the Council tried to forward on my emails to my private email address so I could keep an eye on my work whilst away (sad I know).

Unfortunately due to a technical error I didnt get the emails forwarded on and the Council appear to have lost them from their computers. So I am afraid I have lost a lot of correspondence. If you emailed me between 12th and 27th July and you need me to reply, please can you re-email me?

Dangerous Parking in Mayfair Gardens

I attended a residents meeting of Mayfair Gardens residents (Banister Park) last Monday.

The residents have a problem with vehicles parking along the stretch of M Mayfair Gardens along the junction of Court Road.

New parking arrangements were introduced in Banister Park a couple of years ago. At this time it was decided to leave the stretch of road in question as unrestricted.

The section of road is extremely narrow and if vehicles do park there, it can prevent access. This is a very serious concern as emergency vehicles and also council bin lorries do need access into the road.

I understand on one occasion, due to a parked car blocking access, an ambulance was forced to park a long way away from a house to which it had been called in Mayfair Gardens and that the ambulance crew had to push a trolley and from the their vehicle some distance to the house.

Obviously in the event of a fire and a fire engine being unable to get past parked vehicles, lives could be lost.

At the time the new parking scheme was introduced it was my understanding that the parking situation would be monitored and reviewed. These things are an imperfect science and it is not expected that the first solution will always be the right one.

I have asked that the Council urgently addresses the problem, in consultation with residents.

Why aren't election voting papers delivered in the post?

I have received a number of complaints about the delivery of voting cards before election day.

Each year I seem to find more and more people who do not seem to have received their cards.

As I go around in the weeks leading up to election day I discover many cards dumped at the bottoms of blocks of flats and in some cases in the floating about on the road.
I wonder if the process of hand delivering the voting cards is really acceptable today.

Years ago you probably relied on respectable volunteers to hand deliver the cards. Those days are gone though.

Would it not be far better to envelope the cards and post them out to voters? The advantage would be people would be guaranteed (or at least far more likely) to get their voting card paper.

There is the issue of cost but I don’t believe it would be that much more (especially when we were recently considering compulsory postal ballots - and postal votes are delivered in the post).

Blogger Bill Finally Tracked Down!

I have finally managed to get hold of former Labour Councillor Bill Kearn's blog address. Thanks to Matt Dean for sending it to me. Click here to read Bill's thoughts and views. I have added a link on the right hand side of the page.