I'm Back!

I'm back from my holiday and I've got right back into Quinton and Council issues.

On Monday night, Cllr Jane James and I attended a Police consultative meeting in Welsh House Farm. Amongst other things, we discussed the recent scourge of mini-scooters. The Police said that if they're used on the highway then the rider is potentially breaking all sorts of laws. I also added that if they're used off the highway then they may well be a 'statutory nuisance' anyway. The Police have quite rightly seized three of these scooters recently and can potentially crush them.

Perhaps we could do public awareness campaign on the consequences of shelling out hundreds of pounds for one of these things, only to find it posted back to you when it's been through a Police crusher. My only frustration with the current policy is that the Police aren't allowed to pursue riders for fear of getting sued - I don't think this is helping the officers on the ground.

Yesterday, it was my first proper full Council. There were some particularly brave and constructive speeches on intimidatory postal voting practices some Councillors believe are occurring in certain households. If the debate was anything to go by, I believe that we may be able to achieve cross-party support on a way forward with this.

I really wanted to speak on the ID cards issue but unfortunately we ran out of debating time. For the record, I voted against them.

Then off to Quinton to have a look at the garages at the end of Higgins Lane. As you can see, they're in a much better state than a few weeks ago - look a few articles down for the 'before' photo!