None of the proposed new houses will be built in three green belt areas in Berkhamsted. Remember you heard it from me first. How do I know? Easy, the latest draft local plan proposes that three areas in Berkhamsted/Northchurch have the green belt designation removed. You have an opportunity to inspect and make comments on the plan on Monday 16th November in the Town Hall all day. A number of Councillors, including myself, will be attending in the evening to give our particular views and answer questions, so see you there.
All this wonderful information is available in the autumn edition of Dacorum Digest Special Supplement that was delivered to all households in early October. It contains brief details of the Borough proposals up to 2011 and should provide background information for the numerous questions you wish you knew the answer to. If you don't get a copy dropped through your letterbox, then either contact the Civic Centre or myself. The latest edition of the Town Councils' superb publication, The Conqueror, will also be with you in November so you will have lots of material to recycle.

It wasn't until I became involved in local politics in 1995 that I realised just how true 'Yes Minister' actually was. Like many, I thought it was very funny, but nothing like true life. I caught the 'Vicar of Dibley' the other day and you can guess the rest. If you don't believe me, come to just about any Town Council meeting and see for yourself. I will remind you that all meetings are public and the more informal approach the Independents introduced, allows the views of the public to be heard, as in common with the Borough Council, we normally set aside an agenda item for public participation although, unlike the Borough meetings, we 'interact'!

In order to meet part of the counties 'need' for dwellings, the Borough gave planning permission for 4 one-bedroom flats to be built on the play area in the Hilltop housing estate. Readers will remember this estate was built with three shops as well as a fully fitted childrens' play area. The shops were so expensive that no one could afford to take them on, so they were converted into flats. The play area suffered from lack of funding when the new safety regulations came in. As this area is under the control of Housing, I suppose the will to find funding wasn't there, so that the lot was ripped out and a nice flatish area was left for the local kids to kick a ball about on. Leave for long enough and allow the area to degenerate, wait for the locals to complain and come up with a scheme to make use of it. Mix this with misleading information by officers and the Borough manages to impose itself again. The information that started this was a Part II (secret) item at Housing Committee and I admit, I should have realised something was amiss when the location map comprised of a road junction without any road names and the site described as an unused play area at the bottom of Robin Hill with a proposed access into Robin Hill. It has been suggested if I had any queries, I should have asked. I really do have better things to do than ask officers to clarify just about every report on every committee as that is exactly what it would entail.
On the subject of housing need in the area, I was listening to a well known national radio station the other morning when the presenter, whom I had understood lived with a partner, announced that he was poorly and would have to move from his house in Bedfordshire into her residence in London so he could be looked after. They also have another residence in Warwickshire, which is used most weekends. A similar situation exists just round the corner from where I am writing this piece where the occupiers are generally only around at weekends. The nearness of London and the rather nice area we all live in (at the moment) suggests that a fair number of 'weekend homes' exist around here and I'm not sure that peoples' freedom should be used as a basis for government policy to the detriment of others.

Those of us who live in Sunnyside or Shrublands areas will be pleased to know that we now reside in either Berkhamsted East, Berkhamsted West or Berkhamsted Castle wards. The town council decided that the new town council areas should have the same names as the Borough Council ones. All this is somewhere near a place called Dacorum. Little pieces of history are being nibbled away without any real thought, even though I brought this to the attention of the council much earlier this year, but no-one cares any more. I object to obscure names dating back well beyond living memory being imposed and comparatively recent changes ignored. The next periodic review is of Hertfordshire County Council that gets under way on November 3rd. Representations should be made by February 8th 1999 at the latest. Berkhamsted currently has one member for the town, so it will be interesting to see how the figures pan out when you consider we lost one representative on the District Council and gained two on the Town Council.

As some of you know, I work from home, and the other day had to leave around 8:30 in the morning to get where I was going by mid morning. It appears that some strange affliction has struck down the majority of school children, that only affects them during term time and then clears up during holidays, only to return again once school gets going. This affliction seems to affect the legs of children, with some kind of knock-on effect to women who suddenly lose all sense of direction and the ability to understand the contents of the Highway Code. Indeed large numbers must have to cross wet and muddy fields to get to school, as large 4-wheel drive vehicles are second only to the 'people carrier' type of vehicle with just 2 or 3 people in them. Maybe I was just unlucky, but I somehow think not. We really must find a solution to this ridiculous situation, which must cost the country a fortune in fuel, vehicle servicing and wasted time together with the reduction in the fitness of our young people.

And finally, you will pleased to know that Ampthill (in Bedfordshire) has just removed the Christmas bunting that has adorned its High Street for the past two years.