Those of you who are regular readers of my assorted writings will have noticed that I somehow didn’t believe the government, when it said the foot & mouth outbreak would be over in weeks rather than months.
You will recall I suggested that 6 months would be the minimum period, as I was involved in the last major outbreak in 1967/8. We then had the government saying it was all under control and the country is open for business although for some reason the army has been brought in and the local elections postponed as the situation is still under control. As part of my continuing battle to bring you the information you don’t seem to be able to get elsewhere, I am going on a fact finding mission to the Yorkshire Dales to see for myself so that when it is time for the next column, I will be able to give you the situation as I found it. Mind you, it hasn’t actually got off to a very good start as the Yorkshire Dales web site proclaims that all footpaths and bridleways are closed as are the visitor centres, but we will see.

Locally, the Council hasn’t yet woken up to the fact that most ‘doggie’ bins are in the wrong place and residents who used to take their dogs to the countryside (now closed!) for the daily exercise, after taking the children to school) are not aware of the pleasures of carrying soft brown smelly substances round and round the town looking for a red bin to place it in. For some reason one of the bins in Velvet Lawn was moved away from the footpath so that dog owners now have to walk across a mud bath to do the right thing.

One of the really interesting things about our Town Council is their new web-site. You will not find out much about what goes on as the current council reorganised the committees and formed a number of ‘working parties’. This has had the effect that small groups of Councillors meet sometimes to discuss something. A report is then presented to a committee who agree with it. The committee minutes reflect this wonderful state of affairs by not actually saying very much more although this is more than the Borough Council do. I keep looking through the ‘Councillor Column’ in the ‘Review’ for information on just want our local councils get up to without success.
I was asked the other day if I was standing for election this time, to which I replied that I wasn’t as it was the County Council elections being held in May (or June or sometime). It got me thinking just how remote the County Council actually is. You can catch a bus to Aylesbury, the County Town of Buckinghamshire, but you get can’t get a bus from anywhere in Dacorum to Hertford as far as I can see. Whilst on the subject of the County Council, I spotted the lighting contractors thinking about doing something with the lights on the canal railings in Lower Kings Road. Was it really only during the last century that County installed them and walked away?

We now have the prospect of Woolworth's returning (am I psychic or what?) to the town and everyone who matters is worried about car parking. Cllr Lanchin stated only earlier this year that town centre was not a problem, but in the local press in early April, we have the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce saying that a multi-story car park should be a condition of this return and the Chairman of the Town Council Environment Committee blaming the Borough Council for ‘nicking’ perfectly good parking behind the High Street shops and allowing Waitrose to be built. For the life of me, I cannot remember who was on the Town Council in 1974 and allowed everything to be transferred to the Borough Council, but they are keeping very quiet about it for some reason.  
    
In one of my other lives, I carry out work in various properties and for some time have refused to work in the London area unless parking provision is made. It is starting to get like that in this area now. The service industries contribute a fair amount to the local economy, but those in power forget that a fair number don’t just sit behind desks, but need to visit customers in their own homes or business premises. One day they will have to call out a plumber or electrician to carry out, say, one or two hour work. In the town centre, most of the parking places are occupied by vehicles parked all day by employees working in either town centre offices or shops. If you are one of those, then just think next time you jump in your car, drive 5 minutes, spend 10 minutes looking for a parking space just to work in one place all day. The sooner a park and ride scheme is introduced, the quicker Lower Kings Road could be pedestrianised between the Waitrose car park entrance and the traffic lights and the pavements returned to pedestrians.

The Berkhamsted Citizens Association has Annual Environment Awards and the winner this year was the two blocks of flats built on Incents Lawn in Chesham Road. I must be getting old!