As Leader of the county council I have to spend a lot of time representing Staffordshire at regional and national level. Hence the (sometimes seemingly endless) round of meetings in Birmingham, London and further afield.
It’s important work, but I have to remember I am only a county councillor because of the electorate of Uttoxeter Rural.
So it was nice to spend some time focusing on local issues. I was at last week’s Uttoxeter Forum, which was well attended, and where there was a real focus on our gritting of our roads so far this winter, explaining the mechanics of a massive undertaking involving 120 drivers on 64 gritting lorries, snow ploughs and the cost each time they go out. There was an challenge as to what can communities do to help each other where we can’t reach such as by keeping an eye on neighbours, not doing unnecessary journey and doing elderly neighbour’s shopping. There have also been 1,000 requests for extra grit boxes and the criteria was explained and also the cost of £1000 each. Could Parish Councils fund this?
Time and again, people tell us that the highways are a big priority for them. And during the winter gritting is top concern.
After last year’s bitter winter we took the strategic decision to double the county’s stockpile of gritting salt – even though cynics told us it would probably sit in storage unused.
All I can say is, thank goodness we did, otherwise we’d would have been in trouble this winter before Christmas. The relatively mild January has helped stocks recover.
Since I last posted Cabinet has approved our MTFS – our five-year spending plan. We continue to be in a strong position financially. You can find some of the details here
http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/news/mtfsstrategystaffordshire.htm
Cabinet meets again to this week to discuss this year’s budget and make a final recommendation to Full Council which meets on February 10. This week’s Cabinet will be informed by the thorough grilling received by colleagues on the Assets and Budget Scrutiny Committee on Friday.
