National Conservatives want your views on opening up data

Coincidential timing! The national Conservative Party are interested in hearing your thoughts about data sharing in national government to engage with the electorate. Have a look here: http://www.conservatives.com/News/Blogs/Making_Government_data_work_for_you.aspx

Seeking permission for Walsall Wood memorial

Walsall Wood will feature on the agenda at Full Council on Monday evening. It will be nice to focus the attention of the Borough’s councillors solely on Walsall Wood for a short period of time.

I will be presenting this report (http://www2.walsall.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=6942) to ask councillors permission to errect a memorial mine head on land at Oak Park. It will still have to go through the planning process – the reason it is coming to Council is because the councillors when sitting as Full Council are also the trustees of the land on behalf of the Cannock Chase and Pelsall Miner’s District Charity which reverted to the trust of the local authority.

I will be asking “that Council acting as trustees on behalf of Cannock Chase and Pelsall District Miners Charity, for the land approves the installation of the piece of public art to the site at Oak Park, Walsall Wood subject to planning permission being granted and consent being given for the long-term maintenance of the installations”

I have posted about the Walsall Wood consultations, steering group etc many times before on this blog. Many of you have got involved and I thank you for that. There is still a chance for you to comment on the work as it goes through the various planning stages. As the report states:

“Community consultation has been undertaken recently to ensure that the
opinions of the Walsall Wood community have been considered and more than
90% of the forty one responses that were received concerning the Mine Head
were positive. A planning application has also been submitted to the planning
authority and through neighbourhood consultation it will give residents of Walsall Wood a further opportunity to comment on the Mine Head proposals.”

I will let you know what Council decides to do – I am hopeful after presenting the report to the controlling Conservative group this evening. Please comment on the planning application as it goes through the consultation period. Pictures of the proposed memorial are in the report i’ve linked to above.

Moving into the 21st Century

A very happy Easter to family, friends, constituents and colleagues.

A few thoughts reflecting on the Corporate Scrutiny meeting last Thursday. My colleague, Cllr Marco Longhi, has already posted on the subject here: http://marcolonghi.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/new-media-social-networking/

We discussed the ICT Stretegy and a value for money review of the Communications Unit. I believe that it’s time ICT and Communications begin to overlap and use each other more. The key point I raised is that communicating with the residents of Walsall is a two way process and it should strengthen accountability, educate and participation. The Council need to provide value for money but they also need to tell people what services they offer and what they can do to use them or change them. How can we do this in the modern age whilst maintaining more traditional forms of communication? Is issuing 900 odd press releases over a few months really the best way of talking to residents? Also what can the Council do with the data it has in order to inform residents and councillors in their decision making? Should it open data up to public through API’s etc?

The topic is a lot bigger than the time allotted at the meeting so we have agreed to set up a working group to look at the issues around Communcations and ICT. I hope to be on this group with Cllr Marco Longhi and we’d like you to join in too. If you are a resident, professional or just someone with an interest then come along. Details will be thrashed out in May so i’ll post more then.

If you are interested then get intouch. Maybe we can start something in Walsall that will get picked up by the public sector across the country…

Your opportunity to comment on Walsall’s New Children & Young Peoples Plan

I’ve been emailed the following link. The Walsall Children and Young People’s Plan for 2009/10 – 2011/12 is now open to consultation and they recommend that all groups working with Children Young People and Families in Walsall take a look and forward comments on via the feedback form.

Link is here: http://www.walsallva.org.uk/2009/04/08/your-opportunity-to-comment-on-walsalls-new-children-young-peoples-plan/

Canvassing in the sunshine

This week we’ve started canvassing in the ward. Hopefully, at some stage, you’ll see us around and about with blue rossettes on so if you see us then do say hello and come and have a chat!

As ever it is difficult to get around everyone in the ward but we’ll work on it. We have over 10,000 electors in the patch – so no small task. If you have any particular issues you’d like to raise drop me an email and we’ll come and canvass your patch. Richard Shepherd MP will also be joining us as and when he can.

How can Councils use the web to serve you?

I’m quite interested in both Information Technology and Communications. My IT interest stems from getting a computer when I was really young and facination to make the machine do new and menial tasks for me. Communcation is of interest because it’s so important and we don’t realise just how much information we are bombarded with every day.

So as I sit on Corporate Scrutiny i’ve asked for a debate on communications and IT as I see the great need now to overlap the two. I think the Walsall Council website does a basic job of providing some information – but what can it do to empower people? How can it help councillors make decisions and how can it make citizen’s get their money’s worth out of the Council they pay for?

We’ll be debating the role of this on Thursday at 6pm in the Council House. Corporate Scrutiny is a public meeting so come along to watch. If you have ideas and want to participate then please comment below, email me, tweet me or give me a call! Here are some questions for you:

- What do you need from the Council website? Information, payment facilities, education on what the Council does, accountability, transparency, particpation in decision making, consultation, petitions?
- Do you want to know more about services in your area? Should content be postcodea and map driven like sites such as fixmystreet.co.uk?
- Should the Council use email lists and RSS feeds to update citizen’s via their inboxes and mobiles?
- To what extent should a Council or councillors use twitter and facebook to engage with citizens?
- How can new media, internet, etc help people like me to make good decisions on your behalf?

Also on wider communications issues – what works and what doesn’t? Do you read Walsall Pride, read local newspapers or would you prefer less Council material and more Party political material – afterall the Parties form the policies.

Please think outside of the box and let me know your thoughts and ideas.

Well done to our local schools

A big well done to our local schools who have been identified as improving standards. A special mention for Walsall Wood Primary which has been acknowledged as the second best improving in the country – a great achievement.

Congratulations to the staff, pupils, parents and governors at all schools in Walsall Wood and Aldridge on their hard work.