Lawford & New Bilton County Council Campaign

Much of the past couple of weeks has been spent with our candidate Claire Watson delivering leaflets, canvassing on the doorstep and on the the phone. We both took time out on Friday evening to attend our Association AGM where I was able to reflect on some of the issues coming up from voters there. By far the most common issue is anti-social behaviour and teenage drinking, where our policies of cutting back on police form filling to enable them to be out on the streets and giving power back to local councillors as the licensing authority certainly find favour.

Making recycling work

Yesterday I visited a plastics recylcing plant where plastic is recyled into material that can be used again in a manufacturing process. It's all very well putting recylable logos on to products to try and establish green credentials but it is important to ensure the material is actually used again rather than just sent to landfill. The process of getting it right is complex with a need to segregate different plastics, to clean the material and then make it in a form that can be reused. The simplest material available is plastic drink bottles (as shown in the photo on the left) but only 23% of those used in the UK are recycled. At the plant I visited they produce a top quaility product (seen in the photo on the right) which is so good that it commands 80% of the price of virgin material, with much ending up in automotive components such as car bumpers. I was surprised to learn that one of the problems the plant faces is actually sourcing the right quantity of material since much is being shipped from Britain to China for two reasons. Firstly low labour rates in China enable hand sorting of material which means that this then doesn't need to be done here where the cost is much higher; and secondly because the hugh imbalance of trade between the UK and China means that many sea going containers return to China empty and so the cost of filling and sending the container is low. I concluded that there needs to be more joined up thinking, education and communication between original producers, users of plastic products, local authorities who collect the material once used and recycling companies such as the one I visited for the whole process to succeed.

Campaining in New Bilton

This weekend I got my exercise not through the gym, but out delivering Claire Watsons election literature for the County Council By-election in Lawford and New Bilton where voting will take place on 6 March. This a seat we hope to win from Labour and in Claire we have a first class candidate who not only lives in the ward but already represents part of the area very effectively at the Borough Council. Claire already has a suberb team in place and it was great to be out with them in the sunshine.

Today's Police report

Anyone who has ever been a visitor to a Police Station will recognise the remarks contained in Sir Ronnie Flanagan's report on the Police issued today and covered by The Times here. Probably not the most important matter covered, but nevertheless somewhere that modest improvements could have a big impact on relations between the public and the Police.

Twickenham Saturday

What happened? How did we go from overwheming superiority in the first half to being taken to the cleaners in the second? Congratulations to the Welsh team who took their chances and provided endless cheer for the Welsh friends I went to the game with. I met up with son, Will, in the bar beforehand who came up from Uni for the game. Together with Mike we had our photo taken by Rugbyfanz.com who rather liked his elegant atire and put the picture on their website.

Avon Valley Concert

On Friday evening I attended a concert at Avon Valley School where The Orchestra of the Swan performed music by Vivaldi, Purcell and Holst anf accompanied the school's choral group. Avon Valley School is a Specialist School for the Performing Arts and this was to mark the start of a programme of workshops and tutoring between the orchestra based in Stratford and the school. It was a first opportunity for me to visit following a major development of new facilities and I was impressed by what I saw as well as enjoying the music. I was asked to go along by my nephew, Ben, who sang ,and I later learnt had a big hand in promoting the concert, a contribution recognised by the Head who gave him special thanks. Well done Ben!

Alan Duncan in Rugby

Its great to have figures from the front bench coming to visit us in Rugby. Yesterday Alan Duncan MP, Shadow Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform was with us. He came to meet with local business people and the meeting was held at my business premises. I took the opportunity to show Alan how my business operates and rather than the usual photo of senior politician and candidate shaking hands at a meeting, our photo opportunity was in the warehouse with the benefit of various props to hand!

Alan spent time listening to owners of businesses in Rugby talk about the effects of regulation, concerns about a worsening business climate and in particular the squeeze on small business caused by increased costs from suppliers and the difficulty of passing them on to customers. I believe Alan left us with a good understanding of the issues facing smaller businesses and the kind of changes they will be loking for once we are in Government.