Most Full Council meetings are far from what you would call rip roaring, however at last night's meeting along with the now predictable Tory tactic of applying lashings of "self-congratulatory, aren't we doing a wonderful job" platitudes, we had a few other interesting moments. At one point, a pint or three of Blue blood was spilled in the Council Chamber, but more about that later.

There was a refreshingly informal and friendly air to the meeting. This was probably due in no small part to the competent, charming and courteous direction of the Deputy Mayor Sandra Parnell. She was chairing the meeting for the first time and looked like she was having a ball.

Unusually for a council meeting, there was a large group of residents sitting in the public gallery. Any delusions I may have had that these people had come to see me in action on my Motion, quickly disappeared when immediately after the Potters Bar Parish Council agenda item, they on mass unceremoniously filed out of the room, how rude!

The Leaders report was relatively straight forward, which was followed by a report from the Portfolio Holder for Finance, setting the Tax Base for 2008/09. I know this is important stuff, however thanks to my children, I had a bad night's sleep yesterday and I struggled to keep up with the information. Actually, whenever accountants start throwing facts and figures around, my brain switches off and goes to its happy place, a bit like putting your PC into standby mode, all I hear is the faint background noise of blah blah blah, it’s a coping mechanism I guess.

The next Full Council meeting is where the Lib/Lab (that sounds so 70's doesn’t it) opposition need to be on top of their game, as it is at this meeting where we will all find out what our council tax is going to be for the coming year. The days of this Tory council foisting 17% or more increases upon us have thankfully gone (for now), as our government has capped councils at more sensible 5%. Although, if I were a betting man, based on our previous years increases, I would guess that the percentage increase is going to start with a 4 and will probably have a 9 thrown in there for good measure. I am happy to start a book on this if you would like to send me your guesses?

Next up on the agenda were two proposals for the creation of new Parish Councils, one in South Mimms and the other in Potters Bar. The South Mimms proposal seemed to go smoothly however the Potters Bar proposition appeared for reasons that I didn’t fully understand, to be a little more personal and contentious. There were a number of impassioned speeches on the subject, none more so than from Cllr Rebecca Foy, who also took the opportunity to announce that this was probably going to be her swan song on this subject, as after many successful years as a councillor, she would be "standing down" for the 2008 election. I was surprised and sadden by this news as politics aside, I sit on the performance management panel with Cllr Foy and I can tell you in the short time we have worked together, her experience, ability and integrity will be a great loss for this council. In a strange way I may be in the same boat as Cllr Foy, as I too am up for election in 2008, however unlike her, I may not get the luxury of choosing to stand down of my own volition.

The real fireworks of the evening came next, please remind me never to get on the wrong side of Cllr Miki Colne, OUCH! Cllr Coln had tabled a question to the Environmental portfolio holder Jean Heywood in relation to the sweeping of a road in Bushey. Cllr Heywood stood to read her prepared response after which Cllr Colne followed up with her supplementary question. What followed next left the council chamber in silence and the portfolio holder Cllr Heywood in what can only be described as looking like a deer caught in the headlights. To say that Cllr Colne gave the portfolio holder a dressing down would be an understatement. This wasn’t politically motivated, just a hard working Cllr who had come to the end of her tether and was demanding some common courtesy. This type of passion is rarly seen in the chamber and if you have a couple of minutes its worth a look. You can watch the web cast for yourself here under the section Questions from members of the council. http://www.hertsmere.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_compact.php?a=11925&t=0&m=wm&l=en_GB#the_data_area

Next up was me. I had a motion in regarding the subsidised bus scheme in Hertsmere. As a number of other Boroughs have recently pulled out of offering their residents this service, I felt that this would be a good opportunity for this council to make a clear public statement of intent regarding its ongoing support to subsidise this service. It was also a chance to raise the profile of an area of council activity and good work that the general public may be unaware of.

To its enormous credit, this council has for some time now contributed towards local bus contracts in the Borough/County, helping to fill gaps in Bus services and routes where commercial operators insist they cannot function on a financially viable basis. In partnership with the County Council and Bus operators, this Council has made a significant and generous contribution to providing vital bus services across Hertsmere, helping a wide cross section of the population and as the motion said, specifically helping the most vulnerable members of our community.

I was delighted to receive cross party support for this motion and it was unanimously carried. Although this motion was totally non political and there were many positive comments from all sides of the chamber, I felt it was a shame that a few of the Tory Group felt it was appropriate to attempt to score political points with what appeared to be a synchronised and orchestrated dig at this year's government settlement.

I have grave reservations about this repeated approach from members of the Tory Group regarding this proposed budget settlement.

It’s one thing to have these figures published in a sober Council document which rightly considers the worst case scenario, it is quite another for them to repeatedly suggest to the press and public that these figures will be the final settlement.

The budget proposal rightly states that the figures for some Government grants are assumed to be zero, but everyone in that room knows that it’s more likely that some of these grants will be quite significant. I feel that to repeatedly state this very low figure in the public domain is nothing more than political scare mongering by them. It happens every year and I suspect is part of a cuning plan to soften us up for yet another above inflation rise in Council Tax?

Sorry for the 'War and Peace' Megablog, I didnt do a blog entry last week, so this is making up for that, just average it out. I will follow the less is more philosophy in my next entry.

All the best, Ian.