www.matthewellis.cc will be the new personal website of Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner soon

Click the picture to hear how it went. I hope it will be the first of many public debates on policing across Staffordshire but my opponent, Stoke City Councillor Joy Garner, has to agree which she hasn’t yet. We’ll see.

My new Police & Crime Commissioner campaign website will be up and running very shortly.

We have seen big improvements in the quality of cares services across Staffordshire over the last few years.  

In 2009  the previous Labour County Council Administration left office with the legacy of a fragmented care service system and a tolerance of poor quality services for fear of destabilising the care market if it was tackled.

But despite the improvements of recent years I strongly believe there is a long, long way to go. The Staffordshire Green Paper on Care Quality is a consultation which seeks to combine practical solutions which are underway with an aspiration of raising expectations in care services quality.

Far too often people expect, and therefore get, services which fall short. Included in the proposals is a new approach of paying for services based on the quality of them rather than a flat rate no matter how good or bad. 

There’s also action planned to improve the status of frontline care workers including a higher minimum wage for them in Staffordshire when services are commissioned by the County Council. How is it right that people get more for stacking shelves than looking after some of the most vulnerable in society.

Then there’s a contraversial proposal to publicly name service providers that are under investigation or that have services which fail to meet the new quality standard. Historically that information has been kept secret but I can’t countenance that families who need to secure services for loved ones have less information than those within the State social care system.

And there’s much more. I hope it’s a comprehensive document which is of interest and also challenging in places. Anyone can comment on the proposals and I’d encourage as many submissions as possible from people using services and their family members, providers of care services, professionals and anyone with an interest or experience.

The full Green Paper is at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/greenpaper

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I thoroughly enjoyed my time at a regular gathering which meets in a village near Lichfield to provide social activities and friendship for local people who are that bit older.

They’ve just celebrated both the 2012 Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee.

And they welcomed me to join in the fun and games but I have to admit my golf is clearly a bit rusty! Over 50 people went to the event at Whittington Village Hall and everyone was royally entertained.

Just before I got there Gabriella, the Ukulele Lady, took everyone around the world with her songs and stories and then most people took part in an Olympic quiz and three Olympic Games… tossing the bean bag, miniature golf, stick darts and spoon relay race.

Four teams representing, The Caribbean, (the Pirates) Scotland, Great Britain and Europe battled through these events for the honour of being The Supreme Champions. It was a close fought contest with Team GB winning by one point. They were presented with a “silver” cup and each had medals.

The Whittingon Wednesday Club is a really fabulous place for people to enjoy and socialise as they get that little bit older. It keeps people active and can sometimes combat any signs of social isolation.

Anyone in Whittington and the wider area can join the friendl atmosphere and there is some room for new members of the group. It meets every Wednesday afternoon and more information can be found by contacting Chris Jones on 01543 433190.

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The thick end of 150 people turned out to oppose the latest iteration of plans by Prowind to construct, now, two slightly smaller 345ft turbines by Haunton village near Tamworth.

But this time there’s also the growing and real risk of proliferation with as many as eight 445ft turbines in the pipeline just 2 miles away over the Staffordshire border at Chilcote and potentially dozens more across the Lichfield and Tamworth area. 

The strong view of the meeting continued to be that the race to litter the Mease Valley countryside was driven purely by financial gain and only partly by the provision of renewable energy. Something which was also directed in the direction of Lib Dem Euro MP, Philip Bennion, who owns the land which the turbines will go on.

Looks highly likely the written confirmation I received from Prowind that, contrary to what Mr Bennion stated, he can disclose the financial details of the business deal ‘if he wishes’ may pile the pressure on for him to do just that.

Perhapas if it wasn’t in the area he represent at Brussels it would be a different situation but as it is, and as a public official, it’s going to be tough to resist the growing call for transparency.

And bearing in mind ‘Phil’ has said all along that “it is not about the money but about the need for renewable energy” I will be interested in his reaction to my call to donate all the profit he receives (minus any costs he incurs of course) to the local communities affected, perhaps for new infrastructure and local projects.

If the money’s not the issue then that shouldn’t be a problem… should it?

Actually, the community would rather not have these structures forever changing the historic skyline of the Mease Valley and they’d rather not have the risk of this application opens the floodgates to very likely others in Shenstone, Edingale and Weeford as well as more parishes later this year.

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I was pleased and the need to talk of banning the biker gathering has receded considerably. 

The police, reps from the motorbike community, Staffordshire Highways officials and the landlord of the Harvester pub were there to talk to me. I also spoke earlier to the owner of McDonalds who didn’t attend.

My starting point on this issue has been to resist the idea of an outright ban but instead find ways of addressing the site specific and highway safety issues along with anti social riding and driving which has caused concern in nearby villages for years during fine summer evenings. 

We covered just about every aspect during the hour and a bit. Several key points were established…

• The actual numbers on the main site are not a significant problem and the gatherings are generally well behaved
• Businesses on the site are not adversely affected in the main
• Overflow parking in daft places on and around the dual carriageway is a serious danger and certainly inconvenient for road users
• Spectator cars and quad bikes are more likely to be problematical than the motorbikes attending
• Riders are leaving the A38 at the caravan exit to avoid speed cameras and tearing along local residential lanes
• Inconsiderate riding and driving through villages on the way to Bassetts Pole creates the perception that police are powerless to curb it
• There must be clearer responsibility as to which Police Service takes the lead from the three involved at Bassetts Pole 

I have to say I’m really confident that the actions from the meeting stand a very good chance of maintaining the event in a more regulated way whilst also addressing most of the the wider issues raised by police, local people and others.

Seven proposals are being worked up. Included is identifying additional space close by for parking to avoid the overflow issues, new prohibitive highway regulations around Bassetts Pole, a defined approach to police enforcement across the wider area after an ‘education’ period and ongoing assessment of what is and isn’t working for the rest of the season.

We’ll move fast on this and I’ll write more shortly. On the whole it’s looking ok.

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As am I as Patron of the Elford Hall Gardens Resoration. I helped out with the early issues when Birmingham City Council, who owns the site in Trust, were less than cooperative about the idea of restoring the, then, derelict Gardens.

Since then Birmingham has come on board nicely as work by the volunteers has gone from strength to strength. Although there has been very significant fundraising, the extraordinary thing with this project is the amount of physical work done by the volunteers themselves.

Quite often, in a project of this massive scale, voluntary groups raise money and make grant aid applications and then use commercial contrators to do the actual work.

Some specialist stuff has been done that way but the vast amount of work has been done by the group and the incredible skills they have within it. The craftsmanship in that group is extraordinary.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services is the highest recognition possible and is, as I say, very richly deserved. Everyone should be very proud indeed of that and the lovely Gardens which look better and better every time I visit.

The presentation by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for Sffordshire, takes place on 3rd September in the Gardens at 2pm. All welcome to join us then. 

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These pics can be used for any non commercial or non media purposes.

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

-   Cicero    – 55 BC

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 BC and was murdered on December 7, 43 BC. His life coincided with the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, and he was an important actor in many of the significant political events of his time (and his writings are now a valuable source of information to us about those events). He was, among other things, an orator, lawyer, politician, and philosopher. Making sense of his writings and understanding his philosophy requires us to keep that in mind. He placed politics above philosophical study; the latter was valuable in its own right but was even more valuable as the means to more effective political action. The only periods of his life in which he wrote philosophical works were the times he was forcibly prevented from taking part in politics.