Last week saw some local elections across the country although not here in South Somerset. I was sorry not to see Mark Shelford retain his place as the Police and Crime Commissioner as he has done an excellent job. Mark’s understanding of rural crime and the challenges it creates was first rate and he rightly received a lot of support here and across Somerset but the vote in Bristol went in Labour’s favour. The common sense approach to policing, being visible, a focus on anti-social behaviour and knife crime, has been welcome and popular here and I hope it is not lost in an effort to pander to certain groups. I will keep lobbying the Government for more funding to back these priorities.
Local Authorities are responsible for some of the issues that most affect our daily lives and yet the turnouts at elections remain stubbornly low. Whether it’s planning applications to build more homes, regeneration, repairs and maintenance of minor roads or key school services and social care, even when funded by central Government the delivery is often down to the Councils.
When they are not up to the job it shows in almost every area, often with mismanagement of finances at the forefront. The Octagon Theatre sums it up for those not doing a good job of our local councils. There comes a point when criticising others is not enough and there needs to be a credible plan for the use of the large sum of public money I secured for it to transform its prospects not just cover for incompetence.
I am very enthusiastic about the reinvigorated All Party Parliamentary Group for the Great South West which has an ambitious programme to raise the profile of the South West, as an economic and cultural region, with MPs and other stakeholders working with the Government to achieve this. The message is very clear especially during these uncertain international times: if you want to focus on defence, energy security and food security then our part of the country has a unique offering. Stand alone funding grants such as with Levelling-Up can be very useful but this is a higher level of ambition and would benefit the whole region. We have recently climbed to being the 4th top exporting country in the world and we need to harness more of that growth.
Finally well done and our thanks to all involved with the Chard Community Hub, celebrating its second anniversary this month. They have some special events on 31st May but also are involved with a wide range of activities to get involved with throughout the year. There is a calendar on their website and Facebook. The pandemic was obviously an incredibly tough time but it did bring out the best in local community support groups and we are fortunate to have so many hard-working and talented people involved here.