Surgery yesterday

A very interesting surgery yesterday with subjects ranging from garden grabbing to new supermarkets as well as conservation areas and tree preservation orders. All in all a satisfying morning with quite a lot of follow work to do as a result. St John's church exercised their normal hospitality and it was a delight to see the splendid Christmas nativity decorations on display before they get put away for another year. I must say the interior is now very smart, warm and cosy. All credit must go to the loyal staff who shall stay nameless to protect their modesty. What is most significant in the last four plus years that we have been holding this surgery is how the nature of resident concerns have changed, when we started it was nothing but petty crime and anti-social behaviour, litter on pavements (including dog fouling), now we are dealing much more with relatively sophisticated issues of planning,and Council process. I am not suggesting that the previous concerns have disappeared more that they are less of an issue now we have been able to bring pressure to bear to improve the well being of the ward. Just an observation which is likely to be proved wrong at the next months surgery, but I do think we have made a difference.