Catch up after ten days leave

Back in the office early this morning to catch up after a very pleasant break enjoying the delights of my home and of course Christchurch. A bit of fishing at sea, although a bit choppy and in the Bridge Pool catching sea trout, delicious! Some weeks ago I wrote about an incident of pollution in the Purewell stream when hundreds of fish perished no more than a hundred metres from the main river. I was pleased to see that English Nature had investigated and established the cause and originator of the pollution and the required action followed. Let's hope that the lesson has been learned and this will not happen again. That was contained in one of about 400 emails which I religiously trawled through this morning, I think I dealt with most of them but if you are awaiting a reply then I do apologise but will be checking all returns again tomorrow. So lets catch up, well across the Borough our footfall has gone sky high with reports of a massive increase in the hotel and catering sector over last year.My thanks to the July weather, as you will see from the blogs below this has raised some issues about litter collection and my first task this morning was to see what can be done to improve the situation. I was delighted to find that measures were already in hand so expect some changes which will in my opinion make a difference. This does not take away from the responsibilities of visitors and residents to be part of the quest for a tidier and cleaner Christchurch. I would still like a 'TAKE YOUR LITTER HOME' initiative and put that in motion this morning. I have already blogged about Saxon Square, really good news and I know that the Cornfactor site adjacent to the High Street went through planning for some new dwellings and a reconstruction of the old building. That should tidy that area up considerably and provide another access to Druitt Gardens. The Stanpit Marsh consultation responses have been collated and a big thanks to the hundreds of residents who contributed. A balanced report will be produced over the next few weeks and once agreed by committee we should be able to see improvements there. The Mayor told me today how much he enjoyed the Christchurch Carnival, well done to all those who helped organise this event, such a shame about the weather on Saturday! Overall crime and disorder stats were heavily in our favour although we still have to be on our guard to protect tools and suchlike from unlocked sheds and regrettably locked vans and other vehicles. Christchurch is getting a lot of media attention at present with the BBC interviewing us this week on our initiative on youth employment and we are also being highlighted again for our partnership work with EDDC in a local authority media magazine. As most of you are aware Purbeck District Council have expressed an interest in joining our partnership, a real compliment and we are in the early stages of trying to work something out which benefits all parties with special emphasis on the taxpayer. More about this later as the process progresses. So we as a Council CBC are summering well, projects initiated some two years ago are coming to conclusion including some exiting new home sites, our strategy for sustained economic growth is moving at a pace and our work on infra structure projects big and small, are moving ahead. Whilst the pace is not as fast as I would like it shows the Council is facing in the right direction and well placed to weather whatever economic challenges are thrown up. Prudent and strategic financial planning, good management and a committed staff all contribute to a sound future.