Although Darron Kendrick got 976 votes on Thursday, this was not enough to get him elected to join Cec Tallack and myself on Milton Keynes Council. The national Labour tide swept in a Labour councillor in this area. The Conservatives came a poor third as usual.

Darron Kendrick, Cec Tallack and I will continue to work hard all year round for the people in this area and will continue to keep in touch (after a very short rest) through the Focus newsletter.  We challenge the new Labour councillor to work equally hard for local residents.

Dumped rubbish is a big problem in some areas. A handful of residents are making our estates really unsightly.  Darron Kendrick, Cec Tallack and I report dumped rubbish regularly to the Council and it’s usually removed within a couple of days, as long as it’s not on someone’s private property.  This rubbish was spotted when we were out canvassing in Sutcliffe Avenue, Oldbrook the other night and was swiftly reported.

I joined residents of Turnmill Court, Parish Cllr Colin Ennew, staff from the Parish Council and Milton Keynes Council’s Chris Fripp to plant shrubs in the empty planters and flower beds at the entrance to Turnmill Court. 

Residents have complained for some time that the entrance is neglected and is embarrassing when they have visitors so I asked the Council if they could put some plants in. Fortunately there were some left over from another project so Chris Fripp arranged for them to be  brought to Turnmill Court.  The team effort this morning has made a big difference to the entrance to the Court.  Thanks to everyone who got involved.

Darron Kendrick has been out and about taking a note 0f the graffiti that has been appearing around Fishermead.  He has reported it to the Council for removal.  When Labour ran the Council 10 years ago the estate was covered with graffiti as they cut the graffiti removal service. Under the Lib Dems graffiti was regularly removed and the estate looked much better.  Let’s hope that the recent spate of graffiti isn’t the start of a big problem again.

The Lib Dem Focus team, and the Parish Council, have been campaigning for some time to get repairs to the parking areas in many parts of Fishermead where tree roots have pulled the block paving up, making it very dangerous.  A couple of the worst areas have now finally been fixed – in Veryan Place and Penryn Avenue.  Darron Kendrick and the Lib Dem team are continuing to campaign for the other uneven areas to be done, including the rest of Penryn Avenue which is particularly bad.

The Council has received a planning application to extend the St Francis Childrens Society offices at 48 Newport Road, Woolstone.  The application is for extensions at the side and rear and for additional car parking.   This is a residential road, so if you have concerns about the impact on the area please look at the plans on the Council’s website: www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/publicaccess.  The planning application reference is 12/00435/FUL

After raising the problem of badly broken paving outside the shop at the junction of Oldbrook Boulevard and Shackleton Place nearly a year ago, the Focus team is delighted that the dangerous paving has finally been fixed. 

 The Council has also put in some extra bollards to stop cars from parking on the pavement – the reason the paving slabs broke in the first place.

Darron Kendrick and I have been chasing up the Council about the repair of the footpath on this bridge. You can see from the picture how dangerous it is, and this is just one of the cracks.

The Council was reluctant to repair the path until British Waterways have repaired the bridge structure, which is badly cracked. I asked the Council to make temporary repairs to the surface as it’s so dangerous, and there is no street lighting.  Nothing happened so Darron and I have chased again and the latest I’ve heard is that the Council is going to try to force British Waterways to make the repairs.

If you know of anyone who has fallen or come off their bike because of the dangerous surface please let me know as I can use this to exert more pressure.