ELSTOW GREEN FIELD PETITION

Moot Hall and Elstow Abbey

Elstow is Bedfordshire's most historic village with its Abbey Church, built in 1078 by William the Conqueror's niece Countess Judith and our 15th Century Moot Hall. John Bunyan was born nearby and was baptised and married in Elstow Abbey. Elstow is a unique piece of our heritage which must be preserved for present and future generations to enjoy, including many visitors from the USA and other countries.

At present Elstow is under threat of disappearing into urban Bedford and losing its separate identity as a village, because the narrow green strip of land dividing Elstow from Bedford is included in Bedford Borough Council's Bedford Development Framework, listing 300 sites with housing development potential.

Since August 2008 I have been campaigning for this Council owned strip of land to be removed from the list of sites and have had meetings with the Mayor of Bedford and Planners, without success. Therefore I started a petition and so far 220 residents in Elstow and elsewhere have supported my campaign and signed the petition.

On 1 April after the demise of Bedfordshire County Council ownership of Moot Hall and Elstow Village Green transferred to Bedford Borough Council so I hoped that the Mayor and officers might have a change of heart as the new landowners - no such luck!

All Parish Councils were asked in February to invite the Mayor to visit them. Therefore in March Elstow Parish Council invited him to the Annual Elstow Parish Open Meeting on 16 April, requesting him to address resident concerns on the Elstow green field issue and to bring a planning officer with him. The Mayor turned up one hour late, dressed casually, without a planning officer or briefing notes and gave bland and inadequate responses to questions from the public. The residents present were underwhelmed by his apparent indifference to their concerns.

The Campaign will continue and I will not rest until this site is removed from the site list in Bedford Development Framework. We also hope to persuade the Borough Council to allow us to create a proper park with trees, benches, landscaping and play equipment for use of local residents, including all the elderly people in the Bunyans Mead sheltered complex which backs on to this small green field.

If you support my campaign please sign my petition in Elstow Post Office or respond to this Blog.

Tomorrow the Bedford Unitary Election Campaign starts so I may be blogging and tweeting less often until after Thursday 4 June.

MOOT HALL AND SEALED KNOT LIVING HISTORY

Sealed Knot Living History Event and Moot Hall Key Handover Ceremony




On Sunday Elstow Village Green was the setting for a Sealed Knot Living History event with people in 17th century dress and Cromwellian solders marching across the Green. In the afternoon the ownership of Elstow's 15th Century Moot Hall was formerly handed over by me, as Elstow's former County Councillor, to my Borough colleague Councillor Barry Huckle who accepted the key to Moot Hall on behalf of Bedford Borough Council. In the photograph above you can see me with Clive Arnold, the Curator of Moot Hall and Barry just before the official key handover. The Sealed Knot soldiers paraded in front of us while the ceremony took place.

Moot Hall was originally a market hall and now houses a museum dedicated to John Bunyan a fine collection of 17th Century furniture. John Bunyan lived in Elstow most of his life and was baptised and married in Elstow Abbey. In 1644 he joined Cromwell's Roundhead Army at 16 years old to fight the King so it is appropriate that the Sealed Knot held their Living History event in Elstow.

Elstow is North Bedfordshire's most historic village with its 11th Century Abbey Church, founded by William the Conqueror's niece Countess Judith, Moot Hall and the 16th Century timbered houses in the High Street. In 1950 Moot Hall was given by Sam Whitbread to Bedfordshire County Council and was restored for the 1951 Festival Britain. Also in 1951 a special stone was placed in Harrowden near Elstow, to mark the birthplace of John Bunyan in 1628.

GORDON BROWN'S PUBLIC MAULING ON THE INTERNET BY DANIEL HANNAN

Gordon Brown Prime Minister and Daniel Hannan MEP





Gordon Brown has been publicly exposed on U Tube for his hypocrisy and incompetencer by a young Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan after Brown's appalling speech in the European Parliament this week. The left wing biased BBC and ITV only reported Brown's speech on TV news bulletins but a video of Daniel Hannan's devastating critique of Brown was posted on U Tube and has been seen by 1 million people so far - striking a chord with the British public who are getting increasingly fed up with Brown's meaningless cliches on the global recession.

Daniel Hannan accused Brown of behaving like a "Brezhnev-era apparatchik". Even the Governor of the Bank of England has warned Brown to stop borrowing money. In his speech Brown warned against protectionism but is guilty of hypocrisy, having nationalised banks and parts of the car industry, to say nothing of his proud boast of wanting "British jobs for British workers". As Hannan said:

"Perhaps you would have more authority in this House if your actions matched your words? You would have more legitimacy.. in the world if the UK were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G20 country. The truth is Prime Minister that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around £20,000. Servicing that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.

Now once again today you try to spread the blame around; you spoke about an international recession. Well it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. Other ships use the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging; in other words to pay off debt. But you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the water line under the accumulated weight of your debt.

We are now running a deficit that touches 10% of GDP, an almost unbelievable figure. More than Pakistan and Hungary, countries where the International Monetary Fund have been called in.. You're pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility... You're carrying on wilfully worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left...In the last year 100,000 private sector jobs have been lost and yet you created 30,000 public sector jobs....You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.

And when you repeat in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we're "well placed to weather the storm .... you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. You know and we know..that it's nonsense! Everyone knows that Britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times. The IMF has said so; the European Commission has said so; the markets have said so - which is why our currency has devalued by 30%. ..soon the voters will get their chance to say so. They can see what the markets have already seen; .. you are a devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government"

Gordon Brown has been flying round the world, trying to drum up support for his dtrategy of "saving the world" in countries like Chile and Brazil, while the British economy falls apart at home. In Chile he was embarrassed by their President who said that Chile "had saved in the good times" echoing David Cameron's comment that Brown should have "fixed the roof while the sun was shining".

Roll on the 2010 General Election when we can elect David Cameron as Prime Minister and get rid of this unelected Prime Minister.

GORDON BROWN'S BIG IDEA

Today we learned from Alistair Darling the details of Gordon Brown's 'Grand Plan' to solve the UK's financial crisis by borrowing £116 Billion! VAT will be reduced to 15%, so Brown is encouraging people who are already in debt, many now unemployed with mortgage arrears to spend more money and get deeper into debt.

The current UK financial crisis was mainly caused by Gordon Brown's heavy public borrowing over 11 years and failure to build up financial reserves during the good years. Brown encouraged the whole nation to live beyond its means, destroyed the pensions industry in 1997 and sold off our gold reserves at a low price.

Many people are being driven to despair by unemployment and debt. Today's Pre Budget announcement will discourage you from drowning your sorrows with a drink, a cigarette or a car drive because tax on alcohol, petrol and cigarettes goes up by 8% on 1 December! The VAT reduction only benefits those who spend money on goods and services - it will not put any money in your pocket or pay your bills.

On Sunday I went Christmas shopping for my 4 small grandchildren and there were few people in the shops. The Credit Crunch is starting to bite so let's hope that the VAT reduction does help to revive the economy. Make the most of it now because in 2009 you will have to pay more tax and National Insurance to pay for it all.

Eric Devan has asked me if I will attend Bedfordshire County Council's Farewell Legacy Concert in February. The answer is yes, because the musicians will be schoolchildren performing free from Bedfordshire Music, the County Music Service, one of the best in the UK. I am Vice Chairman of Bedfordshire Music, which has several orchestras and chamber groups and as Bedford's Youth Champion I will continue to support all talented young musicians who play high quality music.

The local media misreported Bedfordshire County Council's plans to mark its demise after 120 years. The legacy concert will not cost much and the County Civic Church Service is an annual event similar to Bedford Borough Council's Carol Service. Most of the £250k budget will be spent on planting trees in the Forest of Marston Vale, a major scheme to provide 'green lungs' across a barren part of Bedfordshire which was formerly a wasteland of quarries and landfill dumps. This tree planting will improve the quality of life and environment for Bedfordshire residents.

On Saturday I enjoyed a superb performance of Edward Elgar's King Olaf by the Bedford Choral Society and the Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ian Smith. As ever Bedford showed off its wealth of talented singers and musicians.