Don't let time run out, vote Dolphin

As you may know, today it election day. There is not much more to say than please take this opportunity to go out and vote. Sorry I can't write more, but i'm out on the doorstep getting the vote out

Vote Dolphin!

Tomorrow I will be fighting for

He is a list of just reasons to vote tomorrow, I promise to work tirelessly for...

• Local homes suitable for local people
• More money for our community groups
• Extra money for road improvements
• Keeping Stratton car park free
• More accommodation for single people & couples
• Extra money towards Stratton play park

I have really enjoyed this election campaign, I have lost some weight and got a bit of a tan, but most of all I have spoken to many many people who have not only been supportive, but who really care about our community.

My team and I have worked hard, but it is nothing less than you deserve!

Tomorrow I will keep on working as every vote will count...

But here's the bit that might be different from some Councillors, I will work hard the day after that and not stop, for me elections are the begin of the fight not the end of them.

postal voters

If you are a postal voter and would like your voice to count in our local elections there is still time to post your forms. If you are worried that your voted wont get to the council be Thursday 2nd (polling day) it is perfectly fine for you to take your completed postal vote form to a polling station.

Ever vote is important so please take two minutes to cast your vote.

serve and protect

One of my roles as a Cornwall Councillor is to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. The police and social services do there best to protect people, but I also keep my eyes open to ensuring local peoples safety were possible. 


Keeping crime low is very important to me and I also sit on Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel to ensure our area get its fair share of police resources.


The police and social services should be contacted if you have any concerns but If you need my help just let me know.

Heather is so kind

I have to blush sometimes in election campaigns. This is one such occasion. Here are the kind words Heather Jordan had to say about me:

“We are supporting Paula because we know how hard she works for this area. We want a councillor who we hear from all year around, not just at elections and that’s Paula.” - Heather Jordan

Hard days campaigning

After a hard day of delivering leaflets and knocking on doors its always nice to pop into your local, have a drink and wind down.

Me having a hard earned drink at the Tree Inn in Stratton with Bob and Emma

On a serious note, we must support local business and friendly pubs are often at the heart of a community.

Local Jobs

In our rural community, which is so far away from any big cities, local employment is key.
I have always supported local business and will continue to call for more quality jobs in our community.

Paula at local business "Picture Framing" with Ian and Sally

I've been a local business owner and know how hard it can be. The council needs to do more to support companies who want to expand and take on more people.
We must keep our rural economy working!

Keeping up the fight

I love fighting for our area and will not allow the bureaucrats in Truro to forget about our issues. We are far away, but that is why I have to shout the loudest!

Local people tell me that they want good services from the council, they don’t want their council tax to rocket every year and they want to be listened to.  I agree and that is why I will continue to fight for a fair deal.

Election pledges

I'm getting a really good feeling while out and about meeting people during this election.

I want to make 3 key pledges I make to the people of Stratton and Grenville ward:

• I will always put people above politics when representing you.
• I will continue to work hard all year around and get results.
• I will keep listening to your views and fighting for our area.

I want to carry on fighting for a fair deal for our area... Thanks for your support!

you are here->

Cornwall can’t afford to go on like this!

The Conservatives at Cornwall Council have left a shameful legacy.

They have threatened our services, but spend £1 million a month on consultants! 

They even hired taxis to ferry tea and coffee around council offices! Instead of cutting waste they have cut front line services.

Since running the council they have...

• Tried to close Bude Sea Pool
• Threatened our libraries 
• Let play areas fall into ruin
• Closed public toilets
• Failed to collect our rubbish
• Neglected our roads

We can't go on like this!

Thanks Clive

I'd like to thank Clive Vanstone for his kind words about me. It's nice to know that I'm making a difference.

 “Paula really listens to the views of local people. What I like most is that she is a really independent person who puts people above politics" - Clive Vanstone

My independent mind

I am often told how independent minded I am. Well this definitely comes from my father who studied at Oxford & is now a scientist. He works in botany improving crops without genetic modification. He taught me to challenge everything and take nothing for granted. I hope this mindset has made me the person I am today

Two horse race

Often elections are neck and neck between two candidates who are so far ahead of everyone else that voting for anyone in the pack behind would be a waste.
Well in my election on may the 2nd it literally is a two horse race. Voters in the Grenville and Stratton ward have a choice between a Conservative or myself.
Please do NOT let someone else choose for you. Go and Vote!

Stratton royalty

Barry Bryne has been a pillar in the community of Stratton for longer than I can remember so its a great honor to have his support in this election.

“Paula is an effective local champion.  She has years of experience as a councillor and knows how to get results for her electors.She knows her community well and I trust her judgement when it comes to the big issues we face." - Barry Bryne

Looking back

Every now and again I like to look back at some of the thing I have achieved as a Councillor (it keeps me sane). I thought it might be nice to show you the range of things I get up to. I wont talk about any personal casework I get (and I get lots) because when people ask for my help I like to keep it private.

Here are just some of the things I have achieved recently:

• Together with local residents, won back weekend health clinics in Stratton
• Supported much needed local community groups
• Worked with you to improve road safety
• As a school governor, helped to ensure local education is delivered to the highest standards
• Consistently voted for services to stay in our local area

what always strikes me is the wide range of things a Councillor can do, if they work hard and try their best. Well the job doesn't stop so I better get on.. 

All the best

If you want a chat

Every now and again I like to put my main contact details out there so that you or anyone you know has them. I represent one of the biggest and most rural wards in Cornwall, so although you will see me out and about regularly, I like to know you can contact me if you want to...


My home number: 01288 353469
My Mobile: 07973 951996
I am often busy as being a Councillor can be a 24/7 job, so if you don't get thought the first time, please leave a message and I'll call you back.

If you would prefer to send me an email the address is: Pauladolphin@hotmail.com

If you are just interested in what I'm upto I post to twitter as @BudeDolphin

Or you can subsribe to my log here at paulalibdem.blogspot.co.uk

Standing up for you

Representing our area is a great honour to me and I do not take it for granted.
I feel it is very important to listen to local people’s views and to work all year around, not just at election times.

We are living in tough times with money being a concern for both local people and the council. It is more important than ever, at a time like this, that our area continues to have a local champion to stand up for it.
Working with the community has achieved many good things in a relatively short space of time and I would like to continue doing more for you!
I want to ensure we get better local services, and  put a stop to the council wasting your money on expensive consultants.
Most of all I want a fair deal for our area.

Bullers update

Contrary to their listing in the recently published agenda, The Bullers Arms planning application pa12/08423 and pa12/08429 will NOT now be considered at the 25th February 2013 East Area Planning Committee meeting to be held at 2:00pm in Camelford.

This to allow the Council to properly consider these applications in the light of a late submission of information that would be material to the determination process.
The applications will instead be presented at the next available meeting of the East Area Planning Committee

Hope this information gets passed around so people don't turn up to the wrong meeting!

Do you think Cornish and Gypsy is the same?

I'm pretty sure most people would think not, but Cornwall Council seem to. Much to the disgust of many residents, in a form for housing benefit and council tax benefit there is a tick box section for ethnicity in which Cornwall Council has give you the option of ticking the Gyspy / Traveller / Cornish box...

I am not Cornish Born and bred, but I do care greatly about Cornwall. I'm appalled about this and will be supporting Cllr Alex Folkes in his bid to get this changed as soon as possible (see Alex's blog about the same subject)

This adds to the list of missteps and mistakes that Cornwall Council have made. Which leads to the question are the Conservative 'leaders' of Cornwall council incompetent or do they just not care.

DevonWall Defeated

After a long and sometimes hard campaign, Tory plans to create a seat that combined Cornwall and Devon into one area has been defeated. This was a controversial plan on both sides of the Tamar and you could almost hear the sighs of relief after the announcement.

The big question that this situation throws up for me is, who is standing up for what the people of their area wants and who is playing party politics with historic boundaries. Well that became clear at the vote when all 3 Cornish Lib Dem MP's voted against the creation of a DevonWall seat and all 3 of Cornwall's Tory MPs voted for DevonWall.

It could not have been clearer what the people of Cornwall wanted THEIR representatives to do (keep Devon and Cornwall as two separate areas) and yet the Tories chose to do what best suited there own parties interests! In elections to come people will have the chance to show who much they care about their elected representatives acting on their behalf. I hope they remember DevonWall when they are in the voting booth...

Poor tax introduced in Cornwall

Today i attending a Extraordinary Council meeting at which, Conservative run Cornwall Council introduced what the bureaucrats have called "Localised Council Tax".

What 'Localised council tax' is being called by some Cornwall Councillors is 'the poor tax'. What this is going to do is force all working age recipients of council tax benefit to pay an additional 25% contribution towards their council tax. This average at about £265 a year on the 26,000 poorest families of working age
Trees have been cut down to print 213 copies of a 302 page report with regards the Localised Council Tax, but at no stage I have seen in the report any suggestions about were the council could find 4.5 million to help the people that are already struggling. Last year, they wanted a Stadium for Cornwall and officers found 10 million....today, they struggle to make any suggestions...

 

So you might think that this had to happen, but that is not right... There were to options on the table today, one from the Conservatives to tax low earners at a time when they can least afford it. That other from the Liberal Democrats looked to retain the current system and to pay for this by cutting the spending on consultants and agency staff.
Cornwall Council currently spends more than £1 million a month on contsultants and agency staff. Some of this is absolutely essential - it is spending on social workers and call centre workers and the council could not function without them. But that total (according to the figures given to me by the council) is around £5 million out of the total of £13 million. So the council would still be able to save the money without threatening lifeline or essential services.

The Vote today shows just how heartless the Tories who run the council will be to protect their own, while attacking hard working families how need support to make ends meet.

Snow stops play

We are somewhat lucky that it rarely snows badly in the Bude area itself, however the areas on the way out of Bude do get very icy and sometimes snow will settle too. I can't quite get my head around way our country grinds to a holt in cold weather. I would expect it of Jamaica or Tonga, but the UK is not really hot any time of the year.

I understand that we don't get snow all the time like places like Canada and that's one reason we don't cope very well, but we do get it roughly once a year. Surely our great nation can cope with a logistics problem like this once a year?



Just for your information the picture above his been doing the rounds... Those eagle eyed among you will have noticed that the cars in the "Canada" side are driving on the wrong side for it to be Canada. After some research I can tell you that this picture in fact shows Japan.. Now I bet your glad you read the whole post! :-)

Your views on the police

Yesterday I attended my first Devon and Cornwall Police & Crime Panel. It was very interesting but before I give you my views, I would like to hear your experience with the police. Good or bad.

Sheriff's of Nottingham

Please share this outline of what happened yesterday, when the people who are meant to be running Cornwall Council, got together to decide how much tax you should be charged next year.

Below is a press release about it followed by a few choice words from me!

-------- press realease -------

Cornwall Tories: Divided, Disruptive and Endangering Services say Lib Dems

Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats have slammed a divided and disruptive cabinet which is endangering essential services in Cornwall. The move comes after a full council meeting during which members of the administration were regularly arguing with each other.

“The Conservative led cabinet couldn’t agree among themselves about council tax benefit and they couldn’t agree about the budget,” said Cllr Jeremy Rowe, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cornwall Council. “Cornish residents will rightly be asking what on earth is going on.”

“On the budget itself, it is clear that Cllr Ferguson, despite being the cabinet member responsible for the budget, does not agree with it. It appears that she will be proposing a wholesale change.”

“We are forced to ask how Cllr Ferguson can remain in the cabinet when she disagrees so completely with major aspects of Cornwall Council policy, including those within her own portfolio. Given that it is the Leader himself who is now writing and promoting the budget it may be that he could save some money by sacking Cllr Ferguson and using her special responsibility allowance to avoid some of the cuts.”

During today’s debate on council tax benefit, Fiona Ferguson, the cabinet member for finance, proposed an amendment that would draw money from the higher education bursary. This move was promptly rejected by Neil Burden, the cabinet member for schools, who apparently hadn’t even been consulted by his colleague.

Commenting on the proposal to strip funds from the higher education bursary, Cllr Geoff Brown, Lib Dem spokesman on Education,said:

“This is sheer madness. The bursary scheme was introduced to assist those young people from the poorest areas of Cornwall to access quality courses and thereby enhance their education and potential for a more prosperous and successful adult life. This is an investment in the future of Cornwall and brings to the scheme many millions of pounds of European funding. To plunder this scheme is like robbing Peter to pay Paul with the added negative matter of losing Cornwall a huge EU investment and I am delighted that Council saw fit to roundly reject it."

The lack of consultation extended far wider than simply among cabinet members. The Leader was forced to admit that he had talked to no organisations representing people affected by his proposal to slash council tax benefit, nor to any individuals likely to be affected. Cllr Fiona Ferguson complained that she “knew nothing about these people”.

Cllr Alex Folkes, Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem group, who proposed the amendment that would have protected council tax benefit said:

“Before Christmas I invited both Cllr Ferguson and Cllr Currie to come to Launceston to meet with people likely to be affected by their council tax benefit cut. Cllr Ferguson refused to come and Cllr Currie didn’t have the courtesy even to reply. I think that says a lot about the Conservative attitude to the least well off families in Cornwall.”

“The Liberal Democrat amendment would use the new income from cutting second home and empty home council tax loopholes to ensure there is no need for council tax benefit cuts. This amendment was narrowly defeated but we will be sticking to our position of protecting the poorest families in Cornwall and not trying to take money that they just don’t have.”

----------------- End of press release --------------

I will say to you what I said to them at full council on Tuesday: 

Having lived in Brazil, I have seen what happens when money is taken from people who don't have enough to get by, they become desperate and have nothing to loose. This causes is an increase in crime rates and violence among other things. I will not let that happen to my country, my electors, or to Cornwall! 

Food glorious food

I am curious...with regards to Food. whta are your thoughts on the following questions: 

1) are we becoming more intolerant to different foods as a society? e.g can't have lactose, gluten, sea food ect
2) have we always been intolerant to these foods but its only now we are finding it out?
3) are we eating so much junk food that we are becoming intolerant?

Are our bodies telling us enough is enough?

More houses being built?

I am attending the first Full Cornwall Council meeting of the year today in Truro. The items that will be discussed are: localised Council tax support, local plan and how many houses we should build in the future and others.... It is going to be interesting to see how people feel about the number of houses that should be built. I would like to see a discussion regarding a link between quality job generation and new houses. I makes a lot of sense to me that local people need houses (and with the 50 shades of gray baby boom that is happening at the moment that might become more pressing an issue) but they also need good jobs to be able to pay for them. The last thing our area needs is more houses to be turned into second homes!