So long and thanks for all the fish

Those of you familiar with the work of Douglas Adams will understand the importance of those words above, however I'm only really borrowing them for a far less important reason.

That is my departure from ChALC.

After six years, it is time to move on. Initially it appeared that the job would remain interesting and motivating for just a couple of years, mainly due to the requirements for "Development" to remain fresh, however the first couple of years were all about Quality. As in helping Local Councils achieve Quality Status. Although the focus for the next couple of years moved towards helping communities create their own council, as well as the preparation and implementation of the Community Empowerment parts of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (2007), Quality has thankfully never dropped off the agenda of ChALC and there are likely to be a couple of new Quality Councils in Cheshire later this month.

The focus of creating new councils brought a freshness to the job that surprised me (but only in hindsight as I'm not that good) and allowed some really good people to become involved in the first tier that would otherwise have had to take their skills elsewhere - or perhaps spent more time with their families.

Latterly, the move from the ten Principal Councils that ChALC interacted with to the present five has created so many interesting, challenging and inspiring actions for all of us at ChALC that there was never going to be a good time to leave, however there had to come a time as nobody ever got wealthy working with Town and Parish Councils - well not legally anyway - and my wife and I started a part time business to address our lack of pension provision a few years ago. That is now at the stage where it requires additional input to turn it into something to fully support both of us, hence the need to "give up" the work of ChALC.

Over the six years I've worked here there have been numerous people that have helped, cajoled, supported, been there or occasionally kicked up a fuss. Always this has been in a positive way in the end, although occasionally it was difficult to see how at the time. Even on a blog of this length there is insufficient space to thank everyone, however there are a few that deserve special mention...

At the National Association of Local Councils, all in the development team deserve outstanding praise for the patient way they worked to help me settle into both the ChALC and the NALC role, but clearly Justin Griggs is the one constant that has been there for all of the six years that I've been here. Whilst there are others who have also been there, the amount of time spent on phone calls, emails, meetings, seminars, conferences and latterly twitter with Justin has been well beyond the normal call of duty.

Within Cheshire there are three groups of people that have been essential in this venture. Firstly, the clerks and councillors of the "First tier" and more of them in a moment, secondly the staff and officers of ChALC and we will get to them soon also, however the third group are those officers and members of Principal Councils that have had such a huge impact on my role and indeed the wider work of ChALC. Although there are dozens that could be mentioned here, the main two I wish to thank are Lyn Raynor and Alison Armstrong. Alison for being the funder of this post for the first five years of course and working so hard to continue the funding now! Although that would be sufficient to deserve praise, Alison has been available well above the normal call of duty and is an absolute stalwart when it comes to our tier. From attending and involving all of us at the County Parish Conferences - and mostly remaining in the background - to being at so many meetings and ensuring ChALC received invitations to many other meetings, Alison has been there and I would particularly point out her work with the Cheshire Quality Forum as a huge commitment and success.

The other person who has been there for all of the six years I have been at ChALC - and for some time beforehand in my role as Town Councillor - is Lyn Raynor, whose knowledge of all things "parish" that affect and involve the County Council, and now Cheshire West and Chester Council, is encyclopaedic. Her appearance at so many of ChALC's Area Meetings, as well as the conferences, consultations and parish council meetings deserves praise alone, however mostly Lyn deserves appreciation for the work she does when "nobody is watching". It is all of this minutiae that takes hours of - probably boring - work to help so many of you, as well as answer the trivial questions that I put her way that makes Lyn a shining example of the public sector. Like so many of you, she never asks for appreciation or recognition, but this is the one chance I get to provide it so there you go.

Back to the first group in Cheshire, where there are a couple of councillors and clerks that are not involved in the "running" of ChALC that have been important in helping me out of the occasional hole I got myself into. In no particular order, these include (but are not limited to of course) Alan Warburton, Ann Banks, Steve Sharman, Jeanette Hughes, Brian Hogan. These are the clerks of course and the sad thing is there ARE too many councillors to mention.

One person out there has been of particular importance and that is the clerk to my own council, Jonathan Williams. Despite calling himself one of "that band of depressives that support Manchester City", those of you who know Jonathan will be aware he is least of all a depressive. As he now approaches 25 years as the clerk to Middlewich, he may not be the most experienced, but he taught me the basics of Local Council working and has supported me since 1999.

As far as those that ARE involved with "running" ChALC, the three Chairmen in my time have always been involved, open, available and even caring! Frank Thomas, Roger Parkin and now Stuart Hulse have one of the most difficult jobs around, yet they have carried it out - and in Stuart's case continue to carry it out - without looking for any external appreciation. Which is just as well as they rarely get it! From my perspective they certainly deserve significantly more appreciation than they have received, as does Brian Kerr for the Finance job he does, although he has helped me in more ways than finance.

As for the staff, Susan is a rock in ChALC, always being there for everyone who asks her to help, occasionally complaining about them, but never in a nasty way, always with a smile on her face - as you always notice at the many events you will have met Susan at. Her particular brand of humour is wasted on many people, including myself at times, but if Susan tells you she will do something, she will do it.

Lastly, but most certainly NOT leastly, the Chief Officer of ChALC has a role to fulfil that is impossible. Trying to keep councillors and clerks from member councils delighted is not achievable in itself, but then add to that ensuring the members of the Executive are mollified, pacified, informed, updated, located (yes, they do get lost occasionally), listened to and even fed and watered and you will see that it is a difficult job. There are huge swathes of Jackie's current responsibilities being ignored (interaction with Principal Councils, Government Office, NALC, other CALC, then the voluntary organisations... and the list goes on), again that is because of space.

Add to all of that the job of managing Susan and I, as well as Brenda for a while, then you can understand the importance of Jackie to ChALC, as well as to myself over the past six years. From the fledgling development role that expanded to become a small part of supporting the Local Councils in Cheshire when Jackie was not around, the role of Jackie patiently explaining for the umpteenth time the ins and outs of Local Council procedures, law and personalities should never be underestimated.

Let's hope for ChALC's sake they will not have to replace Jackie for some time, because when the time comes for her family to take first place again they are going to have a job and a half replacing her. Doubtless this thought will give the Admin panel some sleepless nights, but Jackie's input never gave me sleepless nights. And the fact that she is still there will continue to allow so many people involved in, or with, Local Councils in Cheshire much fewer sleepless nights than they otherwise would have had.

Thanks to you all, but especially for all the fish.

Chalky

Personally speaking

The reason for the title is that I've just managed to complete half a century on this planet and felt compelled to share this fact with you...

More importantly though, the ChALC office is continuing to develop interesting and exciting links with your principal councils, our regional and national partnerships and are expanding the use of social media with a view to global dominance.

OK, that last part was a slight exaggeration, given that we haven't even reached dominance in the parish that we are based, nor would we want to. What we can say is that ChALC continues to lead the way in many aspects of Local Council development, with our Chairman, a clerk and a councillor accompanying yours truly to a Participatory Budgeting Community of Interest launch just last week.

The developing Community Engagement and Empowerment agenda throughout all tiers of local government is proving just how valuable Local Councils are. Firstly, the Cheshire West and Chester strategy that is being produced clearly recognises and values the contribution that can be made from good local councils. Next the Northwest Together We Can Network (a body that is driven by Principal Councils) is beginning to understand that Local Councils can - and frequently do - provide outstanding methods of engagement and empowerment, not only because the vast majority of Local Councillors live in their areas and work without Party Political agendas, but also the officer(s) of most Local Councils also have a genuine involvement in the community, hence they provide an unique perspective for the Principal Council Officers that have never benefited from working with the better Local Councils.

Whilst this rambling continues, it is important that we thank Justin Griggs for calling into the ChALC office last month, as he knows we believe that National Association of Local Councils officers are better when we see them! Good to see you Justin and thanks for your help.

Not quite sure why, but Jackie trusted me recently to deliver a training session on the new "Power of Well Being". It seems to have gone down well, although there is a truism that states the quality of the training is dependent on the quality of the trainees. Clearly I was fortunate to have high quality trainees. It is obviously downhill from here on in.

Other than these very important issues for Local Councils, there are very good indications that there will be some serious service devolution taking place over the coming months and years, thereby allowing those councils that are interested - and have the capacity to - in delivering services in partnership with the Principal Councils to do so.

To finish this one, it is onward and upward with the next important event a meeting at Reaseheath College to discuss the development of rural training, among other things...

New Year's greetings

Happy New Year from all at the Cheshire Association of Local Councils and we hope you are all rested and raring to go, just as we are.

The New Year brings with it fresh hope and three days into the working year there are many indications that that hope is neither false or misleading. The Principal Councils that we work with are working well towards their objectives, especially in the area of partnership working where our members work with them. In addition, one of the Principal Councils that we have not worked much with now appears ready to look at innovative ways of working with us and the Local Councils in their area. All good so far.

Add to that the increasing interest in the Quality Parish Scheme with a number of new councils likely to accredit within the next six months and the future is looking even better.

With some National Association of Local Council events coming to Cheshire, this promises to be an exciting and forward looking year.

But wait, there is more...

Birmingham City Council recently received the news that their Sustainable Communities Act submission to the Local Government Association is being supported. The fact that at least three of the eight submissions are issues that are already dealt with by Local Councils elsewhere in the country should help send the message to the urban areas that there are massive advantages for them to set up Local Councils in their areas.

Finally, with regard to the weather, the ChALC office is open, and not covered with snow, although there is an inch or two of snow on the ground. Your enquiries remain welcome and we look forward to meeting as many of you as possible throughout 2010.

Time to rejuvenate

The wonderful world of Local Councils in Cheshire has been as busy as ever leading up to the time of year when most of us relax a little bit. There are currently four vacancies posted on the ChALC website and the arrangements for the Power of Wellbeing training session early next year are well under way with several registrations already.

With three councils succesfully renewing their Quality Status this week, the omens for Quality Status are looking increasingly positive. Two more are due to renew in early spring of 2010, however there are at least another two councils that will be applying for the first time hence this is one area of work that ChALC are keeping busy on.

With this in mind, the Cheshire Quality Forum will be inviting those councils that aspire to achieve Quality Status to attend two of the next four meetings, mainly to hear the successes of the existing Quality Councils, but also to understand the level of best practice that exists among these councils. For some time now the Forum have been developing a number of councillors and clerks as mentors for those Councils interested in Quality Status and they will soon be available to help with applications, as well as explaining the benefits that have accrued to their council, their community and their partners by the process of accreditation, as well as the benefits that followed their success.

In the meantime, all of us at ChALC hope that all of you get what you want and desire for the next year and have a relaxed and rejuvenating time over the next couple of weeks.

St Andrews Day

Could not post this week without mentioning the celebration of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. This is especially relevant as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office flew the flag of St George on 23rd April (quite rightly) but did NOT have the St Andrews Cross flying on Monday of this week, despite a number of emails being sent asking about it. This is one of the inconsistencies of government. As a "United" (how difficult it is to type that word as a supporter of England's most successful football team) Kingdom, it is ill advised for any of the departments that represent the "whole" Kingdom to promote the celebration of one part of the Kingdom more than the other and this is the impression given. It should be either all or nothing and given the enormous interest across the Commonwealth - and indeed outside of those countries that make up our successful Commonwealth - it should be all.

Right, personal rant over. As a disclaimer, the above paragraph does not reflect the views of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, nor any of its members. In fact there may even be one or two who disagree with them, but they are unlikely to say so to my face! Even if they do, they would not be able to put forward a logical argument (IMHO as well as not so humble).

As for ChALC, what a change a week makes. Every day of the week commencing 23rd November, Susan and I were both in the office and have been dealing with the more "mundane", albeit some of that is incredibly interesting, aspects of our jobs. More recently the review of the Local Area Partnerships in Cheshire East has begun and they were kind enough to invite me to participate in that. Whilst it is an early stage review, this has the potential for lifting the less successful ones to the level of the more proactive and energetic, providing that those involved learn from the good practice.

In addition, Alan Budge of the Participatory Budgeting Unit provided an exciting proposal for our parish and town councils to take the experience of his unit, then turn it into an impressive method of engaging with our communities. For those councils that are already engaging well, this gives an opportunity to improve the engagement even further and I look forward to working with the forward thinking councils to achieve even more than they are at present.

Catching up

ChALC have been busily attending events for other organisations, or indeed provided by other organisations that have something to offer our members. Rather than a simple list of those events/organisations, perhaps the subjects discussed would be a better idea. Starting with the"Communities of Interest: Thinking outside the box" meeting facilitated by Neighbourhoods Northwest, this was an excellent meeting where all present looked at improving neighbourhoods - and indeed other forms of communities. Short summary for a very full morning, bit definitely worth it.

The Northwest Allotment Officers' Forum did not sound particularly inspirational, however as our member councils are becoming more and more involved in this subject it seemed an opportunity for discovery and indeed it was. This job never ceases to amaze in terms of how a relatively mundane subject is turned on its head and there are incredible people doing such off the wall things on their allotments - and all within the rules as well.

The Northern Group of County Associations of Local Councils is another body that is much better than its title and sadly I rarely get invited as it is usually our Chief Officer who attends. The discussion is always lively and outward looking, which is unusual for a meeting of people involved in the most local of government. The only downside was the journey to York as it is such a beautiful place to visit without staying. It is always a shame to turn up for a meeting and then leave to get to another meeting back in Cheshire. Perhaps it would be good to hold these meetings on a Monday or Friday and that way the weekend before or after could be a mini break...

ChALC's very own managing body, the Executive met last week to discuss all those issues that keep piling up about our members and our national body, plus the external organisations that it is essential to keep in touch with. Someone once described being a sergeant as the worst job in the world as you get hassled from your bosses about why things are not going well, then you get pressure from your subordinates because things are not going well from their viewpoint. As far as our members and our national body is concerned, ChALC must be like the sergeant and our Executive keenly feel that at times.

Last, but by no means least, the Cheshire West Local Strategic Partnership Network met last week and a good few of our members (as well as yours truly) attended an excellent meeting that was looking at the big picture, as well as managing to consult on three strategies at the same time. Great organisation from Robbie and the rest of the team.

Annual Meeting and beyond

Thanks to all 120 people who attended the ChALC Annual Meeting on 22nd October, this remains one of the highlights of the year for so many of our members. Your continued interest in debating the direction of ChALC on the policy front is excellent and would have made interesting viewing and listening for our very welcome guests from the Principal Councils.

Since then, the staff have been busy catching up with the routine work that is essential to ensure the smooth running of events (such as the Annual Meeting and others) and we have passed on all of your good wishes to Jackie.

With most of the time seemingly spent out of the office these days, please be patient if you do not get a reply straight away, however email remains the best way to get in touch with all staff, especially as the blackberry is a wonderful device - although don't expect a response at midnight even from that. We all have lives outside of ChALC, although it may sometimes appear otherwise.

Training is taking place this week with the County Training Partnership using our facilities and I look forward to meeting many of you again at the various events between now and Christmas.

Getting used to it

It has been too long since anything has been posted here by ChALC. NOT because nothing has been happening, more because of the opposite, so a quick update...

The Annual Meeting of ChALC that is set for Thursday 22nd October already has exceeded the 100 mark of registrations, with all of those registered so far having information sent to them for the evening. We look forward to meeting all of you there and introducing you to our exhibitors, the reliable and very supportive Blachere Lighting, along with new exhibitors Came and Company who specialise in insurance for Parish Councils, and the Co-operative Bank who offer banking for our tier of government that has many years of experience supporting us.

Rather than bore you with the details of what Jackie and I have been up to in (or more often out of) the office, or even letting you know what our volunteer Executive members have been doing, suffice it to say that the engagement with the two new authorities is still expanding, but perhaps more reassuringly, that with the continuing authorities of Halton, Trafford and Warrington has taken a sudden and very positive move forward.

We look forward to providing you with more.

That's all for now folks...

Representing and supporting the first tier of local councils is always a varied life, however the past week has gone from the sleepy hollow that is Burleydam (who knows what goes on behind those curtains???) to the Big Smoke.

The 06.29 Crewe to London is not exactly my favourite start to the day, however the journey was well worth it, and not just for the splendour of Google's UK office a minute's walk from Victoria Station. Having expected to be "sold" some of their tools - especially the advert stuff - what surprised me more is that google is not just a search engine these days - although they clearly still see that part of their business as crucial - but one of the challengers to the title "most important communication company in the world".

Perhaps the subject (product?) that would interest local councils the most is the Open Social project, although most local councillors and clerks would answer "keh?" at the mention of Open Social. The potential of it is astounding, especially given the ability to collaborate online without having the programmes installed on your own computer and really only requires a reasonable broadband connection (still an issue in the most rural areas) and a bit of user understanding.

As the "localgov" project within google develops, I will keep the Local Councils in Cheshire informed and look to work with the project to develop the best tools for our tier.

Other than the excellent OpenSocial, more google tools and their uses were discussed, however it was back to the office on Monday with the usual enquiries from Councils, as well as the reading to be caught up on, then working with the Transition South Cheshire group who are just beginning to progress through the requirements of turning their communities into areas that are less reliant on oil and understand the importance of the low carbon lifestyle. Martin and Colin really live this with so many hours spent on their cycles. Hey ho, back to the grind - rewarding as it is, sometimes it is just that. Then again, the only thing wrong with google's offices was a massive issue for me.

It's in London!

There ain't no way that can compete with the lovely Cheshire countryside I look out on almost every day.

Quieter week

ChALC are having a quiet week for a couple of reasons. Firstly, our Chief Officer is taking two weeks of well earned rest to... work on decorating her home! Plus go and visit relatives for a few days, so not all hard work. Mind you, the day before going on holiday Jackie was at a meeting of the Cheshire West and Chester LSP Board.

Added to that, there is a lot of internal "catching up" work to do on the various missives that have come from government and our various partners and this has created more time in the office for a (pleasant) change.

Last evening I spent an enjoyable couple of hours with three councillors from Willaston Parish Council on the outskirts (i.e. the posh end) of Crewe. The enthusiasm of all three for pulling together everything needed to apply for Quality Status is tremendous and I look forward to laying their application in front of the County Accreditation Panel soon.

So, off to read the inspiringly titled "Locality Reporting: Spatial disaggregation of the National Indicator Set" which is designed - allegedly - to help us relate the chosen National Indicators our Principal Councils are working on to the communities we live and work in...

Keep developing those councils now!

A lot has happened since the last posting. Cheshire West and Chester Council held their LSP Network Conference, which was a useful way to involve lots of different groups in the process, although a lack of detail below the "headline" priorities caused a little confusion. This was followed by the finalising of the DVD for the Rural Touring Arts Network engagement with youth project (launch date is now 29th September). The very next day saw the fledgling Cheshire West and Chester Community Engagement Strategy begin its journey, with and excellent cross section of folk discussing - at length - some agreed definitions and path to follow, at least in the early days.

This week began with an excellent meeting at Trafford Hall planning the use of the PB Unit to showcase some Local (Town and Parish) Councils implementing Participatory Budgeting.

At least August is looking a little quieter...

Then again, with the Quality Forum and the end of the month and LFC back in proper action on 16th, doubtless there will be plenty to do then also.

Isn't life fabulous?
Turning up for work today, couldn't help reflecting on the difference between rural and urban life. Here we are, in the glorious Cheshire countryside where the only noise on stepping out of the car is the engine cooling, plus the occasional "real twitter" - i.e. coming from feathered birds, not cyberspace - and it is difficult to think of how much noise there was in London on Wednesday.
Sadly that is all shattered when someone phones (how inconsiderate!) or the photocopier gets switched on.
Not really...
Mind you, should have come in on the bike today, perfect weather for overtaking those sat sucking fumes in the 3 or 4 minute traffic that the locals call a "jam" in Nantwich.
Great way to finish the week.
Now, back to proper work.

What a day yesterday was. Lovely relaxing train journeys both ways, interesting people to chat to, with a pleasant time in London, even if the office of NALC could do with air conditioning...
The big question from here is whether District Councils are going to take the first tier seriously, more so those that do not yet benefit from Local Councils in their area and for some strange reason see them as a threat, as opposed to the only partners they can have that are uncapped.
As the Chinese say, "may you live in interesting times". We certainly do and look forward to the successful petitions in Crewe, Macclesfield and Wilmslow, along with the increasing interest in the West now that Neston is up and taking baby steps, the running will come once they have their own clerk.

Tentative steps

With twitter proving that there is more to Web 2.0 than just a name, it appeared about time that ChALC used the more wordy experience of Blogging to ensure that the world of the Cheshire Councils is catching up with the technology - at least a little.
This will report on information of relevance to our councils that is in the public domain, clearly there is information that our member councils will enjoy but others will have to pay for, but the rest will be designed to share best practice where we know it exists.
Occasional links to external organisations will also take place and your feedback will be enormously important in providing an "improving" blog.
Blog again soon...