Peer Mentors

Attended the peer mentor accreditation day for the I&DeA on Wednesday. The whole idea of supporting councillors and officers in their normal work environment through mentoring, coaching, peer assessment and training / education seems like an excellent plan. Wide range of attendees from the main parties.

District Executive approved budget for presentation to Full Council. Two changes - we removed the proposal to charge for rat infestation (after consultation with the Leader of Worthing Lib Dems it seems like a bad plan, especially as the officers really did not want to carry it through any more. Second change is to car park charges - need to confirm the rates, times and durations before the budget is complete. At a planned 3% we are at the low end of rises by the look of it, with a sizable number aiming for 5% or just below. I prefer to protect the many from an inequitable tax and move the funding burden towards a 'user pays' model, thus the car park charges instead of higher Council Tax.

On Friday attended the launch of a CD advertising and making accessible data on Somerset as a location for business. We need to do even more in SSDC to promote business through our Area structure - perhaps assess the potential employer types who would benefit from the sites / premises we have available and then target them....

Libera has launched wimax (802.16) wide area wireless high speed broadband in Bristol. If SSDC can find a suitable partner its likely that only 2 or 3 transmitter / receivers positioned on the A303 would cover the whole District making very high speed data, voice and video a reality.