In the end I didn't make it to the fireworks this year. 

Our two year old was pretty clear that he didn't much fancy all the loud bangs and so I was deputised into staying at home while the rest of the family and some friends went up to watch.  I was told that there were some new effects and judging from people's reactions it went well.

The Inspector has his take on it, but I assume you knew that already.

I went to a meeting of the residents panel who have been working with the Council to get the right developers for the estate yesterday evening.

We are now getting to the point where we go from three potential developers down to one.  To help choose the panel have been looking at the bids that the three have put together, assessing the similarities and differences and trying to work out which questions they want to ask when it comes to the interviews we'll be conducting quite shortly.

Yesterday we got to see some of the indicative designs that the developers have put forward.  Mark Brayford, who works for the Council and who has been leading on the redevelopment, kept on saying that we should take all the drawings with a pinch of salt, which I'm sure we will.  However, it is exciting to see what the possibilities are and the drawing seem to make things that much more real.

We expect to interview the developers in very early December and then a paper will be taken to the Mayor and Cabinet contracts committee for a decision.

This year the Council's budget included provision for some very local project work through a Community Chest type of scheme.  Each ward gets £5,000 to spend in this financial year and we can either spend that money seperately or combine it with our neighbouring wards (in Blackheath's case those would be Lee Green and Lewisham Central).

I'll be meeting this evening with councillors from across those wards to both start to plan our annual Area Forum meeting and to think about whether we want to club together or go it alone.

We haven't yet made any firm decisions on how to spend the money, though there are some suggestions floating about.  If you want to add to the pool of ideas of how we might use the money then could you drop me a line.

Update - We've now been given the timetable for getting our suggestions in.  You'll need to let me have them before 20 December, and for clarity the suggestions can be ways to spend the money in little chunks or as one big splash, but either way the money does need to be spent in this financial year.

This handbook is full of good advice on blogging; even for those of us who don't consider ourselves dissidents. 

"Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they’re tremendous tools of freedom of expression."

I liked the stuff about ethics and how blogging is a conversation:

"We should be aware of what drives us, and always be willing to listen to those who disagree. The first rule of having a conversation is to listen — and I know I learn more from people who think I’m wrong than from those who agree with me."

Whether I live up to this or not, what is clear is that there are corners of the world where the sort of advice this booklet offers could be invaluable.

(via Griff)

We've confirmed the date of the Area Forum meeting for Blackheath, Lee Green and Lewisham Central.  It will be held on 30 January at 7 o'clock; venue to be confirmed.

The central focus of the meeting will be on the redevelopment of Lewisham town centre.

More details will be coming out and there will more in due course on the Council website.

The Audit Commission have published a paper which suggests that London councils should be taking our revenue and benefits operations outside of London.

They suggest there are significant savings that could be achieved - £70 million across the capital, or just over £2 million a borough.

What I genuinely don't know is whether this can be done without losing something in the way that the transaction is completed.  My experience in terms of getting the messages right for Lewisham residents around the services we provide through Envirocall (020 8314 7171 or envirocall@lewisham.gov.uk) isn't always straight forward but can be quickly updated or adapted when needed.  Would that be as easy if they were out of town?  Would it work if there were a number of councils using the same call centre but working to slightly different service standards?

What is clear from the Audit Commission is that even they don't think this would be an easy way for us to make savings:

"The projection of £70 million per annum of potential savings for London boroughs through the relocation of back office functions to other parts of the country is challenging. Our study has identified a number of issues that would make achieving this figure difficult."

Barry Quirk told me about this meeting and said his heart sank when someone said they lived in Lewisham and had used our mobile phone application  to report graffiti or a fly tip.  I think he expected the worst; only to be told that it does work!

I told him he should have had more faith.

In fact we've had over 11,000 photos sent from residents and staff using the application in just a little over a year.  Its means that we now collect fly tips in half a day and remove graffiti within two working days.

I'm also really pleased that the application allows us to close the loop by sending an SMS message back to residents thanking them and telling them that the job has been completed (or where that's not possible explaining why).