Should we have higher standards for our local Councillors?

Many people break the law on a day to day basis, whether it is parking on double yellow lines, speeding or copying music.

I would like to point out that I do non of the above and have in fact never broken the law. :-)

But I was appalled to hear that a councillor blatantly flouted the law by employing illegal immigrants, I accept that there many laws that are simply deemed misdemeanours but I don’t think this is one of them.

Should the Patrick Chung the Conservative Councillor in question, be allowed to A) continue to hold a licence to run a restaurant or B) remain as a local government councillor.

See the link below for the EADT version of events.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=News&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=IPED11%20Mar%202009%2023%3A03%3A09%3A500

St Edmundsbury Borough Council-breaks another promise

St Edmundsbury, who have pledged to help retail businesses have broken another promise by increasing market stall rents by 4.25%.

At a time when many shops and retailers are struggling its seems insane that a council with £53 million in reserve would pile even more pressure on market holders by increasing rents.

Last week a stall holder who has worked in the Town Centre packed up shop, after 25 years in Bury. Does St Edmundsbury want to kill of our market?

BURY BLOCKED

I apologies for no posts over the weekend, I had a rather nice few days away.

I hear that Bury was rather exciting over the weekend, a couple of sources have told me that Bury’s road and parking infrastructure couldn’t cope with the number of shoppers coming to the town.

Not sure if this means that I should praise local councils for there foresight and imagination, bringing people to Bury for the new shopping centre.

OR

If I should criticise them for not having enough foresight to realise that the shopping centre was going to need additional parking and a complete upgrade of the local road infrastructure.

I vaguely remembered two or three years ago, Councillor David Nettleton telling SEBC that there was going to be a massive problem with parking unless something was done before the new shopping centre was built.

I think David has been vindicated.

Massacre in Bury

I would like to publicly thank the Black and White cat that keeps leaving me dead animals outside my back door.

In the past month or so, I have had three mice and one dead bird. Although, I was not sure whether to count one of the mice because it was still just about alive when deposited.

While I would like to thank the black and white cat for his thoughtful presents, I think it is unfair that I keep receiving these “generous gifts”, maybe it is time for someone else to share your charitable donations.

The ARC, thumbs up or down?

I think that my views may have been misinterpreted by some, I am all in favour of continued development, and keeping Bury St Edmunds thriving as a market town. I just feel that the Arc is not the right development for this town, it is not in keeping with the heritage or the aesthetics of our great town.

I think it is great the people don’t have to go shopping elsewhere and I think it is great that local money will be spent locally, paying for more jobs; and higher paid jobs.

I also think it is good that the town has a FEW empty shopping units, simple free market economics will eventually drive down rent for all shops elsewhere as a result.

So all in all I think the idea, the concept of new development is great. What I don’t think is great is the structure, design or the timing. Even the world’s smartest individuals never predicted the current recession. So I can’t blame anyone for that.

The building however is an eyesore and out of place for a small market town. Many of the people that live in Bury, love the tranquil life that it offers. If they had wanted to live in a big city, with a massive commercial shopping centre they would have moved to Ipswich, Cambridge or Norwich.

So for me; it’s a thumbs down, but only because the development doesn’t fit in with the local heritage.

Dairy Milk advert

Anyone that hasn’t seen the scary kids in the eyebrow avert needs to follow this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJshbIqmdck

The first time I saw it I nearly cried with laughter, however nothing beats the Gorrila advert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy52yueBX_s&feature=PlayList&p=D33B16A565BEB8A6&index=0&playnext=1

Food for thought.

As my last few posts have been rather heavy, I thought I would lighten the atmosphere.

Over the last few months, I have been eating out rather a lot: too much according to my scales. So I thought I would open up a debate on Bury’s best restaurants, broken into two categories. Firstly the best expensive restaurant, secondly the best sensible or family restaurant.

In the category of the best expensive restaurant my finalists were; Maison Bleue, The Leaping Hare and the Angel Hotel.

My favourite was the Leaping hare, a bit hard to get to and expensive but worth the drive.

In my category of the best sensible or family restaurants my finalists were: Pizza express, Canton Chinese and Café Rouge.

On this occasion I have to give the award to the Canton Chinese for great service and great Chinese food.

I invite you all to suggest your personal finalists and your personal winners.