Alison Halford, Councillor

The Corporate Resources Meeting was more interesting that I had expected and the Chief Executive played a major part in taking members through the complexities of the forthcoming budget proposals. As I had expected, I did not learn much more about the Early Retirement issue that was up for discussion. Both the elected chair for the meeting and another member closed any debate down, an action I accepted as the press was present. The press is frequently used to get a story out that a member wishes to have published in a round about way, but obviously my story and my concerns of a certain early retirement did not press the right buttons on this occasion. I was chuffed when the Head of Human Resources credited me with pressing officers to bring the costs etc. of early retirements to members’ regular attention. Head of HR graciously agreed that this policy had fallen by the way side and my doggedness had put it back on the agenda once more. I was happy to praise officers in return as I thought our Chief Executive, Colin Everett had displayed a masterful command of the budget brief. He answered detailed and complex questions without …..

Family Fortunes Nothing matters more to the future of our country and our economy than education. Children need a proper chance to learn. But under Labour many things are going badly wrong in our schools. Almost half of ll year olds leave school unable to read, write or add up properly. The UK is failing down international league tables of educational performance. Conservatives want schools where pupils turn up and the head teacher knows their names, schools where there is proper discipline, schools where they use tried and tested teaching methods, schools where churches, voluntary bodies, and local businesses are encouraged to get involved. We will work to make our exam system rigorous and believable for the long term by bringing in business, universities and other organisations with an interest in restoring the credibility of our exams. But It is not just at school that we have to get the environment right; children need support at home and at play. We all know that the best organisation for bringing up children, giving us the right values, helping us get on with life, looking after us if we are sick or disabled, and caring for the elderly, is the family. In …..

Is It a Fair Deal for Flintshire? Residents in Flintshire are getting a poor deal, and the current Labour majority on the council seem both unable and unwilling to do anything about it. It is time for change at County Hall! Conservative candidate for Ewloe, Alison Halford, said, ‘It is an absolute disgrace. We are now paying almost twice as much in Council tax as we were 10 years ago, but what improvements have we seen for our money?’ Last year, schools in Flintshire received less money for each pupil than schools in Cheshire, Wirral, Wrexham, Denbighshire and Conwy! What’s more, the Council did not actually spend all the money it had allocated for our schools. By contrast, Flintshire did manage to the priorities and concerns of local spend £13m on agency staff to support County Hall administration. Discussing these figures, Alison noted that, `This just proves how wrong the Council have got their priorities. Investing in our schools is a vital investment for our future. The Council is letting us down badly.’ But it’s not just education. We all know that crime is rising, and that anti-social behaviour is a problem for many local communities. However, Police in South …..

SAVE OUR POST OFFICE! Since Labour came to power, 1 in every 4 Post Offices has been closed, with another 2500 to be shut down over the next 12 months. It won’t be until October that we know whether the Ewloe Post Office is going to close for ever. Local Conservative, Will Gallagher, is leading a campaign to save our post-offices, because he believes they provide vital services, particularly to the most, vulnerable people in our society. `To close the village post office would be to rip’ the heart out of the community. I can’t believe that our local MP, Mark Tami, actually voted in Parliament to support this closure programme. There is a better alternative, so that Post Offices can become thriving small businesses again, providing a full range of facilities and services to the local area. At the moment, the government is taking services away from the Post Office, making it more difficult for them to survive.’ The Conservatives have developed a comprehensive plan to support Post Offices, and prevent further closures. Sub-Post Offices need to be given more freedom to offer a wider range of business services; Post Offices could become ‘One Stop Shops’ with trained staff …..