Stafford Borough Walking Festival

Last week Stafford Borough Council held a walking festival, Sunday 5/5/13 to Saturday 11/5/13.  If this was to encourage people to walk it was preaching to the converted in my case as I am a keen walker anyway, but I took it as an opportunity to add variety to my walks and discover new information and places.  There was a good deal of choice of walks.

Sunday

I didn't do a festival walk on Sunday as I was keen to go on a 9 mile walk in the Youlgreave area of Derbyshire with Stone Ramblers instead.  Very good it was too.

Monday

I visited Sugnall Hall for the Bluebells and Blossom walk on a very warm and sunny bank holiday!  This was of interest as I did not know about the place previously.  There was a certain lack of organisation with this event, discrepancies in the tour times, no map provided and very little available for lunch compared with the published menu.  That was somewhat of a missed opportunity for them I thought, on a bank holiday especially.  I would have had my main meal there if the roasted pepper panini or quiche had been available. As it was the pineapple and grapefruit green tea and slice of coffee cake was very nice but not a very balanced diet.  The map situation was rectified after the event as the owner emailed one to me.


The tour itself was however very good and interesting, the bluebells were coming out in the woods although had not reached their prime due to the cold weather this spring.  I was also encouraged to appreciate the beauty of a little yellow flower called celandine, even though it is marauding rampantly all over my own garden.   We passed the kitchen block of the old hall, although the rest no longer exists.  The original Jacobean building had been demolished and a Georgian one built in its place.  That in turn had been demolished to build, as it turned out, nothing, because the money had run out!  The walled kitchen garden was very interesting, we were shown the items being grown, which included a large variety of young apple and pear trees.  The walls of the garden are impressive, built of ~250,000 bricks and hundreds of years old but still standing and sturdy.  The tour was not far, maybe a mile, but the permissive paths and public footpaths allowed more exploration.

We were given pedometers at this event, but I am less than convinced of their usefulness.  The friend I was with managed to do ~9,000 steps, while I did only ~6,000, but we walked the same distance!  I had clipped mine to my pocket rather than at the waist as instructed but I don't think this explains the discrepancy.  I obtained another one in a goody bag later in the week but it was faulty and I've only just got around to fixing it.  So wearing both for comparison just round the house for a while, one reads 371 while the other reads 746!  The pedometer contains a lever and fine wire acting as a spring.  The motion of a step moves the lever down so it briefly makes electrical contact with the circuit board, recording a count displayed on the LCD, before being returned back to open circuit by the spring wire.  The pedometers look identical and the wires are equally set, but it seems one does not make as good contact as the other.

Tuesday

I went on the Mid-Staffs Ramblers Walk, which was a very leisurely 4 mile walk around Sandon. I am a member of the Ramblers Association but had only walked with the Stone group before this.  I had done this walk and variations of it before but it was enjoyable and Gayton brook is a lovely little stream to visit.  The walk also included stops to tell us information about the estate, including such facts as the folly taken from Trentham Hall.  Particularly interesting was finding out why the church is so far from the village on the A51.  Reinterpreting this in my own words I gather that historically the main village was near the church but the toff at the time didn't like the plebs in such close proximity so had it flattened.

Sandon is conveniently close to the Hollybush Inn at Salt, now they know how to do a good lunch!  So I met another friend there for lunch after the walk.


Wednesday

I had thought I couldn't refuse a walk with cake in the title, so tried to book the Culture and Cake walk by credit/debit card over the telephone, but was told I would have to put a cheque in the post.  In the 21st century, really?  I thought that was too silly so I didn't bother.  I also wimped out of volunteering at Trentham North Park which I regularly do on Wednesdays as it was raining heavily.  So I didn't walk at all on Wednesday, I opted to go swimming instead.

Thursday

Following a non-festival ~5 mile Stone Ramblers walk in Derbyshire, over Hollins hill and around Chrome hill (because it was too windy to go over the top), there was still time for the Stone Heritage Walk: Culture and Canals.  

This was a very good walk around Stone with a wealth of interesting history, well attended despite the weather; rain, sun and rainbow.  It was good to be shown where the old roads ran as well as the canal and railway.  There was some interesting architecture including 2.5 storey Georgian style buildings, with the short top floor apparently for the servants.  A member of the group joked that they had a small staff.  We also saw the old mill, the home of Richard 'Stoney' Smith who invented Hovis.  The structure adjoining the left of the building was an aqueduct supplying water to the mill.

Friday

I attended the Nature Walk at Ferndown.  Despite being in the South of Clayton, which is close to Trentham where I live, I had not been there before.  This event was not well attended, perhaps understandable given that it was during a working day and perhaps also because of the location at the extreme North of Stafford Borough.  It was nevertheless very interesting.  

There is a lot of local community involvement with the nature reserve and little anti-social behaviour.  The nature reserve includes a variety of wild flowers and a recently planted apple orchard.  I was particularly interested to see and learn about sedge.  Rather than having the male and female flowers mixed as in grasses, each sedge has a stem of yellow pollen laden male flowers and two stems of purplish female flowers.




Saturday

I was very keen indeed to attend the Dawn Chorus Walk at Stafford castle, as I am a member of the British Trust for Ornithology and do volunteer bird surveys but identifying bird song is my weak point and I am trying to improve on it.  There was a glitch at the start of this event because security were meant to open the gates at 4.30am but hadn't arrived by 4.45am when I got there.  The other criticism I would have was the group, at ~17, was rather too big.  But having smaller groups would mean the organisers having to be up early on more mornings or finding other comparable leaders, which could be difficult as the walk leader was incredibly experienced and good at identifying bird song.  He said he had started learning from childhood.  So I'm probably well past it trying to learn at the age of 54, but I will persevere.

As well as the main track up to Stafford castle, there was a winding woodland path that I don't recall being there before.  This was the path we took to best encounter the birds.  Birds we heard included blue tits, great tits, chiffchaffs, crows and woodpigeons that I am confident about and wrens, robins and chaffinches which I can sometimes identify but am sometimes unsure about.  The loveliest song we heard, in my opinion, was the blackcap but I do find it tricky to distinguish from a blackbird by song, the blackcap song is perhaps more flowing and slightly higher in pitch.  It was an enjoyable walk.
     

I congratulate Stafford Borough Council for a great week of walks.

Boundary Review 2013 - second consultation

The deadline for the Boundary Commission for England (BCE) consultation on representations received on the initial proposals was on 3rd April.  I did submit a response to this.  Time has not been on my side for blogging though, but now I reproduce my consultation response, followed by other miscellaneous comments just for the blog, below, specifying relevant Unique Reference Numbers (URNs).  This blog follows previous blogs;   1, 2, 3, 4.

BCE second consultation - response by Nicky Davis

I wish to make a broad ranging comment rather than comments attached to specific URNs, so I have just picked the Stafford transcript (URN 30029) as a convenient entry point, as I spoke there as well as making a written contribution (URN25156) and a subsequent comment (BCE/CR/000313).  I have submitted these 3 slightly different proposals for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent sub-region, given in the spreadsheets:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgnPMdnm-yQhdExRU1o0TjRpNGFOSVhWYmRxclY5X2c#gid=0

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgnPMdnm-yQhdFRyNm94ODg0WWQ4aG5zWTNYanJQcFE#gid=0

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgnPMdnm-yQhdHlTR0FXTEw2eGNYVm1EZTR3cFlPUEE#gid=0

The key points are not to split any of the 6 towns of Stoke-on-Trent and keep them all within two constituencies Stoke-on-Trent North and Stoke-on-Trent South, and keep most of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough within a constituency of the same name.  My own area of Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, is amongst areas I place in a constituency I call West Staffordshire in order to facilitate this.  The only difference in the 3 spreadsheets above is in the choice of which Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough wards to place in West Staffordshire to make the numbers work.  I choose rural wards of Madeley and Loggerheads and Whitmore in all cases but in addition choose either Seabridge and Clayton or Halmerend and Audley and Bignall End or Seabridge and Keele.  All these work though I marginally prefer the last one because of strength of links between Keele and Madeley.

I am pleased that all comments are published by the BCE but I am disappointed with the way they are presented for the following reasons:

• The 3 main political party responses are highlighted, leaving me to wonder whether the responses from ordinary people are being taken seriously enough.
• The category of ‘ordinary’ responses is too coarse, even after the late publication of response URNs by current constituency.  A comprehensive viewing for a given area is too cumbersome.
• It would have been helpful if a report presenting the key points of respondents regarding particular geographical areas had been published.  Indeed if these responses are being seriously considered, such an analysis must be done and as no analysis is presented this adds to my doubts about ordinary people being taken seriously.  I would strongly recommend that in future reviews such an analysis is presented and that responses are tabulated by ward rather than just by constituency, to allow responses from particularly contentious areas to be easily located.

I generated a spreadsheet using the BCE one but providing URNs for the current Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent sub-region constituencies in separate sheets.  I also corrected a few mistakes.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgnPMdnm-yQhdDVJc2NlcncxT3VwMWRPNnZQQlVaZGc#gid=9

I have read the contributions listed for the 3 current Stoke-on-Trent constituencies. 

The response from Stoke-on-Trent South was very sparse, only two responses apart from my own.  Ron Elikowski from Blurton (URN 4194) agrees with the BCE but does not elaborate.  Eric Kelsall from Trentham (URN 6621) makes comments on Newcastle-under-Lyme rather than Stoke-on-Trent.

For Stoke-on-Trent Central there are some general disagreements with the review process and some respondents comment on Newcastle-under-Lyme rather than Stoke-on-Trent.  Nicola Bishop (URN 17354) and Tristram Hunt (URN 22467) wish for Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme to be separate.  My contribution does this to a larger extent than the BCE initial proposal does.  Mohammed Pervez for Stoke-on-Trent City Council (URN 22190) is one of several responses that object to the reduction in MPs.  I agree, but I find it odd and inconsistent of Mohammed Pervez to object to this, given that it was his Labour party former government that applied the same treatment when they imposed a reduction in the number of councillors on Stoke-on-Trent.  Mohammed Pervez objects to the splitting of Burslem in two.  I agree with him on this point and my contribution solves this.  Denise Johnson (URN 19842) makes an interesting point, agreeing that Bagnall should be in Staffordshire Moorlands, as proposed by the BCE.  She lives nearby in Light Oaks in Stoke-on-Trent and presents her scathing view of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, concluding that: “I am disgusted to say I live in Stoke-on-Trent and if Staffordshire Moorlands would have Light Oaks back again I would be pleased and please for everyone’s sake please keep Bagnall Parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands”!

There are more responses for Stoke-on-Trent North.  These clearly show objections to splitting Burslem in two and cite the current and historical importance of this ‘mother’ town of the 6 towns of Stoke-on-Trent.   Some responses regret loss of the constituency name of Stoke-on-Trent North.  I agree and keep North and South in my contribution, losing Central.  Many of the responses highlight a lack of commonality with areas such as Madeley, although links to Kidsgrove and some other Northern wards of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough seem more acceptable.  As I have not had time to look at the Newcastle-under-Lyme responses I cannot draw too many conclusions, although I have looked at the Stone responses and it is clear that residents in Madeley also think there is no commonality with Northern wards of Stoke-on-Trent.  There are comments for and against including Biddulph within Stoke-on-Trent North, more for, but I have not looked at what residents of Biddulph might think and personally I agree with the neat and appropriate BCE proposal for Staffordshire Moorlands.

In the absence of any analysis of responses by BCE and without time to read the Newcastle-under-Lyme responses, I am loath to make any further suggestions than those I have already made which address most of the key points made by other Stoke-on-Trent respondents and consider knock on effects and provide solutions which work for the whole Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent sub-region.  If I try to place Madeley within Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency for example, by knock on effect it adversely affects the arrangement of the Stoke-on-Trent constituencies.  The main reason for this difficulty is the large 2010 Stoke-on-Trent wards used as building blocks by the BCE under strong direction from the act of parliament and the requirement of that act to work within numerical constraints that are in my opinion too tight.  This problem will be reduced at the next review because the 2011 Stoke-on-Trent wards will be used, most of which are smaller.

Other comments

As explained above, it is difficult with the way responses were presented to get an overall picture of views.  I read the responses for all Stoke-on-Trent constituencies and Stone.  I didn’t read the Newcastle-under-Lyme ones, not because they aren’t important, just because there were so many, an indication that they are indeed important!  So my comments merely include selected ‘highlights’.

A huge number of the Stone responses did not want Newcastle-under-Lyme split.  There were however a few who argued in favour of the BCE proposal to link Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stone, but for rather odd reasons.  For example Evan Jones (URN 12509) from Barlaston cites the A34 link and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS), where Neill Smith (URN 12946) from Stone says his son was born.  Jill Piggott (URN 13792), from Walton, Roger Barnard (URN 13834) from Fulford and Clive Barker (URN 17661) and Glennys Barker (URN 17666) from Blythe Bridge also mention the hospital, travel links and schools.  But the UHNS is in Stoke-on-Trent Central constituency and the A34 goes through Stoke-on-Trent South constituency before it gets to Newcastle-under-Lyme.  As for schools, I would have thought the majority of students go to schools more local to themselves.

There is a little Bill Cash MP fan club in Cresswell.  Lindon Horleston (URN 16939) would be sorry to lose Bill Cash and wants to keep the Stone constituency.  Jaqui Leach (URN 17340) wants Checkley, Tean and Alton to remain in Stone.  She says about Bill Cash; “I voted for him in the last election because of his hard work, good reputation and my trust in what he does”.  However B Woodward (URN 19895) from Cheadle refers to Bill Cash retiring at the next election.

A number of Stone respondents are less than complimentary about Stoke-on-Trent.  John Dale (URN 609) from Rough Close does not see the link between Stone and Newcastle-under-Lyme but would rather this than “the awful Stoke-on-Trent”.  Mr and Mrs Wilkes (URN 21279) from Madeley say “Stoke-on-Trent has made a mess of all they have been involved with in the recent past” and cite land sales, Ceramica and the cultural quarter.  Linda Washington (URN 16600) from Blythe Bridge would “strongly disagree with any proposal put forward by local councillors in the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle area”!  B Woodward (URN 19895) presents a particularly scathing account that says: “No-one in the Staffordshire Moorlands with the remotest modicom of common sense would wish to be part of Stoke-on-Trent!  In my life-time of 72 years I have seen the City destroyed piece by piece without any intervention or support from members of parliament.  Mines were closed; the pottery industry decimated; and now the city is being laid derelict by so-called Housing Regeneration!!!”  It goes on and is well worth a read in its entirety.

I’m not a great fan of political parties but as contributions from the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties are highlighted by the BCE and I have read the Stafford transcripts (I could only attend at Stafford for a short time) that contain a lot from political party representatives, I make some comment.  The references I give are to the Stafford transcripts, not the party proposals and are in the form (N,M) where N is 1 or 2 corresponding to the day and M is the page number.

The Conservative approach seems to be to agree almost entirely with the BCE initial proposals.  Karen Bradeley, MP for Staffordshire Moorlands (1,32) talked positively about matching the constituency with the district council and the strong rural and industrial identity with the Moorlands that for example Biddulph, Werrington and Alton have.  She said including Cheadle in the constituency would be welcome.  She said the proposals for Newcastle-under-Lyme reduce the split between 4 constituencies to 2.  I can see her point on that but the problem is that the proposed split is too detrimental to community identity, which I think is more important.  Cllr Stephen Ellis for Cheadle West (2,89) supported the BCE proposals, saying the people of Cheadle want to return home as they are not part of Stone.  Cllr Ian Lawson for Biddulph North (2,59) explained that Biddulph has 10 strong residents’ associations and everybody seems happy with the BCE proposals.  He said people in Biddulph do not want to be “thrown in at the deep end with Stoke, of all places” “where over the years there’s been a reputation of Stoke ignoring the people, mainly by their elected representatives”.   Cllr Mark Holland for Westlands (2,4) supported the BCE initial proposals.  Ms Diana Reece (2,38), chair of Tamworth Conservative Association, welcomed Hammerwich ward to the constituency. Personally I think it would be better placed in Lichfield, but more important is what the people there think.  Mr Rob Hayward (2,25) from London, representing the Conservative party, talked about numbers of local authorities in a constituency and numbers of constituencies in a local authority.  He spoke in favour of the BCE initial proposals, especially for Staffordshire Moorlands.  He did however mention my representation!  He said “I think she gave some interesting thoughts.  I would not say whether I commend them or not but I thought they were interesting thoughts, particularly in terms of trying to link the historic towns of Stoke-on-Trent, as I understand them, while taking the part of Stoke-on-Trent that she saw as the more recent element out into a Stone constituency.”  Well, I’ll take that as a compliment, I expect it’s the closest he could get to saying he liked my proposals, given that he needs to support the party line.

The Labour proposals include some important points that I agree with, such as keeping Burslem together and keeping much of Newcastle-under-Lyme together.  But where I disagree is that they worsen the boundaries further afield, especially by taking Biddulph and Werrington out of Staffordshire Moorlands.  I doubt that this would be popular in those areas.  Contributions were made by Joan Walley, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North (1,22) and Paul Farrelly, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme (2,39).  I talked briefly to Paul Farrelly about their proposals at Stafford.  Paul Farrelly mentioned in his talk the 3 dales project in Newcastle-under-Lyme; Apedale, Lymedale and Silverdale.  Having been to the new park being landscaped in Silverdale, I am impressed with it.  Many other Labour politicians also talked about their proposals. Stoke-on-Trent councillors who spoke particularly objected to the BCE splitting of Burslem.  Cllr Alan Dutton for Burslem Central (1,29) gave a slightly confusing presentation as he said Stoke-on-Trent North should not gain any Newcastle Borough wards then wanted to include Newchapel.  Cllr Mohammed Pervez for Moorcroft (1,66) caused even more confusion.  Even the assistant commissioner seemed to get exasperated, saying “But I wondered, do you know what the Labour party proposals are?”  Cllr Joy Garner for Burslem Park (2,16) however gave quite a good description of how people in Stoke-on-Trent, especially Burslem, feel about their community and history, admitting that people are parochial.  Cllr Paul Shotton for Fenton East (2,36) made some economic observations.  CllrTrevor Hambleton for Bradwell reported that on 19/10/11 Newcaste-under-Lyme Borough Council passed a motion to reject the BCE proposals because of the splitting of Newcastle-under-Lyme.  Mr Michael Brereton (2,68) provided community based arguments in support of the Labour proposal.  He mentioned a proposal in the early 1990’s to form a unitary authority of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent, to which there was much opposition.  He said “the population didn’t actually turn out in smocks with pitchforks, but they got very close to it”!  Cllr Gareth Snell for Knutton and Silverdale (2,8) presented some good arguments with respect to Newcastle-under-Lyme wards, but it is further afield where I see the problems with the Labour proposals occurring.  I find it interesting that people other than me, Gareth Snell included, look at wheelie bins when they are out and about, to observe which council area they are in!  Mr Taylor from Westlands, (1,54) for Western Seabridge and Clayton residents’ association, does not see any cohesion between Westlands, Clayton and Seabridge and Fulford, Swynnerton, Barlaston and Stone.  Of course he is commenting against the BCE initial proposals but this may mean he would not favour at least 2 out of my 3 suggestions.  Mr Webb (1,71) and Ms Jocelyn Morrison (2,82), from Werrington, spoke in favour of Werrington being included in a Stoke-on-Trent constituency, which I find rather surprising.

The Liberal Democrat proposals are fairly complicated and a bit messy, especially in that they do not preserve the Staffordshire county boundary.  Cllr Nigel Jones for Thistleberry (1,49) speaking for the local Liberal Democrats, disagreed with the regional Liberal Democrats and agreed with Labour. Cllr David Becket for Halmerend (2,13) reported residents being opposed to being in a constituency with Kidsgrove wards and Stoke-on-Trent North.  I wonder if my proposal that includes Halmerend in a ‘West Staffordshire’ constituency with some Stoke-on-Trent South wards would be more acceptable?  I have had some very interesting and productive discussions with Cllr David Murray for Albrighton and Shifnal especially about the contentious Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stone area.  The secondary consultation comments from the Liberal Democrats will be good to see in publication in due course.

Independent councillors also gave representations. Cllr Andrew Hart for Biddulph North (2,86) reported being very involved in residents’ associations, who support the BCE proposals and do not want to be part of Stoke-on-Trent.  Cllr Jim Davies for Biddulph North (2,87) agreed.  Cllr William Day for Caverswall (2,24) reported consulting widely with residents and supported the BCE proposal for Staffordshire Moorlands.  He said a previous proposal to take Werrington out had resulted in mass protest and people would fight tooth and nail against any such proposal.  He said “I don’t represent political parties, I represent people.”

The secondary consultation comments will be published by the BCE later in the year.

Breeding Birds, Garden Birds and Wetland Birds

On Friday 24th March 2012 I attended the Stone group of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust to hear a very interesting talk by Gerald Gittens of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).  I found out about this talk via twitter, as I follow @bitofstone.  The event attracted an audience of about 40.

Gerald told us about the work of the BTO which focuses on scientific surveys and complements the work of other organisations such as the RSPB and the JNCC.  Such work, carried out largely by volunteers, is of interest not only to the bird watching public but also to wildlife and conservation groups and government.  Gerald described three core types of survey the BTO carries out; the breeding bird survey, the garden bird watch and the wetland bird survey.

The breeding bird survey involves many randomly defined 1km by 1km squares each allocated to a volunteer.  The volunteer will perform bird counts along each 200m of a walk along two defined 1km stretches within their square.  These counts are carried out in the early morning during the spring.  The numbers of different species seen or heard within certain distances from the route or flying overhead are recorded.

The garden bird watch is carried out by other volunteers who, every week all year round, note the maximum number of each species observed in their gardens.

The wetland bird survey involves volunteers counting species at many specific locations clustered around the coast, estuaries and other wetland areas.

All the data are statistically analysed and reports are produced of the results.  Gerald showed us examples of the tables and graphs produced, which as a scientist kept me very happy.  Plus maps, I’m very fond of maps too.

The graphs showed how garden birds are observed in larger numbers during the winter months and smaller numbers during the summer, so graphs over many years showed spikes but an overall trend on top of that.  Some examples given included buzzards, the numbers of which have risen tremendously over the last 15 years, cuckoos which have markedly decreased, sparrows which are also on the decline and goldfinches which are on the rise.  A drop in goldcrest numbers was also reported.  I can only assume numbers started very high as I encounter large numbers of them in many locations when I’m out walking, difficult to see but distinctive by their high pitched call.  As well as trends, the prevalence of various bird species was also shown.  For example in garden bird watching, blackbirds are seen in almost all gardens but some species such as yellowhammers are very rare.  This matches my experience, I have never seen a yellowhammer in my garden.  I know where to find them though in the countryside to the West of Stone and Trentham, along with very many other species as well.

The BTO are able to accurately report on bird numbers and locations because of having a large number of well distributed areas from which to extrapolate.  Comparisons can also be made with similar surveys in other parts of the world.  For example in other parts of Europe the cuckoo is not decreasing, in some areas it is increasing.  It seems that it is tending not to stop off in Britain on its migratory route.  Finding reasons for the observed trends is rather more difficult than measuring them and subject to a bit more guesswork.  The increase in buzzards for example could be attributed to less use of pesticides allowing greater availability of their food chain, but a decrease in kestrels is not easy to explain.  Garden bird numbers can be affected by disease actually spread due to visits to bird tables.  This serves as a reminder to us all to keep our bird feeders clean to avoid an adverse effect on the very wildlife we are trying to encourage and enjoy watching.

Gerald told us that the wetland bird surveys were most popular amongst volunteers and the breeding bird surveys were the hardest to find volunteers for.  That surprised me a little.  Garden birds I think have a greater cuteness factor than water birds.  But perhaps I think this way because of living in Staffordshire.  I expect if I lived on the coast I would be much more interested in the water birds around me.  The survey that sounded to me the most interesting to do is the breeding bird survey, because it allows you to get to know an area near you very well.  Also, it combines looking for birds with a walk, albeit a very short one.

I would like to thank all concerned for putting on a very good event.

I am no expert on birds, I’m just an ordinary person with a good deal of interest in most things around me.  I have the usual garden birds; blackbirds, great tits, blue tits, robins, sparrows, a woodpigeon or two, the odd magpie and recently the occasional chaffinch.  But my interest has been enhanced since I got a seed feeder and more recently a niger seed feeder, pretty much by ‘accident’ as I dislike shopping and happened across them rather than set out to buy them.  I hoped the niger feeder, purchased at the Wolseley centre, might encourage goldfinches which are pretty in colours and song, but I was prepared for maybe having to wait many months to see them.  As it was redpolls appeared within a week, I have never seen these so close up before.  The male doesn’t visit as often as the two females, which appear daily.  I thought it doesn’t matter if I never get goldfinches because the redpolls are so nice anyway.  But then two goldfinches appeared on Friday morning.  One flapped around nervously and didn’t stay very long but the other stayed a good while.  I have not seen them since but they know where my feeder is now so I think they will return again sometime.  That’s new redpolls and goldfinches into my garden within two weeks of buying the niger feeder.  I’m very pleased.

Relevant on twitter: @Nicky_Davis_ @StaffsWildlife @_BTO @Natures_Voice @bitofstone

Boundary Review 2013 - 1st blog

Following a parliamentary decision, the number of MPs in the UK has to be reduced from  650  to 600, giving an average UK electoral quota of 76,641.  The act of parliament defines some criteria that the new constituencies must fulfil.  Electorate figures and local government boundaries applicable at the 2010 election must be used and the electorate in a constituency must not be more than 5% different from the UK quota.  Each constituency must therefore have an electorate between 72,810 and 80,473.

Notwithstanding that as a grass roots democrat I disagree with the reduction in MPs; I think democracy is better served by maximising involvement and devolution, given that the reduction is happening I am interested in considering how it is done.  I live in Trentham, in the 2010 Trentham and Hanford ward in Stoke-on-Trent, so I focus my discussion on my area. 

In England a reduction from 533 to 502 constituencies is required, of which 2 must be for the Isle of Wight.  The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) reviews the English Wards and publishes a guide for this.  Following this the BCE allocate 54 constituencies across the West Midlands region as used for the European elections; 4,092,811 electorate and need compelling reasons not to use that boundary. In Stoke-on-Trent our wards were redefined for the 2011 election but the act is based on the 2010 wards which the BCE will not divide.

Prior to publication of the BCE initial proposals, following their guidance and referring to the BCE data, I performed calculations for the Staffordshire area only, including Stoke-on-Trent.  The total electorate for this area is 838,212.  Dividing by the UK quota or regional quota gives 11 constituencies for the area and an area quota of 76,201.  Where my approach differs a little from the BCE approach, is that I prioritise use of local authority boundaries over existing constituency boundaries, whereas the BCE prioritises these the other way around.  My reason for this is primarily that I think local authorities have more affect on people’s lives and there is an advantage of an MP having to deal with constituents from as few local authority areas as possible. 

Of the 9 local authorities in the Staffordshire area, 3, Cannock Chase, Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands, have electorate in the correct range to neatly become constituencies, so I did this for 2, although geography made this impossible for Lichfield.  Stoke-on-Trent will not divide neatly into 2 or 3 constituencies, if combined with Newcastle-under-Lyme the total will not divide neatly into 3 or 4 constituencies, so the outcome for my area is destined to be a bit messy.  This is compounded by the Stoke-on-Trent old wards being large.  Using my knowledge of the localities as best I can I arrived at the following result:

Nicky's first spreadsheet

This is not based on my own preferences for Trentham, it is just a result I get that works within the rules.  Communities may be taken into account in defining constituencies but party politics cannot be considered.  My spreadsheet results would move me from a safe Labour seat to a safe Conservative seat.  I have never voted Conservative, although I have stopped voting Labour as well.

I'm not convinced my result is that great but at first glance I prefer it to the initial BCE proposal.  I will digest that better when I find more time to do so.  It will also be most interesting to find out the views of others.