Should Council tax payers provide Councillors with Laptops

Councillors have access to PCs in the Civic Centre, but there is a proposal circulating among Councillors to provide us all with additional lap-top, a dongle, printers and data sticks after the election. The total cost would between £95,636 and £142,436 over the next 4 years. We are told that we all need dedicated Council lap-tops as that is the only way we can get into the secure intranet and emails. But people who work for large companies and the NHS, when they are working from home, get into their employers secure intranet from their home emails, using security systems that cost a fraction of the cost of a load of new hardware. I feel that if people need a lap-top, and they are councillors, then they should be able to use their council allowance to pay for this (possibly using the Council's buying power to keep costs low).

In these cash-strapped times, is it really right that scarce funds should be provided for this purpose?

Cross-border, cross-party collaboration oppose backland develoment.

Back from holiday and catching up on emails. Good to hear that Ealing refused planning permission for a little house stuck in a tiny space behind homes in Whitestile, Darwin and Junction Roads (on the borough boundary). I had written a formal objection to Ealing's planning committee after a local resident had alerted me to the committee report - where planning officers had recommended refusal.
Matt Harmer came back from his break as I went away, and along with Andrew Dakers, ensured the story got in the local papers, and that Northfield Councillors (Tories) also opposed at the committee.

Not everyone wants more trees

I had always thought the Tory/ICG COuncil pledge of a 1000 new street trees would be one of those "motherhood and apple-pie things and dificult to object to. However I have now been contacted by 2 different residents, faced with new trees being planted in their road who want me to get them stopped. 1 objects to the fact a tree will go right outside their windows, and the other - to say they have more than enough trees in the park opposite their house, and the money would be better spent maintaining these trees and clearing up the leaf mulch in the autumn.

Any views?

Ruth

Ice and Fractures

I continue to seek answers about the gritting policy, particularly as I've just found out that West Mid had a 50% increase in fractures in A&E during the icy week in January, AND that this was a greater increase than other London hospitals. Environment Services confirmed that their priority 1 gritting on footways does not extend the length of the footway. They expect to get to Priority 2 footways within a day. I'm sorry but this did just not happen, and I am calling for a review of their gritting schedule, so that people can safely walk along busy pavements.