David Woodhead

I have just returned from holiday to hundreds of emails and phone calls. The last 10 days have been blissfull - taking in historical sites like Pompeii, Athens, and Ephesus, and natural wonders such as Santorini and Etna - and all via the luxury of a cruise ship. Politics was largely left behind - although there was evidence of the remains of the European elections in the shape of posters still littering the streets in places. Also the ship’s next commission is in support of the G8 meeting in Italy. Somehow I can’t see Obama or Brown in my cabin however!

As well as the emails I had a telephone call early today about an incident involving a young man threatening people with a gun. I am shortly off to a meeting of the local neighbourhood Management Group ( which I chair) where this will be top of the agenda. So reality takes over from the dream.

Politics seems to be returning to something approaching normal after the spasms over MPs expenses. Talk is now of spending cuts, dropping ID cards, education policy, and of course constitutional reform.But perhaps the most interesting item is the proposed inquiry into the Iraq war.Pressure is on to make it full and open-and if this happens it is likely to open up old wounds and remind voters who was for the war and who against. Expect to see Brown and Cameron looking shifty - and the Lib Dems wheeling out Kennedy and Campbell.

The Huddersfield Examiner has an interesting range of stories and features today. There is news coverage of David Cameron’s ‘radical’ proposals for constitutional reform, an editorial on the same subject, and a feature by local government correspondent Barrie Gibson on the merits of proportional representation. What is not pointed out is that Cameron’s proposals are virtually identical to those in a Lib Dem policy document published some time ago - but minus those, including PR, which would not be in the interest of the Conservative party. Also not included is further reform of the House of Lords and drastic curbs on party funding by rich backers.

It is also interesting to see further interest in PR from Labour ministers - it might be one way to limit the electoral damage to the party at the next general election.

Despite all the sound and fury in the local papers and on the internet it appears that the official public response to the LDF consultation has been pretty sparse. It is also clear that there is little about the core strategy - almost all is along the lines of ‘not in my back yard’. There has been a rather more considered response from the statutory bodies and institutional players.

The view seems to be developing that the October deadline will be extended. Next June seems like a good time!

Just as one set of problem initials moves from centre stage another moves in. The new Lab-Lib Dem administration have agreed a set of proposals for changes to schools in North Kirklees and are currently consulting on them. Councillors post bags ( email bags?) are now full of hostile comments about the options being suggested for house building up to 2026 in the draft Local Development Framework. The figures in the Regional Spatial Strategy provide for nearly 44000 new houses in Kirklees by then - a frightening figure. For most wards across the borough this means a few hundred - for a few it is into the thousands. One of these is Holme Valley North where one option has 1700 new houses in one village alone - about a 50% increase on present levels. Given the present level of infrastructure - roads, schools, drains - this is unsupportable. Together with my colleagues in the Colne Valley I will be seeking to find a way forward which provides sustainable levels of housing and industry to meet the needs of young people, to provide enough jobs, but also protect our beautiful and valued natural environment.

The Labour Party has decided that there will be an all-women shortlist for choosing its parliamentary candidate in Colne Valley. This is the same procedure that produced the last MP. The Huddersfield Examiner annouced in a leader that this meant that Colne Valley would have a  women MP after the next General Election - a sentiment welcomed by the Lib Dem candidate Nicola Turner. However the Examiner was forced to apologise the following day by pointing out that the Tory candidate was a man.

On the ground the campaign is hotting up. The Liberal Democrats have delivered a full colour leaflet across all 6 wards. Now the Tories have followed suit - unfortunately their glossy publication was published in London and printed in Guildford - and delivered commercially. In the meantime the Labour Party is showing signs of life; local residents are being phoned - from Sheffield!

I went to Harrogate over the weekend for the Lib Dem Federal Spring Conference. Harrogate is a lovely town with excellent facilities - and has a Lib Dem MP and this year a Lib Dem mayor.

Highlights of the weekend were St Vincent of Threadneedle St’s latest incisive comments on all things financial; a fraternal greeting from Howard Dean, the former Democrat Governor of Vermont; a first speech as leader of the Welsh Lib Dems by Kirsty Williams; and Nick Clegg’s new haircut. The policy discussions were dominated by children - the content matter not the speakers. Most controversial was the debate on faith schools - they will remain but with a rather tighter regulatory framework.

On the way home to Meltham I stopped off in Temple Newsam ward to help in a council by-election. True to form we had hail!

Just come in from an interesting meeting. Kirklees council is a pilot authority for the follow up to the report of the Councillors Commission. In particular it is setting up a project to look at the  ways that recommendations can be implemented in innovative ways. I have been asked to join the Pilot Board to oversea the project together with a representative from each of the other three groups on the council. The first meeting was today and involved a fairly free flowing discussion of what Kirklees provides to help councillors carry out their various roles, what else can and should be done, and what, if anything, was beyond the responsibility or capacity of the council. Much discussion of the technology involved - blogging, social media sites, on line petitions, GIS - and how they can be used by councillors - and the public.  There was some scepticism and I’m sure there will be more when some of the ideas are rolled out in front of our fellow councillors. But as was pointed out ten years ago Kirklees councillors did not have their own computers and no emails!

The repercussions of the resignation of the Tory cabinet in Kirklees are widespread. There has been a bitter response from some Conservative councillors and their supporters -largely through letters to the local press. However the response from within the council and from the public has been generally positive. The public relations campaign will continue and the Lib Dems are planning a major intiative ( more on this shortly).

In the meantime the new ‘partnership’ cabinet is getting down to the task of dealing with the BSF issue and the complexities of the council budget for 2009-10. There have been one or two procedural problems with the new administration but there seems to be a willingness to cooperate on all sides.

Latenight the Tory leader of Kirklees and his cabinet resigned following a vote of no confidence. All 69 councillors attended the meeting and the vote of no confidence was passed by 46 votes to 23 - just the two thirds majority needed. There were 22 Labour, 19 Lib Dems, 4 Greens , and 1 Independent againts 22 Tories and 1 BNP.

Follwoing the vote the Labour leader was elected leader of the council and apponted a Cabinet of 5 Labour and 4 Lib Dem members.

The reason for the vote was the delay and dithering over the BSF proposals in North Kirklees. The Conservatives have considered 24 proposals in all but then decided it needed a referendum to sort out the winner.

 The new adminstration is intended to last until the annual meeting of the council in May when further negotiations are likely. However it is hoped that the BSF fiasco can be sorted out by then.