Post Office Closures

Last week the Government announced within the next 18 months 2,500 Post Offices will close. This is a deplorable announcement taken on purely commercial terms, and does not take into account how integral to our communities the Post Offices are - especially in rural areas such as King's Sutton.

Please rest assured that I will be doing everything within my power to ensure our Post Office remains open, providing extremely important services and support to our community. I will be calling upon the government to conduct a fair and transparent analysis into the Social, Economic and transportation impacts of their closure plans.

With the spotlight on Global Warming and Carbon Emissions (and rightly so!) the Government cannot seriously expect us all to jump into our cars and drive 5 miles into Banbury or 6 in Brackley in order to get to a Post Office!?
What about the elderly and less mobile? Does the Government expect them to get on an irregular bus service for a 2 hour round trip to get to a Post Office? When at the moment it is a 5 or 10 minute walk!

The Post Office must be viewed as an asset to our community and not only as a business that must turn a profit. (A profit by the way that has been harder to come by due to Government policies of removing services from the Post Office.)

The link to the Government's response to their consultation on the future of the Post Office can be found below:

http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file39479.pdf

The fight begins...!

Week 1...!

Wow, what a week!
The first week has flown by in the blink of an eye. It does not seem 2 minutes ago that I was standing in Towcester leisure centre awaiting the announcement of the result, which was an awesome experience.
Friday saw me at the coffee morning, where I received a lot of good wishes - thanks to you all. That evening I went to my first meeting in the Chambers, where the various "Portfolio" holders outlined the roles of their committees. We were asked to put forward our preference for which committees we would like to serve on; as soon as I know I’ll publish here!

Over the weekend I went down to Twickenham to watch the Army vs. Navy rugby game, which is an annual re-union of friends with whom I served with in the Army. A lot of which are still serving; some are over in Iraq & Afghanistan at the moment and my thoughts are with them at this time. I also played in the charity football event discussed below, which was great fun. Though unfortunately to say my footballing skills were "rusty" would be extremely kind!

Monday we had a BBQ at our place, as I wanted to thank the fantastic team who helped during the election period. We all worked extremely hard meeting people, writing leaflets, arranging meetings etc. Without their hard work and enthusiasm I am sure the election would have had a different outcome.

Wednesday saw me back in the Council chambers for a meeting of the Conservative Group of Councillors. This is a monthly meeting where we get together as a group to catch up, as it is rare that we are all in one place at any one time normally.

Thursday was my first Parish Council meeting as a District Councillor, although I had been to a number of meetings prior to the election. I am very much looking forward to working closely with the Parish Council, as together I am sure our hard work and determination will be to the benefit of all in the village.

Friday I was back at the coffee morning and also managed to get across to the Grange for their coffee morning, where I met some great people.

I've also picked up my first load of casework, which is extremely interesting and I hope that I can make a difference to individuals that I make representation for. I believe the role of the District Councillor is both to get involved on an individual level, as well as on a wider scale; improving the lives of all through the strategic decision making at South Northants.

I'm here to help, so please do make contact if you need assistance with anything.

Charity Football Match

Sunday afternoon found me with my boots on at the playing fields, something that has not happened for quite a while! It was for a good cause though, as the "White Horse Stallions" took on the King's Sutton sunday 2nd team in aid of the Katherine House Hospice.

The match was great fun and unlike last year the "Stallions" (who I played for) more than held their own, ending up losing only 3-1. Last year it was a 6-0 drubbing!!! I can't wait for next year, as I'm sure we're due a win!

The match was watched by over 100 people, which was a great turnout. The whole event was testament to the fantastic community spirit we have within King's Sutton. A great deal of people put a lot of effort, time and money into making the event a success. In particular James at the White Horse for doing most of the organising - well done!

After the match there was a BBQ, raffle and live music at the White Horse, which was very well attended. In total the event raised £520 for the Katharine House Hospice, which is great news as they are wonderful charity, which does great work.

Thank You!!!

Polling day on Thursday was a remarkable, fascinating and humbling experience. It was remarkable due to the scale of the victory; the team and I worked extremely hard over the previous 6 weeks and the result thankfully reflected that. We honestly thought it would be very close, perhaps in the single figures and I was blown away when the result was announced. The result was as follows:

Mike Hill Conservative - 541

Valerie Whitaker - Labour & Co-op - 322

Majority - 219

Turnout - 52.13%

The whole experience for me so far has been fascinating, though polling day was certainly the pinnacle so far. I found the whole mechanism of the election to be an extremely interesting and inspiring experience, one that I would certainly like to experience agan.

Watching the count was a humbling experience as seeing hundreds of voting slips with a big X by your name demonstrated that a lot of people have faith in me to work hard and deliver for our wonderful village.

Delivering on promises made is the cornerstone of everything that I do, from my professional, sporting and personal lives. I have made the commitment to King's Sutton that I will represent them to the best of my ability and that I will deliver against the promise that I made.

The hard work starts now!