From today councils across England, including Shepway, have new parking powers including the right to use CCTV to detect offences and to send Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) by post if the offence was spotted on photos or CCTV, or even if the vehicle is driven away after an offence is identified but before a ticket can be issued.
A valued part of Chelmsford's suburban street scene is still threatened with demolition despite protests and positive action from local residents and by their two local Councillors, and an alternative planning permission being granted by the Borough Council.
The Government has admitted "substantive breaches" of the European Convention on Human Rights over the death and torture of Iraqi civilians in the custody of British soldiers. The admission, which may cost the Ministry of Defence millions of pounds in compensation, relates to the death of Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel receptionist, and the abuse of eight other Iraqis while held in a British detention centre in September 2003.
Lib Dem MEPs in the European Parliament have voted resoundingly on a proposed ban on the sale of Patio Heaters. In a recent European Parliamentary Report on Energy Efficiency, led by Vice President Diana Wallis, scientists were able to confirm the negative impact made by carbon emitting patio heaters upon the environment.
The announcement of the closure of so many post offices in our villages is a nail in the coffin for many of the villagers. The Local Development Framework currently being developed for the Borough specifically seeks to exclude villages without services, and these closures will have therefore a double impact.
This restructuring is going ahead with St Edmundsbury and other local