A somewhat belated report on Burbage Carnival, from last Sunday.

All in all, a tremendous day for both participants and spectators. The weather held for the day, which was always a worry after the re-scheduling of Hinckley.

The floats were excellent, clearly an awful lot of work and enthusiasm had gone into them as ever. The Carnival field was very well supported, with probably 30+ local organisations holding stalls or doing something in the arena, as well as the fairground rides and stalls. Hundreds of people throughout the day.

Everybody seemed in very good spirits, and all the stalls seemed to go well - ours certainly did well.

Full marks to the Carnival Committe, a triumph in my opinion.

News today that Inspector Martyn Ball, currently Commander of the Hinckley Local Policing Unit, will move up to become Chief Inspector, Community Safety for South Leicestershire from 6th July.

He will be replaced by Inspector Rich Ward.

We all wish them well in their new appointments.

The thunderstorm yesterday afternoon brought an extremely concentrated burst of rain over Burbage - 27mm in 20 minutes - and this completely overwhelmed the drainage system, resulting in more flooding on Brookside and Southfield Road.

I visited one lady who had had her ground floor more or less completely flooded out. the council staff did a sterling job delivering sand bags, but the sheer speed of the deluge made it impossible to react quickly enough to stop water entering properties.

Severn Trent staff and contractors were about, cleaning up some of the debris and calling insurers on behalf of residents.

Severn Trent water are responsible for maintaining the water courses in the area, and keeping them clear of obstruction. There is very real concern that this is not being done effectively, and this is exacerbating the problem of overwhelmed capacity in the drains and Sketchley Brook.

This was something of an exception, in terms of the intensity of the rain, but the flooding events on these two roads are increasing every year.

The proposed redevelopment of the Johnsons site on Rugby Road may present an opportunity to sort some things out with the drainage basin of the Sketchley brook, since this development will likely effect the brook up and downstream.

The Liberal Democrat Councillors in the area will be pressing Severn Trent to do all they can to mitigate any problems in the area.

Some interesting news from the betting exchange BetFair on the General Election.

On the date of the next GE alone, punters have already wagered £292k - the odds have it 1/5 to 9/2 in favour of the GE being held after December 09.

On the majority makeup of the Commons punters have already put their hands in to their pocket to the tune of £563k - they have got the Conservatives on 40/85 for a majority, against Labour at 13/1 - but here is the kicker - No Overall Control is quoted at 14/5. Clearly there is a feeling that the Conservatives will win, the doubt is about by how much.

Rather bizarrely Betfair hasn’t updated their Leaders bets from when Ming Campbell was in the Leadership of the Lib Dems - obviously the odds on him being Leader after the next GE are rather long.

I now have finally had time to rest after all the excitement of last week.

We were delighted to double our seats at County Hall, taking Burbage Castle in addition to holding the two seats we already have in Hinckley. We were gutted to miss out on Mallory by 38 votes, but we are confident for next time.

The European elections were just as good for us in Bosworth - not only did we contribute to getting Bill Newton-Dunn re-elected as MEP for the East Midlands, but our local vote made strong gains. Last time we finished 4th, this time we were 3rd but only 9 votes behind UKIP for second after two recounts.  Last time out, our 4th place made us 17th equal out of all the constituencies in the East Midlands - the result this time put us in 3rd.

Particularly gratifying was the fact that we got more than double the Labour vote, the first time we have beaten them in a Parliamentary election in Bosworth since 1987.

By contrast, the Conservative performance in Bosworth was the worst Conservative performance in the region.

Full results for the region can be found at:

https://secure.theelectioncentre.com/results/display/?region=4

All this bodes well for the Parliamentary campaign when it emerges.

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to wave a small salute to John Moore & Mary Sherwin (who were gracious in defeat) for their service to Burbage Castle.

Technorati Profile

Late this afternoon some Gypsies moved onto the land immediately adjacent the ‘airplane’ estate at the far end of Rugby Road.

Liberal Democrat Councillors immediately made contact with the Gypsies, in concert with Council officers, and determined that these Gypsies were those that camp here every year for a one night stay.

These are traditional gypsies, replete with traditional caravans, who camp here every year overnight, on their way to a horse fair in Stowe-On-The-Wolde.

Ever year these travellers clean up after themselves and leave no trace of their presence.

Liberal Democrat Councillors informed local residents of the situation, and many came out onto the doorstep to thank us for keeping them all informed so promptly.

Well the Conservatives never change: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/8029979.stm

As a general rule, I don’t like to post things on here that can be read on any of the other political blogs.

Today I’ll make an exception - yesterday was a great day to be a member of the party that successfully tabled a motion in the House of Commons, in support of the right of former members of the Gurkha regiment to live in Britain without restriction.

As has been reported all over the news, the motion was supported by the Conservatives and enough Labour backbenchers (27) to carry - Gordon Brown’s first defeat as Prime Minister.

I’m not going to go into any of the political commentary, but suffice to say it was a great victory for our country as a whole, and must surely lead to a change in the law for Gurkha’s.

Quite a few people have contacted me regarding the removal of several dog bins from Burbage - I am trying to get at least some of them reinstated, as some people are being irresponsible with dog waste in their absence. More soon.

Regular readers will note the sudden appearance of Google ads on my blog.

This was purely an experiment, so imagine my surprise when the following advert was served up:

“Leicestershire County Council - Leicestershire County Council for Singles, Friends, Soulmates, Dates & Lovers.”

I can only assume that some extraordinarily misguided dating agency is trying to use location specific keywords to attract clients.

If not - and I dare not click the advert myself for fear of what I might discover - and this is a genuine County Council  campaign then I am almost speechless.

In any event, a quick look around the Conservative administration leads me to conclude by saying ‘Don’t Fancy Yours Much!’