A busy bank holiday weekend for the team and I as we seemed to be all over the constituency.

Saturday started by a quick visit to a coffee morning in Bonby in aid of the local church after which I went and caught up with the team in Brigg who were busy delivering. Some of the regulars couldn't do their rounds due to holidays, so after a quick ring round on Friday we ended up with about 15 people out to leaflet. This meant we were finished much more quickly then I planned so I went over to Hull to see some friends and grab some fish and chips!

Sunday started with another foody event at Haxey where we had another fundraising event. Lots of people and plenty of money raised for the campaign. The rain put a bit of an end to it but this gave me some time to sit down with three or four Haxey Parish Councillors to discuss a local issue. Then it was down to Westwoodside to see some constituents who had asked me to help them on a local issue.

Today, started a bit later then planned as I had stayed up late last night getting some school stuff ready for the start of term. Anyway, I left Airmyn for the Epworth Show a bit later than planned but I arrived just as it was getting into full swing.

Lots of friendly faces and plenty of people with a lot to say about the state of the country. We picked up a couple of new leafletters and a new member at the show so it was fairly fruitful. Even managed to pick up some casework from Brigg at the event!

One well known local did tell me he was tempted to go over to the Labour stand (taxpayer funded caravan as it happens) and tell them this would be their last year at the show. Funny as we both thought this was, we thought it might be a bit close to the bone!

Quick stop in Sandtoft and Beltoft on the way back to attend to a couple of things and then back to laminating in preparation for the kids returning on Thursday!

I tend to only write about politics on this blog as I think MPs who try to sound 'cool' and 'down with the kids' by sharing their views about other subjects such as sport or music tend to come off as a bit sad. I swear some MPs think they are some sort of celebrity whose ramblings on any subject at all deserve to be shared with public.

Anyway, I could not let the brilliant Ashes victory pass by without comment. Due to a back problem I have had to leave it to the team to deliver and canvass in the past few days so I spent most of the weekend watching the Ashes on TV or listening to TMS.

It was pretty gripping stuff, and as usual there were moments when I did wonder whether or not the Ozzies might just pull something spectacular off; fortunately it wasn't to be.

A good sporting weekend too in which even Hull FC managed a convincing victory, at last!! Not a huge footie fan so I shall leave prattling on about football to somebody else...

Apologies for the techincal problem - I was trying to swap round the two blog posts on BURTON but I managed to cut and paste one into the other and thus delete the other one! I wanted the story below to be the main blog post as it had the result in it - I should have left it to the techincal bod!! 

I attended the Planning Committee meeting in Brigg today which determined the re-submitted planning application for the Flixborough Grange Wind Farm. Fortunately, despite the best efforts of a few Labour Councillors, the application was rejected. Every Conservative voted against the windfarm. This was the right result and credit must go to all those residents who worked so hard to oppose it.

We did however see Labour at their very worst today. One of the Labour Councillors who voted to support the application decided, from out of the blue, to launch a horrible verbal attack on me during the planning meeting. He was shouted down by residents, many of whom spoke to me after the meeting to express their disgust. He is just a bully so I wont be losing any sleep over his comments.

We then had the ridiculous situation of Labour running around Burton trying to beat us putting out a leaflet telling people about the decision. They really must think people are stupid as they did absolutely nothing when the first application went to planning in April. I actually had Labour leaflets handed to me whilst I was leafletting today with residents saying things like, "I don't want this nonsense." That speaks volumes.

Both applications were identical. I have kept residents informed for well over a year, ever since the wind farm issue first blew up. Back in April, Labour said nothing, did not inform residents about how to make their views known and the MP never even bothered to attend the planning meeting.

Today, with the same application, they suddenly ran around trying to claim credit for stopping it. The MP has trailed himself around the TV and Radio studios throughout the day to express his opposition and Labour then ran round delivering a leaflet after the meeting.

What has happened between April, when they could not be seen for dust, and today? Well call my cynical, but April was more than a year from an election, whereas today is only a few months away. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it!!!

Only the Conservatives keep in touch all year round, not just when there is an election coming.   

Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe Ward Councillor, Caroline Fox and Prospective MP and  Airmyn Parish Councillor Andrew Percy are celebrating after confirmation was received from the East Riding Council that the footpath out of Airmyn village to Rawcliffe Road/Glews Garage will be extended.

Cllr Caroline Fox reports, “The extension of the footpath out of the village has become much more important since the village shop closed down. As a result, the only shop accessible on foot from the village is the one available at Glews Garage.

The Council has now surveyed this route and identified that the extension is possible and that the East Riding will support such an extension. I have now received confirmation from the Council that £100,000 has been identified for the scheme which should be completed by December. The combined footway and cycleway will ensure there is a much safer route out of the village.

The Parish Council has worked hard to progress this footpath extension for residents and without their support the project would not have moved forwards.”

Andrew Percy, who lives in Airmyn adds, “When the Parish Council undertook a survey of residents on this issue, 72% of villagers who responded told us that they felt an extension of the footpath was ‘very important’ for the village. A further 69.5% told us they would make use of the footpath were it extended.

This is excellent news and we are delighted that the campaign for this scheme has paid off."

I attended the Planning Committee meeting in Brigg today which determined the re-submitted planning application for the Flixborough Grange Wind Farm. Fortunately, despite the best efforts of a few Labour Councillors, the application was rejected. Every Conservative voted against the windfarm. This was the right result and credit must go to all those residents who worked so hard to oppose it.

We did however see Labour at their very worst today. One of the Labour Councillors who voted to support the application decided, from out of the blue, to launch a horrible verbal attack on me during the planning meeting. He was shouted down by residents, many of whom spoke to me after the meeting to express their disgust. He is just a bully so I wont be losing any sleep over his comments.

We then had the ridiculous situation of Labour running around Burton trying to beat us putting out a leaflet telling people about the decision. They really must think people are stupid as they did absolutely nothing when the first application went to planning in April. I actually had Labour leaflets handed to me whilst I was leafletting today with residents saying things like, "I don't want this nonsense." That speaks volumes.

Both applications were identical. I have kept residents informed for well over a year, ever since the wind farm issue first blew up. Back in April, Labour said nothing, did not inform residents about how to make their views known and the MP never even bothered to attend the planning meeting.

Today, with the same application, they suddenly ran around trying to claim credit for stopping it. The MP has trailed himself around the TV and Radio studios throughout the day to express his opposition and Labour then ran round delivering a leaflet after the meeting.

What has happened between April, when they could not be seen for dust, and today? Well call my cynical, but April was more than a year from an election, whereas today is only a few months away. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it!!!

Only the Conservatives keep in touch all year round, not just when there is an election coming.   

Despite the consensus that the River needs clearing, little real action seems to have occurred so we decided to take to the water ourselves and remove the litter and rubbish ourselves. The first effort saw us clear from Millennium Green to about 50 yards beyond County Bridge. That cleared 6 large bags mainly full of discarded beer cans, bottles, take-away cartons and even a red power ranger!

The crew returned again last Sunday and removed a further 9 bags, clearing a bit further up towards the road bridge. We will be returning now once a month to do a regular clean up. 

Thanks most go to Brigg Rowing Club who provided us with one of the boats we used for the clean-up. It's true to say that actions matter much more than words!

Three men in a boat or as one passer-by shouted 'Compo, Clegg and Foggy'. I'm not sure who was who though! At least, unlike Labour we weren't up a creek without a paddle!

Today was a really busy day. It started in Epworth where we were door knocking to ask people's issues. Lots of people wanted to engage with us and when it came to people's voting intentions, I've rarely seen such a positive response.

Then I popped along to the Wrawby Show where I have apparently won some wine in the raffle. Sadly, I couldn't stick around as I had to head to Bonby for the first 'Inter-ward Brigg and Goole Bowling Competition'. Basically, we had a fundraising bowls match with teams from each of the wards branches.

As I live in Airmyn, I was one half of the Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe B team. We had a nail-biting first round against the Bonby team before being beaten in the next round by the Brigg A team. The photo shows Snaith A playing Brigg A, Burringham and Gunness playing Cleethorpes (not strictly Brigg and Goole but we let them in) and Broughton and Appleby A playing Brigg B (Quite a grudge match in the end).

I had the pleasure of awarding the winners trophy to Brigg A despite the fact they knocked my team out! We just couldn't compete with the raw talent of Cllr Carl Sherwood!

A great day both on the doorstep and on the bowling green!

There are sometimes in politics when you really want to ring up your opponents and offer them some free campaign advice. For the second time in a few weeks Labour have delivered a really nasty leaflet to residents in Burton about the Flixborough Grange Windfarm. This is the windfarm that 5 Labour Councillors voted to give planning permission to. All of the Conservatives voted against it but Labour are apparently opposed to the windfarm!! If they are, we welcome their late conversion.

Anyway, the leaflet they have delivered is one of the most childish I have ever seen. It is also really rubbing people in Burton up the wrong way. I was told of a conversation last week in the village where the last nasty Labour leaflet was discussed. One of the people in the conversation e-mailed me to say that the consensus of the conversation was that Labour had really shot themselves in the foot.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I was then handed a leaflet in Epworth today which had been delivered by the Labour MP. In best Labour spin the leaflet stated on it that the leaflet was not printed using taxpayers money. It then went on to state that the delivery of the newsletter was paid for by the taxpayer! Hmmm, so that would be Labour using taxpayers money to promote themselves again. They really must think local people are thick!

I'm starting to feel sorry for Labour locally, I have never seen such incompetent political campaigning. Bless them!