Archive for September, 2009
30/09/2009 No comments

Job losses on the way across Dorset councils

The story so far: Council leaders in Dorset agreed to work more closely together in the name of efficiency. West Dorset’s leader Robert Gould blogged about this, and then his blog got taken down. I speculated that this must mean job losses; why, otherwise, the sensitivity? Now Dorset County Council’s Pathfinder Programme Manager Ali Henderson has this to say:

“The decision that has been made is to integrate the management team and officer structures of the three ‘southerly’ councils (Purbeck District Council, Weymouth & Portland Borough Council and West Dorset District Council) and do the same for the three ‘easterly’ councils (Christchurch Borough Council, East Dorset District Council and North Dorset District Council).

“This will mean the creation of some joint posts to manage the services for all three council areas. The detail has not been finalised on whether this will require some managers to accept redundancy, or whether the new joint positions can be created through the natural process of retirement or voluntary arrangements.

“For many services we are looking at merging all staff to deliver services jointly across the entire county, for example in waste collection and disposal, which is currently done separately by individual councils.”
29/09/2009 No comments

Clare and Chevalier sell out in Bridport

Six weeks to go to the start of the Bridport Literary Festival and there’s no tickets left for events featuring authors Tracy Chevalier and Horatio Clare.

I suppose Chevalier was always going to be popular; her new novel Remarkable Creatures is about the great Lyme Regis fossil hunter Mary Anning.

But Clare’s a surprise, with his book A Single Swallow. He’s supposed to be appearing in front of 30 people at Wild and Homeless Books in South Street, Bridport. Could he now be moved over the road to face a bigger crowd at Bridport Arts Centre?

There’s something heartening about people’s apparent hunger to hear more about swallows. There’s two very appealing lines – written by a child – quoted in Tom Paulin’s Faber Book of Vernacular Verse:

“The swallow is a migratory bird. He have a roundy head”.

I’m quoting from memory. I love that word “roundy”.
28/09/2009 No comments

Has West Dorset District Council leader Robert Gould been indiscreet?

I only ask because yesterday he put up a post on his blog called Pathfinder Progress, which was more interesting than it sounds. Tagged “Efficiency”, it was about how the leaders and chief executive officers of all the district and borough councils in Dorset had agreed at a meeting on Thursday, September 24, to work more closely together.

Subject to the approval of councillors over the next few months, West Dorset was going to look for savings with Weymouth and Portland and Purbeck in the areas of IT, waste and procurement and there was going to be “a combined officer structure”.

Nothing more was said about what that meant. Job losses? Maybe so, because the post has now disappeared.

Was Coun Gould talking about something he wasn’t supposed to? Or is there a perfectly innocent reason for the loss to the world of Pathfinder Progress? Let’s find out.

UPDATE: Coun Gould is “not around”. I’ve been promised more info later…

LATER THE NEXT DAY: I’ve not wanted to make the next move. Eventually I get a call saying that Dorset County Council is (allegedly) controlling Pathfinder coverage. I ring the number I’m given. No answer.

Meanwhile Pathfinder Progress has reappeared. I learn from someone I know in local government that the county council’s communications department originally asked for it to be taken down, because they wanted to deliver a consistent message.

Now you might be impressed by the efforts made by council officers to manage what elected politicians are seen to say. We pay for council officers; it’s good to know they keep themselves busy.

It’s how things go these days. “News” is a game played by journalists and PR people.

Is it a game we can afford to go on playing?
25/09/2009 No comments

Call for old photos of the Three Cups Hotel

Campaigners in Lyme Regis want old photographs of people enjoying themselves at the Three Cups Hotel to strengthen their case for it being reopened.

The town-centre hotel, owned by Palmers’ Brewery of Bridport, has been shut for 20 years. Protestors say that Palmers should re-establish the Cups as a hotel, or sell the property to someone else who will.

Old pictures do give an idea of what the hotel was like in the old days. It did once seem to have a style of its own. Take a look at this, from 1966:

three cups adverts 005_edited

Rikey Austin, of Alice’s Bear Shop in Broad Street, Lyme Regis, just opposite the imposing hulk of the Three Cups, wants to enthuse people with visions of what a restored hotel could be like. She’s hoping to compile a booklet including old photographs for distribution at a public meeting about the Cups at the Woodmead Halls on October 16. You can pop in to her shop, or contact her on 07729 191516.