I am honoured to have won the ‘I’m a Councillor Get me out of Here’ competition when the results were announced on Saturday at the Local Democracy Week event at The Guildhall.

It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done as a Councillor and I have really learnt a lot.

The ‘I’m a Councillor Get me out of Here’ event started on 6th October and involved 6 Borough Councillors being available online to answer questions from local school children and young people. The Councillors all had a manifesto and there were three live chat sessions. The other Councillors who took part were: Jane Hollis, Ifty Choudary, David Palethorpe, Phil Larratt and Keith Davis. It was the first time Northampton has taken part in the event which was part of National Local Democracy week. Cllr Ifty Choudary came second.

I have now been declared as ‘Youth Champion for Northampton for 2008′

There were some really good ideas from the young people which I now want to see if we can progress. One simple one was to hold a regular online chat session for young people to raise matters with their councillors. I have already asked the council if this can be done.

Next year I hope we can build on this event and make it even more successful I would really recommend other councillors to get involved it really opens your eyes to what young people are thinking.

There is currently a vacancy for a school governor at Wallace Rd nursery school. School governors play a vital role in supporting schools, and are an excellent way to give something back to the local community. Contact me or Richard Church rchurch1@northampton.gov.uk if you would like to put your name forward.

We get many complaints, particularly from elderly people, about cycling on pavements. Many cyclists don’t know it is an offence to cycle on pavements and it is a serious danger for both cyclists and pedestrians.

Over the next few weeks, the police are running a campaign along the length of the Kettering Road, and you will soon see signs going up to warn cyclists. Offenders face a £30 fixed penalty charge for cycling on the pavement.

Police officers in Kingsley are to have a hand held speed gun. Complaints of speeding in residential streets continue to rise, so Richard Church has allocated a small portion of his County Council funds to buy a hend held speed gun that can be used to target motorists in residential streets who are a danger and a nuisance on the roads.

When the purchase is complete, the speed gun will be operated by the Kingsley and Parklands Police safer communities team. Let us know of a particular street where you think speeding is a problem.