I have long been a supporter of the K2L cycle route between Kenilworth & Leamington, and have been frustrated that it has not yet been able to gain funding priority within the county’s Local Transport Plan - although it is highlighted as an opportunity to pursue if and when funding becomes available. My colleague Cllr. Eithne Goode (Liberal Democrat, Leamington North) is a long time advocate of the scheme on the county council, and has been instrumental in at least getting street lighting improvements over the Chesford Bridge along the route.

A plan came to the county council Cabinet today to install traffic signals on the Thickthorn Roundabout over the A46, one of the current obstacles to cyclists on the K2L route, and I was pleased to obtain assurances that provision for cyclists will be considered during the design phase of the project, and that any changes will not compromise future cycleway plans. I hope that in practice we can do better than this, as the signalisation project offers the opportunity to improve matters for cyclists seeking to negotiate this difficult roundabout.

I am a governor at St. John’s Primary School and Nursery in Mortimer Road, Kenilworth. The road is part of the diversionary route for buses and other vehicles during the 25 week closure of the Warwick Road which commenced yesterday morning.

It was therefore the worst possible morning for the usual school crossing patrol person to be away ill, as traffic volumes were much higher than normal. Conditions were so difficult for children and parents crossing that the headteacher ended up going out and stopping the traffic personally - far from an ideal state of affairs.

Luckily in the afternoon the local police Safer Neighbourhoods team were able to respond with a PCSO on duty, and this morning the sergeant did the honours, for which the school was extremely grateful. Hopefully our usual crossing person will be back on Monday.

What this demonstrated was that there is no back-up available in the system at all, not even in such exceptional circumstances. The county council’s Road Safety Unit, who manage the school crossing service, could provide absolutely no one to cover on an emergency basis. While the legal position is clear, that parents are responsible for their children’s safety until they reach the school gate, the reality is that many families come to depend on the school crossing service to enable their children to walk to and from school unaccompanied.

I plan to take this matter up with Cllr. Martin Heatley, the county council’s Cabinet Member responsible for the Environment. While I know resources are tight, the safety of our school-age children must be a paramount concern for all elected members.

Fantastic news today! The County Council announced that it had reached agreement with Arriva CrossCountry, the new train operator of rail services thorugh the town, to  become partners in the development of a business case for a station in Kenilworth.

The Liberal Democrats have always been strong advocates of a station for Kenilworth, right back since the early 1970’s when my predecessor Haydn Thomas first started raising the issue at council. The local Conservatives have been rather lukewarm on this issue in the past, but more recently have supported the case also. The people of Kenilworth, when asked, have always come out strongly in favour - as we found in 2006, when the Lib Dems raised a 521-signature petitition to send to the Department of Transport (DfT). This petition was specifically mentioned in the documentation subsequently sent out by the DfT to potential train operators, and I would like to think helped contribute to today’s good news.

The outline business case produced by the county council in 2006 showed a good potential return, and I am confident that the detailed work now starting will confirm and strengthen the argument. I shall certainly carry on doing everything I can to support the scheme going forward.

Yesterday evening I attended a meeting of the Kenilworth Town Centre Partnership, which I have been a member of since its inception in 2006. The Partnership brings together local business and community representatives together with elected county/district/town councillors , and provides a co-ordinated approach to the development and improvement of Kenilworth as a place to work and live.

As the sole county councillor on the Partnership, my role is important because the County Council controls some of the key activities and decisions that the Partnership seeks to influence - for example traffic and transport issues.

A key focus for the Parnership is how to improve the linkages between Kenilworth Castle and the town centre. The castle is a major visitor attraction: we want to encourage those visitors to use the many other facilities the town has to offer.