However, in doing it I was reminded of the posts that I’d written over the summer where I talked about what I saw as my achievements over the eight years that I served as a councillor on Luton Borough Council. Having failed to be re-elected in last May’s local elections, I found the  process of writing those posts rather cathartic and useful in handling the personal fall out from the local election result.

I realised that I hadn’t provided an index of those posts so I thought, I admit a little self indulgently, that I would do so now:

• Musings on the nature of political achievement
• Achievement one: Reforms to the Council’s decision making process
• Achievement two: An intervention in the merger of Downside Infant and Junior Schools
• Achievement three: A little bit of pavement in St George’s Square
• Achievement four: The Luton Summer Festival
• Achievement five: Tackling climate change at Luton Borough Council (See also: Why climate change matters to local government & Luton Borough Council and climate change)
• Achievement six: Founding Luton Culture

But sadly for us it won’t be in Luton;

‘”I would try somewhere else next time,” she says. “I have to say I was shocked by what I found in Luton,” she adds, describing the constituency as “riven with factions”.’

I am tempted to say – no, that’s not being riven by factions – it’s called an election campaign…..

This is a thoroughly deserved recognition of not only her leadership of Luton Culture over the last few years, but also her role in establishing the success of the Stockwood Discovery Centre, and her career working in the museums service in Luton and elsewhere. I am delighted for Maggie but I also hope this is seen as a boost for the whole of Luton Culture as the organisation faces some difficult challenges.

Some good news to start the New Year!

The news broke in the middle of December that legal arguments had been heard that the disgraced former Luton South MP, who is facing charges related to her expenses, may not be well enough to face trail because of the state of her mental health. Apparently she has been seen by several psychiatrists and that their opinion is that she is “unfit to plead”. There will be a hearing in the new year to decide wether the scheduled trail will now take place.

More here:

Mentally ill Moran is ‘unfit to plead’

Fitness to plead hearing for ex-MP

Margaret Moran ‘unfit to stand trial’

This is a good thing. Over recent years we have become more aware of the importance of proper nutrition in the development of children and we know that it is the poorest within society who most often find it difficult to provide a proper balanced diet. School meals can make a huge difference to this problem. So it is only right that all those who are eligible are encouraged to sign up to receive these meals for free

But why launch this campaign now?

Aside from the obvious direct benefit of getting more people to sign up for free school meals, there is another good reason why councils should be encouraging this. The number of children receiving free school meals is the basis for calculating the pupil premium. For every pupil that gets free school meals that a school has attending it receives a sum of money. In the first year it was £488.

The pupil premium is a way of directing school funding to the neediest pupils. Luton is exactly the kind of area that should be benefiting most from the pupil premium. As I have written here before in its first year it has meant £3,642,000 coming to the town’s schools. If there truly are 5,000 plus pupils who could claim free school meals but aren’t then the town is missing out on a lot of cash.

The introduction of the pupil premium is one of the flagship policies of the coalition government, and something that was insisted on by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

Funnily enough the article in Lutonline, published by Labour run Luton Borough Council, doesn’t mention the pupil premium at all. I wonder why?

Those interested in these changes should be aware that the Boundary Commission is planning to hold public hearings in Luton on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 November at Luton Town Hall. This is your chance to have your say about what is proposed for the town, the rest of Bedfordshire, and the Commissions proposals more generally.

More details of the Luton hearing are here and more general information here.

I’d noted before that Moran was due to appear last Friday at Southwark Crown Court to face 21 charges of  fiddling her expenses to the tune of around £80,000. In the end she didn’t appear in person but a brief hearing set a provisional trial date for 18 April next year. A further pre trial hearing will be held in December.

So Luton Culture is having to deal with difficult cuts in funding from the different bodies that provide our resources. We will be losing significant revenue from the Arts Council and the Renaissance in the Regions scheme which directly funds parts of the museum service. On top of that we have also been expecting cuts in the funding that we get from Luton Borough Council and over the past year have been deep in conversation with the Council about what these will be.

So I was very interested in the report that went to the Council’s Executive on the 3rd October that outlined four proposals for savings that the Council will begin consulting the public on. I’ve made the report available here as it gives a good summary of the financial challenges that Luton Culture faces and the steps we’ve already taken to deal with them.

The four savings proposals are:

• Closure of Wardown Park Museum on weekdays during term time for general public visits excluding pre booked tours from April 2012
• Move Fireworks to Stopsley Common as a pilot for 2012 and charge for parking at the new sports centre site to reduce the subsidy of the event
• Cease Summer Festival in St Georges Square from 2013
• Close John Dony Field Centre, Turners Knoll and Barton Road Museum Stores

None of these are particularly earth shattering and they are all ideas for saving money that Luton Culture have discussed with the Council. So I am not writing this with any sense of outrage.

However, I do so with some sadness as the proposal to stop putting on the Summer Festival in St George’s Square will mean the end of something that is rather dear to my heart, for reasons I have already written about here.

The Summer Festival has often had to put up with bad weather and sometimes the events put on haven’t worked as well as they might, but it has also had some really successful events, showcased new and often local talent, given people a good time, and added real value to the cultural life of the town. If it does have to stop it will be a shame.

However, what really worries me is that the end of the festival could mean that we stop thinking creatively about using St George’s Square as a venue for events. This would be a real waste of what is a fantastic space for use for cultural activities. Perhaps looking to put on events with commercial sponsorship might be an alternative approach that could be developed?

If you do have anything to say about these four proposals I would encourage you to get in touch with the Council. Do note however, as the report makes clear, the consideration of savings related to Luton’s libraries is excluded from this decision. Discussions about the future funding of our libraries is still ongoing and I expect the Council to start making decisions about this in the next few months.

• More on this from Luton On Sunday: ‘Cuts could hit Luton’s museums‘

You can find out more about this visit on the BIS website and this is how the local media reported it.

On Wednesday the government published the final figures for the amount of the Pupil Premium paid to each school in England in this financial year. Each school is receiving and extra £488 for each child that they have that gets free school meals. This means that the school where I am a governor, the new Downside Primary, is to get £86,376 of funding targeted at those most in need. Across the town as a whole the pupil premium amounts to an extra £3,642,000 for Luton schools.

Not only is the Pupil Premium something that rightly targets resources at areas of social and economic deprivation, so many parts of Luton are doing very well out of it, it is also, as Children’s Minister Sarah Teather MP says, “it’s distinctively Liberal Democrat”.

I thought that Andrew was a little surprised by the colourful carnival dancers. They are not the usual sight at a Liberal Democrat conference! The fringe certainly made an impact and I think those attending enjoyed the experience. I hope that they went away with a little bit of a different perspective on Luton.

Here are some photos of the event:

She is next due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on October 28. There has been no indication whether she will plead guilty or innocent when she does so.

Here are some press reports:

• Ex-Luton MP Margaret Moran in court on expenses charges
• Ex MP Moran heard to cry in court
• Sobbing former MP in court over expenses

The proposed new constituency of Luton South would be made up of the following council wards (all within Luton Borough):

• Barnfield
• Biscot
• Crawley
• Dallow
• Farley
• High Town
• Round Green
• Saints
• South
• Stopsley
• Wigmore

Having looked again at this I will stand by my initial reaction to the proposed new Luton South constituency. If implemented these changes would make Luton South a safer Labour seat. Although it would remain competitive for all three main parties. The Conservatives do lose out though and it becomes harder for them to catch Labour. The Liberal Democrats get a modest boost.

The figures below show the actual result in 2010, the Guardian’s best guess of what the result would have been in 2010 on the new boundaries, and the average vote in each ward in the new constituency at the 2011 local elections. The local election figures were calculated by me and so I apologise if they contain any errors.

The old Luton South (vote at the 2010 General Election):

• Labour 14,725
• Conservative 12,396
• Lib Dem 9,567

The new Luton South (figures from the Guardian DataBlog):

• Labour 18,325
• Conservative 14,532
• Lib Dem 9,977

The new Luton South 2011 local elections (average vote in wards in new boundaries):

• Labour 13,538
• Conservative 6,383
• Lib Dem 8,999

The proposed new constituency of Luton North and Dunstable would be made up of the following council wards:

From Central Bedfordshire:

• Dunstable Downs
• Icknield
• Northfields
• Watling

From Luton:

• Bramingham
• Challney
• Icknield
• Leagrave
• Lewsey
• Limbury
• Northwell
• Sundon Park

Initially I wasn’t sure what to make of a Luton North and Dunstable constituency. Now, having looked at the numbers, the conclusion is pretty clear. If implemented these changes would mean that the proposed new seat would be a highly marginal contest between the Conservatives and Labour.

The figures below show the actual result in 2010, the Guardian’s best guess of what the result would have been in 2010 on the new boundaries, and the average vote in each ward in the new constituency at the 2011 local elections. The local election figures were calculated by me and so I apologise if they contain any errors.

The old Luton North (vote at the 2010 General Election):

• Labour 21,192
• Conservative 13,672
• Lib Dem 4,784

The new Luton North and Dunstable (figures from the Guardian DataBlog):

• Labour 20,325
• Conservative 20,246
• Lib Dem 7,358

The new Luton North and Dunstable 2011 local elections (average vote in wards in new boundaries):

• Labour 12,455
• Conservative 11,328
• Lib Dem 3,441

Note that the Liberal Democrats didn’t stand candidates in some of the wards in the 2011 election so their local election figure is to some extent artificially deflated.

The Love Luton Campaign, the campaign behind Luton’s bid to get city status for the town, has arranged a meeting on the Monday evening (19 September) which they have called “Celebrating DiverCity”. The event will be hosted by my good friend Lord Hussain and will feature performers from the carnival and the mela. Lib Dem equalities minister Lynne Featherstone MP is also down to be present.

This is the first time I am aware of that a specifically Luton event has been held at a party conference. I am all for promoting the town and celebrating the extraordindary richness of our diverse community. The event does sound like fun. Yet, I have to honest and say that I do have reservations about the bid for city status and I am not entirely sure that holding this sort of event is the most effective form of lobbying that can be undertaken on behalf of it. However, I will be going along to the meeting and am prepared to have my doubts confounded. I will report back on this blog!

The Love Luton Campaign: Celebrating DiverCity will be held in the Sonata Room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Brimingham at 20:00 on Monday 19 September.