Last night (Thursday 22nd April 2010) was Stockport’s last Full Council of the civic year.  It was the last for councillors Maureen Walsh (independent, formerly Con), Chris Blackburn (LD) and Derek Whitehead (Independent Ratepayers), all of whom are standing down.  Whether it’s the last for another 20 or so of us up for election in 13 days time is down to the voters.

With the second leaders’ debate starting at 8pm, we were hoping for a quick one.  We didn’t quite make it for the start of the debate, but we’ve had much later finishes (and didn’t Nick do well, though in all fairness Cameron and Brown clearly improved a great deal too).

The main topics of the meeting were:

• Presentation on policing in Stockport by Chief Inspector Rebekah Sutcliffe
• Adoption of the new Local Development Framework, which will replace the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) as being the set of rules and guidelines under which we take planning decisions.
• Motion calling for the people of Greater Manchester to be allowed to pay for 104 extra police: would cost 11p/week for Band D council tax payers but blocked by the Government.

Here’s my Twitter feed from the council chamber:

I’m hoping for a short one – there are more exciting debates to be had tonight.

Prayers over, soduko & crosswords out.

mayor telling us what he’s been doing. In official capacity…trips to B&Q not included.

4 people in public gallery – hi there, hope you enjoy the evening.

cllrs bodsworth & white answering public question on how we achieve energy saving targets

chief supt rebekah sutcliffe presenting on policing in stockport.

Haven’t met rebekah before but I’ve heard good things.

Crime falling substantially across stockport, but more to do.

Burglary detection up from 6% to 18% since 2004. Over 45% violent crimes detected.

Impressive crime detection rate of 103% for march. Possible that’s a typo.

Police aiming to get better at spotting & dealing with repeat victimisation.

New police cust service desk calls people back after they’ve reported a crime, gets feedback.

New spotlight unit works with 197 offenders, has seen 36% cut in reoffending levels & big savings.

Now just 1 person in public gallery – hope leaders’ debate gets better viewing figures.

Hi to matt from stockport express – your dedication in reporting dull meetings is appreciated.

excellent q from cllr richard coaton (lab) – when families are evicted, do police monitor them

Chief insp sutcliffe doesn’t know where evicted family went to, but police should monitor.

Cllr whitehead (ind) asks value of electronic tagging (he took out 1st patent on it 40 yrs ago)

No-one has elec tag stats to hand. Cllr whitehead 1,police 0

Cllr porgess (ld) saying stockport police performing well, but vehicle crime is problem.

Expertise that’s improved burglary detection rate now being applied to vehicle crime.

cllr foster-grime makes point of information disguised as question – the excitement may be peaking.

Cllr verdeille (lab) wonders if cllr foster-grime (ld) has cracked vehicle crime single-handed.

Very competent performance from chief insp rebekah sutcliffe.

Local development framework very briefly proposed & seconded.

Cllr leck (con) saying something about woodford. May be very wise, but I’m struggling to hear.

cllr hogg (ld): cllr leck scaremongering on woodford aerodrome – nothing ruled in or out.

Cllr hogg: when lib dems run the country, business confidence will return (laughter all round)

Leader pays tribute to 3 cllrs retiring: chris blackburn (ld), maureen walsh (ex con), derek whitehead (ind)

agma has released extra £3.5m to continue feasibility study for a555 bypass.

Leader hopeful stockport county coming out of administration on 10th May.

1437 new jobs created in stockport 209/10 – target was 500. Unemployment down again too.

Cllr foster-grime (ld) stockport crime lowest for 6 yrs due to partnership working.

Stockport safest place to live in greater manchester, crime down by 16% in last year.

cllr verdeille (lab) & foster-grime (ld) clash over something or other – not quite sure what.

Labservatives thrilled at andrew stunnel getting parking ticket – really getting grip on major issues.

Cllr foster-grime (ld) says she’ll be brief on police funding motion. timers out.

cllr porgess (ld) all parties supported 11p/week on council tax to pay for 104 new police.

…govt blocked it, so we still have too few police in Greater Manchester.

5 min recess to read amendment from cllr peter scott (lab). This had better be good.

Nope, it’s 4 pages of lib dem bashing the daily mail would be proud of. Labour scared.

Labour dropping any attempt at addressing issue in favour of political point scoring. Sad.

cllr bailey (lab) throwing insults across the chamber. Come on, I’ve better things to do.

Cllr Bailey singing praises of gordon brown. That was the high point, now it’s getting silly.

Cllr bailey appears to be admitting failure of lab sentencing policy.

tories abstain on nasty, false lab amendment – enjoy sitting on the the fence guys.
Cllr foster (lab) trying to get most mentions of word ‘panic’ into his speech. Not bad.

and we’re done. Last full council of year, whether it’s my last is up to the voters.