Stone in Bloom meeting

I have been puzzled for some time about how Stone in Bloom is organised and tonight I had my first opportunity, as a Town Council representative, to see what went at their meetings. Very interesting indeed! In attendance were some well known faces who all clearly have a great amount of enthusiasm for the competition and for the appearance of the town.

A great deal of discussion took place about the judging route and the several important points of interest along the route. Ideas were mooted about how the appearance of town could be further improved and I'm in no doubt that Stone will give the competition its best shot.

But I do have a sense of unease about some apparent apathy on certain issues. For example, when I raised a question about the state of the roundabouts on the A34, I was greeted with the response that 'we've discussed this every year for ages but got nowhere'. When I pressed the point we were informed that Stafford's roundabout are cut 8 times a year but Stone's are only cut 3 times. When I asked why, I was told that "it was something to do with the A34 once having been a trunk road". What sort of answer was that?

When I suggested that the Chairman of Stone in Bloom (a paid employee of Stafford Borough Council) should contact the County Council and demand that Stone should be treated in the same way as Stafford, she announced that she wasn't able "to do any council bashing". Oh dear!

And to rub salt in the wound, she then proceeded to hand out a leaflet just published by the Borough Council entitled 'Park Life - a guide to Parks, Play Areas and Open Spaces in Stafford Borough' - which describes Stonefield Park as being "in a pleasant area of Stone near to the precinct"!!!!!! So watch out for visitors asking their way to the "precinct"! Who writes this rubbish? Probably the same person who drew the map of Stone in the same leaflet! I defy anyone to make any sense of it - the town centre barely exists but we been given some new roads! Take a look at a road which appears to go north from The Coppice!

And Stafford wonder why we get so brassed off with the way Stone is treated.