Fridays have got a little bit worse now.  For a few weeks Jayne was working to the same hours as me – finishing at lunchtime on Fridays so we would go out for lunch and have a look around the shops, or pop into the Labour office to wrestle with the computers or stuff envelopes.

Now she has to work Friday afternoons so I am at a bit of a loose end.

This week I went into the office to get some membership lists and catch up on the gossip, went to the cafe for a sausage sandwich and then went to the shops.

While I was there I saw that the council have a display about the Town Centre North redevelopment so I went to see how much it had changed since the early plans which I had some involvement in.

Also I thought it would be good to say hello to James who was manning the display.  James is one of the planning officer, a nice chap, and possibly the tallest local government employee in the borough if not the county.

Unfortunately he was busy being harangued by the public so I could not avoid talking instead to councillor Claire Denham, who is the executive member in charge of planning. She had just finished talking to a couple of shop-workers to whome she was being very friendly – which I am sure is totally unconnected with them working in the Thornton's chocolate shop 🙂

I don't think I have really spoken to Claire before, and much as I hate to admit it she is OK to talk to face-to-face.  She can come across as very strident in council meetings which is where I normally see her.  Still a Tory of course, but quite civilised for all that.

I have mixed feelings about the plans.  In the current version there is a site identified for a new town hall – where Sussex House currently stands.  I can't really imagine that council meetings will be improved by being so  close to so many pubs, but more importantly I can't help feeling that an opportunity has been missed.

I always felt that the council chamber is a vast wasted asset.  Currently it is a really large space but totally fixed on a single purpose and not very well suited for that in the 21st century (Terrible sound system and no facilty for visual aids).  The new chamber will, apparently, be more flexible but I still reckon it would have been better to build a space capable of being a decent conference hall which the council uses for meetings once a month or so, but which can be hired out the rest of the time – which means it would need to be less integrated into the town hall and better able to function independently.

Still, it will seem strange to have the town hall on the site where there were once concerts by Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and the Clash (so I am told).  Now there's a candidate for a blue plaque.