Catching Up
October 29th, 2007My apologies for the glaring gap in posting. Things have been predictably hectic over the last two weeks. After the momentous decision of Mr. Brown not to subject us to an October campaign (shame really, because the weather has been rather good), I had a tough decision to make about my legal practice. I have been invited to join a new set of Chambers that will specialise in criminal law, and have accepted. From next week, I shall be a tenant of Apex Chambers, based in Cathedral Road, Cardiff. Our aim is to provide a specialist service in criminal law and regulatory work. There are ten of us, and I am sure that this number will grow in the months and years ahead.
The move will happen next week, which has given me the chance to dispose of years of accumulated papers and other accessories at 30 Park Place. My career seems to change at seven or eight yearly intervals. In any other walk of life, this would be seen as normal. Although moving Chambers has become far more a feature of life at the Bar in the last ten years or so, to set up something new is viewed by many with concern, even hostility.
I was delighted to welcome Theresa Villiers MP, Shadow Transport Secretary, to Swindon last Friday. She was able to see the start of the East Wichel development, and the discussion naturally turned to roads and infrastructure. Swindon is now growing faster than Milton Keynes, with about 2000 new houses per year as opposed to MK’s 1600. The Government has imposed the worrying target of 35,000 new houses in the years ahead, but there is no help for the necessary infrastructure. Madness.
Swindon Council Leader Cllr Rod Bluh (left) and Highways Lead Member Cllr Pete Greenhalgh (right) joined us - much talk of alternatives to the car plus the need for more local power in making choices about transport.
Tomorrow, Wiltshire County Council will be making a decision about Condition 99, which has to be lifted in order to allow any of the planned new homes in the Front Garden to be occupied. I will be working, sadly, but will report back with the help of friends who will be in Trowbridge.
Hasn’t this been a good old fashioned Autumn so far? Leaves slowly turning, clear, crisp days. A marked lack of hoar frost, but otherwise a throwback to when we were very young.
