By-Election Result:
Liberal Democrat Philip Harknett elected
Philip Harknett - 478 (55%)
Conservative 350 (41%)
UKIP 34 (4%)
TO THE RESIDENTS OF CORFE MULLEN SOUTH WARD
Dear Resident
I would like to thank you for electing me as your Councillor at the bye-election. I am aware that I was not everyone’s choice, but I hope that you will accept my pledge that I will work for everyone within the Ward, irrespective of your political persuasion.
I know that the months ahead will have an effect on all of us, as we find out the true impact of the likely cuts in Public Expenditure. I am keen to hear your views about what you feel are the local priorities for the area. You can do this by one of three ways; writing to me, e-mailing me at pharknett@corfemullenlibdems.org.uk , or by visiting the local surgery in Corfe Mullen Library on the second Saturday of the month.
I ask you to accept that any changes can only happen slowly and in the context of money being available; for that reason some anticipated changes may not happen at all. However, I see my major priority as building a dialogue between us and therefore keeping you in touch with the opportunities for change, as they occur.
Prior to the election, we talked about the Beacon Hill site and the problems that arise from it. I am aware it is a major issue in the area and I will work with you and the Contractor to improve the environmental impact.
Lack of affordable housing and where to put them, are the other big concerns and I will need to understand the different points of view and proposals, before I can give you an informed view. Balancing everyone’s views and the options available will take time and I ask for your patience.
In making my election possible, I thank you for your trust; it is a debt of gratitude I will try hard to repay in the months ahead.
Best wishes
Phil Harknett
By-Election in Corfe Mullen South
Local resident Philip Harknett has been chosen to stand as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the Corfe Mullen by election on July 15th.
About Philip:
• Has lived locally with his wife Rosemary for 28 years and they moved to Corfe Mullen in 1998.
• Is a former Chairman of the Rushcombe First School Governing Body.
• First worked for the NSPCC before spending 35 years with the Probation Service.
• Is committed to Corfe Mullen and is keen to work with local residents.
• Wants to carry on the great work that Stewart Hearn has done for the area.
• Would be a hard working, in touch and approachable local councillor.
“Philip has a great deal of experience and is just the kind of person Corfe Mullen needs to carry on the great work that Stewart Hearn did in Corfe Mullen South,” said Annette Brooke MP. “I have known Philip for almost 30 years and am sure that he will do a great job standing up for Corfe Mullen on East Dorset District Council.”
Phillip’s Priorities for Corfe Mullen South:
1. Safeguarding resident’s interests at Beacon Hill landfill site and pressing for the recycling centre.
2. Improving parking and play provision.
3. Provision of affordable housing for local families.
Dog Control Orders at Corfe Mullen Recreation Ground
The proposal to introduce dogs on leads and exclusion from marked pitches at Corfe Mullen recreation ground has been dropped.
Following public consultations, East Dorset District Council at its meeting at the Allendale Centre on 30th March decided to delegate the decision on whether to introduce dogs on leads and exclusion of dogs from marked pitches to parish and town councils. Corfe Mullen Parish Council at its meeting on 25th May confirmed the recommendation from its Community Services Committee not to introduce these further controls.
Anne Holland said "It is clear that Corfe Mullen Recreation Ground is very popular with dog walkers the majority of whom are very responsible and are careful to clear up after their dogs"
Dog Control Orders to ensure that owners clean up after their dogs and also prohibit dogs from entering fenced children's playgrounds and will be introduced by East Dorset District Council and replace similar existing byelaws. These will be enforced by the Dog Warden who will impose fixed penalty fines for offenders.
“Tip-ical” Tories ignore local views
Conservative East Dorset District Council have ignored the views of over 400 residents, who signed a Lib Dem petition slamming them for selling off facilities at the local Brook Road tip.
The household waste recycling centre at Brook Road is difficult to use. This has been made worse by the District Council selling the adjacent car park.
Over 400 local residents signed a petition against the sale of the Brook Road car park and recycling bins, and asking for better tip facilities. The Conservative Council, however, refused to acknowledge the petition, and have prevented all further discussion of the issue by the District Council. They also dismissed out of hand all criticism of the way that the sale of the site was handled. Despite accepting that the remaining Brook Road site was “inadequate”, they also refused to raise this issue of improving local tip facilities with the County Council as requested by the petition. When it comes to satisfaction with local tips, the recent National Place Survey placed East Dorset a poor 183rd out of 201 authorities nationally, yet the Council so not seem to accept this as an issue. The depleted Brook Road site remains the only facility in East Dorset District.
In the past Poole Borough Council stopped Corfe Mullen residents using the Nuffield. Your Lib Dem County Councillor, Susan Jefferies, persuaded the County Council to introduce a permit scheme and pay for Corfe Mullen residents to use the Nuffield. If this arrangement was to be withdrawn then Corfe Mullen residents would have to use Brook Road.
“This petition has obviously hit a nerve” said Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole. “Councils are elected by the people and have a duty to listen to the views of their voters - even if they do not like what they hear. Rather than trying to sweep this under the carpet, the District Council should be working with their Conservative colleagues on the County Council to provide better facilities; Swanage is getting a new £2 million recycling centre, but East Dorset is being left out. One thing is for certain - if they refuse even to discuss the issue with the County Council, we will get nowhere.”ilities at the local Brook Road tip.
Dog Control Orders
A public meeting will be held by East Dorset District Council at the Allendale Centre in Wimborne on Tuesday 30th March. The meeting is being held to discuss the introduction of Dog Control Orders in the district including those for Corfe Mullen recreation ground.
Recycling changes
East Dorset District Council is making some changes to the recycling collection days and you should shortly receive a letter together with a bag for recycling your batteries.
June 4th Election result:
Corfe Mullen re-elects popular Libdem Susan Jefferies as County Councillor
Thank you to all those who voted for Susan.
The result was declared on Friday afternoon and was as follows:
Susan Jefferies 1,453 votes (43%)
Brian Lane 1,399 votes (41%)
Josephine Evans 554 votes (16%)
Liberal Democrat Hold. Majority 54 Turnout 43%
Crystal clear on the Green Belt
County and District Councils agree to Lib Dem proposals for legal challenge
Councillor Susan Jefferies is so concerned to protect all the Green Belt that she has formally asked the County Council to agree to mount a legal challenge to the Regional Spatial Strategy, when the Secretary of State signs it at the end of June. We are concerned that housing in the Green Belt may be confirmed and after that date there are only six weeks when a legal challenge can be made.
Your Liberal Democrat councillors on East Dorset District Council have already got the council to agree such a challenge. A formal motion was passed unanimously on 20 April.
These motions will ensure that all legal avenues are pursued if the government presses on with development plans. “We wanted to make sure Councils are serious in their opposition to building on the Green Belt” said Councillor Susan Jefferies. After all it must not be forgotten that the current proposals for building in the Green Belt in East Dorset were agreed by Dorset’s Conservative controlled Councils. Tory Dorset County Council even went to the Examination in Public arguing for the 2400 homes in the Green Belt in East Dorset.
Recently a technical report proposing a 5 year land bank for new development was presented to a committee at East Dorset District Council. Your Liberal Democrat councillors did not support this because the document leaves a loop hole whereby Green Belt in the ‘urban extensions’ including Corfe Mullen could be sacrificed in order to save the Green Belt elsewhere in East Dorset.
New chairman for popular Youth Centre
Councillor Susan Jefferies has been elected chairman of Corfe Mullen Youth Centre taking over from Councillor Paul Holland. Susan said, "The centre has been the most popular Youth Club in the area for many years, has a dedicated full time youth leader and is open weekday evenings. It has a very full programme of interesting events for young people and is well supported." Susan has been an active member of the management committee for the last five years.
PACT in Corfe Mullen
Corfe Mullen is very lucky to have a PACT (Partners and Communities Together) panel which meets regularly. Representatives from the schools, councils, Neighbourhood Watch, the Youth Club and the Police are the most frequent attendees.
New Police Officer for Corfe Mullen
This spring we said farewell to PC Paul Mellor who has been our community police officer. During his time in Corfe Mullen he has taken action against poor parking, especially outside the schools, speeding motorists and anti-social behaviour.
PC Stephen Cracknell is our new full time community police officer assisted by our support officer – PCSO Neil Rook. In the Parish Plan residents had requested that we had a full time community police officer plus a community support officer. This was achieved fairly quickly after the Plan was published, although individual officers have changed from time to time.
Crime levels remain low. Anti-social behaviour levels have also dropped, but, now that the better weather is here some is returning especially graffiti. If you see any graffiti on fences, walls, notices etc then please contact the District Council on 886201.
Youth Cafe located
Your local PACT together with the Youth Service has been looking at providing a Youth Café/meeting place. It was an issue raised by young residents through the Parish Plan. PACT member Susan Jefferies said "Having looked at several possible sites, St Nicholas Church has very kindly offered the use of one of its buildings. We hope that the Youth Cafe will be up and running before the end of the summer, it will provide a much needed facility for our young people".
School Crossing success
Cllr Susan Jefferies has just been informed that the crossing on Blandford Road outside Lockyers school will be in place in August ready for the next school year.
The Pelican Crossing was promised after many requests, and finally a petition raised by one parent last year. It was not expected to reach the top of the ‘list’ until next year. A crossing patrol person will be on duty for a time afterwards until the children are used to using the crossing and are not tempted to run across the road elsewhere.
"I am delighted that road safety will be much improved", said Susan.
All change at Corfe Mullen Library
In Corfe Mullen our Library opening hours have been cut from 30 hours a week to 20 hours. The staff report that during the hours they are open they are busier than ever, the same number of visitors and the same amount of work to deal with in two thirds of the time. We are also very sad to lose both our long standing Library staff, we will miss them. However we are very pleased to welcome our new Librarian to Corfe Mullen. We now have a Children’s Centre in our Library. This is available whenever the library is open and is also making full use of the days when the library is closed. Many local people have said that they are pleased to see that our lovely building is being fully utilized. Across Dorset: n Staff numbers are being reduced and redundancies have taken place. n Expensive Self Service machines are being installed reducing the personal touch even further. In Corfe Mullen the Library will be closed from March 16th – 20th to allow the installation to take place. n The cuts in hours all took effect in November, half of Dorset’s libraries are now closed on at least one day, one third are closed on 2 or even 3 days during the week, and evening openings are very restricted. n A further cut in the Book Fund means the shelves are looking emptier. n Charges are being levied for the use of computers. Library opening hours are:
| Monday | 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
| Tuesday | CLOSED |
| Wednesday | 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
| Thursday | CLOSED |
| Friday | 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. |
| Saturday | 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. |
Papering over the cracks
The Tories have finally settled on a Council Tax increase of 3.5%. On the face of it this sounds like good news but this is a blatant election ploy.
The Tories are desperate to stay popular now. However they plan to raise Council Tax by 4.9% next year and 4.5% the year after to catch up.
Their budget does not address any of the financial problems we have been highlighting. They have no plans to reduce expenditure on consultants or public relations. This year this amounted to £2.5 million.
Council Services will not be maintained at their current level.
The small increased budget will not address the problems in Adult Social Care. Dorset is rated among the lowest in England with one star. We are expected to assist people to remain living in their own homes with dignity. The average authority helps three times as many older people as Dorset does.
A slightly increased budget for Children’s Services will address some problems, but there is still a big backlog.
Liberal Democrats would invest in front line services, Adult Social care, Road Maintenance and Child Care Services. We rely on the council providing these important services.
Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole has also expressed concern over the poor financial management of Dorset County Council.
Don’t be fooled !! It will cost you more in the long run -
4.9% next year.
Lib Dems leading the way
Lib Dem Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable won two awards at this year’s Channel 4 Political Awards, taking home the Channel 4 News Political Impact Award for 2009 and the Opposition Politician Award.
Vince faced tough competition in both categories beating the likes of David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Lord Mandleson and Gordon Brown. As a former economics teacher Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, is delighted by this recognition of Vince’s economic foresight and decisiveness and is delighted to welcome Vince to Dorset for his forthcoming visit on July 4th.
East Dorset District Council refuse collection
Due to the weather on 6th February the refuse collection was suspended at 12.15. The areas with missed collections were parts of Corfe Mullen and Wimborne. Crews will be sent out on Monday 9th February to collect the missed refuse sacks.
Dorset County Council - £28 million in Iceland
It has been confirmed that Dorset County Council, the local Fire Authority and the local Police Authority all have cash in Icelandic banks. The Council has £28.1 million invested in six deposits with Landsbanki and its subsidiary, Heritable, made between April and August this year despite signs of financial trouble.
Dorset County Council is controlled by the Conservatives. It also appears that Dorset County Council broke its own rules by investing more than £15m in any one bank; placing £15m in Landsbanki and £13.1m in Heritable, a subsidiary of Landsbanki. While Dorset County Council has been at pains to assure the public that the situation is stable, they have been unable to guarantee that this situation would not affect their budget.
Councils in North and East Dorset, Christchurch, Bournemouth, Poole, and the New Forest have no investments with Icelandic banks. Local Cllr Susan Jefferies commented “North Dorset District Council moved its £14 million investment portfolio away from Iceland two years ago. If they saw it coming why didn’t Dorset County Council?”
QE Cost Increase
The true cost of building a new Queen Elizabeth school has been kept quiet for a long time. Now it has been revealed that costs will be over £50 million with £20 million coming from the local taxpayers. Capital investment in other projects will be affected. Cllr Susan Jefferies commented, ‘QE will be a flagship school but the extra costs could have built another whole school.’
Libdems Secure Free Bus Travel
After continuous pressure from residents and the Liberal Democrats on East Dorset District Council, free concessionary bus travel before 9.30 am is to be reintroduced from 1 December 2008. Thanks to everyone who complained. It’s a pity that common sense did not prevail in the first place.
Save Corfe Mullen's Green Belt
We have had vigorous protests in the village over the threat of 700 houses on our Green Belt. The final responses went to Hazel Blears in October.
In early 2006 Dorset County Council and East Dorset District Council were asked to find places for a lot of additional housing in South East Dorset and one of the suggestions they offered was Corfe Mullen North. They are backing down a little now. In spite of officer advice to the contrary, East Dorset did put forward a number of objections to building in Corfe Mullen’s Green Belt in response to Hazel Blears. Dorset County Council has, at the last minute, put in an objection to any additional housing in the Green Belt – that is additional to the 700 in Corfe Mullen. A passing remark was also made about no building in the Green Belt without improvements in infrastructure. Without explanation this is a very weak statement.
The campaign continues and Dorset MPs, including Annette Brooke, have signed an Early Day Motion, urging Hazel Blears to abandon house building targets for the South West. The MPs also presented a petition at the House of Commons. Housing is needed but local communities should be able to plan for the number of starter homes and social rented housing their community needs and where they should be built.
Another Hole in the Ground
Dorset County Council are looking at extracting sand and gravel from a 70 hectare area near Henbury and Vines Close Farms on the north side of the A31. This would mean 40 lorries in and out onto the A31 every day for 15 years. If this concerns you, write to 'The Team Leader, The Mineral and Waste Team, Dorset County Council, County Hall, Dorchester, DT1 1XJ before 12 December.
Recycling Centre for Corfe Mullen
We are pleased to report that Dorset County Council has granted planning permission for a public recycling area at Beacon Hill landfill site. Building work is due to start in the Spring and the new facilities should be ready by Autumn 2009. The recycling area will not be a County Council-run Civic Amenity site, so, at least to begin with, you will not be able to dispose of some types of waste there. You will be able to take garden waste, scrap metal, wood and cardboard without having to climb steps. There will be a full range of recycling banks for glass and plastic bottles, cans, tetra cartons, paper, etc. This will save many longer journeys to Brook Road, Wimborne and to Nuffield, Poole. This will be a great asset for Corfe Mullen and we are very grateful to SITA for providing such a useful facility.
700 Signatures back Pelican Crossing for Lockyers School
Lisa Holloway, a parent at Lockyers Middle School has collected 700 signatures from local people supporting a request for an automatic Pelican Crossing on the Blandford Road outside Lockyers.
There is a School crossing patrol to help the children across a busy road at school times. In recent years there have been a lot of changes due to retirement and illness. Each time we lose a Patrol person it takes months, sometimes a whole term, to recruit a replacement. An automatic crossing would also benefit all the people who cross the road outside of school times, children who stay on for afternoon clubs, parents taking their children to the Nursery schools at the Youth Club and the Rec, people crossing to the Post Office and youngsters attending the Youth Club in the evenings. Dorset Count Council has done all the surveys, and we are now on ‘the list’ which should mean that we get a crossing by this time next year. Thank you so much to all the 700 people who supported us by signing Lisa’s petition.
Coventry Close
We would like to thank all the people in Coventry Close who took the time to fill in the survey we sent round in the summer. We had a really good response. Everyone is united in agreeing that parking is a real problem around there and nearly all would like more parking areas. Most also agreed that the children need an area away from the road to play. We are planning to have a meeting of all the interested residents.
Poole’s proposed traveller site
Poole Council is proposing a transit site at Merley Park Farm, Willets Road, off the Lake Gates Roundabout just below Lambs Green.
This is on the border with Corfe Mullen and as far as possible from the centre of Poole.
Poole Council failed to consult neighbouring authorities no doubt hoping that it could be resolved before anyone knew. News leaked out and furious local councillors raised the matter at a meeting at Bearwood Communty Centre on 22nd October.
Free bus travel before 9:30 am
After continuous pressure from your local Liberal Democrats, East Dorset District Council is to re-instate free bus travel before 9:30 am.
Those with bus passes and entitled to free bus travel will be able to travel before 9:30 am.
Earlier this year the council said that his would be too costly. Anne Holland for the Liberal Democrats argued that the extra cost would be negligible and was concerned that people with medical appointments, the partially sighted and those with limited services after 9:30 am would suffer. She offered three low cost options all of which were turned down by the council.
The change is proposed to start on 1st December in time for Christmas shopping.
Corfe Mullen biggest group at protest rally
At the protest rally held in Bournemouth square on Sunday 14th September 2008, attended by representitives from Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, by far the largest group were from Corfe Mullen.
Annette Brooke MP started off the rally with a strong and emotive speech supporting the protest against development in the Green Belt especially in Corfe Mullen.
A meeting is to be held at Corfe Mullen Village Hall on Tuesday 30th September at 7:30pm to discuss further action.
Waste at County Hall
Over the last 18 months:
- Expensive report and survey to close 13 libraries. After strong public resistance opening times reduced instead.
- £1.3m found for unnecessary self service machines for every library.
- Another U-turn after plans to close 6 Day Centres withdrawn after strong public resistance.
- Expensive consultants advise on 'Fit for the Future Programme' - £1m spent already, £16m to go,the programme is behind schedule, projected savings reduced.
- Queen Elizabeth re-build £6m over budget so far and taking money from other schools.
- £11m saving from £16m IT programme rapidly vanishing.
- £5m wasted on 'fashionable' Call Centre.
In spite of extra funding Adult Social Care is now rated as one of the worst performing in the country.
Despite massive increases in government funding, Dorset County Council now has extensive debts. When Liberal Democrats were in charge at County Hall the council was debt free and services expanded.
Lorry nuisance
Several years ago a weight restriction was placed on a short stretch (200m) of Wareham Road just north of the entrance to Beacon Hill landfill site. Now more and more lorries are ignoring it and using Corfe Mullen as a short cut between the A350 at ‘Limberlost’ and the A31 at Lake Gates. We will be monitoring the weight restriction with our Community Beat Officer, PC Paul Mellor and reporting offenders to the Police and Dorset Trading Standards.
Buses Return
20 minutes to Poole 10 minutes to Wimborne.
The Wimborne Flyer is now coming through Corfe Mullen every half hour !
Since the day the Wimborne Flyer first ran two years ago we have asked and begged that some of its journeys should include Corfe Mullen and on April 6th the service started.
Dogged determination, lots of letters and persistence by the County Council, your Councillors and the people of Corfe Mullen have finally persuaded Wilts and Dorset to change the route. We must now show their decision was worthwhile by using the bus as much as we can.
The route gives us a fast regular service to Poole, Broadstone and Wimborne as well as a service through the village. Hooray !!
Take the Bus !
Bus Passes
Your councillors are trying to persuade East Dorset District Council to change its mind about enabling people to use their free bus passes before 9.30 am, especially the partially sighted and disabled. If you have been badly affected, please let us know, as evidence of hardship gives us more chance of changing the situation.
Street Lights
Many of you will have noticed the new street lights on Wareham Road and Lockyers Road.
The new lights meet the latest British Standard, being better spaced, using less power, and reducing light pollution.
£31.6 million from the Department of Transport has enabled DCC to start a 25 year maintenance programme and replacing about 70% of the county’s street lights over the next five years.
Beacon Hill Latest
At a recent meeting of the Beacon Hill Quarry Liaison Committee, the landfill operator, SITA, presented plans for a new facility at the site. To comply with new legislation all trade waste brought in must be sorted to extract all recyclable materials, such as wood, metal, green waste and other useful building components, before the residue is land-filled. This processing will take place in a large purpose-built shed to the south of the weighbridge. The building will have a low pitched roof which will be used to harvest rainwater for use on site and will be barely visible from the Wareham Road. As part of their plan, SITA will also provide a Recycling area for public use near to the site entrance. This will have large skips for depositing of garden waste, metal, wood and cardboard set at a lower level to the service road, plus the usual containers for glass, cans, plastic bottles etc. This will not be a full-blown Civic Amenity site like Brook Road, Wimborne or Nuffield, Poole, but it will mean that local residents will not have so far to travel to get rid of certain wastes. If the planning application passes through it’s many stages successfully we will have a user-friendly facility that we have been trying to obtain for many years.
700 New Homes
in Corfe Mullen's Green Belt come a step closer!
Despite the strong arguments put forward by your local representitives at the recent panel hearing, it has been reccomended to the govenment that the proposed 700 homes should be built in Corfe Mullen's Green Belt. The Panel also recommended that a further 1000 homes should be built in East Dorset, some of which could be in Corfe Mullen.
Now the Secretary of State will consider the Panel’s report and publish her changes in the spring. There will be a 12 week public consultation on her proposed changes. We will make strong representation, but to be realistic the Secretary of State is unlikely to reduce the amount of housing proposed.
It is vital that we fight for the infrastructure to support any housing development. This will not be easy as the report suggests some vague improvements such as the need for the A31 to be made a dual carriage way through the conurbation, but there are no timescales and the extra housing is not made dependent on such requirements.
We must also ensure that the local planning process is strong enough to give us the best possible developments that provide some affordable housing, amenities, local road improvements etc.
Black Sacks get the sack
The annual issue of black sacks to residents of East Dorset has been stopped, this has been done to fund the extension of doorstep recycling to rural areas not yet covered by the present scheme. This is required by 2010.
Rubbish collections will carry on as before but residents will be expected to provide their
own black sacks from now on.
Liberal Democrats argued that it should be delayed until the 'brown bin' scheme is introduced to all areas including Corfe Mullen. The brown bin is a small wheelie bin for kitchen, other organic waste and cardboard and has been introduced to some parts of the district.
This is a stealth tax - an increase of £6 on our Council Tax.Rubbish collections
Changing Times
At a recent council meeting it was decided by the controlling Tory group, despite opposition from the Lib Dems, to stop the use of free bus passes before 9.30 am.This is to save £16,684. It will mean those residents who have to travel before 9.30 am having to pay for hospital visits etc. The current spending on lease cars for some officers of the council during 06/ 07 was £83,000. Other authorities such as North Dorset and Salisbury will still offer free travel before
9.30am.
Corfe Mullen Police changes
From Friday 11th January 2008, Corfe Mullen’s policing came under the control of the new Dorset Division (formerly Eastern Div.) having been transferred out of Poole Division. So we say goodbye, good luck and thank you to PC Ross Cleary, who will be returning to Plymouth in due
course, and we say hello and welcome to PC Paul Mellor who is based at the Wimborne Station under the supervision of Sgt. Alan Setchell and Insp. Ernie Henley. At the moment we are without any Police Community Support Officers, but we are hoping that one or more will be in place soon. For the time being any 999 responses will still come from Gravel Hill Station. The non-emergency number and contact for the above officers is still 222222.
At some time in the near future the Police are hoping to arrange a public meeting to introduce PC Mellor alongside the ‘Police and Community Together’ group (P.A.C.T.) and to discuss any current problems we have in the village. If you are interested in attending this meeting, please contact me on 692617 and I will let you know as soon as we have a date, time and venue. In the meantime if you meet PC Mellor around the village, please give him a warm Corfe Mullen welcome.
Sure Start for Corfe Mullen Library
Before Christmas we all had the opportunity to give our views about the future of the
Library in Corfe Mullen in a Survey. However, before the results of this survey have
been analysed the County Council is going ahead with its own plans.
The Library in Corfe Mullen is to be closed for 2 weeks for reorganisation and a bit of refurbishing, starting on Feb 4th and reopening on Feb 18th. The County Council plans for the future of the library include it being closed (as a library) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Children’s Services are intending to use the building for a Sure Start programme on Tuesdays and Thursdays, regardless of the results of the survey.
If this benefits the children of Corfe Mullen then it is a good thing but so far we have been told little of what is involved.