I am delighted to have been able to grant some of my County Council locality budget to some local organisations. These have included St Albans Organ Theatre, Computer Friendly, Whitecroft Residents Association, Highfield Park Trust and St Albans CVS. Amounts from £250 to £2000 for assistance with a Christmas Fete to a project for a replacement roof.There is not much time left to get your bid in, follow this link  www.hertsdirect.org/localitybudget

Council fights Rail Freight appeal

St Albans District Council is currently defending its decision not to grant planning permission for the Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) at the Public Inquiry.The Inquiry commenced on the 24th November 2009 with the Opening Statements, which can be viewed below, and is scheduled for 16 days. A provisional timetable will be available on this page shortly.

Opening Statements – 24 November 2009

Opening Statements on behalf of the Local Planning Authority (the Council), Helioslough (the appellant) and STRiFE can be viewed below. These statements will have been added to verbally at the Inquiry and can be viewed on the webcast here (please allow 48 hours from the live webcast).Opening Statement on behalf of the Local Planning AuthorityOpening Statement on behalf of HeliosloughOpening Statement on behalf of STRiFE

St Albans District Council has written to postal voters regarding the theft of a laptop containing their personal data.  The following Question and Answers have been provided to assist those people directly affected.  The Council’s help line can be contacted on 01727 819291 or 819294 during office hours.

Questions and Answers

24th November 2009 Updated

What has happened?
The Council is looking into the disappearance of four laptops from its offices in St Peter’s Street, St Albans. The Council is working with the Police and Northgate Information Solutions which manages our IT services, to investigate the matter.

What was on the laptops?
Three of the laptops were new and are understood to hold no personal data. The fourth laptop contained some personal data concerning 14,673 residents who applied to cast their votes by post at the last elections held in the District on 4 June 2009. This consists of names, addresses, dates of birth, signatures and copies of scanned postal vote application forms and postal vote statements, which are used to confirm the identity of postal voters. No financial information was held.

Were details of how I voted at the last election included?
No. No details of the individual votes cast are known by, or held by, the Council.

Was the data protected/encrypted? Is my data safe?
The laptop was password protected and the elections software had a separate username and password, but the data itself was not encrypted. The Council is consulting with the Information Commissioner on next steps on data security.

Why was the data not encrypted?
Following the publication of security guidelines from Government Connect, the Council has invested in encryption software which is being installed on its laptops. As the guidelines relate to laptops that leave Council buildings, priority has been given to these. The laptop containing the election data was used inside the Council’s offices and would have been upgraded with encryption software in due course.

Will it affect my ability to use a postal vote in future?
No. All the data was backed up. Your postal vote will not be affected at the next election and you do not need to reapply.

How do I come off the list to receive a postal vote?
If you would like to remove your postal vote, please telephone  01727 819291 or 819294 during office hours, or write to the Electoral Services Department at St Albans City and District Council, Civic Centre, St Peter’s Street, St Albans AL1 3JE.

When did the laptop go missing?
The internal investigation will aim to pinpoint when the laptops disappeared. The disappearance of the laptop containing the postal voter data was confirmed on 9th November after a search of the Council’s offices.

Where was the laptop located?
The laptop was located in an area of the building which is accessible by electronic security swipe card.

Why was electoral information stored on a laptop?
The postal vote data was stored on a portable computer so that it can be easily used in the election work area within the Council’s offices for postal vote checking at election times.

Will people be receiving compensation for loss of information leading to identify fraud?
If people feel that they have been the subject of identity fraud as a result of this theft, they should contact the Council with evidence of this.

What should people do to protect themselves?
No financial information was stored on the laptop.  But it is sensible for people to be watchful.  If, for example, you are contacted unexpectedly by anyone asking for personal information or are at all suspicious, it is wise not to give out information until you are completely satisfied that it is a genuine enquiry. If you do have concerns you may wish to contact your bank or building society and make them aware of the situation.

What measures will the Council put in place to ensure that data is protected in the future?
The Council is conducting an internal investigation, led by its Head of Internal Audit. This will reveal what further security measures need to be put in place.  In the meantime, the Council has made changes to its operational arrangements and IT security has been stepped up.

What are the internal control requirements and were they followed?
The laptop was in the part of the building protected by electronic swipe card access when it disappeared. The Council’s policy says: “computer equipment is vulnerable to theft, loss or unauthorised access. Always secure laptops and portable equipment when leaving an office unattended.”  We are conducting an internal investigation to find out what happened in the case of this and the other three laptops. 
 
Is my financial information held by the council secure?
The Council is taking further steps to review all our systems to reassure residents of the integrity of our procedures.

As a gesture, why doesn’t the council pay for a credit check service so we can be warned if this information is being used?
The Council is consulting with the Information Commissioner on next steps on data security.

Do I need to contact the police?
No, not unless you have evidence that you have been the subject of identify fraud or have information about the disappearance of Council laptops, in which case the Police can be contacted on 0845 3300 222.

Do I need to contact the Council?
If you would like to speak to the Council in person, you can contact the Council’s team on 01727 819291 or 01727 819294. 
 
So what happens now?
The Electoral Commission and the Information Commissioner’s Office have been informed of the matter. The Chief Executive has ordered an investigation and we are working with the police and Northgate Information Systems, the company that manages the Council’s information technology services, to find out what happened. 

The first stage of this has now been completed and the new road surface is now complete. The rest of Mile House will be completed in 2010.

Hertfordshire Highways will be carrying out resurfacing works to a section of Mile House Lane from Thursday 12^th November, for approximately two days. The section will be from the junction with New Barnes Avenue up to and including the roundabout with Napsbury Lane. Work to the carriageway from New Barnes Avenueto the roundabout will be carried out between 09.30 and 15.30. Work on the roundabout only will be carried out at night for traffic management reasons. No work will take place over the weekend. Advance warning boards with the contact details and works information will be erected before the scheduled start date. The section of Mile House Lane from New Barnes Avenue to New House Park will be resurfaced in the 2010/2011 financial year once existing drainage issues in this section have been resolved. While works are in progress, Mile House Lane will be closed to all through traffic. Access to all properties will still be available but residents may face delays when critical works are underway. For the duration of the works, parking on the carriageway will not be permitted.

Starting at primary school can be a stressful time for parents especially with allocation rules that can be difficult to understand. Rob knows of some parents initially allocated schools they did not want because they made the wrong choices. Rob has spoken to the allocations unit at County Council and officers have agreed to meet small groups, such as pre-school/nursery groups to help parents to make the right choices. The council officers will be contacting Primary Heads and pre-school groups to try and arrange some initial sessions. If they prove they are of value they may be rolled out more extensively.

In the past I have found it can be quite difficult to get Herts Highways to do anything. So I was quite surprised when they did something without being asked.Unfortunately it was repainting the yellow lines in Castle Road, and they had only just been removed. In April this year we got agreement that the lines were now unnecessary and could be taken out. When I enquired at the District Council a few weeks ago I was told that after a delay in getting the equipment on site they had now been removed.It now appears that Herts Highways were doing work in the area saw the remnants of the lines after they had been burnt off so repainted them.  The District Council will now have to spend more money to remove them again.

Herts County Council today approved a consultation document on future waste sites for the county. There are two sites in this division that have been included and therefore residents now have the opportunity to raise objections to them. One site is the area surrounding Brick Knoll Park Road and the other is the North Orbital Trading Estate on Napsbury Lane.

Just because they have been included in the document does not mean that they are likely locations. It is possible though if there no objections that a waste management company could seek to use the land.

Responses can be made in a number of ways:

• electronically using Limehouse online consultation portal;
• electronically via the county Council’s website www.hertsdirect.org.uk;
• via e-mail cdu@hertscc.gov.uk

Good news. At last that there some signs of activity from Herts Highways on road repairs. i will post actual dates as soon as I have them. 

Milehouse Lane 

That length of Mile House Lane, St Albans from its junction with A1081 London Road south westwards and north westwards to its junction with B5378 Napsbury Lane, a distance of approximately 342 metres. The alternative route for northbound traffic will be via:-B5378 Napsbury Lane, Napsbury Lane, A414 North Orbital Road and A1081 London Road
The alternative route for southbound traffic will be via:-A1081 London Road, A414 North Orbital Road, B5378 (Shenley Lane and Napsbury Lane)
It is anticipated that this section of road will be closed between the hours of 9.30am and 3.30pm (Mondays to Fridays inclusive) for up to 3 days, sometime during the period 30 October 2009 and 30 March 2010, when signs are in place.

Cottonmill Lane
That length of Cottonmill Lane, St Albans from its junction with Mile House Lane south westwards for a distance of approximately 530 metres.
The alternative route for traffic will be via:-Cottonmill Lane, Watsons Walk, A1081 London Road and Mile House Lane. It is anticipated that this section of road will be closed between the hours of 8.00pm and 5.00am (Mondays to Fridays inclusive) for up to 2 nights, sometime during the period 30 October 2009 and 30 March 2010, when signs are in place.

Herons Way Spinney is a small woodland located just off Herons Way and The Willows in CunninghamIn January 2008 St Albans City and District Council and the Countryside Management Service introduced a Green Space Action plan for the site.Since the plan was introduced, a new access path linking Herons Way and The Willows, has been constructed in partnership with the probation service and works have been carried out that help improve the bio diversity of the site.St Albans City and District Council and Countryside Management Service would like your views on the proposed changes that could see natural play provision introduced to the site. Though funding is yet to be secured, the Council and Countryside Management Service are actively seeking grant opportunities that could enable the introduction of natural play provision to the site. If you have any comments or questions please email Daniel Flitton (Parks and Green Spaces Officer), alternatively please call 01727 819366The consultation period ends on the 23rd October 2009.