In previous postings I have made regular reference to the pride I have in the strength of our community and the passion I have for returning more influence to us all in East Grinstead. I make no apologies for returning to the theme now.

I was at Armed Day Forces Day last Saturday at East Court, an event the Town Council is proud to facilitate. It links our history of service in this Town to the Armed Forces, notably through the Queen Victoria Hospital with the need for us all to show our support for the continuing excellence and dedication of those who serve our Country today. There was a great turn out and the event goes from strength to strength. I want to thank the Chair of the organisers, Don Cooper, for his superb efforts in making the Day the key part of the Town calendar it has rightly become.

Our coming together at events like Armed Forces Day show how strong we are as a community. Strong communities, like ours, deserve the right to have control of the future. I fully intend to take at face value Communities Minister Grant Schapps’s words that, under the Coalition Government, 'Councils and communities will now be able to shape the development that is appropriate for their own area - ensuring that the people who make these decisions are the people who know our communities best'.

I want us to seize this opportunity and work with our partners in Mid Sussex District Council and West Sussex County Council to make that localism a reality for East Grinstead. That means real engagement on addressing a range of issues such as development, parking, public toilets, youth services and street cleaning. It means real devolution from what is now a plainly inefficent and expensive system of local government.

The Town Council has worked since its creation in 1974 for powers to be returned to the Town. Now is the time for us all to push hard as a strong community.

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James Baldwin
July 2010