Yesterday, we met with the Mobile Operators Association and various Operator representatives as part of the evidence gathering for the Masts scrutiny committee. Speaking personally, I certainly didn't get all the answers I wanted from them on this issue - and some of the questions were just ignored - for example, a question about the target market for 3G services was not answered, though I think most people can surmise which group it is they are after. We were pointed in the direction of some useful information though - some Market Analysis and information on a review of emissions from Base Stations, both from OFCOM. We should be receiving some more technical information from the NRPB next month, which might help me interpret what the aforementioned emissions statistics actually mean.

Still haven't worked out what the Arthur Balfour posters are all about, though several people have commented and emailed me with information and suggestions. I've found this post today which suggests it's not just a one off - if Balfour was the 33rd Prime Minister, then by my count John Russell was the 15th. What does it all mean?

A busy week so far. Yesterday I spent the entire day in the Council House, with Housing Scrutiny first thing and then the Budget meeting in the afternoon. Once again full Council brings out the worst in some councillors - most notably the Cabinet Member for Leisure, who took offence at being reminded that he had so little respect for his role as Deputy Lord Mayor that he gave it up to take up a Cabinet position. So much offence, in fact that he jumped up and started bellowing across the Chamber, while his wife (and fellow Tory Councillor) was dashing out of her seat - whether to restrain him or encourage him I don't know.

Anyway, the story that matters is that despite a £73.5 million increase in funds from central government for Birmingham, the Tory-Liberal coalition are increasing the Council Tax by 2.8% this year. We proposed 1.5%, and those figures are whats being reported - none of the mostly long winded speeches, explanations and accusations from the coalition are going to be noticed by the people of Birmingham.

A much more interesting meeting was tonight's Erdington District Strategic Partnership. We're getting to the stage now of developing a Community Plan for the District and doing a mapping exercise which will eventually result in community plans tailored to the 15-20 neighbourhoods within the District. Looking at neighbourhoods is fascinating because there are so many different views on what constitutes a neighbourhood, how we define them and how we ensure that residents are involved in this determination and establishing plans on a very local level. Having met councillors from wards who can claim to know all their constituents (though I'm never quite sure if I believe them) one of the challenges for me as a Birmingham councillor is that we have three member wards with maybe 20,000 residents - within an area and a population of that size, problems and needs can't be generalised across the whole ward in many cases, so neighbourhoods are the next step.