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Ellon
Focus
Fighting for Ellon, Newburgh, Foveran, Ythanbank, Collieston |
Welcome to the Debra pages for Ellon & District Liberal Democrats |
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Cllr Debra Storr  Cllr Isobel Davidson Alison McInnes MSP Malcolm Bruce MP Elspeth Attwooll MEP Aberdeenshire Council Commitee Memberships
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Local Government Committee
Report |
Orrock Public Local InquiryThe Orrock Quarry Public Local Inquiry will all happen very soon. As the councillor who moved the refusal, I get the dubious honour of being the lead for the refusal case. There is a pre-inquiry meeting next week which will discuss the arrangements and timetable and I’ll let people know more then.12 March 2008
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| Scottish
Liberal Democrat Spring Conference For the first time, the BBC has recorded the entire conference and made it available as a webcast. Conference is where Liberal Democrats make policy so come and see us discussing issues as diverse as Higher education, Human trafficking, Taking action to tackle excess packaging, housing and right to buy, and the North Sea oil industry at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7252283.stm 2 March 2008
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| Menie Information I am being asked a lot of questions about what has happenned and what can now happen. Rather than clutter this page I;ve set up a Menie Information Page which I'll update as matters unfold. |
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| Support
for the seven (really 9) who refused Trump Debra Storr has had thousands of emails of support of the decision to ask the Trump organisation to think again about their plans for Menie. Thank you. And there have been some very abusive ones (and fewer well arged one) from supporters of the idea. I am trying to reply to all (except the abusive ones) and will do eventually. I'm giving prioriy to supporters at present. 7th December
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| Incident
at Debra's house Debra would like to thank all thsoe who contacted her after the incident at her home yesterday morning, including George Soriel on behalf of the Trump Organisation. The matter is being very satisfactorily dealt with by the police. Debra
1st December 2007 |
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| First and Second Trump Votes The first Trump/Menie votes were on Tuesday 20th November Formartine Area Committee meeting. There were two votes, first setting a proposal to allow a much reduced scale of development proposed by Cllr Paul Johnston (a golf course not on the SSSI, a hotel and one of the apartment blocks) against an outright refusal, proposed by Debra Storr. Debra voted for the outright refusal. There was then a second vote which pitted the reduced scale proposal against granting the permission. Debra, along with councillors Johnston, Loveday, and Norrie voted for the reduced scale and the other seven councillors voted to grant the full outline planning permission. At Aberdeenshire's Infrastruture Services Committee (ISC) on Thursday 29th November, there were also two votes. The first set an ouright grant against deferring to exclude the area of the SSSI fro the develoment.The committee voted 9 to 5 to protect the SSSI. Then the outright refusal (moved by Cllr Alistair Ross and seconded by Debra) was put against the proposal minus the SSSI. Refuse - Ford, Clark, Humprey, Johnsn, Ross, Storr and Tait. Grant minus the SSSI - Pratt, Cox, Howie, McRae, Millison, Webster - 7-7. Chairman Martin Ford then used his casting vote to reject the applciation. It is now open to Trump to appeal that decision. Debra Storr "Commented, I am pleased at the rejection but hope that the Trump Organisation will come back with a smaller scale proposal, that is more sensitive to the local envionment. I'd urge them to real public engagement before they draw up new proposals. From December 2008 all major application will have to do such an engagement and I'd like to think that the Trump Organisation could lead the way" Debra
1st December 2007 |
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| Child Benefit details - good practise
to protect your accounts. As an IT professional, I am shocked by the carelessness of a government agency with valuable personal data. But I haven't heard much advice about what individuals can do to protect themselves against fraudsters using this data to access bank accounts. The risk is that the collection of data lost includes details that some may have used to form passwords to accounts. Any good IT security officer will advise you to only use passwords that are very difficult to guess and that these should be a combination of letters and numbers and preferably be a mix of upper and lower case. The rule is to not even trust your best friend or spouse. You want a password they can't guess. So don't use names or dates of birth of family members. A good idea is to take two words, preferable unrelated as the base of a password. So I might pick Menie and ankle. to get menieankle. I then could change some of the letters to numbers - say replace i's and l's with 1's and a's with 4's. So I get men1e4nk1e. It's not that difficult if you think about it. Good password systems insist on a mix of letters and numbers and that you use at least one capital letter and one lower case. You can get really tricky about it, you can use a mix of CAPITAL and lowercase letters in an odd way so my example could get even harder to guess, simply by making the last but one letter uppercase - men1e4nK1e. (If your bank doesn't distinguish between upper and lower case, complain!) My firm recommendation is to change any password that relates to any financial transactions to something that is robust. Please do this NOW. Debra
21st November |
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| Congratulations to Collieston Amenties Committee
on their 50th anniversary! Collieston is a small village but it has a very active community. More information is available at http://www.colliestononline.org/. Isobel and I are Trustees af Collieston Habour. The Amenties Committee has arranged a professional survey of the harbour and they, and other groups in the village, have raised funds for the necessary repairs. Debra said "I took on the role of Trustee as I am a frequent user of the harbour, launching my double sea kayak. When I learnt about the necessary repairs and the resignation of the other Trustees, my heart sank. But then I found enormous amounts of goodwill both locally and from the East Grampian Coastal Partnership and a great determination to ensure that the habour is properly maintained. This year's gala raised a record amount and I am sure we can find good solutions not just for the short term but for the long term" Debra
12 October 2007 |
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| Trump at Menie There is a new website on the proposed Trump Development at Menie. The address is www.meniescotland.co.uk. There is a message board there so we hope to read your views - but don't forget, postings there are not formal respresentations so you need to make these too if you want your voice heard. The application may come before the Formatine Area Committee in August - so if you want to be heard, speak now! The Trump Organisation website is at www.trumpgolfscotland.com and you may also be interested in another website on the application at www.menielinks.com The outline application for the golf resort, hotels, apartments and housing itself and details of consultatation responses received can be found at www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/apps/detail.asp?ref_no=APP/2006/4605 Debra
26 June 2007 Update: Since this was written,
www.meniescotland.co.uk has turned into an objector's website . A
supporter's website is linked from the Trump site.
Debra 12 October
2007
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| Openness I'm sure that many of you are as disgusted as I am by MPs seeking to hide details of their expenses from you. This does the reputation of politicians no good. I'm proud to say that no Liberal Democrat MP supported this and that Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tom McNally is leading the moves in the House of Lords to reverse this move. If you'd like to add your voice to the campign to make Labour and Tory MPs to see sense, please go to www.ourcampaign.org.uk/foi Debra
23/05/07 |
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Thank
you!
Debra Storr and
Isobel Davidson were both elected are now form part of your Liberal
Democrat team for Gordon and Aberdeenshire. |
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| Postal Votes 2/5/07 Hundreds of voters across the north east of Scotland are sufferring from the delays in postal votes. Areas with many offshore workers such as Ellon & District are particularly badly hit. Cllr Debra Storr said "It is unfair that people who have planned ahead should be denied the chance to vote and we need to ensure there never will be a repeat of this fiasco." Voters who have not yet received their postal vote should call the Aberdeenshire hotline on 01467 628386. There is still a chance to get ballot papers if they have not arrived and any polling station will accept them up to 10pm on Thursday 3rd May - don't put them in the post as it will be too late. Due to scandals in England, advice to party workers is not to handle postal ballot papers but if you have no other way to get your ballot paper to a polling station on time, please call 07812 116664 and Debra or Isobel will try to assist. |
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| Paddling for the environment 22/4/07  While campaigning in Collieston, Cllr Debra Storr met
Robbie Nicol who is currently two-thirds of the way through an attempt
to paddle round the Cairngorms. Robbie started in Inverness,
starting in an open canoe down the Great Glen into Loch Leven a 6km
portage up to Rannoch and then across to the Tay. Swapping his
open Canadian Canoe for a sea kayak at Dundee, Robbie is
now making his way north. The journey has so far taken three
weeks and
he hopes to be home in Kingussie in another week - weather and wind
permitting.Robbie is making this circumnavigation of the Cairngorms to highlight the relationship between people and the environment. Robbie is deeply concerned by climate change and is keen to see people connect better with their environment. He took the opportunity to lobby Cllr Storr to ensure that the decisons she takes as a politician recognise the value of our environemnt and take appropriate action to protect it against the serious challenges of climate change. Robbie Nicol is keen to encourage everyone to make use of the amazing natural resources we have. "Not everyone will want to undertake the type of journey I am doing , but I do want to encourage everyone to value their surroundings. Please take a little time to see the coast, beaches, woodlands you have. These can not be replaced and we must take action to protect them." Cllr Storr commented "I really welcome input for people like Robbie who want to highlight the value of what we have but recognise that we will need to make some hard choices to protect the essence of our wonderful landscape." Debra Storr is herself a keen kayaker and her kayaking "blog" is at www.debrastorr.org.uk Ellon Advertiser article. |
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| Liberal Democrat leaders visit
Ellon 21/4/07 Scottish Leader and Deputy First Minster, Nicol Stephen and UK leader Ming Campbell came to Ellon in support of Nora Radcliffe's campaign.  Debra Storr, Regional candidate Alison McInnes. Scottish Leader Nicol Stephen, Nora Radcliffe, Uk leader Ming Campbell MP and Isobel Davidson (front row) with Elspeth Campbell and Ed Davey MP behind. Malcolm Bruce MP, Ed Davey MP, and Vince Cable MP along with Nora, Isobel and Debra later spent time talking to local residents in the Castle Road area. Cllr Debra Storr "It is clear that the Liberal Democrats at the hghest levels of the party are committed to continuing LIberal Democrat sucess in Gordon. Isobela dn I are grateful to Ed, Vince and Malcolm for their hard work - it's rare you find three MPs in the same street all committed to getting out the message that the Liberal Democrat team does deliver and will continue to deliver for Ellon." |
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Foveran 20mph zone
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Transport
Minister Tavish Scott joined Gordon MSP Nora Radcliffe and local
councillor Debra to inspect the new 20mph zone at Foveran school on the
A90.