Keeping the Grand Prix at Silverstone

Cllr Jim Harker, the Conservative leader of Northamptonshire County Council, on a deal to keep the British Grand Prix in their county for the next 17 years.

Few could have imagined that when Giuseppe Farina won the very first race of the modern Formula One World Championship at Silverstone in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, that sixty years later, Northamptonshire would be at the very heart of a world class multi-billion pound motor sport industry.

At the centre of this industry is Silverstone, a circuit which is rightly recognised by many as the home of British Motorsport, and is known worldwide as a favourite of racing drivers and spectators alike. But Silverstone is more than a circuit; it provides a wonderful shop window for the British Motorsport industry to an estimated 600 million television viewers across the globe.

As a county, we are very proud to have such a world famous circuit, on our doorstep and the announcement that Silverstone had secured a deal to hold the British Grand Prix event for 17 years was very welcome given our links to motorsport and high performance engineering.

Recession boosts Blackpool

The recession, at least in terms of tourism, has been counterintuitive so far as Blackpool is concerned. Business has been booming in the city as people choose domestic tourism to save money. Blackpool Council estimate there will be 12 million visits this year compared to 10 million last year.

As well as the illuminations there has has also been a advertising campaign to promote European beach Volleyball and the World Fireworks Championship. In 2011 work starts on a major redevelopment scheme called the Talbot Gateway project on a site near Blackpool North station. The £220 million scheme will involve new hotels, restaurants, shops and offices.

Will it all be enough for the Conservatives to come back for our Party Conferences?

Standpoint magazine attacks Brighton

The new issue of Standpoint includes the following comments by Peter Whittle about Brighton:

Brighton. Shouldn't a visit to our most famous southern seaside resort, with its Pavilion and Theatre, be a harmless day out? If your idea of fun is an eternal Camden Market, then maybe. It is rather as if somebody tipped the 1970s on their side and everybody who rolled off ended up here. Achingly alternative, with a fair amount of New Age-ism around the edges, it feels as if it's in the middle of a perpetual student union meeting — a real city of lost causes. The seafront was mugged by some of the worst modern architecture ever inflicted on a small town. On a recent trip, I saw more tattoos and nose-rings in one day than in a year in London, a sure sign that the egocentric but talentless have come to rest here having fled the capital. How Julie Burchill tolerates it is a mystery. Antidote:Aldeburgh.

I am writing to Cllr Mary Mears, the Conservative leader of Brighton and Hove Council and Cllr Roger Warren and Cllr Marianne Fellowes, who represent the Aldeburgh Ward on Suffolk Coastal Council, inviting their reactions.