The council tax revaluation planned for English homes in 2007 is to be delayed until after the next general election, the government has said. Instead, a long running inquiry into local government finance led by Sir Michael Lyons will look at a changing role for town halls.

However, the Labour government has been accused of merely "resetting the clock on a ticking time bomb", after concerns that revaluation would lead to big rises in millions of council tax bills. Local Liberal Democrat leader Chris Millington said:

"Council tax is in a desperate mess, and cancelling revaluation does nothing to change that.

By opting out of meaningful reform, the Government is letting down the millions of pensioners and low paid workers who struggle month after month to pay their council tax bills. Council tax is Britain's most unpopular tax because it is the most unfair. It must be scrapped and replaced with a fair system based on ability to pay."

The last day of conference has arrived, and the highlight as always will be Charles Kennedy's speech. But before that it's the financial appeal.

It's difficult to find new ways of raising money for the party from conference-goers every year, but this time new party treasurer Tim Clement Jones has succeeded. Newly elected young women Liberal Democrat MPs Jo Swinson and Julia Goldsworthy have been given microphone headsets, and they wander among the delegates in the hall answering questions from Tim on the platform about their campaigns, how they felt when they won, the highlights of the General Election campaign and so on. It's a very informal, relaxed event, and we're all very impressed by the confidence, competence and calibre of yet more of the party's new MPs.

Then it's Charles. We hear a major set-piece speech from him at every conference, spring and autumn, and it must be difficult to ring the changes. But this is one of his best speeches yet - clear and passionate and convincing. We all leave on a high - and a feeling that (even) Blackpool was better than we'd expected.

It's a Harlow tradition that our conference representatives meet for breakfast at least once during the week, and today's the day - four of us, plus colleagues Peter and Mike, have a working breakfast at the hotel and discuss our local campaigning plans.

Today's agenda in the hall includes some heavy topics: proposals for reform of the constitution, road pricing and carbon emissions.

But the topic that's raised most interest is a proposal from the party president that in any constituency with more than 10 per cent ethnic minority population, the Liberal Democrats should be required to include at least one person from an ethnic minority in its shortlist for choosing its parliamentary candidate.

There are speeches for and against; I'm not in favour of the proposal, as it seems flawed to me. Ethnic minority candidates should be encouraged and supported to come forward naturally and be selected on their own merits, not used as tokens. It's the same reason why, as a woman parliamentary candidate, I've always opposed all-women shortlists. Several speakers from ethnic minorities make the same point in the debate, and the proposal is defeated.

At lunchtime, I attend a meeting to hear from several different speakers about different ways in which they manage business in their council groups. And in the evening, a fascinating meeting of the party's agents with the Electoral Commission, and MP John Hemming who successfully revealed the extent of organised postal ballot fraud by a number of Labour candidates in Birmingham, resulting in a major court case and a by-election for six Birmingham council seats. (The judge in the case said the evidence of electoral fraud 'would disgrace a banana republic').

Tuesday. The conference agenda for the day includes speeches by Graham Watson MEP, Vincent Cable and Sarah Teather - new to parliament as a result of the Brent East by-election last year, but already a rising star and even being whispered about by some as a possible future leader.

There's a motion to replace the failed Standards Board for England; a debate on the gap in funding for 16-19 education between schools and colleges; and a motion on post offices and the Royal Mail, which conference decides to send back for more work to be done on it.

There's a meeting before dinner being organised by the credit card industry. Are credit card companies lending responsibly? their invitation asks. I go along, and make the point to the (very complacent looking) panel that particularly, though not only, with regard to young people (to whom large amounts of unaffordable debt is promoted very heavily indeed), no, they aren't.

Monday morning is spent preparing for the meeting I'm organising at lunchtime; once that's over I'll be able to relax a little more.

In the hall, there are more speeches, a question and answer session with Charles Kennedy, and motions for debate on Europe, small arms, the Millennium Development Goals, dentistry and mental health.

In the evening, I decide to go to a meeting about mobile phone masts, as it's been a lively issue in my own council ward following the location of the O2 masts on the Latton Bush Centre.

The speakers include Liberal Democrat MPs Evan Harris and Sandra Gidley - before they became MPs, a doctor and a pharmacist respectively - as well as Vivienne Nathanson from the British Medical Association and Mike Dolan from the Mobile Operators Association. It's an interesting debate, with most people agreeing that safety fears have been very much overstated by newspapers which either don't understand, or don't want to understand, the science behind mobile phones. But scientists and the mobile phone industry do have a responsibility to communicate better with local councils, and with local residents.

Tonight the Consumers Association is holding its Champagne Tasting. I don't see why I should resist free champagne, so I go along - and very good it is too. The Consumers Association is there with a serious purpose, however, to promote the work that it's been doing in parliament to secure reform for consumers.

When I get back to my hotel, I find that the silicon sealant is still in the bathroom, exactly where I left it. I pick it up and put it outside in the corridor.

Sunday - and the first day of the conference. My hotel room has been an interesting experience; a large canister of silicon shower sealant left in the bottom of my shower tray, complete with applicator gun and a green scouring cloth. Perhaps they're expecting me to turn my hand to a bit of DIY between events. I take the sealant and applicator out of the shower, and put it on the floor in the bathroom.

The agenda for the day's conference includes consultative sessions on tax, devolution, and children and families. There's an opportunity for the party to 'debrief' on the recent general election; a speech by the party's health spokesman Professor Steve Webb MP, and motions for debate on tax credits and equal pay.

I'm also kept busy making sure the many training sessions for party members are running smoothly (I'm the party's training administrator in my day job, when I'm not being a councillor), and in the evening I've organised a reception for the party's trainers.

In the afternoon, there's a meeting of the Local Government Association Liberal Democrat Group. As a newly elected member of the LGA Scrutiny Panel, I'm part of the Group, so I go along for a very interesting meeting and the opportunity to raise all sorts of local government issues with senior figures from the LGA. The debacle of the new licensing legislation, and worries about the cost to local councils of introducing free bus passes next April, are among them.

After dinner, I catch one of Blackpool's famous trams back to my hotel.

We're off to Blackpool. It's only Saturday, and the Liberal Democrats' party conference doesn't start till tomorrow - but Blackpool is a long way away! Councillors Robert Thurston and Chris Millington, local deputy party agent David Wright and myself are attending conference from Harlow.

It's fourteen years since the Liberal Democrats last held a conference at Blackpool; the place was so bad as a conference venue that the party voted not to go back for at least ten years.

(The Labour Party voted not to go back to Blackpool 'until it improved', and haven't been back yet. The Tories will be there in two weeks' time.)

Having lost so much conference trade over the last decade and a half, it will be interesting to see whether the Blackpool conference industry has pulled itself together.

Local Liberal Democrat leader Chris Millington, along with councillors Ian Jackson and Lorna Spenceley, was among the guests at the Harlow & District Business Awards at the Manor of Groves on Friday 16 September.

Cllr Millington hosted a table at the awards, and helped present the award for customer service, sponsored by Harlow Council.