Staple Tye ward advisory group met again this afternoon; eight local residents, two council officers and me. A lot of comments about problems raised months ago, that council departments still haven't sorted out; we make a list of outstanding complaints to chase up. Residents rightly comment that it's a bit discouraging to come along month after month, report the same problems and still see nothing happen.

We're rather surprised to hear from one resident that the council refuses to accept completed anti-social behaviour diaries filled in by local people if the information is more than a few weeks old. This seems a bit strange, so that's definitely one to ask the ASB team about.

Another resident reports back on the police meeting he attended; he was very impressed with the new Chief Constable, so let's hope that will mean real progress in getting more police away from their desks and back on our streets.

The chair of the advisory group reports back on the Harlow 2020 conference he attended, and that opens up a discussion about transport - everything from extension of the Central Line to kerb repairs and the traffic lights outside Homebase!

There's a lot of praise for one of the teams putting in new council windows, who the group thinks are doing a great job. And we hear that the townwide tenants' advisory group will be visiting the kitchen warehouse shortly, as part of being consulted about the council's kitchen replacement programme.

The next meeting of the group isn't until 3 January, so - although it feels a bit early - we wish each other a happy Christmas before we leave at 3:30.