More about Alan Gloak - County Councillor for Glastonbury

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Alan was only too pleased to be able to put £1,984 from his Community Budget to pay for PCSOs' overtime. He and the rest of the county group are leading a campaign to stop the new Conservative administration cutting the numbers of PCSOs in next year's budget round.

Alan & Jim Mochnacz present a cheque from their Community Budgets to the Glastonbury & Street Exchange

Meeting with Windmill Hill Residents

It was useful for the bus company to put their point of view, e.g. the problems of parked cars on both sides of the road and the cost of damage to their vehicles. The residents in turn voiced their anger at not being fully consulted, which led to a strident but nonetheless good-humoured, debate. It brought home to everyone how vital public transport is to people's lives, even though we live at a time of spiralling car-ownership.

Alan's role as Chairman of the County Council prepares him perfectly for chairing such meetings and making sure all sides' views are aired.

While Alan chaired the meeting, Tessa Munt raised her concerns

Glastonbury Town Council meetings going out Live from May 2008

In February, Glastonbury Radio presented a plan to the local town council, to broadcast LIVE all future council meetings and after a huge majority vote in favour, they were able to confirm that live broadcasts will commence in May with the Mayoral ceremony.

Alan showing that he's still in tune with young people!

The first Tuesday of each month, the full two-hour council meeting will be broadcast live online at www.glastonburyradio.net to a local, national and international audience. There will be no editoring or 'censoring' and no delay in broadcasts. Glastonbury Radio is one of the new generation of online digital radio stations and since it's launch on 31st March last year, has made great strides forward, now getting over 5 million hits a month to its website and a worldwide listening audience.

Councillor Alan Gloak was behind the original move and approached Glastonbury Radio some weeks ago, with a financial donation from his Community Budget. This is a ground-breaking decision by the council, who have allowed themselves to be openly visible to all who tune in and some believe that other councils around the UK will soon follow suit.

At the end of the month, Glastonbury becomes a wireless town, another move towards technological innovation and again, Alan and the town council had a part in making this happen. It means that anyone will be able to access the Internet from most parts of the town centre.

St. Margaret's Hospice Appeal

News of a different kind came in early March, when John White, chairman of the Appeal for St. Margaret's Hospice, was able to announce that they'd achieved the target of £2m. This was achieved from individual personal donors but also from the grants which many county councillors, including Alan, gave from their Community Budgets.