Eco Town is not over.

It will be two weeks ago tomorrow that I was at Westminster to hear the announcement that Pennbury was not going to be included on the Government's eco-town shortlist.

Soon afterwards I was with protesters who were celebrating outside number 10 Downing Street, having completed one of the largest and most organised opposition campaigns I have ever seen, and I suspect ever seen in Leicestershire.

But their work is still not over. Having spoken to Kevin Feltham at a county council meeting this week, they, Cascet, are still desperate to undermine the Co-op and their proposals to build close to Leicester.

There's just one thing I cannot get over, and that has been the attitude of the city council in this. The tram I can understand was attractive, but the rest? After all that regeneration work they have done?

Eco-towns are a Labour policy, yes, some councillors are Co-op Labour members, but even the Labour Government did not think that much of the proposal, even from day one. The highest grade it ever got was a b/c I think. Keith Vaz and particularly Sir Peter Soulsby have been completely against it, and made that clear.

Now I was told very early on by a very senior councillor, who wouldn't make it up, that members of the city council cabinet were told by the party they had to support it. But I was always surprised at the extent they did. I remember on one occasion, Patrick Kitterick had a real go at Sir Peter Soulsby in the paper, called him something like a "maverick MP" for opposing it.

This has been the third time that the Co-op has tried to develop their farm land, and I suspect that it will not be the last time, in fact, it probably won't ever stop until they can get the result they want. Clearly they have decided that farming is not going to make enough money, or they need to raise some, or both, and housing is what they will try to do. The green plans are admirable, but in my humble opinion, almost impossible to deliver. Cynical I know, but money is the driving force and I just can't understand how they can make the money they want if they reach these standards.

I suspect that they will now try to apply for a smaller scale development, as a sustainable urban extension, using all the research and work they have done in the build up to their failed eco-town bid. No surprise there probably. And if they can sort a tram, then the city will probably back them again.

Clearly the Government's decision was a big blow to the Co-op, but it is clearly not over.

Elections over.

So it is the day after a fascinating election at County Hall, where the Tories did as well as expected and the Labour party's support simply upped and left. They will have four councillors now, compared to 13 before and I wonder if they can ever recover from this in Leicestershire.
My guess is that yes, they will to an extent, it can't really get any worse after all and these things are always in cycles. But for the next four years their influence will be minimal.

Their biggest humiliation was the loss to the BNP in Coalville, and when the result came in there was a sharp intake of breath in the room at County Hall where I was and I'm told boos rang out at the count. Tory leader David Parsons said to me at the time that now that they have a councillor he would work to involve them in the democratic process, which will show them up for what they are.

Nationally the BNP have amongst the worst attendance record at meetings and have been thrown off several councils because of it. It will be interesting to see what happens here and whether we will have a by-election in Coalville before too long.

So the new council will have a new opposition in the Lib Dems, and Simon Galton will be their leader again. Simon is a man who quietly gets on with his business and I am glad he has had some success. He and Kevin Feltham have spearheaded the anti-Pennbury campaign but despite agreements the Tories started to cut him out of photo opportunities and even removed him from existing photos for their campaign literature on his patch, so I am glad he retained his seat. And as for Kevin Feltham, the man sacked from the cabinet two years ago, he romped in with 71 % of the vote, and a massive majority, so his hard work has paid off too.

I've seen the paper this morning online and I have to say I am proud of all the hard work. We had seven reporters at the counts with photographers and me at County Hall. I really wanted to go all out on it and we all did. I'm thrilled.

Anyway, I'm in London with the future wife and off to a birthday party later. So a few drinks, some sleep and then back to Leicester for the Euro count on Sunday.