British Sugar Site – Update

Apart from the two giant cooling towers which remain intact, the site has been levelled, producing thousands of tons of brick and rubble. There is currently no planning application to develop this huge site in Kidderminster for employment and economic development.
I would like to see, as would Labour County Councillor Paul Mills, a development plan for hi-tech jobs on the site. Advantage West Midlands should be involved in the development, linking the County and District Councils on matters of High ways and the Environment. The site owners are Isle of Man based and the company name is the Sildara Trust (Oaktree in Gaelic)

Collecting signatures for Palliative Care Bed Unit at Kidderminster Hospital

My Petition for a Palliative Care Bed Unit at Kidderminster Hospital is going very well with 600 signatures collected already.

I will be in our three towns during April, collecting signatures for the Petition on the following dates between 11am and 12 noon.

Saturday 5th April outside Kidderminster Town Hall

Saturday 12th April outside the Housing Office, Old Post Office, Stourport

Saturday 19th April outside Bewdley Town Hall

You can sign the Petition online Kidderminster Hospital Petition

Making Kids and Parents Face Responsibility For Their Behaviour

A thousand of the most challenging young people in England will be targeted for non-negotiable intervention as part of a drive to prevent future antisocial behaviour.

Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Children’s Secretary, unveiled the new approach as part of the Youth Taskforce Action Plan which will spend £218.5 million in the following three areas:

• Tough enforcement where behaviour is unacceptable or illegal;
• Non-negotiable support to address the underlying causes of poor behaviour;
• Better prevention to tackle problems before they become serious and entrenched, and to prevent problems arising in the first place.

The Children’s Secretary said: “It is right that our first priority has been to put in place legislation to stop antisocial behaviour in its tracks to bring respite to communities. The Action Plan will go further to tackle antisocial behaviour by making sure we take strong actions to tackle the underlying causes such as substance misuse and family breakdown.

“Recognising these problems doesn’t condone bad behaviour – nor is help a soft option. In the end where young people and families don’t accept help to change their behaviour then the right thing to do is to use Antisocial Behaviour Orders and Individual Support Orders.”

The action plan builds on the work of the Respect Taskforce by focusing on early intervention and prevention alongside enforcement.

Young people will have to agree to a contract and will receive an assertive key worker to help them confront the causes for their bad behaviour. For example if substance misuse is a cause, they will receive drug treatment.

The support provided by the action plan is non-negotiable and if young people don’t take their help, enforcement measures such as Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Individual Support Orders will be used.

Ed Balls added: “Communities want lasting improvements and that means not only stopping bad behaviour when it occurs but also changing it and intervening early to stop bad behaviour spiralling into future offending. That is also why we are investing record sums in positive activities for young people to make sure they have places to go and things to do at weekends and in the evenings.”

Cancer Research UK – NHS

Good News! I believe! Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health are instigating a programme of radical cancer treatments for NHS patients. Barts Hospital in London appears to be leading or co-ordinating the programme. Apparently, whereas it is usual for anti-cancer drugs to be tested for a period of ten years or so, the new, radical approach takes place over about five years.
What is the angle on this? Patients with no other option to preserve their lives can opt to undergo the new drug treatments on a radical, experimental basis. The results of successful drugs are networked amongst the 19 participating hospitals, as are the results of the unsuccessful ones.
Lives are apparently being preserved and I fully support this NHS – cancer partnership programme. (My source for this article was taken entirely from Sky News at 9am on Good Friday  2008). 

Radiotherapy  Unit for Kidderminster Hospital – update

I have written again to the Worcestershire  NHS Trusts asking for an explanation why no one advocated Kidderminster as the site for the Radiotherapy Unit (except myself and 6,000 signatories). It is not correct to state, as Trust spokespeople have suggested, that the Unit has to be sited at a General Hospital.

Labour Keeps the Economy Sound

Labour refuses to become reckless with the economy with tax cuts and allowing interest rate cuts that cannot be sustained.

The Tories gave us economic disaster in the 1980s and 1990s with tax cuts, huge levels of unemployment and devaluation of the pound.

Labour is committed to a strong British pound and a strong British Economy.

The Treasury has recently announced that unemployment has fallen by 32,000 on its Febrary level. Inflation is a consistent 2.5% with scope for further reduction, there is 0.6% growth in GDP. Interest rates have been cut twice in recent months with more cuts on the way.

The Treasury and Bank of England under Labour have acted to protect savers and people with mortgages from the global banking crisis

Average earnings are growing at just over 3% per year. With low inflation, this means living standards in Britain are rising.

Only Labour can effectively manage the economy and protect jobs and business in Wyre Forest.

DON’T SEND WYRE FOREST BACK TO THE TORY ECONOMIC RUINS OF THE 1980′S AND 1990′S

The first Anniversary of the death of John Gretton, 15th March 2008

Everyone who knew John acknowledged his zest for life and his eternally optimistic nature (and his sense of humour – some times wicked). He was a great guy to be with. He was extremely political and committed to the Labour Party.

His campaigning never stopped and he always looked for an edge and an advantage for his and our arguments. He desperately wanted to contest Wolverley as a Labour Candidate to WFDC at the Election in May 2007, but unfortunately his illness precluded his ambition.

John had served on both the District and County Council at the same time I did. I really miss him. He could be great company and was a very bright guy. It always felt good to have him on our side.

During the last few months of his life, John showed extreme personal courage in his conduct and the manner in which he dealt with his terminal illness. I was proud to have been able to help John, taking him to the Millbrook Suite at Kidderminster Hospital, sometimes getting prescriptions and enjoying his company at Frogmore Cottage. He needed a wheelchair for some visits to the hospital, and he was extremely ill but he was so determined to contest the May 2007 Election.

John Gretton loved his family, and was a really genuine friend to many people, including me. I am still very sad that we have lost him. He was an inspiration to me, and I ran the Petition for a Radiotherapy Unit for Kidderminster Hospital as a tribute to him. Six thousand people signed the petition and it seems at least a Radiotherapy Unit will be based at Worcester Royal.
John was adament that Hospice accommodation should be provided in Kidderminster. He admired the MacMillan Nurses and KEMP very much and wanted to see over-night accommodation provided for patients.

Therefore, I have acted on John’s wish and shall now try to get a dedicated Palliative Care Unit based at Kidderminster Hospital, and am again, with the Labour Party, organising a Petition in our three towns.
John would have been the first to have signed it.

Pot Holes – the road to ruin in Wyre Forest

Why has the Conservative Council at County Hall (aided and abetted by the Conservative Councillors in Wyre Forest) let our roads go to rack and ruin?
Hypocritical local Conservatives disclaim any responsibility for the state of our roads, but they control the budgets at County Hall and Wyre Forest Civic Centre.

Labour Government has given both Councils more money year on year, but the Conservatives have failed to maintain our roads to the standard people expect.

Several local Conservative Councillors sit on Worcestershire County Council and Wyre Forest. Conservative propaganda claims money is being used to repair the roads. But recent repairs have often been less than satisfactory. Millions of extra pounds should be spent on road repairs in Wyre Forest, but it seems unlikely that our roads will be brought back to the acceptable condition of some years ago.
Recent pot hole problems have been made worse by the Conservative’s inability to plan major road works in Wyre Forest caused by Severn Trents water main replacement.

Roads were closed off, diversions put in place, water mains renewed amidst the pot hole repair programme and some resurficing work.

Where road surfaces were repaired, the work was often not completed to an acceptable standard. Also, many residents across Wyre Forest were angry that their own roads, often in urgent need of repair, were not repaired!

The programme of work for resurfacing and repair was incomplete and indicated some panic on behalf of Conservative politicians. Local communities were not consulted about the hit and miss repair programme, and the Utility Company was not seen to be working in conjuction with the County Council and its scatter gun approach to road repairs.

A sensible call was made for the County Council and the Utility Companies – Gas, Water, Electric, Telephone, Cable Companies etc, to meet and plan with County Council any major programme of work in Wyre Forest, to involve ordinary County Councillors in the programme of work planning process.The call was ignored!

If you see a pot hole, report it to the Hub and your County Councillor. If your road needs resurfacing, please dothe same. Don’t let the Conservatives escape responsibilty for our estates and other roads being filled with pot holes. They control the budgets, it’s their responsibility to make sure Wyre Forest roads and pavements are safe.

Immigration and ID cards

In 2008, the Labour Government is introducing an Australian – style points system for immigrants and deporting more foreign nationals who break the law.
By 2009, Labour will begin to issue compulsory ID cards to foreign nationals who come to the UK to work or study.
By 2010, new electronic border controls will be counting people in and out of the country.

Increase to National Minimum Wage

Gordon Brown has announced an above inflation increase in the National Minimum Wage(NMW) from £5.52 to £5.73 per hour from October.
The Tories said when NMW was introduced it would cause unemployment. Instead, the Labour Government has created 3 million jobs! The new rate is 60% higher that its introduction by Labour in 1999.
Nearly one million low paid employees – two thirds of them women -  will benefit from the rise.
This increase in the NMW will help the low paid in Wyre Forest. We have a record number of people in work in the Wyre Forest area which is good news for our community.

European Treaty Safeguards Britain’s Interests

Despite the combined efforts of the Tories and their new allies the Liberal Democrats, there will be no referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Such a referendum will be a waste of time and public money which can be better spent on the NHS and schools. We elect MPs in Parliament to make decisions of this nature.

The Lisbon Treaty merely brings together a range of other treaties and makes the EU institutions more democratic. It also strengthens the employment and social rights of the British people and will be good for the British economy.

The Tories, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP are all complaining that the British Parliament needs to uphold its sovereignty and powers. Parliament did just that today by safeguarding the Lisbon Treaty.

Many jobs in Wyre Forest depend directly on exports and trade with our EU partners. Unless we are at the heart of the EU’s decision making, we cannot hope to prosper.

The EU is good for Wyre Forest jobs, good for Wyre Forest business and good for working people and their familes.

The Tories and their pals want to take away your many EU employment and family rights. David Cameron, in one of his few specfic statements, has said that he wants to remove EU employment law rights from Britain. This means no minimum wage, no maximum working week, no paternity rights and no maternity rights.

LABOUR ENSURES THAT THE EU IS WORKING FOR BRITAIN BY BEING AT THE HEART OF THE EU