Kidderminster -an excellent venue for a Cabinet Meeting

National newspapers have carried stories in the last few weeks suggesting Prime Minister Gordon Brown seems likely to call his first Cabinet Meeting away from London at a venue to be announced in the Midlands.
Having given serious consideration to this exciting prospect, I would like to suggest that the Cabinet Meeting takes place in Kidderminster Town Hall.  It has a very nice 19th Century Council Chamber with a long history of civic use and grand occasions.Kidderminster itself has a very proud industrial and civic history.
Before and after the Cabinet Meeting, Ministers and Secretaries of State could circulate in the town with the local PPC Nigel Knowles, and meet the people. Time permitting, they could collect Petition signatures for a new Birth Unit at Kidderminster Hospital, oh yes, and for a Radiotherapy Treatment Centre and a Palliative Care Bed Unit.
Cabinet members might also walk around the town to look at the re-development of its commercial centre and the River Stour.
I would explain that a half mile “up river” on Puxton Marsh there is an excellent flood defence system – an earth bund, a sluice gate etc, and when the river floods (Kidderminster has flooded twice since 1945) the waters are stopped from causing havoc in the town centre, and instead flood Puxton Marsh to cause a massive lake.
I would also have to mention next that a Building Company now wishes to build 73 houses on that SSSI Flood Plain against Government advice, but that advice came after the Company had got outline permission. I would then say – “don’t you think you ought to call it in and throw out the application?” So come to Kidderminster with your Cabinet Mr Brown. You will be made very welcome.

No Closures of Post Offices in Wyre Forest

I am strongly opposed to any Post Office closures in Wyre Forest. Whilst  acknowledging the billion pounds each year that the Labour Government puts into the Post Office system I call upon Ministers to work with partners in Local Government, Community Groups and the Private Sector to step into any potential Post Office closure situation to keep them open.

Wolverley Post Office is one example,which has been closed since January because of the illness of the Post Master. It should be opened up again to serve the community. I believe that County and District Councils  should be allowed to get  involved, even Citizens Advice could have a service point there.

In areas where Post Offices might be threatened,  extra services should be put in to help create an extra community facility where people can call in for help on housing, education, health, law and order etc.

I believe that Post Offices are vitally important to local communities and  are too good to lose. They serve pensioners, people needing to use the postal services and those who need to pay bills for services.

I recognise that several Post Offices have been closed over the last 10 years in Wyre Forest, but some had been relocated and kept open, such as the one in Franche which now operates in the Co-op Store.I don’t necessarily object to relocation,as long as the Post Office remains at the centre of the community.

I call on service providers – public and private – to work together to keep our Post Offices open in Wyre Forest.

We need to think about improving all of our services to the public, and be flexible to make the best use of buildings, shops even police premises or education premises, to keep Post Offices local.

Radio 4 – Beyond Westminster with Paul Vickers

Nigel and Jennifer Knowles were interviewed by Paul Vickers  – Radio 4 Reporter recently on community politics, the hospital issue in Kidderminster and Labour’s fight back on issues including health, education and community safety.
Clive Joyce, Shuttle Editor, will also be featured in the programme, as well as other likely lads and lasses.
“I might or might not add to this article after the interview goes out,” says Nigel, “but one way or another we are coming to the end of Single Issue Politics in Wyre Forest”.
“It’s the Labour Party that created the NHS in 1948 and Labour has rebuilt the NHS after 18 years of Tory neglect. I refuse to acknowledge that any other political party (as well as the local one that claims it isn’t) has any claim on the NHS stronger than Labour has”.
The Radio 4 Programme called “Beyond Westminster” goes out on Saturday 23rd August  at 11.02 am.

Lea Castle

There are now seven Worcestershire people remaining at Lea Castle. One person will be moved in September to a hospital in Dudley and another to accomodation in Worcestershire later this month. Also this August, three people will be be moved to Evesham. The remaining two people are being actively considered for accomodation and discussions are on-going with a care provider with a possible move during the next month.

Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership Trust therefore seem likely to be able to provide suitable alternative accomodation for patients at Lea Castle, some of whom have been in residence for many years. However, the parents and families have suffered much stress during this process, and the current site owners – Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Mental Health Trust have not come out of this process with an enhanced reputation. The whole excercise could have been handled better. The staff were also not always given adequate information about the future of their jobs on the  Lea Castle site.

The Lea Castle Action Group was formed to help patients and families. Let’s not forget, we were not able to make contact with some patients without families who were therefore soley dependant on service providers.

Petition for a Birth Unit at Kidderminster Hospital

We have now collected 402 signatures to this petition.There is much public support in Wyre Forest for the Unit to be re-instated at Kidderminster Hospital.
It is difficult to reconcile statements from certain Trust Chiefs not supportive of such a facility at Kidderminster Hospital, with the NHS commitment to provide services for local people which have sufficient support. It’s just not good enough to forward reasons for not providing it at Kidderminster Hospital. It’s not “rocket science”! And yet our women have to go twenty miles to Worcester when a properly staffed Birth Unit could be provided in Kidderminster.