December 2007
At this time of the year my thoughts for a Happy - and above all a Drier New Year - go to all those in Gloucester still not yet back in their homes after the floods. Many people would be surprised at how many residents are in this situation. I've met many: in Marlborough Gardens, from Tuffley (one family living in a flat in Wotton, their garage stuffed with toys), including a couple who both served in the last war: another family down Sandhurst lane in their caravan (big, but just not home where the floors and skirting were sodden), and several in Longlevens. There are others from pockets badly hit and even now wrestling with problems.
There is one thing that could be done which would show one of our largest companies had a heart. My plea to the board of Severn Trent is not for compensation (which is what our MP and the Citizen seek). There is too much of the Compensation Culture already in our society already and I do not believe that Severn Trent could have prevented the Mythe treatment plant from being overwhelmed in July. Their response in terms of bottled water and getting the equipment repaired as fast as it was was also good. Nor do I criticise their making a profit. Without profits there would be no further investment in the quality of our water, and the largest shareholders (pension schemes) would suffer too. No - I seek something different: a recognition of principle.
When, through no-one's fault a service is cut off it is morally wrong to continue to charge for that service during that period. If a baker cannot bake bread because of a problem in the bakery people do not pay money as if they were still getting bread. And the same should be true of water. I saw a Severn Trent slogan on a lorry in the summer: 'Your Water - Safe in Our Hands'. Well it wasn't safe in July, and recognition of that to the individuals concerned is the best way to acknowledge that. I recognise that S Trent gave a generous contribution to the Flood Relief Fund. But I believe they should have matched the spirit of the city council: if you weren't living at home (or your water was cut off), you should not be charged for that period. It is not too late for Severn Trent to instate that principle and regain the respect they have had. I believe this would be a fantastic way to start the New Year - wiping the slate clean across homes affected in Gloucestershire. Scrooge would surely nod his head in approval by the end of A Christmas Carol.
November 2007
When it comes to food increasingly we want to know where it comes from. We prefer a chicken from down the road than one flown in from Thailand. And we're lucky to have in Gloucester our own butchers and fishmonger who know the source of all their food. Local, generally, is best.
The same thing is basically true of government. We want to know who's responsible for local decisions. It was good that Gloucestershire's Gold Command was in charge of the flood crisis - drawing on resources from elsewhere as and when needed: but in charge, here and locally accountable.
But we get frustrated when responsibility is unclear. We want to know in Gloucester who is responsible for keeping the brooks that flow through the city clear of rubbish. The current answer - partly the Environment Agency, partly the city council and partly those who own the gardens beside the brooks - is unsatisfactory because no-one has clear responsibility. Who, for example, should build a barrier to catch the rubbish before it blocks the small culvert under the railway line in the Tredworth Cemetery? The government needs to create structures with clear responsibility and local control.
This brings me to our emergency services. In 2006 the government tried to reduce local accountability by regionalising the police force. Luckily they backed down. But they have regionalised the ambulance service and their own report now admits that slower ambulance response times is mostly because of the regionalisation. Services have got worse, not better. Despite this, there is speculation that the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire A&E despatch control may be moved to Avon. Regionalised despatch would mean a further concentration of risk in one centre. Already 999 emergency calls are answered by a team based in Norwich, then the caller is connected to Avon, before computer transfer of the details to the Tri Service Centre and on to the ambulance on the road. Regional despatch would means responsibility for the ambulance service in Gloucestershire would be almost entirely out of local control.
And the same is true of the plans to relocate the control of the Fire and Rescue Service from Gloucester to Taunton. Those in favour believe technology solves all. We all want good technology - but this can be combined with local control and responsibility in units where people, by far the most important resource in an emergency service, can operate most effectively. There is lots of evidence, not least from the floods, that local control works very efficiently and evidence from the ambulance experience that regional control leads to worsening morale and performance.
So I am in no doubt that we should retain responsibility and control for our emergency services here in Gloucester. The Labour government (the relevant minister is Mr Dhanda) has said it wants to see more devolution of power and more local decision making, so it should agree. Mr Dhanda gave a speech in the North East about local is best. But their actions are different from their words. This is the government which has moved control of planning in the city and the county to Exeter: created (and now disbanded) a regional assembly: regionalised our regiment, and created a new regional minister (in Exeter): has regionalised the ambulance service, has tried to regionalise the police force and is now trying to regionalise control of the Fire Service. Unelected and unaccountable regional control is not localism.
So here are my recommendations for a government that really believes in local is best: drop the plan to move control of the Fire Service to Taunton: drop any plans to move ambulance despatch control to Avon: announce publicly that there will be no more regionalisation of the emergency services: increase the funding for local government to spend on the police force: give back responsibility for our planning to the county and the city; and clarify who will keep our brooks clear - and then provide the money to do so. Then we would know that government means what it says, and we can hold our local government and services to account. People would have more reasons to vote in local elections, and good candidates more reason to stand. Increased local responsibility and funding (the two go together) would be good news all round. But promises without funding, and regionalisation dressed up as localism, will not work - and will not be popular. Let's work together for a genuine increase in local control.
August 2007 - Time for the government to act for the recovery of Gloucester’
‘Those extraordinary weeks of the floods will be lifelong memories,’ said Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Gloucester Richard Graham – ‘but right now what matters is for government to provide funds and learn lessons so that we don’t face the same scale of flood crisis again soon’.
The Gloucestershire bred candidate said, ‘Gloucester was magnificent: the blitz spirit of our parents and grandparents returned. We all owe our Police and Fire Services and the armed forces huge thanks, and as a former RAFVR officer it was good to see the RAF involved. Volunteers from all over the city and county supported a Conservative run council effort to get the water distribution going’. ‘One of our councillors abandoned her holidays to help; others who had stayed in Gloucester were joined by volunteer groups, including some that I arranged.’
“All rubbish now collected many thanks for your help Bernie, Wishford Close”
“Thanks for coming here – you were the only one who did and we appreciated it and the sandbags” Marie, Rivermead Close
Immediate recovery funds; increased flood defences; NO more flood plain houses
Richard has strong views on what’s needed: ‘We need money NOW to repair county roads like the collapsed A46. Projects in Gloucester are being held up – some, like Meadowside in Quedgeley, are about children’s safety. The £1m we’ve had for schools and £600,000 for the city council are welcome – but they’re both a drop in the Severn. £50m is the estimated floods bill! The Flood Relief Fund has so far raised more than the government has given the city council.’
Richard, a former diplomat who worked with Geoffrey Howe and Douglas Hurd on overseas projects, says the key to success is the speed of response. ‘Gordon Brown’s commitment to increase flood defence spending sounds good – but nothing will happen before 2011, and last year the government cut spending, despite expert concerns. Our MP should be fighting to improve this. Floods aren’t going to wait for Mr Brown’s budget in 2011.’
Reduced water bills?
Residents have asked Richard if the government appointed water regulator could insist on relief from water bills by Severn Trent to homes which were cut off from water. Richard replied that ‘since the Conservative run city council has offered tax relief to the most affected houses, surely Severn Trent can do the same? I have written to Severn Trent about it.’
Fire Service Control MUST stay in Gloucester.
Within days of our County Fire Service winning praise for their work during the floods crisis, the Labour MP for Gloucester and new Fire Minister called for control of the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service to be moved to Taunton. In 2004 he called the Tri Service arrangements the best in the country: now he plans to take away local control. The Citizen’s leader article condemned the plans, saying: “It simply must not happenand the government needs to change course.” The Bishop of Gloucester has also talked publicly about the ‘folly’ of regionalisation.
Richard said, ‘When I took David Cameron to meet the Emergency Services’ chiefs he made it clear that local Fire Control has his full support. I encouraged the Council leaders to sign the cross party petition against the proposed move to Taunton, and almost 1,000 people signed the petition on our stand at the Barton Fayre. It is extraordinary that our MP criticises the service that has served the city so well. The only reason for this plan is Labour’s obsession with regionalisation.’ If you agree that control of the Fire Service control should stay in Gloucester please sign this petition and return it to me at FREEPOST RRHC-EJHT-SYYX, Gloucester Conservatives, Gloucester GL3 4AD
July 2007 - Gloucester under water
It is almost unbelievable that people can still believe climate change is not for real when they see this sort of photo. The events of last weekend have surely spelt out that we are living in a period of rapid, and alarming, change.
Last Friday I walked to a series of meetings in the city centre and by mid morning had to use wellington boots instead of shoes. By midday the water was over the wheels of my car in Park St and seagulls were swimming across the Glos Wingets cricket pitch. The caravans arriving in the park for the Carnival looked optimistic.
By the evening Southgate St junction with Cole Avenue was closed and the first abandoned cars would anyway have made it hard to get past the old Morelands factory. Back to Metz Way and a long queue to join Eastern Avenue, made worse by a car that had wrapped itself around a lamppost on the crossroads. After a long detour round Abbeymead, Matson and Robinswood I got through to Quedgeley after the Bristol Road had reopened at about 9.30pm – two hours after leaving Brunswick Road. The M5 and every west east road was completely blocked that night, with people staying with anyone they knew nearby.
On Saturday morning I went to Wishford Place off Manor Park by Nine Elms Road, where the worst of the flooding in Elmbridge was. It was an extraordinary scene. The brook had broken by number 6 and Sept round the corner into Manor Park. Older residents could remember the problems of 1969, and some evn 1947 before this development was built. What a spirit of wartime pulling together. Everyone helping each other. An old lady put up in a house opposite after her house was flooded out. Three generations of one family sweeping mud from their grandmother’s house. Three children of on elderly couple taking up sodden carpets, Someone else with a tray of coffee for those flooded. Groups stopping to have tea together outside. People advising each other on how to handle insurance. Social care being rung to help an elderly evacuee. And suddenly you saw how it must have been in the war, everyone united in times of trouble.
I was there partly to see what help people needed and partly to understand what the impact might be if the brook broke its banks again. It was easy to sympathise - we had bad floods at home too, but mostly outside in the garden and sheds, not much inside. I felt the most useful thing would be a skip once the worst was over, principally to take away the vast amount of carpet and underlay that needed to be thrown. This was quicklyaccepted by the City Council as a good idea, with the only caveat of other more serious crises overwhelming them.
Some people were moving out, and the smell from sodden and rotting carpets will take a while to get rid of.
As I write there are still over 100,000 people currently (ironically) without water, and 20,000 currently without power. All around the county any visitor can see that climate change is unprecedented – even the floods of1947 were not in the middle of the summer. Right now let’s pray the Severn does not break its banks on the Quays at Gloucester and that the new defences at the power sub station at Walham prevent it being flooded – which would cut power from half a million people’s homes.
So climate change is for real and that the debate is about how to handle its implications, including flooding. When the Severn has subsided we need to look the issue of house insurance in areas recently flooded (Longlevens twice in a month): and how to avoid regional planners from building the Prime Minister’s threemillion new houses on flood plains. There will also be lessons for emergency planning, the sites of and protection of power sub stations and water supplies. And, not least, we will need plans to cope with the problems faced this month if they come in the winter.
These are all serious issues, and we all need to get on and deal with very practical questions.
Meanwhile I will never forget Gloucester's 'blitz spirit' in Elmbridge and elsewhere, tackling the worst floods inGloucestershire for the last 50 years. In some cases (Cypress Gardens, Longlevens) this was the second time in a month they had been flooded out. And yet humour stayed strong. Communities held together well.
I was also impressed by the response from all emergency services, including the fire service and both councils. Short term, the absolute priority is safety – and getting all services functioning again as normal. There are dozens of claims to be assessed and thereafter lots of ruined carpets to be disposed of. Thereafter clearly there the longer term questions the government has to answer, as I’ve outlined above. For now let’s be glad damage hasn’t been worse so far – and pray for the next 48 hours.
April 2007 - A Fairer Deal for Gloucester
Does Gloucester get its fair share of government funding and services? No.
Why not? Because most money is allocated by county, and we are a relataively poor city at the heart of a relatively rich county. ‘Deprived’ areas (ie. mainly large, northern, entirely by coincidence labour voting cities) do better.
Where do we lose out? Health, education and police spend, per head, is towards the bottom of league tables.
Does our Labour MP think this is fair? Ask him. If he thinks it fair, he should not be representing Gloucester. If he thinks it unfair, he should have done something about it over the last 10 years that Labour has been in power.
And what would the Conservatives do? Our health will be based on the age of the population which is the key to health issues. Gloucestershire is relatively old, so will do better than under the current formula.
What about education? We are working on this.
And police? As soon as the conservatives gained control of the county council we funded 60 new policemen and women for the county. We are the party of law and order, where Labour presides over a Home Ministry that doesn’t know what it will even be responsible for with yet another massive restructuring idea. As David Blunkett said: “A day without a new initiative is a day wasted for New Labour’.
March 2007
What makes the difference between a city with a good quality of life from one which has a lower quality of life? The normal answers are tangible - easily measurable physical things like the numbers of restaurants, cinemas, churches, schools and sports clubs. And these are fine as far as they go, like exam results. But they don't, by any means, capture everything. So what other indicators can we look at?
Well here are a few good things we have in Gloucester. We have a City Farm, which has transformed a part of the City and offers young children the chance to understand and work with animals close up. We have a rubgy club which is close to a cross faith religion. We have
greater educational choice than most cities and a superb hospital. we have an active Civic Society which nourishes the visual inheritance and wants to use it constructively. We now have an approach to litter which is close to zero tolerance, and we have neighbourhood projects which really do help when things go wrong. This is not an exhaustive list of boasts, nor are these at the top of everyone's agenda. But they do matter.
Interestingly, as government finances deteriorate and we see more pressure passed down the line to county and city councils, many organisations are trying to become less dependant on government grants and more dependant on their own fund raising. One way is through trying to create revenue streams - whether organic farm food (City Farm) or Made in Matson arts and crafts (Matson Neighbourhood Project). Few want to be government subsidiaries for ever, subject to the vagaries of handouts and government finances. I strongly support the principle of the safety net for the weak and the ladder of opportunity for the able - and I want to help as many groups as possible move to greater independance where it's appropriate.
Standing on our own feet is a great achievement, as children or adults. And not always easy. Sometimes the state HAS to help - and we will need more help for diseases like dementia where an elderly spouse is utterly unequipped to provide 24 specialist nursing for a person changing beyond recogniton before their eyes. As time goes by I want to see government agencies focusing more and more on these parts of society where government funding is critical, like mental health, and less on those areas where fund raising from eg the many charitable trusts and foundations is a genuine alternative. I want to help those in the second camp. It's part of the mission of politics - to make things, at the margin, slightly better. This might mean painting a room, restoring a wall, providing after school clubs with training on something important or introducing a new source of funding to the voluntary organisation.
Whatever it is, you will find more and more conservatives in Gloucester contributing their bit, taking direct responsibility for improving somebody's lives. And if you have a good cause that needs helping, from government or non government sources, do let me know with as much detail as you can find.
February 2007
Where should a Conservative Prospective Parliamentary candidate in Gloucester focus? There are so many things that are frustrating so many people, and not enough space to cover everything here in one go. So this month let me focus on health provision in general - and mental health in particular.
Mental Health Care
It's provided by a local branch of the NHS, known as the Gloucestershire Partnership Trust (GPT). Let's leave the whole business of structure - what does a "Trust' mean in this context? - to one side, including the aspirations of the GPT to become a Foundation Trust. (This is yet another new structure offering, potentially, more money and independence: and certainly involving lots more paperwork and an approval process requiring lots of administration and management jobs)
Mental health care focuses on people suffering from dementia and depression. The bureaucrats call these 'organics' and 'fundamentals', sounding like different shelves of the Tescos veg section. They are not: they are human beings, talented and flawed in different ways like all of us - and one on five of us once over 80 are likely to join those suffering from dementia (or Alzheimers, the commonest type of dementia)
In Gloucester psychiatric treatment and residential care has been provided since 1995 at a custom built unit, Holly House, near Coney Hill. It's a wonderful place and has served Gloucester's sufferers well, as lots of e mails testify.
Last year the GPT was instructed by the NHS to save £9.3m on a budget of £40m in one year. The GPT decided the only way to do this was to cut residential facilities at 3 units (including Holly House) and consolidate in the Charlton Lane, Cheltenham, unit.
The County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) referred this decision to the Health Secretary because it had serious doubts about the impact on the service, the ability of sufferers' families to get access to their relations once in Charlton Lane, the need to consolidate into one site when the previous recommendation had been for two etc
At this stage I decided to intervene. Why? I had been asked by the Chairman of the GPT to become a mermber in 2005. I had done so. I was asked to submit input to their consultation: and I did so, via the HOSC. I have been round Charlton Lane and Weavers Croft in Stroud as well as Holly House. As the son of someone who suffers from dementia I know some of the issues, and in the context of an aging county with an already over the average number of aged, I felt that we needed more, not less, mental health care available.
But I also felt that any petition, and rasing of the profile of mental health care, should not be party political. It should be led by nurses and families of those who suffer, with my role being to help bring people together and organise a protest. So I launched the petition in Eastgate with nursing assistants Carol and Dawn from Holly House, and many of their colleagues: consultant Toby from Wootton Lawn and daughter of a sufferer and Chairman of Alzheimers Society Jean. We did radio and newspaper appeals. We collected 1,500 signatures and more from the online SaveHollyHouse.org website. And we raised awareness that this is a fight everyone should be fighting - to protect our mental health care facilities being cut by this government.
I will carry on publicising this until Mrs Hewitt finally decides whether to help Gloucester and surrounding districts, because this would also benefit many from the Forest or Stroud, or whether the NHS' finances are in such a mess (whatever happened to the £20 billion on the wasted IT project?) that she cuts the psychiatric unit at Holly House.
This would be a tragedy - for all of us today and especially for tomorrow! It would be another sign of disillusionment for many peole and especially those who believed Tony Balir's '24 hours to save the NHS' cry back in 1997. Despite £95 billion of increased funding, this excellent specialist unit may be closed. It is wrong, it is unnecessary and it can be saved by pressure from all of us who care and imaginative thinking from the government.
|
Council