Anna Soubry's August Newsletter

August 5th 2011
Hello again,

 

There is a lot to report back on so please scroll down for:
The threat to our green belt/Police Station changes/Toton Connect update/HS2 coming to Broxtowe?/Phone Hacking/Bombardier/Stapleford Walk In Centre update/Schools news/Celebrating Humber/Supporting Trent Bridge/John Holmes and Radio Nottingham/Forest and the disabled/Toton Trees letter to Minister/Greasley MUGA petition/Attenborough flood defences progress/ my expenses/Surgery dates

One matter of immediate concern are reports in the local media that Nottinghamshire's Chief Constable is proposing a pay rise for her most senior officers. It would be quite wrong for senior police officers in Nottinghamshire to have any pay rise. I am very disappointed that it has even been suggested at a time when first rate experienced officers are being forced to retire and police stations are threatened with closure, all to save costs (see below). I will make further enquiries and urge the Chief Constable to withdraw the proposal which I know at least one of the officers has said he would not accept.

 

 

Please check my web site www.annasoubry.org.uk which I regularly update with news and events throughout the constituency. Please email me if you have an event you would like to advertise.

 

 

Local and national matters seem almost trivial set against the appalling murders of so many young people and other innocent citizens in Norway and the growing famine in the Horn of Africa. The Government has already given £90 million in aid helping to feed many hundreds of thousands of people but the situation gets worse every day particularly in Somalia.  You can read more about the Government's efforts on the International Development (dfid) web site  (click here) and if you haven’t already given then please donate as much as you can via the Disasters Emergency Committee web site just click here. DEC is a partnership of 14 charities, like Oxfam and the Tearfund all of whom do such invaluable work in some of the world’s poorest countries.

 

I am on holiday for two weeks but will be in regular touch with my excellent team in the constituency. On the basis the weather will pick up again I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer.

 

The threat to our green belt

For many years now I have campaigned to protect the green belt in Broxtowe; we are the most densely populated Borough in the county and we need to retain our precious green spaces.  The controlling Labour and Lib Dem group on Broxtowe Borough Council have set a target of over 5,700 new houses and the majority will have to be built on our green belt as we only have a few brown field sites left. Conservative Councillors voted against this target and rightly so in my view. We are not opposed to building new homes in Broxtowe, but not on green belt, so we believe the target should be considerably less.

 

Green belt between Stapleford and Trowell at Fields Farm and the fields at the top of Toton Lane have been identified as suitable for building on. You can read the letter from the Borough Council explaining its reasoning on my web site .www.annasoubry.org.uk The letter is from an officer at the Council; given this is a highly controversial policy determined by Councillors I believe they and not officers should be defending it.  More details are on the Council's web site www.broxtowe.gov.uk and click on the "Core Strategy" icon on the home page. There should have been copies of all documents, at the Borough’s Libraries but a "distribution problem" means they will not arrive until next week. My team will continue to chase this with the Borough Council as I am holiday next week.

The Localism Bill is currently going through Parliament and one of its main planks is to return power to local communities and Council's so they can determine their own housing plans. I am not convinced the Borough Councils decision has the support of the majority of people in Broxtowe. I do believe that if local communities like Toton, Trowell and Stapleford do not want development on their green belt then the Borough Council should abide by the wishes of the people they are meant to represent.

 

The public consultation has begun and ends on Monday October 3rd. You can make your voice known by visiting the Councils web site www.broxtowe.gov.uk and following the links. I will give more details of the campaign to protect our green belt in my next news letter.

 

Police Station Changes

Nottinghamshire Police have recommended the closure of both Stapleford and Kimberley Police stations. The plan is for a new Police contact point in Stapleford with Tesco being the preferred location, though I think the Care Centre is a genuine alternative which should be considered. I have spoken to a number of Councillors about the plans for Stapleford and it seems there is little opposition to the closure of the Police station but of course it’s the views of residents that matter the most so I would very much welcome your comments if you live in Stapleford and please take part in the consultation by sending your comments by email to [email protected]  .
Kimberley is likely to be more controversial. Many people do not want the police station to close though it would mean a new contact point in the Parish Hall and at Nuthall in the Temple Centre which is very much to be welcomed. The plan is for a third contact point at IKEA which would serve Giltbrook.  I think the real concern is the future of Eastwood Police Station and I certainly believe the front counter service must be retained. I have written to the town's MP (Gloria de Piero) asking her to join with me in securing the future of Eastwood police station. I continue to work with Kimberley Town Council and will be making a submission as part of the public consultation. Where ever you live please make your views know by emailing your comments to [email protected]. 

The Town Council were rightly furious they had not been included in the review process and after a number of letters from me to the Chief Constable and the Chair of the Police Authority I believe the Police are now working with elected representatives.

 

Toton Connect

Premiere has increased the frequency of their no. 17 service at peak times and there is now a full hourly 17 service throughout the day.

As users know, the 17 covers part of the old Connect route and some constituents have told me that they find the direct link with Nottingham (via Stapleford or Beeston) useful. There is also the facility to switch to the Premiere Red5 service at West Point to travel to Long Eaton.

I do appreciate that the route does not cover the whole of the former route and this is something I will be discussing with Premiere. We have had difficulty securing a convenient time for everyone to meet up but I’m confident that I will see them in the next few weeks.

 

HS2

The Government has backed plans for a High Speed Rail link (HS1) from London to the West Midlands. It is, to put it mildly, controversial. The next stage of the plan (HS2) would see the line extended to Leeds via Nottingham or rather Greater Nottingham as it is thought the track would link to the city  via either East Midlands Parkway or a new station at Toton Sidings. Broxtowe Borough Council has given all party support to the line coming to Toton. I have made a submission to the consultation in support of HS2 and said a station at Toton with high speed rail links to the capital and other cities could only be of benefit to the constituency, supporting existing business and encouraging new enterprises. It would also benefit a considerable number of rail passengers in Broxtowe!

 

Phone hacking / the future of relationships between the media and the police and the media and politicians.

I spoke in two of the three debates we held in Parliament which you can read either by  clicking here for Hansard or by visiting my web site www.annasoubry.org.uk.

I was one of the first MPs to call for a halt in the process to allow Rupert Murdoch to buy BSkyB, which in the event he withdrew. I also called for a boycott of the News of the World which promptly folded – there is of course no connection! I called for a more rigorous Press Complaints Commission and a more transparent and less “cosy” relationship between politicians and the media and between the media and the police.

I also raised my Private Members Bill which would have provided anonymity to people when arrested. The Government promised tough action and took it in the successful prosecution last week of two newspapers for their disgraceful coverage of the arrest of a Bristol man in connection with the murder of Jo Yeates.  The media never used to name arrested people; now they not only name a suspect before they are charged, but provide a considerable amount of personal detail which too often touches on the salacious and is almost always prejudicial and unnecessary. I also raised the matter in a question to the Prime Minister which you can read  by clicking here for Hansard.
I did a number of TV and radio interviews including Newsnight , Radio 5 Live, Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster and Radio Nottingham.

 

Bombardier

Thank you to everyone who has emailed me to complain about the awarding of the contract to build Thameslink trains going to Seimens and not Bombardier. I very much share the profound disappointment expressed by so many. The Conservative MP for Amber Valley, Nigel Mills secured a debate on the future of train building to which I contributed. You can read the debate in Hansard and again please click here
I would particularly urge you to read Nigel’s speech which really says everything that has to be said. I have spoken to both the Secretary of State, Philip Hammond and the Minister responsible for Trains, Theresa Villiers and have made it clear that there is widespread anger at the decision. In my view the Government must now ensure that the criteria set down by the last Government are changed so that we never again find ourselves in this situation. I think there is also a good argument for bringing forward the Crosslink tender process. It is important to record that Bombardier were set to make redundancies because other contracts had come to an end. Bombardier were due to make that announcement before the news about the tender bid for Thameslink. I continue to work with MP’s in Derbyshire who are campaigning to support Bombardier and explore if there is any way back on this decision.

Stapleford Walk-in Centre

The decision by Notts PCT to close the centre was referred to the Department of Health by Nottinghamshire County Council after the MP for Ashfield (Gloria de Piero) and I addressed them back in April. Unfortunately the panel which looked at the PCT’s decision has decided it does not need to be subject to a full review. However, they have said certain issues raised by us all do need to be addressed before any subsequent changes to the Walk-in Centre are implemented. 

 You can read their report and recommendations by clicking here. 
I have spoken to a number of Councillors from Stapleford; we have agreed to meet up for more formal discussions next month and in the meantime Gloria and I are meeting again with Notts PCT on September 1st.

 

I had a meeting with Dr Kelvin Lim who leads the Nottingham West Consortium and amongst other matters we discussed the Walk-in Centre and how the services it provided can be maintained. We agreed that many people in the Stapleford area want to have access to a nurse out of current GP surgery hours and that more specialised nurses working in our communities can mean fewer trips to the QMC or City. For example, I know many people valued the nurses who could change dressings, something the centre lost some time ago and which I hope can be restored.

 

Alderman White School

Congratulations to everyone at Alderman White on their recent Ofsted report and grading of “good “.  I am very much looking forward to meeting with what will be Year 10 pupils in the new term, from throughout the White Hills Park Federation who contacted me as part of their Citizenship course. The toughest questions always come from school children!

 

Kimberley School

The School has registered an interest in becoming an Academy. This is a matter for the school and the community it serves so well in and around Kimberley. It is rather disturbing that some people have turned this into a political issue including threats of staff going on strike if the school chooses to become an Academy. I very much hope everyone will consider all the arguments free of fear or favour. A good example of the real benefits of Academy status can be found at the George Spencer Academy in Stapleford which goes from strength to strength having been made one of only 100 schools in the country to achieve Teaching School Status.

 

Blue Plaque unveiling
A plaque to commemorate Thomas Humber, founder of the Humber Company  which made bicycles and motorcycles and in later years,  cars,  will be unveiled on the Humber Road frontage of the Dojo Karate Club (formerly the Humber Co. showroom) on Sunday 21st August at 2:15pm. Vintage Humber vehicles will also hopefully be present!
The plaques are part of a collaborative scheme involving the Beeston & District Local History Society, the Beeston and District Civic Society and the Stapleford and District Local History Society.

 

Trent Bridge Video

It was an absolute pleasure to support Notts in their bid to host one of the 2013 Ashes tests at Trent Bridge, by recording a video interview. All the county's MPs took part and we all hope the bid is successful. My family have a long association with Trent Bridge as my mother’s cousin (Jack Baddiley) was a long serving Chairman and President of Notts.

 

Dr. John Holmes and Radio Nottingham

I’ve been a longstanding fan of John Holmes so was delighted when he asked me to choose some discs for his Sunday morning show and have a good long chat. John was still celebrating his doctorate from Nottingham University in recognition of his contribution to broadcasting. Radio Nottingham is a first class local radio station and I have pledged them my support as the BBC decide on the future of local radio stations.

Forester's Access to Football

I have met with two of the volunteers who support people with learning disabilities enabling them to watch Nottingham Forest. In a totally daft move Forest have withdrawn concessions for disabled people but not for over 65’s and students. I have written to Forest’s Chief Executive asking him to reverse this decision which quite rightly has generated adverse publicity for an otherwise excellent club. (I swiftly add that County is also an excellent Club.)

Toton Trees

I think it is fair to say there was widespread disappointment that the re-stocking notice has been altered so the owners do not have to re plant trees unless they have not grown back naturally to the previous density by 2015. Though it is equally fair to say there was considerable relief that the appeal was otherwise unsuccessful. I have written to the Minister who made the decision, Jim Paice as I know a lot of people do feel the owner of the land has escaped rather lightly in all the circumstances. You can read my letter on my web site www.annasoubry.org.uk

Greasley MUGA

I presented the petition signed by over 500 people to Milan Radulovic leader of Broxtowe Borough Council (please visit my web site www.annasoubry.org.uk for the full story). Thank you to everyone who is so keen to keep the Multi Use Games Area open and my thanks to Milan. This is not a party political issue and Milan does not want the MUGA to close. We need to find a solution to the potential noise problem given a statutory notice has been served which cannot be revoked. I have undertaken to bring all parties together once the holidays are over.

Attenborough flood defences

I attended a very positive meeting with the Environment Agency on Monday morning. Work on both sides of the village's flood defences is well on schedule and could be under budget which is all good news. Work on the new route to connect both sides begins in September and will result in a number of trees being felled.  The EA were keen to assure me these were all highlighted on the approved plans but if anyone has any concerns please let me know so I can raise it with the Agency. The full defences should be in place by 2012 though the cricket pitch will not be back in use until 2013 and the football pitches may be even longer out of play.

The EA is also investigating the death of a large number of fish at Church Pond – they have undertaken to report their findings to me.

My expenses
All MP’s expenses are now published on  www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk 
My expenses were £127,514.65p for the twelve months since my election in May 2010. This is £41,000 less than my predeccessor's expenses in 09-10. My expenses includes the salaries of my three full time and one part time worker plus the cost of setting up the office in Chilwell, furnishing it and buying a lot of stationery. So I hope that our running costs will be less in the next twelve months. My expenses include rail fares to London and hotel accomodation. I have now rented a one bedroom flat close to Parliament.

Surgery dates

I see constituents throughout the recess at the constituency office as well as in regular Saturday surgeries. The next is on Saturday August 27th and please contact me if you would like an appointment – we haven’t finalised the venue but the surgery will be between 10 and noon. The surgery on Saturday 10th September is at Stapleford Library please send an email or call the constituency office on 0115 9436507 for an appointment.