Spring 2006 Westminster from Peter Luff, MP for Mid Worcestershire Report Constituency www.peterluff.org.uk WORCESTERSHIREWORCESTERSHIRE UNDERUNDERTHREAT THREAT Peter Luff says 2006 is the year we have to fight for Worcestershire. “Our county is threatened in two quite different but worrying ways. In my fourteen years as a county MP I have never stopped fighting for a fairer funding deal for our schools, our police, our fire brigade or our social services. In late 2005 I established that our health service also gets an unfair share of national spending on the NHS – which goes a long way to explaining the massive financial problems in our hospitals. ABOVE: Peter with Bromsgrove MP Julie Kirkbride meets “Last year, though, a new front opened up as the Chief Constable Paul West and police authority Chairman government proposed to transfer the management and Paul Deneen at the Commons to discuss merger control of more and more of our local services to proposals. RIGHT: Peter with firefighters and control room staff collecting signatures in Droitwich Spa for a petition Birmingham. We seem to have lost the fight to retain against the regional control room local fire control rooms as the government presses ahead with the creation of a new regional fire control in the West Mercia Constabulary. With one of the biggest Wolverhampton. I will, though, continue to stand police force areas in the country, West Mercia manages shoulder to shoulder with local to be the very best force in England firefighters who rightly say that the or Wales. Yet the government is local knowledge these local control Our county is rushing through a merger without centres have is vital to save lives threatened in two proper Parliamentary scrutiny to and property. quite different but create a regional force based in “Next the government wants to worrying ways Birmingham. There is a world of “ difference between policing inner city abolish our local ambulance service and create a massive new service Birmingham and rural Worcestershire for all the West Midlands. This service will be less and this merger will lead to our police becoming more accountable to local people and when it too abolishes remote from the people they serve. Police officers will local control rooms, as it surely will, people’s lives will be sucked” into the urban areas and we will lose out. be put at risk once more. It’s 90 miles from Broadway “Already we have lost planning policy and in south east Worcestershire to Biddulph in north economic and business support to the region – but Staffordshire and controllers in centralised HQs just our vital public services must be accountable to the won’t know enough about all the communities in people of Worcestershire. In 2006 we must fight hard between to direct ambulances properly. to protect the interests of the County and its rural “But most amazing of all is the proposal to abolish communities.” INSIDE PAGE 2 INSIDE PAGE 3 Community Fighting Hospital World Saved Poverty Want to contact your local MP? See back page for contact details… Westminster Report Peter Luff MP working for you all year round Evesham Community “Welcome to my Sixth Hospital SAVED In October, Peter Luff thanked the people of Evesham, the Vale and the county for their magnificent support Westminster for Evesham Community Hospital which he said “had saved it from destruction.” He was commenting after the decision of the Primary Report” Care Trust not to proceed with a package of cuts that would have closed wards, reduced medical cover and transferred services away from the hospital. Commenting, Peter said, “This was a wonderful example of a community coming together and saying with one voice that a much loved and Dear Constituent, valued local service must not be lost. The 3,000 people rally and the 30,000 signature petition sent an unavoidable The Mid Worcestershire constituency must be one of message to the local NHS that could not be ignored. the most diverse in the UK. From the industrial estates “But this is only a battle won, not the end of the war. Peter Luff with the Mayor of Evesham, Cllr Frances of Droitwich and Hartlebury to the horticulture of the Further changes in the structure of the local NHS will lead Smith and other local campaigners before Vale of Evesham is not so very far geographically, but to further challenges and threats. Even the new proposals presenting the petition to the Prime Minister the issues are many and varied. That is one of the have elements that must cause some concern – and many things that makes being your MP so rewarding reduced “Out of Hours” cover in south Worcestershire is and endlessly fascinating. very worrying. hospital how much we feel for them in all the anguish they I hope this edition of my Westminster Report gives “We must remain watchful, vigilant, and alert. There is went through. They are a great team and I am delighted you a flavour of that variety. The idea is to concentrate still a huge financial problem for the health service in they will remain together to serve local people as well in the here on some of the most important issues facing the Worcestershire. Above all we should say to the staff at the future as they have in the past.” constituency, while in my Annual Report, which you should have received in the autumn, I described how I Peter Luff has shown his support for local shops at have sought to represent you in Parliament and Supporting recent store visits, including one to Badhams’ locally. Waterside Pharmacy in Evesham and another set up My new website – www.peterluff.org.uk – records by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) to all my speeches in the House of Commons and holds Small Business the Spa shop in Blake Avenue, Chawson, Droitwich. all my press releases on local issues. So, if you can’t In Evesham he opened a new consulting room at the find a reference to the subject that concerns or pharmacy, while in Droitwich he was briefed on issues interests you in these pages, then please check the ranging from the Licensing Act, through anti-social website – or write to me at the House of Commons, behaviour to red tape and proposals to reform Sunday London SW1A 0AA. trading hours. Mr Luff, who is also Chairman off the Trade and Industry Select Committee said, “Local stores provide an Happy reading! essential service to the community. Many of my constituents, particularly the elderly and families without cars, rely heavily on their local store for their basic shopping needs.” Peter Luff MP “Well run pharmacies like Badhams can also make an enormous contribution to the NHS by relieving the burden of many routine procedures and by offering medication for many ailments without troubling a doctor. At the Chawson Spa in Peter opens the new Blake Avenue consultation room at “I am very worried, though, that the expansion of the Badhams’ Waterside big supermarkets is threatening the livelihood of small Pharmacy, Evesham shops and suppliers.” Healthy eating at WANDS Peter shares the growing concern about obesity in six weeks old and school age and the children have our young people, so he was delighted to be part of a somewhere to play, learn and succeed. healthy eating campaign at the Pre-school Learning “It was great fun to be part of their healthy eating Alliance’s Neighbourhood Nursery in Westlands, project – the smoothies were delicious!” Droitwich Spa. W.A.N.D.S Neighbourhood Nursery is the first Pre- school Learning Alliance nursery in Worcestershire. The nursery is part of a Sure Start Children’s Centre, which meets the needs of local parents in providing flexible, affordable, high quality daycare that enables them to work or train according to need. The nursery offers young children the chance to learn through play in a stimulating and nurturing environment. It also provides a facility for parents to get to know other people and to drop in for advice and social opportunities. Peter said, “I had the pleasure of opening this nursery. There can be little of greater importance than ensuring every child gets a good start in life by spending time in a secure, warm and creative environment. This nursery will be hugely important for local children.” The nursery offers full daycare five days a week. The Peter tries a delicious setting provides a home from home for children between fruit smoothie at WANDS. ReportWestminster Peter Luff MP working for you all year round DROITWICH CANALS SET Volunteer TO REOPEN and save lives Droitwich MP Peter Luff says that a visit by Residents of the Droitwich and Evesham waterways minister Jim Knight to the town to see the areas have more chance of surviving a canal re-opening project for himself is the final proof heart attack, thanks to a new volunteer that that the scheme is ready to go. scheme set up by Hereford and Worcester Peter met Mr Knight, accompanied by a team from Ambulance Service NHS Trust. British Waterways that included the organisation’s Peter Luff MP joined the Ambulance Service and chairman Tony Hales, at Netherwich Basin in the centre volunteers to launch the Community First of Droitwich. Responder scheme in separate events in both Commenting, Peter said, “I told the minister that this Droitwich and Evesham. Volunteers have received was a classic example of successful project working – training in life saving skills, including the use of a including the local councils, the volunteers, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the regional development portable defibrillator, so anyone suffering from a agency.