Richard on the litter pick with UCC Councillor, Kitty Sams

I recently joined a community litter pick to mark the launch of Cauldwell and Kingsbrook in Bloom 2010.  Local residents constantly tell me that littering is a real annoyance – not only for the ugly blemish on our landscape but also for the cost to local wildlife.

Our council workers do a good job, but there is always a need for local volunteers to spare their own time to help out.  One person who epitomises the volunteering spirit is Kitty Sams.  She is devoted to the community of Cauldwell and is also a hard working member of the Urban Community Council.  I was happy with the amount of rubbish I had collected, but Kitty managed to collect more!

The King’s Arms Project held their biennial “Sleep Out” on Friday to raise awareness of the problems for people who have to sleep rough on our streets here in Bedford and Kempston.  On this topic, as on others, The King’s Arms church is dedicated, knowledgeable, caring and inspiring.  Their leadership is providing help and insight to some of the most disadvantaged in our community. 

In her talk, Ali Inwood, CEO of the King’s Arms Project, mentioned how important it was to recognise that every instance of a person sleeping rough is an individual story, with an individual history of events and circumstances that has led that person to the need to sleep rough.

 The volunteers of King’s Arms make a real, positive impact on people’s lives.  I hope the next Government can encourage them to do even more to help.

Richard with Mark Harper, Shadow Minister for Disabled People and Huggy

I was joined recently by Mark Harper, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, who was visiting the area to learn more about access and other issues for the disabled.

Mark and I toured the Elisabeth Curtis Centre, which runs Riding for the Disabled.  Based in Bromham, the Centre, which is volunteer run, serves the needs of disabled and other special needs children from many areas across our county.

It was a great visit and a chance for me to learn more about the history of the centre and hear some of the stories of success and help from the volunteers.  Mark and I also got to meet a couple of the horses – Chunky and, pictured above, Huggy.

Touring the RSPB’s Sandy Reserve with Tom Fewins and Amanda Crack of the RSPB

Last month, I took the opportunity of the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch to visit the organisation’s headquarters and tour the reserve in Sandy. 

I was able to discuss a wide range of environmental issues with RSPB representatives– from wind farms to agricultural policies to global warming.  

The RSPB plays a vital role in bird conservation and for our environment. With over one million members, 12,000 volunteers and a charitable income of nearly £80million, it is great that they are headquartered in our area.   I hope local councils will continue to encourage our schools to make full use of this great resource and giving kids a great connection with our natural wildlife.

2011 will mark the 50^th anniversary of the move of the RSPB to its headquarters in Sandy.  A great way to mark this milestone is to bring the family to the sanctuary, learn firsthand about the work of the RSPB and maybe make a donation or two to help promote their vital work.

Reviewing the latest crime statistics with Cllr Mingay outside the High Street Bank that was robbed recently

The recent robbery in Bedford’s High Street shows that violent crime remains a real concern for our town. It is alarming that the latest Bedfordshire police figures show that only one in ten serious acquisitive crimes are detected. This is below target and also well below the level that reasonable people have a right to expect. 

The changes to Bedfordshire police budgets are not helping. Policing Luton Airport is a major drain on our Bedfordshire Police resources. We are already under-resourced in Bedfordshire and it is wrong that the Government is proposing to cut funding for policing the airport further – by £380,000 – in next year’s budget. 

I have real concerns about the low detection rates for serious crimes in Bedfordshire and misjudged budget priorities being imposed on our local police service. A Conservative government will reduce paperwork to enable the police to focus on police work – it currently takes over eleven and a half hours to process an arrest – and make police accountable to a local, directly elected individual who will set priorities for policing their local community

Local Conservatives Raised Over £200 for Haiti Appeal

Last Friday, Bedford Conservatives raised over £200 to help the Red Cross work to relieve the suffering in Haiti. 

Many local groups and local people are doing their bit to help out the people of Haiti and I am delighted we could join with these efforts.

To raise funds, a recently released book by local photographer, Darren Marsh, which celebrates the diversity of our local community through a collection of 500 street portraits of random Bedford residents, was auctioned.  Darren’s book reminds us how connected we all are and is a great prompt to action on behalf of the people in Haiti.

For more information about the book by Darren Marsh, visit  www.darrenleemarsh.com

Substance in politics is what really matters but sometimes the tone matters too.  Contrast the opening efforts in the General Election campaign between Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

Gordon Brown and the Labour Party have launched divisive attacks – based on class, on bankers, on those with support hunting.  The tone is one that seeks to deflect blame from the Government’s own failings but also one which seeks to divide the country in to “them” and “us”.

David Cameron meanwhile has recognised that we are all in this economic mess together – that little can be achieved by pulling the country apart, and much can be achieved by working together.  He has reached out to Liberal Democrats in the search for common ground and has praised the ideas on social reform championed by the Labour MP, Frank Field.  Right from the start of his leadership, David Cameron has offered his constructive support for the Government where there is common ground, rather than just opposing for the sake of opposing.

David Cameron’s constructive approach is surely the right one for the country, and Labour’s embrace of the politics of division is surely a reflection of their own despair.

Yesterday, David Cameron launched the Conservative Party’s draft health manifesto, which you can read here, Conservative Party Draft Health Manifesto.  

The draft manifesto has lots of sensible initiatives that will focus money on the provision of healthcare rather than management and process initiatives. 

The draft manifesto also points the way forward to give each of us more power to choose our public health providers, and it does it in a very sensible way, seeing the GP as our guide rather than relying on us as isolated – and, sometimes, ill-informed – “consumers”. 

The key points to me are:

• An independent NHS board to allocate resources and make funding of NHS fairer and less political
• Putting patients in charge of their health choices, but critically seeing the GP as their trusted guide
• Enabling new community providers of health care – broadening choice, but really the main impact will be improving convenience
• Increase single rooms in hospitals to help combat MRSA

David Cameron has signaled his strong commitment to the NHS by placing it first in his list of priorities – a policy that I strongly support.

Richard and Lucy with some of the replies to the Family Health Survey

Last year, over 1000 residents in Bedford and Kempston participated in my survey of local health services and issues – a huge response rate and one that indicates how important the NHS is to us all.

 A summary of some of the findings from the survey is available here, 2009 Health Survey Feedback.  

What was striking to me was the tremendous sense of “ownership” we have for the NHS, and in particular for Bedford Hospital.  Many people wrote about their personal experiences or about those of family or friends.  It was clear that people care very much about the standards of care and the quality of facilities that we have here in Bedford.  We have high expectations and are willing to point out shortcomings, but we are also very willing to share praise. 

I was delighted to be able to meet our hospital Chief Executive to share these findings – both criticism and praise – and also to visit the Putnoe Medical Centre earlier in the year to see the excellent services they offer.

So the Mayor, Executive and now the Council have made the decision to move, now, to a two-tier education system.  We will embark on an expensive overhaul of our soon to be “Upper” schools and an expansion of the size of our Primary schools. 

Putting on one-side the educational merits of two-tier vs three-tier – and on balance, I believe the arguments were in favour of two tier – the decision for a change is a very risky one at this time.  The current government has so severely undermined the economy that there is very little faith that it has the money needed to meet its public funding promises.  When the current period of artificial stimulus is over, and whichever party is in government, there will be a strain on the public finances more severe than any in living memory.  Yet, despite this backdrop, the Mayor has led the decision to ask the Government for more money and foolishly taken them at their word that they have the wherewithal to pay.  I have my doubts. 

I say the Mayor has led this decision because his election was pivotal.  Once the Liberal Democrats won the recent mayoral by-election, the middle schools gooses had been well and truly cooked.  Although all parties split on the decision, Mayor Hodgson came out aggressively pro-two tier in the election, in marked contrast to the Conservative candidate, Parvez Akhtar, who favoured the status quo. 

All the assurances about the availability of finances that have been made by the Labour government are now inherited by the Mayor.  It his upon his assurances that this major upheaval in education is based.  I, for one, would not have taken such a risk with our children’s education, but for all our children’s sake, I wish him luck.