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Flood protection decision now imminent/Royal Mail - your views?/local events

09 March 2009

Hi all,

This week it's an update on the flood protection issue, plus a survey of your views on Royal Mail part-privatisation, plus some local events.

1. Flood protection: decision expected Wednesday

Very many thanks to all those who responded to my survey on flood protection measures, including over 25% of the entire population of Attenborough, reflecting the intense interest that people are taking there in this issue. I've also surveyed opinion in other parts of the flood plain. It seems fairest to separate the two. In Attenborough, support for approval of the proposal as it stands is running at 6-1, while outside Attenborough, where the controversy over the appearance of the proposed wall is less familiar, the margin is 60-1. Those who favour the scheme almost all also favour proceeding rapidly, and think that opponents should accept the decision; those who oppose it almost all disagree, or say it should be left to opponents to decide for themselves without public pressure. The overwhelming majority of replies think it's right that I'm taking an interest in this controversy, though some feel I've not presented the arguments against sufficiently strongly.

Surveys like this are not as precise as opinions polls with random samples, since people who responded are likely to be particularly interested in the subject and to have read my covering letter, which came down in favour of the proposal. However, the margin is too great to be ignored: there appears to be overwhelming support for proceeding.

There have, meanwhile, been further developments. The critic with a legal background who challenged the earlier council brief prepared by council officers, leading to a month's delay in the decision, has, I understand, written again, with a further lengthy list of legal objections to the brief: a key argument, I understand, is that the council should consider whether the likely subsequent hurdles (resolving the village green issue, for instance) make the scheme unattractive, even if it is otherwise acceptable. He has not asked for a further delay, however, and the meeting is expected to go ahead on Wednesday. Critics are proposing that the council should approve the route except for the Attenborough segment.

I had a further lengthy discussion with the Environment Agency, with two important points emerging. The first is that they are willing to continue discussions on the Attenborough stretch even if they do get approval, since they'd prefer to reach consensus if they can - they're willing to have another try at persuading Natural England that something on the edge of the nature reserve might be tolerable, or to discuss other options. But they are desperate to get approval for the scheme as a whole, since that will enable them to start work on it, something which they don't feel will be possible if the committee on Wednesday declines to approve one component of it. (The problem is that if they built a defence with a hole in it and that hole never gets plugged, they would be accused of a colossal waste of money.) Whether this willingness to keep looking at alternatives offers a real likelihood of a result is hard to say. The second point was confirmation that if the proposal was rejected, we could not rely on the funding remaining available, as other areas were putting in strong, uncontested, bids.

What I'd suggest to try to take maximise the chance of consensus is that the Committee should approve the proposal, with a rider on the lines of, "That the EA should continue to seek improvements to the Attenborough Reach proposals in discussions with all concerned, if they will not cause a delay in the project."

2. Royal Mail proposals

I've been studying the Government's proposals for Royal Mail reform, as well as the criticisms by the trade unionists and the more far-reaching privatisation proposals by the Conservative and Liberal Democrats. I've decided to support the union objections, and have signed a motion in Parliament urging the government to reconsider.
I'll try to summarise the arguments here, and then poll you on your views.

a) The problem

It's generally agreed that Royal Mail has problems. The rise in commercial competition, the fall in private letter-writing (by around 5% a year), the constraints imposed by Government (e.g. the 'universal service' requirement to deliver letters every working day anywhere in Britain for the same low price), a lag in adopting new technology for sorting ands delivering internet orders, and a big gap in the pension fund add up to a service under great pressure. It's generally agreed that new investment and new technology are needed as well as changes in working practices.

b) The Government's proposal

Lord Mandelson proposes to allow a private carrier with expertise in modern technology (probably the Dutch firm TNT) to buy a 30% stake in Royal Mail, in return for which they would provide massive new investment and contribute know-how from their highly efficient Dutch operation. The Government would, in return for the prospect of a declining need for public support, eliminate the pension fund deficit over a long period. The legislation would rule out the possibility of the minority partner being able to increase its stake (which means that full privatisation would need fresh legislation) . The Post Office branch network would be unaffected (it's a separate organisation from Royal Mail).

c) Alternative proposals

The Conservative Party favour full privatisation, selling the company on the stock exchange on the lines that the utilities like British Gas were privatised under the previous Conservative government. The Liberal Democrats, as I understand it, propose combining privatisation with reserving a block of shares for employees, to give them a stalke in the business, but removing it from public control.

d) Problems in the proposals

As with other public services, it's hard to reconcile the need for profit with the public ethos. The universal service obligation seems natural enough to Royal Mail, but will look like a peculiar constraint to a private company: why should they charge the same to deliver to 100 flats in one block as to a house up a remote glen in Scotland, or even a village like Awsworth? Why should they deliver every day? Why not expect customers to collect their posts from central collection boxes (as is common in Switzerland, for instance)?

Although the 30% share concept seemed an attractive compromise to me, I share the concern of the unions that it would turn out to be a staging post to full privatisation by a future government: it's hard to argue that 30% is OK but 100% is terrible. Moreover, TNT's role is not really clear - would they just act as management consultants and providers of cash and technology, or would their own network be integrated with Royal Mail?

I'm working with colleagues who share my reservations on an alternative proposal, a strategic partnership for Royal Mail with another provider (which could certainly be TNT), which would have clearly-specified objectives and limits. The provider would be rewarded through a share of the profits but would not get a share in the ownership or the potential to take control through a later extension. The model could be similar to companies brought in to help modernise the Passport Service: there's no reason not to buy in expert knowhow, but we don't sell off the service while we're at it.

What do you think? You can find my survey on the issue here

http://tinyurl.com/djpgz7

3. Local events

The Beeston and District branch of the Royal British Legion are holding a mammoth book and video sale on Saturday 14 March, 10.30-1 at the Beeston British Legion Social Club, 16 Hall Croft, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1EL. They have hundreds of books available and a large range of videos and all proceeds will go towards the work of the Legion in this area.

The Nottingham & District Pre-Retirement Council is a local charity based on the High Road in Beeston. They are holding a Pre-Retirement Course at Beeston Town Hall
on 23,24,25 March, to advise people on what to consider as they approach retirement. To book a place or find out more, contact Linda Whitt on 0115 9223824 or e mail linda-phil@nottingh ampre-retireme. fsnet.co.uk, or you can book on line on the website www.ndprc.org.uk

Best wishes

Nick

Correction

22 February 2009

Quick correction: the email which I was quoting this morning was in
fact not from the head teacher at Attenborough Preparatory School but
from the proprietor of the school - apologies for my confusing them.

Best regards

Nick

Flood and other survey results/deceptive tactics/Greasley by-election

22 February 2009

Hi all –

I've been a bit quiet lately as I've been recovering from the after-
effects of the Greenpeace spam (since even when they stopped there
were four days' worth of genuine accumulated emails to sort out) and
the huge response to the flood survey. I've still got some unanswered
emails but will get back to you as soon as possible.

1. Survey results

• The response on the flood survey is currently over 10-1 in
favour of accepting the current proposal, rather than kicking it into
touch in the hope that a better option can be negotiated. I will be
passing the detailed results to the Development Control Committee,
who are now expected to decide on the application on March 11.

I'd like to ask people to cool tempers a bit if possible – we're
trying to decide where best to put flood defences, not refighting the
Civil War, and there's scope for honest disagreement. The head of
Attenborough Preparatory School tells me that by favouring the
proposal I am making children "potentially prey to violent or sexual
attack" (because attackers could skulk behind a flood wall), and adds
that it is "typical of your kind" not to rate children's safety
highly. Eh? I'm not sure what "kind" he feels I am, but this seems to
me frankly silly: on that basis, no walls should be built anywhere
that a child might pass, including school walls. Conversely, I'm told
that some have accused the AFAA of being `snobs'. I know the people
involved and they don't strike me as snobbish - they're simply
concerned about the visual impact and the lack of protection for the
sports fields. I think they're mistaken to think that a better idea
is achievable, but there's really scope to have more than one sincere
opinion on this sort of thing.

• 57% of you favour MPs' expenses being broken down by
subcategory (furniture etc.) and 73% supported my proposal to allow
receipts to be available on request. 18% oppose publishing individual
receipts at all, while 9% feel they should be available online
without having to ask.
• Only 9% favour pressing ahead with the Tesco proposal. 50%
favour waiting until all traffic and design issues have been
reviewed. 41% want the application to be discouraged altogether.
Traffic congestion and the protection of small shops are by a large
margin the greatest concerns.
• 62% favour slowing the growth of air travel for environmental
reasons, against 27% who disagree (the rest aren't sure). 56%
favoured refusing a third runway at Heathrow, against 40% who
favoured it with or without restrictions on use.
• 77% find my updates nearly always interesting, and 18% often
interesting. 91% favour current frequency and length. 97% like an
occasional in-depth discussion, like the recent one on the economy.

2. Deceptive tactics

A LibDem leaflet in the Greasley by-election claims that "experts"
think the election looks like a two-horse race between them and the
Conservatives. I'll comment on the by-election below, but I'd like to
make a mild fuss about this as it's a regular pattern. The LibDems
came fourth and last in the ward last time, with around 10% of the
vote. Pretending they are the main challengers seems a blatant
deception. Not, moreover, a deception of mad extremist voters – it
appears designed to make a fool of their own potential voters. (If
they disagree, I would like to invite them to produce *one*
independent expert who agrees with their claim.)
Unfortunately this isn't a one-off: it's a regular feature of
LibDem campaigning, which we'll no doubt see again in the County and
General Elections. In the Beeston Central by-election they made the
same claim, and ended up with 10% of the vote in distant third. In
Glenrothes they put out a bar-chart purporting to show they were the
main rivals to the SNP – only if you read the very fine print, you
discovered the chart was from an election in a completely different
place, and in reality they came in fourth.
Does this sort of thing matter? Yes, I think it does. There are
lots of good LibDem councillors around, who can stand fairly on their
merits, and they could also make a case to vote for them for their
policies, regardless of the tactical situation. But this sort of
trickery turns people off politics altogether.
Meanwhile, I note that BNP leaflets are claiming they're the only
party who favour withdrawal from the EU. That will be news to UKIP,
and again it treats voters as if they were born yesterday. (By
contrast, the Conservative leaflets in the by-election seem perfectly
OK to me – they simply put the case for their candidate.)

3. By-election

This only affects a minority of you, so I've left it till last, and
as usual at elections I'll put the case for a colleague who's
standing. Ed Jacobs is my assistant, and one of the most
conscientious people I know, as well as being genuinely constructive
in his outlook: You can find a commentary from him here

http://tinyurl.com/chlxmg

A typical anecdote: I've organised a meeting with the IKEA site
managers on Friday about the traffic problems, and I suggested that
if he won the by-election he should attend. He replied that he'd like
to come even if he lost, since so many people had mentioned the
problem to him that he'd like to help solve it. It's the kind of
attitude that councils need, since if we're honest the work is 80%
non-party problem-solving (is there really an especially Labour or
Tory policy on roundabouts? ). I hope you'll give him a chance.

Best wishes

Nick

Gaza/Tesco news/open-cast mining/bus progress

29 December 2008

Hi all -

I hope you've enjoyed a very happy Christmas. I took both Xmas days
off but have been working through the backlog of emails - if you've
not had a reply yet, you will soon.

I've raised a question about open-casting in Parliament (see point
2), there's important news about Tesco (see point 3) and a new
campaign on the bus link to Phoenix Park (see point 4). First though
something on the main current news:

1. Gaza

I'm very concerned about what's happening - the mounting death toll,
appalling in itself, also seems to me to have the potential to wreck
the chance of the new US administration getting a useful breakthrough
in Middle East negotiations. With Parliament in recess, there are
limited opportunities to debate it, so I've written a piece for the
Guardian which they hope to use on Wednesday, at least on the
website - as I'm a member of Labour Friends of Israel, the criticism
carries a little more weight than otherwise. I'll just put extracts
here:

-------
We should accept that the position is hellishly difficult. Gaza is
ruled by Hamas, an organisation that is in rebellion against the
elected, internationally- recognised Palestinian leadership, denies
Israel's right to exist and sponsors armed attacks on civilians.
Moreover, the current fighting follows an explicit termination of the
cease-fire by Hamas. If you end a cease-fire, shouldn't you expect to
be attacked?

Up to a point, yes. If Israel launched air strikes against groups
preparing to fire missiles, it would be entirely covered by
international law on self-defence. If, during the Troubles, Ireland
had tolerated missiles being launched from its territory against
Belfast, we would have certainly felt entitled to hit back.

The problem is that Israel's response consistently reaches beyond
Hamas's leadership and terrorist groups and affects the entire
civilian population. The current offensive is targeting Hamas, but
entirely inevitably it is killing significant numbers of civilians as
well – clearly more than the 14 killed by all the missiles fired at
Israel over the last two years – and must be terrorising everyone
living in the area. It is a wholly disproportionate response, as if
we'd launched air raids on Dublin in response to outrages by IRA
groups...

It is hard to avoid the impression that the operation is designed to
strengthen the governing parties before the imminent Israeli
election, and to weaken Hamas before Obama takes over. But what kind
of impression is President Obama going to have as he weighs up
American policy options? We owe it to our Israeli friends to be
frank. They are going too far, and forfeiting support from quarters
that they need, including Britain's. It is time to stop and think.
------------
If you'd like to see the full article, let me know, though it should
be available online soon.

2. Open-cast mining

As energy prices soared in the summer, long-postponed open-cast
mining projects were dusted off and resubmitted, and two
controversial projects were approved. This was once a great concern
locally, and I supported legal action against my own Government on
behalf of constituents until I was able to persuade the minister to
withdraw support. I thought it was time to fire a shot across the
bows against any revival of interest, and you can see the exchange
here:

http://tinyurl.com/8urlkm

Now the energy prices have fallen again, I suspect that interest will
diminish, but I'm keeping a watchful eye.

3. Tesco news

Those of you who don't live in or near Beeston may want to skip to
the next point. Those who do may be interested in the latest news. I
understand that, following intensive discussions with the council
about the traffic impact of the proposed store, Tesco have asked for
their application (due to be discussed at the next planning meeting)
to be held over, while they meet with Henry Boot and other major
town 'players' to try to agree with the council a joint strategy for
traffic management. My understanding is that for some time
councillors who aren't necessarily against another store in principle
have been expressed concerns that it could produce total gridlock
around the Station Road/Middle Street junction.

For background: this area has largely stood derelict since the dye-
works closed over 20 years ago during which time various schemes have
been proposed but come to nothing. It was classified as "Town Centre
retail land" at the public inquiry held in 2000 and as such the
council cannot reject an application from a retailer such as Tesco on
the grounds that they don't like Tesco or they think another shop
like Marks and Spencer would be better. However, they *can* reject
the application on architectural merit or on the grounds that the
traffic generated and resultant congestion has not been properly
taken into account.

Beeston North Labour Party raised objections to the design and won
some concessions but still have serious concerns about the traffic.
They have invited me to chair a public meeting alongside an
independent civil engineer on 5 January at 7.30 in Roundhill School.
They have invited all members of the Development Control Committee,
regardless of party. DCC members can't for legal reasons comment
themselves, but I hope they will take the opportunity to listen to
public opinion and weigh up any evidence produced.

To supplement this, I've set up a small online survey. If you go here

http://tinyurl.com/9gnt4f

you'll find it, inviting you to comment both on the basic issues
surrounding the proposal and on the possibility of improved public
transport to the town centre.

That takes us onto the next point, and this time you may want to skip
it if you don't live on the IKEA-Giltbrook- Newthorpe- Eastwood line:

4. Possible new bus route

There's a by-election coming up in Giltbrook and Newthorpe, and in
preparation for it I wrote to everyone in the area asking their
priorities. Something which often came up was whether the new bus
which Richard Robinson and I negoiated from Ilkeston via cossal,
Awsworth and Kimberley to the tram stop at Phoenix Park couldn't have
a service extending into the area up to Hill Top. We're taking this
up, together with our candidate, Ed Jacobs, and there seems to be
some real interest. It would be helpful if we had further
confirmations of interest (what really swung the Kimberley project
was the vast number of people who said they wanted it): if you think
you'd use such a bus, please let me know.

As always, feedback welcome - please indicate NNTR (no need to reply)
if appropriate.

Finally, Happy New Year!

Best regards

Nick

Happy Christmas!

20 December 2008

Hello all -

This is mainly just to wish you a very happy Christmas and to wish us
all a peaceful and improving New Year.

Due to pressure of work recently, I still owe responses to a number
of you. When this happens, I give priority to people who have
pressing personal concerns that I might be able to help with, and
respond more slowly to the general political points. I'm sure you
understand, but I promise to get back to everyone over the coming
recess.

Do in any case feel free to contact me if anything else arises - I
know it can feel especially difficult if you have a problem at this
time of year. My office will be shut in Xmas-New Year week, but you
can reach me by email except on Dec 24-25, when my wife will sleigh
me (sorry!) if I try to answer.

I've been asked to pass on this coming event:

Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School
Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company presents Hansel & Gretel by award
winning children's writer Mike Kenny on Wed 21st January 2009 at
7.30pm. Tickets £7, £5 concessions, £22 family ticket (2 + 2)
Contact 0115 9252698 or 07827 996 223 for tickets. Suitable for
everyone aged over 6 years,

All good wishes to you and your family

Nick and Fiona

Mumbai/economy update/police raid/youth campaign/coming events

30 November 2008

Hi all –

An unusually large number of requests for information and comment, so
I'll press ahead, pausing only to mention this entertaining cartoon,
which I think all of us who have got involved in internet debates
(and our spouses) will recognise:

http://xkcd.com/386/

Note that there are two coming events lsited at the end, one of which
is tomorrow (Monday).

1. Mumbai

I've not much to add to the general horror over what has been
described as "India's 9/11", but it's a reminder of just how global a
threat terrorism can be. The pattern of the attacks is reminiscent of
Al Qu'aeda's transparent attempt to get the Shia and Sunni
communities in Iraq at war with each other, in the belief that civil
war makes extremist factions prosper. One point of reassurance: the
early reports that British citizens were among the attackers –
irresponsibly headlined in several British newspapers – seem so far
to have been based on nothing: all the attackers so far seem to have
been from the subcontinent.

2. Economy round-up

Several of you asked me to comment on two aspects:

a) Home energy prices
I had one of the first questions at Prime Ministers' Questions last
week, and used it for this brief exchange (quote from Hansard):

Dr. Nick Palmer (Broxtowe) (Lab): Does the Prime Minister agree that
it is high time the utility companies passed on the reduction in gas
prices to people at home who are looking forward to the coming winter?
The Prime Minister: Ofgem will publish a report on that very soon. It
is imperative that when oil prices come down, companies are as quick
to put prices down as they were to put prices up.
What was behind this question is this. In order to secure supply, the
utility companies had to buy gas contracts for the winter well in
advance when global prices were much higher. However, I know from my
recent stint as energy PPS that these contracts are now starting to
end, to be replaced by lower-prices contracts, and I wanted to add to
the pressure to pass on the reductions and not sit on the profit as
people go into the winter. Since the exchange, I've made further
enquiries, and gather that the Government has been having discussions
with the companies, pointedly noting that a windfall tax has not been
ruled out, and the first round of reductions should be announced by
next month.

b) VAT reduction

Why was the 2.5% VAT reduction chosen as the main way to tackle the
recession? I don't think this has been well-explained, frankly. The
point is not that many people who were planning to skip a major
purchase will rush out to do it because they see there's 2.5% less
tax. The reason to use VAT is that it has a cumulative effect on
nearly everything. If the reduction is passed on in prices, then at
the end of the month we'll find ourselves with that much more
spending money; if it's not, it gives some breathing space for
businesses under pressure. Coupled with the offer to allow hard-
pressed businesses to pay tax and NI more gradually, it should help
many businesses who would otherwise have gone under.
There were mild boosts for pensioners (the £60 January bonus) and
others, but most tax and benefit changes can't take effect in the
middle of the financial year. VAT is the fastest affordable way to
come to the rescue. It does cost money, but if the businesses it
helps had gone bust the effects would have cost much more.

3. The Damian Green controversy

I need to be a little careful in discussing this, since I don't in
general like discussing colleagues, and where there is possible court
action in prospect it puts a fair trial at risk to speculate
recklessly. However, there's obviously widespread concern about
events, and I can comment in general terms.

The following seems to be accepted by all concerned:

- A civil servant in the Home Office with a background in
Conservative politics has been passing a series of confidential
documents to Mr Green. As the civil servant is bound by the Official
Secrets Act, this appears to be an offence.

- The documents known so far don't have any obvious security
implications. Some of them come under the heading of `things that
could embarrass ministers', and were used as such by Mr Green. Others
are more party political in flavour – e.g. he was given a list of
Labour MPs thought willing to consider an approach from the
Conservatives to support their position on a Bill.

- The head of the Home Office Civil Service ordered an enquiry
into the leaks. In order to avoid any appearance of political
interference, Ministers seem to have specifically asked not to be
consulted about the details. As a result, the police proceeded
autonomously. When they discovered Mr Green's involvement, they
arrested him while they searched his premises and home to see if
stolen documents could be found. He was detained for nearly eight
hours while this was going on.

Criticism has focused on these points:

- While it appears that a breach of contract has taken place,
there are plenty of previous examples of leaks: isn't the police
involvement over the top?

- Even if the police were correctly involved, should they have
been allowed to search Mr Green's Commons offices?

- Doesn't the whole incident have an intimidatory effect on
cases where some genuine outrage needs to be uncovered?

I think it really depends on the details, and I'd like to know more
before I decide what I think. However, some first thoughts:

First, if Mr Green has just been receiving documents unsolicited and
passing them to journalists then it's not the end of the world, or
even unusual. If he was more actively involved in encouraging a
regular breach of the civil servant's contract, it could become more
serious. At present, we don't know, and we shouldn't leap to
conclusions.

Second, the police action does seem on the face of it to be
excessive. I think it's reasonable that they should want to know what
documents had been passed on (so as to check how severely security
has been breached), but a civilised approach would have been to
question Mr Green and ask his permission to search in his presence.
Only if he refused would the need for arrest arise. I don't know if
this happened, but it should have.

Third, some of the criticism seems to me wildly overblown. Mr Cameron
is said to have called the incident "Stalinesque" and others have
compared it to Zimbabwe. Stalin killed several million people; Mugabe
is responsible for the disappearance of numerous opponents,
widespread hunger and the systematic abuse of power. Mr Green has
been subjected to a day's inconvenience: it may be a bad thing, but
it is not in any sense similar. Similarly, today's Independent
headline is "Bugging Scandal Inside the Commons", but the article
actually reveals that despite repeated checks there is *no*
indication of any bugging in the Commons, and indeed that it's
official policy since the 1960s not to do it.

So a sense of proportion is needed – but we do need to be concerned
both about the leaking of documents and the tendency of the police to
go for dramatic operations where gentler enquiries could achieve the
same effect (also seen in the `cash for honours' enquiry, where Ruth
Turner, who was subsequently cleared, was arrested by a large police
force in a well-publicised dawn raid). I don't think that Ministers
ought to be involved in deciding on police operations and I'm glad
they weren't in this case, but general guidance to exercise restraint
where the democratic process is involved may be needed. I'm not
saying that out of solidarity with Mr Green, who may at the least
have behaved unwisely, but because we need a political climate as
free as possible from police involvement.

4. Bramcote Hills update

I had a discussion this week with Kevin Dean, the head of the White
Hill Park Federation of schools, about the outlook. As most of you
know, a number of the Bramcote Hills buildings from the 1950s and
1960s have been found to be structurally unsafe, and the plan is to
convert the school into a 14-19 college for the area, in particular
for the other partners in the Federation (Bramcote Park and Alderman
White), who will take over the future pupil intake and continue to
offer 11-6 education. The Government has indicated that it's willing
in principle to bring forward the refurbishment of the schools to the
coming phase of the Building Schools for the Future programme, which
should fit with the plan and avoid an awkward hiatus between the
running down of the current school and the replacement by new
buildings.

I agreed to support this strongly. There are still some hurdles to
jump: the remaining building assessments should be ready by January
and may have welcome or unwelcome news about the other Hills
buildings; the deal with the LEA and Government has to be finalised;
and the whole BSF programme has to survive without being heavily cut
(which, without being too political about it, may depend on the next
election and what the different parties have to say about their
plans - unless the contracts have been signed first). I'm also very
keen that the interests of parents and children in the tricky
transition phase should be considered at every point.

In addition to all this, I organised a discussion with Mr Dean about
a project initiated by Cllr John McGrath in Stapleford: this is for a
sports facility offering football pitches, changing and medical
facilities, CCTV replay, and lecture rooms, which would offer a base
for amateur and youth clubs through the area. There's a private firm
specialising in this called Complete Football (chairman Kenny
Dalgeish) – see http://www.complete football. net/index_ 11.htm for more
details. They are a private company: they would build the facility
(costing over £2 million) and employ around 25 people on a permanent
basis for maintenance and training; in return they would get the land
at a very low rent for a 50-year lease (covenanted for the football
usage) and be able to rent out use outside school hours., offering
low rates for amateur groups. There is an existing facility in
Newcastle, and there may be potential for cooperation with Notts
County and Nottingham Forest, providing them with an FA-standard
feeder facility for young players – County in particular are I'm told
currently limited in this respect. The pitch would also be usable for
rugby training.

The reason I brought them together is that they're essentially short
of land but rich in capital, while Bramcote Hills, thanks to the new
plans, is rich in land (there are nine underused football pitches at
the moment) but short of capital. There's a good way to go and other
interested bodies to consult, but at present everyone is interested.

5. Youth Parliament, alcohol unit and train petitions

Broxtowe's Youth Parliament (made up of representatives from nearly
all our schools) is one of the most active in Britain, and this year
is concentrating on a campaign among fellow-students against binge
drinking. They're working with Louise Rhymes, the mother of Stacey,
the girl who tragically died from alcohol misuse. They've proposed
having a unit at the QMC to address alcohol addiction and effects,
and among other things are supporting this petition which you might
like to consider signing:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/StaceysUnit

While you're in signing mood, if you live in the south of the
borough, I'd be grateful if you would consider signing this petition,
which I'm using to press East Midlands Trains on their reduction in
service on Saturdays in particular;

http://www.broxtowelabour.org/Pettrain.htm

Although this was initiated by the local Labour Party, it does not
imply any support for us, and we will use your signature only to help
press the case.

6. Coming events

a) Amnesty quiz

Beeston Amnesty are doing a pub quiz at the Commercial Inn, Wollaton
Road, tomorrow Monday December 1, from 730pm, £2 entry (£1 unwaged),
with profits going to their support for refugees worldwide.

b) Daniel Smith piano concert
For the third year running, Trowell Paris hCouncil are hosting an
event featuring the `new Jools Holland', pianist Daniel Smith, on
Friday December 12 at the Parish Hall, 8pm (£10 including a hot drink
and biscuits). I quote: "A musical performance featuring the band,
performing a whole range of authentic downhome blues, stomping boogie-
woogie & classy blues & jazz grooves, with plenty of humorous
dialogue & background to tunes. There will be ample opportunity for
people to dance if they wish." Information and tickets from
tpc@gotadsl. co.uk.

As always, feedback on all these things welcome - please add NNTR (no
need to reply) if you don't need a personal answer.

Best regards

Nick

Primary school help: update

16 November 2008

Just a quick addition - I've had some feedback from a reader on the
County LEA team to my earlier email. He says that the funds that I
mentioned are in response to a bid which envisages major new work at
Beeston Fields primary and nursery. They plan to write out to all
schools this week informing them of the funding and what it means in
practice, and say whilst it is largely earmarked it is still tremendous
news and will deal with some of the priority needs.

Thus, I suggest putting any governors' discussion of it on hold for a
week until you hear more.

Regards, Nick

The Baby P tragedy/new dentist openings/housing/schools/debates

16 November 2008

Hello all –

I'd like primarily to concentrate this week on lessons from the Baby
P tragedy, but I'll do a rapid roundup of other issues first,
starting with sad local news.

1. Martin Wright

I'm very sorry to have to report that Conservative councillor Martin
Wright (Newthorpe and Giltbrook) has died of cancer. Martin wasn't
one of the highest-profile councillors, because of his illness, but
everyone I've spoken to has said he was very well-liked by all his
colleagues. Anyone who works for the community deserves special
acknowledgement, and I'm sure everyone will want to join in
condolences to his family.

2. More NHS dentistry in Broxtowe

Although we do have NHS cover for the constituency, it's been tight
ever since the Queen's Road surgery went private. I'm delighted to
report that funding has now been provided for 2,500 more NHS
patients, phased in over the next couple of years starting now.
Anyone in the borough can apply (the practice is in Devonshire
Avenue, Beeston) – see www.beestondentalpr actice.co. uk.

3. Primary schools funding

The big news for local primaries is that a funding programme for
improvements to primary schools of £16.7 million in 2009-10 has been
approved for Nottinghamshire, subject to confirmation of details.
This is separate from the programme to refurbish every secondary
school by 2017, and unlike that it doesn't necessarily apply to every
school. However, it means that it's a good moment to press the local
authority for specific improvements, and if governors would like to
put forward proposals I'll be glad to try to help.

4. Debates

The Conservatives have claimed that their delayed response was due to
their getting my email address wrong when they declined a November 7
debate, and Ms Soubry has bafflingly demanded that I apologise. With
the best will in the world, I don't see why I should apologise for
their inability to answer a simple question for two months ("Are you
willing to debate me this year?"). The chronology is odd, too (they
sent a subsequent email, with the correct address, expressing
continued interest in a November 7 debate). It's the most trivial of
issues and I don't want to distract from the main theme of this
email. Since I've been asked for an apology, though, I'll append the
full chronology at the end of this email for anyone who wants to form
an opinion.
Anyway, we've now agreed on the first two dates:

Jan 30 Kimberley, 7-9 (Kettlebrook Lodge?)
Feb 27 Trowell Parish Hall, 7-9
To be confirmed for Stapleford – I've suggested March.

5. Overview of every possible development point

Parallel to the debate on possible major housing developments which
I've highlighted in earlier emails, Notts have helpfully published an
overview of every single site throughout the County that has been
suggested by developers or anyone else as a possible housing
development site. Some of these have been ruled out by the
Sustainable Urban Extensions study (e.g. the Watnall development
won't happen any time before 2026), but this provides a useful
overview to explore what might one day be proposed in your area. You
can find a search tool provided by the County here:

www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/shlaadb

To avoid getting deluged with single house proposals, I suggest
starting by looking at your area with possible developments of 50+
houses. Bear in mind that this isn't in any sense a proposal from the
County, but just an attempt to be transparent and ensure that
everyone knows what's happening. If you have specific objections to a
particular possible site which you think the County might not know
about, it's worth talking to your County Councillor to make sure
they're taken on board.

6. Post offices

Without any public politicking, I've been working with colleagues on
all sides of the House for several months to ensure that the Post
Office Card Account stayed with the PO, and I'm delighted with the
outcome as it will be a real relief to many constituents. However,
the cards are a declining source of income (only 1% of new pensioners
use them), and it's absolutely vital in the medium term is to use
post offices for new functions. Peter Mandelson (as Business
Secretary) is consulting on expanding their role in financial
services, since in the aftermath of the bank disasters there is a
real interest in a trusted institution like the Post Office providing
additional options for people's money. I'd also like to see more use
of shared facilities with local councils – why not have post offices
linked to council offices and libraries, for instance?

7. The Baby P tragedy

I guess I'm not alone in having had real difficulty in watching or
reading about this particularly horrific case. We're all sadly aware
of cases of neglect and of parents who are drunk or frustrated
abusing their children, but systematic torture is something that we
encounter once in a generation (it brings to mind the Jamie Bulger
case and earlier the Moors murders), and it's so very terrible to
hear of it happening to a baby.

There are glaringly obvious questions about how it could have been
overlooked by both the doctor and the social workers involved. As
there are now four separate investigations of different aspects in
progress, one of which is due to report in two weeks' time, I won't
try to prejudge them. In the meantime I've written to Notts Social
Services asking them what assurances they can give me that a sequence
of events like that is guarded against here.

What I'd like to do now is look at some policy issues. It's fine as
far as it goes to say that correct procedures were followed, but a
case like this raises the question of whether the procedures
themselves are adequate.

a) Collective murder

As I understand it, none of the people involved in the torture could
actually be charged with murder, since there is no evidence who
committed the killing blow or whether they intended it to kill. If
so, the law needs to be changed. If several people are involved in
systematic activity which they could reasonably expect to lead to
someone's death, and it does so, then they seem to me collectively
guilty of the offence, and the law should reflect that. I also think
that the penalties for torture should be the same as for murder- most
people would probably actually rather be murdered than suffer years
of torture.

b) Social service guidelines

We need to be careful about this, since social workers are damned
whatever they do. I have local cases of constituents who say that
they are being unnecessarily pestered by social workers because they
are suspected of mistreatment of their children: they claim that they
have given the fullest possible answers, their children have
separately confirmed that they're fine, so why are Social Services
still coming round and badgering them?

The reality is that where there is cause for concern there will
usually be room for some doubt. Say you're a social worker and visit
a home where the child is bruised, for the second time. The mother
says, `Isn't it awful, he's so accident-prone, you just fell down the
stairs without looking, didn't you Freddy?' The boy nods. What do you
do? Well, you might ask to talk to the boy privately, but what if he
confirms it? Maybe he's afraid to say anything. You could ask a
doctor to have a look at the bruises and give an opinion on how they
were caused. You could resolve to come again soon and see if there's
anything further. Or you could press the nuclear button and take the
child away. There are detailed procedures for all this, but sometimes
they will lead to the wrong answer – either a perfectly harmless
family will be broken up because you're over-active in taking the
children away, or a tragedy will result because you were too cautious.

My view is that we need to err on the side of safety, since over-
intrusive social workers are no doubt upsetting and annoying for
families, but that pales in comparison with the impact of real abuse.
Where a constituent asks me to intervene, what I do is ask Social
Services to come to a decision as soon as possible in everyone's
interest. But I won't tell them what they should decide, nor will I
demand that they be sacked if they once get it wrong, so long as they
can show that they did everything they could to try to get it right.
The big question in Haringay is whether that can possibly be the case.

c) What if other MPs are contacted?

A social worker at Haringay wrote to a number of Ministers and MPs
alleging that standards were slack and it was being covered up by the
council. I didn't get that one, but like I assume all MPs, I often
get letters like this from non-constituents: some claim quite
extensive conspiracies, other simply say that a particular decision
is unfair.

What I do in this case is normally to refer to the constituent' s own
MP and offer to support any action which he or she thinks
appropriate. If I'm the MP, I'll refer it to the body responsible for
supervising standards, as seems to have happened in this case. This
is, I think the only thing we can sensibly do – it can't make sense
to have MPs' or Ministers' hit-squads touring the country following
up every allegation and duplicating the supervisory bodies. However,
the Haringay case prompts the question of follow-up. It seems that in
this case the Inspectorate for Social Care advised Haringay
that `some tightening-up' was needed (we'll find out from the
investigations how strong this advice was), but I'd like to be
reassured that there is a system in place for chasing up such
recommendations and see whether they were actually followed.

8. Coming events

I've been asked to pass on these:

Craft Fair on Sunday 23rd November 2008 from 10am to 4pm at Lakeview
Sixth Form College, Chilwell School, Queen's Road West - the perfect
opportunity to start Christmas shopping.

Olympia Arts Theatre, Chilwell School on 27th, 28th & 29th November
at 7.30pm - the Orchard Theatre Company present Neville's Island, a
dark comic tale. Tickets from the school on 0115 925 2698 or 07827
996223. Price £6.50, concessions £5.50.

By the way, with Christmas coming and the many charity appeals I'd
like to draw attention to a recent photo-essay by a development group
comparing food budgets around the world and linking to aid for both
food production and birth control. I've put in on my website. It
rather speaks for itself so I won't comment.

http://www.broxtowelabour.org/food.htm

As always, feedback on all these matters welcome.

Best wishes

Nick

Appendix: The debate chronology

Sept 12: First debate. I challenge Ms Soubry to three duels where
we'd show people the effective choice between the two main candidates
for the next Parliament. She accepts.

Sept 14: I email with suggested dates.

Sept 15: Conservatives reply that it all sounds OK, but they have an
internal meeting on the 19th and will get back to me. Silence falls
for two weeks.

I prod them, and on…

Oct 2: They propose extending timescale to "between now and end of
March", they now refuse to debate me on my own, they suggest
including all parties with candidates in one debate (which would mean
including the BNP), and say `will check dates today'. I agree to a
three-cornered debate with the LibDems and say I'm looking forward to
confirmation of the November date.

Silence falls for two weeks again, so on Oct 17 I ask what's
happening.

Oct 20: They say "Friday's (sic) in November are becoming very
frantic" and they are awaiting confirmation that Friday 7th is OK.
They say they should be able to let me know about the 7th "tomorrow".
Silence falls for another two weeks.

Finally on November 2 I comment in a public email that they seem to
be messing about.

Nov 3: Conservatives now claim they sent an email on Oct 13 to the
wrong address, ruling out dates in November. When the wrong email
address is pointed out, they say they will "amend our address book".

Ms Soubry is a lawyer and used to preparing briefs on difficult
ground, but this doesn't add up. If they sent an email on October
13th ruling out a November date, why did they write a week later
saying they were awaiting confirmation of it? If their address book
was wrong, why did previous and later emails all get sent to the
correct address, and why didn't they get a message saying it had
bounced?

Ms Soubry says: "Your MP has made political capital from a human
error and even though we have explained to him what happened he has
made no apology. It's even more frustrating for me as the Labour MP
has attacked me and the error is not even mine!"

My comment that they were messing about seems to me fair. I'll leave
the mysterious missing email question for you to judge.

The new incapacity system/debate, what debate?/supergrid/Brand & Ross

2 November 2008

1. Launch of the Employment and Support Allowance
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
-

One of the most significant changes in the benefits system for many
years started this week, and if you know anyone who is having
difficulty in working due to any kind of disability (physical or
psychological) it's worth having a look at what's happening.

The basic concept is:

- If you have problems doing your current job, the system ought
to help you, so you don't lose your job
- If you have such severe problems that you can't continue your
current job, or haven't been able to work for some time due to such
problems, the system should help with training and support to get a
different job
- If you have such severe problems that you can't possibly do
any job, the system should help you more generously than up to now
- If you claim to have problems but you aren't willing to
discuss the possibility of other jobs, you shouldn't get support for
doing nothing

This differs from the past Incapacity Benefit by changing the
emphasis from proving that you can't do something to looking to see
what you might be able to do instead. People who are currently
getting incapacity benefit will be gradually brought into the system
over the next few years, though no existing benefits will be cut so
long as the condition that led to them remains. The changes have been
broadly approved by charities and campaigns working for the disabled,
but obviously the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I'd be
interested in feedback, both on the concept and from anyone who tries
the new system in practice. You can find full details here:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/esa

2. The debate that didn't happen
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----

Several more diverse events are coming up that I've been asked to
mention: you'll find them below. However, one that I was expecting
doesn't seem to be happening: the next debate with my political
opponents [health warning: this item includes partisan comment!]. At
the last debate, I challenged my Conservative opponent, Anna Soubry,
to three more in `duel' format, so that voters in each part of the
constituency could get to know her and weigh up the choice.

She accepted at the time, but subsequently I was told by the
Conservatives that she would not agree to debate me on my own, and
would prefer candidates from all parties to take part. I'd rather not
organise a meeting with the BNP (I'm not one of those who tries to
stop them speaking, but I draw the line at actually helping them get
an audience), so we compromised on further three-party meetings.

I suggested virtually any Friday, Saturday or Sunday this year, and
the Conservatives proposed November 7. I agreed to this (though
Saturday would have suited me better). They then said that it might
be difficult and sometime next year might be better. As they'd
suggested the date, I said I'd like to go ahead, and they promised to
get back to me two weeks ago, but have now fallen silent and haven't
responded to repeated further enquiries.

I presume tactical second thoughts have intruded on the Tory side as
they listened to reactions to the first debate, but if their
candidate were to be elected she'd have to represent Broxtowe in
debates in committee and Parliament up to several times a week, with
opponents who are a good deal fiercer than I am.

I hope they will stop messing about and agree to some dates, ideally
both for duels and for three-party discussions, and I'll let you know
if they do.

3. European supergrid
------------ --------- --------- --

I'm supporting a medium-term initiative to develop a grid for `green'
electricity spanning the whole of Europe and the Middle East. The
point about this is that many renewable technologies are quite
dependent on local climate, geography and weather (wind power works
best when it's windy, solar power when it's sunny), and in any one
area you can get optimal conditions produces a surplus of energy
while another area falls short. It seems to me that this is exactly
the sort of thing that the EU should be focused on, rather than
endless debates about weights and measures and harmonisation: it's
the sort of thing that can only sensibly be done on an international
basis.
The proposal was launched by 25 MEPs – see

http://www.e-parl.net/eparliament/general.do?action=news&id=123

It was taken up by an NGO, the World Future Council:

http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/1012.html

and I've been asked to contribute to a discussion led by the French
and Egyptian governments later this month on how it might proceed.

4. Transition Nottingham
------------ --------- --------- ------

I've been asked to give a plug to this initiative, which is one of
nearly 100 similar efforts worldwide. They start from the assumption
that energy and climate change issues are going to make the future
increasingly uncertain, but say that `Instead of succumbing to gloom
and despair about the future, the Transition process offer creative
and positive solutions, centering around the rebirth of local
communities, which will grow more of their own food, generate their
own power and keep money in their local area.' While I don't see this
focus on local self-dependence entirely uncritically (world trade
brings very significant benefits, to rich and poor alike), anything
positive and community-focused has to be a good thing. For more
details, see www.transitionnotti ngham.org. uk .

5. The BBC controversy

Not much to add to the thousands of words already devoted to the
Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross controversy. Briefly:

- The `jokey' phone call was (in my opinion) disgusting, and
failed even in its own terms: even if you're not bothered by it
upsetting anyone, it simply wasn't funny.

- I'm not a fan of their sort of sneery humour anyway, but I
don't think the BBC should only broadcast programmes that I like. So
I'm not in favour of some elaborate system of pre-broadcast
censorship of everything: there is a danger of over-reaction to one
unpleasant episode.

- It seems to me that we vastly overestimate the importance of
celebrities – why should a comedian whose show is 42nd in audience
ratings be paid 30 times as much as the Prime Minister? Salaries at
that level need to be renegotiated down to sensible levels, and if
the BBC can only get Jonathan Ross for £6 million, then we need to
get used to living with supposedly lesser talents.

- I don't think we should take the opportunity for a feeding
frenzy at the expense of the BBC, which is still an institution
admired around the world. The victim, Mr Sachs, has behaved with
impeccable dignity throughout, and has accepted the apologies without
calling for his lawyers – a good example to people who sue for
damages if anyone so much as sneezes in their vicinity. I think we
should now follow his example and move on.

6. Coming events
------------ ---------

Three local events:

Wednesday 12 November, 2008, 7.30 pm: Planet Earth, We Have a
Problem! Feedback dynamics and the Acceleration of Climate Change.

Venue: New Venture Social Club, Technology Drive, Beeston
Rylands. Entrance Fee: £5 waged, £3 concessions (profits to the
charitable Meridian progrmame).

This is the latest of Beeston North Labour party's series of
discussions on the critical issues of our time. An earlier version
was made to the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group in 2007.

The argument is that because of a great number of feedback mechanisms
in the climate system that are self-reinforcing, there is an
acceleration in the pace at which climate change is happening. This
has taken politicians, policymakers and even the UN by surprise. The
acceleration has enormous implications because, unless sufficient
action is taken soon enough, there could come a time at which climate
change will run away and humanity will lose the power to intervene to
stop the process happening. The speaker is David Wasdell, one of the
world's leading authorities in the field, international co-ordinator
of the Meridian Programme, leads part of the Global System Dynamics
project of the European Commission.

Thursday November 13, 730pm, at Chilwell Road Methodist Church Hall,
Beeston: An evening with William Cheung FRPS. A presentation of
images by this renowned photographer and current editor of
Photography Monthly. Ticket prices (inc. refreshments) £6.00 in
advance, £8.00 on the door. Contact 0115 9259611 for ticket
information

Saturday November 29, 10am-330pm: St Mary's Church in Greasley, near
Eastwood, is giving its annual Christmas bazaar a fresh look this
year — by travelling back to Victorian times. A Victorian Christmas
Market takes place in the church: there'll be hot chestnuts and fruit
punch and all the stallholders will be dressed in costume. Stalls
will include luxury hampers, cakes, a bottle tombola, hand-made
jewellery, pickles, jams and chutneys, Traidcraft goods and hundreds
of second-hand books. Other highlights include trips up the church
tower (weather permitting), decorated Christmas trees on display in
the church and the chance to have your photograph taken in Victorian
costume. Refreshments — including bacon cobs and mince pies — will be
served all day.

Best regards,

Nick

Finding the Tesco planning application

20 October 2008

Just a PS - the link in my last message only takes you to the planning
applications page. To find this one, click on "Find a planinng
application" and then search on Ward Beeston Central, Applicant Name
Tesco. It'll lead you to the basic application, with !voluminous!
documents attached.

Tesco/events/green belt update/Greene King/foie gras/banking crisis/drinking

20 October 2008

Hi all –

An update on the economy below in reply to a number of queries, but
first this time some local news, which has been short-changed in
recent updates because of the international crisis. If you're mainly
interested in the bigger national issues, just skip down to the
banking position in point 7, and a consultation on alcohol regulation
in point 8.

1. Tesco finalises application
After sustained pressure from local councillors, Tesco have at last
finalised their proposals for the Beeston store. The details are here:
http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4145
and you have till October 29 to submit comments if you wish. It will
then go to the Development Control Committee on the council for
consideration. I gather that Tesco hope to have the store open by the
end of 2009.

2. Local events
Saturday October 25, 10-12: Charity Christmas Card and Gift Sale at
Chilwell Road Methodist Church. This brings together a range of
local, national and international charities, primarily on the theme
of World Development with a wide range of Christmas cards and gifts.

Nov 1, 10-3pm, Stapleford Police Station: laptop registration. Bring
your Lap Top with a bill, council tax demand or similar, and they'll
register it on an international data base, so if it's ever stolen it
can find its way home to you.

Saturday 15th November 2008, from 2-5pm. The annual Global Gifts Sale
to be held in Christ Church Hall, Lime Grove Avenue, Chilwell on.
This is the eighth year of the event, which sells fairly traded
Christmas gifts and cards from around the world. Many of the items
provide income for families in some of the world's most deprived
areas, in places as diverse as South America, the Middle East and
Nepal. Refreshments will be served all afternoon.

3. Groups seeking your support

I've been asked to draw your attention to:

- www.cityofsanctuary.org. This is an organisation which is
dedicated to making refugees feel welcome. This isn't a campaigning
organisation seeking to admit more or fewer refugees, but rather
comes at it from the angle that if someone does get refugee status,
we should help them integrate and settle happily after what may have
been very traumatic experiences. As you'll see, it's a national body,
but there's a Nottingham project included.
- The AFAA website www.attenborough-village-green.com/ . This
is the website for critics of the proposed route of flood protection
along The Strand. The website for supporters of the route was listed
last time; at that point the AFAA site was not yet up to date. I
expect a decision in the near future.

- www.ksfiomdepositors.netgenius.co.uk . This is for savers who
have deposits in banks registered in the Isle of Man that have failed
in the banking crisis. Because Manx deposits are in principle tax-
free, the British government has so far taken the view that taxpayers
shouldn't be expected to compensate for losses there. But it's in the
nature of the wilder frontier of financial markets that banks can
switch ownership very rapidly, making it hard for ordinary people to
understand the risks (I was approached by a couple who had a deposit
with a Derbyshire bank that was taken over by an Icelandic bank
shortly before that in turned failed). I agreed to pass this on in
case other local people are in the same boat.

4. Green belt protection – update

The current Regional Spatial Strategy consultation has just ended,
and together with local Labour colleagues Richard Robinson and John
Bryant I've submitted objections, focusing on the proposal to require
each district to achieve a separate housing target unless all
districts agree. This is in my view the wrong way round: obviously if
districts all try to pass the buck, in the end someone has to decide
who builds what, but that should be a fallback position and not the
first option. If we succeed in getting this revised, it will make it
easier to block the controversial sites on Trowell Moor and next to
Bardills, in favour of a joint project with Erewash at Stanton
Ironworks (my preferred solution). The non-party campaign group
STRAG, chaired by Neil Jackson, has put in a separate comprehensive
objection, focusing on the flood risk, sustainability and the loss of
farming land.

A mild partisan note here: many of you will have had leaflets from
Conservatives and Liberal Democrats making much of their opposition
to this. So far as I can see, though, neither of their Parliamentary
candidates, nor their individual local councillors, have bothered to
submit objections to the proposals in the consultation. We saw
something similar happen over the tram inquiry. Leaflets are good for
raising one's profile, but a lot of politics consists of the hard
grind of getting in comments on time where they may actually achieve
something. However, councils have been consulted directly, and I'm
sure that Broxtowe will make similar views felt on behalf of all the
parties.

5. Greene King Kimberley – update

Like Tesco's site, the former Hardy & Hanson site has been lying
unused for ages (since the start of the year). Richard Robinson and I
have made a further attempt to press Greene King to disclose possible
buyers for the site so we can get on with detailed discussions on how
it might be developed in keeping with the traditional look of the
current buildings. I hope to be able to report back on this.

6. Local restaurant drops foie gras

I've been working with a number of local animal –lovers to persuade
Crème restaurant in Stapleford to stop serving foie gras. In a low-
key campaign, I've been encouraging them to go in individually and
say it's put them off going there. I'm glad to say that the
restaurant has informed me that they decided this summer to take it
off the menu.

I know that some of you will feel this is a minor matter when there
are such major issues to pursue, but the way that foie gras is
usually prepared is particularly horrible (involving force-feeding
with a tube down the throat – it's illegal to do this in Britain),
though the restaurant tells me that it's not always produced that
way. At all events, I'm very pleased they decided to drop it.

7. Banking rescue - details

Quite a few of you have asked exactly what guarantees the banks are
giving in return for being saved from collapse, as some of the press
was sketchy on the subject. The deal as I understand it at the Royal
Bank of Scotland is this (there are analogous arrangements at the
other `rescued' banks):

- £5 bn was issued in the form of preference shares, at an
interest rate of 12% per year until bought back from the taxpayer.
- The remaining support was exchanged for 60% of RBS's ordinary
shares at 65p/share (compared with the recent price of 200p).
- The board's Chairman has resigned and will not be paid a
golden handshake. No other bonuses will be paid for the current
financial year (bonuses for last year are paid normally)
- No dividends will be paid in the first year, and not until a
substantial part of the preference shares have been bought back
(which also makes sense for the bank, since they're paying the very
high 12% interest on them).
- Branches will be told they can lend and extend existing loans
and mortgages on normal risk criteria, excluding the risky loss-
leaders (125% mortgages etc.), up to the level of 2007, though in
practice lending is likely to be less because of the recession.
As the Guardian City editor observed, there were two considerations
here: the taxpayer needed to extract a full pound of flesh, but the
banks couldn't be left so stricken that they couldn't make profits.
He thinks the balance looks about right.
However, although it does look as though the package has warded off
the risk that the whole system will fall apart (which would be
ruinous for the wider economy), there is much more to do. At the
international level, proposals for new international regulation are
likely to emerge from the IMF talks. These were originally proposed
by Gordon Brown as Chancellor back in 1998, and effectively vetoed by
the US on the grounds of free market principles and considerations of
national sovereignty: the Americans are thought in the light of
recent events to have seen the light.

At the British level, the urgent task is to help businesses and home-
owners who have been snared by the credit crunch to get round this
nasty corner: we are far from out of the wood yet. I talked briefly
with Brown about this when I saw him in Nottingham on Friday, and
expect further announcements shortly – probably on Tuesday.

8. Consultation on drinking

At a more mundane level, the Government is currently consulting on
ways to curb binge drinking. They're considering:

- Restrictions on the sale of cheap alcohol in supermarkets
(e.g. a ban on `buy one get one free' offers for booze).
- Wine to be served in glasses with marked measures, so people
can judge better how much they are drinking (wine glasses in most
restaurants are larger than they used to be), with a guide to be
displayed to the number of units that a measure is likely to
represent (so people can judge better when they've reached the two-
unit limit)
- A ban on free offers of alcohol (e.g to women customers)
- A ban on drinking games (which tend to be based on the idea
that everyone should get amusingly drunk) – this was proposed among
others by Broxtowe Youth Council

I've not commented as yet. What would you like me to respond?

Best regards

Nick

Personal news/Ed Balls event postponed/credit crunch update

09 October 2008

Hi all -

Short of time today but some quick updates and comment on the
unfolding economic situation. Important note: the previously-
announced Friday event with Ed Balls has been cancelled due to
another pressing commitment: he apologises and we hope to reschedule
it in the New Year.

1. Personal news

The reshuffle included the replacement of the Energy Minister,
Malcolm Wicks, in the new Department of Energy and Climate Change. As
I was Malcolm's PPS, this removed my position too. I was offered a
choice of three alternative PPS positions, but as these were in
immigration and health, outside the energy field where I've been
specialising, I've decided I'd like a period of independence on the
back benches, so that I'm free to pursue the themes that I've been
working on over the last year.

If you recall my article a few months back about the 'insider'
and 'outsider' roles, this is a switch which will mean I have less
behind-the-scenes input but more freedom to comment and vote
differently. It also means I'm now free to sign Early Day Motions
again.

2. Events update

I've been asked to advertise these events:
They are all at the Olympia Arts Centre, Chilwell School, Queens Road
West. Entrance through reception at Chilwell School.

Sunday 12th October at 7.30pm, screening of Love in the Time of
Cholera (15). Come at 7pm for refreshments and an introduction to the
film. Tickets are £4.50 on the door.

Friday 17th October at 7.30pm, Pleasley Colliery Welfare Band.
Entrance is free, with a collection to cover costs. Organised by Cllr
Pat Lally. Ring 9252698 to reserve a seat.

Thursday 20th November at 7.30pm, The New Rope String Band. Tickets
are available now from the school on 9252698: adults £8, students
and concessions £6, family ticket (2 adults + 2) £25.

3. Credit crunch

You can find infinite amounts of analysis in the media, so I won't
try to duplicate, but I'd like to update you on the line I'm taking
on your behalf, so you can consider whether you'd like me to be
saying anything different.

a) As I said a couple of weeks ago, my primary concern is the knock-
on effect of the crunch on the 'real economy', in the form of
businesses being unable to extend existing credit and borrow sensibly
for normal development: for instance, if you want to replace some
machinery with more efficient new equipment, you quite reasonably
want to take a loan to do so as part of your normal business. This is
bound to have done significant damage already (which I'm afraid does
mean bad economic and employment news in the pipeline) and the
crucial element of yesterday's package was the technical one of
freeing interbank lending, which should make it easier for banks to
resume normal support for businesses.

It is in my view entirely fair that in return for this help we impose
restrictions on inordinate executive bonuses, exaggerated risk-
taking, and the wilder forms of speculation.

b) The second important element is to stabilise the housing market. I
don't favour trying to push prices back up - they were clearly over-
inflated and we shouldn't try to reinflate the bubble. But the
present position is that instability means that nobody knows whether
it's sensible to buy or sell, and since people simply have to move
sometimes, it's unfair that they're forced to decide on that basis.

c) The third important element is protecting the position of
taxpayers and public spending. The financial guarantees, terrifying
though they sound, don't necessarily mean a hit to taxpayers because
they're based on assets which have the same value in normal times
(note that the much-criticised loan to Northern Rock has already been
more than half repaid, ahead of schedule). However, the problems in
the last two points are going to mean a steep decline in tax
revenues. I'm therefore putting a personal moratorium on calling for
significant new spending on anything, however desirable, and we need
to look again at current programmes with a critical eye.

d) The least important element is short-term movement in the stock
markets. In the long term, it's important for pensions and for firms
to build up their long-term strength. But I don't favour any
government action focused simply on shoring up shhare prices: they
will recover to an appropriate level if we successfully stabilise the
underlying economy.

Feedback as always welcome!

Best wishes

Nick

One more event - Beeston Transition

27 September 2008

Sorry, forgot to include one more that I think will interest quite a
few readers in the Beeston area:

Free film showing, organised by the Beeston Transition Initiative on
1st October. They are a group of local people who have come together
with the aim of raising awareness about climate change and peak oil,
and to co-ordinate the transition of our community to one that is less
dependent on oil. You may have heard of the Totnes Transition
initiative: this is a similar version for Beeston.

Beeston Transition film showing & discussion
The Power of Community
Old Council Chambers, Beeston Town Hall, Foster Ave
Wed 1st Oct, 6-9pm (film starts at 7pm)
Admission free

More details available from
http://beestontransition.weebly.com/

The current political climate/flood protection/events

27 September 2008

Hi all –

I'll be away from tomorrow for three days visiting friends, so just
thought I'd do a roundup with some thoughts on the current political
climate (reader's warning: this one contains partisan opinion!) and
information on upcoming events. There's also an update on the
Attenborough flood defence issue.

1. THE CURRENT POLITICAL CLIMATE

Not that much to add to the analysis of last week on the economic
position, except that it clearly remains extremely fraught. If
Congress agrees to underwrite shaky bank loans (which is likely to
include loans taken up by British banks on the US market), that may
unlock the credit markets, which should produce considerable long-
term relief (to some extent at the expense of the US taxpayer), but
the problems of credit in recent months are bound to have an effect
on the economy going into next year.

That's the economics, and although it's extremely tricky there is
some prospect of improvement. What I think is depressing is the
political climate, which seems mired in playground exchanges to an
almost unprecedented extent. Here's a magazine interview with George
Osborne last week on the Prime Minister:

`"Gordon Brown is an effing awful prime minister." Mr Osborne, who in
the past has called Mr Brown "weak" "brutal" "unpleasant" , "a phoney"
and a "failure", added: "Do I hate the man? I certainly stand by
everything I've said about him."'

Now, regardless of what you think of the PM, is this is a sensible
way for the Shadow Chancellor to be discussing current politics?
We've had three weeks of almost total silence from the Opposition on
the credit crunch, and filling in with this sort of abuse is no
substitute: it's not so much the language as the immaturity that
seems to me discouraging.

The same pattern is mirrored locally, minus the vulgarity. A friend
has sat down and worked through all the blogs published by the
Conservative candidate, Ms Soubry, over the last year. This is a
breakdown of the items:

Attacks on the Labour Party/Government: 61
Attacks on me personally: 31
Attacks on the Liberal Democrats: 20
Anything positive about Broxtowe: 2
Neutral discussions of current issues, not making partisan points: 0

It's worth acknowledging that this is *not* the local Conservative
tradition. My Tory predecessor, Sir Jim Lester, had the same approach
that I have, generally trying to solve problems and work across party
lines. But it's the norm in most parts of the country, and it's by no
means only the Conservatives – a glance at Labour's campaign in Crewe
(all about "Tory toffs") and the LibDem campaign in the by-election I
went to in Leicester (all about alleged sins of the Labour candidate
20 years earlier) were just as bad. The politics of relentless
attack, imported from America, are generally thought to be what
works. It's simply suicide to ignore it altogether, but what I try to
do is corral the partisan stuff into separate messages with an up-
front warning.

The effect of this poisonous climate is to make sensible discussion
very difficult. For instance, in Brown's speech at the UN, he called
for an end to `the age of irresponsibility' , in other words greater
controls on international and domestic financial markets. Now this is
a tacit acceptance of the fact that markets have been greatly
liberalised in recent years and we and nearly everyone else can now
see it's gone too far – the sensible response to if you see something
isn't working is to accept that it's wrong and fix it.

Ms Osborne's response has been to sneer: huh, well, who was in charge
in recent years then, isn't it you that's irresponsible? That would
carry some weight if he'd previously urged greater restraint, but in
fact it's opportunism, since he's urged the opposite: he criticised
us last year for retaining *any* controls on mortgage lending. No
doubt his speech at the Tory conference on Monday will tell us more,
but I predict it will be more about public spending than financial
controls.

That's important, because there are two separate issues here:

a) Should we impose constraints on the financial markets?

b) Is Government debt too high, and should we reduce public spending
to lower it?

The two are quite distinct, and it's deliberately misleading to imply
that the credit crunch driven by the world banking markets is in some
way linked to spending on better schools in Britain. Mr Osborne is
harshly critical of the level of public spending, but indulgent of
City excesses. On Newsnight Mr Osborne said: "No one likes to see
people making money out of the misery of others but that's one of the
functions of a market economy." (As there's been controversy about
this, I'm being careful to quote him precisely.)

Re a), the question is how far constraints will protect consumers and
how far they will constrain growth (by making sensible lending more
difficult, inhibiting investment). The liberalisation of the City and
its overseas equivalents has maximised the availability of capital
for business at the expense of safety… but if we overdo the
constraints, we'll have the opposite problem that banks will be very
safe but businesses won't be able to borrow to grow and increase
prosperity. There's an important and serious discussion to be had on
this if we can put the partisan stuff to one side. Personally, I do
think that the balance has tilted too far to reckless liberalisation,
and yes, politicians of all parties are to blame for supporting it,
so let's fix it.

Re b), Government debt is in fact lower than 10 years ago – briefly,
the enormous proceeds of the sale of mobile phone licences were
ploughed by Brown into reducing debt (he was much-criticised at the
time for not spending it on public services), and those savings have
gradually been drawn on to pay for the expansion in schools,
hospitals, policing, etc., which had been starved of resources for
years. For an independent analysis to verify this, see Channel 4's
piece here:

http://tinyurl.com/4knoao

That doesn't mean that public spending should rise regardless – the
credit crunch must mean that tax revenues are down, and we'll need to
respond to that. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't be tackling the
excesses in the financial markets, and that's something which badly
needs both domestic and international agreement. If even President
Bush can be persuaded, shouldn't Mr Osborne and Mr Cameron be open to
it?

2. FLOOD DEFENCES

The Attenborough Flood Alleviation Alliance (AFAA) have decided to
support a compromise proposal which I made when the issue last came
to the boil. This would run behind the sports fields but would then
cut sharply up to the Strand to avoid the part of the SSSI most at
risk. Whether the EA is convinced remains to be seen. Whatever the
final proposal, it's likely to go before Broxtowe's Development
Control Committee within the next few weeks. For the views of
different local groups campaigning on the issue, see

http://www.attenborough-cc.net/newsletters.php?newsletterid=130

for a current presentation of the critics' position (their official
website is www.Attenborough- Village-Green. com but this is awaiting an
update) and

http://attenboroughfloodwall.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

for a new group supporting the EA's proposals.

My position is the same as it's been for the last year – I would like
to see a compromise and hope that a consensus may yet emerge. Above
all I want to see protection go ahead before public spending cutbacks
or the demands of other areas lead to the cancellation of the
project. Thousands of homes in the constituency are potentially at
higher risk without the protection, and in the most severe cases
there could be implications for insurance. So I'm continuing to do
all I can to promote compromise, but would not recommend the council
voting for delay.

3. SNIPPETS AND EVENTS

Friday 3rd October: start of new Ilkeston-Cossall- Awsworth- Kimberley-
Phoenix Park bus route, 364 days a year – see earlier emails for the
background to this, with Richard Robinson and I were very heavily
involved in proposing and bringing to fruition. There will be an
official launch event with various well-known people a week later.

Saturday 4th October 7.30pm Nottingham Police Aid Convoys present
Echoes Of Hope, charity concert with soloists and Nottingham Male
Voice Choir. Easy listening plus songs from the shows. St.Barnabas
Church Lenton Abbey just off Priory roundabout. Tickets £5 or more
information tel:Wendy 8497517 or Maggie 9436054.

Friday 10th October 19.00: Ed Balls (currently Secretary of State for
Children, Schools and Families) speaking at John Clifford School -
this is organised by Labour though all are welcome; admission is £5.

October 2008 onwards: free "Challenging arthritis" course, Southglade
Access Centre, Southglade Road, Bestwood. The course (run by
volunteers with arthritis) is for people with arthritis and related
illnesses aged 18 - 100 + who want to learn self-management skills
and techniques to better manage their arthritis. There is one session
of 2 1/2 hours per week for 6 weeks and the course is led by fully-
trained people with arthritis. Call Gill on 0115 9226403 for details:
first come, first served.

Best regards

Nick

Phone problem today/policing event/economy and fuel crisis Q&A

14 September 2008

Hi all –

A short-term general note - BT say there is a massive network
problem, and recommend not ringing anyone till tomorrow!

Several of you have asked if I'm one of these leadership plotters we
read about. No – I think it's a tiresome distraction and we should be
getting on with the job we were elected for, which at the moment
means concentrating on addressing the economic position. So I'll
comment on that and add a Q&A for the questions I'm most often asked.

First, one more plug for this week's meeting on policing. As
mentioned, it's from 7 to 9 on Wednesday September 17, at Roundhill
School, foster Avenue, Beeston. It's about policing strategy for
Broxtowe as a whole. There will be no discussion of individual
offences (if you want to discuss crime on a particular road, the CAT
meeting is the place to do it) – it's about strategy. The questions
I've asked the police to address include these:

What are the current crime stats, how do they compare with past stats?

How far can we actually trust stats? Do we think people report crimes
more or less than in the past?

How do we assess things like graffiti and litter which are rarely-
reported?

How many police are there in neighbourhood teams and in patrol cars?

How quickly can you expect a response to a 999 call? To a call to the
police station?
To your neighbourhood officer?

What happens after you've had a response? Will the police later tell
you how they're getting on?

If one's aware of a pattern of offences, not individually worth 999
calls, how should they be reported? Does it commit one to giving
evidence?

Are police drowning in paperwork so unable to get on the beat? What
is the paperwork anyway? Are the much-heralded PDAs for beat officers
really coming? What else could be changed to reduce paperwork?

What is really done about minor anti-social behaviour? Is it worth
reporting that teenager Fred keeps getting drunk and shouting in the
street? What will be done if one does?

The meeting is free (though we'll do a whip-round to cover the hall
cost) and non-partisan: I organised it simply because I'm often asked
these questions as your MP, and I thought it'd be helpful to enable
you to hear the police speaking for themselves. I'll introduce it
briefly, then hand over to the officers.

We're also still taking bookings for the energy debate on the 24th
with Alan Simpson as guest (let me know if you can come), and after
the feisty debate on Friday with the Tories' candidate Anna Soubry I
challenged her to three more duels in Stapleford, Kimberley and
Trowell: she's accepted and these will be announced when we've sorted
the details.

On to the main theme:

Energy, housing and world recession
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----

Leaving aside for a moment the party stuff (it's your fault, no you
were worse, no your policies are rubbish, well you don't have
policies at all, etc.), what is the position and what should we do
about it?

What's actually happening? The economy is not in terrible shape (the
economists are arguing about whether growth will be +0.5% or -0.2%,
but basically it's stationary) but there are two glaring things to
worry about and one less obvious one.

First, we are collectively poorer as a country because of the
enormous rise in fuel prices. The change over time is shown here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_price_increases_of_2004_and_2005

Basically the price per barrel was around $30 until 2004, and it's
risen to about $100 now. This has coincided with British North Sea
production peaking and going into steep decline. So we're having to
import much more of something that costs over three times what it did
four years ago. A side-effect has been a sharp rise in profits for
the multinational oil producers (but not for the local retailers).

Second, the credit crunch, which is due to one of the main pillars of
the whole system of lending (trading of debt on the US market)
completely collapsing. This is the equivalent of if the food industry
suddenly heard that butter was poisonous – yes, in due course they'd
adjust with alternatives, but in the short term the disruption would
be horrendous. The obvious effect has been that mortgages are much
harder to come by, so house prices have slumped, but a less obvious
one is that it's harder to get a loan for any kind of investment. For
the economy as a whole, that is the more serious effect: if
investment stalls, it has a knock-on effect on everything as well as
affecting future competitiveness.

What can we do about it?

1. Try to redistribute some of the energy profit rise to the
people worst affected
2. Reduce dependence on imported oil and gas
3. Prevent the oil price shock from triggering a wider round of
inflation
4. Get the loans market working again

Re 1: the problem is that the multinationals are hard to tax (whether
by a windfall tax or other means) as they are essentially mobile.
What we've done is negotiate a shift of one third of the increased
profits (£1 billion out of £3 billion) to engineer a large increase
in home insulation. Since relatively few people can get better
insulation in time for this winter, we've tripled the severe-weather
payments to vulnerable groups. To be precise, the definition of these
is: "Pensioners, disabled people and families with a child under five
or a disabled child receiving Pension Credit, Income Support, income-
based Jobseeker's Allowance, and income-related Employment and
Support Allowance".

Re 2: This was vital anyway, for the reasons I argued in my
last "Positive Politics" newsletter – we are dangerously dependent on
imported fuel. Because I'm especially involved in energy and
environment issues I've been going on about this for a long time, and
discussed the implications back in June before the current crisis. I
won't repeat it now to avoid making this update too long, but if
you're interested you can find a discussion in point 3 of

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BroxtoweInfo/message/447

Re 3: this does mean pay restraint, I'm afraid. We've had several
years of better settlements for most public sector workers where
public pay caught up with private pay, but the last year it's been
squeezed and it will be again this year. I voted against an MP pay
rise and I'd vote against a significant rise this year in other areas
too – it's simply dangerous at this moment for employment and the
economy, despite every special case that one can make for every
profession.

Re 4: this means preventing a run on banks (the Northern Rock rescue
was criticised at the time, but the US have just belatedly done the
same for mortgage lenders massively larger than NR), getting more
liquidity back into the market, and lowering interest rates as soon
as it's clear that inflation isn't spiralling further upwards.

Q&A

• How can I find out how far I can benefit from the energy
package?

The publicly-funded Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512 012 can help
(once BT sort out the network problem!).

• Won't the energy companies just charge more to pay for the
help in insulation?

In my experience in private industry, companies *always* charge as
much as they think they can get. But they're well aware that we came
very close to imposing a windfall tax this year and that the public
would have backed it. They've surrendered a chunk of their profit to
avoid it, and would be unwise to rush to try to build it up again.

• Shouldn't we be getting cash payments for consumers instead
of helping with insulation?

Frankly we're hooked on excessive energy consumption, and simply
handing out one-off payments for another fix isn't sensible (though
maybe more of a vote-winner, he said wistfully). The severe weather
payment increase is needed to protect the really vulnerable, but for
everyone else it really makes more sense to help reduce energy
*consumption* – for the individuals, for the national interest, and
for climate change.

• Why not go beyond help with insulation to other forms of
energy saving, like low-energy light bulbs, double glazing and solar
power?

The package does include help with low-energy bulbs and devices to
measure energy usage for people in the most-affected groups, but the
emphasis is on financing insulation, since this produces much the
biggest energy saving per £ (it pays off within as little as four
years, whereas solar panels are more like 20 years); the 50% discount
for everyone regardless of income should mean that few households
with cavity walls and lofts will leave them uninsulated. The savings
for households who haven't done them already should average £300
lower bills each year.

But personally I'd like to see us go further, and offer a subsidy for
double glazing and renewable energy investment at home, even if it
was just 25%. A lot of homes do have insulation now, and we need to
help (and nudge) people to do more.

• What about homes with solid walls?

The stock response is that these are vastly more expensive to
insulate. I'm advised that this isn't necessarily true, and I'm
looking into it – input from any of you who have professional
knowledge would be very welcome.

• Isn't part of the problem that we've spent beyond our means
in good years, so don't have anything left now?

No, this is actually a myth. Because of the decision (controversial
at the time) to spend nearly all the proceeds of the vast spectrum
auction (£27 billion) on reducing debt, public debt as a share of
national income is now 37.3% as against 43% in 1997, so we are in a
better position to borrow if needed. However, just borrowing like mad
wouldn't solve the structural problems caused by the huge change in
global energy markets.

• Should we be doing more, less or nothing about mortgages?

I've had quite strong and contradictory feedback on this. I don't
think we should use taxpayers' money to sustain artificially high
house prices – apart from anything else, it wouldn't work. I'm
cautious about the stamp duty changes, but because half the problem
in the market is a crisis of confidence, I can see a case for
encouraging people to bring forward house sales at the cheaper end of
the market.

Where Government does have an important role is helping people avoid
repossession when they've become overextended, by enabling them to
take a step back and accept shared equity for the part of the
mortgage they can't afford. Making this work in practice is not going
to be easy, but it could make all the difference to people threatened
with losing their homes.

• Is this really the most serious crisis for the world economy
for 60 years, as Alastair Darling was quoted as saying?

There isn't a huge world economic slump (yet). But the point is that
it's the most *complex* crisis for 60 years. We're used to `price
shocks' from time to time as world trade goes through ups and downs.
We're not used to the combination of a price shock with a financial
market crunch, and it needs a very careful hand to deal with both at
once.

As I said at the debate the other day, the problem is politically
neutral even though we may have different ideas on the priorities for
dealing with it there is a set of nasty facts that every government
is facing. To make one partisan comment: if Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne or
the local Conservatives have some positive proposals of their own, as
opposed to merely saying it's all awful, I've missed them.

My best guess is that we will see interest rates start to fall by the
New Year, and some daylight in the wider economy by mid-2009, but
there will be a very difficult period between now and then as the
impact of the current crisis of confidence feeds through. I hope
these notes are useful.

Best wishes

Nick

Energy debate/major Bramcote Hills problem/floods/tram update/radon

5 September 2008

Hi all –

Lots of locally important issues to report, the first linking in to
the current headline issues on fuel costs. A quick note to reply to a
query from a number of people to my last email – yes, the new bus
through Kimberley and West Nuthall to the tram will be free off-peak
to all pensioners with their national bus card (as is the tram
itself, so if you're over 60 you'll be able to go to Nottingham at no
cost).

1. Energy debate on September 24

Confirmation of the revised date for the discussion of energy issues:
I'll be doing this will be with Alan Simpson and Steve Barber at the
Durham Ox Chinese restaurant on Wednesday, September 24 at 8 p.m. It's a
variant on the usual eat'n'debate format – by paying at least £12 you
get as much debate as you like and as much food as you can eat. If
you can, we'd be grateful if you can pay the usual £20, but if you
can't spare that much but can manage £12, a supporter is kindly
offering to help make up the difference to try to make sure that
nobody feels they can't take part in this important issue on cost
grounds.

Alan will lead off with an introduction based on his own
revolutionary eco-house in Nottingham and the benefits and handicaps
in getting it built; I'll talk about the national policy, including
the current controversy about a windfall tax and help for people
affected by high energy prices; Steve will talk about the local
Broxtowe issues, and nhen we'll throw it open. The idea is to have an
informed discussion with insights both on what our national policies
should be and what we can do as individuals. As space is limited,
please confirm if you would like to come.

By the way, if you're interested in the broader climate change
issues, there's an interesting new Defra website entirely devoted to
it:

www.defra.gov.uk/adaptation

2. Bramcote schools issue

I was alarmed to hear reports about structural problems at Bramcote
Hills school, sand went along to a Tuesday briefing for parents to
find out the facts so I could report them back to you. It's quite
upsetting, though the school and its partners are handling it well.
What's happened is that the major project for new 6th form
facilities, on which £300,000 has already been spent, uncovered major
structural problems in up to half the buildings in the school. It's
not safe to use them at the moment, so the school has been scrambling
to make separate measures with its partners in the Federation,
Alderman White and especially Bramcote Park (who are of course sited
next door). Year 7 and 8 pupils are going to the partner schools
instead; other Bramcote Hills pupils are being accommodated in the
unaffected buildings, with urgent relocation of science facilities. A
lot of work went into making it possible for all the pupils to start
on time this week, with free new uniforms for the children switching
school and emergency money from the LEA to help with the costs.
Further examination of the buildings is in progress and I
expect a set of recommendations to emerge in the next few weeks.
Tantalisingly, the entire school is expected to get completely new
buildings as part of the Government's programme Buildings Schools for
the Future (which is refurbishing every secondary school in England),
but not until around 2015-2016. So there's a 7-year gap to bridge,
and although both the partner schools do have spare capacity, they
don't have so much that they can absorb all of Hills' current and
expected pupils. I'm hoping that some Government money from the BSF
programme could be brought forward if there is a convincingly
transition plan, but it's a difficult situation. I'll work with the
Federation to do all I can to help.
Many parents whose children have unexpectedly been switched
to a different school are understandably very upset. There have been
some pretty wild allegations (`the school is being sold to the
Mormons', `it's not a real problem, they just want an excuse to close
it') but having talked to the very concerned staff from both the
school and the LEA, I'm clear that the risk is real and they couldn't
simply press on regardless – sooner or later one of the buildings
would have collapsed quite suddenly, and we'd be looking at an
inquest and people asking why the danger was ignored.

3. Flood protection update

The Environment Agency have called a fresh meeting at Attenborough
Village Hall on September 15 at 7.30pm, to discuss their renewed
proposals for protecting the area. As you may remember, an earlier
application to build along The Strand met strong opposition from many
residents, who favoured running the protection behind the sports
fields instead – partly to protect the sports fields, partly to avoid
an unsightly wall on The Strand. The alternative route favoured by
residents infringes a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and
English Nature and Notts Wildlife Trust have opposed it. The EA plans
to press ahead with their proposal for the Strand route, though
they've made changes to try to make the wall less obtrusive. A new
planning application will be submitted next month.
The issue remains strongly contested. The prize of a
successful project is significant, though: the full scheme is, I
understand, the largest planned in the whole country, and it will
protect vulnerable areas across Greater Nottingham. I've made several
attempts to broker a compromise (so far without success), since it
seems to me vital that we do get the added protection under way
before the money gets diverted elsewhere. I'll be attending the
meeting and will hope to contribute constructively.

4. NET: new enquiry

There have been confusing developments over the tram extension which
it may be helpful to explain. The inquiry report has gone to the
Department of Transport, who are currently studying it: I expect
publication of the outcome in a few months' time. In the meantime
there have been one and a half mini-new enquiries.
First, opponents of the route in Rushcliffe have drawn to the
presence of migrating Golden Plovers at one point of the route. Since
this wasn't an issue raised at the inquiry, it will be reopened to
consider it, probably briefly, starting in the week of October 7
Second, NET have been negotiating with Broxtowe Council and others
over land exchange to allow the proposed route to be used, if it's
approved. They applied for compulsory purchase, which will require a
short new enquiry starting October 14. however, it turns out that
this too will only relate to the Rushcliffe part, since I was
informed today that voluntary agreement has been reached for the
Broxtowe part. Broxtowe's all-party Cabinet approved the exchange
without opposition. They include:
- £260,000 towards recreational facilities in Chilwell
- New open space off Inham Road
- Replacement children's play area at Inham Nook recreation
ground
- New footpaths and improved street lighting in the Inham Nook
area
I'm not expecting the inquiries to produce a major delay, and whether
people are for or against I think it's in the general interest that
we find out as soon as possible what the outcome is.

5. Radon measurements in North Broxtowe

Many people who have bought a house in the north of the borough
(Kimberley, Moorgreen, Nuthall, Greasley, Watnall) will have had a
note on the search that the area is for geological reasons considered
to have heightened risk (3% or higher) of radon, which in high
concentrations over many years can increase the risk of lung cancer.
While this sounds alarming, one can check with a detector costing
£40, and if there's an issue the council will advise on what to do –
the work involved to lower the level is relatively simple and
sometimes just putting in an air brick does the trick.
Broxtowe Council has now negotiated with the government to get a free
detector for every household in the area in question that wants one.
If your home is one of them, you should get a letter about this
shortly. If you don't get a letter, it's because you're not in the
geological area posing any heightened risk. If you'd like to read
more about radon, there's a summary here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4113765.stm

Other little items:

- There's a new active group that's in the process of establishing a
branch of the Nottingham Credit Union in Beeston and Chilwell. We're
based at Inham Nook Methodist Church and are currently opening over
Tuesday morning between 10.00am and 12.00pm. For more info email
chilwell@nottinghamcu.co.uk

- I've been working extensively with the Plain English Campaign on
the Small Print Bill, and said I'd give them a plug to thank them for
all their work. You can find their website at
www.plainenglish.co.uk . I used to be a bit of a sceptic about them
(not every issue can be simplified easily) but they've really proved
loyal and enthusiastic supporters on the small print issue, and
they're a largely voluntary body who work hard to make life more
comprehensible!

Best wishes

Nick

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