Letter from Parliament

My work this last week has been very much about health, transport and shopping!  

As I write this I don’t know the result of the “Making it Better” consultation into maternity and paediatrics, though Councillor Jean Ashworth, Angela Slater, John Murray and myself will be in Manchester to hear the result.  Whatever happens, Carole Ashworth-Lord and the midwives have put up a brilliant fight. 

I was heartened to hear that Dave and Lisa Fitton have been granted legal aid to apply for a judicial review into the downgrading of our A amp; E.  Any claims in the past that this had nothing to do with the Government were dispelled this week with the Prime Minister’s Speech telling NHS bosses that these cuts were vital “to save lives”.  How losing an award winning angioplasty team that treats heart attack victims saves lives is beyond me!  

My final health event of the week was opening the new Dental Access Centre at Castlemere with the Pakistan Consul General Masroor Junejo. Getting more dentists in Rochdale has been one of my priorities and I was delighted that Dr Khalid Anness and his team had earned a £1/4 million grant to open the centre.

And so onto transport and shopping! Last year Councillor Rosemary Jones and the Friends of Littleborough Station asked me if I could help secure funding for disabled access at Littleborough Station. When I met Richard Armitage, Chief Executive of Network Rail, I raised Littleborough with him and he promised to investigate. I was delighted to receive a letter from Tom Harris MP, the Rail Minister last week telling me that funding has been agreed.  We now need to get CCTV Cameras installed, which will considerably improve security. 

Plans for the new Bus Station in our Town Centre were discussed at a meeting in the Town Hall last Monday.  Vera Hirst, who Chairs the Group had raised concerns about access with me so I arranged with the GMPTE and Council Officers to go through to the proposals.  I followed this up on Friday with a meeting with John Hudson from the Rochdale Development Agency about plans for the new Shopping Centres and went to the launch of a report on transport and retailing organised by the RAC and major retailers.  They all said the same thing, that convenient access is vital to the success of our Town Centre.  Incidentally, I am delighted that the Government have given us a £1.038 million grant to improve services for older people.  This owes much to the work of Cabinet Member for Older People, Councillor Angela Coric, Council Officers and people like Vera Hirst and her group.  Well done!

Finally, two transport debates, one on Tuesday where I challenged Transport Minister Douglas Alexander MP about his commitment to light rail, and on Wednesday to a debate about funding for British Waterways.  I raised concerns about the effects that a cut in funding will have on Rochdale Canal.  Maintenance this year has been cut by £606,000 with more cuts to come.  After all the work done by the Canal Society to get Rochdale Canal open, it would be tragic to see it all thrown away.