In November 2015 - that's nearly 18 months ago - Transport for London (TfL) announced with a great fanfare that they had finally secured full funding for the Croxley Rail Link. They said that construction would start in 2016 and it would be completed by 2020. They claimed it would "create more than 6,500 jobs and boost the local economy by £2 billion".
The Lib Dem Spring conference has updated policy on Health and Social Care to reflect the growing crisis in that area. Our local party submitted an amendment to the policy to ensure that Pharmacy First, a scheme which allows pharmacists to use their skills and training to diagnose and prescribe treatment for certain minor ailments, is rolled out across the whole country. Where the scheme is in operation it relieves pressure for GP appointments as people with those ailments are encouraged to visit the pharmacist rather than the doctor.
Many of you will have seen the shocking news about the condition and state of the Old Magistrates Court just yards from the Borough Offices. It has now emerged that there has been rough sleeping, drinking, extensive vandalism and even hard and illegal drug use within the building. On a very basic level the vandalism has reached dreadful proportions with most windows smashed and the doors broken and open to the elements.
Dear Sir, With all this talk about devolving more powers to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, please spare a thought for by far the most populous and largest 'nation' in the UK namely England. Isn't it about time that those of us north of Watford and west of Whitchurch got a piece of the action as well? Let's put the concept of the elected Mayor on the back burner for now. It might work in major conurbations but not in rural areas like mine. Instead, let's explore the necessity firstly of streamlining what currently exists of the emasculated rump of once proud local government by creating unitary councils out of what is still left of County and District Councils and investigate the feasibility of the representatives of unitary councils getting together in regional assemblies. You don't need more elections. Let those already elected to unitary councils nominate representatives to elect a Leader and Cabinet to run the big things democratically with the detailed local knowledge that no number crunching civi
Looks like a little quicker job than at first anticipated, as Northern Gas Networks (NGN) says it will be carrying out further preparatory work for an essential gas mains diversion project at Killingworth Road in Gosforth, Newcastle, from Monday 27 March. The major project to divert a length of gas main away from a section of carriageway due for improvement will begin in earnest later this year, as part of a wider programme of essential maintenance and upgrades on this main route in and out of the city. NGN will carry out work on behalf of Newcastle City Council and Nexus from Monday 27 March to Friday 31 March. In order for engineers to complete this work safely and efficiently, it will be necessary to temporarily close one lane heading northbound on Killingworth Road between Back Gallalaw Terrace (north) to 20m beyond Killingworth Road/Salters Bridge during this time. It's expected the traffic management in place will cause extended journey times, so people are advised to leave extra time for trave
More grammar schools are not the answer to improving social mobility and preparing Britain for the future Politics is often defined by what people disagree on. However, some issues are above party politics and it's time that tackling social mobility became one of them. As politicians from three different parties, we sparred across the despatch box but now we're coming together to build a cross-party consensus, focused on looking at the evidence of what works, to tackle inequality in education and boost social mobility.