Brown’s speech under the spot light.

In Brown’s 2007 conference speech, Gordon Brown pledged that unless contract cleaners in hospitals meet the highest standards of cleanliness they will lose their contract. Was this supposed to be an earth shuttering revelation, a moment of clear thinking, what's the procedure at the moment, then? His party has had 10 years to clean them up. MRSA has quadrupled and our old and vulnerable are dying of C-diff, a hospital acquired infection, one that continues to cause suffering and deaths in Maidstone Hospital.

Looking at his aspirations for Britain, it is all more of the same. Ten years on the aspirations have not changed, much needs to be done. Labour has failed to deliver in many key areas.
Child poverty, social mobility, youth unemployment, basic literacy and crime are still unsolved problems. In some of these areas things have gone back, not forward - youth unemployment is worse, violent gun crime is higher.
Let us consider some simple facts and some of Brown’s misrepresentations;
· The social mobility gap is wider than it has ever been
· The health gap is as wide now as in Victorian Times
· 1 in 4 of our youngsters leave primary school without basic requirements in literacy and numeracy.
· Youth unemployment in Kent is around 52% (16-17 year-olds) demonstrating our education system continues to fail significant numbers of our children.
· 200,000 pensioners live below the poverty line
· You cannot deport gun-toting criminals if they are from the EU – the EU won’t allow you , (this is your que to sign EU referendum Petitions in the posts below)
· Brown can not DO Britishness; How can he champion Britishness when his party presided over the break up of the Union? Devolved legislatures in Wales and Scotland and failed to address the iniquitous West Lothian question. Ie Scottish MP’s continue to vote on English laws that effect only England while English MP’s have not reciprocal vote on Scottish matters. This is undemocratic.
· Furthermore Brown makes no move to redressing the Barnett Formula which sends Maidstone council tax payers money to 'deprived' areas in Wales and particularly Scotland, with no assessment of the needs of Kent which has some of the highest pockets of deprivation.
· All of his 'new' announcements have been announced before, some many times. Why should we believe him?

Brown is no social reformer, his way is central control, larger state, ie more peoples lives directly in the control of the state, higher taxes and little to show for it. (Edited, Highlights supplied by Janice Small, Keep them coming)

Kent Conservatives Rally for EU referendum.

On Saturday, 22nd September, Maidstone town centre hosted the epicentre of the Conservative campaign to force Gordon Brown to keep his 2005 General Election manifesto pledge to have a referendum on the EU Constitution.

Conservative MEP’s Dan Hannan and Richard Ashworth were joined by Prospective Parliamentary Candidates and activities from across Kent, with events taking place in Rochester and Maidstone, and then across to Deal and Ramsgate.

The event gathered enormous public support, demonstrating that the British public are not prepared to put up with this Government telling them one thing and then going off and blatantly ignoring them once the elections are over.

Thanks to Janice Small for her contributions to the rallies and to this post

Call for help to catch fly tippers

Click on images to enlarge









Fly tippers have struck in Yalding and your help is needed to catch the culprits.
The criminals dumped what looks like a demolished public outbuilding in a farmer’s field off Pike Fish Lane, Yalding. The fly tip was discovered by the farmer on 13 September 2007, and is thought to have been dumped the night before.
It is possible the building had a flat roof and was the toilet facility for a public building, such as a sports club. The waste includes windows and doors covered in security-meshing, a toilet and other bathroom materials, roof lining and insulation and associated rubble.
It is hoped someone will be able to identify the building and where it came from. Please have a good look at the photos - somebody must recognise the building or know of a place where an outbuilding has been recently removed.
Anyone with information should contact the council’s environmental crime hotline on 01622 602202. Maidstone Borough Council News Release; Ref No: ARL/070919

Never in the History of this Country!

Sign up to The Sun's Campaign
http://www.thesun.co.uk/section/0,,2004240000,00.html






Have your say, don't leave it to..............

Don't consider it a treat, to have a referendum on the treaty

Weak Planning Policy

Cllr’s Harwood and English (LibDem) frequently refer to the inadequacy of our Planning Policy and they are quite right in this because it is weak and frequently ineffectual. However they are of course more shy when it comes to pointing out that it was produced under the leadership of the LibDems back in 2000.
At the last full council meeting Cllr English in response to a direct question over who was responsible for this state of affairs, admitted the Local Plan (the planning policy) was not robust and blamed what he called a ‘rogue’ planning inspector for the inadequacies and to quote “their [the LibDems] only mistake was not having stood up to him”.
Beyond this he intimated that advice given at the time, was that the policy would be sufficiently robust, however he declined to say by whom exactly. We can only hope they do not take the same advice this time over the new planning policy, the LDF.
If we think back over the last 7 years at the various developments across the Borough, how different would Maidstone now be if the LibDems had stood up to the inspector and ensured a robust local planning policy?

Equal Opportunities Commission

I was some what surprised to hear on the Radio, the chairwoman Jenny Watson of the Equal Opportunities Commission suggesting that ministers should consider a moratorium for any firm who undertakes a pay review to identify inequalities in employees pay, for a period of 3 years. Hardly being that challenging I would suggest, with champions like that who needs enemies!

Under the current system tribunals hear such cases individually which means that each individual affected has to bring a separate claim. Not exactly efficient. Theresa May MP and shadow Minister has suggested that firms who lose wage tribunals could be instructed to undertake pay reviews for the rest of their staff, thereby unclogging the pay tribunal system which has seen sex discrimination cases double in the last 2 years.

Brown Trousers

While today the BBC News online report that Gordon Brown "after facing a series of crises since he became leader - bombings, floods, foot-and-mouth and, finally, Northern Rock - Mr Brown remains high in the opinion polls.
The "Brown bounce" shows no sign of abating and he appears to have weathered the Northern Rock storm and the expected erosion of trust in government in the wake of it."
The reality is that Brown hid in No. 10 leaving his reluctant Chancellor to fumble his way through the Rock fiasco.

Nice to see Tax payers money is put to bias reporting as usual.

Round two for the Loose Area Character Assessment

The Character Assessment process put in place by Conservative Councillors last year to help strengthen our weak planning policy is moving forwards for Loose quicker than expected. A wide ranging group of interested parties met on Wednesday evening at Loose Primary School to have a second in put to the assessment process. Character Assessments will help protect against developments that do not maintain or enhance an area. The consultants from Tony Fullwood Associates who are undertaking the documents development will be arranging for local public consultation on the draft document in Nov 07 with an expected final version for March 08. This document will then have legal weight in planning terms. The consultants did make the point that it would not stop all developed, but that development will have to be more in keeping.

Still no sign of Gordon

So, if Northern Rock crashes on the rocks it will be nationalised. Hmmm....That means the State will have a charge on,..... how many homes......well, it's the 5th largest mortgage lender so quite a few!

Personnal debt £1.3 Trillion, National deficit run up to £30Bn Hmmm.... 10 years ago we had a National Surplus.

Why not visit The Wrong Man website http://thewrongman.typepad.com/

Northern Rock on the Ropes

Northern Rock the 5th largest UK mortgage lender is up against the ropes, having borrowed staggering sums to finance its own lending. We all have a vested interest in not seeing the lender end up on the rocks as we watch TV new footage of investors queing outside high street branhces. Over the last two day investors have withdrawn £2bn from the bank amid fears that their savings will be lost.
Continued uncertainty can only mean one thing, money will become more expensive. If banks continue to be reluctant to lend to each other the cost of our nations personal debt will rise. Personal debt now stands at £1.3bn.

So here is the question,
Where is Gordon Brown, our Prime Minister?
The Prime Minister that has just spent the last ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Has the man of Prudence got nothing to say?

Maidstone Hospital A&E

Independant Review Panel (IRP) begins review in West Kent

Press Release 12.9.07 more information from http://www.irpanel.org.uk/

The IRP, the independent expert on NHS service change, has announced the start of a review into contested health service changes in West Kent. The review is taking place at the request of the Secretary of State for Health, Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP. The IRP will consider existing proposals put forward by the local NHS to change emergency and general orthopaedic and surgical services at Maidstone Hospital and the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells.

A report with the IRP’s recommendations will be sent to the Secretary of State following a thorough review process. The IRP includes members with clinical and management expertise, as well as lay people. During the review IRP members will make a number of visits to West Kent specifically to meet with patients, clinicians and other staff. These visits will also provide an opportunity for the IRP to meet with a range of other interested parties, including local authority representatives, interest groups and individuals living and working in the area.

Dr Peter Barrett, Chair of the IRP, said: “Our job is to provide recommendations to the Secretary of State that offer local people high quality, safe, sustainable and accessible healthcare services. Our key focus throughout the review will be on the patient and the quality of care, and we will be hearing evidence from all sides of the debate. We will also look at how any proposals for changes to orthopaedic and surgical services may impact on other clinical services.”
The Secretary of State’s request follows a referral from Kent County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The referral relates to the decision by West Kent Primary Care Trust - following a three-month consultation[1] undertaken jointly with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust - to relocate emergency and general orthopaedic services and surgical services between Maidstone and Kent and Sussex Hospitals.

Orthopaedic and surgical services are currently provided from both hospitals. Under the proposals, each hospital would become a specialist centre – Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells for emergency surgery and emergency orthopaedic care; Maidstone Hospital for planned (elective) surgical and orthopaedic care. Both hospitals would retain A&E services.The IRP’s final report with its recommendations will be forwarded to the Secretary of State by the end of November 2007. The final decision on changes to services in the area will be made by the Secretary of State for Health.

[1] Consultation: A new direction for orthopaedic and surgical care

Of concern here is the statement that both hospitals retain A&E services. Under the proposed reconfiguration, Maidstone will only retain elements of an A&E service.

Our Future Health Secured?

Sir Derek Wanless has produced a follow up report to his 2002 paper which led to Gordon Brown giving a time limited increase in funding to the NHS.

This new report (http://www.careandhealth.com/resources/pdfs/Future_Health_Secured_full_version.pdf) reviews the progress so far.

In short "What is clear from this review is that we are not on course to deliver the sustainable and world-class health care system, and ultimately healthier nation, that we all desire."

"the biggest increase in hospital activity had been in emergency admissions - a key sign of ineffeciency as the NHS is not doing enough to prevent ill-health"

HIPS coming to a three bedroom home near you.

A survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), published today by The Sunday Telegraph, reveals the true extent of the damage HIPs are causing to the housing market.
Fifty-three per cent of chartered surveyors reported a drop in the number of four-bedroom houses put up for sale in August, compared with the same month last year. The average reported drop was 51 per cent - rising to 67 per cent in London and 62 per cent in the North-West.
According to industry experts, the fall in the number of houses with four or more bedrooms on the market is in "stark contrast" to expectations - and the finger is pointing at HIPs.
There is worse to come. Tomorrow, Monday 10th Sept despite repeated warnings from those on the front line of the housing market, the Government will extend HIPs to include three-bedroom homes. (Source Telegraph online)

Why we should have a Referendum on the EU Treaty

Quite simply we need to get at the truth about Europe and what membership of the EU does for us and costs us. We need to get at the truth about what powers we have given away and just what further loss of control the new treaty means for the UK.

If we have a referendum then we can have a proper debate with the arguments set out so we can all have the opportunity to hear the case both for and against.

Reports on the cost of our membership vary considerably from the official Government figures which suggest we are in net profit, to independent sources such as the think tank Open Europe who suggest that our membership has cost £40b since 1998 (www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/article.aspx?newsid=2000). While the Institute of Directors have estimated the Net cost at 1.75% of GDP per annum, almost £15 billion per annum. (www.euro-know.org/articles/eumembership.pdf). Civitas predict the cost is even higher, between £17-40bn per year. (www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/EUCosts_Factsheet.pdf).

Looking at the cost of red tape and regulation since 1998, the British Chamber of Commerce found an extra cost of £55.66Bn to UK business and that 73% of this costs to business arose from EU legislation, furthermore they suggest that the Government cannot and does not challenge the figures. (http://www.chamberonline.co.uk/)

To try to put these figures in a real world human perspective, £15Bn would build us some where between 45 and 60 new hospitals. That’s no expensive tax payer pays later PFI’s.

Moving on from the costs, 6 out of 10 new UK laws are now simply rubber stamped from Europe. We are stuck with the Human Rights Act that leans towards the rights of the law breaker over the victims of crime. This act is enshrined in membership of the EU.
We cannot control our own immigration policy and struggle to deport criminals because of the primacy of EU law.
The EU landfill directive is responsible for the current local Government woes over rubbish collection and disposal as the directive can impose unlimited fines for exceeding limits on landfill. Though I am sure no one supports the use of landfill into the future as a method of rubbish disposal why should we be fined by the EU.

Sign up to the EU Treaty Referendum Campaign

Follow the link here to add your support

http://iwantareferendum.com/index.aspx

You can also add your support to the telegraphs petition here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?grid=F18&petition=europe&view=PETITION&xml=/news/2007/06/25/view25a.xml

Browns Flannel on Maidstone A&E Petition

Gordon Brown has published his response to the petition against the downgrading of Maidstone A&E.

To demonstrate just how disinterested he and his Government are, they have not even bothered to find out that the KCC NHS Scrutiny Committee has already referred the decision to the Secretary of State for Heath.

The full text reads as follows

Although the Department of Health provides strategic leadership to the NHS and social care organisations in England, it is for local NHS organisations to plan, develop and improve services for local people. These bodies are therefore best placed to respond to patients' concerns and needs. However, the Government has made it clear to the NHS that any changes to the configuration of local services should not compromise patient care and should show how the quality of care will continue to improve further in the future. Local services must continue to meet patient safety requirements and the standards set in National Service Frameworks and should demonstrate how they will use improvements in medical technology and techniques in future.
The Government is halfway through a ten-year plan to provide a modern NHS, responsive to patient needs and focusing equally on promotion of health and well-being, as well as the treatment of ill health. So far, the NHS has been leading the change, focusing on increasing capacity with more staff and more facilities. As a result, hospital waiting lists are now the lowest since records began, early deaths from cancer and coronary heart disease continue to fall and patients have more choice and involvement in their own care. The White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: a new direction for community services focuses on a strategic shift that locates more services in local communities and closer to people's homes.
Similarly, the Department of Health's clinical reports, such as Mending Hearts and Brains and Emergency Access - Clinical Case for Change outline the opportunities to change acute hospital care in order to deliver the best possible services in future. These proposals build on the improvements that have already been made to health and social care and will reinforce the Government's existing programme of reform.
Plans for the future configuration of acute services provided across the south east have not been determined at a national level. Any proposals for change that may be put forward by local NHS organisations will be subject to extensive consultation with local people. This discussion phase will inform the proposals, and any significant service changes proposed will be subject to the full public consultation which is expected to take place in the autumn. The decision for the future service pattern will then rest with the Primary Care Trust (PCT), which will analyse the responses and decide which course of action to take.
Should formal public consultation be required, the PCT's final decision will be subject to scrutiny from the local authority overview and scrutiny committee (OSC), which is made up of elected local councillors.
If the OSC determines that the consultation has been inadequate or that the proposal itself is flawed, it can refer the decision to the Secretary of State who has committed to asking for an independent expert clinical opinion form the Government's Independent Review Panel for any cases referred to him.

Maidstone Lacks Effective and Strong Vision.

The vision document Maidstone 20/20 Our Vision gives us:
Improving in all that we do; Improving customer care; Maintaining a clean and tidy borough
Community Safety; Improving parks, open spaces and play areas; and Improving transport links and, in particular, delivering the All Saints Link Road.

I suggest that these are weak words. These six statements are obvious and therefore hardly worthy of presence in a vision statement with any real prospect of delivering the Maidstone that we deserve.

What we need is a clearly articulated vision statement that does exactly what is says upon the bottle, a statement of words that we can all see in our minds eye.

If we look at other towns around the country, there are many with emphatically clear vision. The River Medway could and should be a jewel in the centre of town.
The Maidstone Wide Local Plan (2000) is not robust, according to Cllr English, member for regeneration (LibDem). Why is this? He has suggested that under the LibDem/ labour coalition in power in 2000 they failed to stand up to what he called a rogue inspector.

MBC is responsible of Planning and Waste Collection/ Recycling.
LibDem and pseudo-independent-LibDem-voting plus Labour voting coalitions have controlled MBC since very many years bar one.

The Vision is poor at best; Improving in all that we do, what comfort!

Park 'N' Ride off into the Sunset

No matter which way the LibDem councillors try to spin the Coombe Quarry Park and Ride closure, the residents of the south of Maidstone have simply been failed by them.
They failed to adequately explore viable options, they failed to consult with the public and they failed to give residents the opportunity to support the service.
We were promised an alternative bus service, the reality I now understand is one bus per hour, with the service finishing by 2pm, that’s both into and out of town. This is more than a major inconvenience, this is ridiculous.
We were promised by Cllr Harwood at the last full council meeting that the pavement alterations to compensate for the loss of the low floor buses would be in place by the 3rd Sept. This promise has been broken, despite Cllr Harwood dismissing the alterations as a mere trifle. In fact there is no sign of works starting. Not surprising really since the Borough Council does not own the pavement where the alterations would have to be made.
Clearly this would take time, time which the LibDems failed to give themselves, against the recommendation of the Regeneration and Sustainable Communites Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

‘Housing numbers game is up,’ says KCC Leader

Kent County Council Leader Paul Carter says the Government’s housing numbers game is up.

The Government’s Planning Inspectors report has been published, recommending 32,000 new homes across the south east region every year for the next 20 years,

Mr Carter said:
“County council leaders across the south east region fought very hard to contain housing growth within acceptable levels. The planning inspectors’ report published today is suggesting an additional 10 per cent of homes across the south east region. I am relieved that for Kent they are recommending a slight increase of only three per cent.

“The big issue will now be how the Government responds to the inspectors’ report. The government have already indicated that they will be demanding substantial increases over and above current regional proposals, this concerns me greatly.

“Kent will already struggle with current plans, for example, brownfield sites are running out, we have the prospect of flooding and much of our highways infrastructure is already overloaded.

“Unless the Government massively increases infrastructure investment the idea of an additional 20% more homes on the 6,500 proposed is outrageous.

For copies of the inspectors’ report, go online to www.gose.gov.uk/gose/planning/regionalPlanning/?a=42496

KCC News Release Ref No: 616/07 29 August 2007

For further information contact Philip Scrivener at Kent County Council Press Office on 01622 694013 or email phil.scrivener@kent.gov.uk
More news releases are available online at www.kent.gov.uk/news