Mione Goldspink's Article for the Bishop's Stortford Flyer, March 2015

March 2015

Local Matters with Mione Goldspink

I welcome the news that ALDI will be enlarging its car park at the London Road store. The store has proved to be very popular, and there are times during the week when customers have to queue to get into the car park, and this causes traffic congestion on the London Road. So, by using the adjacent Fyfe Wilson site, ALDI should be able to provide another 27 car spaces and also to improve the layout of the car park. Furthermore, ALDI managers have invited interested members of the public to be in touch with them if they have any ideas to contribute. In my opinion, this seems to be a commendable sign of a business wishing to be a good neighbour and to be an asset to the community.

More welcome news is the news that several schools in the Town will be benefitting from the extra money from Whitehall. They will be using this for refurbishment and for some rebuilding. The provision of this extra cash demonstrates the commitment of the Coalition Government to the improvement of schools and education - a commitment shared by Liberal Democrats and Conservatives alike. However, where Lib Dems and Tories locally do not agree is over the Green Belt site off Whittington Way, to which the Bishop's Stortford High School might be wishing to move. The Tories at East Herts seem to be planning to breach the Green Belt and to change the status of this land - this would allow the building a school and also the building of houses. The Liberal Democrats oppose this change most vigorously. The Lib Dems say that Bishop's Stortford has already had to accept a large number of new houses (2,800 on the ASRs) and the Town cannot cope with any more. If the High School were to move to the Green Belt, its present site would be sold off for even more housing. However, Liberal Democrats do acknowledge that there is a need for more social/affordable housing in the Town, and we are supporting the provision of this on the Railway Goods Yard site.

In the first six weeks of this year I have had the experience of having 5 of my friends being admitted to Princess Alexandra Hospital. Two were admitted for planned operations and 3 as emergencies. In all 5 cases the care and treatment which they received was excellent - it could not be faulted. But, when they came home it became obvious that the support systems for convalescence and after-care are severely over stretched. All the Care Workers are kind and conscientious, but there do not seem to be enough of them and they don't have enough time. As the General Election approaches it will be interesting to see how much priority is given to the NHS by each of the Parties. The Liberal Democrats have already announced their target of £1 billion extra per year, rising to £8 billion by 2020, which is in line with the amount specified by the CEO of the NHS, Simon Stevens. The Lib Dems have shown how this could be funded. Can other Parties do as well? Money for Social Care in the community comes from the County Council, which in turn receives much of its money from Central Government. How do the Parties measure up for this?

Finally, I do hope that everyone is registered to vote. May 7th will be an important day for everyone in Bishop's Stortford.

Mione Goldspink. Chairman Bishop's Stortford Liberal Democrats.