Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

 

    Today I visited the Tudor House surgery to see their ambitious plans to expand their medical practice and to provide bigger and more modern surgery facilities. I was shown their model of a planned expansion of a property next to Marks and Spencers between Rose Street and Peach Street, where they are currently seeking planning permission.

   The scheme would be able to house nurses and dentists as well as GPs, providing a range of primary care to Wokingham patients. I said I was willing to assist with any issues concerning the NHS that might arise. Meanwhile Councillors will be handling the planning application.

 

            I want to say a big “Thank you” to Wokingham Choral society for their magnificent performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers on Saturday 31 March.

             Vespers for the Blessed Virgin was a revelation to those of us hearing it for the first time. From the first explosion of sound with the full choir, soloists and instrumentalists intoning  “Deus in auditorium meum intende” (God make speed to save me) to the final wall of sound for the last Amen, it was an arresting and exciting performance.

            The young tenors Thomas Elwin and Samuel Furness filled Reading University Hall with their powerful trained voices to complement the full throated notes of the choir. Alexander Chaplin, the Conductor, was sure footed and provided a good musical and historical guide to the work.

              Monetverdi was  dazzling. He is often attributed with the first secular opera, L’Orfeo. In these collections of pieces for evening prayer he displays his ability to mix traditional plainsong  with a newer operatic music. The performers captured his fascination with echo well. It was particularly striking when the two tenors sang the same lines in sequence from opposite ends of the hall. The small orchestra also rose to the occasion, introducing us to some older instruments.

             The Society provided a great evening for all who came. It was a pleasure to hear such a dramatic work delivered with so much enthusiasm.

 

             I have received a number of emails about the government’s plan to monitor the emails and website visits of every citizen. My first reaction to the headline news was “No”. I want to see our civil liberties protected and extended, and think the state already has too much power.

             The government is rowing back a bit, and now claiming that before the state could read our emails or have access to our computer use of websites it would need to obtain a warrant from a judge.  It would need to show evidence why it was suspicous about our conduct, and be investigating a possible crime.  I have no wish  to stand in the way of a proper terrorist or other serious criminal investigation, where the state has to persuade an independent person of their need for access. Indeed, that is a power they have already.

            I do not think I can decide how I will vote until I see the detail of the government’s proposals. My advice to the government is publish what you think you need, and describe carefully how it differs from present arrangements and why any change is needed. There is no appetite for a large extension of state surveillance of millions of innocent people. I will not vote for state surveillance through state access to all our electronic communications.

 

            Last night I attended the farewell reception and concert given in honour of Mrs Marsha  Elms, the retiring Headteacher. The School has done well during her twenty years as its Head, and there was a warm feeling as pupils past and present, staff members and wellwishers  celebrated her achievements.

              It was an opportunity for me to talk to the incoming new Head, who has been promoted from within and is well  placed to lead the School from here. The Kendrick catchment includes my constituency, and the school is a most welcome addition to the choices Wokingham parents and pupils share.

                Both my mother and my daughter were educated there, so I feel I know it well from their reports. I would like to say a big thank you to all the performers, who did a great job entertaining us with a wide range of music, from Bach to the Beatles.

 

House of Commons

 

London

 

SW1A 0AA

 

Dear John

 

I would like to thank you for writing to me on behalf of your constituents conveying their

 

views during the consultation on the new National Planning Policy Framework.

 

We have read and considered seriously every contribution and I hope that you and they

 

will agree that the revised Framework, which we published today, has been strengthened

 

by the views which you conveyed.

 

Our reforms to planning policy have three fundamental objectives: to put power in the

 

hands of communities to shape the places in which they live; to help create the homes and

 

jobs the country needs; and to protect and enhance our natural and historic environment.

 

We have listened to, and taken on board, a number of sensible and practical suggestions

 

made during the consultation including:

 

•

Making it clear that the Local Plan is the basis for decisions in the planning system, and

that the presumption in favour of sustainable development works through, and not

 

against, the Local Plan;

 

•

Emphasising that the definition of sustainable development embraces social,

environmental and economic objectives, and that none can be pursued in isolation of

 

the others;

 

•

Clarifying that the relevant policies – such as those protecting the Green Belt, National

Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest –

 

cannot be overridden by the presumption in favour of sustainable development;

 

•

Being explicit that councils’ policies should encourage brownfield sites to be brought

back into use, provided they are not of high environmental value;

 

•

Recognising the intrinsic value and beauty of the countryside, whether or not it is

specifically designated;

 

•

Reinforcing the vital importance of town centres to thriving communities while

recognising that businesses in rural communities should be able to expand;

 

•

Allowing councils to give greater protection to back gardens;

•

Ensuring that playing fields cannot be built on unless they are replaced;

•

Strengthening the requirement for new buildings to be well designed.

The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP

 

Minister for Decentralisation and Planning

 

Department for Communities and Local

 

Government

 

Eland House

 

Bressenden Place

 

London SW1E 5DU

 

Tel: 0303 444 3459

 

Fax: 020 7821 0635

 

E-Mail: greg.clark@communities.gsi.gov.uk

 

www.communities.gov.uk

 

27 March 2012

 

In addition, we have agreed transitional arrangements with the Local Government

 

Association which ensure that a council which has adopted, or has made good progress in

 

preparing, a local plan will not be disadvantaged by the new approach, but that where no

 

local plan exists allows a sensitive and well-balanced decision to be made which reflects

 

the continuing requirements of the planning system to balance economic, social and

 

environmental objections.

 

Once again, I am grateful to you and to your constituents for the time and trouble you have

 

taken to help ensure that the planning system helps build the homes and provide the jobs

 

we need while protecting what we hold dear in our matchless countryside and in the fabric

 

of our history.

 

Yours ever,

 

RT HON GREG CLARK MP

 

 

           John Redwood visited the Burghfield School to talk to the sixth form, as part of his regular series of school visits.  He covered the issues of student fees and loans, the state of the economy and the way to generate new jobs, the forthcoming Olympics, and the wider issue of what young people can achieve in the modern world. He talked about sporting excellence, academic excellence, and setting up your own business.

          He answered a wide range of questions on topics including fair trade, overseas aid, the war in Afghanistan, single sex marriages and VAT.

 

        It was a pleasure to see the new stained glass Jubilee window in Westminster Hall today. It reproduces the Queen’s arms in brightly coloured glass.  MPs and peers have clubbed together to pay for it by voluntary donation as a memorial of the Queen’s sixtieth anniversary.

          My colleague Michael Ellis MP did all the organising.  It all passed off successfully. Now we await the workmen to hoist the three panes into the northern window, where it will face the stained glass  image of George VI’s arms at the other end of the Hall.

 

       Yesterday I rang the Leader of Wokingham Borough Council to check they had all they needed from central government and were able to keep the main roads gritted and open. I was happy to learn that they planned a couple of gritting runs on the main roads.

        I got up early this morning to see if all had worked well, and was pleased to find the main local roads were well salted and gritted and running smoothly. Many  thanks to all those who drove the lorries to make sure the rest of us can still get around, and thanks to the Council for organising it.

 

      Yesterday I called in at the consultation on the construction of new homes in Shinfield.

        I raised several issues with the representatives of the developers. These included

        whether they would build homes in a style which harmonised with the existing village, as their display boards showed very different designs with no local reference or roots

         whether they would offer compensation to local residents close to the development and to the construction disruption

         whether they would consider buying by agreement any homes badly affected, and including them in the scheme.

                I am willing to pursue these or other issues for residents if they would like my help.