Image courtesy of Kevin Butler – Burghfield Remembrance Parade & Service.
I will be laying a wreath in Burghfield and attending morning service at St Mary’s. In the afternoon I will attend All Saints Church in Wokingham, and lay a wreath at the Town Hall War Memorial.
I held one of my periodic review meetings with the Environment Agency this week, to discuss progress with flood protection for the constituency.
They told me the work to help protect homes in Winnersh is now completed.
The scheme to hold excess water in a bund near Tesco in Wokingham on the Emm requires Council and/or developer contribution. Councillors are studying this.
They have carried out some dredging work on the Loddon, as requested.
They have undertaken maintenance work where they are responsible.
In 2007-8 prior to the expenses revelations I promised to cut my total costs as an MP by 10% in 2008-9 and by a further 10% in 2009-10. I thought this could be done, even though I was a well below average claimer. I felt public spending was too high and MPs needed to show how it could be reduced sensibly. I have now found the final figures for 2009-10 for all MPs on the Guardian website, so can bring constituents up to date on expenses for those years.
I did cut my costs by 11.6% in the first year, and by a further 20% in the second year. The total claims of £75,015 in 2009-10 were 29% lower than two years earlier.
My claim of £75,015 in 2009-10 compares to an average MP’s claim of £140,456 in 2009-10.
I have a number of copies of an email on lobbyists from constituents. This urges the government to introduce a lobbyist register and to regulate lobbyists.
I have taken this up directly in a short meeting with Mark Harper, the Minister responsible. He assures me the government is currently working on proposals to do just this.
I am getting numerous emails asking me to vote for the referendum motion on Monday.
Let me reassure you. I have signed the motion, showing my public support for it. I will vote for it, whatever the whipping may be.
Many constituents have written to me with concerns over the government’s proposed changes to planning policy. I have raised these with the Minister. He assures me the aim is to allow more local decision making. Councils will have the power to protect areas from development where they judge that right, by stating so in the local plan.
I have also talked to Wokingham and West Berkshire Councillors about this. I have pointed out that they can and should use the local plan to protect what needs protecting. In the case of Wokingham the Council has identified sites for more than 10,000 new houses, preferring to concentrate development on four core strategy areas. This makes it even more important to protect the rest with suitable designations in the plan.
Wokingham is more than doing its bit for extra housebuilding with the identified sites. The Council has a local plan, and can take advantage of the changes to policy to strengthen the protection of green areas they wish to keep.
Rt Hon John Redwood MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
10 October 2011
Dear John,
I am pleased to tell you that the Secretary of State has decided that the West of Wokingham Secondary Free School should proceed to the next stage of the Free Schools process. The proposal is for a 560 place 11-16 community mixed secondary school to serve the villages to the west of Wokingham, proposed to open in 2012.
Officials will be working closely with lead applicants to ensure they have all the support they need as they develop their plans. The Secretary of State will then decide whether to enter into a Funding Agreement with this school so that they can open in September 2012.
I have also written to Wendy Woodcock, the lead applicant for this school, and to both Wokingham and Reading Borough Councils.
Yours,
Lord Hill of Oareford
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools
Department for Education
I spoke to a representative of Network Rail earlier this week. He confirmed the near miss, and apologised for the mistake which led to the potentially dangerous situation. He said they were undertaking an eqnuiry and would proceed to disciplinary action if appropriate.
I said I understood the need for manual override of the automatic system of controls from time to time. What I did not understand is why the manual override allowed the controller to keep the gates up whilst the train signal was green, not red. Surely even in manual override mode they should have a fail safe system so if the gates were up the signal was red. I urged them to come to new operational procedures to make manual override a safer process, by preventing all clear be given to both cars and train for the same crossing.
Network Rail promised to look into this and report back.
On friday night 110 local Conservatives held a dinner with Mrs May as the guest of honour.
It was a great evening out, thanks to the food and service at the Coppid Beech Hotel.
The Home Secretary gave a good speech explaining the actions taken at the time and in the aftermath of the looting in cities this summer. She said that the police decided to put enough officers onto the streets to tackle the problem, and decided to start arresting criminals as they were embarking on their crimes. In past situations the police have tended to make arrests after the event, following the study of CCTV fottage and other evidence. Once the police took this new approach, the looting was brought under control.
The Home Secretary assured us lessons had been learned from these events. Members present took the opportunity to put other worries to Mrs May.
For more details contact Andrea Stephenson on 01189 629501.
BBC Radio Berkshire approached me about a near miss on the Ufton Nervet level crossing recently. Apparently the railway left the gate up, allowing cars to cross, when a fast moving train was on the track. Fortunately the driver of a car approaching the crossing saw the danger and avoided collision.
I am asking the railway for an urgent enquiry, so that they can make sure in future their operating procedures guarantee the gates will be down when a train is nearby.