Steve Beasant

I was interested to read today’s posting on the Liberal Democrat website that walking may become a minority pursuit; in some respect I tend to agree with the article. However, it is definitely not the case for Councillors Jon-Paul Howarth, Tony McCabe and myself – we all walk everywhere!  

As well as being the youngest Ward Councillors on average in the area; thanks to Jon-Paul who is only 19 we are also the fittest. We walk everywhere, meetings, surgeries, events, visits you name; we are lean green ‘fighting team’! 

However now back to the politics, this article appeared on today’s Lib Dem website: 

Commenting on DfT statistics that show car ownership is increasing while fewer people are walking long distances, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: 

“With services being taken away from villages and town centres and local public transport often poor and unreliable, the car is becoming a necessity rather than a choice in many rural areas.  

“Unless our streets and town centres are designed for the needs of pedestrians and cyclists, rather than motorists, walking to the shops, work or school may become a minority pursuit. 

“Ministers need to discourage those car journeys where there is a viable alternative, while not penalising those with no other option.  

“This is why the Liberal Democrats have advocated investing in public transport and introducing revenue neutral motorway and trunk road pricing. This will save rural drivers money but cost more for people who drive on long inter-city routes where there is a decent rail alternative.” 

      BANKSY – is it art or graffiti?

It appears that in many parts of the UK there has been a sudden increase in level graffiti appearing across our neighbourhoods. In North East Lincolnshire we are determined to tackle the problem once and for all!

Anybody caught daubing graffiti on buildings in North East Lincolnshire now has the option to clean it off themselves, rather than pay a fine.

These three 14-year-old girls - all from Grimsby’s Nunsthorpe estate - were caught out, and opted to clean up their act.

They spent yesterday scrubbing their scribblings off walls around Grimsby as punishment.

The young people concerned cannot be identified for legal reasons, but one told the Grimsby Evening Telegraph, and said: “It’s something to do because there’s nothing to do around here. I don’t think I’ll do it again though, it does look scruffy.

“It’s put me off, with having to clean it off. It’s not going to be easy work.”

Each year the council sets a budget of £50,000 just for the removal of graffiti. The money collected from the fines will go towards this total, in particular the chemicals to clean it off, which are costly.

Councillor Steve Beasant, portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “I am pleased that the people who seem intent on making a mess on our streets are the ones being told to clean it up.

“Hopefully this will act as a deterrent to other like-minded vandals - we are watching and we will take strong action to rid the community of unsightly daubs and scribbles.”    

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Andrew De Freitas, said: “Graffiti blights our communities and is an example of anti-social behaviour at its worst.

“I am fully in support of this action by the neighbourhood community wardens, and hope it teaches the perpetrators a valuable lesson about respecting property that belongs to others.”

Graffiti has become even more popular over recent years, with the rise of rebel artists such as Banksy, who sold a wall daubed with his artwork for £200,000 earlier this year. He and other artists recently launched the Cans Festival in a tunnel near Waterloo, London, depicting their work.

The daily news is getting worse for Mr. Brown; the figures on the economy are just not going in the right direction. And, with a General Election less than two years away it’s difficult to see how he turns around his political fortunes.

The latest news comes from the Nationwide who have said that there is evidence that the slide in the housing market is deepening as the Nationwide building society reported that prices were falling at their fastest annual rate in almost 18 years.

The Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society, said house prices falls were now reaching double digit levels and falling at a rate not seen since the fourth quarter of 1990. In its latest monthly assessment of the market the society said the price of a typical house had fallen by 10.5 per cent over the last 12 months to £164,654.

The monthly drop in house prices accelerated to 1.9 per cent in August, Nationwide said. The society reckoned that prices fell by 1.5 per cent the previous month.

With house prices having fallen steadily since last October, according to the lender, it means that the housing market has been in steady decline for almost a year.

Today’s figures from Nationwide, traditionally among the least conservative of house price monitors, comes after Halifax, a rival, said house prices fell 1.7 per cent in July and at an annual rate of 8.8 per cent.

Commenting on today’s speech by Andrew Lansley, No Excuses, No Nannying, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

“Everyone has a responsibility to look after their own health, but the prescription the Tories are offering has failed in the past and will fail in the future.

“Andrew Lansley’s speech exposes the confusion at the heart of the Conservative’s strategy.

“He lectures people about their responsibility. He blames people for being overweight and says they lack self-discipline and self-esteem. Yet when it comes to junk food he’s much more sensitive about the problem of ‘stigmatising’ it.

“This is the same old nasty party moralising and lecturing whilst remaining silent on the causes of increasing obesity.

“Central to tackling obesity must be policies reduce inequality, deprivation and poor education.”

 North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) has once again organised this family fun run (formally the Norbrit Fun Run) which this year is sponsored by Grimsby Institute, NELC, ABP and Compass FM.

The fun run will be taking place on Sunday 21^st September and will work its way through the streets of Grimsby, starting at the Town Hall and going along Pasture Street, Hainton Avenue, Freeman Street, Railway Street, around the docks and back again, starting at 9.30am and finishing approximately midday.

The majority of the fun run will be around the streets of the East Marsh, and I can remember some 16 years ago taking part in the race. And, like a fool I decided to push my then ten year old son around the 4 mile course in a hospital wheelchair; however it was all in the name of charity. Hopefully, there will be many more people making a fool of themselves like myself on the day like I did, and it will be well worth it! 

It is expected that this event will once again attract approximately 1500 runners of all ages and abilities who aim to raise vital money for local charities, sports clubs and community groups through individual sponsorship.  The course is approximately 4 miles and all finishers receive a unique commemorative medal. 

Entry forms and runner numbers can be obtained from NELC libraries, Cleethorpes Tourist Information Centre and from the Sports Development Team. The entry fee is £3.50 or £4 on the day. For further information please contact Hannah Philips, Sports Development Officer on 01472 323366.

The NHS in England is heading for an estimated surplus of £1.75bn in the current financial year, official estimates predict (based on data from the first three months of the financial year).  

In the last financial year, the NHS in England recorded a surplus of £1.658bn, following a deficit of £547m in 2006-07. The department said the money would stay in the NHS, and be used to fund patient care.

However, Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman has questioned whether taxpayers’ money was being used effectively.  

Mr Lamb, said: “This forecast surplus begs the question whether taxpayers’ money is being used effectively.  

“What evidence is there that trusts are using their surpluses to prepare for fluctuations in demand and investment in new services? Is this the NHS preparing for a period of slower growth in funding? Or is this individual trusts building up a surplus so that they can survive in a more competitive environment?”  

Mr Lamb said that many areas of patient care, such as public health, alcohol treatment and mental health services, were being starved of funds.  

“Several reports have shown that the current funding system risks damaging quality in the NHS but has done nothing to improve efficiency.  

“Ministers should focus on sorting this out rather than patting themselves on the back for allowing the NHS to bank more and more cash.”

    Smartwater glows under ultra violet light

Today I visited Your Place in Wellington Street; were local Police was present along with a Community Warden had a street stall. The aim of the day was to highlight the sudden increase burglaries within North East Lincolnshire. Last year across the Borough there were about 3 burglaries per day but now the figure has increased to 4 per day, but not every ward is experiencing the same problems. 

We obviously realise that in areas of deprivation there is a higher level of crime, but still this is not acceptable. However, when you look at the figures closely many of the burglaries are ‘sneak burglaries’; the thief will either climb in through a window or simply open an unlocked door.  

In my role of Portfolio Holder of Communities and Neighbourhoods, I have taken part in a number of radio interviews and my message is loud and clear, “These burglaries are in the main, ‘sneak burglaries. They are carried out by opportunists, and if you take sensible precautions such as, locking all doors and windows they will not happen: you have to be careful because there is a ‘SNEAK’ about”!   

The purpose of the street stall was to give advice crime reduction, make referrals for target hardening (such as window locks), and also to give out smartwarter kits. The kits have been handed out free in North East Lincolnshire for the last two years, and they contain a colourless liquid, which is known has smartwater. Each bottle contains a unique chemical ‘code’ which is registered to you – conclusively proving ownership.  

The Conservatives have accused the Labour government of creating a “teenage timebomb”, presiding over a deterioration of teenage health that has seen the number of young people admitted to hospital annually rise by 23% since 2000.

Using government statistics, the Tories issued a dossier showing that on six counts teenage health had got “steadily worse” since 2000, with the deterioration even more marked among early teens.

Rehearsing the party’s central theme that the fabric of British society needs fundamental reform, the shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said the figures were a “sad indictment of our broken society”.

The Tories also say that admission to hospitals for alcohol abuse had increased by 51% to nearly 12,700 a year and admission to hospitals on smoking related illnesses had increased by 41% to 16,200 a year, though this had increased by 63% among 11- to 15-year-olds.

They also made other claims; however we have to be careful of this latest spin from the Cameron Spin Doctors. We must remember that is was the Tories who also failed us for 13 disastrous years. They failed with the NHS, closed post offices, sold off school playing fields, failed with our education system, squeezed local government, and public services. 

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Government of trying to bury a report revealing how high quality NHS cancer services are being undermined by the internal market’s funding system.

The report commissioned by the Department of Health was finalised in May 2008 but not published until Friday 8 August, the opening day of the Beijing Olympics.

The report finds that system of Payment by Results (PbR), effectively the currency of the NHS, causes hospitals who treat patients requiring complex operations and treatment to lose money as a result.

 The report finds that:

Ø     The internal market as it currently operates is undermining high quality cancer services.

Ø     Patients with complex needs are losing specialist hospitals (like the Royal  Marsden) vast sums of money

Ø     The system actively discourages investment in new technology and in new treatments known to improve patient outcomes

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

“This is a devastating criticism of the problems Payment by Results is causing for the parts of the NHS we should be most proud of.

“This report reveals the very serious unintended consequences of how treatments are paid for. The Government is effectively penalising hospitals for providing specialist care.

“Ministers claim that PbR is rewarding efficiency, but this report shows that it risks distorting clinical decisions about who to treat and whether to invest in new and improved technologies.

“The Government must act on this report now. Its own cancer strategy is being fatally undermined by this flawed funding system.

“The Health Secretary is probably too busy worrying about the leadership of the Labour party to pay proper attention to the warnings in the report about the damage being wrought in the NHS. What other explanation could there be for sitting on the report for three months and only publishing it on a quiet Friday when most people are on holiday?

 “I am writing today to the Secretary of State calling for an urgent review of Payment by Results. There is a clear need for reform of this system.” 

Commenting on today’s [26^th August] U-Switch report which shows that household disposable income has fallen by a sixth in the last year alone, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“The credit crunch and soaring consumer prices are clearly having a massive impact on British families.

“This is extremely worrying news for Gordon Brown, whose claims that all is well with UK PLC are now looking well wide of the mark.

“The Government cannot possibly continue to play down the severity of the economic crisis the UK faces, when millions of people can barely make ends meet.

“One in seven adults are now trapped below the poverty line, leaving the Government’s poverty strategy in tatters.

“Gordon Brown needs to wake up to the reality that we are now teetering on the brink of recession. He must act to help the millions of families struggling against high taxes, rising bills and falling disposable income.”