• A further smear appears about Tory cuts in local services.  We, who campaigned to keep open day centres for the elderly are, apparently, about to close Alfriston. Actually it was kept open 12 years ago as a result of a match funding deal between Kaleidoscope and RBK on the motion of Labour Cllr. Jeremy Thorne and myself. Davey certainly raised publicity about it and caused Lib Dem councillors do do a smart about turn.
• The Tories, who campaigned for weekly recycling collections in 2006, are also supposed the be about to launch an attack on recycling. When we’ve pledged to freeze the Council Tax for 2 years (at least) there’s no way we’re going to risk increasing our liability to pay Landfill Tax.
• The Lib Dems know this very well. Their allegations are based on absolutely no foundation other than Lib Dem scaremongering. This ‘Voice’ is full of it from start to finish.

Ed Davey wondered why we were sceptical about his and Ms. Kramer’s reported ‘threat’ to Kingston Hospital. The answer is obvious – treated over the years to the ceaseless diatribe of scares, half-truths, downright untruths and snide innuendo which is the stock in trade of the Liberal Democrats, and of which this ‘Voice’ is a prime example, what decent person can believe a word they say?

Interestingly the BBC hardly reported 20 economists supporting the Conservative contention that the £178billion deficit run up by Labour needs to be tackled sooner rather than later. When 60 other economists supported Brown’s line that we can spend our way out of recession (which is what his policy amounts to) it was headline news on the BBC. To add to its fairness and objectivity the news item referred to the 60 as ‘leading’ economists. There was no qualification of the adjective of course – other than their agreement with Brown (and the BBC?), one presumes.

Locally our papers seem anxious to give credibility to the ‘story’ put about by our two Lib Dem MPs about the impending closure of A&E and maternity services at Kingston Hospital. This is in spite of a very explicit letter from NHS SW London setting out the facts in the matter and a clear statement from the Health Minister in the Adjournment Debate last Monday.  One might have thought it in the public interest that this letter be published in its entirety. However, it was written on 27th January and I haven’t seen it in the local papers yet.

One wonders if Mr. Falchikov’s kitchen table isn’t groaning under new confections the media might swallow. Time will tell. Watch this space!

One lady, attending one of her first such events, told of a friend who had asked her doctor about the threat of closure to some Kingston Hospital services. The friend was very worried – understandably as she is rather frail. The doctor’s advice was ‘forget it!’

Whether this was sound advice or not only time will tell – however the likelihood seems to be that the friend and many others had been frightened needlessly for political gain. The reported boast of a well known Lib Dem activist that the whole thing had been ‘cooked up on his kitchen table’ lends considerable weight to this interpretation of events.

If this is so, it’s pretty contemptible in my opinion. We don’t need to conduct our public affairs like this – and the sooner we stop the better!

The meeting proceedings began with a question from the floor by Cllr Geoff Austin (Con) politely seeking clarification of the position on Maternity and A&E services at Kingston Hospital.

The Chair, Cllr Don Jordan (Lib Dem), said Cllr Mary Reid (Lib Dem) had some information and she proceeded to tell the panel that the MPs had previously had meetings with various officials and hospital CEOs (including the CEO of Kingston) about this question and had become incensed when they learnt last weekend that the report on the future, which might recommend closure of these services, was being shelved until after the election. They wanted to bring things out into the open as they ‘thought people had a right to know’. All very noble and not a hint of partisan advantage, of course. Cllr David Cunningham (Con), from the gallery, intervened to say that Cllr Mary Reid’s account didn’t tally with what the Hospital CEO  had told the Trust Board that morning in particular the fact about her having known about the possibility of closures. The Chairman had criticised the MPs’ campaign as well. The CEO wasn’t at the meeting so could not comment, but Cllr Cunningham pointed out that   the Panel clerk, had been there and had taken copious notes and could verify whether the account of the Board meeting Cllr Cunningham had given was true or not. Discussion ensued between Cllr Jordan, Reid and the clerk. The upshot of which was that Cllr Jordan refused to allow the clerk to speak on the issue as ‘it would involve him in what was obviously a burning party issue’. Cllr Jordan made his first attempt to close the discussion down.

I (Con) stepped in at this point to say that possible closure of key hospital services was not a party issue between us, but a community issue and that the matter affected other concerns on the agenda. He pointed out that constituents were contacting him and others in alarm at the story and that Ed Davey (MP, Lib Dem)  had sent emails to all and sundry seeking their support for his petition. I knew this as constituents had already sent copies to me. I asked, if the MPs were sure of their ground and genuinely seeking public support, why had he not sent the email to me? My email address was well known.

Cllr Jordan then tried to close down the subject a second time and Cllr Reid suggested the panel may hold an extra meeting with the MPs in private to discuss the issues concerned. I agreed to the extra meeting but insisted that it be held in public as the present one was being held. This suggestion met with much approval from the gallery, especially persons associated with Kingston’s LINk, who nodded furiously.

The background material to the letter from NHS SW London, passed on to Councillors by the Head of Democratic Services the following morning, was distributed to members, but not the covering letter itself, which blows the MPs out of the water. At least I did not receive one. Readers can see this on the Health and Hospitals page of http://surbitonhillcllr.com

The meeting then went on to discuss Maternity Services at Kingston Hospital and, later, Primary Care plans for RBK, which featured the A&E services at KH as an important part of the poly-system structure for north Kingston.

Incidentally, we have since learnt that the website to which the MPs invited constituents to refer was registered by one of them as long ago as 11th December

Filed under: Elections, Health and Community, Lib Dems, Politics ]]> http://kingstontorycllr.net/2010/02/03/election-campaign-2010-local-no-1/feed/ 6 pauljohnston http://kingstontorycllr.net/2009/02/17/surbiton-hospital-site-could-become-a-community-hub/ http://kingstontorycllr.net/2009/02/17/surbiton-hospital-site-could-become-a-community-hub/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:11:33 +0000 pauljohnston http://pauljohnston.wordpress.com/?p=169 Continue reading →]]> Nick Kilby and I, together with other Surbiton Neighbourhood Councillors have met with representatives from the Police, Primary Care Trust (PCT), GP surgeries and the voluntary sector to explore the exciting possibility of delivering a range of community services from the Surbiton Hospital site – ‘a community hub’.

The ‘fact-finding’ event took place on 4 February.  It follows the PCT’s announcement that it plans to develop a new £15m polyclinic  on the Ewell Road site offering a range of health services to the local community.

Plans under development by the PCT would enable patients to access a GP seven days a week, as well as having other NHS services on site.  The aim of the fact-finding event was to explore what other complementary services could run alongside those offered by the PCT.

In the near future, the Council will be having further discussions with the PCT and other partners and will consult extensively with local residents.

Every leaf counts award for cantainer gardening

Last night I was asked to present the awards at School Lane Estate’s gardening tournament for 2008. The residents set out to show what could be done in an estate of maisonettes and sheltered flats to make the environment more colourful and greener. There isn’t much amenity space for tenants and leaseholders but people used containers of various kinds if they didn’t have a little plot of their own. Everyone was encouraged to enter into one of the many categories. It was a real pleasure to be part of the enterprise, if only as the man who gave the awards. I do hope the idea catches on and becomes an annual event.

To start with a Conservative motion on anti-social behaviour and crime in Kingston was turned rapidly into a bear garden. Cllr . Richard Hudson (Con), whose motion it was, wanted to change it very slightly by deleting two words from the end of the last sentence. The words were ‘town centre’. This would create an opportunity to make the very valid point – to most of the citizens of Kingston Borough, that is – that what happens in Kingston town centre has an impact elsewhere as Police are often unable to respond to calls in other areas  if there is trouble in the town centre.

The change had been agreed with the Mayor beforehand and discussed with Democratic Support. I know this because I took advice as Deputy Leader of Group myself. The Mayor announced that the change was fine by him, until the Liberal Democrats reacted as though someone had lobbed a grenade into their midst. We then had to propose and second a formal amendment, which the mover accepted.

Even so the Lib Dems reacted in speech after speech as though we were having a go at them personally – which was not our intention, as it happens. We were accused of running down Kingston. Touch them on any raw nerve and that accusation comes out very loud! I hadn’t realised until Tuesday evening just how raw a nerve this issue is with them.  The debate turned into an unseemly slanging match as the Administration sought to rubbish both the message and the messenger.

As it is, on the pretext of being concerned about the accuracy of the number of police calls to licensed premises in the town centre, the Lib Dems voted against a motion calling on the Administration to work closely with the Police and other agencies to make Kingston a safer place. Bit of an own goal, perhaps – and a foretaste of 18 months of nasty defensiveness to come, I fear.

The Administration is now spending £240k or thereabouts installing a lift system so that people in wheelchairs (hopefully all wheelchairs and mobility scooters!) can access the Guildhall through the front door. Now this is laudable in many ways and enabling wheelchair access through the front door was something I wanted to see even before I became mobility impaired myself. Though I’m not a wheelchair user and I’m wondering if walking stick users like myself will be able to use this as easily as we would have been able to use a ramp, say. My fellow Deputy Leader was quoted in the press some weeks ago as having criticised this move on the grounds that there already is a wheelchair access to the Guildhall at the side near the coronation stone – there is. Also that the spending of so much money at a time of budget stringency – we are busily pruning £18 million from the budget – was questionable to say the least of it. Our Leader, Howard Jones, was asked a question about this by the Leader of the Council (Yes, we have a Question Time where the Administration can ask US questions!). Howard handled it really well, pointing out, among points I’ve made above, that this is not an attack on the disabled but a matter of finance and also that it seemed strange that, after more than seven years in office, this matter should become so urgent to the Administration now. In a fit of histrionics worthy of a fourth form drama class, a Lib Dem lady member  screamed something – many things – at Howard and then flounced out of the room. She had quite a way to go to make sure we all noticed she was flouncing. Not long after she crept, rather less dramatically, back in again.

As I say, we’re in for a torrid 18 months to the next election. And this is just the start. Stay tuned…….

Actually the photo in the In Touch is three years old, showing how long a lead we have.

I note that the Council’s press office also put out a press release publicising the MP’s ‘initiative’. I’d have thought that he could afford his own publicity out of the £127,000 a year expenses he claims.