Letter from Westminster

The year got off to a sad start with the tragic death of two young mothers at Winchester hospital and the murder of a resident in Otterbourne. For all the relatives and friends involved it must have been a harrowing start to the New Year and my thoughts go out to them.

I have been in regular contact with the community of Otterbourne regarding the incident and the status of Elderfield House. It’s raised an important and necessary debate amongst local residents and the constituency at large. I have appreciated hearing your varied opinions on this. My first priority must be the safety of my constituents. At the same time Elderfield House performs a difficult task and reforming ex-offenders is an issue close to my heart. It really is a balancing act and I can’t please everyone on this – but I will always strive to make a reasoned and fair judgement on such issues taking into account all the relevant factors.

            Elsewhere in the constituency I held meetings with residents of Owlsebury to discuss problems with increased volumes of traffic driving hell for leather through the town. This has led me to the issue of Sat Nav systems, a major help for drivers finding their way and a major headache for the people in their way. I am contacting the Sat Nav companies in an attempt to flag this matter but also looking into other options such as Traffic Regulation Orders to reduce the traffic volume.

            On a much more positive note I met with representatives from the green energy provider Ecotricity. This came about after it was brought to my attention that Winchester had come bottom of a recent poll on polluting constituencies. Climate Change and environmentally friendly energy get a receptive audience and I know that constituents would want to turn this embarrassing poll rating around. That’s where Ecotricity come in. They take the money customers spend and reinvest it in green energy supplies – the more customers, the more green energy gets. Winchester City Council and I are currently looking into the possibility of changing our offices to Ecotricity.

            Away from Winchester I attended the Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg where the hot subject of discussion was independence for Kosovo. This is something I think is natural and should happen and future discussions are planned. Later in the month I saw another example of a country that has found its own identity. I was in Slovenia giving a presentation on Government and risk management and was impressed by just how passionately everyone I spoke to was about the EU. They really are proud and enthusiastic.

            However not all news coming out of Brussels has been good as I discovered upon meeting local farmers to discuss the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) Directive – the EUs latest attempt to make life hard for farmers. A rather complicated piece of legislation that will essentially cost farms a lot of money to unnecessarily store slurry. I have been taking up this issue in Parliament and we hope something good can come from the Government’s consultation process.

            Finally, two television programmes made a real impact on me recently. First up the BBC documentary ‘Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children’ which provided a harrowing account of Bulgaria’s orphanages. I am keen to do what I can on this and have been meeting with the relevant stakeholders and my European colleagues. And then there was Channel Fours run of programmes on broiler chickens and animal welfare. I was shocked to see where our food comes from, my children too, and I feel this is an issue where we can make a real impact. I have therefore been meeting with the RSPCA to discuss how best to proceed on this and I am convinced as individuals and a community our actions can make a real difference.