The campaign to save one of the few open air Lido pools in the Country at Portishead has been won! The result means that the Portishead Pool Community Trust have 12 months to make the pool work, with a 40 year lease promised by North Somerset Council if it can be shown to be managed successfully. Congratualtions should go out to Portishead Pool Community Trust as well as all the people who have turned out to protect the pool. Now we must all turn out again to use it as soon as it opens at the end of May.

HOLA or 'Hands off Long Ashton' and DRAG or 'Dundry Residents Action Group' along with 100 environment activists and residents, campaigned at a demonstration in Bristol on Saturday the 7th of March. The prospect of 9000 new houses being built on the green belt is worrying, and its certainly not free, fair or green. "On thing is for certain when the green belt is gone it is gone, the Lib Dems Million Door survey of towns and villages is in North Somerset revealing how much town dwellers and villagers alike value their green spaces. New building needs to be kept to brown field sites" says Brian Mathew, North Somerset's next MP.

The credit crunch has seen Noth Somerset unemployment rise by almost half and house repossession by nearly a quarter in just one year.

Last year more than 500 people lost their jobs across the district, bringing the number of residents claiming job-seekers allowance to 1,652. This represents a 45% rise compared with October the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figures mean that the jobless rate is its highest in the district for nearly a decade.

Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate Brian Mathew said: "We  are extremely worried about the situation in North Somerset especially regarding HBOS employees in Clevedon. We hope and pray their jobs will be secure in the New Year."  "In the past year alone, 500 more families have faced up to unemployment with all the misery and uncertainty that brings. Thousands more are at risk and face an uncertain future."

These alarming statistics are brought sharply into focus by the latest figures for morgage re-possession claims. According to the Ministry of Justice, the number of claims at North Somerset Court House has increased by 23 per cent compared to this time last year. However not all claims are enforced.

(reproduced from an article published in the North Somerset Times 3rd December 2008)

I had the honour of meeting Tul Bahadur Pun VC who won the Victoria Cross fighting for Britain in the Gurkha Rifles during the Second World War. He is one of only 10 living recipients of this country's highest award for valour and now along with Joanna Lumley he is fighting for the rights of comrades to live in the UK. 

On Tuesday 30th September,  the high Court ruled that their treatment by the Government had been unlawful in terms of the right to live in the UK if they retired before 1997. Following the High Court decision the Government must change the law on how it treats the Gurkhas. If you would like to join the campaign and add your name to it then please visit the Gurkha Justice website www.gurkhajustice.org.uk and sign up for justice.

Britain has had no greater friends than the Gurkhas. They have served across the world in the defence of our Country for nearly 200 years. Over 45,000 died in the two World Wars as part of the British Army and they are still fighting in the British Army today.

Further information can be found at   www.vchero.co.uk