Many thanks are due to the students and teachers of Gordano School in Portishead, where I was given the chance to debate and answer questions put by the students on Tuesday. The level of the questions asked, which ranged from Afghanistan to the economy and student debt, was very high and the future of these students is bright if they can keep up this level of questioning, enquiry and analysis. It looks like there could be some budding politicians as well!

I was at Gordano School along with Stephen Perry Hearn, the Labour candidate who has recently been appointed. Stephen is a great guy, but as I said on the day, there is a real chance at the coming General Election that the Tories can be defeated in North Somerset for the first time since the 1920’s. However for this to happen, the left of centre needs to unite. If the question then is, 'under which banner'? Then the answer has to be the Liberal Democrats, who have come second in five out of the last six General Elections in this constituency.

To use Benjamin Francolin’s analogy of the divided snake, “United we stand, divided we fall".

So Beat the Blues and Go for Gold with the Lib Dems!

Politics is not all about struggle, and I was pleased to be at the Airbus Brabazon Hanger at Filton on Friday to celebrate 100 years of British aviation history. Simon Cook the deputy Leader of the new Lib Dem Authority in Bristol, who bears a striking resemblance to Sir George White, the man who started it all, doned top hat and gave a stirring rendition of Sir George's speech, which was greeted with enough applause to almost raise the roof of the hanger!

Brian Mathew and Simon Cook in front of a Bristol Bulldog

I could not help thinking while listening to this speech, first delivered in 1910, where is the vision for  Britain now? True Airbus is making greener machines than ever before, but the comapany no longer has a British stake, and there are other things that we as a country should be at the forefront of. We should be leading the world in green technology in generating energy from the tides, the waves and from the wind. We still have some of the greatest most inventive minds in the world, but with messed up patient laws our inventors are often ripped off by big business and forced abroad to turn their ideas into reality. Some may argue "thus was always the way" , but we can not aford this in the future, we have a great country and we must regain our confidence and lead the world again in finding engineering solutions for tomorrow's problems.

But enough tub thumping, Paul Harrod the Lib Dem PPC for Bristol North West and I had the chance to meet the good Ladies of Airbus who were raising funds for the Great Western Air Ambulance in the uniforms of Nurses from the First World War. Far too good a photo opportunity!

• The service that people need is, for the most part, for the elderly and for young mums and their children, and these services are best accessed separately in Wrington and Churchill.
• The consultation process from the PCT has so far been flawed, because its whole premise has been narrowly focused, skewed towards the option of a single surgery. The option of maintaining the status quo, as presented in the document needs far greater examination.
• Wrington has had a surgery for a very long time. In terms of living memory, a 98 year old villager, remembers her own house used as the surgery during the first World War. Possession is sometimes described as 9/10^ths of the law, and I would like you to think well on this. Many people moved to Wrington because it has a surgery, they and others in the village, are accustomed to this service and dependent on it, and to take it away from them, without taking into account their feelings and needs, is just plain wrong.
• The proposed site at Pudding Pie Lane has a number of important drawbacks which are not considered in the review document. For example Wrington, has other services: a shop, a chemist, a dentist, an estate agent, a garage, two pubs and the village school. The Pudding Pie site has little near it apart from a school. Thus if people have to drive to reach a doctor, they may decide to register themselves at Yatton instead, where at least they can access and use other services at the same time. If people vote with their feet, the Pudding Pie site will become an expensive white elephant, and Wrington’s own services are likely to suffer or even close as a result.
• There is also the problem of the heavy traffic, where Pudding Pie Lane joins the B3133, the lack of a pavement and the close proximity of the primary school, which will cause both the surgery and the school access problems at school opening and closing time, and the fact it’s a green field site, which will be lost for good if it is built on.
• A further problem that has come to light concerns the proposed minibus service. Not only would this cost an estimated £25,000 a year to run, but it seems it would have no child seats and cannot carry wheel chairs. So the very people who would need the service most, could not be accommodated. If this is true it begs the question, if they can’t get this right, what else needs further detailed investigation and scrutiny?
• Much of the problem of the consultation has been the lack of information passed to the people of Wrington and Churchill, with a culture of secrecy covering the whole process allowing occasional leaks. For example latest figures given at the SOS meeting, indicated that while the current notional rent paid by the PCT is £70,000 a year for the Wrington and Churchill Surgeries combined, the expected rent payable on a single surgery would be in the region of £170,000 a year. Since the PCT and the Tax payer will have to foot this bill, it is difficult to understand what the appeal of the new single surgery is. Local people don’t want it, and it would be considerably more expensive than the current arrangement. There is need for full transparency from the PCT over the details, including the actual level of costs involved, otherwise the people cannot be blamed for assuming the worst.

• The first point to make is that it seems that these regulations do not actually apply to existing buildings. However even if they do, or will do at some future date, there are still other possible solutions which would allow the people of Wrington and Churchill to keep their surgeries. In the case of Yatton and Congresbury for example, two surgeries are being maintained, with Yatton Surgery being extended vertically to provide extra space. At Wrington the extra space could be achieved by either building outwards, or upwards. Likewise Churchill surgery could be expanded – the Churchill Parish Council has said it is willing to extend the lease of the land on which the surgery is built, and it may be willing to lease more land for the extension of the surgery.  

• Many people from Blagdon use the surgery at Wrington. Blagdon used to have a part time surgery of its own. The NHS says all villages should have good access to health care. So why not re-open a surgery in Blagdon on a full time basis in rented accommodation, and move one of the Wrington Doctors there? This would be considerably cheaper than building a new surgery and it would not only free up space in Wrington for the changes that are needed, but provide the people of Blagdon with a surgery that many in Blagdon could visit without getting into a car. For the other services the PCT wants to provide, the new cottage hospital in Clevedon can offer a home.
• And for other private services, such as chiropody, which used to be provided under the NHS, these can be accessed as they currently are with home visits and regular sessions at existing facilities.