Brian Mathew

Pre-General Election Hustings at Gordano School

2010-02-24T00:00:00-00:00

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!

Gordano School Students and Lib Dem PPC,

From left to right: Dominic Jefferies (Head Boy), Maisy Griffiths (Head Girl),

Brian Mathew, Callum Petty, Alex Reading

Celebrating 100 years of British Aviation

2010-02-22T00:00:00-00:00

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!

Threatened Surgeries - Latest

2010-02-20T00:00:00-00:00

Photograph from the Meeting Held at the Memorial Hall Wrington 12/02/2010 by Bob Bowen

The following speech was delivered to the North Somerset Health Overview & Scrutiny Panel on Thursday the 18^th of February, it outlines the current state of play and my own position on the issue of keeping the Wrington and Churchill Surgeries open for the people.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been following the development of this issue since October last year, and in particular attended two public meetings called by Save Our Surgeries in Wrington last Friday and Saturday. I have found the consultation, far from inclusive, appropriate or proportionate for the community and service users. In brief, whatever happened to services following the needs of the patients?

To indicate this I would like to give you a round up of the points made during and after these two meetings:

Firstly it was acknowledged that the doctors in Wrington and Churchill have given an excellent service over the years and that the SOS campaign is about continuing this service.

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.

There was also some talk of the ‘Care Quality Commission’ requirement for better wheelchair access and privacy, and the suggestion that more space is needed to meet these new regulations than the Wrington Surgery currently offers.

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.

Another possible solution arose in informal discussions in which SOS members and two members of the PCT participated after the Friday meeting, this concerned Blagdon and went as follows:

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.

The PCT has got it wrong so far, because its so called ‘vision’ has not taken into account the vision of local people, who quite simply want a service that they can access, as they have done for at least the last one hundred years.

The PCT, if it continues on this course, is in danger of enforcing a model of care that the people don’t want. As was said several times by different people during the meeting, “doctors should come to the people, not people to the doctors”, the people are the purpose of the surgery not vice versa.

One local nurse and mother put it very clearly, when she said “If your village surgery is not sacred, what is?”

The Liberal Democrat position is that local people should be involved in making decisions over the running and planning of their health care facilities. The people of Wrington and Churchill are attempting to do this and I feel it my duty to help them in this process.

Thank you.

Dr. Brian Mathew,

Lib Dem PPC North Somerset.

Brian Mathew, addressing the SOS meeting in Wrington. Photo by Bob Bowen

Even the snow men are against the pylons!

2010-01-13T10:35:30-00:00

My letter to National Grid

2010-01-12T00:00:00-00:00

Dear National Grid,

I find your so called consultation a sham because it simply has not provided enough information on other options than Mega Pylons sited on a number of routes for the transmission of electricity from the proposed new Nuclear Power station Hinkley Point C. It has been a request for residents to chose between two least favoured options, as one person at one of the many public protest meetings described it as "a choice put to a vegitarian over whether to have chicken or beef".

Quite simply this is not a consultation but a sham and the process should be started again with all options including under ground or undersea, with or without use of super conducting cables fully costed and presented. The long term amenity costs to the general public living in the area should also be included, including the loss of value to house prices, the estimated losses to income generation from tourism in the area, the cost in terms of human health and reduced life expectancy, and the cost of having to look at theses unsightly pylons for the next 80 years.

Another issue that has not been taken into account by your consultation is the likely need for further additions to the grid in future years when a probable tidal barrage system is built. I believe that a buried super conducting powergrid cable would have the capacity to carry continual increases in current without the need for further lines to be buried. There would thus seem to be the need for a fully thought out strategic review of the UK national grid for the 21stC and beyond, I venture to suggest that if super conducting cables are to be a part of this, then the time to start this switchover is fast approaching, and where better to start than on the Hinkley Point C project?

Regards
Dr. Brian Mathew
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset

With Yatton Against Pylons

With Save Our Valley in Nailsea

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND AN ELECTION WINNING NEW YEAR!

2009-12-24T00:00:00-00:00

Candle lit vigil against climate change

2009-12-07T00:00:00-00:00

We are holding a vigil to stop climate change. This is part of a string of events happening across the UK and the World headed off by the WAVE demonstration which is being held in London on Saturday the 5th of December to encourage our leaders to take the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change seriously.

The plan is to assemble on the evening of Monday the 7th of December for an hour from 6pm to 7pm in the square in front of the Waitrose Supermarket Cafe in Portishead. Bring a candle and a friend.

At 7.30pm following the vigil I will be giving a talk on the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe at the Ship Inn, Portishead, all are welcome.

'Consultation' Who are you kidding National Grid?

2009-11-25T13:30:00-00:00

The National Grid's "Consultation" over the pylon issue for North Somerset,
is like some ghastly timeshare sales pitch. "Please tell us which option you
prefer and why?" Our dilemma: Corridor '1' (wrong location, ill-considered,
not value for money) or Corridor '2' (wrong location, ill-considered, not
value for money)? In the National Grid's exercise in sham democracy, there
isn't a 'none of the above' option and we need one.

This whole exercise is designed to split our community right down the
middle, setting one side against another. The time has come to stand
together as one.

Using 1950's technology for a 21st Century project is unacceptable. There
are other very real alternatives for example:

1) Using cables to go under the Severn

2) Putting the lines underground as they do with gas;

3) If super conducting cables were used, as they are now being in the USA
and parts of Europe, a three foot wide trench could be dug along the side of
the M5, and there would be energy savings to boot!

National Grid cite the costs of alternatives as being between 12 and 17
times more expensive. Other evidence from the USA would suggest the real
cost would be somewhere between 5 and 10 times more, and with new technology
options becoming cheaper every day, who is to say what the difference will
be in five to ten years time, when the new power line will actually be
needed (remember they have not started work on the new nuclear power
stations yet and the actual installation of the transmission line would take
less than 18 months).

But this issue is not just about short term money considerations, the
proposed powerlines are so high (46.5 metres) that they will need lights
running down the side to prevent aircraft from Bristol Airport flying into
them, and they will be up for so long (80 years life expectancy), that they
will blight the view both by day and night for generations to come.

The beauty of an underground superconductor cable system would be that it
would not only remain hidden, but the transmission of power from future
expansion of energy in the South West (from renewable resources such as the
Severn and new as yet to be built wind farms and tidal stream generators)
could with ease be accommodated in a super conducting cable. Super
conducting cables are also massively more efficient something that is of
great importance when we think of global warming and the need to conserve
and use energy wisely.

The proposed 1950's mega pylons will by comparison 'heat the air' and will
be suited to the needs of the expanded EDF nuclear power station at Hinkley
Point and nothing else.

There are also health concerns, the power carried by the proposed pylons
leaps from 132,000 volts carried in existing lines in the area to 400,000
volts. Worries over health are swept away as a statistical blip - earnest
reassurance is given by the National Grid 'electricity pylons won't cause
any harm to nearby residents or children in adjacent schoolrooms', and those
professional critics who report a higher incidence of cancer and leukaemia
near pylons are dismissed as unreliable nutters.

Infrastructure projects, if they are large enough to be taken out of the
local planning process, are certainly large enough to deserve serious
consideration of how best to minimize the damage to the local environment
and serious investment in solutions which are acceptable to local people.

National Grid's consultation should be a consultation. It should give us
all the information we need to make an informed decision. We need to be
able to choose: to know how long the routes are, and what the real costs
are if National Grid put the power lines underwater in the Bristol Channel,
on land alongside the M5 corridor, underground along National Grid's
favoured routes, or overland on those routes as they currently propose. We
all need to consider the options, but we're denied that chance. Ultimately,
we are going to pay for this; so will our children, and their children's
children.

This is not a consultation. It's an imposition. Think again, National Grid
and come back to us with some real alternatives.

Brian Mathew

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate

North Somerset

07771607983

Climate Change

2009-10-19T21:42:00-00:00

Last week I was invited to two climate change events, one entitled 'Operation Noah' at Southwark Cathedral with Rowen Williams the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and one in Bristol with OXFAM, Stop the Climate Chaos Coalition and Climate 350.org. The later a campaign to get CO2 down to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere, Currently we are just below 400ppm and rising fast (up from around 280 ppm in 1800)

The implications of Climate change are potentially terrifying if we don't get on and do something soon to reduce our own and global levels of CO2 production. While I was in Zimbabwe I took with me James Lovelock's latest and, by his own admission probably his last book, 'The vanishing face of Gaia, A Final Warning'. In this book Lovelock castigates the IPCC for basing its findings on concensus rather than science. With the scope of opinion ranging from climate change deniers on one side to James Lovelock on the other and the IPPC somewhere in the middle, it is deeply worrying to find the Met Office's own latest predictions are closer to Lovelock's than even the IPCC's.

At the Bristol event, I met Elvis Sukali one of OXFAM's team in Malawi who said “Climate change is having a huge effect on Malawi. Malawians rely on rain to grow food for the family and to earn money to pay for vital goods such as medicines and the foodstuffs they cannot grow. The rain is now so unpredictable that people’s livelihoods and lives are at risk.”

So the next question is what to do about it? There is a lot we can all do at home straight away by switching off lights when we don't need them on, keeping the heat down and generally conserving energy. But there is even more our Government could be doing and that's why OXFAM and the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition is organising a big rally called "The Wave" in London on the 5th of December. So come on and join the demo and make your voice heared loud and clear! I'll see you there...

See the flyer below:

Felton Village raises £350 for WaterAid

2009-09-27T00:00:00-00:00

I was kindly asked by the good folk at Felton Village Church to give a talk on the cholera situation in Zimbabwe at their annual Harvest Festival Service and Supper. The collection from the service and the sale of the harvest fruits netted £350 and the Church community decided to give the money to WaterAid, where it will be used to help communities gain access to safe water and sanitation facilities in the developing World. A Big Thank you to Felton!

Brian Mathew with Rev. Paul Stephens and his wife Lesley at the fund raising Harvest supper at Felton Village Hall, North Somerset

Save Our Surgeries!

2009-09-06T00:00:00-00:00

This should be a rallying cry to go up across the length and breadth of the UK, in a campaign to keep GP services local and stop the current government’s drive for centralised ‘polyclinics’ in whatever guise they may come. Wrington is facing a battle with the PCT to keep its surgery, and all who care about the need to keep services local should come out and applaud the people of Wrington in their effort to keep their surgery open.

Last week I attended a meeting of the Wrington Save Our Surgery (SOS) group, and I was appalled to hear of the shenanigans and apparent mis-information being used by the PCT to justify the closure of the surgery.

The Wrington Surgery (see below) is a modern building complete with solar water heating, it was built less than twenty years ago and it is clearly valued by the residents of Wrington, 580 of whom have signed a petition to keep the place open, with signs up in the local shops in the high street.

Local opinion seems to be that some of the current GPs, who are approaching retirement age, would like to cash in their stake, and that the PCT has a directive from Whitehall that ‘bigger is better’. Liam Fox M.P. seemed to start off by backing the good people of Wrington, then appeared to have changed his mind in favour of closing the surgery and now he's launched a survey. Well Dr. Fox, I think you will find the people have already spoken!

In the mean time the 'consultation' continues, so lets make sure the people's voice is really heard and the surgery is saved.

Centralising surgeries and making people travel further to get the doctor is an out of date idea even before it has been put into action. One thing is certain, fuel is going to get more expensive, and climate change really does mean that we should all be walking and using bicycles more, and using our cars less. I say support the people of Wrington to keep their surgery open! And then let’s have a proper re-think of how we improve what we have, rather than spending 3 million pounds of tax payer’s money (even if it is spread over ten years) on something that is not wanted and not needed.

Brian at Wrington Surgery

Signs up in a local shop window

The people of Wrington demonstrate to keep their surgery (http://www.soswringtonvale.org.uk/)

In a time of cholera

2009-08-03T00:00:00-00:00

Dr.Brian Mathew the Lib Dems’ Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset returned from Zimbabwe at the weekend.

His project with UNICEF and Care International has managed to bring clean safe water to 70 communities in the dry south East of the Country. Brian said “we have managed to get over 100,000 hygiene kits out to families to help them collect and purify water and also oral rehydration solution packs to the clinics and village health workers in the area as we are expecting a second epidemic later in the year when the weather starts to warm up”.

“In one village called Mukore, the village pump had been out of action for around three years with as many as a thousand villagers walking a considerable distance to neighbouring villages or a river to obtain their water. The cholera epidemic hit Mukore particularly hard with 343 cases and 49 deaths. CARE with the pump minder team repaired the Mukore Borehole. It was a tough job and it took three days to fish the broken pipes out of the borehole and fit the new pump, but the people were so very happy when the work was done”.

Since the work was completed at the village, Victoria Manjengwa the local Environmental Health Technician has started four health education clubs in the villages around Mukure after being trained by CARE. As a result as many as 100 participants are attending each session and the messages are getting out about washing hands and drinking only safe water.

Brian is now back in North Somerset and looking forward to taking on the Tories at the next general election. On local issues he said "it seems amalgamation seems to be the name of the game with North Somerset Council, anything to save costs without a thought to the consequences, we need local services for local people, whether that’s for schools or for doctor’s surgeries, there does not seem to be much difference between the Tories at the Town Hall or the Government in Whitehall!"

If you want to support CARE International’s work their address is

CARE International UK
10-13 Rushworth Street
London
SE1 0RB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)207 934 9334

Pictures from Zimbabwe

2009-06-06T00:00:00-00:00

Dear All,

They say 'a picture paints a thousand words', and from Simbarevanhu School in Bikita district, Zimbabwe some photographs showing where the CARE team with the local 'pump minders' and with funding from UNICEF, have just rehabilitated the school borehole pump.... too good not to send on to you all...

Best wishes Brian

Brian to help on cholera campaign in Zimbabwe

2009-03-29T00:00:00-00:00

North Somerset’s Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Dr. Brian Mathew, is flying out to Zimbabwe this weekend for four months to help with campaign against the cholera epidemic.

Brian, who worked with the British Government’s Aid department DFID in Zimbabwe in the late 1990’, is to return to the country with the charity CARE International to advise on the rehabilitation of drinking water and sanitation facilities in the south of the country.

Brian said “over 4000 people have died in this epidemic so far in Zimbabwe, and many thousands more have been infected with the disease. I hope that I can with my knowledge of the Country help to get systems working again. I will be following what is going on back home however and constituents can still reach me via my website www.brianmathew.org.uk and e-mail brian@brianmathew.org.uk.

I'll be returning at the end of July ready to get going on the UK General Election campaign, and to claim North Somerset back from the Tories for the first time since the 1930’s.”

Pool Saved!

2009-03-19T22:05:00-00:00

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 & DRAG campaign to keep the Green Belt

2009-03-10T00:00:00-00:00

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.

Credit crunch has started to hit home

2009-01-19T00:00:00-00:00

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)

A Public Inconvenience

2009-01-08T00:00:00-00:00

Lib Dem Candidate brands the Tories at North Somerset Council ‘A public inconvenience’ over the launch of the 2009 draft budget.

“The Tory run Council have shown disrespect to the people of North Somerset with their lack of transparency over the 2009 budget,” says Dr. Brian Mathew the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate.

“They don’t care about people not having information on what they are planning for the future. The so called draft budget is more of a ‘daft budget’ as they have not been open about what they are planning to do. Opposition councillors are aware that cuts in services are planned, but without the details, how can they do their job and offer constructive criticism?”.

“Further increases are expected from the Tories in fees for home and respite care, and it is believed parking charges are to be introduced, while environmental organisations such as the: Avon Wildlife Trust, Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre, Mendip Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Forest of Avon Trust, who work in our area, also appear to be under threat. This is effectively council tax increase ‘by stealth’ and the public should see it for what it is. Harold Macmillan described Thatcher’s cuts to public services in the 1980s as ‘selling off the family silver’, well it looks like that is what the ‘Thatcherite’ Tories in the NSC are up to again here.”

To cap it all, the word is out that they are going to close public conveniences in Portishead, Clevedon and Weston. That’s what I call a real public inconvenience”.

Happy New Year North Somerset 2009

2009-01-01T00:00:00-00:00

Gurkha Justice Campaign

2008-10-14T00:00:00-00:00

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

An Evening to Make it Happen

2008-09-30T00:00:00-00:00

The new rallying cry for Liberal Democrats is “Make it happen”. At his Event at the Scotch Horn Centre in Nailsea, that is just what LibDem Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset, Dr Brian Mathew, set out to do.

In a party atmosphere of live music with ‘Gary French and Co’ and friendly chat, party members, guests and interested ‘others’ from every major town and village in the constituency were asked for their views.

Wide-ranging questions were asked - what did people love about their own communities? What were their concerns? What was their vision for the future, and – finally, what could they do to bring it about?

At the end of what turned out to be a lively evening, Lembit Opik MP gave his enthusiastic support, not only to the evening’s project but also by changing hats and accompanying the guitarists on his harmonica.

Brian Mathew said: “It was really great having everybody thinking about how we can make our community better, this is our new approach to politics, together we can transform the future”.

Make it Happen

2008-09-22T12:47:00-00:00

It has been a great Lib Dem Conference with Nick Clegg launching our new campaign to ‘Make it Happen’, with tax cuts for those who really need it, and an increase for the wealthiest who are currently paying the least.

For us in North Somerset we managed to get our joint motion with North Wilts and Westminster Lib Dems on the extension of the remit of the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved by conference. This means that it is now our party policy. One of the special things about the Liberal Democrats is that we can as members write policy motions and get them passed into policy at Conference, which neither members of the Labour or Conservative Parties can, as a party we are thus much more democratic.

The new policy commits us as a party to endeavour to make the promotion of the ICC a fundamental part of UK foreign policy. We want to see all nations sign up to the ICC including the US, Russia and China. We want to be able to see the ICC empowered to take currently serving heads of state to task if they persecute their own populations and break the International Convention of Human Rights. In a World where we are all increasingly linked by the global economy and the environment it is surely time that the UN has these powers to hold all governments to account if they indulge in crimes against humanity.

I also managed to speak on the International Security debate, to stress the need for a change in our approach in Afghanistan to purchase the opium and process it into medical diamorphine locally. This would have a number of advantages, and would undermine the Taliban by:

1) Taking away finance from the Taliban, who make huge amounts of money from the illegal trade,

2) Winning the hearts and minds of Afghan farmers instead of turning them into enemies,

3) Providing local employment in the processing,

4) Provide a much needed medical drug to the world market, for which there is currently a shortage.

Most importantly it would allow for a political solution to develop in Afghanistan, which could lead to the end of the fighting and to allow our brave troops to come home.

Protest in Portishead over possible closure of its much loved open air swimming pool

2008-09-01T00:00:00-00:00

I attended the Friends of Portishead Open Air Pool demo on rather wet Monday evening. The future of the pool is clearly worrying the people of Portishead. It is a wonderful resource and in a year when we have done so well at the Olympics, especially at swimming, it seems crazy that the pool may be forced to close by the Tory run Council.

Talking with people at the demo revealed mixed feelings over the management of the pool by DC leisure, including: the hours the pool is open, which means people cannot use the pool after work, and the need for up-grading including installing solar heating which would help to cut down on the use of expensive water heating.

The decision on the future of the pool by the Tory run N-Somerset Council is due in October, let’s see if they see sense and keep it open for the health, exercise and fun of the people of Portishead. In the mean time the pool is open till the end of this month so why not make the trip and have a swim in this magnificent open air pool?

Why I support UNISON

2008-07-23T00:00:00-00:00

The reason I was on the picket lines and support Unison in their demands for a 6% wage rise, is because it is fair. Fair to ensure that some of the most poorly paid workers in North Somerset receive a living wage, and fair that the people who work as teaching assistants, as care assistants, as park keepers, street cleaners and as refuse collectors, recycling staff and much more, are treated fairly and respected in our society.

The Labour Government has seen the difference between the poorest paid and the most highly paid widen over the last ten years, is this fair or sensible? The Tories under Thatcher famously said “there is no such thing as society” well I cannot take that view. And in a time when petrol prices are up by 22%, bread is up by 9%, milk is up by 17% and mortgages are up by 8%, we have a duty to ensure that those who work to make society work, are protected, encouraged and congratulated for the work they do.

In economic terms the pay demand would across the nation amount to £50 million. In the great scheme of things this is not unaffordable. For those on the highest wages there is a need to hold back on pay increases if inflation is to be kept in check, and it is perhaps right to remember that those that do get well paid receive this as a privilege and not a right. Society Does Exist!

Great things happening at Clevedon School

2008-06-01T00:00:00-00:00

(Photo Clevedon School Prospectus)

John Wells the Headmaster took the time to talk to me and show me around Clevedon School, a place that is clearly on the rise, to the great benefit of young people and the wider community in Clevedon.

John joined as Head at Clevedon three years ago. He explained in 2003 Clevedon School, then known locally as ‘The Comp’ received a poor OFSTED report narrowly missing ‘special measures’. There had been significant problems in management, and the school lacked both aspiration and expectation. Between 10% and 15% of children living in Clevedon were being sent to schools outside the town because of the school’s poor reputation.

John Wells explained he has introduced a radical system of ‘student centred education’. This has included the establishment of four ‘Houses’: Conygar, Marine, Valley and Walton, to help introduce a combination of traditional values and forward looking systems based on ‘positive relationships’ and ‘mutual respect’, with an emphasis on manners, etiquette, student responsibility and leadership. The ‘Houses’ system has also brought in a vertical pastoral system to help the students relate and feel a greater sense of community and comradeship whatever their age.

The ‘discovery’ computer centre with the schools own ‘learning bug’ software is popular and also starting to become an income earner for the school as other schools are starting to buy in to the system.

The wider community is also benefiting from the changes at Clevedon School, with 50 local people regularly attending foreign language classes and a further 70 members of the public signed up to online language learning via the schools website, the School’s new Specialist College Coordinator Tamsin Chambers explained.

The school is clearly working well under its new head, who also took the time to show me the new uniforms which have been designed with student involvement to promote ownership and pride, these are being launched for year 7’s in September and for years 7,8 & 9 from 2009.

(photo of Brian Mathew and John Wells with the new Clevedon School uniform)

The main problems at the school as outlined by John Wells are related to infrastructure and access. The condition of some of the buildings (Arts and Technology blocks), which are in such a poor state, that just a year and a half ago were burgled by thieves who managed to break through the walls to steal a number of computers.

(photo of Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Brian Mathew pointing out the plywood wall to the technology block, where burglars broke in a year and a half ago)

Access to the school is through a single narrow residential street which becomes choked in either direction at the beginning and end of the School day. The obvious solution, a new exit road running along the edge of the playing fields to join the B3124 road to Portishead, has so far fallen on the deaf ears of the planning and highways departments. The school is also encouraging students to make their own way to and from school by walking or using bikes, which would not only help to free up the road and save on the production of greenhouse gasses, but could save those parents who use the car to bring their children to school as much as £535 a year (DfT 2006).

The future looks bright for Clevedon School, it is networking with the other (primary) schools in Clevedon over issues such as safety and bullying and its OFSTED rating has improved, with its specialist status in Languages restored. In short it was a pleasure to visit and experience first hand a school that looks destined to do great things for Clevedon and its young people.

(Photo Headmaster John Wells with students, from Clevedon School prospectus)

Lib Dem Post Office Survey for North Somerset - Results Revealed

2008-04-04T00:00:00-00:00

Over the past three months the Liberal Democrats in North Somerset, spear headed by local campaigner and Parliamentary Candidate Dr Brian Mathew, have been undertaking a survey of the use of the Post Offices in an effort to prove how important they are to village and town life in the constituency. With two post offices threatened with imminent closure at Barrow Gurney and Nailsea Kingshill it is hoped that this information may help to prove to the bosses of the Post Office in London that the Post Offices are needed in North Somerset.

In all 10,000 households were contacted in the survey and over 500 responded. This showed that on average householders visited the post office between 2 and 3 times per week, that the purchase of postage stamps (96%) and postage of personal parcels (90%) was the main activity with 37% of households using the banking facilities and 20% of respondents collecting their pensions from the post office. 17% of householders reported using the post office to send business parcels. Of the items most requested 51% said they wanted to be able to pay for their road tax at post offices and 26% wanted to be able to pay for TV licences again. 14% said they paid their household bills for electricity, council tax and phone at the post office. Other services valued included posting special and recorded delivery items, obtaining passports, foreign currency and buying premium bonds, as well as shopping locally for grocery and stationery items.

The lesson from this exercise is that the Post Office is still a vital institution, but one that has been devalued by the withdrawal of some services like TV licence renewal. However with fuel prices on the rise as we approach the tipping point for oil, it is doubly important to keep local services. Also with an aging population how can pensioners be expected to travel all day to post a letter or withdraw their pensions if they no longer have a post office near by? It seems obvious that post offices and local shops are going to become more and more important in the coming years as both a focal point for communities as well as to provide vital services. This is not something the Tories can be honest about defending, as they oversaw the closure of over 3,500 post offices under Thatcher and Major. The Lib Dems are meanwhile campaigning to keep every post office open in the country.

Members of the public are encouraged to keep up their own pressure in Nailsea Kingshill and Barrow Gurney by writing to: the National Consultation Team, Post Office Ltd, Freepost Consultation Team, or e-mail them at info@postwatch.co.uk

Brian Mathew with Marion Burlinson the Post Mistress of Barrow Gurney Post Office

Snouts in the trough on April the 1st?

2008-04-02T00:00:00-00:00

The image of councillors with their snouts in the trough was difficult to refute on the evening of the 1^st of April, as the Tory controlled North Somerset Council voted for large increases in their allowances, while just a few weeks before they had initiated massive cuts to social care for the young and the old, that will have a serious impact on the lives of North Somerset residents. Voluntary groups such as MYCON in Nailsea which do sterling work helping youngsters on the streets are to close because their funding is being cut. Increased charges are to be introduced for those using day care and meals on wheels services, and in the midst of this Councillors are to award themselves more money.

The Council Chairman David Shopland will have spoken for many when he said:

"You have all seen the letter from the Union (UNISON) which spells out the serious cuts we have had to make in the provision of necessary services to the vulnerable in our society.

We cannot now use the money we have taken from them to line our pockets, that would be reprehensible and totally immoral.

Be very careful in how you act and vote tonight. The Public will not forget in three years time and I remember an administration and councillors who fell because the public did not accept the monies they were being paid".

For whatever reason his words were not heeded in the Council, but in three years time the people of North Somerset will get their chance to speak with their votes.

Politics and politicians have taken a huge knock in recent years, to lie in the minds of many at the bottom of society, and in the light of what happened last night, many may say “rightly so”. We who want to use politics to make a change for good in this land, must rise above murky self interest if we are to win the hearts and minds of the Great British People.

The principle of councillors receiving adequate allowances is not to my mind in question and I will be putting together a joint policy paper to the next Lib Dem Federal Conference suggesting the creation of a national allowance scale for elected holders of public office. What was in question however was the timing of the proposed increases in the allowances, when the Tory Council policies are threatening the welfare of the most vulnerable in North Somerset.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidates Mike Bell and Brian Mathew with the UNISON Lobby of Councillors on the 1st of April outside North Somerset Council

Welcome Clarion Readers!

2008-03-05T00:00:00-00:00

Welcome to all Clarion readers and those that have been adding their names and support to our campaign to stop the closures of post offices in North Somerset.

It now looks as if the Post Offices in Clevedon are safe, but keep filling in the post card survey when you receive it as we are building a solid case to keep all the post offices open wherever they are, specifically Nailsea Kingshill and Barrow Gurney Post Offices, that now have been told they have 6 weeks to appeal against closure. So far we have had over 250 letters of support, and many people have also added their signatures to our 'green approach to product packaging petition'..... which is on the 3rd page of the Clarion.

One of the big messages that we are getting out is that we are now the voice of the Centre Left in North Somerset and that together united as centre left voters we can actually win in North Somerset, and indeed would have done in the 2005 General Election, if everyone had voted together.

So friends who voted for either the Greens or for Labour in the past, please lend us your votes and vote with me and the Lib Dems next time round and lets make a change in North Somerset and a change for Britain! We are a truly democratic party, and the only one whose policies are made by the membership, so better still join us and make your voices heard in the Party of tomorrow, the Party that believes in being Free, Fair and Green!

Either e-mail me here at brian@brianmathew.org.uk or write to Freepost RRGY-XJYS-RAAE, Liberal Democrats, 12 Henly Lodge, Yatton, BS49 4JQ

CUTS CUTS CUTS ? Protest, farce, tragedy

2008-02-20T00:00:00-00:00

North Somerset Council meeting 19^th February 2008

Going to Council meetings is part of my learning curve as the new Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset and this was quite a meeting. On the agenda for discussion was the budget and what the Tory run North Somerset Council plans to cut.

UNISON and a number of other groups including the Save the Portishead Open Air Swimming Pool group, had gathered outside to protest against the cuts which threaten a range of Council and volunteer services including Sports Development, Community Development and Day Care for the disabled and elderly.

One NSC worker, who asked me not to use her name for fear of losing her job, said “Morale has never been so low”. Now it does not take a rocket scientist to realise that people with low morale do not perform well, and for the Tory run NSC to have allowed this to happen is a poor reflection on their management acumen and their ability to empathise with their employees.

ITV were there to record the demo live for the six o’clock news, and as the crowd chanted slogans to keep warm and make their opinions known to the Councillors as they walked in to the hall, shouts also went up to cheer motorists who blew their horns in support. Earlier another motorist, in this case a Tory Councillor, angered the demonstrators as he pushed his Japanese 4X4 into the crowd to park at the front of the hall. No matter… it was used as a place to put placards by tired and cold hands.

Inside the Council Chambers the meeting started with a number of petitioners arguing their case against the cuts. The case was put for the ‘All Star Sports Club’ a group that helps adults with learning difficulties find self respect through sport, for the Community Sports Network which brings in sponsorship from Sport England, and will have difficulty doing this if its funding is cut. A very hoarse Lynette McMillan pleaded the case of the Community Development Team saying “These people help us access funding, please do not take away these workers, they are our voices!” Even the Police were speaking out against the cuts, with Inspector Adam Jenner speaking in favour of the Community Safety Team and the Child Partnership Group, and their involvement of young people in sport “stopping things from going wrong”. He said our concern is that budget cuts would kill or severely restrict the work the Child Safe Group can do”. Helen Thornton Chair of North Somerset UNISON and a community regeneration Officer for NSC said 100 jobs in NSC were under threat and that this will affect the most vulnerable in society. She could not understand why despite a more generous than expected budget allocation from Central Government, the NSC were set on cutting services just to keep the council tax increase down. This would mean a marked increase in charges for those needing day care and community meals while a whole range of children’s services would be affected, the cuts impacting on the poorest and most vulnerable in North Somerset.

Attack, it is said, is the best form of defence…. .and this seemed to be the approach taken by Nigel Ashton the leader of the Tory group on the council. He launched into a strange attack on the leadership of the Lib Dems in the previous administration….. and went on to say “at some stage someone will have to say enough is enough, we are doing that”. Well I’m sorry Mr. Ashton, but if you go on like that, it is the good people of North Somerset who will say “enough is enough” and they will vote you all out at the earliest opportunity!.... A line of Conservative councillors then stood up to say their piece and pledge their support for the cuts, with Cllr Blatchford seeming to say that Children’s services was something of a ‘black art’…. I’m not sure what he meant by that I must say…. Cllr Ian Peddlesden talked of “a challenging year in adult social services, identifying savings”. It seems his answer is to cut these service to the bone and then to be surprised when they won’t work….All in all a shameful line up to defend the un-defendable….

Cllr Tom Leimdorfer of the Green party, valiantly put the case for the opposition group, commending the Tories for their clarity but not for their content, which he generously described as “the good, the bad and the ugly”. He started by pointing out that of the last 9 budgets 7 had been presented by a Conservative member, and the 3 star rating that the Council currently holds was achieved on the basis of the work of the previous administration. He asked “How can we hope to improve the life chances of vulnerable children when we are cutting Educational psychology to the lowest level in the South West? And “how can we defend increases in day care charges that will mean those people who are only just above the threshold for full cost charges, are hammered with an extra bill of around £600 per year?” He pointed out that by making these cuts now NSC could also lose money from Central Government for reaching targets in the future, and that there was almost nothing in the budget to help NSC reach its environmental targets.

Deborah Yamanaka (Lib Dem) also echoed Tom’s points that the Tories were themselves part of previous administrations and the irony of Nigel Ashton’s attack on something of which he had himself been a leading member.

Andy Cole (Lib Dem), Deborah Yamanaka (Lib Dem) and Nan Kirsen (independent) also objected to charging for day care, Nan pointing out that the social contact provided by day care was a lifesaver to families trying to cope with disabled or elderly members, and that even if 40% of those receiving day care would not have to pay, 60% would. She pointed out that contingency funds of £900,000 were available so why not use some of this money to continue to support day care in North Somerset?

And so the opposition group’s amendments were presented and went to the vote.

Amendment 1 to restore £100,000 to education psychology and £50,000 to educational welfare, was lost by 12 votes to 40 despite an articulate and well thought through plea from Independent Councillor Hugh Gregor, who from his personal experience as a teacher described the educational welfare service as being a vital link between schools and home.

Amendment 2 to stop the increases in charges for day care, giving North Somerset the 2^nd highest level of charges for day care in the Country. Lost by 13 votes to 40.

Amendment 3 to stop the cuts to sports development, defeated by 12 votes to 40, and this despite another intervention by Cllr Hugh Gregor who spoke movingly of the self confidence and sense of achievement that disabled participants received when participating in sport.

Finally Amendment 4 to reduce the Councils own carbon footprint, again defeated by 12 votes to 40, so much for the new ‘green’ Tories.

An interesting evening, though not an altogether pleasant one, the repeated twelve votes kept making me think of another twelve who broke bread together….. the 40? Well… ‘Ali Baba’ kept coming to mind…..

Otter Group Volunteers fear loss of support from North Somerset Council

2008-02-05T17:04:00-00:00

The Otter, one of the UK's favorite mammels, and a resident of North Somerset.....read on.....

The Tory run North Somerset Council are currently reviewing their funding on all external grants and the fear is that a number of volunteer run programmes and projects may find their funding cut in NSC’s attempts to trim £17 million from the budget over two years.

Brian Mathew, North Somerset’s Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats visited Eleanor Phillips of the North Somerset Otter Group to discover what this may mean for efforts to protect one of Britain’s more popular wild mammals, the Otter.

Eleanor Phillips explained that the NSOG was set up in 2000 to monitor the otter population in the area. Since then 43 volunteers have been trained to help with the monitoring exercise, with the monthly monitored sites registering an average of 23% otter presence. Eleanor went on to explain that otters as creatures at the top of the food chain are not only important in themselves, but give a clear indication of the quality of the environment. Otter populations in the UK are on the rise again after progressive falls in their population from the 1950’s onwards due to poor environmental practices including the use of pesticides and chemicals in the environment. The otters of North Somerset are particularly important because they offer a link between the otter population of Wessex and those to the south west.

The Otter Group is one element of the North Somerset Levels and Moors Project, which receives just over £10,000 per year from NSC. Other main funders of the NSLMP are the Avon Wildlife trust, Natural England, and the Environment Agency. The element of support provided by NSC is around a quarter of the NSLMP’s yearly funding and on such a low turnover any reduction could be catastrophic to the survival of both the Otter Group and its parent organisation.

The Otter group though largely dependent on the work of volunteers, also needs professional support from NSLMP to provide training and to maintain research integrity. Services like these require long term commitment from all involved. With volunteers morale is vital and uncertainty over funding should not be allowed to cast a shadow over this important environmental work.

James Field, North Somerset Levels and Moors Biodiversity Officer who is based at Avon Wildlife Trust, explained about the volunteers that serve on the Otter Group, he says:

”We have housewives, an engineer, a retired naval officer, students and lecturers to name a few of those taking part. Not only do these volunteers provide important ecological data, but I believe that they find it a rewarding experience. One of my volunteers, who helps run the Group has just been offered her first paid, ecological job. Another used his experience of working with the Project to get back into full-time work after a number of years on benefits and is about to begin training as a teacher”.

He went on to say, “The recovery of otters nationally and their return to North Somerset is undoubtedly a conservation success story. However it should be remembered that the collapse in otter populations during the previous century went largely unnoticed for many years until the situation became desperate. The work of the NSOG and other similar projects around the country is vital and is the only way to make sure that this situation isn't repeated. Current threats to otter populations include road kills and the recent discovery of a foreign parasite that infects the bile ducts of otters. The eventual impact of this is as yet unknown. North Somerset is very much a frontier zone in the expansion of otters from one of their national strongholds; the southwest. Any future population trends may well be noticed here first.

Dr. Brian Mathew & Eleanor Phillips looking for otter 'spraints' at Backwell Lake