Grant Shapps in Rugby

On Thursday, Conservative Spokesman on Housing, Grant Shapps was in Rugby to look at the implications of the huge housing development that Rugby is expected to take over the next 20 years. This is an issue raised regularly on the doorstep throughout the campaign with the greater part allocated to the Mast site at Hillmorton. Grant was shown over the site from a vantage point on the Clifton to Lilbourne road. The big challenge here is to ensure that the appropriate infrastucture is put in place that will enable Rugby as a whole to benefit from these proposals.

Rugby Myton Hospice

Yesterday I was shown around Rugby Myton Hospice where I met one of the nurses there, Ros. The Hospice was opened in 2002 after a greal deal of hard work to raise funds and provides a high level of care on a day patient basis. I was shown around the facilities on site and saw the various activities that take place. I even joined in breifly with a quiz that was taking place. I left with a sense of a tranqil place where people are given a sense of ease at a very difficult time of their life.

McDonalds visit

Today I joined Franchise Holder, Glyn Pashley at his Rugby town centre store where I learnt about his business. This is a sector I am already familiar with as when I was in business we supplied to the independent catering sector. I have also been a fairly regular customer as someone often in a hurry and taking my children when young for a treat. This was however my first "behind the scenes" and I saw the production of burgers during a busy lunchtime, met the staff and was shown the training courses they receive. I have always been impressed by the professionalism of the McDonalds operation and the influence they have on the labour market with so many young people gaining their first experience of work with them.

Mill Green Residential Care Home Visit

Today I visited Mill Green Residential Care Home in Newbold, where I was able to chat both with residents and Manager Lyn Mills and her staff. Mill Green provides personal care and support for people with physical disabilities across a wide age range. We had a wide ranging discussion, including MPs expenses, and the broader issues of funding social care and the recent disagreements between the parties. The home is spacious with accommodation on the ground floor and well laid out grounds. One of the residents described it to me a a real "home from home". I have visited a number of care homes over recent weeks and have built up a good understanding of the sector and the challenges it faces over coming years.

Alstom's impact in Rugby

Continuing my visits to industry in Rugby, earlier this week I met Steve Houldcroft and Stephen Burgin at Alstom's Newbold Road site. This is one of our biggest employers although numbers at the site have reduced in recent years. I learnt a great deal about power generation and concerns that we are facing a shortage of capacity as old nuclear and coal fired plants are de-commissioned before new, mostly gas powered, plants come on line. I was shown the massive turbines that are used in the generation of electricity and was hugely impressed by the skill that goes into their manufacture. Here is a sector which has undergone big changes in recent years and it is important that we provide the environment and support which will ensure that this type of industry is retained both in Rugby and within the UK.

Shadow Health Secretary in Rugby

Last week I joined Andrew Lansley on a visit to our local hospital, St Cross. Our commitment to the NHS will be fundamental to our campaign at the coming General Election, and I was keen to ensure that our Health Team are fully aware of the range of facilities and services here in Rugby. We met the trust Chief Executive, Malcom Stamp and were shown over the site by Hospital Manager, Carl Holland, Modern Matron, Judith Lewis and Non-Executive Director, Nick Stokes. Rugby Observer photographer, Jamie Gray, has kindly provided a photo of Judith making a point to Andrew just after we had been shown new and aditional toilets and bathrooms installed to improve patient dignity. Andrew raced off after the visit to get down to the BBC in London in time for the recording of "Question Time" which went out later that evening.

Football shirts continued

Now that the local & Euro elections are over and it seems for the time being at least that there will not be an early General Election, it's back to some of the things I was working on beforehand.
The Conservatives are again putting a team together to work in Rwanda and I am looking forward to joining them once again. I still have a number of shirts which didn't make the consignment that I sent over earlier this year & so I will take them with me. I have also issued a fresh appeal which has been taken up by Avon Valley School. Today I visited the school where I met up with Head, Don O'Neill who I went to school with, playing some Rugby together there before joining up in the back row of the Old Laurentian 2nd team some time in the late 1990s.

Business Seminar follow up

We held a follow up event yesterday when Philip Hammond, Shadow Secretary to the Treasury joined us. Philip was visiting Warwickshire to support our County Council campaign and having left London early in the moring by train had been at a similar event in Leamington before joining us; after meeting with Rugby businessmen, he and I visited a local manufacturing company supplying the motor industry before joining Clare Watson, our candidate in Lawford & New Bilton on the doorsteps. I then drove Philip over to Nuneaton where he joined their canvassing team before taking the train back to London. At 11 0'clock Philip was on Newsnight debating with Stephen Timms, his opposite number in Government about the downgrading by Standard & Poor of its rating for UK Government debt. I relate this because in the current climate, when MPs as a group are being rightly criticised, many people either are unaware of, or have forgotten, just how much work and commitment is given to their cause by politicians of all parties. Whenever I see the timetable that politicians work to, I am reminded that the role involves long hours and hard work, something that is not always apreciated!
Our seminar was again well attended with people from a variety of local businesses able to put their questions and get answers from a menber of our front bench team. We again spent a fair proportion of out time talking about the banks, the money that has been provided to them by Government and how a more responsive attitude from them would be of great assistence to business during this difficult period.

Supporting Jobseekers

In a week when figures were released showing that the number of jobless in Warwickshire has risen by 5% in just one month, I visited the local Jobcentre, This was a part of my activity to see how businesses and institutions in Rugby operate. I had previously used the services of a Jobcentre as an employer when my company was looking to recruit staff, but knew little about the process someone looking for work goes through. The manager showed me how the system works, and the support that is provided. We discussed the sectors that are shedding staff and those that are looking to recruit. Rugby has benefitted recently from the opening in coming weeks of an Asda store in the new town centre development, taking on 350 staff but there continue to be losses from both warehousing and manufacturing, both important forms of employment in the town. I was interested to note that with a larger workload, the jobcentre itself is taking on a further six advisors in the coming weeks.

County Council Elections

Our Party Chairman, Eric Pickles, was with us earlier this week to launch the Conservative Group Manifesto for the Warwickshire County Council Elections which take place on 4 June. The Conservatives are the largest group and provide the Leadership but not currently in control at the county and we aim to pick up extra seats, some of which should be in Rugby. We aim to build on the achievement of the past four years and, despite reductions in funding from Government year on year, provide better services and value for the Council Taxpayer. After presenting the manifesto with candidates to the press at Warwick, Eric joined us in Rugby to visit the Western Relief Road and later knock on some doors. As an experienced canvasser and campaigner, Eric was superb on the doorstep with one or two people surprised when they answered the door to find the media scrum that accompanied him

A manufacturing led recovery?

I spent yesterday visiting Converteam, who are a large employer in Rugby. Converteam are a world leader in power-conversion engineering manufacturing electric motors and generators used in a variety of applications. They have particular expertise in wind generation and are well positioned to take advantage of the move to "green" power. As a company making things and supplying world markets,they are the kind of business that the country will be looking towards to lead us out of recession as. It was a concern, therefore, to learn from Nik Pocrnic my host and who is the company's Director of Sourcing that currently a large proportion of their component supply and sub contract work is sourced from abroad. It appears that many UK firms don't currently have sufficient capacity to supply and this is at a time of recession. It begs the question that if we don't have the capacity now, how realistic are our hopes for a manufacturing led recovery once the world market recovers? Given the reliative weaknesses of financial services and the housing markets, this is the sector we will be relying on! It isn't too late for Government to address this issue and our loan gurantee scheme supporting loans to business is a start. Given the current weakness of manufacturing, it will be a tragedy if manufacturing businesses continue to fail and shed staff meaning that we will be in no shape to profit from the upturn when it eventually comes.

St George's Day

At the weekend I spent Saturday at the Party's Spring Conference, missing David Cameron's speech on Sunday in order to join Rugby Scouts at their annual St George's Day Service and Parade. It was great to see St Andrew's chuch full of enthusiastic youngsters. I enjoyed the march past, finishing at the newly redeveloped Caldecott Park where I met up with Dave Barclay, County Development Manager and Tony Marsella, District Commissioner for Rugby.

Emmaus Shop Opening

On Saturday I attended the opening of Emmaus' new shop in Rugby Town centre. I first became aware of Emmaus about three years ago when I was Housing Portfolio Holder at Rugby Borough Council; they are are charity supporting the homeless whose objective is simply described by their slogan "Providing a bed and a reason to get out of it." I visited their site in Carlton Bedfordshire where they provide not only accomodation for homeless people but also a workshop repairing old furniture and a second hand shop with a restaurant. All of the work is done by residents and this provides a sense of self respect and purpose for people who circumstances have caused them to be without a home. In Rugby things are just getting started with the shop the first stage. The opening was by Terry Waite who is a supporter of Emmaus, who told a great story about his time in captivity in the Middle East. His captors told him that they would be moving him and tied him up with packaing tape and blindfold, he was put in the boot of a car. He was surprised to feel the arm of another person already there. He exclaimed "not much room in here for two of us!" and the reply came back, "it was all right until you got in!" That was his inroduction to John McCarthy.

Western Relief Road

Rugby suffers massively from traffic congestion and has been waiting for many years for a by-pass or relief road. After years of delay work started just over a year ago and constuction is well under way, although with further delays which will put back the opening of the final section by as much as 12 months. Yesterday, along with Councillors Collett & Hazelton I had the opportunity to visit the site, to view the progress to date and hear about some of the issues creating the delay. I learnt something of the complications of a complex construction project and the need for co-ordination with other agencies including in this case Network Rail since a new bridge over the West Coast Main Line is required. The northern section from Lawford Lane to the Leicester Rd was always going to present the greater difficulty with also a new bridge over the River Avon and passing though a built up area. There is a very useful website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/rwrr providing lots of information about progress on the road and I am sure that the information here and the communication with the local press which has led to Rugby people being patient about the time taken for its completion. I know road users will be delighted when it is avalable to be used!

Childrens Centre

At the Locality Panel meeting in Brownsover a couple of weeks ago, the manager of the recently opened Childrens Centre at Boughton Leigh gave a presentation. Not having previously visited a centre, I asked if I could do so and was shown around on Tuesday. I saw a well resourced facility providing valuable facilities to parents and unders 5s in an area where this kind of support will be appreciated. I well remember the massive change that Tracy & I had to go through when we first became parents and how often it was difficult to know where to turn for help and advice. The centre puts on a number of courses and provides drop in facilities which I am sure will help with the difficult task of bringing up young children.

Credit Union

Yesterday evening I attended the AGM of Rugby Credit Union. This is a voluntary body who provides savings & loan facilities to Rugby people generally but targetted at those who might otherwise be forced to use doorstep lenders. The Credit Union charges loan interest at 1% per month equivalent to 12.7% APR. By contrast we were shown an advertisment for another loan provider where the APR is 189.2%. So the work carried out is a valuable service within the community and has a method of working where people are helping one another. Loans are granted to those with a record of saving with the Credit Union and so a sound approach to personal finance is encouraged. I was impressed with the work that is being done in the tought economic times such we face today and wish the team there well.

Open Source Software

Two young businessmen attended the recent seminar we held dealing with the recession. They run a business I wasn’t previously familiar with and so yesterday I met Chris Hall from Credativ in Rugby who supply IT packages running on open source software. Chris explained to me the rationale behind this approach. As someone who has grown up in recent years with Microsoft products, the notion that there is a software package with the source code open to all is pretty revolutionary. I was struck by the huge marketing opportunities and also be potential cost-saving to government institutions who are massive purchasers of software. I hope that their business will do well.

Bulkington boxing club

On Wednesday I joined Bulkington councillors John Ross, Des O'Brien and Julian Gutteridge at Bulkington boxing club who were opening an extension of facilities at the club. A redundant temporary classroom from the county council has been made available and a new boxing ring has been installed. I met Stewart Tidman who is secretary and matchmaker of the club who told me all about how the club came into being and its role in the community. I think the work that they are doing with young lads is absolutely fantastic, giving them a sense of belonging and achievement with several Midlands champions. As a father of two teenage boys, I know how much energy they have and it's great to see that energy channelled in a positive way. Stewart told me that they have a waiting list of both boys and girls wanting to join the club and with the excellent organisation they have, that's no surprise.

Rugby’s cement plant

This coming Tuesday evening I will be attending a stakeholder meeting which has been set up to consider they engagement process between Cemex who operate the plant and local residents and community groups. In order to be up to date with the operation and activity at the plant on Thursday I visited Rugby cement and was showed around by Ian Southcott, the company’s public affairs manager. Due to the slowdown in the construction industry the demand for cement has reduced which means that some of the other plant run by the company has been either mothballed or is operating a reduced capacity. Rugby is the company's newest and most efficient plant and is still running at full capacity. The aim of the meeting will be to ensure that the plant remains a good neighbour to local residents and I am looking forward to a positive and constructive outcome.

The Rugby Network Breakfast

Last Friday I joined a well attended meeting of the Rugby Branch of the Federation of Small Business. As a former small business owner I was at home with entrepreneurs with an opportunity to network followed by a presentation. This month’s topic was by Rosie & Ken Barfoot of Training for Results and covered different modes of thinking and identifying different groups. It was no surprise to me to find myself in the analytical & structure group which represents my approach to running and organising! I enjoyed also talking with people present about how their businesses are responding to the current climate but wasn’t so sure about the 7am start which took me straight back to the days of running my business. The FSB have an excellent website with a report of the meeting and details of their forthcoming events at http://www.rugbybreakfast.co.uk/.