Considering Agriculture

Continuing the Shadow Ministerial visits to Rugby, Peter Ainsworth whose brief is Food and the Environment and I visited local famer Cecil Thomas. Cecil runs a mixed farm with a dairy herd, pedigree sheep and arable, and he is a former Chair of Warwickshire NFU. He is a very strong advocate of his industry and was forthright in his views concerning the difficulties facing farming. Having been shown around the farm we discussed the strategies to dealing with the TB problem and blue tongue; the continuing problems with single farm payments; the power of the supermarkets and the lack of understanding of many people, & in particluar the young, of how food gets to the table. I learnt that school vists used to take place to farms in the past but this is no longer possible because of health & safety and the need for risk assesments. We considered the work being done by people like Jamie Oliver and it is a shame that more is not being done to enable a greater appreciation of the contribution of our farmers.

Lawford & New Bilton County Council By Election

I suppose that any election where there is a tie between the top two candidates, two recounts leading to your candidate loosing by just one vote, is always going to be tough to come to terms with. That certainly the case for Claire Watson who fought a really strong campaign in Lawford & New Bilton and must be asking herself what if we had made just one more phone call, or visited just one more house. Claire shouldn't be too down hearted because to change a Labour majority of 500 three years ago to just one vote is a real achievement, and one that give me great heart for when the General Election eventually comes.

Decorating the new village hall

Church Lawford is getting a new village hall. The old one, The Reading Rooms, had come to the end of its life and wasn't DDA compliant. Unfortunately the funds available dont stretch to getting the new building decorated so on Saturday morning I joined a team of Conservative Councillors who offered to start painting the walls, and we got splattered. There was an opportunity to look around the new building which is well designed, flexible, and will be a great asset to the village.

Front Bench visitors to Rugby

We have had the pleasure of welcoming two more members of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet to Rugby over the past couple of weeks. The first was Jeremy Hunt MP, Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport who, in the home of the game, visited players and officials from Rugby Lions Rugby Club. Jeremy heard about the challenges of encouraging youngsters who start off playing the game as Mini Rugby to keep on playing as they get older and the pressures on a club with aspirations in the professional era where it is increasingly hard for a club to find the money to meet the wages bill. With two sons having worked their way through the Minis and Juinor section, I know just what a good job the Lions do with young people, despite limited facilities caused by the restricted site. The press who joined us on the visit were keen to play up Jeremy's vote as most fanciable male MP, when he was keen to point out that the competition was pretty limited!

Our second visitor was Francis Maude MP, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who is no stranger to this area, having been MP for North Warwickshire between 1983 and 92. Francis and I visited the Benn Partnership in Railway Terrace where we saw the drop-in and training facilities they offer to many groups in the town.

Having been established with Lottery funding, the centre has recently recieved grant aid from the Borough Council which is enabling the good work to continue. Afterwards Francis joined Association members at the Romna Restaurant in Regent Street where the owner Mr Sidque and his staff provided an excellent lunch.

Sewers

I learnt a lot about sewers yesterday evening and how an effective campaign can bring about change when I attended the AGM of Woodlands Residents Association. Woodlands in Bilton has suffered for many years from the obligations of local residents to maintain their unadopted sewer system. Over eight years, with support from both MPs in that period, they have fought to ensure that maintenance of privately constructed sewer systems is taken over by the water authority. Severn Trent Water, whose representative attended the meeting have now agreed to take on the liability from 2010 which will provide great comfort to many residents. Despite this good news, I learnt, however, that there is no British standard for the construction of new sewers on new developments. It seems that the problem is being created elsewhere and it is likely that other groups will have to get together in future to ensure that the same happens in their area and keep lobbying. The Residents Association in Woodlandsnow are the experts, and no doubt others will beat a path to their door to seek their advice. Great management of a meeting by the Chairman, as well. Constuctive comment, well prepared election of officers and all over within an hour. One or two organisations in Rugby could take note!