Simon Hicks

Why is the Nursing and Midwifery Council insisting on punishing the whistle blower, Margaret Haywood, who revealed the appalling neglect of elderly patients in the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton? The Council recently struck her off the professional register meaning she will lose her job unless an appeal is successful.

The shocking institutional cruelty was only revealed after she tried to raise these issues through normal channels, and after official inaction she was left with the only option of using secret filming for the BBC Panorama programme in 2005 to lift the lid on the situation. Yet the only person to be punished because of the problems has been Margaret Haywood herself, and the very organisation that upholds standards in the nursing profession is the body that appears to be actively encouraging other whistle blowers to keep quiet and not raise issues of professional standards if their career is put on the line.

We need to send a message of support for Margaret Haywood and what she represents, that shameful secrets will be exposed, and that those that blow the whistle, having exhausted internal procedures should expect the support of us all – sign the Royal College of Nursing petition supporting her reinstatement at http://www.gopetition.com/online/27030.html.

The Government imposed target of 17,100 homes to be built in Mid Sussex over the next twenty years could mean around 5,000 new houses for Burgess Hill.   However no additional Government funding has been promised for the necessary infrastructure to allow such large scale development to go ahead – and with house prices falling, the funding from developer contributions is likely to be much reduced. 

Liberal Democrats have called on Gordon Brown to suspend the regional housing targets upon which this unrealistic proposal is based, and instead to give local councils the power to decide what is best for their own communities.  Labour’s proposals are based on a ‘predict and provide’ assessment that bears no relation to current economic circumstances or employment prospects. 

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says “Let’s build our national housing target from local targets that reflect need on the ground.  Bottom up. That means trusting people who know best rather than picking numbers out of the air.  Central Government’s job then becomes one of avoiding national housing bubbles like the one that has just burst…”

It is also important that the quality of new housing is not sacrificed to achieve these targets, and Mid Sussex District Council should use the Core Strategy currently being developed; to impose strict guidelines to ensure new houses achieve proper standards of sustainability, such as high insulation standards.  We cannot afford to leave loopholes in the local planning requirements that might allow developers to build substandard housing to meet these top down standards.

See also previous articles … http://simonhicks.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/12/30/mid-sussex-council-must-not-allow-developers-to-cherry-pick-new-housing-sites/  and http://simonhicks.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/07/18/mid-sussex-housing-target-increased-to-17000/

Gordon Brown’s management of the British economy has been a disaster, his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer sowed the seeds of the recession, light touch regulation of the banks and the building up Government debt even before the current recession.  The banks continue to be let off the hook and measures to combat the recession have been half hearted – with government finances wasted on VAT cuts rather than real measures to help the economy.

Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable has led the attack, and first warned of the dangers of unsustainable debt and the potential for a “systematic collapse” in the financial system well before the current problems.  Easy credit has been replaced with, in too many cases, no credit; leading to lost homes and lost jobs as banks continue to behave irresponsibly. 

Labour have already spent the equivalent of a fifth of Britain’s GNP on propping up the banks because of their international lending spurges, and continue to put failed bankers in charge of their financial policies.  We need proper banking regulation, with a clear separation between risky lending practices and normal retail deposit and lending activity.

We need concrete measures to aid the recovery, with targeted government funding rather than a scattergun approach.  For example proper investment in the green economy, with investment in insulation and renewable energy generation; and action to prevent youth unemployment, restoring spending cuts to sixth forms and colleges – to allow them to provide training to keep young people in education, rather than force them onto the dole.  We need investment in social housing, and safeguards to prevent unnecessary repossessions, and specific measures to provide help to the unemployed.

With the coming general election we need the parties to clearly spell out when and how they are going to restore the national finances.  Currently the Conservatives have been far too vague on what they would cut, they already have a shopping list of what they will spend - our local MP is willing to commit billions on an unnecessary updating of Trident nuclear missiles, but have yet to say where the required savings will come from.

Our local job centre has already seen unemployment rise by five hundred registered job seekers in the last nine months.  We need the District Council to be proactive to the problems brought up by the recession, to respond creatively and review their policies to ensure they contribute to a recovery.  For example opportunities such as the new South Downs National Park should be proactively taken up to ensure the area is best placed to respond to them.

See also http://simonhicks.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/12/18/mid-sussex-employment-highly-vulnerable/ .

The Annual Town Council Meeting takes place on Wednesday 22nd April, at 7.30pm for 8pm (with light refreshments served beforehand) at Cyprus Hall, Cyprus Road.  This is an annual meeting for all residents of Burgess Hill to have the opportunity to hold the local council to account, the meeting will hear an update on the Town Centre Redevelopment, including from Mike Cappocci, a representative of the developers, Thornfield Properties Plc.  There will also be a question and answer session for any local issue to be directly raised with the Council.

See http://www.burgesshill.gov.uk/sites/www.burgesshill.gov.uk/files/Annual_Report_2008-09_0.pdf for the 2008/09 Town Council Annual Report.

Local Liberal Democrat County Councillor Colin Wilsdon welcomed the announcement of the go ahead for a South Downs National Park after a long campaign in favour of the move that will protect this significant local landscape and promote tourism in the area.  This was despite opposition from local Conservatives who continue to call it the “wrong decision”.  It will also support measures to protect the strategic gap between Burgess Hill and Hassocks, and Ditchling; with the new boundary proposals detailed at http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/Map%2021_tcm6-10378.pdf .

Colin Wilsdon says “I am extremely pleased about the decision to go ahead with the National Park. As well as the clear benefits of protecting the South Downs, the inclusion of Ditchling within the Park provides protection for a great swathe of countryside to the east of Hassocks, the south of Burgess Hill and over to Ditchling Common. Oldland Mill will be within the Park. It also opens the way for the development of Hassocks Station as a gateway to the National Park.”

“As a Liberal Democrat I have always supported the calls for a National Park. The public have supported it but the local Conservative run councils and the MP for Hassocks, have always opposed it. I am glad that their view has not prevailed.”

The boundary around the eastern side of Hassocks runs around Beaconhurst, Silverdale, Church Mead, Damian Way, Ockley Lane, halfway along Oldands Lane, north behind Ockley Manor Farm and runs just south of the boundary of Burgess Hill.  Going west it runs around the built-up boundary of Keymer, south of the burial ground, around Park Ave, south of the built up part of Southdown Farm, south of Downlands School, along the southern boundary of the allotments in Parklands Road, around Bonnywood Road, south of Hassocks Football Club pitch, south of Clayton Nursery, south of the bungalows in Brighton Road turning north to the nursery and west to Crossway Lane.

Whilst welcoming in principle a proposed second new Children and Family Centre for Burgess Hill, when the planning proposals were discussed at the last Town Council Planning Committee, there were some concerns at its proposed location in Royal George Road on part of the site of the Gattons Infants School. In particular there are concerns about the lack of parking (just three spaces for users of the Centre) in an area that is already congested, and clarification around opening times and consultation with local residents was sought.

As a County building, West Sussex County Council are responsible for this application, and it is noticeable how much less information they provide for an application of this size, and their lack of ambition in relation to environmental concerns that merited just one sentence in the design statement.  I was disappointed not to see a travel plan as part of the application for the new centre, and the lack of environmental information, in particular a target for renewable energy generation which should be an aim for all new local authority buildings.  

Proposals by St Paul’s Catholic College to move any snakes and reptiles found during the provision of additional playing fields at the school, to a new site on Batchelors Farm, were approved by the Council on Monday night.   This was despite one councillors concern that these might be let loose on local residents enjoying this nature reserve on the south side of Burgess Hill – however given natives species are not known for their ferociosity, this seems an unlikely occurrence. and councillors decided to throw caution to the wind and support the proposal!

Other more serious topics including plans to document the Town Council’s preferred options around MSDC’s Core Strategy which is currently being developed to provide the basis for a town plan - see http://www.burgesshill.gov.uk/sites/www.burgesshill.gov.uk/files/Strategic_Planning_KAG_Notes_17_March_09.pdf .

At the meeting I pressed for a more explicit aim of promoting public transport use by the Council, such as a target for improving bus use, encouraging the use of existing routes more, and promoting the use of travel plans.  The Town Council provides information on bus timetables through its much used Helppoint  and is already looking at initiatives such as improving transport links between the Business Park and town centre/stations and developing better solutions for parking issues in the town (and was totally opposed to Conservative plans at the District Council to increase parking charges).

The Council continues to win awards and recently added the Train for Gain Employer of the Year Award (for Sussex) as well as the Sussex Business Award for Customer Service, which is a tribute to the hard work and customer focused orientation of the staff.  Train to Gain is a government initiative where businesses can receive grants towards the cost of training staff – find out more at http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/training/dbpage.asp?pid=856 .