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Bill Cash MP
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Bill Cash MP calls for ‘Villagers Voice Staffordshire Moorlands’ group objection to be recognised by District Council and Government

Press release 16/11/09

On Blythe Park power station proposals, Bill Cash MP said:
“I have written to both Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and the Department of Energy and Climate Change to make clear how inappropriate these power station proposals are for the Blythe Park site.
“My constituents are absolutely right and justified in challenging this proposed monstrosity on various grounds, including planning, contamination, health, environmental, house price and community concerns, and I will continue to call for a public inquiry. I endorse the report drawn up by Villagers Voice Staffordshire Moorlands, detailing all our objections to this plan.”
Bill Cash’s objection is as follows:
It is clear from the outset that the proposals are completely inappropriate for the village on the grounds that the ‘Villagers Voice Staffordshire Moorlands’ have provided, as objections and in response to the EIA and the background of the proposed site. I object to the proposals in line with the serious concerns raised by my constituents. I would urge you therefore to reject this proposed project at this site for the following reasons:
  • The development will drastically affect the health of the local community;
  • The existing Blythe Park Power site is deemed to be unsuitable for any additional development and is a designated special landscape area;
  • There are outstanding concerns over whether the developer has refused to participate in dialogue with the local community;
  • There are better alternative sites elsewhere with substantially better access to the necessary services and an independent analysis needs to be done on this, for the reasons listed by my constituents in their analysis;
  • The development will destroy this area of natural beauty;
  • The development will be a monstrosity on the skyline and will be within a ten kilometer radius. It will severely and detrimentally impact the area;
  • During construction, the pollution created will be deposited across in and around an area of outstanding beauty. The location of the development and its geography will lead to deposits being seen in surrounding areas such as Alton and Cheadle;
  • Local residents will be caught in a property trap, with substantial reductions in property prices;
  • The disruption of local roads, during development (closures etc) will have an adverse effect on local traffic especially people wanting to travel to Cheadle for shopping via the accepted route through Draycott. It will also affect the local bus service and postal deliveries;
  • There is already a severe risk of flooding in the location identified by the proposal;
  • The proposed site does not have a suitable significant power source and proposes to utilize a water source 6km away;
  • This very same site experienced severe pollution issues in September 2009 leading to contamination and destruction of wildlife in a thirty mile stretch of the River Trent, a six kilometer pipeline extends this risk to all localities accommodating the pipeline;
  • The site is designated special landscape area, with the local community in significantly closer proximity than any other equivalent development;
  • The site has historic and ongoing issues with toxic waste, any major development will unsettle this waste leading to serious health concerns for the local community;
  • The infrastructure leading to the site is wholly inadequate;
  • The development will have disastrous consequences for local wildlife;
  • During development the village and surrounding areas will become an extended construction site, in an area that is designated a special landscape area;
  • Following development the community and surrounding areas will be blighted by significant noise and light pollution, this in an area that is already blighted by inappropriate surfacing to a nearby major transport route;
  • A development of this scale will destroy the lives of the local and wider community, with property prices during and after development being negatively affected;
  • The proposed site for the development is a known flood plain, which as recently as 1987 experienced serious flooding;
  • Staffordshire County Council and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council have made it officially clear that they are in complete objection to these proposals;
  • This proposal stands alone as a bid that does not conform to the pre-requisites of the Electricity Act i.e. granting permission to an excessive number of proposals.  This proposal is currently being considered in isolation and not in the context of other proposed power stations;
  • Health, safety and security risk of 1000 workers on site for three/ four years;
  • The development is projected to deliver between 50-100 jobs, but a review of the commercial and economic viability of the development should be made in the context of the negative impact that the development will have on thousands of local families;
  • Proposed working hours are inconsistent with the ambience and beauty of the locality;
  • The noise pollution generated will be unacceptable and no mitigation can be made to offset the severe negative impact of a development of this size and scale;
  • The power source is non sustainable, is costly and is not environmentally friendly;
  • The proposal is speculative by nature and hence leads to dangerous and significant concerns for the local and surrounding community;
  • Due to the significant nature of the scheme the developers and the DECC have yet to offer the provisional finance aid for the designated local community engagement team, at their current levels of remuneration, to ensure full and proper engagement with the local community.
For all those reasons, I object to the proposed power station at the Blythe Bridge Park site and would urge you therefore to reject this proposed project.


Bill Cash MP calls on Government for a full independent inquiry on Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust so bereaved can make greater contribution than “tell their stories”

 Press release 16/12/09

Bill Cash had written to Health Minister, Mike O’Brien MP, on 3rd December putting forward concerns raised by the Cure the NHS campaign group relating to Dr. Robson’s independent casenote reviews, asserting that the situation “is very serious” and urged the Minister to push for a full and independent inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005.
 
Mike O’Brien replied, insisting that the current inquiry “is providing the opportunity for patients, families and staff to tell their stories.” His letter stated:
"I am pleased that the Inquiry we announced in July is providing the opportunity for patients, families and staff to tell their stories and I look forward to the conclusions of Robert Francis, which will mark a further step in learning the lessons of this distressing episode. I have repeated several times that if there is a need for a public inquiry with its powers of compulsion of witnesses, Ministers will consider any request from Robert Francis."
 
Mr. Cash said, “Although it is certainly the case that those who have suffered, or bereaving and who have lost loved ones do have the opportunity to tell their stories in this setting, we ought to be doing more than that. The hospital ought to be learning real and practical lessons otherwise it is not a real inquiry. Proper lessons are not going to be learned because we need an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, under which we can learn of greater and systemic failures and how they can be fixed for the long term.”


Bill Cash MP requests meeting with Chairman of Stafford Hospital inquiry

Press release 24/07/09 

Bill Cash has asked Mr. Robert Francis QC for a meeting to discuss the procedure which would be followed at the inquiry. Bill Cash has continuously called for a 2005 Act inquiry if the problems at Stafford Hospital have not been resolved by the time of the next General Election. Mr. Cash has stated that the inquiry which has been set up is a step in the right direction but has expressed his concern about the terms of reference.

Mr. Cash is seeking a discussion with the Chairman of the Inquiry regarding the procedure to be followed, in order to maximise the opportunity to look at the issue of governance and accountability in respect of past performance of the statutory authorities and those involved in the decision-making process as well as victims and the bereaved.
 
He notes that the Secretary of State as agreed with Bill Cash that an upgrade to a 2005 Act inquiry, in order to compel witnesses on oath and the production of papers, has not been ruled out and therefore a discussion with the Chairman of the inquiry to determine the procedure to be followed with Bill Cash and others is important in order to identify the way forward when Mr. Francis has had an opportunity to consider all aspects of and the nature of the inquiry.


Bill Cash MP responds to Dr Foster's new hospital safety guide

Press release 30/11/09

 
Following the release of Dr Foster's new hospital safety guide, Bill Cash said:
 
“When I first called for a full public inquiry and for the recognition of the failures at Stafford Hospital, it was clear that the situation reflected a larger problem in regulatory arrangements and that the failures were not merely isolated to Stafford Hospital. It is clear that other hospitals should not have been given Foundation Trust status.
 
“As the Cure the NHS group have mentioned, I do not see the protests ending until all NHS acute trusts implement a zero harm approach and successfully deliver that approach.
 
“On the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust situation, I raised many regulatory concerns with the Secretary of State relating to the Care Quality Commission, the Healthcare Commission and Monitor.
 
“The critical problem is self-assessment – which the Healthcare Commission report on Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust criticised – at the root of many other problems. It is about time everyone began concentrating on this challenge. It was clear from early investigations into Stafford Hospital that it was Government policy to revert to local assessment, rather than external assessment.
 
“It is hardly surprising that hospitals are receiving plaudits because one of the key problems, apart from lack of efficiency and care, is the question of self-assessment. It is totally ridiculous that hospitals assess themselves as part of the regulatory process in this way.”
 
“It is about time that the Secretary of State woke up and acted on the questions I raised in Parliament.”


Bill Cash MP says independent inquiry over Mid Staffs NHS is a “major step forward” with reservations over terms of reference

Press release 21/07/09       

Bill Cash MP said “The granting of an independent inquiry is a major step forward. The independent inquiry that I have fought for, and I was the first in Parliament to call for, has been granted.
 
“However, there are a number of reservations and I will certainly represent those victims or families of the bereaved who feel that the inquiry process does not adequately deal with their case. We will have to see how it works.
 
“Furthermore, will the inquiry provide real lessons for the target-driven National Health Service as a whole? The terms of reference have not made that clear. We will have to see how the inquiry works."





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