On Monday I attended the All Party Communications Group which met to discuss Ofcom's recent ruling forcing Sky to allow other pay TV providers to offer Sky Sports 1 & 2 to customers. The event, sponsored by BT, included a discussion between Martin Keown, the former Arsenal & England player, and Spurs striker Peter Crouch.

Peter discussed the recent World Cup, Spurs' forthcoming premiership, as well as investment in the grassroots, development for academies of talent, football finance and the number of English players and managers.

It was a fascinating event and I think most people there were a bit star struck by Peter! I certainly look struck in the photo!

I had a fantastic weekend out and about in the constituency. Friday night we had a joint dinner with the Cleethorpes constituency at Elsham Golf Club where our guest speaker was Martin and mine's predecessor in the old constituency of Brigg and Cleethorpes.

Saturday I started at the Sobriety Project in Goole where I was asked to kick off the celebration for the 100th birthday of the vessel Sobriety which used to chug up and down our local waterways before it was donated about 25 years ago to start the Sobriety project in Goole. The project does fantastic work with disaffected young people and others in Goole and I am full of nothing but admiration for the work they undertake. I was keen to pay particular tribute in my speech to the founder and staff at the project.

I then went on to my surgery in Epworth before heading to the Old Rectory in Epworth for Wesleyana Day. I'm pictured with Claire Potter, the curator and director at the Old Rectory. The book is a 1661 commentary on the new testament which belonged to John Wesley himself. Claire and her team are trying to raise money to restore the book by asking people to pay £1 to dedicate a page of the book to whoever they want. I bought five and dedicated one to our constituency. The Old Rectory of course is where John Wesley was raised and it is a fantastic place to visit.

Sign the petition now

Goole MP Andrew Percy and East Riding Councillor, Caroline Fox, have launched a petition against the proposed closure of Goole Magistrates. The move comes following a high profile campaign by local MP Andrew Percy who won a parliamentary debate on the proposed closure in early July.

The petition comes in the same week that Andrew Percy won a promise from the Justice Minister for a face to face meeting to discuss the closure in more detail. It is hoped that the petition will be available to sign in local shops. The petition is also available on-line and all responses will be submitted as part of the consultation process.

In a further move, Andrew has also written to local Parish and Town Councils to ask them, if they have not already done so, to write to oppose the closure before the consultation ends in September.

Goole MP Andrew Percy explains, "The idea for a petition came from Councillor Fox who has already spoken out against the closure at the East Riding Council. It seemed to me to be a great idea and that is why Caroline and I have jointly launched the petition. Our hope is that local people will sign the petition in sufficient numbers to show HMCS (Her Majesty’s Court Services) that we value our court and we won’t let it close without a fight.

"I am also delighted that I have been able to secure a meeting with the Minister to discuss the closure in more detail. In particular, I want to get to the bottom of the running costs for Goole and how much it will cost to transfer cases to Beverley. The last Government cut funding for the Magistrates Courts Service to the tune of 7.5% for each of the last three years and the new Government has been left to clear up their mess.
However, that does not mean that we can’t save Goole and I feel we have some very strong arguments in favour of retaining Goole."

Councillor Caroline Fox adds, "I have already spoken out against this closure of Goole at East Riding Council and I am hoping that the Council will also oppose this closure. The idea for a petition comes from our desire to get as many local people involved in this issue as possible.  If we can show HMCS that local people are concerned about this proposal then just possibly, people power may win the day."

Local MP Andrew Percy has demanded an apology from a senior Labour Shadow Minister for condemning the Coalition government’s help for port business as ‘pork-barelling’. The comments were made by Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government, John Denham MP, during questions to Local Government Minister Bob Neill MP.

Andrew Percy says, “I was absolutely disgusted at what John Denham said and his comments are a real slur on the hard working businesses and workers at the port. Labour’s port taxes threatened hundreds of jobs here in Goole and the fact that the new Government acted so quickly is something that has received nothing but praise from across the industry.

John Denham should come to Goole and apologise to workers for effectively telling them that he thinks they should have been put out of work. He has let slip that, despite the fine words of local Labour MPs in the run up to the election, Labour Ministers had no intention of ever doing anything about these port taxes.

The new Government has acted quickly and kept to its election promise to help port workers both here in Goole and across the country. It just goes to show that we now have a Government that is actually interested in Goole and in helping to protect local jobs.

I have been proud to be involved in this campaign at which Goole has been at the centre. I brought several Shadow Ministers to the docks before the election and since the election we have had the new Minister, Bob Neill MP, back to meet with port businesses and workers.”

Local MP Andrew Percy has written to the Secretary of State for Health to make him aware of local concerns regarding the loss of beds at Goole Hospital. Although the decision to reduce bed numbers is made by the local Hospital Trust and not Government Ministers, the coalition Government has recently announced one of the biggest restructurings of the NHS, aimed at involving local people more in the running of the NHS.

Andrew has also secured a meeting with the new Chief Executive of the North Lincolnshire and Goole Hospital Trust later this month to discuss the situation at Goole in more detail. It is hoped that local Councillors will also be able to attend this meeting.

Andrew says, “The funding short fall facing the Hospital Trust is as a result of the previous Government who left the Trust with a more than £10 million black hole thanks to a new three year pay deal. Fortunately, the new coalition Government has committed to protect the NHS budget from cuts.

There is rightly a great deal of concern locally about the recent ‘flexing’ down of bed numbers at Goole and we now know that the Trust is undertaking a formal review of bed numbers. I will fight any changes which disadvantage local patients and that is why I have taken two courses of action.

Firstly, I have arranged a meeting with the new Chief Executive of the Hospital Trust for later this month when she takes up the post. I want to meet with her to make sure that she is under no illusions about the strength of feeling on this issue in Goole.

Secondly, I have also written to the Secretary of State for Health to alert him to local concerns. Although, Ministers are not involved in this decision I felt that, given the reorganisation of the NHS announced by the Government yesterday, it was important to make him aware of the frustrations local people have with the current arrangements.

The coalition Government has made a specific pledge to ensure that patients are better represented in NHS decision making and I have also asked the Minister to outline how this might impact on any proposals to remove beds at Goole should they emerge in the review.

I won’t sit idly by and watch our local services reduce and I will do everything I can to stop any proposals which would downgrade services provided at Goole. However, we must also recognise that as of yet there are no concrete proposals to do that and so we must wait until the review is presented by the Trust.”

Andrew has also agreed to attend the public meeting being held in Goole on July 28^th to discuss this in more detail.  

I had forgotten to blog about my recent visit to Goole High School to meet with pupils who had received a Diana, Princess of Wales award for their pioneering anti-bullying mentor scheme. The scheme sees older students buddying up with new and younger students as part of a mentoring scheme.

The scheme has been incredibly successful and the young people I spoke to about the scheme really were fantastic. Scooping such an important award is a credit to them and to Goole High School which seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment. 

In other news I spent this weekend at a number of really enjoyable events in the constituency including the truly fantastic Rescue Day at 7 Lakes, Crowle. The event was attended by thousands of people and I was amazed at just how large it was. 

Sunday I spent at the Broughton Show where I joined Councillor Ivan Glover, Mayor of Broughton, and his wife Anne. The Mayoress and I had the task of judging the fancy dress competition. It was a tough call as all of the kids had made such a great effort. 

Local MP Andrew Percy held a meeting on Potts Lane car park last Friday with residents and the Police to discuss on-going anti-social behaviour in Crowle. Andrew and Ward Councillor, John Briggs, were handed a petition signed by local residents calling for tougher action on anti-social behaviour and speeding in the Town. Andrew has also given his backing to a dispersal order in Crowle and has written to both the Police and the Council to support the proposal which could come in to force as early as July 19th. The order would give the Police increased powers to break up groups of youths engaging in anti-social behaviour.

Local MP Andrew Percy says, "Cllr John Briggs and I have held a number of meetings with residents and the Police since my election in May to discuss the on-going anti-social behaviour problems in the town. I was keen to meet with residents and the Police again this Friday to discuss progress on the proposed dispersal order. 

Sgt Michelle Garlick was able to inform residents that the dispersal order had already been signed off by the Police and was now awaiting approval by North Lincs Council, something I understand has now been done. This order will give the Police much more power to disperse groups causing trouble and residents were re-assured by Michelle's update.

One of the biggest issues however remains the problem of speeding vehicles around the Town and there is real concern that there is going to be a serious accident. The petition submitted to myself and Cllr Briggs demands action on this issue and the petition will now be submitted to North Lincs Council for consideration.

In the meantime it is vital that residents report all incidents of dangerous driving to the Police by taking down number plates if possible. This will help the Police a great deal and so I would urge residents to ring 0845 60 60 60 if they encounter cars being driven illegally.

It is also important that residents continue to report all incidents of anti-social behaviour to the Police. North Lincs Council and the Police have both made tackling anti-social behaviour in Crowle a priority and this will only remain if people continue to report incidents. As Michelle explained, even if the Police cant respond, the incident is logged and that in turn helps in the fight for more resources locally.

I will do everything I can to support the Council and the Police in tackling this problem. Local residents deserve better and it is about time we got a lot tougher on those who cause trouble locally. Boredom is no excuse for making other people's lives a misery!"

The glorious sunshine is making this year's summer fairs and galas an absolute joy to attend. There is nothing like a cream tea in the sunshine surrounded by fantastic local residents. I've been asked to open quite a few of these this year including the Whitgift Chirch fete where I am pictured with the show Queen and her attendants.

Whitgift is a beautiful church which is famed for its 13 o' clock that was apparently used as a navigational tool by the Germans in World War 2. It is well worth a visit.

I also had the delight of popping in on the Airmyn Primary School summer fair which, being in my own village, didn't require much of a drive! The new Headteacher has asked me to go in and speak with the kids and I will be happy to do so in the Autumn.

Local MP Andrew Percy has become one of Beating Bowel Cancer's Parliamentary Voices following a meeting with its Chief Executive Hilary Whittaker last Tuesday.

Beating Bowel Cancer is a leading charity working to raise awareness of symptoms, promote early diagnosis and encourage open access to treatment choice for those affected by bowel cancer.

Local MP Andrew Percy says, "Becoming a Parliamentary Voice will allow me to keep bowel cancer issues high on the political agenda. Together the Parliamentary Voice Group of MPs and Peers can table questions and raise issues for debate.

At times issues are raised by patients which warrant action at a higher level or even an intervention from their MP. Beating Bowel Cancer will communicate with me on any issues the people of Brigg and Goole are having so that I can act upon them.

I look forward to working with Beating Bowel Cancer on these issues that are important to me and my constituents."

Local MP Andrew Percy took the case for the retention of Goole Magistrates Court to Parliament last Wednesday. Andrew was successfully awarded a debate on the proposed closure, the first such debate on the proposals to close 103 courts across England and Wales. Andrew teamed up with neighbouring Selby MP Nigel Adams, who is fighting the proposed closure of Selby Magistrates, to put the Minister on the spot over the closure plans. 

Andrew received assurances from the Minister that nothing was yet decided and that the consultation that will end in September will be thorough and genuine consultation that would take into account submissions from local people and magistrates.

Local MP Andrew Percy says, “The beauty about a debate in Parliament is that the Minister responsible has to come to Parliament to answer your concerns. In my speech I made clear that the proposed closure of Goole and the transfer of all the work to Beverley was unacceptable.

I explained that I felt there were some serious flaws in the consultation document produced by Her Majesty’s Courts Service who are proposing the closure.  For a start, they point out that Beverley is 28 miles from Goole which is clearly not the case if you are relying on public transport. There is no direct bus to Beverley and therefore anyone wanting to get there will have to travel via Hull. This would increase the distance of the journey to something like 40 miles, as well as resulting in a trip of about 1 hour 30 mins.  I also pointed out the madness of requiring people from Goole to travel through Hull, where there is a magistrates court, onwards to Beverley.

The consultation document also failed to set out a full breakdown of the costs of running Goole versus the costs of other courts not threatened with closure. The Minister assured me he would try to get me a full breakdown and in any event I have now put down a Parliamentary question formally asking for these costs.

Another point I made to the Minister was that as we try to develop the heritage and history of Goole, it would be sad to put a question mark over the future of the court building.

In fairness to the Courts Service, they have been left trying to deal with the results of years of underinvestment by the previous Labour Government who cut the Magistrates budget by a massive amount in the past three years.

The important thing now is putting in a really strong case together as part of the consultation process. I know that the magistrates have done this and I would urge as many local people as possible with a view on this to make their opposition known. This can be done by dropping me a line at 83 Pasture Road, Goole.

This is clearly going to be a tough fight and I recognise that the new Government has some very tough decisions on its hands thanks to the mess the previous lot left. However, I think we have a strong case for saving Goole and I shall do everything I can to stop this closure.”

The full debate can be read at - http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2010-07-07a.127.0&s=speaker%3A24832#g127.1