Quentin Davies M.P. has called for Lincolnshire Police Authority to be capped. As he promised in the House of Commons on 27 March he has now written to the Minister for Local Government, John Healey M.P., formally asking him to cap and to designate Lincolnshire.

Quentin Davies today said:

“I have been arguing about this with the Police Authority and with the Chief Constable since last June. I begged them not to go for such a disproportionate increase which will, unless the Government caps the Authority, increase the Council Tax on a Band D property by £100 a year.

Lincolnshire deserves more money from the Government and I will always fight for that. But this is the most crazy way to go about it.

I learnt yesterday with some consternation that the rumours that the Forestry Commission have entered into negotiations with a developer about a Western by-pass scheme for Bourne which would encroach into Bourne Wood have been confirmed by the Commission.

I have today written to Mr Paul Hill-Tout, Director of the Forestry Commission for England, asking to see the plans and requesting a meeting to discuss them.

Of course Bourne needs a North-South bypass. I have said so for many years and – in vain – lobbied the District Council many years ago to make development on the eastern side of the town conditional on such a by-pass being constructed to the east. I continue to believe that a by-pass to the east is feasible.

Quentin Davies MP has teamed up with former Miss Great Britain, Preeti Desai, and pledged his support for Carers Week 2007* (11-17th June). Quentin Davies MP and Preeti are drawing attention to the UK’s six million carers – people who look after a loved one who is either ill, frail or disabled – to help them gain the recognition and support they desperately need.

‘My Life as a Carer’ is the theme for Carers Week, and a survey of 3,500 carers has revealed the immense impact caring can have on every aspect of their life including, health, finances, career and relationships.

Two out of every three carers (66%) admitted that their personal relationships had suffered as a direct result of caring, with 60% revealing they have little quality time together with their partners. Two thirds (67%) admitted to being financially worse off, with a quarter (28%) unable to support their family properly. An alarming three-quarters of carers had not had a break from their caring role in the past 12 months.

Quentin Davies has been campaigning for the past year to improve and to refurbish the facilities of Stamford Station. This campaign has included persuading the Chief Executive of Network Rail, John Armitt to visit Stamford Station last year (when I introduced him to Stamford Civic Society Chairman John Plumb), when he saw the problems for himself and undertook to take action. It has also included lengthy negotiations with Central Trains. Agreement on a £30,000 refurbishment has now been reached and work will hopefully be completed by the end of May.

Quentin Davies today said:

“I am delighted that we have finally got work started on Stamford Station. It is a vital asset for our town, and I have always been concerned to encourage as many people as possible to use the station, for environmental reasons, so as to reduce traffic congestion and because the station is an important economic benefit for Stamford, and must be used if we are to keep it as a working station. It is also an architectural gem in itself and must be properly cared for.

Quentin Davies MP issued the following statement:

“The proposals made today by United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust , if implemented, will prejudice entirely the result of the current enquiry into the future of Grantham Hospital, which was said to be a fair and objective process.

By pulling emergency surgery out of the hospital, the Accident & Emergency department will be seriously, perhaps fatally, undermined and I am sure that the Trust knows that perfectly well. The Trust is justifying its decision on the basis of an opinion voiced by a surgeon who is retiring in March and who up to now has been operating without protest and apparently happily under the existing arrangements.

27 June 2006

“This is a terrible day for Grantham – certainly one of the blackest in its history – the day the death sentence was pronounced on Grantham as a General District Hospital.

It is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation we now face. Not only has our Health Trust proposed to remove all surgery (other than orthopaedics) from Grantham but they want to close our consultant–led Accident and Emergency Department. That means, without any doubt, that some people in the future will die who in present circumstances would not. A minor injuries unit run by nurses, with a G.P. standing by, does not even begin to replace an A. and E. Department capable of dealing with life-threatening emergencies. It is hard to think of a more devastating or callous betrayal.

On Friday 28 April, Quentin Davies MP had a meeting at Stamford Station with John Armitt, Chief Executive of Network Rail to discuss the need for refurbishment of the station. Afterwards Mr Davies said:

“I was very pleased that John Armitt, Chief Executive of Network Rail, accepted my invitation to visit Stamford on 28 April and see for himself the current state of the station. We had a useful site visit and discussion, at which I also introduced Mr Armitt to John Plumb, Chairman of the Stamford Civic Society, who joined me in pressing the case for the improvement.

Mr Armitt agreed that there was a case for expenditure on Stamford Station and he undertook to let me know in what timescale we might expect the funds to be made available.

“Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, this week announced that he is abolishing Lincolnshire Constabulary and imposing a merger with other East Midlands police forces. Today is the last day of the so-called consultation exercise on the proposed abolition of Lincolnshire Ambulance Service and its incorporation into a new East Midlands service including Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. In fact the “consultation” is quite bogus. A decision has already been taken and a new Chief Executive appointed. Afterwards, Quentin Davies said:

These decisions show complete contempt for the people of Lincolnshire. The Police Authority, the Ambulance Authority, the County Council and every Lincolnshire MP opposed them. So far as I know, not a single Lincolnshire organisation was in favour of them.

11 September 2005

Stamford Mercury

There can be no better proof of the commitment of the people of Stamford to their hospital and of their determination to save it than the fact that several thousand people turned out on Saturday morning in the worst rain storm we’ve had for months. It was a magnificent and moving demonstration.

The Hospital Trust have given me new assurances that they have no plans to make further cuts. I have told them that we shall all be very cautious and sceptical for a long time, given their breach last month of identical undertakings made just before the election.

15 June 2005

Grantham Hospital

Quentin Davies MP today issued the following statement:

“I am deeply concerned by the announcement made this week by Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and by the PCT.

In a number of respects I think they are moving in quite the wrong direction.

Firstly the way to reduce unit costs at Grantham Hospital - and in the NHS generally – is firstly to reduce bureaucratic overheads and non-medical staff, and second to increase the number of patients and the services provided, so that the inevitable fixed costs of the hospital are spread over the maximum number of procedures and patients.