Wantage Road Station
My campaign to re-open Wantage Road Station continues. Last week I met Rick Haythornthwaite, chairman of Network Rail, to discuss the possibility. IT is now on their radar, but we cannot begin to get the new station on the agenda until 2012. This gives us a good opportunity to conduct feasibility studies and get a campaign going on the ground in Wantage and Grove and surrounding villages.
I was also delighted to see that my assistance in negotiations between Network Rail and the Great Western Society over the Didcot Railway Centre has paid off - the local paper reports this week that a 35 year lease has been signed, which will allow the Society to fund raise. Along with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we should see huge progress on the site in the next few years.
Posted on 31 January 2010 by Ed Vaizey
My Legg Appeal
As the Sunday Telegraph reports, I have appealed my Legg findings. It's much less of a big deal than it might seem. In May I repaid the cost of my furniture, plus my council tax, because I had inadvertantly claimed for an additional month. Legg found that I should have repaid my council tax, (£136) - I agree. He asked for a small sum towards the furniture (£130) - much less than I had voluntarily repaid. And he identified £197 as a sum I had overclaimed on my mortgage. When I went over the figures, I saw that I had overclaimed, but in my view by only £162. The only way to clarfiy the difference in these figures for the final report is to "appeal", but as I have already voluntarily paid back a far larger amount, I will not be asked to make any additional payments. So I am not appealing as such, merely asking for the figures to be checked so that a final sum can be agreed. To sum up, I have been asked to repay £463, but I have actualy voluntarily repaid £2449.
Posted on 31 January 2010 by Ed Vaizey
New Hub in Wallingford
On Friday I opened the new enterprise hub in Wallingford. An idea form long-time resident David Bosley, it provides serviced offices for start -up companies in Wallingford. It's a greta idea, especially as start-ups benefit from working together under the same roof, giving each other ideas and sharing problems.
Posted on 31 January 2010 by Ed Vaizey
Visit to Thruvision
I visited Thru Vision on Milton Parkon Friday. It's a spin off from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and a good example of the kind of hi-tech comapnies which will be at the forefront of economic growth in our area. It uses the body's energy to scan people for hidden weapons or explosives. Unlike current technology, it doesn't use harmful x-rays and it does protect your privacy. It can also be used to scan people from a distance, so would eb sueful against suicide bombers. I hope the Uk government recognises the benefits of Thru Vision's technology and gets behind it.
Posted on 31 January 2010 by Ed Vaizey
Fitzwaryn School
On Friday I visited Fitzwaryn School to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The school is a special needs school based in Wantage and Grove. In 40 years it has had just three heads, the second and third being deputy heads who succeeded their predecessor. It's an example of the dedication and commitment Fitzwaryn inspires. It's a wonderful school which I have fought for in the past - first to secure its early years admissions, and then to help it provide post-16 education. Now its future seems completely secure - there is a huge building programme, with three new classes completed, a new sensory theatre and more to come. Fitzwaryn is a jewel in Oxfordshire's crown.
Posted on 31 January 2010 by Ed Vaizey
A Government policy that isn't working
Here is a good example of an announcment by Government that sounds good in theory and doesn't work at all in practice, in fact it is almost comical if it wasn't so depressing.
Graham Hill from
www.verbatim-cc.co.uk wrote to me as follows:
Re Youth Unemployment:
I have been campaigning via the regional press and media on this subject and to date I have been interviewd on BBC Radio Berkshire and Newbury Sound. ( radio clips attached)
Here is a summary of why we business owners are so frustrated.
In the summer Lord Mandelson announced a series of measures encouraging businesses to take on undergraduate interns, graduates on work experience, modern apprentices etc. He said that government could not do it alone and that we all had a part to play.
I agreed with him because without the young being productively employed and contributing to the tax take, my generation won’t have a state pension. We all benefit from being involved.
My company is a small enterprise with a turnover of £800,000 employing 20 full and part time staff based in Newbury and Faringdon.
We decided we would try and take on a marketing/graphic designer on paid work experience from Reading University for a specfic project and look at also employing a modern apprentice.
My first port of call was to phone Job Centre Plus to ask about Lord Mandelson’s announcement and who could point me in the right direction. No one could help.
I called Reading University, who after speaking to about five people, gave me a name, telephone number and email contact of the person in charge of student placements. I called and left three voicemail messages and a sent an email. No response. So I gave up.
I checked the job centre website where I found a link to Backing Young Britain http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/backingyoungbritain/
This is really smart looking website telling me what support is available but not how I can access it. There is no telephone number or a form to complete with a request.
I then found that I could register our support by leaving a comment and adding my logo http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/backingyoungbritain/backing
If you scroll to the end you will see us just above Virgin Media.
A few weeks went by and I received a call saying that as a backer of “Backing Young Britain” would I like to attend a conference in Westminster on the subject. I said I would be delighted- then came the sting- “that will be £595.00 a special price as you are registered on the site!”
I replied, you should be paying me to come- I offered to speak on behalf of the small business community for free but was turned down.
Once more we have rhetoric and spin and no real help for business owners. Our local Business Link advisor wasn’t even aware of this site or the content.
There are 4million small businesses in this country employing 1-20 people( I am not too sure of the 1-20 figure) but as I said on the BBC if only 1 in 5 small businesse took on a modern apprentice we would solve youth unemployment over night.
How government can help.
1. Provide a one stop shop for information
2. Brief Job Cente Plus,Business Link and Chambers of Commerce with the facts that we can access easily.
3. Think about discounting the employers National Insurance contributions by 10% for each existing 10 members of staff employed, on condition that they employ one full time young person and train them.This would be a real incentive. The tax take on the newcomer and savings on the public purse would surely be net gain.
I have attached my press release and edited sound files of radio interviews for background informatiom
One million young unemployed is a national disgrace.
A frustrated constituent.
Posted on 15 November 2009 by Ed Vaizey
Campaign against the A420 closure
Some of you may be aware that I am campaigning against this mad idea to close a lane of the A420 to allow lorries access from a quarry. I am delighted to tell you that the County Council officers have now recommended refusaland I hope it is thrown out on 23rd November.
Posted on 14 November 2009 by Ed Vaizey
Congratulations to Grove and Faringdon
Grove has just acheived fairtrade status, and Faringdon has been voted market town of the year because of its hugely successful eco-week, earlier this year.
Posted on 14 November 2009 by Ed Vaizey
Future of Wantage Meeting
I held a meeting on the future of Wantage yesterday, which was surprisingly well attended given that it was a Friday night and pouring with rain. I wanted to give people the opportunity to raise their concerns about any issue in the town and to come up with constructive thoughts and suggestions. I am delighted to say that the meeting was good humoured and very enjoyable. The main issues that emerged seemed to be: an overwhelming desire to have the cinema back; the need to make the civic hall fit for purpose; support for the idea of re-opening the railway station; excitement about the forthcoming Betjeman festival, which will put the town on the map in 2011. There remains concerns about the empty shops and endless consultation about the future of the market place. Anyway, the whole event was successful enough for me to consider holding this annually.
Posted on 14 November 2009 by Ed Vaizey
Re-Opening Wantage Road Station
I have now launched a new campaign to get Wantage Road station re-opened.
I know what you are thinking. We've been down this route
before. We've talked about it for thirty years. Nothing will ever
happen.
I thought that too until a few weeks ago as well.
So why have I changed my mind? In the summer, the
Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) published a report called "Connecting Communities". It
identified just seven stations in England that could be re-opened. One
was Wantage Road. Given
that this was put forward by the train operators themselves, I decided to
investigate further and met the people who put together the report.
This is what they told me:
They identified areas where there was high growth. Given the
houses Grove is getting, plus growth in Didcot and surrounding areas, we
were on their radar.
There are four lines going through Grove. The spare
lines are currently used by coal trains for Didcot power station, which should
stop using coal in 2015.
They think a new station could be built for £4 million, and a
service run for about £600,000 a year. It would be a shuttle service running
between Didcot and Swindon, allowing Wantage and Grove commuters to get to Swindon or Didcot by train. It could start as an
hourly service, and perhaps increase with demand.
It would use the spare lines, but the trains could run between 80
and 100 mph, so would not disrupt the fast trains too much.
We could not get this service in place before 2014, because
Network Rail's investment plans are set until then.
So my aim is to get it in their 2014-2019 plans, with a view to a
service being open in 2016, though that may also depend on our
economy.
Anyway, I am excited, I think it is now a real possibility, and I’m
going to do my best to make it happen!
Posted on 8 November 2009 by Ed Vaizey