August Column
As the County Gazette's files show, it's been 20 years since Andy Burnham visited Musgrove Park Hospital and saw the World War Two era buildings staff were trying to work in.
He now needs to take action and urgently bring forward our new maternity unit so desperately needed by mums, babies and staff. Waiting until the middle of the next decade won't cut it.
That was my message that I delivered to the new Prime Minster on his first appearance in Parliament last week as it returned following the summer recess.
We've made some progress since the General Election. The fictitious and unfunded 40 entirely new hospitals myth from Boris Johnson (there weren't 40, they were not new and some weren't even hospitals) has been replaced by an agreed programme of hospital improvements around the country.
In that exercise, we got Musgrove Park's need for a new maternity unit into Wave Two of the four cohorts of projects due to be completed, but the given start date of 2033 meant that decision gave us only a glass half full.
Things have now changed.
Not only do we have a new Health Secretary, Yvette Cooper, with the opportunity to ensure the hospitals programme is all it should be, and the closure of North Devon's maternity unit putting extra pressure on Musgrove, but just before the new PM came into office the National Maternity Review carried out by Baroness Amos (no relation) was published.
"Most challenging" estate in the country is the moniker applied by the review to Taunton's hospital, one that needs to set alarm bells ringing in Whitehall.
The Prime Minister told me his time at Musgrove meant he understood the problem and would be writing to me, but if that response is anything less than an immediate advancement of the project, I'll be ramping up the pressure on him, on the new Health Secretary and on all and any members of the government who can make a difference.
Andy Burnham has also had something to say about council homes and social rent housing. Liberal Democrats would begin a big programme of new council houses; we believe 150,000 social homes are needed per year.
But fields around Taunton and Wellington are seeing only proposals for huge numbers of private housing which many locals can't afford.
While new homes are needed (we are living longer – thankfully – which means housing an entire other generation more than we once did), but government housing targets are beyond reasonable and can't even be built out by industry as the 13,000 plots with permission but not built out in the county demonstrates.
Meanwhile I've always stood on the side of those trying to sustain a business, employ people and contribute to our local economy here in Taunton and Wellington – especially in our town centres.
So, I've written to Somerset Council – as I did when the issue came up previously – urging them not to approve the option from council officers to introduce charging for parking on Sundays.
Government needs to do far more to help town centres. Lib Dem proposals would cut VAT on our high streets and reduce energy bills.
We also need a real crackdown on illegal trading and retail crime on which I'll be doing a lot more now that Parliament has returned.
