Health issues, and general practice in particular, continue to take up a great deal of my time. Since the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s visit to Leighton Buzzard last month, I have met with him again to check on the progress of providing additional health facilities for Leighton Buzzard as a result of the newfound ability to release value from the 4 acres of NHS owned land on Vandyke Road, something that we have not been able to do for the last 35 years. I am expecting an update on the scoping exercise to look at which additional health facilities will be brought to the town, undertaken by Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, early next week.
One GP practice moved into the Grove View integrated health and care hub on the 2nd of May and additional services will be moving into it shortly. Houghton Regis continues to grow with the new developments in Bidwell and Linmere. I have raised the need for additional health facilities for the town with both the Chancellor of the Exchequer and with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
On a related health issue, I’ve become the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bladder and Bowel Continence Care, a very important issue for those affected about which there is still far too much stigma.
In Parliament I raised the changes that BBC is proposing to make to BBC 3 Counties Radio, which are not good for our area, and I have asked the BBC management to think again. I have also raised in Parliament, the continuing murder of Christians in Nigeria, including as recently as on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. This issue does not get the attention it deserves in our media.
I hosted a meeting with electric vehicle manufacturers in Parliament and was encouraged by the progress which is being made. We will need much greater grid capacity, and it needs to be cheaper to connect to the grid to enable everyone to take advantage of the new green technologies of the future. The Government is undertaking a major piece of work on how to achieve this and will have proposals later this year. I also attended a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling and Walking and remain a keen supporter of active travel to improve our health and reduce congestion.
It was also good to be able to vote for more stringent controls on our water companies to make our rivers cleaner, and I am pleased that Anglian Water have committed that sewage issues will no longer be damaging the health of our rivers and seas in our area by 2030. There is a £56 billion investment programme to improve water quality and this will be achieved without a massive increase in water bills.
It was a huge pleasure to be a guest of Leighton Buzzard Rotary as they hosted another highly successful May Fayre last Monday. I would like to thank all the Rotary clubs for the tremendous work they do for so many people in our local communities across my constituency.