December 6, 2007

11:28am Thursday 6th December 2007

LAST Friday I had the second meeting with business leaders organised by Wyre Forest District Council. This began with a review of strategies and actual developments taking place and planned. Then we concentrated on transport issues including air quality, co-ordination of road repair schemes, so lacking in Stourport recently, and Wyre Forest's traffic congestion and difficult links to motorways. Major new road or bypass building is unlikely soon so suggestions were made about staggering working hours, better timing of traffic light sequences, better warning of road works and better signage including satellite navigation indicators for drivers about unsuitable routes for HGVs.

A Business Leaders Group is to look at these issues and to decide how we can argue for a better share of available funding. A future meeting will allow the group to report back and hopefully involve a Government Minister.

The Wyre Forest Young Voices and Primary Chords Winter Phantom Concert in the Town Hall last Saturday was a very happy occasion. It is splendid to see young people involved in singing from an early age and developed under superb leadership and voice coaching until they can enjoy joining adult choirs.

The performances by all the young soloists were excellent and it is always exciting to hear new, fresh voices that could go on to greater things.

I am disappointed that I have to use some of my precious column to answer Councillor Nigel Knowles's accusations in last week's paper. His memory is not complete.

During the hospital campaign, now so long ago, my continual complaint was about local interpretation of Royal College guidelines. The same guidelines did not lead to drastic hospital downgrading elsewhere. At the time I quoted hospitals in Hexham and Bishop Auckland as examples of less severe downgrading under the same guidelines. Since then I have learnt of another tiny acute hospital in Mexborough that was downgraded before ours and yet maintained far more than we did including in-patient medicine, also under the same guidelines.

Now is not the time to repeat the motives of the people responsible for our sad loss of acute hospital services. Our stand here has prevented the same thing happening anywhere else in England and I have had admissions from important sources that what happened here was wrong.

Turning to the radiotherapy unit, my friends have told me I am being too honest for a politician because much as I would like a radiotherapy unit here I do not believe it is a realistic aim.

I will explore the issue at my next meeting with the Primary Care Trust Chair and Chief Executive as they are the commissioners of all services for the county.

The first question is do we have, or can we develop, sufficient back up services here to make such a unit viable? I shall report back.

If readers wish to write to Dr Taylor, they should address correspondence to his constituency office at 137 Franche Road, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, DY11 5AP.

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