I AM addressing several local matters of concern to constituents at the moment.

The likely enforcement of 23-hour parking on the car parks in Bewdley will cause immense problems for residents with nowhere else to park. I understand that they bought their current season tickets without being told that this rule was about to be enforced.

I have suggested that Bewdley deserves to be an exceptional case for enforcement of this restriction as I doubt if many other towns have the same narrow streets, narrow or absent pavements, large numbers of houses without garages or off-street parking and lack of available or accessible street parking.

Several constituents have raised their concerns about delayed adoption of roads on estates in Kidderminster and Stourport that have been open for up to 10 years.

The reasons appear to be slow replies from developers to letters from councils, slow improvements by developers when agreed and changes of ownership of the various estates.

I shall continue to try to cut through these delays.

In Wolverley people do not object to the re-building of the High School but they are very concerned about the effect on the village of traffic during the work and this is an opportunity to address the long standing problem of access through the village.

I have passed on comments and suggestions to the County Council.

I visited Foley Park Primary School last Friday and was pleased to sit in assembly which took the form of an exciting game with a serious message.

Then I faced questions from some of year 6 pupils before visiting each class with the highly-respected, hands-on head teacher, Kathryn Sugars.

The impression was of a very happy school with dedicated staff and well-engaged children making the most of the opportunities on offer.

On Tuesday I had what is likely to be the last Adjournment Debate of this session. It was a one-to-one with a health minister on the opportunities for reducing NHS expenditure in view of the economies that all trusts are going to have to make to save the billions forecast to be necessary in the next five years. I suggested first that by making patients more responsible for their own healthcare for minor ailments and some long-term conditions this could save several billions and, second, by allowing staff to lead on ways of working and innovations to improve convenience it would release more time for actual patient care. Improved prevention is of course vital for obesity, smoking and alcohol-related illnesses.

This week has seen the publication of my Private Member’s Bill which is a great excitement for me especially as the Secretary of State is interested in it and I have a meeting with him next week. His support could make all the difference.

However, I am realistic about the small chance of these Bills, other than the top two or three on the list, actually passing into law.

Mine was number 11 and is aimed at supporting NHS whistleblowers who are frightened to go through the usual channels for disclosure of concerns. “Whistleblower” is a non-parliamentary term so it is titled the NHS Public Interest Disclosure Support Bill.

DR RICHARD TAYLOR MP