Nick Hollinghurst

CANAL RESTORATION OPEN DAY

SUNDAY 2ND JUNE 12.30-4.00 pm

The Wendover Arm Trust, in association with St Mary the Virgin, Drayton Beauchamp, invites you to spend some time with them learning about the Wendover Arm Canal Restoration Project.

• Take a Guided Tour of the Canal Restoration Site
• Watch the Volunteers Hard at Work
• Admire the Beautiful Chilterns Scenery
• Bring a Picnic
• Enjoy the Teas and Cakes for Sale
• And Be Restored Yourself  by a Day Out in the Fresh Air

          Free Admission, Donations Welcome.            Car parking at St Mary’s Church

Full details available from www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk or 07547 181857

Millions of people across Britain should now be noticing changes to their pay slip. Since the Liberal Democrats came into government, the Income Tax Personal Allowance has risen to £9,440 -  compared to just £6,475 under Labour. This was at the heart of our 2010 Manifesto.

Raising the tax-free allowance is the Liberal Democrats’ flagship policy and has so far seen Income Tax bills slashed by £600 a year for millions of low and middle income workers compared to what they were paying under Labour. This also means that more than 2m people on low pay have been lifted out of paying Income Tax altogether.

The tax-free allowance will rise again next year to £10,000, fulfilling a commitment from the front page of the Liberal Democrats’ 2010 General Election manifesto and resulting in a total tax cut of £700.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander said:

“When you get paid, take a moment to check your pay slip. You’ll see that Liberal Democrats have cut your taxes.

“From April, the Liberal Democrats will have lifted 2m people out of Income Tax and given a tax cut of £600 to another 20m.

“The Liberal Democrats in Government have delivered the largest programme of tax cuts for working people for a generation.

“The Liberal Democrats are the only party that will radically cut taxes for people on low and middle incomes to build a stronger economy and a fairer society so that everyone can get on in life.”

With the Liberal Democrats in Government this Queen’s Speech sets out the Coalition’s determination to build a stronger economy in a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life. It shows that Liberal Democrats are making a real difference in Government, with bills focused on jobs, growth and fairness, and an agenda that shows the Liberal Democrats are keeping the Government anchored firmly in the centre ground.

Liberal Democrat MP for Burnley, Gordon Birtwistle, who has been campaigning for years for help for manufacturing firms was delighted last December when an important tax relief measure was announced. Now Gordon, Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills has seen this help take effect at the start of this financial year.

Small and Medium-Sized businesses will benefit from a ten-fold increase from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years in the Additional Investment Allowance.  This is the sum that can be offset against tax when the company invests in new machinery.

Commenting, Gordon said: 

The Health Campus scheme involves building a new hospital and regenerating nearby derelict land

Despite the expansion of West Herts Hospital in Watford being urgently needed, the Labour councillors on Watford Borough Council have fought these plans because they would mean the relocation of a number of allotments. West Herts Hospital is used by patients across the whole of south west Hertfordshire, including Tring.

The Secretary of State’s recent decision to allow the relocation of these allotments removes this political obstacle and is a big step forward towards a new hospital and the health campus regeneration.

Liberal Democrat Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, commented: “As the chairman of the Hospital Trust has said, ‘without this land it would be much more difficult and more expensive to provide a new hospital. It would also mean a poorer quality scheme.’

Dorothy added: “Anyone who has visited the hospital lately knows how much new facilities are needed. The reuse of derelict industrial land next to the hospital for badly needed new homes also helps us to reduce controversial infill and back garden development.”

 ”But it remains deeply disappointing that the Labour opposition seemed to want to obstruct and delay the hospital and housing scheme.”

All allotments will be replaced, which will include an expansion of the Paddock Road site. Mayor Dorothy is also proposing significant investment in improving allotments across the whole town.

Newly re-elected Hertfordshire County Councillor for Tring & the Villages, Nick Hollinghurst,  is a member of the Orchard Children’s Centre’s Governance Group and attended yesterday’s Governance Meeting in Dundale Primary School, Silk Mill Way, Tring. The centre has become an important community hub within the area.

The Orchard Children’s Centre offers services, activities and support to families, groups and organisations for children aged 0 – 5 living in Tring and the surrounding villages. Their aim is to help parents give their children the very best in life.

The centre first opened in 2009 and has been run since then by the Manager, Andrea Kelly. Andrea is helped by Deputy Manager & Outreach Worker, Nicky Mitchell; Outreach Worker, Lisa Maxwell; Centre Administrator, Clare Murphy; and Play Worker, Julia Orme.

The Centre offers a number of Activity Sessions to parents and children.
Baby Rhyme Time
Toddler Group at Wilstone
Story Rhyme Time
Messy Play (ever popular!)
Music and Movement
Toy Library

Also on offer is a range of specialist services, courses and workshops as well as Antenatal Classes, Breastfeeding Support, Clinics and Post-Natal Sessions (by invitation through your Health Visitor)

The picture shows Cllr Hollinghurst congratulating Centre Manager Andrea Kelly on the progress recognised at the recent Children’s Centre Improvement Partner (CHIP) Meeting when Herts County Council officers judged that the Centre had moved forward from “Satisfactory” to “Good”

Contact the Centre 9 a.m. to 4 pm Mon – Fri on 01442 426922 or
e-mail: admin@hertschildrenscentres.org.uk
Like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/orchardchildrenscentretring

Thursday 9^th May saw the ground floor hall at the New Mill Baptist Church filled with a greater than usual number of people who had called in for lunch and the company of their friends. This particular day was the first anniversary of the setting up of a regular Thursday lunchtime café by the Minister, Mr Andrew Openshaw and his wife Kate. Called “Le Moulin” (the Mill), a name which combines a reference to the location as well as to their years working in Northern France, the café offers a variety of hot meals and snacks as well as excellent Fairtrade tea and coffee and delicious homemade cakes.

 To mark the occasion the Tring Town Mayor, Cllr Nick Hollinghurst, who is no stranger to Thursday lunchtimes at “Le Moulin”, was invited to attend the café’s first birthday.

Signing the Visitors Book he wrote “Good food, good coffee and good company! There’s always a warm welcome at “Le Moulin”. It provides a tasty lunch, delicious cakes and a chance to meet and chat with friends at the original heart of New Mill.”

The photograph shows Kate and Andrew Openshaw and the kitchen staff with the Tring Town Mayor poised to cut the celebratory birthday cake.

“There will be proper support. They will be linked into the system. If their needs are of a sufficient level they will be entitled for the first time to get support from the local authority.”

Carers could be offered assistance including training in care techniques, leisure classes and help with transport. Social services can also provide care for elderly people while their relations take a break. And under plans announced last year a £72,000 cap on the cost of care is also being introduced.

“This is the most important piece of care legislation for decades and reforms a dysfunctional system,” Mr Lamb said. “The package as a whole will give people a lot of reassurance and help people to plan for old age a lot better because they will know the extent of the risk they face.”

A414 St Albans Road, Hemel Hempstead, Roadworks

Liberal Democrat MEPs backed proposals for an ambitious reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy in a historic vote  in the European Parliament earlier this year. The reforms will set legally binding limits based on scientific data, allowing fish stocks to recover to their natural level, and will end the wasteful practice of discards. They will also devolve powers to regional authorities for the day-to-day management of multi-annual plans.

Commenting after the vote, South East Euro MP Sharon Bowles said:  “These reforms will end the moral disgrace of discards, which allow millions of tons of edible fish to be thrown overboard each year. They will also put an end to unnecessary micromanagement from Brussels, allowing day-to-day management to be undertaken by those who understand local conditions.

“That said, most of the South East’s fishing quota is held by Producer Organisations that represent the bigger boats who lease out their unused and surplus quota at ever increasing cost to increasingly desperate small-scale fishermen.
“As a consequence of this flawed system, sustainable small-scale fishing is dying out in the South East. The EU has done its bit and it is now up to the UK Government to save inshore fishing from extinction before it is too late.
“It will only be through decisive changes in domestic policy that the survival of inshore fishing in the South East of England and indeed elsewhere around the coast will be ensured.”