Campaigning for Shopmobility

Shopmobility is one of our most valuable charities providing vital support to the elderly and less able. The Newton Abbot Shopmobility found itself in trouble - the end of lottery funding at the end of June will mean the end of the current level of service to residents. While Teignbridge District Council have provided some funding it is not enough. Unless Devon County Council or private donors can come up with new funding, the service will have to be severely curtailed. I met with the Shopmobility team and with Devon County Council on Thursday. There is some light but at the end of a very long tunnel - and no guarantees. The funding of all transport for the less able is being reviewed now but unless a better, simpler way can be found of administering those funds no increase in available funding is likely. While the council officers are on side, it is the members that need to be convinced - and I will be working with Shopmobility to gain members attention and commitment to change.

Shopmobility have a second problem - their location. Just by the multi-storey car park in Newton Abbot and the bus stop which has become their terminus absent anywhere else, you will find the entrance to Shopmobility. There is no crossing to the shopping centre - never mind a safe one! Buggy riders quite literally take their lives in their hands crossing between large buses with very poor visibility at the "launch point"on either side. Again I took Devon County Council to task. They had agreed to a crossing - only then to go back on their promise. Now the officers of Devon County Council have come up with an alternative place for the crossing - but Council members still have to be won over....and I shall be campaigning hard with Shopmobility and Access (the local campaign group for the less able) to help them see the wisdom of such a crossing.

On Friday I visited a lovely lady who has been having trouble getting a disabled car parking space outside her home. While anyone who is disabled is entitled to this, it would seem that if your disability is blindness, you are excluded! Why...because you can't drive.....yes but you can be driven and you still need easy access from your home to your car! The council have since seen sense but - get this - not only can they not say when the space will be provided so that neighbours can be consulted and got on side, they state that even when provided the resident cannot expect any help with enforcement from the police or the council! One has to ask then - what value does this "parking space" have? I shall be following progress!

Tuesday and Thursday were spent with local residents in Newton Abbot who are suffering intimidation and worse from local school children at Coombshead School. I joined residents at a meeting with the headmaster, the chair of the Board of Governors and the Mid Devon Advertiser. While many promises were made about fencing, access, school discipline and the residents complaints procedure, we have yet to see if these will be delivered on. The school is undergoing extensive building works which has put a lot of pressure on the school and the children - too little space for too many children - but that is no excuse for what has been happening. Recognising the constraints the school is working under, I will continue to work with the residents to ensure that the school, Devon County Council and the builders come up with a more acceptable approach to the problem which fairly recognises the rights of the local residents. If Coombshead School wishes to obtain trust status it will need to pull its socks up.

That apart, this week has been a round of committee meetings, coffee mornings, cream teas, local fetes and fairs and dog walking all in aid of good causes and/or the Conservative party. Teignmouth has been most high profile in my diary this week - a cream tea in aid of the League of Friends of the Hospital at Bitton House and a visit to the Orangery, an evening canvassing followed by a committee meeting. On Wednesday I attended a very wonderful garden party at Huntly in Bishopsteignton just down the road to which I felt very privileged to have been invited. Lots of interesting people, a great celebration of those who have fought for and given their lives to this country and a wonderful brass band. On Sunday I was in Coffinswell at a cream tea to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy sufferers.

And this coming week....I hope to exchange contracts finally on my new home in Newton Abbot - Sandford Orleigh to be precise -looking out over the new hospital site. Fingers crossed!