Your MP writes (From Worcester News)

Your MP writes

8:42am Thursday 22nd February 2007

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When Tony Blair stormed to power 10 years ago, one of his big ideas was ‘joined-up government’ (JUG). Quite rightly, he insisted that governmental departments should work together, coordinating policy to ensure the best outcomes.

But it seems his JUG has a massive hole in it, through which policy inconsistencies and potential disasters keep pouring out. The consequences are being felt not just down in London, but also here in Worcestershire.
Take the Government’s plan to close 2,500 sub post-offices. It now wants 95 per cent of the population in rural areas to be within three miles of a post office and in urban areas within one mile. This means at least 30 sub-post offices in the city, towns and villages of Worcestershire will close.
Such simplistic geographical criteria aren’t good enough. We must also take into account the role of a post office in its community, the difficulty in travelling even a short distance by public transport, or the practicality of making the journey on foot.
Then add in the Government’s plan to introduce road-pricing as an extra tax on motoring. On the one hand, the Government is asking us to travel further for our public services, and on the other hand it’s asking us to pay more for the inconvenience of doing so!
Add to this Government proposals to build thousands of new homes in the next 20 years in Worcestershire, and we have a real mess on our hands.
The West Midlands Regional Assembly, an unelected body that is effectively forced to implement Government policy across the councils of the so-called West Midlands region, has announced its options for revising its regional spatial strategy. If the worst happens, we will be forced to build enough houses to create a second Worcester in Wychavon and Malvern Hills.
If the Government wants so many more people to live here, why is it closing services which will be in even greater demand? In doing so, it will be adding to road congestion and greenhouse gas emissions which it says it is so desperate to avoid. Joined-up government has come badly unstitched.
If you are worried about both the post office closures and the West Midlands Regional Assembly building plans, I urge you to write expressing your concerns before the deadlines. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s awfully hard to get it back in.