Your Conservative Councillors are proud to support Community initiatives.

Your Conservative Councillors are proud to support Community initiatives.

 

 

Since being elected, your community Councillors, Harvey Cohen, Darren Solomons and Andrew Zucker have been delighted to have used their Ward Improvement Money to support initiatives within Borehamwood.

 

Councillor Cohen attended the management meeting of Aberford Hall Community Centre and heard about the wonderful work that Peter Roach and his committee did to maintain the viability of this important community resource. At the meeting the view was that money was needed to help with the refurbishment of the interior of the building. Councillor Cohen and his colleagues decided to use their allocation to provide new carpets for the Hall.

 

Mencap wanted to put on a gala show to showcase many of our wonderful community groups at the Ark Theatre. They couldn't do it without the support of your local Councillors and Hertsmere Borough Council who have provided money for sets and special effects .

 

Meryfield Primary School in Theobald Street create a great community spirit throughout the school and one way they do this is through sport. Yet , for their football teams, the children had to use their school jumpers and PE shorts as the school didn't have the funds to kit all the team.

We are delighted to use our funding from Hertsmere Borough Council to be able to provide the team with a kit they can be proud of for September.

 

We are always looking for ways to help the wonderful groups of volunteers within our great Community of Borehamwood. Please contact us if you know of any deserving groups.

Your local Conservative Councillors fight to save Clarendon Park

 

After pledging to support residents in their fight to stop a proposed redevelopment of Clarendon Park, Councillor Harvey Cohen spoke at a recent meeting of the Executive at Hertsmere Borough Council.

At that meeting, officers had put forward a proposal to redevelop part of Clarendon Park and a disused building.

 

Local Councillors, Harvey Cohen and Andrew Zucker had pledged at a public meeting that they convened last year that they would do all they can to stop any plans to lose part of Clarendon Park.

 

At the meeting of the executive, Councillor Cohen spoke about the importance of Urban green spaces and parks.

"People need parks. Good parks provide a place for rest and relaxation, but more importantly they are places for spontaneous social interaction. Places with good social capital are stable, prosperous places where people want to live and work. It is not easy to build social capital, but it easy to build the spaces where social capital can form, and small, urban parks are some of the very best spaces for this. We should not be reducing them."

 

Whilst agreeing that the disused and run-down building in the park needs redeveloping, Councillors Cohen and Zucker urged the officers of the Council to re-think their plans and come up with a new idea to which actually involves upgrading the facilities of the present Park .

 

The executive Councillors agreed , at this meeting, not to proceed with the proposal , and urged officers to come back with a new plan that will be acceptable to the ward councillors, local residents and the four parks association.

Brookmeadow Matters

Brookmeadow Matters

 

From your local Conservatives

 

Cllr Harvey Cohen

Cllr Darren Solomons

Cllr Andrew Zucker

 

 

 

Your local Conservative Councillors would like to provide you with an update as to what as been happening in the area and would like to remind you that we are elected to help you - please let us know if you have any concerns or ideas as to how we can help improve our locality.

 

Aberford Park

 

Your local councillors have been working with the portfolio holder -Cllr Jean Heywood and officers to make sure that Aberford Park has facilities that can be enjoyed by people of all ages . We are really proud that the park has been awarded a Green Flag for the past two years. The new cafe and toilets will be opening soon and this will be a welcome improvement to the facilities on offer to all our residents. New improvements are being planned to our park  we are very excited by this. This will give more of our residents the chance to be able to utilise the lovely green spaces within our borough.

 

Village Hall Project 

We are delighted that due to the hard work of all the partners involved, including money from Hertsmere Council, we are soon to get a new village Hall in Shenley Road. This exciting new facility will house  a library, museum and youth facilities. Councillor Harvey Cohen said  "it has taken a lot of time and effort from councillors and partners to get the funding at this difficult economic time,but there was a concerted effort to get to work and make this exciting communal facility a reality. i know that our residents will get behind this project 100% as they have done with the new Borehamwood Theatre"

Councillor Morris Bright, leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, said: "We must now build on this momentum to ensure the project gets underway as soon as possible and residents can have a centre, which they can be truly proud of."

Ark Theatre Opening

We were delighted to be invited to the opening of Borehamwood's new community theatre - The Ark Theatre at Hertswood School in November. It was a really spectacular and entertaining evening. It was night of song and dance performed by many of Borehamwoods' Arts group both young and old. The theatre, in Thrift Farm Lane, is the product of £1.9m investment from the council and Hertswood School, whose land it has been built on and who will manage the building.

We are really lucky to be able to once again have great productions "just round the corner" . Elstree Productions are using it for the first time this week and  have been rehearsing since October in readiness for their take on the West End and Broadway hit musical comedy, Little Shop of Horrors.

Their production starts next week and tickets are available from the box office on 020 8238 7288 or visit www.thearktheatre.co.uk.

The Ward Improvement Scheme

Your local councillors have each been awarded a grant to spend on improving their local area and facilities.

This year we are delighted that we have been able to help 

Aberford Park Community Centre with money so that it can be re -carpeted -

Borehamwood Brownies and Guides

and Theatre Club Kids.

If you know of any well deserving group or have an idea for us to improve the area with our grants then please let us know !!

Kingsley Avenue Controlled Parking Zone

Residents of Kingsley Avenue contacted us complaining of the large number of commuter cars that park in their street during weekdays.They presented a survey asking to be included in the next batch of CPZ. We held meetings to facilitate this , and even though the process does take a great deal of time , we are delighted to say that this will be implemented this year. This is an example of residents getting together and presenting to Councillors their wishes to improve the area. We are delighted to hear from you and will do our best to help.

"The GAP" between Chandos Rd and  Barton Way

Residents of these roads were concerned that when the "woodcock pub" was thankfully redeveloped they might lose the long established "right of way" between them. We were made aware that some residents wanted it to be closed and so we undertook a local survey and consultation of residents. the majority were in favour of keeping this "gap" and we worked hard with the developer to make sure that it was as safe and appealing as possible.

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU

Your local Conservative Cllrs Cohen, Solomons and Zucker , have been elected by you to help you. During the past few months we have helped residents with issues with Affinity Sutton Homes , parking , recycling , rubbish collections , rats etc. If you have any concerns that you feel we can help you with PLEASE don't hesitate to contact us . Here are our details :Councillor Harvey Cohen 07974910215 cllr.harvey.cohen@hertsmere.gov.uk

Councillor Darren Solomons 07985 434636 cllr .darren.solomons@hertsmere.gov.uk : Councillor Andrew Zucker  07702 821458 cllr.andrew.zucker@hertsmere.gov.uk

Thank you Mr Mayor

Thank you Mr Mayor.
Firstly I must declare that as a dentist working outside Hertsmere,
I have a personal interest in this motion

But more importantly I have a personal interest in the Health and availability of care to the residents of our Borough , Hertsmere.
Many of you , I am sure , will remember the words of Tony Blair at Labour’s party conference in 1999.

Tony Blair PLEDGED that everyone would have access to an NHS Dentist within 2 years  - that is by the year 2001 – 5 years ago.

Moreover, 8 months later in the July 2000 NHS plan the Government emphasised that it was “firmly committed to making High Quality NHS dentistry available to all who want it by September 2001.

However, the proportion of the population registered with an NHS dentist has fallen by more than 2 million since 1997.

There were 47,178 people registered with an NHS dentist  in Hertsmere in 1997 – by 2005 this figure had fallen to 40,577 a drop of 6,601 – a 13.99% reduction in people registered. What’s happened to Tony Blairs promise ?

By 2005 under 43% of our residents were registered with an NHS dentist.

These figures and problems are now getting worse.
In april 2006 our Labour Government forced on to the dental profession
a very unpopular new contract.

Dentists are now working to a fixed target driven budget with no time or funding to provide essential Preventative work or advice.

More local dentists have been forced to leave the NHS for the private sector, increasing the shortage and lack of availability within the NHS.

The Government introduced this April a new pricing structure which the British Dental Association condemned as a“ revenue raising exercise
contrary to the founding principles of the NHS “
The government wants income from patient’s dental charges to increase by a massive 35 per cent – some National Health Service
So, New pricing structures brought in with this New Contract
have left many if not most of our residents facing higher NHS dental charges

That is if they can find a LOCAL dentist willing to provide treatment under the NHS



In Hertsmere since the introduction of the new contract this April only 7 out of the 21 dental practices that I contacted yesterday , that is only 1 in 3 were still taking on new NHS patients
And some have a waiting list of weeks.

The numbers go like this

No dentists taking on New NHS patients in Elstree
One in Bushey
None in Radlett
2 in Potters Bar
and 4 in Borehamwood.

Children , the elderly and infirm , will have to travel further within our borough of Hertsmere to access what they and I am sure we all consider an essential right :
That of NHS funded dentistry.

Till April 2009 the limited money given to the PCT for local NHS dentistry is ring fenced ie it can only be spent on front line dentistry.

After April 2009 the money will be added to the general PCT budget.
With our local PCT’s deficit , it seems to me highly unlikely that they would choose to fund the local dentists , when faced with the choice of
essential medical services or spending the money on Dentistry.


The worry is that as time goes on , as there will be NO increase in funding from Central Government to the Primary Care Trust, that these few practices will soon get full to capacity and then where will our residents turn?


Is this first world health? More like third world health in our First world country.

The residents of Hertsmere have a right to be able to access NHS dental services along with other first class medical services.

Everyone in Hertsmere should be able to register with a local NHS dentist yet,
with only 1 in 3 of our practices taking on nhs patients, the government has clearly failed in its pledge to make NHS dentistry accessible to all.


This shocking situation in Hertsmere is being repeated , and is worse,  in many areas across the Country.

Growing numbers of our local residents will and are having to travel miles to see an NHS dentist or forced to go Private to receive the treatment they need.

We must have a dental system that promotes good oral health and preventative work and which encourages dentists to stay working for the NHS.

This motion therefore calls on the Government to

• Stand by its pledge that all our residents

should have access to an NHS dentist

• Urgently review dentistry services in Hertsmere

Where it is and will become increasingly difficult
To find dental practices that are accepting
New NHS patients

• Account for the impact that the new dentists’

Contracts are having on NHS dentistry

Motion for Hertsmere Borough Council

I have just proposed the following motion which was passed with the support of all the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Councillors. Unfortunately the Labour Councillors did not feel they could support a motion in favour of NHS Dentistry !!

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my blog.

As you may be aware,I am standing for the Brookmeadow ward of Hertsmere Borough Council, this Thursday May 4th 2006. Voting is open from 07:00 till 10:00 pm