Page 64 - Phonebox Magazine February 2010

Out and About with Mark Lancaster
Our local MP
Since the beginning of the year the news overturn the Government’s decision to
seems to have been dominated by the different political parties’ pledges to the citizens of Great Britain. The build up is mounting and it is hard to ignore that there is a general election on the horizon. While many people’s attention is very much focused upon the election, I think it important that the focus does not shift away from the economic difficulties which dominated our country last year and the very real difficulties which are still being faced by many.
Milton Keynes has rode the wave of the past years economic difficulties far better than most cities. You might have spotted me recently on “The Daily Politics Show” on BBC2 discussing a recent report on the impact of the recession on cities in the UK. Milton Keynes had come within the top five in the country and I was explaining why we had done so well. In my opinion our cities resilience throughout the downturn was created by the great attitude which our city and the people who live here have portrayed during the difficult time.
This resilient nature, which I credit our city’s success to, is evident by the astounding number of accomplishments the voluntary organisations within Milton Keynes have achieved some of whom I have visited over the last month, If I had to highlight just one it would be it Willen Hospice who succeeded in bridging the gap with the large deficit they faced last year. The staff deserve our continued credit for the excellent work that they do, (and if I can give them just one plug do please buy their 2010 calendar, available from many local bookshops!)
World Vision
Whilst my priority is always to represent Milton Keynes in Parliament, it is nice to be able to link the constituency with my shadow ministerial duties responsible for International Development and this month two opportunities arose. The first was a visit
Mark visiting a World Vision project in Uganda last year.
to World Vision, one of the key leading international charities working in Development whose UK base is here in Milton Keynes. After a fabulous tour of the site I was subjected to a question time style grilling by the staff over Conservative policies which I confess I found a tricky experience not least because the staff were such experts in their specific subjects! None the less, it was a great visit to see an organisation doing fabulous work across the developing world as I saw for myself last year when I visited Uganda.
Open University
I’ve always been a strong supporter of the OU and have tried to help whenever I can, I remember last year’s cross party support that I managed to muster in trying to
Mark visiting the Open University.
withdraw the ELQ funding which ultimately has lead to a £33m pound black hole for the university over the next couple of years.
My visit this month took me to look at the innovative work being carried out by the OU and was linked to my front bench responsibilities looking after International Development. With the Millennium Development Goals aimed at reducing poverty across the third world drifting off track it was fantastic to see the work being done here in Milton Keynes to help deliver innovative learning techniques via mobile phones and the internet aimed at teaching health workers basic skills as far away as Uganda and Tanzania.
Recycling
Another interesting visit I made recently was to see the recycling plant at Old Wolverton. Milton Keynes is sometimes referred to as the ‘Green City’ of Britain due to our vast numbers of trees and open spaces; but I think we should be given that name because of our excellent track record on recycling. I was pleased to learn that our city boast one of the UK’s largest recycling centres and one of the most efficient dealing with 93,000 tonnes of recycling a year and more than 20 tonnes per hour. I have always campaigned for ‘I before E’ or Infrastructure before Expansion’ and I am happy that our recycling centre will be able to deal with any of the new rubbish created by any future expansion of the City.
After a more than disappointing outcome to the Copenhagen Summit I believe that if we are going to halt climate change we, the ordinary citizens of the UK need to do whatever we can to reduce our waste and I am happy to report that as a city we are heading in the right direction but we must do more.
As ever if I can be of any assistance please do ring the office on 01908 615757.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Mark Lancaster TD MP
13a High Street, Newport Pagnell, Bucks MK16 8AR Tel: 01908 615757 Fax: 01908 618433
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