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20 Jan 2013

Medical Centre and 106 Funding Update!

Buildings
If you have been reading my blog for some time you would have seen that we found out the Medical Centre was scrapped in my blog piece in December 2011: Battle Site Medical Centre A Victim Of NHS Cutbacks

The fact is has taken until now for Alok Sharma MP to voice his concerns is no surprise to me.  We rarely see him in Battle Ward - I think I have seen him once in nearly three years.  It was a meeting and he turned up as it was ending.

Battle contains areas of great deprivation, areas that should be supported by their MP.  They aren't.  Instead his Government are pushing hardworking families harder and harder with their attack on working benefits.

It has it's problems with prostitution and our MP has done nothing.  Battle cllrs, along with the Oxford Road NAG, have been pushing the Police for action, and recent press has shown this is happening.

Off out now to do a leaflet delivery, working everyday for the residents of Battle, unlike our MP!

'The PCT have confirmed they can no longer provide a medical facility for the Oxford Road community on the former Battle Hospital site (Tesco, West Village) as promised. 

The PCT say that, Conservative led Government cuts means that they cannot afford to take forward the plans for the Battle site and that the health centre is no longer a viable option. Instead they have decided to invest in the Walk in Centre in the Broad Street Mall.  As well as being available to all Reading residents it is our understanding the Centre is expected to take pressure off A&E at the Royal Berks. It has also been suggested the centre is designed to take pressure off our local doctors. However, the Centre is hardly local to Battle ward so it is hard to see how that is supposed to work.

We are deeply disappointed to break this news to you, especially as so many of you helped us campaign successfully, we thought, for a local medical facility.

The profile of the ward has changed since 2005 when we first consulted local people on what benefits they would like to see come from the West Village development. Many resident in Battle Ward today will not have taken part in the 2005 consultation. Residents priorities may have changed since then and as such we believe we need to start again and find out what you would like the money spent on. The figure we are talking about is in the region of £1million plus, this could be used to do an awful lot of good in Battle ward.

In 2005 we campaigned for a medical Centre, that will not happen thanks to our Tory MP Sharma and his Government. In 2013 we have secured £1million pounds plus for our community, the final figure has yet to be agreed with the developer.

We have insisted Reading Borough Council carry out a public consultation before a single penny is spent, they have agreed to do that. Look out for our consultation in the next few weeks.'

2 comments:

  1. It's a shame our councillors are unable to devote a small amount of time to spell checking, particularly when they turn their blogs out as an "Official Newsletter". The "awful lot of goof" that can be done to our community seems most apt, and luckily councillors have a perfect excuse for not responding to your emails when you send them to ".gove.uk". I don't think as professional representatives it is asking too much for you to conduct a basic secondary school level spelling and grammar check. "The fact is has taken until now"??

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    Replies
    1. I feel there are issues here more important than a couple of typos! Two of the other email addresses are correct so you should be able to deduce the third. You also managed to find this blog so getting in touch with us will not be a problem.

      Best wishes

      Sarah

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