Message from your Daniel Kawczynski MP
Posted by Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, at 11:57, Fri 2 June 2006:
IN E-TOUCH with Shrewsbury & Atcham
ISSUE E1 MAY 2006
Welcome to the first issue of In e-touch - the electronic newsletter of Daniel Kawczynski MP for Shrewsbury & Atcham.
This is the text-only version of the newsletter. If you would like the colour pdf version of the newsletter, complete with photographs, please email mail@daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk with your name and email address or amend your details on the newsletter page of Daniel's website at www.daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk.
A MESSAGE FROM DANIEL
"Welcome to my first electronic newsletter. ‘In e-touch’ is published in addition to the paper version of my newsletter, so readers can stay in touch with my work more often.
"An electronic newsletter is environmentally sound, as it uses no paper or ink and virtually no power. It also costs almost nothing to the taxpayer.
"I hope you enjoy reading ‘In e-touch’ and please feel free to email it on to friends, family and colleagues who may also be interested. Please encourage them to sign up for the newsletter themselves at www.daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk."
DANIEL SUPPORTS DAIRY FARMING
Daniel is actively supporting farming in Shropshire and the whole of the UK through his new All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dairy Farming.
NEW DAIRY GROUP
All-Party Parliamentary Groups are formed by MPs across party divides, in the hope of spurring Government action on an issue which has interested MPs from around the country.
Daniel has the support of over 70 other MPs and Lords from around the UK for his Dairy Farming Group and the inaugural meeting was held in Westminster in April. As well as his fellow politicians, Daniel has the support of HRH Prince Charles, the Royal Association for British Dairy Farming (RABDF) and the National Farmers Union.
The Group, which Daniel chairs, plans to lobby the supermarkets to buy products from dairy farmers at prices that will allow them to sustain their businesses and livelihoods.
"I feel passionately about British agriculture," explained Daniel, "and the Group will be lobbying to ensure that dairy farmers receive a fair price for the milk they sell to the supermarkets."
At the first meeting of the group, Mr Nick Everington, Chair of the RABDF, described to the meeting how the price that a consumer pays for a bottle of milk is split between the retailer, the processor and the dairy farmer. For every £1.00 spent by the public on milk, only just over 40p goes to the farmer, with the processor and the supermarket typically receiving around 30p each.
A recent study by the RABDF has shown that while the average price received by a dairy farmer for a litre of milk produced is 18.72p, the real cost of producing that milk is 20.34p. This means that dairy farmers are in reality losing nearly 2p for every litre of milk they produce.
OUT & ABOUT IN SHREWSBURY & ATCHAM
SEVERNSIDE LEARNING CENTRE
Daniel and borough mayor Cllr David Farmer visited Severnside Housing's recently-opened Learning Resource Centre in April to find out more about the initiative and present the first graduates with their certificates.
The Learning Resource Centre was launched at Severnside's Property Services depot in Knights Way, Shrewsbury, last December, to help staff employed to maintain and repair the association's homes develop their IT and other skills. As well as providing the space for the unions to set up the centre, Severnside has also given staff taking part two hours a week to complete the courses.
Following his visit, Daniel said: "The learning centre at Severnside is giving staff the opportunity develop skills in a friendly and supportive environment.
"We need to encourage a culture of learning in the workplace to ensure workforces keep pace with the latest skills and this initiative is helping to do just that. All those involved should be proud of their achievements."
MIDLAND WOOD FUELS
Daniel visited the new premises of Midlands Wood Fuels at Harnage Grange, Cressage in April.
Midlands Wood Fuels is the only company in the region supplying wood heating boilers and wood chips to fuel the boilers. As well as being environmentally friendly, because of the reduced carbon dioxide emissions, wood fuel heating is cheaper to run than oil or gas heating.
Daniel visited the company and saw the wood chips and visited a wood fuel boiler installation in Telford.
"I found my visit to Midland Wood Fuels very interesting," commented Daniel, "and I have written to the Councils to encourage them to look at possible installation of wood fuel heating in public buildings locally."
"There are so many benefits to these wood fuel boilers," he added, "as they are environmentally sound, cheaper to run and support the local economy by sourcing fuel in the Midlands."
IRONBRIDGE POWER STATION
Daniel last month visited Ironbridge Power Station to learn about the station's operations and its role in the local community. Daniel spent the morning with Plant Manager Richard Pennells looking around the site, meeting staff and hearing about their education and environmental projects.
Daniel said: "I was impressed to be shown the excellent environmental work being done at Ironbridge to prevent damage to local air quality. The co-firing of biomass along with coal at the station is also good news for those of us concerned about climate change.
"Ironbridge makes a very large contribution to the area, so I will be taking a keen interest in the site's future both while it's still operational and in the years to follow."
SHREWSBURY VISITORS TO WESTMINSTER
Daniel is always pleased to welcome members of the local community to the Houses of Parliament, so they can come to see where he works for them. Whenever he is available, he likes to meet up with groups to chat to them in person, when they come for their tour.
Free tours of the Houses of Parliament can be arranged through Daniel's constituency office and usually last about an hour, with the opportunity to visit the Houses of Parliament gift store at the end. There are also plenty of other interesting attractions within a short walk, including Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. Constituents who are interested in a tour should contact the constituency office well ahead of time as bookings are now being taken for the autumn.
Below are four Shropshire groups who have visited the House of Commons during March and April.
Cruckton Hall School 16th March 2006.
Shropshire Youth Service Democracy Group 29th March 2006.
Shropshire Women's Institutes 5th April 2006.
Shrewsbury U3A Group 28th April 2006.
HEALTH CARE UPDATE
Daniel has been so very busy working on a wide range of health-related matters that he will be issuing a 'health special' version of this e-newsletter in the next few weeks.
HELP WITH FLOODING INSURANCE
Daniel has arranged for help for local residents who are struggling to find or afford insurance because they live near areas that suffer regular flooding.
Along with local residents from the Underdale area of Shrewsbury who are heading a campaign for improved flooding defences, Daniel met in March with Mr John Adams from the Environment Agency.
Mr Adams confirmed that he is able to write to any insurance company that is imposing unreasonable insurance premiums on a property, simply because of the postcode being in a high flood-risk area.
Many local residents who live near the River Severn have been finding that they are refused insurance, or are quoted ridiculously high premiums, simply because they have the same postcode as properties that do in fact flood regularly. This offer from the local Environment Agency will allow homeowners who are in fact out of the danger areas to provide clear evidence to their insurers that they are a low risk.
"I would encourage any of my constituents who are struggling to get sensible insurance premiums for their properties to write to me," said Daniel. "I will be able to pass their enquiry on to the Environment Agency. They, in turn, have the facts and figures that can prove categorically that a particular property is not at significant risk of flooding.
"This approach has worked very successfully elsewhere in the country," added Daniel, "so I am delighted to be able to arrange this help for the residents of Shrewsbury & Atcham."
Residents who wish to take advantage of the help from the Environment Agency should write with their details to the constituency office at the address below.
COMMUNITY PLANTING DAY
Daniel was joined by his team of staff to help with planting shrubs for the local community in Shrewsbury in early spring.
He brought the staff from both his Westminster office and from his constituency office in Shrewsbury to Coleham Head. They all donned wellies and gardening gloves - in spite of the sleet and snow - to help with planting shrubs for Shrewsbury in Bloom.
The project involved planting shrubs including yuccas and lavenders and then the area was tree-barked. "This is a great opportunity for me and my team to make a practical contribution to the Shrewsbury in Bloom campaign," said Daniel, "and we very much enjoyed taking part together."
The community event was organised by the Shrewsbury in Bloom committee and the day was a great success.
SUPPORTING LOCAL SCHOOLS
Daniel presented an award of a complete set of coaching kit and equipment to the sports teams at Grange Secondary School.
The award was made by Barclays Bank as part of a £30m grassroots sports programme, Barclays Spaces for Sports. The donation is one of 1,200 packs being awarded each year to ensure teams across the UK will benefit from the three year scheme.
Daniel commented: "I am so pleased that these young people in Shrewsbury are going to benefit from the Barclays Spaces for Sports programme and hope they enjoy the coaching they will be receiving using this kit."
CONTACT DANIEL
Daniel and his team can be contacted via the constituency office or via the House of Commons:
Constituency Office Unit 1, Benbow Business Park, Harlescott Lane, Shrewsbury SY1 3FA Tel: 01743 466477
House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Tel: 0207 219 6249 Email: mail@daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk Website: www.daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk
Published by Daniel Kawczynski. Circulated electronically to a free email subscription list and invited individual recipients. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription details please visit Daniel’s website at www.daniel4shrewsbury.co.uk and follow the links to the newsletter.
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