Julian Sturdy

Chris Grayling Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was up in York last week speaking at the Citizens Advice Bureau Conference held at York University.

Following the event I took Chris to York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce who are based at the Innovation Centre on York Science Park. We met with members of the Chamber to discuss key issues facing businesses across the county at this current time and the effect of current Government legislation on small and medium enterprises.

After last years fantastic achievement which saw the village of Dunnington win gold in Yorkshire In Bloom, this year the competition got harder as the village goes for glory in Britain In Bloom. This is now my third year helping out with the village’s entry and last Saturday I was out with the local working party helping to make sure the village looked its best for the judging day. 

Following the judges extensive tour around the village today (13th August) they ended up back at the village hall to be welcomed by the In Bloom committee and members of the community who had been involved in working so hard to make Dunnington look its very best. It was a great privilege for me to be invited to attend this event and to have helped in a small way in what I hope will bring another gold award to Dunnington, which would be just rewards for everyone’s hard efforts. 

This really is a great community competition which helps to bring together local people of all ages to get involved in their local communities and take pride in where they live.

Over the last few days local Councillor Siân Wiseman and I have launched a campaign to improve road safety at the notorious Hazelbush Crossroads on the A64. We are asking local residents who share our concerns about the dangerous crossing to sign a petition calling on the Highways Agency to provide funding options to improve road safety at the junction.

This junction is the main access onto the A64 for residents of Strensall, Towthorpe and Stockton on the Forest and has been the scene of a number of accidents over the last few years. We feel that it is now time for action to improve safety for motorists who use this important crossroads.

The A64 falls under the responsibility of the Highways Agency and we feel it is very important that we highlight the strength of feeling in the local community to improving road safety at this junction, which is what this petition aims to do.

I have already had meetings with the Highways Agency to discuss this along with other issues that fall under their remit in the Constituency. They have told me that they recognise the problem with the junction, but have not prioritised it for funding. There have been 17 accidents causing injuries recorded over the last three years at that junction and some residents have told me they avoid using it for fear of having an accident. By launching this campaign, we hope to convince the Highways Agency that the Hazelbush crossroads is a high priority and action should be taken.

If you want to back our campaign you will find the petition at the retail outlets near the crossroads and in the villages of Strensall and Stockton on the Forest or you can email me at Julian.sturdy@btconnect.com

As a local Yorkshire farmer I have always been a great supporter of the Great Yorkshire Show and ever since I was a young boy going with my father to help him in his role as a cattle ring steward I have tried to play an active role in supporting the event. For the last twelve years now I have been carrying on the role, volunteering my services as a cattle ring steward which involves getting all the different cattle into the correct judging rings for their different classes and making sure the judge turns up on time.

This year saw the 150th anniversary of the show as it welcomed  Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to visit.  Despite the weather which made the ground rather wet under foot it was another successful year as the show goes from strength to strength. It is now certainly the North’s leading agricultural show as it yet again produced a fantastic showcase for British agriculture. 

On Saturday my four year old son and I went to Copmanthorpe Carnival. Unfortunately the British summer was up to its old tricks again as umbrellas were the name of the day, however this did not dampen spirits as the Carnival celebrated its 40th anniversary with a wonderful day enjoyed by all ages. The fact that the Carnival has been running for forty years and is still going strong is a great testament to everyone involved.  My congratulations to the Carnival team, George and I are looking forward to next years event. 

Ireland the only Country of the 27 Member States that currently make up the European Union to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty have potentially saved our country from handing over even more powers to Brussels in the name of this Treaty. We therefore owe enormous thanks to those Irish voters who voted No and in turn derailed the Lisbon Treaty - the EU Constitution under another name. Something I am confident would have happened in this Country if our Prime Minister had honoured his Parties’ manifesto pledge and given us a referendum.

Despite claims from EU Leaders saying “ratification will continue” this Treaty is all but finished, the legal position is clear the Treaty cannot come into force until all 27 member states ratify it. 

Thank you Ireland.

William Hague writing in the Sunday Telegraph renews his call for Gordon Brown to give the British people a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Watch David Cameron as he gives his reaction to Irelands No vote to the Treaty.

Congratulations to Edward Timpson MP, our new Member of Parliament for Crewe and Nantwich following his election on Thursday in the by-election. 

I spent a number of days over in Nantwich helping to campaign and there was no doubt that the good people of Crewe and Nantwich were ready for a change. However, I have to confess I was not expecting the size of the victory that we achieved, it was a fantastic result announced in the early hours of Friday morning, which saw the Conservatives gain the seat  with a 17.6% swing from Labour. 

Reading the papers today this crushing defeat for Gordon Brown and his Labour Party has attracted some very bad headlines for him:

“Labour fighting for its Life: the Government has been put on notice after Labours mauling in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.” Yorkshire Post

“Is this the end of new Labour. As Labour reeled from its worst by-election defeat for 30 years, the Cabinet yesterday launched a last ditch effort to save Gordon Brown.” Daily Mail 

Despite these damming headlines for Gordon Brown (and I am sure the Sunday Papers will be no better) this is only one by-election, a General Election whenever it is called will be a different ball game. But the tide is turning and there must be a lot of very worried Labour and Liberal MP’s starting to look over their shoulders and wonder what the future holds. A Conservative future led by David Cameron.  

Last weekend Susan Wade Weeks (Conservative Parliamentary Candidate York Central) and I launched a campaign to encourage shoppers in York to stop using plastic bags. The campaign entitled “Plastic Ain’t York’s Bag” was launched in York City centre with us giving away 1,000 Fair Trade cotton bags in exchange for shoppers’ plastic bags.

The cotton bags were warmly welcomed by shoppers who were queuing up to exchange their plastic bags for a more attractive and environmentally friendly alternative. In fact everyone was thrilled with the bags and very keen to play their part, we had an amazing response. Our message to everyone on the day was simple – just say no to plastic in York. As consumers we have a great deal of power. If we all decide together that we don’t want something, we can really get results. This was a great start.

Heavy winds earlier in the spring resulted in an appalling number of plastic bags being blown from landfill sites and decorating the trees and hedgerows in our area. We also know now that there is a growing problem with a whirlpool of plastic bags in the Pacific Ocean endangering sea-life. It really is time to try and tackle this growing problem which is what our campaign aims to do.

We collected over a thousand plastic bags which will all be recycled.

P.S. What a great result for Leeds United on Thursday night beating Carlisle 2-0 to get into the playoff final at Wembley next Sunday. 

I am extremely disappointed that the Government has left our region in complete confusion over its eco-town proposals. Its lack of ability to make decisions seems to be spreading down from the Prime Minister to his cabinet colleagues as this complete farce continues.

If none of the short listed developments are to be on green belt land as Housing Minister Caroline Flint has stated, then the Clifton Gate proposal should have been ruled out straight away as it falls at the first hurdle, yet we are left in limbo.

The Clifton Gate scheme should be dropped immediately. I strongly believe it is completely inappropriate for the area and would have disastrous consequences for the local community, the infrastructure is already at breaking point through lack of investment and long term planning in York. Any further local development on this scale would be madness and indefensible.

We must fight to protect our green belt and vigorously protect the identity of our rural communities like Skelton which would be lost by this proposal.

Today sadly is the last day that Fulford Post Office is open for business, and when Aasif Rabbani (sub postmaster) closes the door for the last time it will not only mean the lose of yet another local post office but also for the residents of Fulford, the lose of their local community shop as well.

This morning I went down to visit Aasif at the post office to whish him all the best for the future and to apologise for not succeeding in our quest to save this vital community facility from closure. Sadly it could have been so much different if the Government hadn’t pushed ahead with its plans to close 2,500 post offices across the country, pulled business out of the post office network and undermined its finances.

When the closure was announced the local community rallied around in support, we put in objections, gathered signatures on our petition which culminated in Aasif and myself presenting the petition to Number 10 Downing Street, but all to no avail as the closure plan ploughed ahead regardless of local opinion. Then a ray of hope as the Conservative Party put forward an early day motion to halt all closures. Surely all Labour MP’s campaigning against PO closures in their own constituencies would support this, sadly that was not the case as we lost the vote by a mere twenty votes. At least 19 principled Labour MP’s voted with us including John Grogran.

Unfortunately it is local communities like Fulford that have lost out as yet another important community facility closes its doors for the last time, a sad day for Fulford.