South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon brings Diss Express readers up to date with some of his recent work in the community.
AMBULANCE CHANGES
There is growing concern over changes to the way ambulances will respond to 999 calls. In future, there will be more paramedics in ‘rapid response vehicles’ rather than traditional ambulances.
Under the plans, Diss will lose one of its two ambulances but gain a rapid response vehicle. Ambulances will still be needed to take people to hospital, but this means paramedics could be caring for a patient for some time before an ambulance arrives. That puts both the patient and the paramedic under considerable stress. There may be good reasons for these changes but they certainly could have been better explained.
I’m going to meet with Hayden Newton, Chief Executive of the Ambulance Trust soon and put these points to him. I’ll let you know what he has to say.
VINCES ROAD
Businesses on Vinces Road are getting increasingly fed up with the queues at the junction with Victoria Road. Customers and employees can often sit waiting in their cars for up to 30 minutes to leave the estate at the mini roundabout. Not only is this frustrating for drivers who want to go home, it’s also far from being a good advert for the town. And there is no easy solution, since public money is not available to improve the junction right now.
I have contacted the County Council and South Norfolk Council to ask them to take another look at the problem. Something needs to be done but making the junction manageable in the short-term will require flexibility from everyone concerned.
RURAL HOUSING WEEK
By the time you read this, we will be coming to the end of Rural Housing Week, which takes place between 24 and 30 September 2012 in the East of England. During the week, housing associations are working to raise awareness of the need for housing in small towns and villages.
I have always believed in putting small housing developments into many parishes across the constituency rather than having a handful of very large developments. This gives young people and new families a chance to stay in their local area when they might otherwise be priced out. Small developments can also help to keep open the village shop, post office and local pub.
I visited a new Saffron Housing development in the Pulhams yesterday and I hope that Rural Housing Week will provide a much-needed boost for similar developments across the region.
28 September 2012
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