Helen Jones

Labour Party | Warrington North

WARRINGTON IN 2003

Leading up to the Christmas period I was reminded of the great community spirit in Warrington and the vast amount of good work which people do.  We often overlook the good in our community and I don’t think we spend enough time celebrating our achievements.

Yet when we look, for example, at the participants in Victorian Day in Culcheth, carrying on despite the downpour, or the residents of Willow Crescent in Padgate who have kept their street looking good and made sure they had a tree lit-up for Christmas despite the attention of mindless vandals, or the volunteers in Bewsey who cooked a Christmas dinner for local pensioners we are reminded   that we should say thank you to everyone in our community who work for those around them throughout the year.  Their work is often unsung but greatly valued and appreciated nonetheless.

At the turn of the year we look back over the past twelve months and in this, my first column of the New Year, I have done just that by reviewing my ‘House Calls’ columns for 2003.  I try to highlight in this column some of the issues and concerns you have raised with me at surgeries or in my postbag.  Looking back over the year I am pleased to report that real progress has been made on a number of those issues.

Early in the year I was able to highlight in Parliament the concerns you have had with regard to anti-social behaviour by giving examples of your experiences.  These issues have been addressed both locally and nationally with the introduction and expansion of the Police Community Action Teams (CATs), which are proving popular and successful, and the Anti Social Behaviour Act designed to beef up the powers the authorities have to tackle these problems.

Many carers had brought to my attention the difficulties brought about by the reduction of benefits for people in hospital and after some lobbying by myself and colleagues the rules were simplified in April so that there are now no benefit cuts for the first 52 weeks of a hospital stay.

Following many complaints I conducted a survey on the misuse of fireworks, which resulted in a huge response with over 90% of you backing restrictions on the sale and use of fireworks.  Your experiences were passed on to both the Minister and my colleague Bill Tynan MP whose Private Members Bill became law in October.  Much stricter rules are now in force which should reduce the problems considerably.

Many of you asked about the various Tax Credits which have been introduced and I understand that the take up of Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Pension Credit have been on the increase following details being published in this column.

It is nice to have been able to secure successes of which these are only a few examples. 

Finally can I take the opportunity to thank everyone for contacting me and for responding to issues raised in ‘House Calls’ during the last twelve months – I look forward to receiving your letters, phone calls and e-mails in 2004.

To contact Helen Jones MP – write to Gilbert Wakefield House, 67 Bewsey Street, Warrington, WA2 7JQ; phone – 01925 232 480; fax – 01925 232 239; or e-mail jonesh@parliament.uk