Nick with Jesmond residents Olwyn Hocking, David Hickling and Cllr David Hardman

Throughout the summer Nick held surgeries in Jesmond and meetings with a number of residents groups. Amongst the issues raised by residents were strengthening the council’s enforcement of rules for Houses in Multiple Occupation, restricting the use of “To Let” signs by estate agents, noise and anti-social behaviour, the ecouragement of considerate citizenship, student housing in relation to council tax and the benefit system, alcohol licensing, conservation, and the ongoing problem of pollution in the Ouseburn.

For a full account of the action Nick is taking on these and other issues, please see here.

Nick Brown with Cllr David Wood at the revamped Chillingham Road Station

Nick Brown was at Chillingham Road Metro Station in Heaton today to see the impact of the £500m cash boost delivered by the last Labour Government.

As Regional Minister for the North East Nick played a key role in securing the upgrade works, will go towards renewing stations and rolling stock, installing new ticket machines and improving track maintenance.

The work at Chillingham Road includes the installation of new panelling to give the station a brighter and more modern look, new CCTV cameras and a new roof canopy, along with improved access and resurfaced platforms. New lighting and seating have also been fitted.

Nick with Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North, Leroy Rosenier, Shaka Hislop, Sol Campbell and other campaigners

Nick attended the Show Racism the Red Card reception today in Parliament. MPs had been invited to hear a selection of anti-racism campaigners speak about their experiences, and to update Parliament on the good work they have been doing. In attendance were a number of former footballers, including former Newcastle United goalkeeper Shaka Hislop and former defender Sol Campbell.

Show Racism the Red Card is an educational charity that was founded in 1995 by Shaka Hislop and others when he lived in Newcastle in his time as a player here. The organisation sends DVDs, magazines and educational packs to schools across the United Kingdom, to spread the message of anti-racism. They are based primarily in North Tyneside, but they have offices all over the world. There are a number of Show Racism the Red Card Hall-of-Famers with links to Newcastle, such as Les Ferdinand, Chris Hughton, Olivier Bernard, Shay Given, John Beresford and the late Sir Bobby Robson.

Nick said “Show Racism the Red Card is a great organisation doing great work across the country. It started off its life here in the North East, and has grown into something truly inspirational. The reception in Parliament showed us just how far we have come in tackling racism, but also how far we have still to go. The speakers spoke movingly about their experiences in fighting racism, and they are a real credit to their profession.”

Nick with local Councillor David Hardman and Paul Curbishley of Taylor's in Acorn Road, one of the first to sign up to the campaign

Nick visited local businesses in Acorn Road in Jesmond today to support the local efforts spearheaded by Transition Jesmond to reduce the use of plastic bags.

The Jesmond scheme uses a rating scale to identify traders which are reducing their plastic bag use. The top level of three leaves (which has been awarded to 12 out of 21 local stores) designates shops which either do not use plastic bags, or charge customers for them.

The scheme was launched on the 13^th July by the Headteacher and pupils of West Jesmond School and has been welcomed by members of the public. Plans are underway to extend the scheme to other parts of Jesmond and later to the whole of Newcastle. Recently, Morpeth has announced that it will become plastic bag free.

Nick said: “Well done Jesmond traders for taking this issue seriously – plastic bags damage the environment. We can all do our bit to find alternatives. The Government should do more to discourage single use carrier bags. They haven’t even carried out an impact assessment on the likely effect of a charge on plastic bags. I strongly support the Greening Jesmond campaign.”

The unit is internationally renowned and in the early 1980s was the site of the first successful child heart transplant in the country. The quality of outcomes are among the best in England. Nick has met with staff and patients at the hospital to hear about the excellent work done there, and earlier this year received a petition from a wide range of local residents opposed to the unit’s closure.

Yesterday Nick spoke up to say that the review’s final decision should be made above all on grounds of quality.

Nick said: “I am the constituency Member for the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne, and on 10 June I visited its paediatric surgery unit. I never cease to be impressed by the care, kindness and surgical skill that the national health service provides. It is very moving to see very young children whose lives are literally being saved, and to meet youngsters who, 20 years ago, would not have had a chance of life.

“No one can doubt the commitment of the senior management and of the trust board to the pioneering children’s cardiac work at the Freeman. The trust has invested in services and, pending the outcome of the review, has a further investment programme ready to go. The review team, in its assessment, has weighted quality, sustainability and deliverability more heavily than access and travel, and that seems to me to be the right prioritisation.”

You can read Nick’s full contribution and the rest of the debate here.

Nick meeting local residents opposed to the Government's NHS plans

Nick met this week with local Newcastle residents who are concerned about the Lib Dem-Tory Government’s proposals for the NHS. Nick confirmed that he would continue to oppose the measures in Parliament. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has announced a “pause” in the process, but Nick is pushing for the plans to be abandoned altogether.

Nick has strong reservations about the proposed changes, which run contrary to the values and ethos of the NHS. Nick voted against the Health and Social Care Bill when it came to the floor of the House of Commons, and will continue to support the Labour Party’s efforts to make the Government think again.

As recently as the Coalition Agreement that was signed between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives last May, the Government promised “No further costly, top-down reorganisations of the NHS”. Despite this, they have announced plans for a high-cost, high-risk internal reorganisation.

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have already voted overwhelmingly in favour of the package both times it has been put in front of the House of Commons, but parliamentary progress has been halted due to complaints from the Labour Party, doctors, nurses, care-workers, patients and voluntary groups, health experts and concerned members of the public.

Nick pledged to continue to oppose the Bill when it returns to the House of Commons, and to encourage the Government to think again.

Nick and the local Councillors at the reopening of Harbottle Park

On Saturday 7^th May, Nick and new North Heaton Councillor Michael Johnson joined Ian Lavery, the MP for Wansbeck and President of the National Union of Mineworkers, for the unveiling of a memorial to the victims of the High Heaton mining disaster in 1815.

Ian spoke very movingly about the hard lives that the men and boys led, their courage in adversity and the hardships that they endured. The memorial itself is a frieze in the Socialist Realism style by local artist Nick Rowsell, and can be found behind the Spinney.

Saturday also saw the relaunch of Harbottle Park in Byker, which has benefited from a range of improvement works thanks to the work of the three local Labour Councillors, George Allison, Veronica Dunn and Nick Kemp. Over 1000 members of the local community were involved in shaping the designs and choosing the play equipment, and residents, including an 86 year old resident of Allendale House and a 2 year old in the neighbouring streets, helped create the new entrance.

The new centre brings together three of the NSPCC’s service teams for the area. Two practitioners from different services set up workrooms  to show local authority representatives, donors and partners how the organisation engage with children.

Nick said: “I really enjoyed my visit to the NSPCC service centre in my constituency. I was impressed by the comprehensive nature of the services that they offer, and by the extent of the investments they have made in caring for some of the most vulnerable children in the North East of England. I am very proud to have the facility in East Newcastle.”

Nick said: “Asking students to pay £9000 a year is just too much, and students that come from families that are less well off will be put off from going.

“£9000 a year, cumulatively, each year of the course, is saddling young people with too much debt.”

But Nick still urged the young people to take the opportunity when the time comes, saying “I would urge you to go, in spite of all the obstacles. I think it would be a real shame if ordinary people are deterred from going on into higher education, because it’s the best thing you can do.”

You can see the full interview on the Heaton Manor Website.

Below are extracts from a debate which Nick instigated yesterday in the House of Commons about the future of the North East economy. Sixteen other Labour MPs also spoke up about the dangers of the Government’s economic strategy for our region. You can read the full debate on the Parliamentary website.

Now is an appropriate time to sound a warning about the changes that are being made to economic development structures in north-east England. The extent to which the coalition Government intend to abandon the Labour Government’s approach to these issues is now clear, as is the outline of their successor strategy, such as it is. It is my contention that the coalition approach is fundamentally wrong on both counts.

The economic development issues facing north-east England are not typical of those facing the United Kingdom as a whole. Of course our region is not sheltered from national and international economic trends. Regional economic development in the north-east is dominated not so much by our unique industrial history as by our transition from it. No region has done more to help itself, and there was a broad consensus in the region on the economic development strategy until the last election.

The policy approach that we adopted meant that our region had the fastest growth rates of any English region right up until the banking crisis. The Pricewaterhouse study of One North East found that, over a five-year period, the agency had directly created more than 24,000 jobs, helped to create over 1,000 new businesses, helped a further 1,700 companies improve their business performance, helped more than 6,000 people into employment, and assisted more than 98,000 people to gain new skills. In particular One North East’s work in the area of business competitiveness and development, which covers activities such as overseas investment and enterprise support, realised an overall return of £8 for every £1 spent.

My fear is that public sector cuts will affect the north-east disproportionately. As well as the closures of the economic development agency and the regional office, there are redundancies in each of the local authorities and other public bodies and vulnerabilities at the Department for Work and Pensions and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs complex at Longbenton in east Newcastle.

The great strength of our region is that we have all stood together, geographically and across party politics, public sector and private sector, including the public sector agencies that are not directly politically led. We have all stood together with the same focus, in an earnest endeavour to work together to give a coherent single voice to government for the good of the region. That is the correct approach.

It is my view that the direct involvement of a regional Minister worked well for our region. The Prime Minister has said that he wants to appoint area-based Ministers from among his team, and I urge him to get on and do that. The structure that would work best for our region would involve a regional Minister, a single private sector-led development agency, some regional presence by large UK Government Departments, strong private sector engagement and collaborative working across the agencies. This would preserve what we had before the general election. The focus should be on private sector priorities. I urge the Government to look again at the poor use they are making of scarce resources in the north-east, and even at this late stage to consider different structures more appropriate to the particular economic development needs of the north-east of England.