MY WEEKLY UPDATE

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Dear John,

This week was another busy week in Parliament. On Monday, I voted against
the Elections Bill. At a cost of £120 million, the Government wants to
introduce Voter ID. In a test pilot that the Government ran last year,
hundreds of people were turned away from polling stations. Those people
were not able to return to the polls to cast their votes. While the
Conservatives say that this Bill will address voter fraud, they need to
clarify how exactly this will improve our democratic system. In the 2019
General Election, only one person was charged and convicted for voter
fraud. All this Bill will serve to do is cost the British public £120
million and gag members of our communities who wish to vote but can’t
because they don’t have the right form of ID.

The Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill was voted down by Labour in the House
of Lords this week. This Bill would have made community protesting illegal
and would criminalise and silence those who wish to voice their democratic
concerns. The PCSC Bill would target peaceful community protestors like
campaigners trying to save their local police station or library. For
example, it would have included the Santander Protest, where I stood side
by side with residents just months ago to try and save our local banks. To
me it comes as absolutely no surprise that the Tories wants to shut down
dissent though, because voters don’t like what they’re selling.

On Wednesday, we once again heard from Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s
Questions. Here, the Prime Minister continued to defend the indefensible
Downing Street parties. Last week, he said he didn’t realise he was at a
party. This week he’s got a new defence, nobody warned him that it was
against the rules. The Prime Minister wrote the rules. It’s no wonder the
public have stopped believing a word the Prime Minister is saying.

The country deserves so much better than this out of touch, out of control,
out of ideas and soon to be out of office Prime Minister.

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NHS WAITING TIMES SKYROCKET

This week we found out how there were 184, 956 people on the waiting list
at University Hospitals Birmingham. 31, 770 people had been waiting for
more than a year for an appointment and 2008 people had been waiting more
than 2 years. These astounding rates are the worst in England.

The Conservative Government has no plan to deal with the chronic shortage
of GPs, doctors, nurses and social care staff, and has not set clear
targets to reduce waiting lists and waiting times. As a result, the NHS
went into the latest wave of Covid infections with the longest waiting list
ever. Hospitals around the country are reporting unsustainable pressure and
an inability to provide high quality care.

However, University Hospitals Birmingham, which is also the largest in the
country, has had to face additional pressures with the highest number of
Covid patients in the country. Pressures on local hospitals are now
becoming unsustainable with many recent reports of critical and high alerts
being issued.

People across Birmingham are being forced to wait months and even years for
treatment, often in pain and discomfort. It is unacceptable and will have
appalling consequences for patients.
Our local health care staff at the University Hospitals Birmingham worked
heroically throughout the pandemic, but they are now stretched like never
before. Our local hospitals are part of the largest NHS Trust in the
country and it’s plain to see how they have been neglected by this
Government.

I’ve written to the hospital trust to both raise my concern and offer my
support. However, the Government must give us the staff and support so that
hospitals can get through this winter. It simply isn’t good enough for
waiting times to be this long and for Birmingham to continue to have the
highest rates in England.

YOU CAN READ MORE HERE

A TRIO OF PLANNING SUCCESSES

This week I am delighted to say has marked three successes with planning
applications. In each case, a planning application had been put into
Birmingham City Council which the overwhelming majority of residents did
not want. In each case, the application was rejected.

In North Edgbaston, proposals were put forward that would have seen 17
supported living units built. The land which had been selected was situated
in an area that used to be an orchard and which backs on to more than 100
family homes offering no privacy or security. Over 90 residents objected to
the development alongside councillors and myself as the local MP. Given the
number of objections and the size and type of development, planning
permission was refused.

In Harborne, the owner and developer of a family home in a residential had
requested to change its use to 6-bed HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) on
Park Hill Road. This would have been a bad trend for Harborne and one which
we have seen happen in other communities where HMO residences have swamped
local areas. I am extremely pleased to say that this has been averted. I
wrote to local residents and logged my own objections. Thanks to the local
community, the request was refused by the planning committee.

Finally, residents of the Norfolk Park Estate, consisting of six roads in
Edgbaston, wrote to me concerned about a company who was looking to impose
a parking scheme that would see residents having to pay huge costs. Many
residents were against the application and so I again, joined with them to
object. This week we heard that the application was refused meaning the
scheme is now on hold and won’t be implemented.

I am really pleased about the success of these three planning applications.
If any resident in my constituency has a concern about an application that
will be detrimental to the community, I will always support them to ensure
our constituency remains a fantastic place to live and work.

If you need my support, please contact me on 0121 392 8426 or
[email protected]

HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT FUND OPENS FOR APPLICATIONS

Low-income households across Edgbaston constituency could be eligible to
apply for a one-off payment of up to a £150 grant to help with food,
energy and other essential costs. Applications are now open. If you need
support, please email [email protected]

© 2020 Printed from an email sent by Preet Kaur Gill. Promoted by A.J Webb
on behalf of Preet Kaur Gill, both at 56 Wentworth Road, B17 9TA.
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