Written Answer to Jim Cousins re Traffic Levels in Newcastle

Jim has been asking about the traffic levels for the last few years on the various A1 interchanges around Newcastle. Unsurprisingly they are rising.

If Jim wishes to involve himself in local transport matters perhaps he could look at the problems currently happening in Newcastle city centre. Due to simultaneous roadworks appearing in and around the Swan House roundabout, Redheugh Bridge & the Quayside in addition to the huge amount of construction going on means that a journey that previously took 5-10 minutes from the West end of town to my house in the East end has averaged about 45 minutes each time. Multiply that time by the amount of people on the road in cars and buses then it's a lot of time being wasted, with the knock on effect of all those extra car fumes.

My suggestion would be to station a couple of traffic police at rush hour on the Swan house roundabout which would at least help to keep the traffic moving as it is absolute gridlock with vehicles abusing the rules on the yellow grids.

Read the Q & A here.

Written Answer to Jim Cousins re Hazardous Waste

Jim's been asking about the quantity and size of hazardous waste disposal sites.

Read the question, and written response from Elliot Morley (Scunthorpe, Labour), here.

Jim Cousins on "Why life's looking up in North-East"

The Office of National statistics have revealed that the North East has improved housing, cleaner rivers and lowest crime rates. However we still have the highest unemployment rates and shortest life expectancies in the country. It seems all is not lost on the health front though as our life expectancy is growing fastest. Jim has a few words to say on this in the Newcastle Journal:

"Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins said last night: 'Some of the industries which had life-shortening consequences in the past are no more and the impact of them is slowly declining.

In addition there has been a policy of targeting resources at areas where health inequalities are greatest and there is no doubt the North-East has been a big beneficiary of that.'"

And if that's not putting a positive spin on the rape of the North's industries in the 80s I don't know what is! It's good to see we are getting healthier and no doubt the decline of heavy industry has played a significant part in that. What will be the long term health impact of the call centres that have replaced them? I'm predicting a wave of cubicle induced mental illnesses to surface fairly soon. Give us our yards back. Pretty please. I know Swans is in Nick Brown's patch but keeping the yards open help Newcastle too with the knock on effect of all those men's wages being spent in the local economy. It may be that Jim is already doing something about the yards - I'll try and find out.

Read the "Why life's looking up in North-East" article at The Journal.
Read the Swan-Hunter article at the BBC.

How To Run a Weblog on Behalf of Your MP

This blog was set up after reading this at Bloggerheads yesterday. I decided to set a blog up for my local MP, Jim Cousins, as I thought it would be an interesting project and shouldn't take much effort to keep updated once I get everything set up.

I have a load of links including contact details for Jim (or should we call him Mr. Cousins?) and will be putting that online within the next day or two so watch this space.

Jim Cousins questions Government spending with Big Four accountancy firms

In an article at Accountancy Age, Jim was quoted:

'I am concerned about the degree to which government has become dependent on the Big Four for advice and the extent to which that sets up possible conflicts that might affect decisions on issues like tax avoidance schemes and auditors' liability.'

Read the full article here.

Jim Cousins reserves judgement on Euro Constitution

In an article about north MPs backing Blair on the EU constitution it appears Jim Cousins isn't quite so fervent in his backing.

"But Commons Treasury Committee member Mr Cousins said: 'I think the Constitution is basically less important than trying to reform the Commons Agricultural Policy and the stability and growth pact: the economic framework within which all European Union countries are expected to work. That has harmed the British economy even though we are not in the Euro.

'Whether the new constitution will help or hinder such reform is the crucial question.

'MPs will start to study the document line by line later this year and I shall decide whether to oppose or support it on the basis of what I have seen then.'"

More on the Euro Constitution at the BBC.

Read the full article at the Evening Chronicle site.

Coming soon

watch this space...