City of Durham
| Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
City of Durham |
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MP and Minister explore science development in City08 July 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durnam) today welcomed the local government Minister, John Healey MP, to Durham for a wide-ranging meeting and discussion about economic development in the City and the role science and technology could play in the County’s future and how the new unitary authority will drive forward development in this area. The meeting took place at the new Science Learning Centre at Framwellgate Moor in Durham and as well as the two MPs it was attended by key figures from the new unitary authority including the leader, Cllr Simon Henig, and two cabinet members, Cllr Claire Vasey (Children and Young People’s Services) and Cllr Neil Foster (Economic Regeneration). In addition there were representatives from the county’s business community, ONE North East, the Government Office for the North East (GONE), Joan Sjøvoll, the head teacher of Framwellgate School and Stewart Watkins, the Managing Director of the County Durham Development Company. Roberta said, “I was delighted to welcome the Minister to our city for this important discussion. I have been strongly promoting science and technology as key factors in Durham City and County Durham’s future and I am pleased that today’s meeting took that agenda forward." More... |
MP presses Minister on Gospels’ homecoming06 Mar 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) today lobbied Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, Andy Burnham MP to put pressure on the British Library for the swift return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to Durham Cathedral in her Constituency. Speaking at the Beamish Museum where the meeting was held Roberta said, "It was great to have Andy in the region today visiting Beamish. Meeting him meant that I could press yet again for the British Library to make a long-term loan of the Lindisfarne Gospels for display at Durham Cathedral." More... |  |
Roberta meets Minister on pub and club licensing06 Mar 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has met with Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Licensing Minister. Roberta spoke to the Minister about the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 following the publication of the Government’s review of the operation of the Act, as well as specific issues in Durham including the recent lap dancing club decision. Roberta said, "Durham City Council has a pretty poor record on licensing. The decision they made over the lap-dancing club which had to be overturned when local people took the matter to magistrates’ court showed that they, like other councils, sometimes get these things wrong. I asked the Minister how local authorities can be provided with increased capacity to deal with these issues given the huge error that the City Council made in this instance, but which happens too often in our area and elsewhere." More... |
MP keeps up pressure on Government and council on buses05 Mar 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) used her question to the Transport Minister to call for the Government to encourage local authorities to make greater use of community transport to improve access to local bus services in her constituency. Roberta said, "The Government’s Local Transport Bill, which is making its way though Parliament, will give local authorities like Durham County Council the ability to make greater use of community transport schemes to improve public transport in our area. I urged the Minister to encourage councils to use the powers they are likely to receive when the Bill is passed to make sure isolated communities are served well by public transport, especially buses. I think having community bus services is a possible solution to the problem of reduction in commercially-operated bus services through many of the villages surrounding Durham." More... |
New report on women in Afghanistan launched04 Mar 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has joined UK charity WOMANKIND Worldwide to launch a new report on women and girls in Afghanistan seven years after the fall of the Taliban. Roberta said, "Thirty years of conflict in Afghanistan and the rule of the Taliban led to a situation where women’s opportunities to participate in wider society were extremely limited and their right to paid employment was severely restricted. Similarly, girls were prevented from going to school and few boys had this opportunity because of the lack of facilities. The availability of health care for women – and indeed health care generally – was reduced and was almost non-existent in certain areas of the country. " More... |
MP outraged at waste of council tax-payers’ money04 Mar 2008The appeal to the High Court supported Durham City Council against the creation of unitary councils by Congleton council has not surprisingly collapsed today. The High Court decision means that preparations for the new unitary council for County Durham can now progress as planned. Unfortunately, Durham City Council’s decision to pour money into hopeless legal challenges in the hope of preserving their own position means that thousands of pounds of tax-payers’ money has been wasted. Roberta said, "The Liberal Democrat-controlled Durham City Council gave away £10,000 of Durham tax-payers’ money to help a Cheshire council appeal against a unitary decision in their area. In addition to that they have spent money on their own appeal, and have thrown money at another hopeless challenge in conjunction with Shrewsbury Council. Each of these appeals has resulted in the original decision to allow the County Council’s bid for unitary status to stand." More... |
Durham sports facilities win Olympics accolade03 Mar 2008Two sports facilities in Durham City will be included in the official Pre-Games Training Camps Guide of the 2012 London Olympic Games. The guide will feature a wide range of high-quality sporting facilities which UK teams and individual athletes may choose to use to prepare for the Olympics in 2012. Roberta said, "Although the Olympic Games will be mostly held in London it is right that the rest of the UK can share in the preparations for them and the excitement about sport that they will bring. I am delighted that Durham University and the Deerness Gymnastics and Leisure Centre in my constituency have won their inclusion in the Pre-Games Training Guide. Their facilities are now open to UK teams and athletes to prepare for 2012, and also to overseas visiting teams who may apply for up to £25,000 to use them." More... |
MP visits award-winning school garden03 Mar 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has visited Esh Winning Primary School to congratulate them on winning a REEP award for their school garden. REEP (the Religious Education and Environment Programme) works with schools providing resources and initiatives for religious education and works to promote community understanding and cohesion. Esh Winning Primary School won £1,000 from REEP as part of its School Gardens scheme. Roberta said, "I congratulate Esh Winning Primary on its award and the marvellous work they are doing to develop the school garden and the gardening club. The children told me about their visit to London to receive the award and then we went outside to look at the garden itself. The school has a polytunnel where plants can be grown even during this time of year and I had a look at the hanging baskets the children had put together for Mother’s Day from plants they had grown." More... |  |
MP more optimistic for Leamside Line’s future26 Feb 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) believes we have reason to be more optimistic about the future of the currently mothballed Leamside Line in the Durham and Sunderland. Roberta said, "I attended a meeting in Westminster yesterday with all interested parties. There seemed to be increasing support for reopening the line from the Regional Development Agency, One North East, Network Rail and the Association of North East Councils." More... | |
Council makes the right judgement on academies21 Feb 2008County Durham MPs Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) and Kevan Jones (North Durham) have welcomed Durham County Council cabinet’s decision on academies today. The cabinet has voted to reject a report complied by Maurice Smith on academies which rules out what the MPs see as the best way forward for these new schools in their constituencies. Roberta said, "In the House of Commons today I congratulated Durham University and its partners for putting forward their bid. If it is ultimately successful it would help to raise aspirations in the County and provide more opportunities for young people." More... |
MP presents Embassy cheque to local school14 Feb 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) today visited Belmont School Community Arts College in her constituency to present a cheque from the Bahrainian Embassy in London towards the cost of the school’s recent visit to that country. The school has formed close relationships with schools in Bahrain and central Baghdad as part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms UK-Middle East scheme and pupils and teachers from the school visited Bahrain last year for an intensive Arabic course and to learn about the island nation’s culture. The school approached the MP about ways to fund the trip, and she contacted the Embassy to see if they could help. Roberta today presented the school with a cheque for £3,150. Roberta said, "It was fascinating to hear from the students about their trip. They talked to me about the Arabic lessons they attended and the experiences they had while in Bahrain. The students seemed to find the lessons very interesting, and will no doubt their new language skills will prove to be very useful too." More... |  |
MP says take up the green challenge!12 Feb 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has today pledged support for the Big Green Challenge, a £1 million competition from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to encourage people across the UK to work together to tackle climate change. Designed to develop home-grown ideas into UK-wide carbon-cutting initiatives, the Big Green Challenge is open to groups of people and not-for-profit organisations of all shapes and sizes who can think of new ways to reduce the carbon emissions of a community. Applications for the Challenge open until the 29th February 2008 and Roberta is keen to encourage local groups from Durham to put forward their green ideas to be in with a chance of winning a share of the £1m prize fund on offer. Roberta said, "I would like to personally encourage groups in Durham to put their heads together and come up with some ideas for a chance to win substantial funding to help improve our local environment. I know that many groups locally have the most amazing environmental campaigns including Friends of the Earth and the University Sustainable Living Action Group who are currently campaigning to reduce our reliance on plastic bags by encouraging supermarkets to offer alternatives, but there are plenty of others including in Durham’s villages where groups are working to preserve hedgerows and walkways, for example." More... |
MP welcomes recognition of Durham’s potential in regional plan06 Feb 2008Following the publication of the latest version of the North East’s Regional Spatial Strategy MP Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) has welcomed the inclusion of Durham as a designated site for sustainably developing tourism opportunities. Durham City is home to one of only two World Heritage Sites found in the North East of England and the strategy further recognises the important role such iconic sites play. Roberta said, "The latest draft RSS has been improved in a number of key areas, such as the inclusion of a reference to the Tursdale freight depot, the increase in housing allocations and the increased potential for expansion at NetPark, but just as important is the crucial commitment to developing, in a fashion that enhances the natural and built environments, the places in which we live and work." More... |  |
MP welcomes changes to regional plan06 Feb 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has welcomed a revised Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) which has been published today and has been put out for a public consultation lasting 8 weeks until 2 April 2008. She is pleased that her efforts and those of others to get an improved version of the document, including raising the issue in Parliament and participating in local lobbying events, have paid off. Roberta said, "I am very pleased that the Government has listened to representations from a wide variety of people in Durham including the County and District councils, fellow MPs and myself, to allow for the possible development of the Tursdale Rail Freight Depot in my constituency. It is good news that the Government has opened the door to this development after it was slammed shut, but we need to keep pressing them on this issue. We would agree that any possible development of Tursdale would need to take note of the growth of Teesport, how it would fit in with other priorities on the rail network along with the impact on Durham City. I will be urging all interested parties in the region to make the case for Tursdale as soon as possible and certainly before the end of the consultation period." More... |
MP compliments work being done to tackle teenage pregnancy03 Feb 2008Speaking at an adjournment debate on teenage pregnancy in the House of Commons last week, City of Durham MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods praised the work being done by Durham County Council to tackle teenage pregnancy but stressed that these efforts need to continue and expand if the problem is to be overcome. Highlighting the fact that figures for under-18 conception in Durham had reduced ahead of the local target she congratulated the County Council on having one of the highest reductions in teenage pregnancy of any Council in the North East of England. Roberta said, "I congratulate Durham County Council on the excellent work they are doing to tackle teenage pregnancy. They have shown how important and effective locally delivered strategies are. It is vital that this work continues and is built upon so that this downward trend continues." More... |
MP gives healthy living her vote of approval28 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) took a break from heavyweight politics when she had her Body Mass Index (BMI) measured at an event organised by Cancer Research UK in Parliament. It was part of a drive to raise awareness of the impact of obesity on cancer risk and the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. Cancer Research UK also spoke to the Durham MP about a recent survey conducted by the charity which found that 65 per cent of people questioned were unaware that being overweight or obese would increase an individual’s risk of developing cancer. Roberta said, "I know from my own personal experience that trying to maintain a healthy weight and diet is difficult. I have begun training at Durham Amateur Rowing Club for a charity rowing event I am taking part in later in the year in order to try and keep in shape." More... |  |
Parliamentary Group and Afghan Embassy forge new links22 Jan 2008The Associate Parliamentary Group (APG) for Afghanistan, chaired by Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, today forged new links with the Embassy of Afghanistan and His Excellency Dr Mohammad Rahim Sherzoy, the Ambassador of Afghanistan. The Ambassador hosted a meeting and reception in conjunction with the Associate Parliamentary Group. Representatives from the House of Commons, House of Lords, the Foreign Office, Afghan organisations and NGOs attended along with as former diplomats and the meeting was addressed the Ambassador, Dr Blackman-Woods and representatives of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. |
Backing young people campaigning on child poverty19 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has today been supporting young people campaigning with the charity Save the Children for an end to child poverty. The charity brought a full size replica of the door to Number 11 Downing Street, the residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the Market Place in Durham. Highlighting the Campaign to End Child Poverty in the UK, the charity asked the public to pledge its support by posting an action card through the famous letterbox for the attention of the Chancellor. Roberta said, "I am very happy to be supporting young campaigners from Save the Children in Durham today. They are doing an excellent job and I am supporting their calls for the Chancellor Alistair Darling to make ending child poverty a high priority" |  |
Let’s get Britain in top 10 countries for skills15 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has spoken of the need to get Britain in the top 10 countries for skills development in order to prepare for the future. The MP took the opportunity to speak on this important issue during the Second Reading of the Government’s Education and Skills Bill currently progressing through the House of Commons. Roberta said, "This Bill will prepare Britain for the future by providing young people with the opportunities to gain the skills they will need. More... |
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Roberta raises science funding with Minister11 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) spoke in the House of Commons yesterday to put a question on science funding to the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham MP. Roberta has already raised concerns that some science academics in Durham have about changes to science funding directly with the Minister in a brief meeting with him, and has also written on their behalf to the Science Minister, Ian Pearson MP. Durham University is one of England’s foremost institutions in science research, especially physics, and possible changes to science funding allocations could have serious implications. Roberta said, "I raised this issue in the House because it is of great importance to Durham University and especially to the many scientists who are working on cutting-edge research in the City. While the Minister is not able to direct how Research Council money is spent as this would interfere with academic autonomy, he has referred the matter of science funding to an inquiry which I believe is a positive step. I do hope that this review will recognise the key role that science research has in many higher education institutions like Durham, and that the UK needs to stay at the top of the global game in this regard." More... |
MP speaks up for village green11 Jan 2008Roberta has voiced her support for local residents in Witton Gilbert who are hoping to have the green space in their village officially recognised as a village green. Durham City Council, who currently own the green, have given planning permission for it to be built on. Local people were furious at the potential loss of green space and started procedures to have the site formally recognised as a village green in order to protect it from the bulldozers. The final decision will be made by Durham County Council, but they have appointed a non-statutory inquiry to hear the evidence which took place today. Roberta said, "I fully support the local residents who want to keep their open green space intact. The City Council have been allowing green space to be built on all across the City and I am pleased that local people have stood up to them." More... |
North East MPs press for affordable housing.10 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) today moved an amendment to the Government’s Housing and Regeneration Bill in order to provide a greater impetus towards sustainable development. Roberta is currently serving with fellow North East MP and housing Minister, Iain Wright, on the bill committee which is considering this important Government legislation in detail. Both MPs are highly committed to the Government’s agenda of building more affordable homes. This Bill will move us towards that goal by establishing the Homes and Communities Agency. Roberta said, "I am very happy to support this important Bill but I wanted to see a greater and more explicit commitment to sustainable development and housing in the objectives of the agency in order to strengthen the Government’s approach. That is why I put down the amendment today at the Committee’s first deliberative session and I am pleased that we have had early success with it and that it gained cross-party support. The Minister said he was very interested in this proposal and will look at it in more detail." More... |
MP to do sponsored skydive09 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP has invited local residents to join her on a sposored skydive for St. Cuthbert's Hospice in her Constituency. Roberta said, "This is a fantastic opportunity to take part in something for St Cuthbert's Hospice and raise some valuable funds. I have always wanted to do a skydive so now having the opportunity to take part in one for the Hospice is fantastic." More... |
MP calls for gospels explanation07 Jan 2008Roberta Blackman-Woods MP today called for a full explanation of comments made by the British Library in email discussions about the Lindesfarne Gospels. The emails were released this week after a successful request under the Freedom of Information Act. Roberta said, "I welcome the issue of the return of the Lindisfarne Gospels back onto the agenda. I think it is quite helpful that the intransigent stance taken by the British Library concerning the Lindisfarne Gospels has been highlighted in these emails." More... |
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