Welcome to this week's newsletter.
The new Emergency Department at Leighton Hospital was officially opened this week by Health Secretary Sajid Javid. The new department has been built with £15 million of Government funding. Lots of talk about extra NHS spending can seem a bit abstract-but this is what it means on the ground. Find out more about the improvements the new building will offer below.
I got to visit Chester Zoo this week, to learn about the important work they do for animal conservation. I learnt from the huge number of residents who contacted me to get the zoo support during lockdown just how important is to residents in Crewe & Nantwich. I learned about their campaign to encourage sustainable use and sourcing of palm oil – widely used in everyday products.
During the pandemic, we have not been able to have visitors into Parliament. This, however, has now changed, so it was really good to invite some students from Crewe UTC down to London for an event for young engineers and then give them a tour of the Houses of Parliament!
The Government announced a package of funding for local councils to help tackle domestic abuse, keeping vulnerable women and children safe from violence. A consultation has also been launched about the rules of social housing availability for victims of domestic abuse. Have your say here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-local-connection-requirements-for-social-housing-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse
North West Tonight reported on Crewe's bid for the Headquarters of Great British Railways. Visit the link in the story below to see local champion, Pete Waterman put forward the case for Crewe.
Finally, HS2 has announced a series of webinars for local residents about the Crewe to Manchester leg of the line. Further information and registration can be found at https://www.hs2.org.uk/events/hs2-crewe-to-manchester-bill-south-cheshire-qa/.
Have a great weekend.
Health Secretary Opens New Leighton Emergecny Department
Chester Zoo
UTC Visit to Parliament
Ukraine
Domestic Abuse Support
North West Tonight - Crewe's Bid for Great British Railways HQ
Vaccines for 5 to 11 Year Olds
HS2 Webinar
Traffic Report
Health Secretary Opens New Leighton Emergency Department
The new Emergency Department at Leighton Hospital was officially opened this week by Health Secretary Sajid Javid. The new department has been built with £15 million of Government funding. Lots of talk about extra NHS spending can seem a bit abstract-but this is what it means on the ground.
The new department is state of the art and has dedicated facilities for children and 50% more beds so that patients can be seen and assessed with privacy and dignity. It should mean a huge decrease in waiting in corridors which I know from my time working as an Emergency Doctor is undignified for patients and stressful for staff.
There are also dedicated mental health assessment rooms and a bereavement suite, which will help the hospital better meet the needs of the local community.
I visited the department as it was being built just a few months ago. It is incredible how quickly it has been built even with all the challenges with building supplies during the pandemic.
Of course, we used the opportunity of meeting the Health Secretary to press the case again for the campaign to rebuild of rest of the hospital site. Find out more about that campaign here:
https://www.drkieranmullan.org.uk/news/leighton-hospital-new-build-campaign
I know staffing levels remain a huge challenge for the NHS. We have more doctors and nurses than ever before but we have to keep up the drive to recruit even more and it was good for the Health Secretary to hear directly from staff about the difficulties vacancies create.
Chester Zoo
You may remember that, during the first few months of the pandemic, I teamed up with other Cheshire MPs to push the Government to extend support for zoos that were struggling financially due to being forced to close. Many of you got in touch with me, concerned about Chester Zoo, a much-loved local attraction, which does so much good conservation work protecting endangered species around the world.
This week, I was lucky enough to be invited to see the work that the team at the zoo does. I was surprised by just how much their focus is on conservation and species protection. There is so much more being done behind the scenes, away from public view, that is aimed solely at their breeding and conservation programmes.
They also do so much to ensure that we do all we can to protect the natural habit of hundreds of species. One of their big campaigns is to encourage the sustainable use and sourcing of palm oil. It is used in up to 50% of supermarket products in the UK: from biscuits to shampoo. 193 critically endangered species, such as the Orangutan are impacted by palm oil. There has been a lot of publicity about the idea of banning it. But the issue is not straightforward as palm oil is incredibly efficient, with other plant oils requiring up to 9 times as much land to produce the same yield. Therefore, they are encouraging sustainable sourcing rather than a complete boycott.
Find out more about this campaign here: https://www.chesterzoo.org/what-you-can-do/our-campaigns/sustainable-palm-oil/sustainable-palm-oil-city/sustainable-palm-oil-city-chester/
Thank you to Mike, the director of Animals and Plants who showed me around, and to all the team who do incredible work.
UTC Visit to Parliament
It was great to have the chance to invite a small group of engineering students from Crewe Engineering & Design UTC to a young engineers lunch in Parliament, where they were able to speak to inspiring professional engineers who answered questions and encouraged them in their career aspirations!
Due to pandemic restrictions on visitors, we haven't been able to have students down to parliament for visits and tours. This is really important to me as at school I was never told politics is something anyone can do.
After their lunch and Q and A, I got them a tour of Parliament and they also got to sit in on the Justice Select Committee I am on and watched a debate inside the chamber!
It was really positive to see local students getting involved and not being afraid to ask questions on a variety of issues. One of the UTC students was the first student to pluck up the courage to ask a question in a room with dozens of people which made me very proud!
Thanks to UTC Head Liam McDaid for bringing them down.
This is what they had to say about their day:
Maciej said “I had a lovely day at the House of Lords and really enjoyed the meal! I’m still surprised by the scale of it all. The debate during the lunch inspired me to think of engineering new ways to help people when they are displaced due to disasters overseas”
Eddy said “Thank you for the once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm so proud of what we did and really impressed by the scale and magnitude of the buildings. We had a really nice meal learned a lot during the debate and it was nice seeing the inside of the House of Commons during a debate, seeing how parliament works. I was even able to ask Professor the Lord Mair CBE a question and have Joshua Macabuag answer it in detail"
Poppy said “Meeting all the different sponsors, Lords, MPs and important people who work in engineering was extremely interesting. It was really lovely to hear about other people’s takes and views on the different aspects of engineering as well. The interest people had in engineering itself was amazing to see that the field is so grand and intriguing. I had many different experiences through the House of Lords today, good and exciting, as well as being introduced to so many different people within the industry. I’m so so grateful for this beautiful and amazing experience that I will remember forever!”
Ukraine
I thought I would provide you with a quick update on what the Government is doing regarding the situation in Ukraine. Despite claims by Russia that they are withdrawing troops from the region, we mustn't be drawn into a false sense of security and remain united behind Ukraine.
Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, visited Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Thursday to repeat our commitment to a world free of aggression and warn Russia that an invasion will be met with severe economic sanctions.
This was reaffirmed by the Prime Minister, who announced there are a series of economic measures, which will hit Russian banks and
companies, should they choose to invade. The Prime Minister also spoke with President Biden, agreeing that a window for diplomacy still exists and that western allies should remain united.
Domestic Abuse Support
Councils will receive £125 Million to help provide support services, such as refuges and shelters, for victims of domestic abuse. This funding will also help fund other specialised services such as drug and alcohol support. Cheshire East will see just over £650,000 of this.
On top of this announcement, a consultation has been launched regarding social housing availability for victims of domestic abuse. Have your say here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-local-connection-requirements-for-social-housing-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse
This is an incredibly important issue that I am doing my own work on, alongside local women's charities such as Motherwell, to see how we can better protect women, girls, and children in our own community.
North West Tonight - Crewe's Bid for Great British Railways HQ
Great to see Crewe's bid for the Great British Railways HQ get some coverage on North West Tonight last night. Thanks to local champion, Pete Waterman, for showing us why Crewe is the best place to be the Headquarters of the UK's railways!
Click above to watch.
Vaccines for 5 to 11 Year Olds
The Covid vaccine will from April, following approval by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations, be offered to 5-11-year-olds.
This will be a paediatric dose of the Pfizer vaccination.
Children in this age range are at low risk from the virus, so this will be a non-urgent rollout. The priority will still be to vaccinate at-risk children and adults and catch up on other childhood vaccination programmes.
HS2 Webinar
HS2 has scheduled a series of webinars for residents regarding the effects of the Crewe to Manchester leg of the HS2 rail line.
The webinars are taking place on
Monday 21st February 2022 18:00-19:00
Thursday 24th February, 18:00–19:00
Further information and registration can be found at https://www.hs2.org.uk/events/hs2-crewe-to-manchester-bill-south-cheshire-qa/
Traffic Report
The following are road closures for the week ahead as reported by Cheshire East.
Elm Drive, Crewe until 7th March
West Street, Crewe (Between Broad Street and Victoria Avenue) 24th February until 26th February
Saunders Street, Crewe (Between Browning Street and Heathfield Avenue) - 23rd February
Albion Street, Crewe (Between Doddington Road and Alton Street) - Until 11th March
Rope Lane – 21st February until 24th February
Osbourne Grove, Shavington - 19th February until 27th February
Dig Lane, Shavington – until 9th March
Peter DeStapleigh Way, Nantwich 21st February until 25th February
Millstone Lane (Imperial Court and Turner Street) 21st February until 4th March