Weekly Message to Constituents 235- New era at Cottage Hospital

11 October 2024

In the Constituency

Work set to start on transformation of Cottage Hospital

Above: Sutton Cottage Hospital is to become a hub for health services specialising in helping older residents live in their own homes for longer.

Great news - I am delighted to reveal that work is set to start on plans to transform Sutton Cottage Hospital as part of an £8.5million investment that I secured.

For years I have been working on multi-million-pound plans for the Cottage Hospital, creating a hub to help older people – providing services to support them remaining and living in their own homes.

Thanks to my work with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, £8.5 million will redevelop the Cottage Hospital to provide an integrated hub for community health services that will reduce the need to go into hospital.

This pioneering project will not only give a much-loved landmark get a new lease of life, it will also ease pressure on Good Hope Hospital.

I have now been told that work is set to start in December on this hugely positive development for health services in our town.

Plans to downgrade our Police Station move on – but still no public consultation

Above: The PCC plans to close our Police Station and replace it with a smaller one have pressed ahead to the planning application stage – even though there has been no public consultation on the matter.

For months now, concerned residents have been following the shocking saga of the PCC’s plans to close Sutton Coldfield’s Police Station and replace it with a much smaller facility.

I have consistently called upon the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) behind the plans to hold a proper public consultation on the matter.

Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council has also urged him to attend one of their meetings, to answer questions from councillors and members of the public.

He has always refused to face local people over this wrong-headed plan – and now, it would seem, he is pressing ahead regardless of local concerns.

A Planning Application has been lodged with Birmingham City Council, outlining how he wants to covert two small former Police Houses into a new smaller station. It will do little to dispel local concerns.

Having reviewed the application, I want to stress three points.

The application outlines what would be based at the new station, with a maximum of 15 members of staff on site each day and a front desk that will close to the public at 10pm. It fails to point out the obvious – that it is a far smaller and less significant Police Station to our current one, which has watched over the town since 1960. What was once an Operation Command Unit is being downgraded to a couple of houses.

I believe the majority of Sutton Coldfield residents remain strongly opposed to the plans, which would clearly result in a town of 100,000 people not having a proper, fully functioning Police Station.

It is simply scandalous that there has been no public consultation on such a vital issue for Sutton Coldfield. The job of a Police and Crime Commissioner is to represent the public and hold the performance of the Police to account. The current Labour PCC is simply not doing this, and instead is acting like he is the Police. This begs the question: what is the point of his role, if he won’t engage with the public?

This is about the safety of Sutton Coldfield citizens. They have a right to have their say!

Local mums launched Grow Family Services to help others

Above: Speaking at the open day organised by Grow Family Services.

Together with Cllr Ewan Mackay I visited Grow Family Service’s open day at the Four Oaks Methodist Church today.

Grow Family Services is a Sutton Coldfield group for families with children with special needs, which does so much important work – helping 200 parents.

Funded by the RSCTC and by the Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust, today’s meeting brought together NHS and Birmingham City Council statutory services and voluntary groups to help advise parents on options and opportunities.

This brilliant organisation was co-founded by Louise Jordan and Janet Harding, based on their experiences parenting their own children, and provides a space for parents and carers to meet, learn, share and support each other.

Royal Town is ready for £20 million fund

Above: Will the new Government deliver the £20 million Towns Fund pot that Sutton was awarded?

Earlier this year, it was announced that Sutton Coldfield was to get a £20 million pot of cash from the Government’s Towns Fund.

The Royal Town was one of 20 around the UK to benefit from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and the Communities’ Long-Term Plan for Towns. It will be spent over a decade under the guidance of a ‘Town Board’, which is already being assembled.

Crucially, the money was to be overseen here in Sutton, rather than falling into the hands of the Labour leadership that has bankrupted Birmingham.

However, we must ensure the new Government does not go back on the promise that Royal Sutton receives the money it was allocated.

We all recall that in the second round we were top of the list nationwide - partly because of the fuss I made that we were not in the first!

It is unimpressive that it has taken ministers nearly three months to respond to my letter seeking confirmation, which was sent on the 12th of July - just a week after the General Election.

But all now depends on the Budget, where I trust the highly targeted and valuable Towns Fund will be strongly supported.

We are ready to use this money to the benefit of our town. The Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council is set to oversee the process, a Chair has been identified for the board and plenty of excellent applications to join it have been received.

Sutton Coldfield is ready to go. The Government must deliver.

All set to open Cherished Connection Hub

Above: With Hannah Simnett, founder of Cherished.

This week marks a magical moment for a much-loved charity that was founded right here in the Royal Town.

On Thursday, it will be my great honour to officially open the new Connection Hub created by Cherished, in the old Post Office unit at the Gracechurch Shopping Centre.

Cherished was set up by Hannah Simnett in 2012 to help marginalised girls - and some boys - with confidence, guidance, support and encouragement as they chart the difficulties of young life.

It is testament to the importance of Cherished that so many local businesses came together to help create the Hub, supported by the Gracechurch team.

It will be a place where you can walk in and feel cared about when you or your child are struggling.

Now Cherished are looking for local people to train as mentors and support children from the Connection Hub. They would provide one-to-one support to children who quite often simply want someone to talk to.

If you think you can help, you can find full details in the ‘further information’ section at the end of this message.

Talking business and budgets with the Chamber of Commerce

Above: With Henrietta Brealey and Rajdeep Kandola.

Interesting visit today to Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, to meet their CEO Henrietta Brealey and Rajdeep Kandola, Director of External Affairs.

The Royal Town, of course, has its own energetic branch of the Chamber, led by president Neem Arif, which forms an important part of the larger Greater Birmingham body.

I wanted to meet the senior team in Birmingham, to see how they are helping our Sutton branch boost growth and business opportunities here, as well as around the region.

It would be fair to say that throughout the business community there is concern and nervousness about the Government’s forthcoming budget and the impact of aspects of their proposed workers’ rights legislation.

A visit to the Shrubbery

Above: Visiting the Shrubbery School.

This week I popped into The Shrubbery, the much-loved Sutton Coldfield independent school in Walmley.

I spoke to headteacher Amanda Lees about the work of the school, and how children of all backgrounds benefit from its friendly and caring approach to education.

She filled me in on issues surrounding traffic and transport at the site.

Whenever I visit the Shrubbery, I always come away with a huge smile, because it is such a wonderful school.

The visit brought home the concerns felt across the independent education sector over the Government’s vindictive plans to add VAT to school fees.

No other country taxes education in this way. Labour’s proposed policy fails to recognise that many parents make huge sacrifices to send their children into private education, for a number of reasons. They are not all hugely wealthy people – however they are all aspirational people, who simply want to give their children the best possible start in life.

The policy also fails to recognise that those same parents also still pay tax to support our state schools, despite opting out of sending their children there.

Read all about it!

This month will see the appearance of a new newspaper in our town – the Royal Sutton Coldfield Charity News.

This one-off publication is something of an experiment by Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust and provides coverage and publicity for dozens of charities and voluntary groups from across the town.

Groups of all kinds have come forward to appear in the free newspaper, which will be delivered to homes from October 31.

It also carries details of how you can apply for grants from the Trust, which has been supporting local people and good causes for centuries.

Former Chancellor to be guest at Annual dinner

The countdown has begun to this year’s Conservative Association annual dinner in Sutton Coldfield – and we have a brilliant guest of honour!

Each year, this proves to be a spectacular evening of political insights, friendship, fun and excellent food!

Our speaker this year is a highly distinguished parliamentarian and an experienced Cabinet Minister - former Chancellor of Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, Member of Parliament for Godalming and Ash.

The black-tie dinner will be held at New Hall Hotel and Spa, on Friday 15th November.

Tickets cost £55 and are available from info@suttoncoldfieldconservatives.com

For details see the ‘further information’ section at the bottom of this message.

In the Commons

My deep concern over Chagos deal

Above: Speaking in the Commons over the Government’s worrying deal on Chagos.

This week, I responded to the Government statement on the conclusion of negotiations on the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

If you believe a certain Daily Mail columnist, I ‘bombarded’ Labour Foreign Secretary David Lammy over this sorry affair!

The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary propose giving away Britain’s key strategic assets in the Indian ocean.

Little or no attention has been paid to the position of those with direct heritage and family links to Chagos. We have no clear details of any safeguards that will guard against China, a close ally of Mauritius, setting up military facilities and surveillance capacity not far away. Through this statement, the Government gives succour to our enemies in a dangerous world, and undermines the strategic web of Britain’s defence interests.

Our country is the poorer and the lesser for it.

At last week’s conference, I met representatives from the Falkland Islands, who will no doubt have been alarmed to hear of the Chagos deal, as will people in Gibraltar. More importantly, I fear it could have dangerous repercussions for the UK’s sovereign base areas in Cyprus —Episkopi, Dhekelia and Akrotiri.

You can read my full response here: BritishIndian Ocean Territory: Negotiations | Andrew Mitchell(andrew-mitchell-mp.co.uk).

Remembering October 7

I shared my condolences in a Book of Reflection to commemorate the anniversary of the 7th October terror attack.

One year on from October 7. May the hostages return. Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel.

Standing up for Myanmar

I met with Zoya Phan, whom I've known for many years. She has long fought consistently and hard for Burma/Myanmar for many years.

Updating the Association of Conservative Peers

I provided an update to Conservative Peers and addressed questions on the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Middle East conflict, Ukraine, and the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Further information