Have your Say!

Amidst all of the media feeding frenzy about MP’s employing family members last week, I was glad to slip into one of the many receptions and events that take place in the mother of Parliaments every day and meet some real people. It was a celebration of the wonderful work done by heroic people all over the country mentoring others, young and old. We heard from those who had been mentored as well as the people, some of them still teenagers themselves, who had been mentoring others.

I met a fifteen year old girl from Plymstock School who was proud to tell me about the impact on her life that her wise mentor, also present, had made. She produced a computer print out of her behavioural record at school. Three years earlier there was a list as long as your arm of incidents of "disruptive behaviour" and detentions. This had shrivelled to three minor incidents in the current year. This bubbly young lady also told me that as a result of being mentored the relationship with her mother had improved dramatically and that she had lifted her horizons about what she might do with her life.

One meeting a week over a three year period with an experienced woman was all it had taken to bring about this change of heart.

What a powerful testimony of how well placed voluntary effort can make all of the difference to a young life. The state can help organise but does not have the resources to field a team of professional mentors. Besides it is important that the confidante is seen as being on the young person's side.

The mentoring scheme at Plymstock School is organised by Jane Brotherton who told me that they have more pupils suitable for this kind of help than volunteers.

Are you a good listener who has something to offer to the next generation? Can you put all of those excruciating years guiding your own teenagers in the vague direction of normality to good use? If you can help, why not offer your services, or find other avenues for mentoring people whose lives might be changed for ever. Jane would love to hear from you. In the end, most mentors tell me that they are the ones who benefit most. The rewards of seeing a young life blossom just by listening and offering the occasional word of advice are very real.

What do you think about this kind of scheme? Should the government be working harder to introduce this kind of help, or is it up to us as a commuinity to support the youth in this way?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yours,
Gary

posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Tuesday, February 12, 2008

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Of the campaigns I have fought and lost, the Langage power station still rankles. I remain convinced that placing a new gas fired power station right alongside 35,000 people, on the gateway to the moor and rolling beauty of the South Hams was a poor decision by the DTI. Given that they have had to move pylons and dig up half of Devon to install a new pipeline, I feel somewhat vindicated.

However, it is now being built and it is time to accept that it will shortly be part of our daily lives in south west Devon. I was shown around the construction site on Friday. Centrica Plc (British Gas to you and me) are spending 400 million GBP on this ultra-modern complex and currently there are over 500 people working on it - most of them British workers - a number that will rise to a massive 850 this summer. I have never seen so many cranes and tractor type vehicles in my life, with steel and concrete thrusting out of the ground at every turn. It is intended to open the station in late 2008/early 2009. The project is currently running to time and on budget.

Through the constant lobbying of many people, the design has been improved and the foundations lowered so that the impact on all of us locally will be diminished. We will see it from the Deep Lane junction, but probably not from the A38. We won't see it in Plympton until we drive through Langage and I am assured we will not hear or smell it. Time will tell.
It is an impressive feat of engineering. Already the firm are starting to employ the 50 or so people who will run it, several of them local people. I never bought into the idea that we will benefit in our power bills locally, and it seem that we will not. The main benefit will be security of supply.

My primary concern remains the energy park alongside the power station that would attract 2,000 new jobs to the region. This has nothing to do with Centrica, but is owned by Carlton Power Limited. Well, there is a posh sign on the entranceway and some swanky landscaping has been done. But there is not a sign of a building in which these new jobs can be created. Carlton Power - please get a move on. As the economy tightens we need those jobs.

Let me know how you you feel about the projects and what you make of the building work so far. Have you noticed any disruptions to your usual routine? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yours,
Gary

posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Monday, February 04, 2008

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