The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.
The future of the flagpoles on the police station in Market Harborough is still uncertain, but the removal of it - temporary or otherwise - is not the thin end of a wedge leading to changes in the way Market Harborough is policed.
That's the message from a 60-minute meeting between the county's police commander and Harborough councillor Phil Knowles held at the force's headquarters.
The official opening of St Luke's day case unit in Market Harborough will take place on Wednesday 18 January from 10 a.m. until noon. It will be carried out by the Minister of State for Health, Simon Burns MP.
Cllr Phil Knowles, who has been at the forefront of the campaign for the unit, has expressed his delight at the news. "This is an important and much needed facility for Harborough, which has faced many problems, all of which have been well documented. This is very welcome news."
Within a few days of Cllr Phil Knowles asking the question "What is happening over the Market Harborough Agricultural Showground" the matter has been put before two of Harborough District Council's committees.
In answer to questioning from Phil it was revealed that the council had received a request months ago to agree to a delay of a year to the opening date as a "variation request" to the s106 agreement had been submitted but it emerged that rather than this being highlighted to councillors, Officers were expected to make the decision under their delegated powers.
News has emerged that after more than 20 years' campaigning funding for Harborough new hospital has been secured.
Consortium chair Dr David Briggs, in a call to Cllr Phil Knowles, confirmed that there is now an additional £4m of secured funding to deliver 21st century health care for Market Harborough with a completion date of 2014.
first phase of Harborough's 21st century development on the St Luke's Hospital site will be opened to the public in January!
The keys were formally handed over by the builders this week. Commissioning, along with staff training, is under way and we are told that plans are being formulated by the PCT/NHS for a series of open days in the build up to the opening ceremony.
Harborough district councillor Phil Knowles has taken up the matter of the number of apprenticeships in Leicestershire and the wider East Midlands, along with concerns at the general level of youth unemployment, with the Department for Business Innovation & Skills at Westminster.
In a response to Cllr Knowles a spokesperson for the Department says:
Simon Hughes MP, deputy leader of the the Liberal Democrats was in Harborough today as the guest at our constituency dinner and for meetings with Liberal Democrat councillors, members and Supporters.
Simon is pictured with here with Lib Dem councilors Simon Galton, Phil Knowles, Barbara Johnson, Sarah Hill and Julie Simpson
NHS bosses look set to formally confirm the opening of Minor procedures and endoscopy unit to the first patients in January 2012.
This is the prefabricated unit that was produced in the United Aran Emirates, damaged in transit, much delayed and for which the contract had to be taken up by a new contractor when the original contractors went bust. The Unit is sited at St Luke's Market Harborough, and is a £2.4m first stage of the long awaited development of 21st century healthcare facilities for the town.
Health bosses are being urged to clarify the future of Market Harborough's Minor Injury Unit and to provide assurances that the funding has been secured for Harborough's 'new hospital'.
In a letter and telephone call, Liberal Democrat councillor Phil Knowles has told the Health Authority that these questions need to be resolved without delay.
Do they control traffic as well as the previous ones? Has the phasing of traffic been altered and is it a cause of traffic jamming up?
They are just two of the questions being raised by Cllrs Phil Knowles and Sarah Hill following a string of calls from concerned pedestrians and motorists.
