DCH: new ED and CCU, with maternity and paediatric services saved Dorset County Hospital Emergency Department (ED) currently treats twice as many patients as it was designed for. Richard and fellow West Dorset MP Chris Loder are backing a new, £60 million plus proposal for a new ED, Critical Care Unit (CCU) and helipad, which the Government will decide on in July 2024. WIth a green light, the new ED and CCU should open in 2027. DCH Maternity and paediatric services are also still running at Dorset County Hospital with every intention to retain them and no plans for change. This follows a passionate campaign to save Dorset County Hospital's Kingfisher Ward and SCBU, where Richard joined Oliver Letwin MP, local residents, friends and family of current and former patients and the Daily Echo to protest after the unit's future was threatened by proposed changes. The plans were cancelled in December 2017.
Fairer funding for Dorset schools As a member of the f40 group, which represents the lowest funded local authorities in England, Richard has backed the fairer schools funding campaign since he was elected in 2010. This is aimed at ending the historical inequity whereby inner city schoolchildren were allotted almost twice the amount per capita as rural children. Dorset schoolchildren were particularly hard hit. With the new, National Funding Formula, the process of levelling up began but the campaign continues. Richard believes more fairness is still needed, particularly when it comes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision in Dorset. A new, much-needed special school on Portland is planned and he looks forward to that being finally confirmed.
Flood Relief For Weymouth Richard has consistently championed Weymouth in its bid for flood protection. Most recently, he was instrumental in winning £19.5 million in levelling up funding towards long term regeneration and redevelopment of the town. Along with his fellow Dorset MPs, he also pressed for additional funding in the most recent budget settlement, leading to a further £4m grant. After a September 2017 meeting in which Richard brought together the DEFRA minister and senior council members, there was a series of awards to Weymouth, including £1.2m in 2018 for harbour wall improvements and £2.8 million in Flood Defence Grant, both from DEFRA. In March 2019, the DCLG announced £3.79 million from the Coastal Communities Fund for the Weymouth Quay Regeneration Project, while the Coastal Revival Fund also announced £40,000 for the Friends of Swanage Bandstand restoration and £46,150 for the Portland Museum.
Further Education in South Dorset - Weymouth College As the sole provider of further education in the constituency, Weymouth College is vital to the future hopes of many of South Dorset's young people. Richard has backed and encouraged the College's thriving apprenticeship programme since he was first elected. He teamed up with the College to create the first Apprenticeship Fair in 2014 and continues to speak at the annual Apprenticeship Week event. Currently, Richard is supporting Weymouth College's bid to merge with Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester. Following a public consultation, final submissions will be made mid-May. If the proposal gets the green light to go ahead, the decision will be made by August 1, 2024
More police officers and reopening police stations in Dorset Since he was first elected, Richard has consistently spoken up for the police, supporting increased funding and more 'bobbies on the beat'. Dorset has been traditionally underfunded and the large, rural county is notoriously hard to police, with most of the population centred in towns to the east. Richard pressed for and supports the part-time reopening of the police help desk in Swanage. Another for Portland is in the works, with more planned. However, Richard will continue to push for fully manned, full-time police desks across the constituency.
Getting faster, better trains to Weymouth Richard continues to campaign for a new, improved service from Weymouth to London via Yeovil Junction and Salisbury, which should shave at least 30 minutes off the total journey time from Waterloo to Weymouth. However, for now, the British government has suspended the rail franchise system as the disruption from the coronavirus pandemic has hit passenger numbers hard. The Department for Transport announced in March 2020 that it was temporarily ending normal franchise agreements and transferring all revenue and cost risk to the government. Operators continue to run services day to day for a small management fee under an “emergency measures agreement”.
Keeping a helicopter base at Portland's Osprey Quay The long and hard fought campaign to retain Portland's Search and Rescue (SAR) failed, despite the valiant efforts of many constituents and others. However, with Richard's support, HeliOperations took over Osprey Quay as a training base for their specialist aviation training courses for search and rescue aircrew in 2018, starting with German Navy pilots. Importantly, as well as bringing jobs and opportunities to Portland, the continued presence of a base has ensured a refuelling capacity at Osprey Quay for military and SAR helicopters.
Freeing Sergeant Alexander Blackman Richard remains in touch with Sergeant Alexander Blackman, after championing his case when the former Royal Marine was imprisoned for shooting and killing a wounded Taliban fighter in 2011. The case was controversial but campaigners who maintained that the senior non-commissioned officer was operating under intolerable pressure in impossible conditions without adequate support, were finally vindicated. Sergeant Blackman was released in April 2017.
Reprieving Swanage Community Hospital SWANAGE Community hospital is safe. So says Ron Shields, the chief executive of Dorset Healthcare University Trust, whose responsibilies include the three community hospitals in South Dorset. The other two being Weymouth and Portland. He told Richard that he wanted to fully utilize all the community hospitals and integrate them into his healthcare programme. This is wonderful news for all Swanage residents and of course for the Friends of the hospital, so ably led by Jan Turnbull.