Dear Constituent

Welcome to the Diamond Jubilee edition of my e-newsletter. The Diamond Jubilee weekend is upon us; the Adur and Sompting festivals are about to get underway; a few weeks later the Olympic flame comes to Worthing and Lancing and a couple of weeks after that, the Olympics proper start. And the sun has come out at last! I had a sneak preview of the Olympics when I spent the day at the School Games which were held at the Olympic complex with 1800 of our best young athletes from around the country performing in front of friends, schoolmates and proud parents before the Olympians themselves have had the opportunity. It was a fantastic event and a great privilege to be asked to hand out medals to some of the winners and LOCOG have made an incredible job of the facilities.
Thank you to everyone who has invited me to their events over the Jubilee weekend – I will try to get round as many as possible, and I hope to see many of you too at some of the wonderful events scheduled for Adur’s 25th annual festival and at the opening of the Sompting festival which I have been asked to perform on Saturday June 2nd.

In Parliament, the State opening on May 9th heralded the new session and you can see a full list of the bills announced on No 10’s website http://number10.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/engage/queens-speech-2012/

Best wishes

Tim Loughton

Scheduled (for an appointment ring the Constituency office on 01903 235168)
June 8th- Worthing

Street Surgeries (Just drop by)
June 9th- Shoreham Farmers’ market 10-12
June 16th-Lancing Children’s Centre 10-12 – councillors only as I will be helping with the Children’s Parade in Worthing that morning

Below are the some of the community celebrations that are taking place for the Diamond Jubilee weekend

3rd June

St James the Less and North Lancing Community Association Diamond Jubilee Lunch- Manor Park 12pm-3pm

Diamond Jubilee Service- St Mary’s Church Sompting 11am-12pm

Lancing Green Jubilee Celebrations- Lancing Green 1pm-6pm

5th June

Jubilee Picnic on East Street and on Coronation Green on Tuesday June 5th from 2pm-5pm. 

There is also a family fun day on Beach Green, Shoreham 

Worthing’s Jubilee Street Party takes place on the promenade on Saturday 16th June with plenty of entertainment and competitions. This link provides you with more information and the booking form.  http://www.timloughton.com/pdf/jubilee%20booking%20form%20Main.pdf

The construction start date for the new Shoreham Footbridge is  being delayed in order for WSCC officers to review both the technical and cost elements of the project prior to construction. This is important to ensure value for money and that WSCC has sufficient information to adequately manage the contract on site.
However, WSCC remains committed to replacing the footbridge and is working hard with contractors Osborne to achieve the earliest possible start date. Further to this, Sustrans, who is supplying the grant for the bridge, also remains committed to the project.

Progress is still being made as a formal Planning & Marine Management Organisation Consent, as well as a number of other consents and licences, has been granted subject to conditions.
Destructive testing of the glass balustrades has been completed successfully with the panels exceeding the required minimum standard.

Main contractor Osborne has submitted a target price to WSCC which they will review as well as the detailed design. I will provide updates on the project on the Hot Topics part of my website when we have more news about the start date, particularly after a briefing planned with councillors next week.

You can find out more on the progress of the footbridge from this briefing note http://www.timloughton.com/pdf/Connect%202%20Stakeholder%20Briefing%20Note%20No.9%20May%202012.pdf   

Well done to all the councillors who won their seat in East Worthing and Shoreham and well done to all those who still voted despite the abysmal weather. Councillors elected were:

Adur District Council
Buckingham-Debbie Kennard (Con)/ Churchill-Pat Beresford (Con)/ Cokeham- Barry Mear (Lab)/Eastbrook –Dave Donaldson (Con)/ Hillside-Angus Dunn (Con)/Manor- Keith Dollemore (Con)/ Mash Barn- Andy Barnes (Con)/ Peverel-Carson Albury (Con)/ St Mary’s-Rod Hotton (Con)/St Nicolas- Brian Coomber (Con)/ Southlands-Paul Graysmark (Con)/ Southwick Green- Peter Metcalfe (Con)/Widewater- Ann Bridges (Con) and Fred Lewis (Con)

Full results for Adur can be found here as well as the results for the Sompting and Lancing parish elections http://www.adur.gov.uk/electoral/2012-may-elections.htm

East Worthing wards
Broadwater- Vic Walker (Con)/ Gaisford- Val Turner (Con)/ Offington- Elizabeth Sparkes (Con) and John Rogers (Con)/ Selden-Keith Bickers (Con)

Full results http://www.worthing.gov.uk/worthings-services/electionselectoralregisterandvoting/elections2012/

Congratulations also to the new Chairman of Adur Council Peter Metcalfe and Vice Chairman Mike Mendoza whilst Lancing Parish Council have re-elected Ann Bridges as Chairman and Andy Barnes as Vice Chairman. The new Mayor of Worthing is Councillor Charles Jamnes and Deputy Mayor Cllr Bobby Smytherman

Many congratulations to Steve Lovell on his extraordinary achievement of scoring 284,300 points during his darts marathon. Steve’s intention was to try and beat the world record, currently set at 566,175, over 24 hours and raise as much money as possible for the Freddysmile charity in Lancing www.freddysmile.co.uk - which provides respite for families looking after a loved one with cancer by sending them away for a break.  Although he had to finish early, Steve ended up walking around 20 miles and has so far raised a massive £4,047.

Apparently, at one point, Steve was the most viewed page on Just Giving anywhere in the world. The event was tweeted about by professional darts players Raymond van Barneveld, Bobby George and Ted Hankey, as well as commentator Sid Waddell and celebrities Peter Andre, Jordan, Russell Howard and Jo Whiley.

Well done to Bowers & Wilkins in Dale Road, Worthing who have recently been awarded the Queen’s Award to Industry for Innovation in recognition of the development of the Diamond Domed Tweeter in the highly prestigious 800 series.  Visit their website to find out more about their innovative products www.bowers-wilkins.com

Another well done to Electronic Temperature Instruments Ltd who received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise within the International Trade category for manufacturing and supplying electronic thermometers and probes to worldwide markets. ETI was established in 1983 and, over the last few years, their business has grown by 100%. Find out more on their website www.thermometer.co.uk

The results of the two Tell Tim questionnaires on Lancing regeneration and the UK’s relationship with the EU have now been collected.

The survey revealed that 70% of residents thought that Lancing was a good place to live due to a friendly community and it being situated next to the sea and the South Downs. The majority of residents were also happy with Lancing’s transport links to London, Brighton and Worthing.

However, the results also showed that residents were unhappy with the provision of shops in Lancing with only 20% of respondents rating shopping as good. 38% said that poor shopping and the appearance of shops were amongst the worst things in the village. 50% of residents voted for extra leisure facilities, 25% said that they would like to see a weekly market and 25% said they wish there were more shops to choose from.

75% of respondents would like to see the UK remain an EU member state, citing trading benefits as the primary reason. The same number also believed that leaving the EU would deter other companies from settling here in the UK. However, 50% of respondents would like to see the UK move to a trade only relationship with the EU. On the idea of a Financial Transactions Tax, there was a 50:50 split. There was another 50:50 split when asked about further EU integration with one half of respondents believing that more EU influence would have a negative impact on financial services in the UK and the other half concerned that the UK would be left isolated if they did not integrate further.

The majority of respondents did want to see powers being transferred back to Westminster from Brussels. However, 75% believed that acquiring the relevant agreement needed from the other 26 EU member states to repatriate powers was an unrealistic goal.

On Tuesday May 8th, Worthing High School hosted the fifth annual Eco Summit and I am delighted to report that it surpassed the previous year’s events. There were over 200 children from schools in Worthing and Adur eager to show one another how they have reduced their carbon footprint over the past year.
It was fantastic to see the young people showing even more enthusiasm and engagement than last year and this was due, once again, to some excellent workshops put on by a variety of local organisations and businesses promoting environmental best practice. The Summit is made successful by some great innovation from various groups and individuals. The big show piece this year was a tree that the children had made out of recyclable materials which was a worthy successor to last year’s penguin.
The annual Eco summit is part of the wider initiative, E.Y.E Project (Eco Young Engaged), which I founded to help schools educate their pupils on how important it is to be environmentally responsible. The project’s website, www.eyeproject.co.uk, is a hub for schools and pupils to share their ideas and I am hoping that the campaign will spread across more schools in West Sussex. Thanks to all the hard work by Polly Wise from Thomas A Becket Middle School and the EYE team who made it all possible.

2 dog imaging has released a DVD called ‘A year in the life of Worthing’ which chronicles the views and events that took place in Worthing last year such as Birdman, Royal Wedding Street Parties, Dragon Boat racing and much more.

It is available to purchase in DVD and Blu-ray from local shops, the Visit Worthing Information Centre, libraries and museums as well as online from www.2dogimaging.com  (Postage is free)

£1 from each sale is donated to St Barnabas House

I joined the Parliamentary Hockey team at Blackheath Hockey Club earlier this month to celebrate its 150th anniversary.  Blackheath Hockey Club is considered to be the first hockey club ever set up.

To mark this milestone, we recreated a match between the Blackheath Club and a Parliamentary team which was staged in 1861 and under very different rules on the site of the original pitch. I wonder if the GB hockey team will be sporting the same outfit as we did for the Olympics? (See picture)

Tesco is aiming to set up a second home in Shoreham by converting the Green Jacket Pub at the bottom of Buckingham Park into a Tesco Express store. They are seeking permission to install new facilities including a new shop front and a cash point.  However, apparently they do not require planning permission to actually re- open the site as a retail premises. Due to the site’s former use as a pub (use class A4), the change to an Express building (use class A1) does not need planning permission. The Leader of Adur Council, Neil Parkin, has suggested that all four planning applications are presented to the council’s planning committee anyway so that local people are able to express their opinions. Along with local residents and councillors, I have very grave reservations about yet another Tesco branch opening here, close as it is to the mega store at Holmbush and posing a threat to the parade of shops already across the road. I have, therefore, written to Tesco to give my objections and have been liaising with locals to see what can be done. However, realistically Tesco know they have the planning laws on their side at the moment.
I would urge anyone who would like to view the applications, or comment, to do so by visiting http://planning.adur-worthing.gov.uk/online-applications/ and searching for Green Jacket.

I joined Adur and Worthing’s recycling team last week for their Friday run. I think many people take the work that they do for granted, not realising the professionalism that they put in to what is a tough job. I was impressed with how they went about their work and I hope that I did not get in their way too much!

I will be chairing a residents’ meeting taking place on June 21st/6.30pm at the United Reform Church, Cokeham Road in Sompting to discuss the progress made in addressing the noise problems emanating from Lancing Business Park and the steps being taken by Rabbit to reduce the impact of their operations on the community.

We are hoping that representatives from the Environment Agency, Adur Planning department, and Rabbit will be in attendance to respond to concerns.

The meeting has been arranged by Adur Councillors, Brian Boggis and Carson Albury and County Councillor Dave Simmons following the meeting on 7th March and our subsequent site visit.

Southern Electric is offering free loft and cavity wall insulation, worth around £1,000, to households with less than 60mm of loft insulation and / or no cavity wall insulation and you do not have to be a Southern Electric customer to take advantage of this offer.

Based on average consumption figures from the Energy Saving Trust, it is estimated that, with the right level of insulation, households could save up to £310 off their energy costs a year.

Households are advised to apply now to get insulation installed ahead of the winter.
If you believe that you meet the above criteria, please contact Southern Electric on 0800 072 7201 or insulationenquiries@sse.com

I presented the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation with the From Care2Work Quality Mark in recognition of their exceptional work in supporting care leavers with employability, education and training through the E18HTEEN project, personally promoted by England and Spurs striker Jermain Defoe.

Read the full story here

http://www.catch-22.org.uk/News/Detail/Tim-Loughton-presents-Tottenham-Hotspur-Foundation-with-Quality-Mark

Chesswood School paid a visit to Parliament this month followed by an interactive workshop on how students can make a difference on the issues that matter to them, which I also attended to answer questions. This was courtesy of the excellent House Education Service http://www.parliament.uk/education/visiting-parliament/visit-parliament/

A huge well done to Northbrook College for reaching their goal of recruiting 100 apprentices in 100 days. In fact, they actually recruited 128 apprentices overall and reached the 100 mark 30 days early. The concept of the 100 in 100 campaign is simple- to generate 100 Apprenticeship placements in businesses within the local area within 100 days. The aim is for public and private businesses, training providers, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and the local newspaper and/or radio station to work in partnership to deliver a sustained campaign to influence the business community to drive up the number of Apprenticeship opportunities. It was also supported by Worthing & Adur chamber of commerce

The Worthing Herald did a great job in helping to drum up interest from local businesses and the initiative received a positive response from big national firms in the area, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls Royce and Bowers & Wilkins, through to small independent businesses.
 

It was a fantastic joint achievement from both Northbrook College and local businesses for teaming up together and creating opportunities as this is exactly what the Government has been aiming for in its Work Programme

I joined Blueprint 22 youth group to celebrate their 1st Birthday with a party at Adur Civic Centre on May 8th  with their new Chairman Councillor Debbie Kennard www.blueprint22.org.uk

As I mentioned, I attended the School Games 2012 final at the Olympic Park on 9 May. This was a fantastic opportunity for some of the best young athletes in the country to test the Olympic facilities, where athletes such as Usain Bolt will appear, ahead of the main event. I was joined by thousands of other spectators to watch athletics, swimming and track cycling.
Overall, around 1,800 young athletes competed in athletics, swimming, cycling, fencing, rugby sevens, gymnastics, hockey, badminton, judo, table tennis, volleyball and wheelchair basketball over 4 days.
The Games finished in the Olympic Park on 9 May and is the final event to be staged there before the opening ceremony of the Olympics on 27 July.

Make sure you do not miss out on the chance to take part in Worthing Idol 2012. The popular local talent show is back for a third year and promises to be the best yet. If you are aged between 5 and 18 and believe you have got what it takes to wow the judges, then contact the audition line at www.talentwithinyou.org .

The venue for the auditions will be announced at a later date with the finals taking place at the St Paul’s Centre in Chapel Road on August 26.

Due to popular demand, organiser Vicky Vaughan is launching a new contest, called Vintage Worthing Idol for performers aged 55 and over, so there is no excuse anymore!

Proceeds will go to charity Talent Within You, which helps children to develop their talents.

Congratulations to Cam Hughes and Brogan Kirkby-Bott who are Worthing’s Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor for 2012-2013. They were both elected at the end of April and officially took on their roles at the Mayor-making ceremony on 18 May.

Congratulations also to the old Youth mayor Liam Mills who did a fantastic job, making around 150 appearances during his term.

The Herald and Gazette Community Star Awards were launched on May 3 so it is time to nominate that somebody who you believe is an inspiration to others. If there is a person or group out there who you believe deserves some recognition for the selfless work they do then make sure you put them forward for an award.
Simply give the name, telephone number and address of nominee, award category and the reason for nomination as well as your name and telephone number and send it to communitystars@worthingherald.co.uk

Categories are:  Carer of the year, Star of the Community, True Inspiration, Best Volunteer Charity of the Year, Best Friend, Health Heroes, Best school/teacher, Mini heroes, Best shop worker/ shopkeeper, Sporting achievement award, Arts and Entertainment, Parent or grandparent of the year, Animal magic

Adur’s 25th annual festival takes place from June 1-17 where there will be lots of events and celebrations to get involved with. Find out more information here www.adurfestival.com

Sompting village also has their own jubilee festival which I am opening on 2nd June. You can find out more details on their website www.somptingfestival.org.uk

Your Space Your Time is a lifeline charity providing invaluable support to children and young people with special needs. Founders Joe and Jacqui Shanahan are appealing for financial assistance in order to keep their vital local service running. If you are able to make a donation or organise a fund raising event then you can contact them on 01273 456616 or info@yourspaceyourtime.co.uk
Visit their website to find out more about what they do www.yourspaceyourtime.co.uk

The 'We Made It’ competition is a great new initiative aimed at getting young people thinking about a career in manufacturing.
Young people aged between 13-16 (year 9-11) have been invited to design a product with a chance of making it themselves in a real high-tech factory. All that they need to do is send the design of their product, which can be anything like a gadget, toy or gismo that doesn't already exist, to the We Made It team and they will eventually send all entries in my constituency to me to pick the winner. The prize up for grabs is a trip round special 'Fab Labs', the outstanding facilities provided by MIT and the Manufacturing Institute which allow anyone to make anything using high-tech methods and materials with the support of experts.
All winners will also be invited to an awards reception in the Houses of Parliament, and the overall UK winner, as judged by our panel of manufacturing experts, will receive a special award which will be presented at the event.
All you need to do is fill in the following form to enter http://www.wemadeituk.co.uk/index.php/how-to-get-involved

I receive many emails from constituents passing on circular emails raising apparently alarming claims, many of which turn out to be bogus. This is a useful website www.hoax-slayer.com to check the validity of emails you have been forwarded by others.  The website is also a useful spam checker to prevent any fraud against you.

West Sussex County Council is about to go to consultation on new waste sites proposed across the County and these involve developments at Decoy Farm in East Worthing. The consultation runs until July 27th and you can find further details on the West Sussex website at:

Commiserations to rock band Neko who was unsuccessful in progressing to the final stages of the Rock the House competition. They were up against very tough competition this year from 165 entries.

 I wish them all the best for the future.