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Copeland Conservative Association is the voice for Conservatives in the Copeland constituency.

Following boundary changes the constituency covers the area of Copeland Borough Council plus the wards of Keswick, Crummock, Dalton and Derwent Valley in Allerdale.

Parliamentary Candidate

Chris Whiteside is the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Copeland constituency. He lives and works in the constituency, and serves as a Borough Councillor for Bransty ward in Copeland. You can contact him by email on chris4copeland@btinternet.com

You can read his blog online at www.chris4copeland.blogspot.com

Officers

The principal officers of Copeland Conservative Association for 2009/10 are:

Chairman, Councillor Yvonne Clarkson
Deputy Chairman (Political), Councillor Alistair Norwood
Deputy Chairman (Membership and Finance), David Gray.

News

1) West Cumberland Hospital

Cumbria NHS have now decided that instead of building a completely new hospital, they will keep West Cumberland Hospital on the existing site, rebuilding some sections of the hospital and refurbishing others.

Despite promises by local Labour politicians from the local MP downwards that they had persuaded the government to provide funds for a new hospital, the NHS trusts have decided that there was not enough money available for a complete new build.

So instead of conducting yet another public consultation this spring to find a new site, as had been expected, Cumbria NHS has appointed a contractor and is preparing plans for a partial rebuild which keeps services in Whitehaven.

Copeland Conservatives have been arguing that it is essential to retain a District General Hospital in Whitehaven. We have insisted that any moves to downgrade the hospital, openly or by stealth, or to move it further north, should be strongly resisted. Therefore we welcome the news that the hospital will stay where it is.

However, the services provided by the hospital are as important as the site. We are concerned that the right decision appears to have been taken for an unfortunate reason, e.g. not because the existing site is the best place for the hospital (though it is) but because there was not enough money to move it.

We welcome the news that the project manager says he is looking to keep all services on site during the rebuild. Revamping the site must not be used as an excuse to move any services to Carlisle or elsewhere. If it does become necessary to transfer any services elsewhere during reconstruction, it is essential that the NHS Trusts publish a clear timetable showing which services will be temporarily moved and when they will come back.

2) Conservatives top the poll in Copeland in County Elections

Conservative candidates outpolled Labour in Copeland constituency by over a thousand votes in the June 2009 county council elections.

This result demonstrates that in the next General election the contest will be a close two horse race between David Cameron's Conservatives and Gordon Brown's Labour party, and that no other party is in a position to mount a serious challenge.

Only the Conservatives can beat Labour in Copeland

3) Digital TV fiasco

The next phase of the Digital TV switchover was in June and July this year when the Caldbeck TV transmitter stopped broadcasting an analogue TV signal. The Parton and St Bees transmitters, which re-broadcast part of the Caldbeck service, stopped transmitting analogue signals at the same time. So anyone in the Keswick area or the centre and north of Copeland who wants to continue to watch terrestial television will need to have bought Digital television equipment, or have a Digital set-top box for any analogue television they wish to continue to use.

The Whitehaven TV area, which covers most of Copeland, was the first area in the UK to go through Digital switchover. Contrary to the official hype, this did not go entirely smoothly and was an awkward and expensive business for many people. And those who experienced this and thought it had been sorted out need to be aware that following Caldbeck switching over, Digital UK are planning to adjust the channels on which various signals are broadcast in the Whitehaven area as well so that the government can re-allocate some of the frequency spectrum.

The good news is that we may they get High Definition TV on a small number of channels. The bad news is that

* we will not get High Definition on the majority of channels, and

* we may lose one or two of the channels we currently receive to free up the frequency bandwidth for those channels on which we do get High Def.

* some of those people who had to call the TV engineers out at the time of digital switchover in 2007 to tune their digital kit may have to do so again when the channels change in June and/or July this year.

* Technical problems have continued: a number of residents getting their signal from the Bleach Green transmitter in Bransty ward near Parton have had problems this year with interference between that transmitter and one on the Isle of Man. It demonstrates that the switchover has been run too much on a marketing basis rather than a technical one.

Campaigns

1) Supporting local hospitals.We campaign to support local NHS services, including those provided by the West Cumberland Hospital, Millom Community Hospital, and Mary Hewetson Cottage Hospital in Keswick. Further details are given on our hospitals campaign blog, which can be found at

http://savewestcumbriahospitals.blogspot.com/

2) Digital TV Switchover. Local Conservatives have been monitoring the Digital TV switchover, which began for most of the constituency on 17th October 2007 when the Analogue BBC2 signal was switched off in the Whitehaven TV area. This affected those who get their terrestial TV signal from the Bigrigg transmitter and those which re-broadcast it at Gosforth and Eskdale, but not those who get their signal from Parton or St Bees, or residents of the Millom area who are part of Grenada.

For those who receive their TV signal from the Bigrigg, Gosforth, and Eskdale transmitters, all remaining Analogue channels were switched off on 14th November 2007. The rest of the constituency will switch over with the remainder of the Border TV area in Summer 2009 or with Grenada.

Local Conservatives have been campaigning for some of the problems with this switchover, such as the overly narrow eligibility for the "Help scheme", and the limited digital service, especially in the Eskdale Valley, to be addressed. We are also extremely concerned about some of the further disruption which appears likely to accompany the Caldbeck switchover this summer and will be campaigning for this to be addressed.

3) Post Office Closures

Copeland Conservatives campaigned against the closure of eight post offices in the constituency.

4) Traffic and Parking Review.

There are currently a series of reviews taking place into traffic and parking issues in the Copeland area and in Whitehaven. Cumbria County Council is reviewing the traffic regulations in Whitehaven and the local road network.

If you would like to feedback to us your views and concerns about traffic in Whitehaven or any other area of the constituency, please email Chris Whiteside at chris4copeland@btinternet.com

Councillors

The following Conservatives serve as councillors in the Copeland Constituency

Cumbria Council Council -

Sue Brown (Seascale Wicham)
Norman Clarkson (Gosforth Ennerdale)
Ray Cole (Millom)
Graham Roberts (Bransty)
Andrew Wonnacott (Hillcrest)

Copeland Borough Council -

Copeland council comprises 30 Labour, 18 Conservative, and 3 Independent Councillors The Conservative councillors on Copeland BC are:

Leader of the Opposition: David Moore (Seascale)
Deputy Leader: Alistair Norwood (Whitehaven, Hillcreast)
Alex Carroll (Whitehaven, Bransty)
Norman Clarkson (St. Bees)
Yvonne Clarkson (Beckermet)
Ray Cole (Millom, Newtown)
Eileen Eastwood (Seascale)
Fred Gleaves (Millom, Holborn Hill)
Francis Heathcote (Millom, Newtown)
Keith Hitchin (Bootle. Mayor of Copeland 2008/9)
John Jackson (Beckermet)
Alan Jacob (Gosforth)
Allan Mossop (Whitehaven, Bransty)
Bob Salkeld (Ennerdale)
GIlbert Scurrah (Millom Without)
Chris Whiteside (Whitehaven, Bransty)
Doug Wilson (Haverigg)
Andrew Wonnacott (Whitehaven, Hillcrest)

Allerdale Borough Council -

Allerdale council comprises 22 Labour, 18 Conservative, 4 Liberal Democrat, 11 Independent councillors and one who did not state an affiliation. No political party having a majority, an Alliance group has been formed to run the council in the best interests of all local residents. Conservative councillors are working with other parties within that Alliance group.

The Conservative councillors representing Allerdale wards within the Copeland constituency are:

Leader of the Council: Tim Heslop (Derwent Valley)
Ron Munby (Keswick)
Joe Milburn (Crummock)
Chris Garrard (Dalton)

Contact details for all these councillors are given on the relevant council websites, to which links are given below.

Links

The Conservative party's national website is www.conservatives.com

Conservatives in the North West: http://www.northwestconservatives.com

Other Conservatives in Cumbria:

John Stevenson, PPC for Carlisle - http://johnstevenson-conservative.co.uk
Barrow & Furness Conservatives - http://www.furnessconservatives.co.uk/
Eden Conservatives - http://www.edenconservatives.org.uk/

Local Councils: