During the Parliamentary recess I have taken the opportunity to visit many clubs, groups and other organisations throughout the constituency. One particularly memorable visit was on 21st September when I was delighted to join Kings Langley Playgroup. For any family with young children, childcare is often a dominating issue affecting the whole family and is vital that there is a choice of solutions on offer. Families need to be able to make the right choices for the education and wellbeing of their children and I was left in no doubt that the children at this playgroup were really enjoying playing and learning together. I certainly enjoyed my time there! On the same day, I was invited to speak about the Buncefield Oil Depot explosion to the Kings Langley Community Lunch for the village branch of the Dacorum Council for Voluntary Service (DCVS). Although a sobering subject, I think the disaster has raised many significant issues and it is important we look carefully at what happened, what could have happened and more importantly how we move forward. We talked about how lucky we were with the timing of the explosion, the wind and weather conditions. If it hadn’t been 6 o’clock on a Sunday morning, if the wind hadn’t carried the fumes to the empty Northgate Building carpark – where the actual explosion took place – if the atmospheric conditions hadn’t been such that the pollution was carried quickly into the atmosphere….it could all have been so very different! I also talked about my dissatisfaction with the Health and Safety Executive inquiry being held behind closed doors – and, of course, that the HSE are in effect investigating themselves as it is their responsibility to ensure that companies are operating safely in the first place. It now appears that the next HSE report will not be published before Christmas. This is a harsh blow for the many people in Dacorum who are awaiting the outcome of the investigation before they can decide on their future. Despite the rather dark topic of my talk, I was very pleased to be able to meet so many people from the village enjoying the lunch. The people of Kings Langley are lucky to live in a village with such a strong sense of community spirit.
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