One of the privileges of being the MP for this area is seeing the tremendous support given to the people in our community who need help to achieve their full potential in life.
Adults and young people with learning disabilities or physical disabilities - and often both - have complex needs and we are lucky to have centres that do a wonderful job in meeting them.
Northdale Horticulture and Chopsticks in Northallerton, and Just the Job Environmental Enterprises in Richmond, provide meaningful work-based activities for our more vulnerable residents.
Over the years I have seen all three centres at work providing fantastic opportunities for adults with disabilities.
All are looking to improve their services. Most recently, at Northdale Horticulture I saw how their impressive development programme is extending the experiences they can offer.
The new building housing a shop and workshop is a great addition to the Yafforth Road site and is just one aspect of the services provided there. Many of you will be familiar with the nursery and the superb plants grown there but there is so much more to Northdale.
For example, during my recent visit I was pleased to see how technology was being used to improve the lives of their clients. I watched a group using virtual reality headsets to get advance experience of an outside trip they were about to undertake. For those who might be anxious about such a journey, something most of us take for granted, it was invaluable in easing those fears.
That’s just one example of the supportive environment provided at Northdale and I commend its work.
In all three centres, the staff, supported by volunteers, do an amazing job and deserve our thanks.
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I am delighted to see a fresh round of meetings for farmers in the Yorkshire Dales National Park have been organised to give more information about the transition to our new farm support system.
The five meetings, organised by the National Park Authority, will brief upland farmers on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) – a key element in the new system of assisting our custodians of the countryside.
As I said to a meeting of local farmers last month, the Environmental Land Management support programme – which gradually replaces the old EU Common Agricultural Policy system – is evolving and being improved as it is rolled out.
SFI has been trialled over the past 12 months and significant improvements were announced earlier this year. These improvements will be among the matters discussed at the meetings, along with how to apply for the payments. The aim is a payments system which is simple enough for farmers to apply for without necessarily needing external support and advice.
One subject to be covered at the meetings is how SFI interacts with other schemes, including Higher Level Stewardship and Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship which many upland farmers are already part of.
The first meeting is held on Monday in Reeth (in the Memorial Hall at 7pm) with the remaining four over the next couple of weeks, including in Hawes Market House on July 24, again at 7pm. More details from the park authority’s Farm Conservation Team on 01756 751620.
