The Water Bill was debated on Monday. It was passed with some amendments. It covers restrictions on extraction and impounding of water and new regulatory arrangements with the establishment of the Water Services Regulation Authority and the Consumer Council for Water. Those living on estates in Kidderminster with private, unadopted sewers will be relieved that a new Clause which was submitted by MPs on the All Party Sewer Group was included in the Bill and approved without a division. This new Clause gives the Secretary of State power to make regulations to allow schemes for the adoption of private sewers. This is what is called an enabling clause and allows the Government when, following public consultation, the decision has been made on the best way forward on private sewers to introduce adoption in various forms without further legislation.

The contentious part of the Bill involved fluoridation. To my mind, this is one of the very few instances when the public good outweighs arguments in favour of freedom of choice which I would normally defend to the hilt. Other examples of this that have been accepted include the compulsory wearing of seatbelts and the compulsory wearing of crash helmets by motorcyclists. The House, on a free vote, rejected by a majority of 103 a New Clause that would have prohibited the addition of fluoride to water supplies. Of course there were arguments that fluoride is a medicine and a poison and horrified appeals for civil liberty.

The most effective speech came from an MP who is a dentist, brought up and trained in New Zealand where fluoridation was introduced many decades ago. He recognised three dental generations – his parents’ with plastic teeth, his own with heavily filled teeth and his children’s with little or no tooth decay and no fluorosis.
To my relief this carried the day so now the way is open for fluoridation in areas that need it. This will relieve our children of visits to the dentist with drilling and filling that were often the only unpleasant feature of school holidays that I remember!

Fireworks dragged on this year for many nights around November 5th going on long into the night. I do not want to be a killjoy because appropriately controlled, visually spectacular firework displays are an exciting part of our heritage but for the sake of small children and animals I hope that the restrictions in the Fireworks Act 2003 will be respected voluntarily.

I enjoyed taking part in the conference to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the opening of ‘D’ Block, our mental health unit which survived the attacks of the defunct Worcestershire Health Authority and continues to promote the Kidderminster ethos of health care. It reminded me that ‘A’ Block, built as a state-of-the-art medical block is also just 25 years old. Thank goodness this also looks set to stay as predictably it is needed.