The first part of the week was split between Dorset and London, but I was able to chase a few things up around the constituency.

The Weymouth Fire Station is right in the middle of town but on an old site that is becoming very costly to maintain.  It has some redevelopment value and is not big enough for the next type of fire engine that will be needed in a few years time.  It seems inevitable therefore that at some point it will have to move.

Such a move is always going to problematic for the retained crews, who work on two of three vehicles, as they have to be able to get the station within a specified time.  If the station moves there is a clear problem.  There is currently planning permission to build a new station at the New Look site towards the edge of town. I therefore met up with Darran Gunter, the Chief Fire Officer, and Cllr Harry Burden to discuss the concerns.

We had a good decision and it is clear that no decisions have been made.  I am very clear that this mustn't be used to move services away from Weymouth.  There are significant fire risks in the town, as the bus depot fire demonstrated this week.  Darran was very reassuring on this point.  I also think that the new station should be located to minimise risk, and be as future proof as possible even if it costs marginally more.   I will be keeping a watch on this issue.

Whilst in Dorcehster I also met with the project manage for the relief road to get an update.  All on track - next stop the compulsory purchase order inquiry.  Then on to see the head of school improvement and teacher training.  We had an interesting discussion on the success of teacher training in Dorset and on some ideas to co-ordinate education better on Portland to give learning and skills a real boost on the island.

The Mercurys were great.  As a result I bought three of the albums - Bat for Lashes, Fionn Regan and Amy Winehouse.  I thought long and hard about the latter because of the controversy surrounding her and the comments of her in laws.  Her performance was extraordinarily powerful.  She has an amazing haunting voice that reminded me of Billie Holiday, I hope the parallels end there.