So Derbyshire County Council has closed Crow Lane to encourage people to cycle to the hospital. And they have decided to close South Place and Corporation street to vehicles though it is not clear why.
Did you know Derbyshire County Council received funding from the government to support the promotion of cycling and walking facilities. They received £443,000 from the governments Emergency Active Travel Fund to support the installation of temporary projects for the COVID-19 pandemic and a further £1,773,000 for the current financial year for the creation of longer-term projects. I think it would be good to know what and where DCC intend to spend this.
This moment demands not only greater awareness of racial injustice, but swift action.
George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis a month ago today.
Seeing his last few moments and hearing his final words broadcast across the globe has sparked a renewed revulsion at continuing racial injustice and focused attention on the Black Lives Matter movement.
For those of us who do not have to confront racism and discrimination every day in anything we do it has been a long overdue wake up call that we still have work to do to wipe out inequality in this country.
We must make sure we turn this moment into lasting change. It is time to raise awareness, to pursue swift, effective action to end racial injustice.
The government has announced it will hold a review into race inequality. But that is not enough. We need action. We need a Race Equality Strategy for the whole of the United Kingdom - a strategy that does not avoid injustice, but tackles it head on, and defeats it.
We must build a fairer, more equal society. To do that Liberal Democrats will have to take the fight into every area of our society. As we learn more and the campaign grows so too will our policies and the list of actions we need - we defeat racial injustice wherever it lurks in modern Britain.
Ending Suspicion-less Stop and Search
On too many occasions stop and search seems to mean being black is enough to suspect someone of being a criminal.
Based on the latest Home Office figures, a black person is 47 times more likely to be stopped and searched under Section 60 than a white person.
Suspicion-less stop and search not only doesn't work, but the disproportionate impact of these laws undermines police officers' relationships with the communities they serve - the very relationships needed to prevent crime. The Liberal Democrats have introduced a Bill to scrap this flawed, unjust law.
Action for BAME communities being hit hardest by COVID-19
The disproportionate effect that the coronavirus pandemic is having on BAME communities had shone a stark spotlight on racial injustices in Britain today.
The Government must act urgently to address this disproportionate impact on BAME communities, and to solve the deep-seated inequalities and injustices they face.
It is appalling that the Conservatives' discriminatory Hostile Environment policies and their refusal to suspend the 'No Recourse to Public Funds' rule are preventing migrants and other BAME people from accessing the healthcare they need during this pandemic. We have been pushing since the start of the pandemic to get the government to change course on this issue, and provide greater clarity on steps they are taking to support those most vulnerable.
Campaigning to end the Hostile Environment
The Windrush Scandal demonstrated how shamefully people who have every right to live in the UK - disproportionately people from BAME communities - are treated under the Conservatives' Hostile Environment.
Discriminatory government policies wrongly deny people access to NHS treatment, housing and other services.
Innocent people have been made homeless, detained and even deported. The police share personal data with the Home Office, deterring victims and witnesses from coming forward. This has to stop.
The Windrush Scandal should have put an end to the Hostile Environment once and for all. It hasn't. Liberal Democrats will work night and day until we change it.
The Windrush Scandal laid bare the horrifying cruelty of the Conservatives' Hostile Environment.
People who have every right to live in the UK were wrongly denied access to NHS treatment, housing and other services simply because they don't have the right documents to prove it. Many were wrongfully detained and even deported. The way the Government has treated the Windrush Generation - as well as other immigrants and people from BAME backgrounds - is shameful. It is the direct consequence of cruel, discriminatory policies and the toxic culture at the Home Office. Both of those must change.
Pride was spearheaded by black and trans women who put their lives at risk for others.
On the morning of June 28 1969, police raided an underground gay bar in New York city called Stonewall Inn. The raid wasn't unusual but that morning the response was.
This time, as the police got violent, the people in the Stonewall Inn fought back.
For a nation of shopkeepers, and shopaholics, the reopening of non-essential retail this week has been a moment of singular importance. The British government has urged us all to do our patriotic duty and go out and spend.
It was only weeks ago that shops were scrabbling to restock shelves emptied by panic buyers; now the priority is to help shops clear their shelves of stock to help get the British economy moving again. I recognise the problem, after three months spending little money other than on food and bike repairs.
Boris Johnson's spokesman says that the school meal voucher scheme will not run over the summer.
According to reports in The Independent, Lawyers for food charity Sustain have sent a letter to education secretary Gavin Williamson demanding urgent clarification of what measures he will take to prevent "holiday hunger" and warning of court action if his response was not adequate.
George Floyd cannot be just another name. The Liberal Democrats support the movement to bring justice and equality for black communities. Black Lives Matter
In the week since the death of George Floyd in the United States, the grief and anger of black communities in the US and closer to home has been clear.
Kate Smith, the Lib Dem Policing spokesperson for Derbyshire, has hit out at Government populism and muddled thinking on the justice system. New evidence from respected think-tank the Institute for Government shows there has been no real thinking about the effects of recruiting extra Police. The IfG's Report looks at the effects on England and Wales' system of two important factors: the Tories' Manifesto commitment to provide 20,000 more Police officers, and the Coronavirus crisis.
Figures released in Spring 2020 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on knife crime in England and Wales are striking, with the incidence in Derbyshire having almost doubled in eight years.
Before Coronavirus, hundreds of lives were already being taken by the epidemic of violence, many of them children. Too many people feel unsafe walking on their own streets. The Conservative approach has failed, with successive Home Secretaries too busy trying to seem tough on knife crime to do the hard work of actually preventing it. They cut Police numbers, and failed to provide properly the services that help people build lives free from crime.
The Liberal Democrats are today calling on the Government to ramp up mental health support for health and care staff to ensure "world-class" support for those tackling the virus head on.
Highlighting the "deep scar" coronavirus will leave on health and care staff, the party have put forward a package of mental health measures designed for rapid roll-out across the NHS and care sectors, including:
