In October the Department for Work and Pensions decided after a campaign led by Gordon Banks MP for Ochil and South Perthshire that the Cold Weather Payments monitoring station for a large part of Ochil & South Perthshire was to be moved to a more local base in Strathallan.

The first payments from the Cold Weather Payments system for this winter will be made today 22/12/09 and the areas covered by the Strathearn station will benefit from this action.

Speaking on this issue Gordon Banks MP said;

“The introduction of a new station at Strathallan gives more accurate data for those residents now covered by this station, and this means that people can benefit more appropriately from local temperature measurement.

Many of these areas would not have benefited if the new station at Strathallan had not been secured.

I have campaigned for some time on this matter but I am glad that my constituents who have been unfortunate to miss out on previous year’s payments are already benefiting this year.

Once again I would like to thank my constituents who have been in contact with me on this matter and also Dr Andrew Black of the University of Dundee who provided a range of useful information that allowed this change to take place.”

Mr Banks added,

“I am delighted that the new monitoring station at Strathallan has proved the need for change and I will continue to fight for other monitoring stations to be relocated to give more accurate information in relation to where people live.”