We have endured the largest amount of rainfall in living memory, and the pressure that this places on our flood defences has continued. Last Friday I organised a meeting with the Environment Agency and the Romney Marsh Area Internal Drainage Board to discuss the local response to the floods and to see what else could […]
Lydd Airport returns to the news this week as the anti airport campaigners, including the RSPB take their case to the high court to try and overturn the planning application, that was granted to allow the limited expansion of the runway and facilities available to passengers. I have supported the controlled expansion of the airport, […]
In the top forty places in the world to visit in 2014, Folkestone is one of only four places in England to make the list; coming in at number 38, between Moscow and Canberra, Australia. That’s according to the travel pages of The Guardian, and it follows last year’s recommendation by The Times newspaper that […]
We’ve now had several months of positive economic news, showing that Britain’s recovery is being driven by business and trade. Locally, we seen unemployment falling faster than the national trend, supported by the Government’s £40million regional growth fund for East Kent, the high speed rail link and the expanded apprenticeships programmes. Nationally there are more […]
Over the last few weeks we have continued to see very positive signs of growth returning to the economy. The latest figures for unemployment in the Folkestone and Hythe constituency showed the biggest monthly fall in September for over three years. In the last twelve months unemployment has fallen by 20% and the overall rate […]
On Thursday next week I will be holding a jobs fair at The Quarterhouse in Folkestone. The event is running from 10am until 3pm and is open to everyone who is looking for a work or a new opportunity. I am grateful to Shepway Council, Saga, Jackson's Fencing and Lydd Airport for their support for […]
It is a simple fact that the current west coast mainline, the main rail artery connecting London with Birmingham and Manchester, cannot cope with the projected future demand of passengers and that there has to be major investment in new capacity. This additional capacity cannot be found be with tweaks to the existing network, but […]
The Californian technology entrepreneur and the man who has literally written the book on how to run a successful new business in the creative and digital sector was in Folkestone last week for the launch of his School for Creative Start-ups in East Kent. Doug Richard, who has also been one of the Dragons on […]
It is a simple fact that the current west coast mainline, the main rail artery connecting London with Birmingham and Manchester, cannot cope with the projected future demand of passengers and that there has to be major investment in new capacity. This additional capacity cannot be found be with tweaks to the existing network, but […]
The unemployment rate has fallen faster this year in the Folkestone and Hythe parliamentary constituency than the average for the South East of England, and the whole of the country; so in terms of job creation, we are beating some of the best.The latest figures published last week also show that in July both unemployment […]