The first week of September marks the beginning of the new academic year, and for many pupils it will mean starting a new school. This is always a big moment, both for the students and their families. This week though, the 120, year seven pupils at the Turner Free School in Cheriton have the added […]
If you are a victim of crime, there are no statistics that will persuade you as to the safety of the area where you live. However, overall our Folkestone and Hythe district has a crime rate below the average for Kent and is the fourth lowest of the County’s twelve local authority areas; lower as […]
For the last ten years, Step Short, Folkestone’s First World War centenary charity, has worked to commemorate the sacrifices of all the men and women who were part of that terrible conflict, either on active service, or as vital support personnel. These acts of remembrance are important for every community in this country, but have […]
Last Friday I met with my constituency neighbour, the MP for Hasting and Rye, Amber Rudd, and the Environment Agency, to discuss the Folkestone to Cliff End flood defence strategy. Over the last ten years over £130million has been invested in the coastal defences to protect the Romney Marsh area and the communities that live […]
This week the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour of the expansion of Heathrow Airport, to create a third runway. This approval from parliament now makes it possible for the operators to come forward with detailed proposals to deliver this scheme. I voted in favour of this motion, believing that it will be good […]
This week the Prime Minister announced major new plans to secure the future funding of the National Health Service. Under the government’s proposals, NHS funding will grow on average by 3.4 percent in real terms each year. By 2023 the NHS England budget will increase by £20.5 billion in real terms compared with today. This […]
This week marks the start of the Highways England consultation on the permanent solution to Operation Stack. Following the chaos caused in the summer of 2015, when Operation Stack was in force on 32 days, I along with the other Kent MPs secured from the government a commitment to fund a £250 million lorry park […]
In many ways, data, the trail of information that we add to every time we use the internet, is the new oil of the modern economy. Although we can’t always see it, it powers everything that is done online, from sharing pictures with friends, to paying bills and looking up what’s on during a bank […]
The Department for Transport has this week provided an update on its plans to create a long term solution to Operation Stack and address the need for more overnight lorry parking in Kent, and across the South East of England. The previous lorry parking scheme proposed for the M20 close to junction 11, was withdrawn […]
On Wednesday this week the House of Commons debates the final stages of the Data Protection Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to introduce the new general data protection regulations [GDPR], giving people more power over how their data is used. These new rules have implications for businesses and organisations that hold personal data […]