We have seen a big improvement to Kent’s roads over the last ten days since the lifting of the Operation Stack restrictions. This is mainly a result of the improved situation in Calais where there have been far fewer disturbances to the services through the Channel Tunnel, or from the Port of Calais, than in […]
Following the chaos on Kent’s roads this summer it is clear that we cannot go on as we are with the M20 closed for three to four days a week, for weeks on end, with the gridlock this causes on many of the county’s key roads. We have lobbied government Ministers and made the case […]
On Monday evening I spoke with the Transport Minister Andrew Jones MP, to express to him the huge frustration that everyone in Kent feels at the on-going gridlock caused by Operation Stack. He agreed with me that the current situation is completely unacceptable, and that new methods for managing the traffic to and from the […]
The imposition of Operation Stack this summer has been completely intolerable and we will continue to press for more to be done to protect Kent from it and keep our roads open. On Tuesday I raised this in parliament with the Home Secretary, and on Thursday I will be asking the Secretary of State for […]
While driving around the Marsh for my advice surgeries last Friday I was able, not for the first time, to admire the many properties flying Romney Marsh's new iconic flag. It was to my delight therefore that I was greeted at my New Romney surgery by Briony Kapoor, whose IMOS Foundation is behind the superb murals in […]
I met with the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, on Tuesday morning, along with other Kent MPs, to press for more action to resolve the pressure the County has faced during recent weeks from Operation Stack. I believe that there are three key areas for action. Firstly the need for lorry parking space […]
The current strike by French ferry workers at Calais is arguably the worst in living memory. It has forced the closure of the Port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel and caused chaos on the roads of Kent, as lorries bound for the continent have been stacked for days on the county’s motorways, waiting for […]
Operation Stack has returned for the second time in a week, and again as a result of industrial action from ferry workers in France. This strike has closed the Port of Calais and also, once more, affected services through the Channel Tunnel. I think it is incredible that strike action in France can lead to the […]
Ask a Briton who most persecuted minority in the world are and few, if any, would nominate Burma/ Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya for this most unenviable of titles. Numbering around 1.1 million in Myanmar's westernmost state of Rakhine, the lot of the Rohingya has, if anything, worsened since a quasi-civilian government ended decades of military rule […]
This week we received the excellent news that the energy company Ecotricity, has withdrawn its application for the development of six onshore wind turbines at Snave on Romney Marsh. Building six large masts in the middle of Romney Marsh would have been completely inappropriate and out of keeping with the landscape. I believe there should […]