Last Friday I attended a breakfast for local businesses, organised by Barclays Bank at the Three Hills Sports Centre in Folkestone. We had an excellent cross section of local firms present, involved in diverse sectors including insurance and financial services, the creative industries, hotels and catering, and providers of adult social care.
One of the key themes for discussion was the need for continued investment in the infrastructure that local firms need to succeed. Many businesses were directly affected by the chaos of Operation Stack last year when the county ground to a halt for six weeks. I feel very strongly that we must never be put in this position again, which is why I have championed the £250million investment in the relief lorry park, which will enable traffic to flow freely on local roads, and the M20 motorway, even when there are delays at the Channel Tunnel and Port of Dover. There is strong support for this policy from many local businesses, who have direct experience of the costs to their organisation when Operation Stack has been enforced.
For rural businesses, in particular, access to a reliable superfast broadband service is essential. The government backed Broadband Delivery UK scheme has brought superfast broadband to over 120,000 properties in Kent, which means that currently 91% of business and residential properties are connected. Exchange cabinets are being ungraded around the county every week, and by the end of 2017, 95% of premises will be connected. Last week in the House of Commons I spoke in the debate on the Second Reading of the government’s Digital Economy Bill. This contains the important provision for a universal service obligation for superfast broadband, meaning that by 2020 every property in the country that wants it, will have the legal right to request a superfast broadband service.
On Monday this week I joined Luke Noakes on his trawler, the Valentine, and his father Terry from the Folkestone Trawlers Association, for a fishing trip in Hythe Bay. This was a great opportunity to see first hand the sustainable way in which the local fishermen bring in their catch. The Folkestone trawlers, like those who fish out of Hythe and Dungeness, use smaller vessels with lightweight gear, compared to the larger and heavier beam trawlers that operate in deeper waters. This means that they can trawl in Hythe Bay without damaging the marine life on the sea bed. They are also able to discard back into the sea any smaller flat fish, like plaice and Dover sole, that they land with their catch. These fish can survive for up to two hours after being caught and can be successfully returned to the water from the boat.
We do not need any further restrictions on fishing in Hythe Bay which would only jeopardise the livelihoods of the fishermen and their families, and do nothing to improve the conservation of the marine environment. Overall, we should look to establish a system of managing local fish stocks which works with the local industry and the insights of the fishermen, which have been acquired from generations of experience.