Happy New Year for 2014. I hope you have had an enjoyable break over Christmas and are looking forward to the year ahead. Despite the very mixed weather we had a wonderful sunny winter day on Boxing Day, which was perfect for the numerous sporting events taking place across the district. As in previous years, along with Sarah and our children, we watched the East Kent hunt set off from the Square in Elham, and it was good to see so many people out to support them.
I hope that the heavy rain and winds that have affected Kent have not disrupted your homes and plans over the festive period. Please let me know if you have any outstanding issues that need to be resolved and I will take them up with the authorities. Overall, we seem to have avoided the worst of the damage and disruption, and I would like to thank the emergency services and the Environment Agency who have worked so hard to sort out the problems caused by the recent storms. Locally I think we have also benefited from the investment in the defences around Hythe Bay, which means we have not suffered from the sea flooding, which has affected other coastal areas this winter.
2014 promises to be a big year for our area. The strengthening economy, falling unemployment and new investment through the East Kent regional growth fund can give us more cause for optimism at the start of this New Year, than for any year since the start of the financial crisis in 2007. Locally unemployment is twenty per cent lower now than in May 2010 and nationally more people are in work that ever before. Crucially, take home pay is now rising faster than at any point for six years and overall our economy is growing faster than our competitors in the western world.
2014 will also see a number of major events taking place in our district. This includes the opening of the National Army Museum's exhibition on the centenary of the First World War at the Town Hall in Folkestone in June. On August 4th Folkestone will play an important role in the national commemorations for the centenary of the outbreak of the war, with a memorial march down the Road of Remembrance and the unveiling of the memorial arch on The Leas. Later in August the Creative Foundation will be producing its third Triennial Arts Festival, which will run until November, and promises to be the best yet. The summer of 2014 will also see the return of the Folkestone Air Show, the Hythe Festival and the Dymchurch Day of Syn.
On Friday 3rd January I will be holding my first surgeries of the New Year at Lydd, New Romney, St. Mary’s Bay, Dymchurch and Hythe. To find out more details and to make an appointment please call my office in Folkestone on 01303 253524 or visit the Get in Touch page on my website www.damiancollins.com