One of my top priorities as your new MP will be working to support
investment into our area which will give a boost to local business and
create jobs. In Folkestone, the regeneration of the harbour and
seafront will be vital to the future of the local economy. On Monday
attended the public presentation given at The Quarterhouse in Tontine
Street, by Roger De Haan’s Folkestone Harbour Company, where they
unveiled the new regeneration plan created by the leading architect
Sir Terry Farrell.
This is a bold and creative plan for the seafront in Folkestone that
will help to create more opportunities for local people, and could
also attract new businesses to invest in the area. These are good
foundations on which to build, and I look forward to seeing the plans
develop through the consultation process. You can find out more about
this, and also the public consultation process by visiting
www.folkestoneseafront.com
I am also interested in how local heritage can be integrated into the
new plans for the Harbour. If you have read my columns before you will
know that I am Chairman of the Step Short project that is working to
mark the role of Folkestone during the First World War as the main
port for soldiers to travel to the battlefields. In particular we
would like to achieve this in time for the centenary of the outbreak
of the War, in 2014, and I will be meeting with the Imperial War
Museum in a few weeks time to see if we can draw on their support with
this as well.
My first week in Westminster was dominated by the negotiations between
the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on the arrangements for the
new coalition government. At the meeting of Conservative MPs with
David Cameron , which I attended, we gave him our backing to secure an
agreement which would create the stable government the country so
badly needs. With the world economy in such a turbulent state, and the
debts run up by our Government at a record level for peace time, we
need to be able to work and plan with a degree of certainty. The
Coalition Government has agreed proposals to start reducing Government
waste now, to reduce taxes on business and jobs, and to support
working people on low incomes. There will also be a Budget presented
to Parliament before the end of June which will set out the
Government’s plans on taxes and spending in more detail.
The new Government has also confirmed the commitment that was in the
Conservative manifesto to the build new nuclear power stations, to
help provide the secure supply of clean energy that the country needs.
On the day following the announcement of the new Cabinet, I wrote to
Chris Huhne, the new Secretary of State for Energy requesting an
update on the consideration of Dungeness as a potential site for a new
power station, and I look forward to updating you on his response. A
new power station at Dungeness could create thousands of new jobs, and
along with the development of the seafront in Folkestone could provide
a major stimulus to our economy.