As a Member of Parliament, you play a lot of roles.
You tackle a wide and complex range of issues for your constituents – doing your best to resolve their particular problem. You spend lots of time debating national and international legislation – often having to learn quite niche and nuanced topics in great detail. You try to influence local policies – from bin collections to planning applications – over which you have no control and to varying levels of success.
Perhaps most importantly, you are a champion for your constituency and for all the myriad communities within it. In the months since my last column for the Kimpton Magazine, I have been busy championing Kimpton’s interests in Westminster.
This has included supporting the Parish Council’s project to re-develop the pavilion on the Recreation Ground into a fantastic new amenity for residents. I think this is an excellent project and I was very happy to give them my full support.
I have written directly to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to endorse the Council’s bid for funding from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund and I hope that we will be able to secure the funds needed to deliver the new pavilion. Towards the end of July, I visited the Recreation Ground with Kimpton’s District Councillor Ralph Muncer and we discussed at length how we can work together to support the project as it progresses.
I have also been working hard on a number of other campaigns which will benefit Kimpton. That includes my continued efforts to lobby the Department for Transport to stop Luton Airport’s bids for any further expansion – recognising the impact that additional capacity would have on communities like Kimpton through increased air and noise pollution and traffic congestion.
I am also working to expand the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty across our local countryside – providing vital new protections for the character of our rural area.
Following our recent success in securing funding for a new specialist Cancer Hospital for our region, I am now working to make further improvements to local health services – including by delivering a new GP surgery to serve our communities.
Kimpton is a beautiful village, with a fantastic, vibrant community. I will continue to be your champion in Westminster.
