One of the best things about being an MP is being able to help people and make a difference in protecting and improving our area.
Since being elected in July 2024, I’ve had local successes, including in the following areas:
- protecting jobs and important industries;
- backing our veterans;
- working for better services;
- fighting inappropriate development, and;
- taking action on road safety and transport
Protecting local jobs and important industries
- getting the Environment Agency permit needed for Nyobolt, a local clean technology company, to start making its exciting new battery-charging technology here in West Suffolk and thus helping to secure jobs for our area (see coverage below in the Haverhill Echo).
Backing our veterans
- Adding my voice of support, as his local MP, for a Royal Air Force veteran who flew secret missions through clouds of US hydrogen bombs in the 1950s to receive a well-deserved medal for his bravery and sacrifice. I’m pleased to say that Squadron Leader “Pete” Peters received his medal just before Remembrance Sunday 2024. I was also pleased to be able to help support the Royal British Legion in Mildenhall for their poppy appeal in November 2024 (see picture at the top of this piece and below) and was delighted to visit the RBL in Brandon this Spring (also see picture below).
Working for better local services
- I have also made the case for better health services here in West Suffolk, calling on the Government in Parliament to deliver better ambulance response times in Haverhill and to invest in a blue light colocation hub and demanding more resources for local police to cope with High Point, which will be the largest prison in Britain when it is completed in Summer 2027 (see coverage below). I also had the pleasure to join the brilliant West Suffolk Hospital Foundation Trust team for the official opening of the new £15 million Newmarket Community Diagnostic Centre in May 2025. This is a massive boost for our area as it means lower waiting times and less travelling for residents in need of crucial health checks.
Fighting inappropriate development
Since being elected I have continued the fight in Parliament against the proposal for the huge Sunnica solar and battery farm near Newmarket — highlighting the risks of putting Battery Energy Storage Systems so close to residents and strategic defence facilities such as RAF Mildenhall (see coverage below). I am also standing with residents in Haverhill and Withersfield against the plan for a bio-digestion plant which would be entirely wrong for the area (see coverage below).
Taking action on road safety
- I have been working hard on road safety and better public transport, making the case for action to reduce the number of accidents on the A14 and supporting residents in their calls to tackle problems on dangerous junctions — such as the Boy’s Grave Crossing near Kentford (see coverage below). I have made numerous submissions to Suffolk Highways regarding problems of speeding traffic and lorries going through neighbourhoods and villages such as Snailwell Road in Newmarket, Kentford, Hawstead Green and Nowton, Moulton, Poslingford, Holywell Row, Wickham Street and other places around West Suffolk. Because I believe that residents should be able to take action themselves to address road safety challenges, I am campaigning for more power to be given to parish councils so they can improve things locally. If you would like to sign my petition, please click here, and see the third picture below for a print-out version which you can ask your family, friends and neighbours to sign.
