As I said last week, week commencing
Monday 16th October started with the Prime
Minister giving a Statement about the conflict
in Gaza where Hamas have initiated a terrible
sequence of events. The terrorist actions of
this organisation are now delivering untold
suffering on a part of the world that has seen
more than its share of violence already. On
Monday there was also a Question about the
HS2 changes, which is particularly relevant to
us locally. The change has been to cancel part
of the primary HS2 route that goes between
Manchester and Birmingham and to commit
to many other smaller projects around the UK.
Locally, for us, we now have a commitment to
reopen the Station at Ferryhill which will give
direct access to Teesside and the coast for
local residents.
There was also a reference to funding for the
Leamside line which attracted disproportionate
controversy. This is the mothballed line running
from Ferryhill northwards to Newcastle that
would help the East Coast Main Line (ECML)
and provide connections into Washington,
Wearside and Newcastle. The Government
has committed an additional £685m to help this
project through the North East Mayor’s office
when in place next year. Disappointingly, some
opposition politicians are trying to portray this
as bad news! When it comes to portraying
things badly, I must also correct Vince Crosby
from his letter last week where he says the
failures around the Newton Aycliffe Police
Station are to do with the Home Secretary.
Sorry Vince, but this lies firmly at the door of
the Labour Police and Crime Commissioner.
Tuesday started with me attending the Local
Trust Regeneration event which closely aligns
with my All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
on Left Behind Neighbourhoods (LBN) and
it was good to listen to Baroness Armstrong
speak. After this I went into the Chamber of
the House for Questions to the Secretary of
State for Health where I spoke about the need
to support people at risk of suicide. Later I met
up with the LBN team to talk about some press
releases and our report launch this week. This
was followed by a meeting with the Secretary
of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Mark Harper
MP, to discuss the Ferryhill and Leamside
projects.
We should have then had a meeting with the
North East and North Cumbria Integrated
Care Board (ICB) but this just started as a
sequence of 18 votes started in the Chamber
relating to amendments proposed by the
Lords to the Levelling Up Bill so will need to
be rescheduled. After this, I had the pleasure
of accompanying Hitachi at a reception at the
Japanese Embassy to celebrate 150 years of
UK-Japan Railway Friendship.
Wednesday had interesting drop ins as usual,
as well as the Transport Select Committee meeting, where we took evidence around the
Air Traffic Control failure on Bank Holiday
Weekend. Then it was PMQs and a meeting
with the Northern Research Group before
being addressed by the Ambassador of Israel
who complimented the UK for our engagement
and support. My day in Westminster finished
with my duties as Parliamentary Private
Secretary (PPS) for the Economic Secretary to
the Treasury in a debate on Business Banking.
On Thursday, I had a catch up with my team
at the Aycliffe Office as well as a Teams
meeting with a Minister and PFF Group from
NETPark before heading to Ferryhill to meet
the Ambassadors from Dean Bank Primary
School who were talking to local shops about
fireworks. We also met with JBM solar for an
update on their solar farm planning submission
which they will be communicating early
November.
Friday, meetings started with two businesses
in NETPark before meeting some Mums to
discuss Child and Adult Mental Health Services
(CAHMS) and the lack of support they have,
we have more meetings scheduled. After
this it was Hardwick Primary School for their
assembly in Parliament Week and then I
called briefly at Sedgefield Primary before a
catch up with the County Durham Community
Foundation who do some fantastic work. I then
went to meet some Ferryhill residents in the
Dean & Chapter pub to provide some clarity
about progress on the Station. I had some
criticism on social media for not attending a
Private Members Bill (PMB) debate scheduled
for Friday, but this is rarely possible due to how
busy I am in the Constituency on a Friday, as
above, the agenda for PMBs is also quite fluid
so it is difficult to commit time.
Over the weekend I joined some walkers
from Ferryhill for a wander around the local
countryside and it was lovely to see the team
decorating Ferryhill Town Hall with poppies in
anticipation of Remembrance Weekend. If you
pass Ferryhill it is well worth calling into the
market square for a look.
Back to Westminster on Monday for what is
likely to be the last week of this session before
we break for the Kings Speech. If you would
like to catch up, please contact me on Aycliffe
790580 or email [email protected]