Category Archives: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

        I have met police officers to hear their worries about the Winsor proposals on police pay. Understandably some police officers are worried that their pay will be cut, owing to the new scales and the enlarged pension contributions.       I took these matters up with Mr Winsor this week when he came to [...]

              I was saddened today to hear of another accident at the Ufton Nervet railway crossing.  I  understand a scooter rider was knocked down and killed by the oncoming Paddington to Taunton train.              I send my condolences to the rider’s family. It will come as a great shock to lose a loved one so suddenly [...]

            Over recent weeks I have been out and about on doorsteps supporting local Conservative candidates for the Council elections. I have been in Wokingham and Winnersh, Earley and Shinfield, where the nine contests were taking place. I am grateful to constituents who spent time telling me their thoughts and feelings on local and [...]

I wish all Conservative candidates in tomorrow’s local elections well at the polls. The Council has kept the Council Tax down for the last two years, which has been a welcome relief given the pressure on individual and family budgets. The new waste scheme is settling in, and provides a new weekly collection of recycling [...]

              I attended today the All Party Group on Equitable Life compensation at the request of constituents. The Group’s executive raised a number of important issues about who is eligible for compensation, how the compensation is calculated, when people will receive their cheques, and if more information will be made available for them to [...]

The Government has published a consultation paper on reforms to park homes and mobile home / caravan site licensing.  It is intended that the proposals would put the park home sector on a sustainable footing for the long term, allowing site operators to run good businesses, offer a decent service to residents and ensure that [...]

This week one correspondent asked if all the work I was doing on national and international issues on the economy was getting in the way of being a good  local MP for Wokingham. It was a very strange intervention, as the state of the UK and EU economies are crucial to the living standards of [...]

      Today I visited the Tudor House surgery to see their ambitious plans to expand their medical practice and to provide bigger and more modern surgery facilities. I was shown their model of a planned expansion of a property next to Marks and Spencers between Rose Street and Peach Street, where they are currently [...]

              I want to say a big “Thank you” to Wokingham Choral society for their magnificent performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers on Saturday 31 March.              Vespers for the Blessed Virgin was a revelation to those of us hearing it for the first time. From the first explosion of sound with the full choir, soloists [...]

               I have received a number of emails about the government’s plan to monitor the emails and website visits of every citizen. My first reaction to the headline news was “No”. I want to see our civil liberties protected and extended, and think the state already has too much power.              The government is [...]