Category Archives: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

As I drive around the constituency visiting people and looking at problems on the ground I have seen the rapid quickening of the pace of development this year. In the first quarter of 2016 118 new homes were started in the constituency. In the second quarter this leapt to 222, around four times the national […]

I held a meeting recently with the Thames Valley Police Commissioner. We agreed that fraud and cybercrime are worrying areas of criminal activity that would repay more enforcement action. We also agreed that the Thames Valley still gets a relatively low settlement per capita compared to other police forces around the country, which we will […]

I opened the new Bohunt School in Arborfield on Friday afternoon. It is the first new secondary school in Wokingham Borough for many years, and will grow rapidly from today’s 100 pupils as each new class joins in the next few years. I toured the excellent school premises, visited teachers and pupils in their classrooms, […]

I have been contacted about excessive water run off in the Reading Road and flood problems at Keep Hatch. I have taken these up with Wokingham Borough Council who are responding to the problems.

The EA say: “I am writing to update you on the current rainfall that we have experienced overnight (Thursday 15 September) and that will continue into Friday. The flooding so far has been from surface water run-off. The local authorities are leading on the response and we are offering support to our local partners and […]

I met Neil Harris today he set up the Sport in Mind charity. It offers sports participation for people with mental health problems, operating across a wide range of sports. It works with Councils like Wokingham Borough and with Sport England. I was impressed by what I learned of their work. They have assisted many […]

Bohunt, the first new secondary school to be built in the Wokingham Borough for more than 50 years, opened its doors for the first time yesterday. More than 100 students have joined Bohunt School Wokingham, in Arborfield. Initially they will use the existing legacy buildings, next to the new £32.5million school building being constructed on […]

A number of constituents have contacted me to complain about train drivers sounding their horns on the railway line by Oakey Drive. I took this matter up with Network Rail. I have now received the enclosed reply from Stuart Kistruck, Acting Route Managing Director for Wessex. The letter is available here. Mr Kistruck confirms that Network […]

Many congratulations to the Wokingham GCSE students who have yet again achieved higher grades than last year’s, defying the national trend of falling passes.  This is the third year running that Wokingham borough students have improved their grades. This year, 70.6 per cent of students obtained five or more A* to C grades, including English […]

Every Saturday a Conservative team goes door to door asking voters for their thoughts on local and national matters. In recent weeks the emphasis has shifted back from the referendum and the EU issue, to being predominantly local matters. Last Saturday when I joined local Councillors in Earley who are most assiduous in keeping in touch […]