Welcome to my latest newsletter, I hope you are well. As ever, please do not hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can help with or if you would like to speak to me at one of my upcoming surgeries, which I am holding across the constituency. 

Short Story Competition!

I am launching my 3rd annual Short Story competition🏆📚

To celebrate World Book Day and to encourage children to pick up a book and get into reading and creative writing 📖 - I hold my very popular book competition each year.

The rules are as follows:

Who can enter?

👦🏻👧🏻 Children who are in Year 6 in primary school and who live in our constituency (I will be doing something for younger children in a few months)

📚 Each short story must be no longer than 𝟓𝟎𝟎 words in length. Stories can be emailed: [email protected] or dropped into my office 61 New Road, Chippenham, SN15 1ES. Please include your name, school/ stipulate home educated, age and contact details.

🐉🏰 I am looking for stories to be imaginative and creative - but they can be about anything as long as they are in the fiction genre.

⏱️ My competition closes at 𝟔𝐩𝐦 on 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟕 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 - which is World Book Day!

🏆🎁  Waitrose & Partners and Penguin Random House have kindly agreed to support the competition this year with some epic prizes for the winners.

Kick 2024 off with a Trip to Parliament!

🚌 I kicked off the first day of Parliament in 2024 with one of my regular coach tours. I organised a coach who picked up local residents from Melksham bright and early, and the excellent tour guides in Parliament gave residents a guided tour of both Houses of Parliament. I then did a Q&A session with residents where I had the opportunity to answer a wide range of questions on a whole host of areas. I hope local residents enjoyed the trip and watch this space for further announcements on the next trip 👀

Wiltshire's Biggest Careers Fair!

I teamed up with Danny Kruger MP bringing my second annual Career's Fair to the Melksham Community Campus which took place on Friday the 19th of January.

✅ No ticket was needed and the event was FREE to attend.

🗞️ The Careers Fair is kindly supported by Wiltshire College, Vysiion Limited and KBR Defence

🚀 I held my inaugural Careers Fair last year in Chippenham - which was very popular this year.

Over 1,000 people came to my second annual Careers Fair in Melksham. From international companies like Google offering employment skills to local companies like Hartley Farm Shop and Knorr Bremse there was so much to offer. Some people even filled in job applications at the event! 👩‍🏭

👩‍🎓 It was really striking that employer after employer commented on the level of interest in apprenticeships. In the last 10 years, we have removed the stigma and increased the choice of high-quality apprenticeships. Since May 2015 there have been 2,881,900 apprenticeship starts and since May 2010 this total stands at 5,259,400. 👨‍🔧

👩‍🚒 Thank you to everyone who took part in helping young people realise their true potential and assist others to gain new employment including in new sectors. 👩‍⚖️

Here are some photos from the event and some of the businesses who attended:

Tax Cut for Workers

💼 Over the past few years we have had to take some difficult decisions on the economy to help support people and businesses through the pandemic and the rise in global energy prices.

📈 Local residents often tell me that they feel that the tax burden is simply too high. I get it. I have been pushing every door and banging every drum and we are now in a position to change gears and cut taxes - putting more money in people's pockets. Inflation has been halved and the economy is recovering from the pandemic. ✂️

We are now able to cut taxes and our cut to National Insurance has come into effect. What does this mean for me?

🗣️ This cut will save the average salaried worker on £35,400 - £450 this year. An average full-time nurse will save £520, a typical junior doctor £750 and a teacher £630. 👩🏻‍⚕️🩺👩🏻‍🏫

HMRC have set up a dedicated tool which you can use to estimate how the January 2024 tax cut will help you 👉http://tinyurl.com/57923yy5

Flood Management Update

Earlier in January, I met up with the team at Area Flood Manager from the EA, to discuss the horrific flooding we have seen in Wiltshire as a result of Storm Henk 🌊

As local residents will be more than aware, Bradford on Avon had some of the worst flooding in decades - which is why I urgently called for a meeting with the EA in person in our town.

During my meeting, I pressed Ron on the urgent need to learn lessons from the recent storm to prevent flooding in future. Ron told me that the EA will look again at the possibility of dredging the River Avon in town to see if that could help. Ron also explained that the EA will be doing a full stock-take and will be sitting down with Wiltshire Council to see how flooding could be prevented in future.

It is good that the EA will be learning the lessons to improve next time, not just in Bradford on Avon, but in other areas that were impacted such as Whitley and Staverton, etc.

✍🏻I recently heard from Michael Gove that Wiltshire Council are eligible for support under the Flood Recovery Framework - which helps support councils affected by severe flooding. The framework unlocks the following support for Wiltshire residents:

🌊 Flooded households can apply for up to £500 cash to help quickly with immediate costs.

✅ Households and businesses significantly affected by recent flooding will be eligible for 100% council tax and business rates relief for at least three months.

💼 Small-to-medium sized businesses in affected areas will be eligible for up to £2,500 from the Business Recovery Grant to help them return quickly to business as usual.

🔨Eligible flood-hit property owners will be able to apply for up to £5,000 to help make their homes and businesses more resilient to future flooding via the Property Flood Resilience Repair Grant Scheme.

👩🏻‍🌾 Farmers who have suffered uninsurable damage to their land will be able to apply for grants of up to £25,000 through the Defra Farming Recovery Fund towards repair and reinstatement costs for farmers adversely affected by exceptional flooding.

School Visit to Parliament

At the beginning of the year, I met with students from Hardenhuish School in Chippenham during their visit to Parliament I organised for them. As part of their visit, the pupils attended Parliament’s education centre for sessions covering representation and voting, laws and debating, the history of Parliament, and the different levels of government.

As part of their visit, they had a talk from Black Rod - a senior officer in the House of Lords, responsible for controlling access to and maintaining order within the House and its precincts.

I also held a Q&A session where the pupils asked me questions about the role of an MP. It is always such a pleasure to meet with such engaged and enthusiastic students. Definitely some future MPs in the mix!

If you would like to book a space on a free guided tour of parliament - please do get in touch: [email protected]

If your school has not done so already, they can sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/rp3nw5m3 to book a trip to Parliament.

Cutest Pet Competition

🐾✨ The votes are in, and we have a winner for the Christmas Cutest Pet Competition! Congratulations to Storm and Carolyn for spreading the Christmas cheer with such an adorable photo! A huge thank you to everyone who participated and shared the joy. Storm won on both Facebook and through my website submissions 🐶 🌟 

Constituency Update

During January, I was out helping Nic Puntis - MP Candidate for the Chippenham Constituency who is standing to represent the new constituency which will include Chippenham, Corsham, Neston, Lacock and Gastard from my current constituency.

A review of our constituency boundaries was long overdue as we have ended up with some very large constituencies and some quite small ones in comparison. This does not give fair representation for people across the UK, which is why Parliament voted to equalise them.

However, this means that my constituency gets divided into two! I love our pocket of Wiltshire and have felt honoured to represent it - so the change is of course very sad.

👉 In case you did not know, I will be standing to represent the Melksham and Devizes constituency which contains almost half of my current seat including Melksham, Bowerhill, Bradford on Avon, Winsley, Westwood, Sandridge, Beanacre, Berryfield, Monkton Farleigh, Limpley Stoke, Semington, South Wraxall, Little Ashley, Holt, Staverton, Atworth, Shaw, Broughton Gifford and Whitley. It will also include Devizes, Box, Colerne, Seend, Seend Cleeve, Sandy Lane, Mile Elm, Chittoe, Bromham, Sells Green, Rowde, Bulkington, Inmarsh, Steeple Aston, Great Hinton, Sleight, Stert, Marston, Hartmoor, The Lavingtons, Urchfont & Bishops Cannings, Keevil, Etchilhampton, Great Cheverell, Potterne, Erlestoke, Freith, Horton, Whetham, Stockley, St Edith's Marsh, Roundway, Easterton, Littleton Panell, Bromham Westbrook, Gore cross, Wedhampton, Heddington, Bourton and Quemerford.

Hilperton will go into the South West Wiltshire Consistency where Andrew Murrison MP will stand again.

I am however working hard in all of my current constituency and will continue to do so until the General Election whilst also learning more about the new area that I hope to represent.

If you want to get in touch do email: [email protected]

Support for Victims

🏠I have long campaigned for more support to be given to victims of domestic violence.

Over the years I have helped secure millions of pounds of funding to help support victims of domestic abuse in Wiltshire, and I used to be a Trustee of Wiltshire’s amazing charity Help Victims of Domestic Violence.

As of 31st of January, victims of domestic abuse will be able to apply for a one-off payment of up to £500 for essential items such as shopping, nappies, or support with new accommodation to help them flee to safety.

For the very first time, victims can also apply for a further one-off payment of up to £2,500 to put down a deposit for rented accommodation 🏡        

This extra support follows our Domestic Abuse Plan which has invested over £230 million to tackling domestic violence.

Visit to Wiltshire FA

⚽I had a great visit to Wiltshire FA on Friday 19th of January straight after Wiltshire's Biggest Career's fair which I organised at Melksham Campus.

Thank you to Oliver, Simon and David for taking the time to show me around their excellent site at Green Lane Playing Fields. It was also good to meet up with Simon Fisher, Clerk of Devizes Town Council, whom I look forward to working closely with.  

Green Lane has some amazing facilities thanks to a £𝟏.𝟕 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 from central government. If you do get the chance - do pop down.

🍕 I look forward to visiting again on a Friday night for their 'Roots & Shoots' programme with Wiltshire Youth For Christ for some pizza and a chat with the young people who have been invited to the initiative. 🗣️

Open Doors, Persecution of Christians Event

Last month, I held an event with Open Doors Sat-7 and Discover Christ Church to raise awareness of the challenges faced by persecuted Christians around the world 🌎    

👉 Over 100 local residents came as well as Fiona Bruce MP, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, where she gave us all an update on her work and her Private Members Bill to place the role of the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on a statutory footing.

🗣️ Gareth from Open Doors gave us an excellent update on their World Watch List 2024 - which ranks 50 counties where Christians face the most extreme persecution.  

📽️ Rachel, Jon and Bronwen from Sat-7 gave a talk on their crucial work to support Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. Sat-7 is an amazing local charity that brings a message of hope and love directly to millions of people's homes each day.

I organised this event as the persecution of over 365 million Christians is a crisis that demands our urgent attention.  Did you know that 1 in 7 Christians are persecuted worldwide - purely based on their faith.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along, Open Doors, Sat-7, Fiona Bruce MP and a big shout out to the team of volunteers at Christ Church who helped make the event such a success. If you have not done so already, do check out their- Facebook page which is https://www.facebook.com/groups/discoverchristchurch/ and keep up to date with their project to renovate the church.

Other News In Brief

• It was fantastic to kick off 2024 with a great visit to Leafield Environmental Ltd in Corsham. Leafield Enviromental has gone from strength to strength and employs 45 people at their Corsham site. Leafield make recycling bins, litter bins, plastic bollards and a whole range of plastic products for schools, local councils in the UK and even in Spain. 

• I enjoy democracy workshops at schools in the constituency, and sixth formers impress me with their knowledge and questions. Recently at Melksham Oak, we discussed Electric Vehicles, imports/exports, EU departure, the online safety act, AI, and local campaigns like Melksham Hospital upgrade, town development, and infrastructure provision. It was great to see familiar faces from last year's work experience and hear from pupils interested in politics. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

• 👊🚪On 22nd January, I wrapped up a busy week by knocking on doors in Westwood, chatting with residents, and distributing leaflets. The next day, I joined PCC Philip Wilkinson and Parliamentary candidate Nic Puntis in Corsham, despite the chilly weather. I am frequently out in the community and look forward to visiting your street soon. 🥶🗞️🔜

• ☕🍰 During one of my recent coffee afternoons, I spoke with the Samaritans, promoting the importance of checking in on one another for some positivi-tea. Concerned about rising loneliness, I've held several Over 55's Information and Advice Fairs to highlight local and national organisations efforts and the vibrant social networks in our constituency.

• 🏡 Recently, I updated Melksham Without Parish Council on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, aiming to end speculative development. I also gave updates on various topics, including my campaign to #UpgradeMelkshamHospital 🏥. Thank you to the Council for the invitation and eager to collaborate on local campaigns this year. 

• A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon at the new Chippenham Men’s Shed at North Wiltshire Bowls Club. Having supported the Men’s Shed for a while, it was rewarding to witness the renovated site equipped with power tools, creating a social setting to combat loneliness. Special thanks to Chippenham Borough Lands, Chippenham Lions, Morrisons, and Persimmon for their donations. Learn more at: https://chippenhamshed.co.uk

• Recently, I visited Wiltshire College’s Lachlan Campus to meet Get Further and witness their impactful tutoring for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. I sat in on a tutoring session and was very impressed, not to mention the double national pass rate for students on the program. Some have already passed their GCSEs, opening doors to higher apprenticeships. I'll be sharing this success with the Secretary of State for Education, emphasising the importance of the 16-19 Tuition Fund in supporting this valuable work.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter – please do not hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can help with, or if you would like to speak to me at my next surgery.

Best wishes,

Michelle Donelan

Member of Parliament for Chippenham Constituency