It has been a busy end of term in Westminster, not least because of the Budget in March. I am looking forward to the long weekend over Easter and with the Easter holidays next week I will take a week off from writing this newsletter, during which time I will be spending some time around Surrey and training for the marathon – where I have just come back from a whopping and knackering 20 mile run round Hyde Park (4 loops!).

THOUGHTS WITH THE PRINCESS OF WALES I don’t know about you but I am just fed up with the criticism the Royals have been getting of late. Both the King, who I met ahead of the budget, and the Princess of Wales have been incredibly brave to go public on their cancer diagnoses - and what a nightmare it must be to cope with that pressure in the public eye. When the Princess talked about how difficult it was to find the right way to communicate it with her children I think she spoke for thousands of families up and down the country who have had a similar dilemma. We are lucky to have them.

GOING NUCLEAR On Monday the PM and I went to Barrow-in-Furness  where we announced a major new investment in our nuclear capacity – both for defence and for energy. We were focused on training up enough people with the incredibly specialist skills needed - which we will do with a £200 million investment helping to create over 40,000 jobs. Barrow is where we build our nuclear submarines - and it is extraordinarily impressive as shown in this video (where there is nothing the Russians and Chinese don’t know already!). 

ELECTION BATTLE LINES Last week Rachel Reeves did a big lecture setting out Labour’s economic policies. I respect Rachel but in one hour she didn’t mention where we are going to find new workers as we grow the economy, nor did she mention lowering the tax burden or making public services more efficient - points I made on the Laura Kuennsberg show on Sunday. How do we make work pay for the 6 million adults of working age not in work or at university? Free childcare, abolishing the pensions lifetime allowance and Mel Stride’s Back to Work programme will be a key part of the solution - as does cutting National Insurance contributions which will bring around 200,000 more people back into the workforce.

LONDON MARATHON LOOMS With less than a month to go before my final London Marathon, I am squeezing in training sessions where I can to get myself prepared for the event. It is all for the brilliant new Royal Surrey Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre so please sponsor me through my Just Giving page. Hopefully, your generosity will get us over the half-million-pound mark…our total is currently a tantalising £470,000. Thank you!

WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY

FISH FRIDAY & QUIZ On the topic of fundraising… tickets are selling well for the next fundraiser for the Royal Surrey’s new Cancer Centre so don’t delay and miss out. The fish and chip supper and quiz is taking place on Friday 12th April at 7pm in St Nicholas Church Rooms, Church Lane, Cranleigh GU6 8AR. Tickets (including your fish and chips), are an amazing £20 each and available from http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/royal-surrey-charity.  What’s more, there’s a fabulous raffle with lots of first class prizes donated by several businesses in and around Cranleigh. There will also be a pay bar on the night. Tell your friends and family and book your places today. All proceeds from the evening will go towards the new Cancer Centre.

FARNHAM INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN  We had a really interesting Farnham Infrastructure Plan meeting on Friday, which was the topic of my Herald column this week. This is the culmination of literally years of campaigning by me and others to transform the town centre– it was one of the first causes I worked on when I first became Farnham’s MP almost 20 years ago. A massive amount has already happened: the Brightwells development is fantastic; 20 mph speed limits have been set up in Weydon Lane and the town centre; the Water Lane roundabout improvements have got the go-ahead; the new design for Borelli’s Walk is completed; the Wrecclesham Bridge sign is being repainted; and the A31 corridor has been approved by the Treasury (thank you to my officials). There is now a lot more about to happen early including the Borelli Park and Stride plans (with the cycle lane). The Water Lane improvements are underway; the town centre Community Infrastructure Levy Bid for £3.4m has been successful; and the town centre improvements are due to start in September. Lift off! Fantastic work by people from all political parties who are working together in the best interests of the town - Farnham will be the winner!

CRANLEIGH HIGH STREET On Friday I had a really productive meeting on the proposed changes to Cranleigh High Street, joined by Nathalie Bramhall (Cabinet member Surrey CC), Cranleigh resident Marc Scully and Tim Crawshaw (SCC Director of Planning and Placemaking). I also spoke with Rosemary French who as President of the Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce talked to me about the problems of the pavements not being wide enough, the huge success of street markets, and the potential of Fountain Square. We all agreed the right solution for Cranleigh means attracting shoppers to a vibrant High Street and not ending up with gridlock. But while there is lots of support for the £4m+ investment, many local people are worried a decision may have already been made without fully exploring all ideas and options. In Farnham we’ve achieved agreement and political consensus, so all parties involved are collaborating brilliantly to deliver the best project for Farnham – and it is finally all coming together. I want the same to happen for Cranleigh and we made a major step forward on Friday: Surrey County Council agreed to restart a proper consultation to really ensure everyone is on board and involved. I really look forward to seeing how this project progresses and I very much hope to be a part of it…

ACTIVE TRAVEL FUNDING I am very pleased that Farncombe and Godalming have secured  £3.2m of government funding to improve safety and connectivity on the Farncombe and Catteshall stretch of the 7km Guildford-Godalming Greenway network. This means delivery of 2.2 km of footway/cycleway improvements on the A3100, plus a new 0.3 km off-road path through Broadwater Park, 11 new crossings (eight of which are signalised) as well as 3.7km of road, cycling and walking improvements along local quiet streets, including traffic calming. A new and widened shared footpath, as well as segregated cycle tracks will be built.. Importantly for local school children the scheme also provides improved access to Broadwater School and Godalming Junior School. At New Pond Road roundabout - the site of 3 recent collisions involving cyclists - there will be new controlled crossings. Brilliant for the increasing number of people who cycle to work in Guildford (and make the roads less congested in the process). 

STOP THE MERGER This week we launched our campaign to stop the ongoing collaboration/merger of our two Borough Councils - Guildford and Waverley. This merger by stealth comes at high risk for residents because Guildford BC has an ongoing £18.5m serious fraud investigation within its housing department with an arrest being made. Waverley residents are exposed and Guildford residents have a council distracted from sorting out potential fraud because of a complex merger (we are now on the 3rd CEO and CFO) with services to both sets of residents starting to see significant impact. Please sign my petition if you agree with me that the merger should be stopped.

CONSTITUENCY CALLS My first call was to a Godalming resident about the loan charge and his concerns that it was an unfair form of retrospective taxation that could force him to sell his house. I then spoke to Steve Madincea, chair of Creative Surrey and neighbour of mine in Hambledon about how to get things done in the public sector. Finally I spoke to a lady from Godalming about eligibility for the government’s childcare offer which is not available if one parent is earning over £100k. That is something I would like to look at after the election.

69 HIGH STREET, GODALMING There are some real issues with 69 High St in Godalming. As Cllr Peter Martin outlines in this video, huge amounts of taxpayer money have been poured into a vacant building. I really do recommend watching the video to understand more about what has been happening.

CONGRATS FARNHAM TOWN FC Massive congratulations go to Farnham Town Football Club who have been crowned champions of the Combined Counties Premier Division South for the first time in their 118-year history. A huge team effort– well done!

ELSTEAD VOLUNTEERS Elstead Volunteers have removed all the old plants at the entrance to Woolfords Lane Cemetery and replanted the raised beds there. They are always on the look for new volunteers so do get in touch with them if you are keen to get involved.

EASTER EGG HUNTS If you are looking for something to entertain the children over the school holidays, there are a list of Easter egg hunts and activities listed here. The list includes two events in our local area–  Winkworth Arboretum in Godalming and Easter fun at the Hindhead Commons.

CANVASSING We had some brilliant sessions in Milford and in Ash over the weekend. As always, do get in touch with the team if you would be keen to join one of these.

SOCIAL MEDIA If you would like more regular updates of my work locally and nationally, do follow me on Facebook, X (Twitter), WhatsApp or Instagram. 

JOIN ME Want to get more involved locally? Email me at [email protected] to join my growing team supporting our work in our community. 
 

AND FINALLY…  The Hunt children (and adults!) are excited for Easter chocolate this weekend but let’s hope they don’t mistakenly receive as many as this Orkney shop owner.

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CANVASSING PICTURE OF THE WEEK…