GOOD AFTERNOON & welcome to my weekly update no.298

A lot happening in the world - in Israel and the US in particular - and hugely emotional to see British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari reunited with her family. Locally fully 1,800 people have now replied to my mobile phone survey and - for the mobile operators - the results are not pretty!
 

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

WELCOME TO THE DONALD As you read this on Monday evening President Trump will have just been inaugurated in the most extraordinary political comeback of the century. There are lots of things people will disagree with him about but I do believe the world is safer with a strong America and he will be a strong President, as I said on Sky News this morning. How the Labour government should ‘deal’ with Trump? My advice to the PM would be threefold:  put ideology aside and concentrate on common ground; remember that we are America’s closest security ally so cancel the Chagos Islands deal; and set an example to other European countries by increasing defence spending, as we should. If we do that there is every chance that the special relationship will go from strength to strength.

DARE WE HOPE FOR PEACE? With the ceasefire seeming to go ahead, we finally seem to be getting some good news from Gaza, something I talked about on ITV's Peston show. (timestamp 31:20). There is speculation this is not a good deal for Israel but I would question that: if the remaining, living hostages are returned, it has surely massively strengthened its position. Hamas and Hezbollah are desperately weakened (if not eliminated), Assad has gone and Iran has lost nearly all its regional influence. It is just possible, with President Trump’s encouragement, we could be on the verge of a more peaceful era. Famous last words of course because as Jeremy Bowen said this morning the Middle East always proves the pessimists right. But I do believe things have changed - let’s hope so after all the terrible agony and bloodshed.

BABY DEATHS IN THE NHS Last Friday I spoke on Radio 4’s Today show (time stamp 1:40:14) about the state of maternity safety in the UK. Speaking just before me was Fiona Winser-Ramm, who shared the heart-breaking story of how she lost her first baby daughter Aliona at Leeds General Infirmary just minutes after delivery. There is clearly an issue across the NHS where baby deaths have started rising again since the pandemic (having fallen 25% when I was health secretary after a huge effort by staff). We need to get on and implement the recommendations made in numerous inquiries, not least recruiting the 2000 midwives and 500 obstetricians we are still short of.
 

WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY 

ROYAL SURREY CANCER CENTRE Fantastic to see the build on track for completion late 2026. Once completed this will be one of Europe’s leading surgical centres able to perform surgery on an extra 7,000 patients every year. It’s also fascinating to learn about the build process: 180 pre-built modular units will be constructed in Hull and transported to site of which 57 units have been completed so far! So we should start seeing the centre taking shape by Spring. Meanwhile epic fundraising to equip the centre continues organised by the dedicated team at Royal Surrey Charity including the upcoming fun run on March 2nd. - can I tempt you to take on a challenge?

MOBILE PHONE SURVEY Hundreds more of you have filled in my survey following mention in my newsletter last week - thank you! Follow my social media as the results for each area go out via local Facebook community boards. So far, over 430 Godalming and 602 Cranleigh residents have given their view (and no surprises people are confirming pretty dire reception across the whole of Cranleigh). Great ammunition for me to go back to the phone companies whom I am now meeting for the second time armed with the results.

NO GAS IN GOMSHALL After learning on Friday many residents were still without gas (and water in some cases) days after a burst water main caused water to get into the gas pipes, I raised my concerns with the CEO of SGN Simon Kilonback who today confirmed supply has been restored to remaining homes over the weekend. But even a day without heating/hot water in January is no fun.

WAVERLEY HOUSING CRISIS Very concerning news that the only new village in the borough, Dunsfold Park, is now not deemed by WBC as ‘deliverable’ which will put huge pressure on other areas. When you add in Labour’s recent doubling of housing targets, the five year housing supply drops to just 1.5 years meaning there is little hope of the local plan being afforded due weight and every chance of developers winning on appeal approval for entirely inappropriate development, as Councillor Austin makes clear in this article. Come on LibDem Waverley, you have had your eye off the ball on this for far too long…

ALFOLD SEWAGE Poor Alfold residents have had to endure raw sewage and toilet roll in their gardens and shockingly this is a repeat occurrence. I went to see them last week and have been on the case with Thames Water for months about this as it is totally unacceptable. Sewage upgrades here are due to be delivered via Dunsfold Park S106 so I am now entering discussions with Thames Water re alternative plans. I’m meeting with TW’s head of waste later this week. In the meantime take a look at my video below with brilliant County Councillor Kevin Deanus:

PLANNING BREACHES I’ve been contacted by Wanborough Parish Councillors over recent months frustrated at Guildford Borough Council’s lack of progress with planning enforcement issues over the agricultural land in Wanborough Fields. Good therefore to receive confirmation from GBC last week notices have been served pre-Christmas and more breaches identified - work ongoing! Thanks to Cllrs Matt Furniss and Sallie Barker (who is also Guildford Mayor) for pushing on this. I have also been pushing for an update from Waverley on Stovolds Hill breaches. They say they are working on serving notices to occupiers and say they continue close liaison with the Police. 

SURGERY CALLS My first call today was to a senior nurse about one of my biggest concerns which is patient safety in the NHS. She has responsibility for deteriorating patients at a major trust (not local) and like me thinks we should be doing much more to reduce preventable harm. She is going to help me understand how to improve the learning from deaths programme that I set up as Health Secretary. I then spoke to a Puttenham resident who has a medical condition which means her mother was one of her carers. Unfortunately her mum became unwell and she has been struggling to get the support she needs from Surrey so I will go into bat on her behalf.

JOIN ME Want to get more involved with my brilliant election-winning team locally? Email me at [email protected] to help support our work in our community.

AND FINALLY…Today is Blue Monday, purported to be the most depressing day of the year, so chin up! But good if you are a travel agent because they actually invented the date to entice you to purchase a holiday!  You will be pleased to learn scientists confirm this is nonsense -  2025 it's all up from here!

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