Leicester winning the Premier League, Britain voting to leave the European Union, Donald Trump elected as President of the United States of America, David Cameron stepping down as Prime Minister with Theresa May replacing him. Jeremy Corbyn winning what appears to be an annual Labour leadership election, the Italian Prime Minister resigning, the French President announcing his retirement and that was just the last six months of 2016. It was a year where people around the world demanded their leaders listen to them and swept away many of the famous faces of the last decade.
It was an exciting year and it has provided us with the perfect platform to take advantage of a huge range of opportunities in 2017 around the world and here in Stevenage. I am proud to be the Member of Parliament for Stevenage and work hard to listen to the concerns of local people and ensure their views are represented at every level. I have been leading the campaign for a new Garden City to resolve housing need locally and standing up to the local councils trying to ride roughshod over the concerns of our communities. I had the speculative and highly damaging Solar Farm applications called in by the Government and stopped. For the latest news on these campaigns please click here if you live in Stevenage, here in North Herts and here in East Herts.
Transport links are incredibly important locally and one of the main drivers of our fantastic economic success that has seen unemployment fall locally from 5.8% in 2010 down to 1.6% this year. The preparatory work on the A1(M) widening has already begun and there will be a series of exciting announcements this year, as I continue working closely with Highways England. My response to the Govia consultation on proposed changes to the train timetable is here and I continue to push hard for improvements in service at both Stevenage and Knebworth stations.
Apprenticeships and young people continue to help drive our economic success and there are over 800 new apprenticeship starts locally a year now, which is almost quadruple what it was back in 2010. Local schools continue to perform well and 40 of the 42 primary and nursery schools are now rated as good or outstanding, which is evidence of the fantastic work of our local teachers, parents and pupils. Our local health service is also going from strength to strength and the hard work of our NHS staff in the Lister Hospital and the community saves lives every single day. I secured massive Government infrastructure investment of over £300 million in the last Parliament for our local schools, hospital, housing and there is much more to come. The A1M will cost over £8million a mile and I am close to securing the deal on my campaign for a satellite radiotherapy centre to be based locally.
The town centre continues to be an area of real concern that is holding Stevenage back, due to Stevenage Borough Council's addiction to car parking charges - more details here. However, after intensive discussions with Ministers, I am optimistic that a deal will be done this year that does not involve Stevenage Borough Council's outrageous plans to move the train station, build 1600 flats on the Leisure Park, knock down the Gordon Craig Theatre and close Lytton Way.
2017 has the potential to be an amazing year locally, nationally and internationally if we are optimistic, work hard, listen and take those opportunities. I look forward to meeting many more of you and wish you a Happy New Year. Remember, if you need to contact me for help or just want to invite me to an event or your workplace email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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