Brexit

With the passing of the so-called “Brady amendment” yesterday, this will give the Prime Minister the opportunity to go back to Brussels and properly renegotiate the North Ireland backstop arrangement which will hopefully give us the chance to leave the EU with an agreed deal on 29 March.

This is infinitely better than a no-deal scenario which would create considerable uncertainty and disruption for businesses in this country. To that end, I visited a local business in Moreton-in-Marsh which conducts a great deal of its business with our European neighbours. I heard first-hand their legitimate concerns that they feel a no-deal Brexit would create and I hope that these can be avoided with this important amendment.

Moreton-in-Marsh Car Parking

In Moreton, I took the opportunity to then meet with the new Chairman of the Town Council, Eilleen Viviani, and other members to try to resolve the ongoing car parking issues – along with County Cllr Nigel Moor and District Cllrs Robert Dutton and Ally Coggins.

It is fair to say that there is a parking problem in Moreton and in order to have some regulation on the High Street, an alternative car parking site must be found. Andy Burrows of the Car Parking Working Group (CPWG) has reported back on a very successful public consultation on the proposal for the Glebe land.

I strongly urged the Town Council to be brave and get on with working out the details of what most people can see is a viable solution. The longer this is delayed, the more Moreton-in-Marsh will suffer.

Additionally, I and the CPWG are continuing to press hard for the new Worcester express service to add Moreton instead of Kingham as a station stop. GWR are using the shortage of space at Moreton station as a justification for not doing so. This would be detrimental for Moreton and further bolsters the argument for improving the car parking provision as soon as possible.

Moreton Railway Bridge

The issues of pedestrian safety on the Moreton railway bridge continues to concern me. I believe that the only sensible solution is to build a footbridge parallel to the current structure. This would allow the existing pavement to be dismantled thus giving cars and HGVs valuable space to pass one another.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP with David Cunningham

There is currently a £250,000 fund which I negotiated as a result of the section 106 agreement for the Fire Service College development which must be spent by the end of the year otherwise it will disappear. I am further pressing the County Council to make-up the remainder of the necessary capital sum in their current bidding round and I have written to them to that end.

North Cotswold Hospital

Many of you will have seen the +5,000-signature petition to protect x-ray services at the North Cotswold Hospital in Moreton. There is currently a national shortage of radiographers and I have actively pressed the Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust (GCSNHST) to recruit and train more as soon as possible so that services can be restored from two to four days per week.

There is also an issue with the Minor Injuries Unit being phased out because the hospital will not be large enough to be designated as an Urgent Treatment Centre. I will continue to push the NHS Trust to discuss this with doctors so that a seamless service providing minor injury care can carry on serving constituents.