I love welcoming residents and owners of local businesses from across Sevenoaks to Westminster, and last week I had the pleasure of meeting three of them who were visiting for different events.
Anita Jacobs, a resident from Knatts Valley, was attending a reception held by The Smallest Things – a premature baby charity.
It was so moving to hear her and her family’s story following the birth of her premature twins – who I am pleased to report are now thriving. The charity is run entirely by volunteers and it was great to meet with some of them at the event and hear what a difference they make to mothers across the country. Anita herself also does brilliant work helping and mentoring mothers locally who have had a premature birth, so if you or someone you know could benefit from expertise of Anita and the volunteers at The Smallest Things, please get in touch at https://www.thesmallestthings.org/.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Sharon and Gordon Thompson who are the lessees of The Castle Hotel and pub in Eynsford.
We are so lucky to have many excellent village pubs on our doorstep, and it was great to hear how Sharon and Gordon’s daughter Elizabeth, runs The Castle Hotel. Their passion for their pubs, customers and the communities they serve was clear to see, and we had an excellent conversation about the challenges they, and many others in the pub industry, are facing due to the Government’s increase in business tax and National Insurance Contributions. These ill-thought through policies will sadly inevitably lead to job losses and raised prices, but I will continue to do all I can in Westminster to oppose them and give our local business a voice.
In other news, it was incredibly disappointing last week to learn from a report given to the Joint Transportation Board (JTB) that the town-wide scheme for 20mph in Sevenoaks, costing £120,000 paid for and promoted by the Liberal Democrat controlled Sevenoaks Town Council, has only achieved overall a less than 1mph reduction in speeds.
I have always been supportive of 20mph roads outside and around schools, and was delighted when former Conservative County Councillor for Sevenoaks, Margaret Crabtree, rolled this out across a number of Sevenoaks town centre schools. I was also supportive of Chevening Parish Chairman Nigel Williams (who is the current district councillor for Brasted, Chevening & Sundridge and the Conservative candidate for Sevenoaks West in the upcoming Kent County Council elections), who along with his fellow parish councillors, secured an approved Traffic Regulation Order for a 20mph zone outside of Chevening Primary School.
However, I have never been in favour of blanket 20mph schemes (something I know from my inbox is a view shared by many of you too).I can think of much better uses for £120,000, which was paid for by the Town Council using funds provided by Sevenoaks District Council to spend on infrastructure improvements. Conservative councillors pointed out repeatedly that this could end up being a huge waste of tax payers valuable money.
I am clear that no further public money should be spent on these costly street interventions (such as build outs) with the intention of interfering with the flow of traffic within Sevenoaks, unless there is unequivocal support from residents and we have evidence to show there is a benefit to residents. The residents of Sevenoaks put trust in our local councils to act in their best interest, and we must ensure this is always the case.
