I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
2025 has bought with it many challenges for our community, but serving as your MP is the greatest privilege, and I’ll never stop fighting on your behalf.
This year, by working together, we once again achieved a great deal, and I wanted to use my final newsletter of the year to reflect on this, as well as set out my plan for 2026.
We have now completed the public consultation phase of the Local Plan, and I make no apology for having worked alongside residents (as well as local councillors) to test and challenge the redesignation of Green Belt land to so-called “Grey Belt”.
My sincere thanks go to all those who have taken the time to meet me and share their concerns. While it is of course important that we build homes for local people, we must also protect the countryside, and ensure new homes come with the right infrastructure for communities living here.
Following our hard-fought campaign, it was an honour to recently attend the formal opening of the newly rebuilt Orchards Academy. When I first visited the school in 2020, the building was literally falling apart. However, following our campaign it has now been completely rebuilt, with an investment of around £30 million. We must – and I will - always champion our local schools so that we can ensure every child, no matter where they live, has the opportunity to thrive and access high-quality facilities.
I have also this year launched my campaign to ban smartphones in schools, as I share the concerns of countless parents and teachers who have contacted me over their worries about screen addiction, anxiety, online bullying, and the erosion of social skills. I was delighted to this year host events in both Sevenoaks and Swanley for parents and teachers, where our two excellent panels offered practical advice on how families and schools can reduce screen time and support healthier digital habits. With research showing that students in smartphone-free schools perform significantly better, it’s a no brainer to me.
I know many parents whose children are either studying the IB or require SEND support will be rightly concerned about recent Government announcements. But, I will continue to press the Government and fight for local schools and their pupils whose education and futures are at stake. Families must be confident that they have the option to pursue the curriculum that best suits their children, and I will continue to make sure their voices are heard.
2025 saw the introduction of contactless ticketing across six local stations. While there were some initial charging difficulties, I am pleased to say these have now been ironed out and the tap in/tap out technology is in full swing.
Being so close to London, many residents rely heavily on a reliable train service, and I am pleased that in 2025 we saw continued improvements, including an additional morning service into London, via Otford and Swanley, and a new evening service from Charing Cross. I continue to push for further capacity increases, and updates to the rolling stock. Passengers deserve modern, air-conditioned trains, and that is why I am pressing Southeastern to accelerate upgrades.
The Riverside in Eynsford is one of the most picturesque parts of our community – but sadly, once again this year saw incidents of anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour has no place in our community and that is why I launched a petition calling for a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) – which would give year-round powers to the police to deal with any incidents. With over 650 signatures (virtually one per household in Eynsford), it’s clear how strongly our community feels about protecting this beautiful space. I have now formally submitted the petition to Sevenoaks District Council, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott, and Eynsford Parish Council. I will keep residents updated on developments.
Finally, supporting our local businesses remains vital. These are challenging times - and the Autumn Budget only heightened such pressures. Many family farms, small retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses have been left questioning their future. You cannot tax your way to growth, and burdening the very businesses that create jobs inevitably leads to a decline in employment. I will continue to make the case in Westminster, and alongside the Town Council and District Council will always bang the drum for Sevenoaks and our excellent business community.
As you can see, there is still lots for us to be getting on with as we look ahead to 2026, but by working together I know we will continue to make Sevenoaks, Swanley and the Dartford Villages even better places to live, work and do business.
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Below is a snapshot of what I have been working on. If there is anything I can do to support you, please get in touch.
- At the start of the month we marked #SmallBusinessSaturday – an excellent opportunity to celebrate the brilliant and vibrant small businesses which play such a key role to our community. It was fantastic to meet with Maria Bradford, owner of Shwen Shwen, and Tom Duffill from Life on High in Sevenoaks. Maria and her husband opened Shwen Shwen earlier this year and are the perfect examples of risk-takers who put everything on the line to create a business, which in turns creates employment and keeps our high street buzzing. And, over at Life on High they already provide such amazing food and service to our local area, and there are plans for this to go much further. If you are able, please do remember to shop local and show your support for our excellent local businesses.
- As some of you may have seen, a recent Government announcement means that the new SEND school we secured at the site of the former Birchwood Primary School is possibly in doubt. Rather than standing by the promises that the new specialist school for our community would be built, they have now given a choice to Kent County Council (KCC) – either go ahead or cancel the new SEND Free School in exchange for receiving a lump sum to spend on SEND provision elsewhere. I have written to the KCC seeking their immediate and absolute assurance that they will not divert funding away from our new SEND school. I have also offered to work closely with them to apply whatever pressure is needed on the Department for Education to deliver their side of the agreement without further delay. We need to get this much-needed school open. The communities of Swanley, Hextable, and our surrounding villages deserve nothing less.
- I was delighted that Ellie Tao (Year 5, St. Bartholomew's RC Primary School) was the winner of my 2025 Christmas Card Competition. Ellie’s brilliant design was printed on the front of all my Christmas cards, alongside the four fantastic runners-up: Hayley Pohl (Year 6, Chevening Primary School), Alice Padmore (Reception, High Firs Primary School), Maisie Clayton (Year 5, Weald Community Primary School) and Lauren Cawe (Year 3, St. Bartholomew's RC Primary School). As ever, we received a wonderful range of creative designs and a huge thank you to every pupil, teacher, and parent who took part — your enthusiasm and creativity help make this tradition so special each year.
- I met with residents from around St John’s Road in Sevenoaks to discuss the proposed travel plans for the Sevenoaks Masjid, which remains under consideration by Sevenoaks District Council. Everyone I spoke with was clear their concerns related to the potential impact on traffic flow and parking in this particular location. These worries are consistent with previous objections raised in the area, including when a nearby nursery sought planning consent. Throughout the process I will continue to ensure that the concerns put to me are fully conveyed to both the district and county council and I have asked the relevant district and county councillors to do the same. It is important that residents have their voice heard at all levels of Government.
- It has long been my ambition for there to be a direct bus service from Sevenoaks to Pembury hospital and I continue to work with local bus operator Go Coach in trying to realise this ambition. As a possible stepping stone to a direct service, I am pleased that, from 5 January, Go Coach will be introducing a new Number 4 bus service running from Sevenoaks to Tonbridge High Street, via Riverhill and Hildenborough. This new route will complement Go Coach’s existing Number 5 service (via Sevenoaks Weald), as well as the Arriva 402 service. The timetable can be found here: https://www.go-coach.co.uk/bus-routes/daytime-routes/4/ This is really welcome news. The more frequent and reliable our bus services are, the more people will use them, which benefits residents and helps strengthen our local transport network. I will continue, alongside Go Coach, to lobby Kent County Council for the go ahead of this much-needed direct link to the hospital from Sevenoaks.
- As some of you may remember, on the morning of Wednesday 5 November, there was significant disruption at the junction in Sundridge after the scheduled overnight roadworks began during the day instead — with 4-way temporary lights replacing the traffic signals without warning. This caused complete chaos for residents and commuters. I immediately contacted Kent County Council officers and the relevant Cabinet Member to get this resolved as quickly as possible. I also requested a full internal investigation into how this was allowed to happen. I have now been informed that, despite an agreement for works to take place overnight only, the contractor failed to properly brief the team on site. Fixed penalty fines were issued, along with a further penalty under the Kent Rental Scheme. But, residents should not have had to rely on me contacting the council before action was taken. I will continue to press both the Council and contractors to improve their oversight and communications so that something like this cannot happen again.
- I know we will all have been deeply moved by the images coming from Bondi Beach last weekend, as well as the incidents in Manchester earlier in the year. Sadly, there has been an unacceptable rise in antisemitic behaviour across the country, especially on our university campuses. We must stamp out incidents quickly and I’ve written to the Education Secretary urging the Office for Students to set firm deadlines for tackling incidents, with penalties for universities that fail to act.
- I am delighted that Kent Country buses are running seven services on Boxing Day to Bluewater in each direction between Orpington and Bluewater. This means residents in Crockenhill, Swanley, Hextable and Wilmington can get to the Boxing Day sales at Bluewater without having to worry about where to park. Buses leave every 90 minutes (starting at 0916 from Crockenhill toward Bluewater) with the last return bus leaving Bluewater at 18:20. The full timetable can be found here: https://kentcountrybuses.co.uk/boxing-day-service-and-christmas-timetable/ This is good news for shoppers and I am grateful to Kent Country Buses operator Go Ahead for laying on this service.
- I watched with complete disbelief and anger at the recent water outage residents in Tunbridge Wells experienced, and I reached out to the local MP to offer my full support to help residents and local business. The contingency planning from South East Water was clearly a complete failure and it was appalling that only three water stations were set up across the whole town for supplies to be distributed. Now the incident is resolved I will be speaking urgently to South East Water and our other providers to discuss their contingency planning.
- And finally, earlier this year, Kent MPs joined forces to write to Kent County Council, calling for a temporary parking concession for people living with cancer and other life-altering conditions who do not currently meet the three-year eligibility criteria for a Blue Badge. Disappointingly, the council has so far refused to support the introduction of a discretionary scheme, or meet with the MPs to discuss it. We have therefore launched a petition calling for the council to rethink and do the right thing for some of our most vulnerable residents. Please do show your support. Together, I hope we can still persuade Kent County Council to show compassion and provide practical support to those who are already facing immense challenges.
