At the start of the year, I wrote in the Sevenoaks Chronicle to reflect on 2021 and look ahead to the 2022. If you missed this, please do visit here.
Despite the challenges we faced with Covid last year, I am pleased we made excellent progress on many of my local priorities including:
- Protecting the Green Belt, by successfully arguing down the increased housing targets proposed by the Department
- Opening the Sevenoaks campus for Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, and securing funding from the Department for Education to rebuild Orchards Academy in Swanley
- By working together with Kent Police, Sevenoaks District Council and Matthew Scott, Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner, excellent progress is being made to ensure women feel safe in our community. Southeastern have agreed to upgrade the lighting on the platforms at Bat and Ball and Otford stations and are looking at the lighting in the car parks. Over the next two years, all older CCTV across the whole estate
- Securing a Nightingale Court for Kent to help to reduce delays to court cases, and deliver speedier justice for victims
- To align with COP26 I hosted the Sevenoaks and Swanley Climate Change Conference. It was encouraging to hear the fantastic progress already underway to ensure we are playing our part
- And finally, secured £211,908 for The Stag in Sevenoaks as part of the second round of funding from the Culture Recovery Fund, and I will continue to offer my full support to ensure its survival until normality is restored.
There is of course more still to be done, however I am pleased 2022 has got off to a strong start with the lifting of Plan B restrictions – which I know will make a huge difference to many of our wonderful local businesses and schools. People are no longer advised to work from home and children are no longer required to wear face marks in the classroom. And, from Thursday COVID passes and face coverings are also no longer mandatory in certain indoor settings. Thanks to our community stepping up and getting boosted, our amazing vaccinators, new antivirals and incredible scientists and medics, we are finding our way out of this. And we’re leading the world in doing so.
Finally, I cannot let this newsletter pass without acknowledging the wider political context. I want you to know I am very angry about the reports of parties at Number 10. Enormously difficult restrictions were in place at the time, and residents across Sevenoaks and Swanley followed the rules, often at great personal cost. Everyone, whoever they are, should obey the law, and anyone who is found to have broken the rules must face consequences. Please be reassured that I am listening closely to my constituents’ views on the matter.
Laura Trott
MP for Sevenoaks and Swanley
To see Laura's newsletter in full click here
