They Blog For You

You may recall from my post of 30 March, entitled ‘Stoke Mandeville: discrepancy in official HS2 maps’, that I recently wrote to Philip Hammond about the route of HS2 near Stoke Mandeville.  This was after Stoke Mandeville parish council made me aware that maps 9 and 10 published by HS2 Ltd show different versions of the impact [...]

The Chiltern Countryside Group has published its guidelines on responding to the public consultation on HS2, which can be viewed below.  This document is a useful resource for those writing a response to the consultation, although as the document states, it is important to remember that the most effective responses will [...]

A number of local people have contacted me about Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s ‘Fish Fight Campaign’, and so I thought it would be a good idea to set out my thoughts on the matter here. Throwing dead fish back into the sea is a terrible waste.  It is disruptive to marine ecosystems [...]

I recently wrote to Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, regarding HS2, and have now received a response.  A copy of this can be seen below. [...]

The Department for Transport published a revised business case for HS2 alongside the consultation document that it isued a few weeks ago. The analysis of this case by the HS2 Action Alliance was presented to MPs and their staff today (thanks to Andrea Leadsom MP  for organising the meeting) and you [...]

Stoke Mandeville parish council has pointed out to me that maps 9 and 10 published by HS2 Ltd show different versions of the impact of HS2 on the village. I’ve written to Philip Hammond to ask which of these maps is the accurate one. I hope that he will give [...]

Today I have just been to speak to Ashwell School Year 6 who are here at Westminster for an educational course. The questions were excellent, all about current affairs and my life as MP. I then went to meet representatives of our local Wildlife Trust including Chair Mike Master. They [...]

No, it’s not about HS2, but I was pleased to get a letter from Philip Hammond the other day which told me how much Buckinghamshire was going to get from George Osborne’s £200 million pot-hole repair fund that he announced as part of his Budget Statement last week.   Bucks will be [...]

You may be interested to see the noise maps for HS2, which can be found in an appendix to the ‘Appraisal of Sustainability’ document which was published alongside the public consultation on HS2.  I have provided a link to that document here - the relevant map can be found on page 65 (or page 73 if using Adobe reader). I [...]

As you can see from the letter below, I have written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Philip Hammond, to ask him about the alternative high speed rail route that was developed by the engineering, planning, and consultancy firm ’Arup’.  The letter asks why this route will not be considered in [...]

A colleague of mine in Parliament, Tony Baldry MP, recently tabled a Written Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Transport about the noise impact of HS2.  You may be interested to see a copy of the response that he received below: In the Secretary of State’s response you will notice that [...]

I have been informed that Transport for Buckinghamshire, working with the District Councils, has lifted the necessary temporary traffic regulation orders in order to permit street parties to celebrate the Royal Wedding. Applications for road closures will be accepted for 29 April (the day of the Royal Wedding), as well as the three days following it.  I hope that this decision will [...]

The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has announced that it will conduct an inquiry into the strategic case for High Speed Rail. The Committee will investigate the core arguments for and against High Speed Rail.  This will include a critical analysis of the business case for HS2 and the argument [...]

David Cameron has secured the necessary UN approval for a “No Fly Zone” and action against inhumane attacks on Libyan citizens by President Gadaffi. We must hope that the World has not left it too late to act and that the Libyans can be saved from vicious attacks and retaliation [...]

I have been in the Commons Chamber listening to the Prime Minister’s statement on Libya and the UN Security Council resolution.  A full text of what he said can be found here. [...]

Please visit www.fco.gov.uk for updated information. 17 March 2011 ·       We advise against all non essential travel to Tokyo and north eastern Japan given the damage caused by the 11 March earthquake and resulting aftershocks and tsunami. Due to the evolving situation at the Fukushima nuclear facility and potential disruptions to [...]

After my blog yesterday mentioning the suffragettes, I was asked to say that it was Emily Davison, the famous suffragette, who hid in parliament to be able to put on her census form that she was resident at the House of Commons on Census Day. Tony Benn put up a [...]

As part of the programme of events marking the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Census, Dr Jill Liddington, Honorary Research Fellow at Leeds University, will be speaking today at Westminster on how women across the country responded to the suffragette invitation to boycott the census. This reminded me of the battle [...]

For lack of any prospect of a real sustainable recovery in the global real economy, the ‘smart’ money (for which read: stupid money) is pouring into the next synthetic boom on a staggering scale.   The basis for these asset inflations is so transparently insubstantial that another financial crash cannot be [...]

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