Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns writes 1st column since general election 2024
There is no other way to begin this week except with a heartfelt thank you to all of you, writes Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns.
Thank you for putting your trust in me to serve and support you, champion our communities and protect our way of life.
It has been an honour to serve Rutland over the past four and a half years. During that time my team and I have helped and engaged with over 40,000 residents, often families facing their darkest moments, and it has been my deepest honour to try and move heaven and earth to help people get the support they deserve.
In Parliament I have fought a number of national campaigns: successfully ending the scandal of lone births in the NHS during the pandemic, as well as securing the right to visit loved ones in care homes and hospitals; the creation of the Covid19 Recovery Grant for businesses who didn’t pay business rates, a ban on hare-coursing and increased fines for fly-tipping.
Above all, I have fought relentlessly for the communities I had the privilege of representing, including securing £23.7 million to level up Rutland and Melton, the impact of which we’ll start to see this year I hope, the installation of safety upgrades to the A1, the creation of a Rural Crime Team and a commitment to keep Rutland Memorial Hospital open. I also secured the go-ahead for a new GP practice in Melton, helped re-open one in Medbourne and got diggers in the ground to finally build a 50-year awaited bypass for Melton Mowbray.
As your MP for our new constituency of Rutland and Stamford, I hope I can do you proud and deliver on what matters most to us all.
I’ve wasted no time since my return to Parliament. I promised you I will focus on making our roads safer for our communities, including pushing for further safety upgrades to the A1, so I’ve written to National Highways asking them to come drive our stretch of the A1 and update me on the review of the dangerous central reservation crossings I secured. I’ve also written to the new Transport Secretary and have an idea for interim improvements to slip roads which I’m investigating.
I promised you I will work to preserve that which makes our communities so special, to protect our rural way of life and make sure our voices are heard down in Westminster. Protecting our best agricultural land is vital, so I have written to the new Energy Secretary on why he must say no to the slave-labour produced Mallard Pass Solar Plant and also to the new Farming Secretary asking how he will protect agricultural land given that only 78 words of Labour’s manifesto were dedicated to farming.
In May, I secured improved national protections for agricultural land from solar developments, an onus for solar on roofs, and for farmland to be at the centre of planning decisions, I want commitments these won’t be eroded. I will also launch a new Flood Resilience Scheme in months to come to improve our response to flooding and will be re-launching Rutland’s Great Dementia Conversation so we can finish our very important community discussions.
Finally, improving broadband and mobile phone signal will remain a key priority of mine. When I was first elected in 2019, only 10% of homes in Rutland and Melton had access to gigabit broadband, that now stands at 63%! The survey so many of you kindly filled in has given me the ability to map out our not-spots and I’m working through that data now so I can take action for you.
As ever, my team and I are here to help, so please don’t hesitate to reach out and we will do all we can to be of assistance or signpost you to the support you need.
As ever, I will continue to work cross-party to be our community’s loudest voice, no matter who is in Government.
