I was pleased to join Arundel Town Council’s annual meeting last week. As an MP not only do I represent residents in making decisions in Westminster, but I also work closely with the inevitable combination of local and national public agencies that it takes to get things done. We talked about examples of this such as Mill Road parking, the campaign for a second pharmacy and the cycle path to Ford. The well-run town council has managed to keep their precept increase down to 3% and we all agreed that we’d rather have more bug hotels for insects in the town than have Arun Council build an Airbnb! My congratulations also go the excellent Arundel Museum which celebrated its tenth anniversary in its current building at an event on Saturday.
Representing rural parts of West Sussex, I was pleased to see the Prime Minister host a ‘farm to fork’ summit in Downing Street with the aim of putting more British produce on supermarket shelves in the UK. New measures announced included encouraging more people to take up farming and food sector roles, more seasonal worker visas and grants for farmers wanting to invest in barn top solar power. Finally, there will be a so-called ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ review of planning barriers to farm diversification, including any necessary changes to permitted development later this year. The consultation will support rural growth through diversification by allowing farmers greater freedom in how they use their buildings. For example, subject to consultation, farmers will be free to convert their buildings to process foods to sell in farm shops – allowing them to diversify their income streams.
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