Last week I reported on the Environment Agency's River Trent Flood Catchment Plan which proposes to reduce flood maintenance locally and increase flooding in the Isle on in North West Lincs. These plans are being produced for every river in England at the behest of the Government, who seem quite happy to flood rural England for the benefit of urban communities!

It really is important we oppose this proposal as, like the plan for the River Aire, it will put our local communities and local economy at risk. The effect of flooding was brought home to me on Friday when I was out and about with David Davis. I took a photo of David at the River Derwent in Bubwith which has recently burst its banks. Just along from Bubwith the Derwent flows into the Ouse, marking the boundary between Brigg and Goole and Haltmeprice and Howden.

The photo is amazing as it really looks like David is stood by the ocean or by a large lake. The question is, will this scene be repeated on the Isle of Axholme and in Burringham and Gunness if the Environment Agency get their way.

We have started a petition against the plan which has been delivered to many homes on the Isle. If you would like your name adding to it please send me your name and address through the contact page.

Neighbouring Howden MP David Davis met with Andrew Percy at Goole Fire Station last week to add his support to the campaign against proposals by the Humberside Fire Authority to remove one of the full-time pumps at Goole Fire Station and replace it with a retained pump instead.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy says, "I was delighted that David has joined the campaign against these cuts, which directly affect his constituency. David and I met with local Councillors and Ashley Oldfield of the Fire Brigades Union to discuss these cuts and the effect they would have on the rural areas surrounding Goole as well as Goole itself. These cuts will also impact on the Crowle area of the Isle of Axholme in North Lincolnshire, demonstrating just how many local people rely on the hard working crews at Goole.

"We have received a massive response to the surveys we have been delivering locally regarding these cuts and it is clear that local people are very concerned about these proposals. We all need to work together to ensure that the Humberside Fire Authority sees sense and comes up proposals that do not reduce cover at Goole Fire Station."

David Davis MP added, "These cuts will directly impact on Howden and Howdenshire in my constituency which rely on cover from Goole Fire Station. That is why I am happy to join the campaign against these proposals. I would urge as many local people as possible to make their voices heard on this important issue."

Please complete our on-line survey and add your voice to the campaign against the cuts.

Once again our area is on flood alert following warnings of heavy rain over the weekend, particularly late Sunday moving into Monday. The situation locally has been precarious for the last week or so, particularly in the Brigg area on the Ancholme River.

I met with Cllrs Carl and Nigel Sherwood (pictured) earlier at the River Ancholme sluice gates in South Ferriby where we had a discussion with the Environment Agency regarding the forecast for the weekend. I also took the opportunity to speak to East Riding Council from whom I have received a full briefing on their preparations for the weekend. Hopefully, the emergency planning response will not be needed but we have to take these warnings seriously, particularly given the localised flooding suffered earlier this week.

This evening I visited some flood victims from last June's flooding which served as a timely reminder of the devastating impact of flooding. One of the residents we met with spoke at length about the mental health problems which have been caused by being a victim of flooding. We perhaps forget that whilst houses can be put back together quite easily, human beings sometimes take a little longer to heal.

This week saw the publication of the Prime Minister's response to an 8,000 name petition calling for action to deal with bridge tolls on the Humber Bridge. Instead of a pledge of action, the Prime Minister instead stated that the bridge tolls were a matter for the Humber Bridge Board and thus the Government would not be doing anything.

Andrew Percy responded angrily saying, "Last week we had Government Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber Caroline Flint saying the government wont scrap the tolls and now we have the Prime Minister saying the issue is none of their business. What an insult to the thousands of local people who signed the petition. North Lincolnshire has four Labour MPs who claim to want action on the tolls and we now know from this response that this issue for them is more about photo opportunities than it is about real action.

"Everyone knows the issue of the bridge tolls is not an easy one to solve. However, for Labour to simply say it is nothing to do with them is clearly unacceptable. We want leadership from the Government to help us find alternative ways of managing the bridge debt and most importantly of all we need them to be actively engaged and open minded on the issue.

"Funny how the Government claims it can't act on the bridge debt of about £300-400 million but yet two nights ago our local Labour MP felt able to vote to increase our payments to the EU by an average of £2.7 billion per year from now until 2013."

I don't really know where to start with the update there has been so much going on. Having looked through the analytics for this site I am pleased to report that it is becoming more and more popular. People are clearly responding to our positive campaigning message, which can be contrasted to the increasingly bizarre actions and statements of my opponent. It's fair to say that the local Labour MP doesn't like me calling him out on his record.

Last night our local Labour MP voted to pay billions of pounds extra of taxpayers money over to the EU by backing the European Communities Finance Bill, again! No doubt he will claim to never have voted for it, just like his office have been telling local people that he never voted for Post Office closures. Fortunately, many local people have contacted me for clarification which I have been more than happy to provide. It's fair to say local people don't like getting fibbed to and treated as fools by Labour.

We have had a huge response to our survey on the proposed fire cuts at Goole Fire Station, including very many by way of the website which is a positive sign. We are continuing to deliver the surveys locally and I am really enjoying being out on the street talking to local people. Last Saturday in Goole was really quite amusing. I met a couple of people in the street we were delivering to who came up to me and said they were just talking about me a few minutes before my team and I arrived in the street to leaflet. They had an important issue they wanted to discuss and it is clearly a good example of how our positive message is being picked up on locally.

Tomorrow morning I am in Goole to meet with the Goole Action Group before going on to meet with the campaigners fighting the closure of the Driving Test Centre in Gainsborough and then on to Hull to meet some those campaigning against the Goole fire cuts. Look North from Hull has covered the story in some detail but sadly, as most residents in Goole get the Look North from Leeds, it has not been seen by those most affected.

I can't believe how many people are contacting me locally to ask for my input on various issues. It's a pleasure to be of help locally and we are proving that local people want someone who is going to fight for their interests locally, not just do as they are told by their party.

At the behest of the Government, the Environment Agency has now published their River Trent Flood Catchment Plan which proposes to reduce flood risk management in the Isle of Axholme area in the coming years. Effectively, the EA accept that this will lead to an increase in flood risk in the Isle. Local Conservatives took to the streets this weekend to give people an opportunity to object to the proposal.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy explains, "We took to the streets of Crowle this weekend to deliver leaflets explaining this proposal to local residents. We are very concerned that the Isle is being put at risk to benefit bigger communities further along the Trent. Any increase in flood risk could have a serious impact on house prices and the local economy. Just a few months ago a similar plan for the River Aire was announced which led to massive protests from local people in the Lower Aire region.

Once again we are seeing rural communities in the Brigg and Goole constituency being offered up as sacrificial lambs to benefit larger communities many miles away. These flood catchment plans are required by the Government who just a few months before last year's floods made massive cuts to flood defence budgets nationally.

Local people want to see more money spent on flood defences, not less. Under these proposals the Isle could lose its pumping capacity and we would see no additional works undertaken on the Trent bank to improve protection."

Andrew and the local Conservatives have launched a petition against the plan, if you would like to add your name to the petition please complete the contact form here.

January updates have been posted for Andrew's campaigns. Find out what Andrew has been doing recently to:

• Save Our Post Offices,
• Stop Brown's NHS Cuts,
• and Save Free Parking in Brigg.

Oh dear, once again Labour have got themselves in a tiz over the local Labour MPs voting record on Post Office closures. This time we have two statements from Labour in two different local papers claiming that the local MP has never really voted for Post Office closures. Why they bother fibbing is beyond me, these things are public record after all. So for clarity here is the current Labour MPs full voting record!

29th November 2007- There was a debate on Post Office closures at Westminster. Our MP, despite claiming to be so concerned locally, never bothered to take part. He has tried to defend this in one of the papers by saying he was a whip so couldn't vote. Again, another fib, he was sacked (I mean offered another job) as a whip on June 28th 2007.

January 10th 2007- As a Government whip, our local MP not only pledged his support for the Government's Post Office closures by acting as a teller, his job was to actually make sure that Labour MPs voted for a Government motion saying we had too many Post Offices. He has tried to defend this by mis-leading people by saying he was just a vote counter. No, he was a teller for the Government side meaning that he supported the Government motion. He must think people are stupid if they are going to fall for that one.

May 15th 2002- A motion was put before the House of Commons condemning the loss of pension books and the move to automatic credit transfer at Post Offices. Mr Cawsey voted to support the Government's policy of scrapping pension books instead.

January 29th 2002 - Mr Cawsey voted against a motion in Parliament which condemned the closure of hundreds of Post Offices and the loss of pension books. The decision to scrap pension books alone meant that thousands of sub-Post Offices were closed.

April 2000 - Our Labour MP voted AGAINST a motion in Parliament calling for more to be done to help protect our sub-Post Offices

The spin being generated by Mr Cawsey's minions locally on this issue demonstrates exactly the sort of politics we need an end to. It's about time our politicians stood on their record and had the guts to actually defend it.

Complete the survey by clicking here!

The Humberside Fire Authority have gone out to consultation on proposals to reduce the cover at Goole Fire Station from two full-time pumps to one full-time pump and one retained pump. The response time of the retained pump would increase by 4 minutes which in a fire situation is a significant, and potentially life threatening, increase.

Prospective MP and Local Campaigner Andrew Percy has launched a survey of local residents to ensure that as many people as possible are able to make their views known to the Fire Authority. Click the link at the top of this article to fill it out online.

Andrew says, "I am concerned that these changes will put local people at risk and it therefore important that as many local people as possible make their views known. Considering Goole's position as an inland port and taking into account the recent industrial expansion locally, it does not seem sensible to reduce fire cover at Goole Fire Station.

Well, I did write a really long and thoughtful New Year post the other day (honest), but then i clicked something incorrectly and lost the whole lot.

Anyway, it basically said i was looking forward to 2008 and to getting back into some part-time teaching from next week. It is especially good that I shall be teaching in North Lincolnshire as I will have a real insight into local education. The last school I taught at was in the East Riding and was probably the nicest school I have ever worked in. I am only teaching part-time though and in actual fact I should be able to put even more time into campaigning for local people here in Brigg and Goole.

In an event, we are gaining so many new volunteers it is becoming much easier to campaign locally. The response has been even better than in the run up to the 2005 election in Haltemprice and Howden. However, I wont be getting too excited at this stage as we probably wont have an election until 2010. The polls look good at this stage but I never really pay much attention to them. The lesson I learned from my ward colleague on the Council was always go in to every election thinking you wont win and then you will work harder. That's the way I plan to approach it! 2010 is still a long way off, i just hope my ten year old VW diesel can last the distance. It's efficient on fuel, which it needs to be considering the amount of miles I am doing!

My post also got very excited about the fact that after weeks and weeks of boiler trouble, I am now able to move back into my house. I have been out of it for sometime due to the problems I was having but, fingers crossed, I now seem to have hot water and heating again.

All the best for 2008, I really hope it is a successful and peaceful year both locally and around the world.