There are so many things going on at the moment I just have not had chance to update the website as much as I would have liked so here goes a quick update on various issues.

Wrawby Post Office

The decision to close the Post Office as part of Labour's Post Office closure programme has now, sadly, been confirmed. Over a quarter of the village wrote to me about this closure and told me they wanted it saving. It was not to be. However, the shop will be remaining open and my team and I have been doing our bit to drum up support for the shop by delivering some leaflets the shop produced to let residents know that they will be remaining open.

The Conservative Group on North Lincolnshire Council recently proposed putting Council terminals in every Post Office in North Lincs to help widen access to Council services and bring more people into our Post Offices. Labour Councillors from Scunthorpe blocked this move and instead decided to commit £15 million to the Baths Halls whilst raising Council Tax by nearly12% over three years!

Fire Cuts

I attended last Monday's Goole Town Council meeting which discussed the closures. The meeting was opened up to the public and so I spoke to express my concerns about the proposal and about the difficulty there would be in recruiting retained firefighters should they go ahead with plans to reduce one of the pumps from whole-time to retained. Judging by the round of applause my comments got, it is local residents are vehemently opposed to the meeting.

Swinefleet Flood Meeting

I chaired a village flood meeting in the Village Hall last Tuesday night which was well attended by local residents and organised by our hard working Councillor, Caroline Fox. Many serious issues were brought up and the various agencies present have agreed to pursue them. We will be chasing them up and keeping local residents informed.

Humber Estuary Flood Strategy

I attended the launch of the Environment Agency's (i.e the Government's) Humber Estuary Strategy on Friday in Hull. Our area will be affected by proposals which seek to increase flood storage locally, in other words increase flooding, and by proposals to possibly not improve the defences on the Humber at Winteringham and Whitton to match rising sea levels which could rise by a foot in 50 years. The only MP from North Lincs to attend was Elliot Morely who also made a speech supporting the strategy. In fairness the strategy looks well into the future and so many of the proposals in it will not come to fruition until 10-20 years hence. We must however be vigilant.