Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I particularly enjoyed attending the Wantage Dickensian Evening to kickstart the festive season. It was minus 2 degrees, but the atmosphere was very warm and everyone from the Wantage Silver Band to Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary to Team Mikayla was there to celebrate.
Looking back on the last year, I am pleased with the progress made on a number of my campaigns. We took another step forward on health services with my Health Services Survey, which thousands of you responded to and which was followed with me holding a debate in Parliament on health services in Wantage and Didcot.
My petition to re-open Grove Station was signed by 2,127 of you and I will be meeting the Rail Minister in the near future to discuss this again with him. Thank you to Andy Holding of the Wantage and Grove Station Supporters Group for providing the final signature. I will keep going until we are successful.
My campaigning for more renewable energy run by the local community, through my sponsorship of the Local Electricity Bill, led to the creation of the new £10 million Government Community Energy Fund which will hopefully benefit groups across Oxfordshire.
And my campaign for justice for our local AEAT pensioners resulted in me securing the first ever independent investigation into their case, as well as a Parliamentary inquiry.
I was also pleased to welcome so many constituents to Parliament this past year from schools to charities to members of the armed forces. I also hosted a local young person for work experience almost every month – thank you to all of them. If you are planning a visit to Parliament or would like me to arrange a free tour for you then do get in touch.
In 2024 I will be continuing campaigns on infrastructure issues like GP surgeries and Grove Station, as well as my other priorities like protecting our environment, tackling anti-social behaviour, and improving opportunities for children and young people.
Right now, as part of my campaign to improve our roads, I have my Local Roads Survey running so that you can tell me exactly where you are seeing issues on our roads that need to be resolved – including potholes, congestion, speeding and other safety concerns. Since being elected I have spoken in 13 separate debates about the need to improve our local roads, met with the Roads Minister to raise it with them, led a debate in Parliament on safety issues on the A34 and A420 and welcomed the £3 million for this year from Government to help fix Oxfordshire’s potholes.
However, there is more to do and I want to hear from as many people as possible so that we have the best data to make the case for improvements, so please do take part on my website at www.david-johnston.org.uk/RoadsSurvey.
As ever, if I can help with anything then do, please get in touch via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk