In the wake of recent bad weather with unprecedented downpours and flooding, a number of Streetly residents have been in touch to share with me the details of their particular circumstances. Whilst extreme in nature, I am keen to ensure that lessons are learned and I will be pressing for follow up action where needed with the relevant authorities and organisations.
As a nation of tree lovers, it’s not surprising that caring for our environment is an issue that often lands in my inbox. There is something quite special about growing your own plants or planting something that may be around for years and years to come.
To coincide with the recent documentary ‘The Queen’s Green Planet’ in which the Queen spoke about her love for trees and the natural environment I was contacted by the Woodland Trust about the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative.
This is a unique initiative across 53 Commonwealth countries to save one of the world’s most important natural habitats – forests. It uses the Commonwealth network to share knowledge and best practice for forest conservation, whilst creating a physical and lasting legacy of The Queen’s leadership of the Commonwealth. As part of the project I have been offered a tree for my constituency.
And so to promote the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative I will shortly be launching a Primary Schools competition. All local Primary Schools across Aldridge-Brownhills, and of course including Streetly, will be invited to enter the competition and they will have the opportunity to win the Queen’s Tree for their school. This will be a great way of engaging with children on the importance of trees and how they benefit our own wellbeing and wider society.
In other Parliamentary news, I was very pleased to see the Government’s recent announcement that they intend to bring forward new measures to fine bosses of companies that disturb people with unsolicited nuisance calls. This is an issue which constituents have raised with me and it is really quite astonishing to learn that across the country people were bombarded with more than 3.9 billion nuisance phone calls and texts last year. Nuisance calls are a blight on our society and this announcement signals a determination to put an end to them.
With summer approaching I am currently planning a number of pop up ‘Meet your MP’ surgeries across the constituency – an opportunity to meet with you and listen to any concerns and issues you may have. If you are a community group or organisation and are interested then please do drop me an email to wendy.morton.mp@parliament.uk WM Aldridge Office Pic
This weekend will bring with it the Streetly Community Association Summer Fayre at Streetly Community Centre on June 9th. I am sure it will be a great success and I look forward to popping in and seeing some of you there!
This article was first published in the Sutton Observer on 8 June 2018.