This time last Friday, I was thrilled to attend the official ground-breaking ceremony of the new NHS St. George’s Health & Wellbeing Hub on Suttons Lane, Hornchurch. Campaigning to get the St. George’s Hub over the line has been a priority of mine since I was first elected in 2017 because it will transform the quality of healthcare that constituents will receive.  In 2019 we secured £17.4m from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson MP as part of his hospital programme. Since then, I have been working hard with the Department of Health & Social Care and local partners to bring the long-held plans for the site to fruition. Ground breaking - the start of construction - is always a significant milestone in projects like this and it was fantastic to see so many key partners in the project on site to mark the occasion ahead of its planned opening in March 2024.

Separately, I met our Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, to discuss my concerns about community policing after a series of burglaries and car thefts in Emerson Park. He set out what the new Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, wants to do to improve neighbourhood police operations, including addressing the consistency of contact residents receive from ward officers. The government’s police recruitment drive means that our Borough Command Unit is now up by 350 officers since 2019. I believe this should lead to the Met reviewing the decision to sell Hornchurch Police Station, which the Mayor of London confirmed to me in September that he still wished to do. I completely oppose the Mayor’s plan and will be making the case to Sir Mark that the additional officer numbers warrant a review.

I am also extremely worried by the Mayor’s announcement that he will expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone to Havering, despite a clear majority of outer Londoners opposing this. As part of his consultation, I shared with him the views of countless residents, who were clear that they are unable to afford the daily tax of £12.50, even more so with the higher cost of living. I shall be working with our London Assembly Member, Keith Prince, and other outer London MPs to oppose the ULEZ’s imposition next August. 

In more positive news, I was really pleased to see the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch secure £1.4 million in Arts Council, underpinning the future of this treasured community asset. We also had International Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, come to speak to residents at Upminster Golf Club, and I have undertaken a series of fantastic local school visits, including to Abbs Cross to discuss sixth form provision, while also being grilled in Westminster by a delegation of local students for UK Parliament Week.

Finally, this week I have led a delegation from Havering Council to see Local Government Minister, Lee Rowley, to discuss the funding formula on which grant money is given. I also saw the Minister to raise the ongoing concerns of leaseholders on the Kings Park estate in Harold Wood as my team and I try to unlock more residents from cladding problems.