Since my last column, I have received a response from new Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, to my long-running campaign to stop the sale of Hornchurch Police Station. He has paused the sale while a review of the Met's estate is carried out, and by the time this column is published, I hope to have met Sir Mark in person to present to him a petition opposing the sale that has hundreds of residents' signatures, gathered by Hornchurch & Upminster Conservative Association community campaign teams. New and existing community police officers need to have a base from which to operate in Hornchurch & Upminster and to make sure that our constituency’s town centres are not neglected. I am grateful for all of the support we have received and will update everyone on progress.

I visited Thames Chase Community Forest to launch their orchard regeneration project. It is the latest visit in my campaign to create a vast green network of woods, cycleways and walking routes from Havering into Essex as compensation for the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC). Earlier in March, I visited Hole Farm, a huge new community woodland between Brentwood and Harold Wood of up to 150 000 trees that is being driven by the LTC project team.

Finally, I was delighted to recently meet with Hornchurch resident, Greg Mangham, who is Founder of Only A Pavement Away. This organisation works to help prison leavers, homeless people, vulnerable military veterans and refugees into the hospitality industry. Their work has so far helped 340 people into secure employment across the country.