My priorities for Wiltshire

I grew up on a farm and I love the beautiful landscape of Wiltshire, its tranquillity and of course its history. I am also inspired by the future of our county. Here on the M4 corridor, at the centre of a vital economic artery and also a key tourism route, close to hubs of innovation in cyber, defence, and agriculture, we have huge opportunities for prosperity. 

To make the most of these advantages we need a lot of things to get better: more support for our farmers and for the environment; better rural transport and broadband; more affordable housing in the places and the volumes where homes are needed; quicker access to a doctor and dentist or a hospital appointment, and more support for carers and care workers; more police officers and tougher action against criminals; and of course, more spending on defence to support the Army here in Wiltshire. 

In each of those areas I am proud of the progress that has been made since 2019, despite the huge challenges of the pandemic and the inflation crisis caused by Russia. But more needs to be done. The following pages set out my thinking on each of these topics.

 

  • Rivers

    Wiltshire is a uniquely important landscape, shaped by human beings for thousands of years and home to an extraordinary diversity of wildlife.

  • Farming

    We have an absolute moral obligation to steward the natural environment that we live in, and to ensure a good living for the people who look after the land. In the 20th century farming pulled off a miracle of productivity, generating huge yields to feed our growing urban population.

  • Getting around and getting online

    Connectivity is key to a place like Wiltshire. Our market towns and villages, and our outlying farms and cottages, depend on decent transport and decent broadband.  I probably get more correspondence about potholes than any other subject.

  • NHS and social care

    The NHS is one of the foundations of our society. We depend on it at every stage of our lives. The Government has made the biggest investment in the NHS in its history, increasing its budget by 45% since 2019.

  • Crime

    Crime is the great scourge of a civilised society.

  • The Wiltshire economy: skills, jobs and housing

    The glory of Wiltshire is its antiquity, the beauty of its landscape and the old-fashioned charm of its villages and market towns. But as the ancient monuments and the settlements show, this tranquil landscape has been used by human beings - farmed, worshipped, lived in - for all these long years.