LOCAL commuters are really paying the price for National Highways’ failure to properly plan the ongoing A30 junction works, so I held an urgent meeting with their regional director this week.

Having kept in close touch with parish councils, local Cornwall councillors, and of course lots of residents who live and commute in the area, I put their most recent concerns directly to National Highways bosses. They’ve now confirmed they’re working with sat nav companies to keep drivers off small village roads, have put single-lane traffic management in place for the whole works, and have put up ‘local access only’ and ‘ignore sat nav’ signs to stop rat-running, among other measures we’ve pushed for. They’ve also committed to much more engagement with residents, the council and me, and I’ll be carrying out an urgent site visit very soon. Thanks to local Cllrs Adrian Parsons, Adam Paynter and Damon Dennis, as well as our parish councils and local community, for working with me on this.

I also took North Cornwall’s broadband and mobile signal concerns straight to Government officials this week, and pressed for answers on how and when ‘Project Gigabit’ will reach the hardest to connect parts of the constituency. I raised cases of constituents just outside an existing network route who are stuck with painfully slow speeds while their neighbours have full fibre, even when they’ve offered to help pay for the connection. On mobile coverage, I pushed for much better signal provision, especially in emergencies and storms (like the one we saw at the start of this year) and for more backup generators on masts. Boscastle’s mast will finally be getting one, but many more still need an upgrade, and I’ll soon be meeting providers to request a full review.

There was also some welcome news for rural households this week, as the Government announced plans to tighten regulation of the heating oil market following our campaign. In some areas here in our constituency, up to 95 per cent of homes have no access to the mains gas grid and rely on heating oil or LPG. I put this directly to the Prime Minister in the House of Commons, demanding that VAT be scrapped on both and that they be brought under the energy price cap, just like electricity. So many people are sick with worry about affording to heat their homes this winter, and with the cold starting to set in, I’ve been pushing for urgent action.

Supporting veterans living here in North Cornwall has been another long-running campaign of mine, and I’ve recently been working closely with a number of LGBT veterans who were kicked out of the Armed Forces because of their sexuality. I have helped them secure the compensation they were owed. If you or someone you know may have been affected, I’d really encourage you to look into the recognition you could be entitled to by searching ‘LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme’.

Finally, I fully welcome Cornwall’s new Specialist Domestic Abuse Court in Bodmin, an important step towards better justice for victims. But we must go further: I’m calling on the Government to properly reform the legal aid means test and raise the income threshold, so that victims, including those experiencing economic abuse, can afford the legal representation they need to protect themselves.