It’s been an exciting week in Parliament with the State Opening where His Majesty the King gave the King’s Speech in the House of Lords, setting out all the Bills that the new Government proposes.
Following the Speech, we then have what is known as the debate on the King’s Speech and I was pleased to be able to speak on Wednesday evening and mention some of the many things that are important to us in the Moorlands.
I spoke about the beautiful Churnet Valley, which many think is a great candidate for AONB status, as well as how we do not want to have local government changes imposed, including not wanting to be in a Unitary North Staffordshire Authority. We want to keep our unique identity. We want to protect the green fields. We want decisions about new housing and other matters, such as solar farm and battery storage developments, pylons and poles to be made locally.
I urged the Government to resist imposing top-down targets. I know how much this matters to you. We want to keep the unique nature and identity of Staffordshire Moorlands and not be swallowed up by larger towns and cities.
Over the weekend, it was good to attend the Biddulph Churches Together Open Air Café as part of the Biddulph Festival and enjoy delicious tea and cakes. I also had the chance to pop into the Festival of Brilliant at Biddulph Old Hall where it was a joy to see so many children celebrating books and reading.
And it was also Club Day in Leek. This year it was the turn of St Edward’s Church to lead the open air service in the market place and then the parade around town. Despite the weather, it was lovely to once again join everyone in this very special event.
