Recess does not just allow me time to spend here in our wonderful Solihull, but also a chance for myself and my team to continue to work on issues which affect local residents.
Last week, I opened my 20,000th case since being elected as Member of Parliament for Solihull in 2015. These past few months have been busier than ever! Not even three quarters of the way through 2020, and I have already been able to help more people this year than all of last year.
Obviously, Coronavirus related queries have been a top feature of my inbox these past few months, with over 1,000 queries or concerns and counting since March.
Every-day concerns continue to be brought to me, and myself and my team are doing our best to help resolve those. My inbox is always full of queries about people’s personal issues: from health, benefits and housing to issues with anti-social behaviour, public transport and parks.
One recent success was in relation to a housing association’s roofing contractor. A local resident had an issue with the quality of a repair of their roof and had been living with this issue for some time. Following the intervention of myself and my team, we were able to ensure that the works were quickly completed to the correct standard and the resident’s roof no longer leaks.
Some issues take longer to resolve than others. I have been liaising with Openreach – who run the UK's digital networks – to make progress on installing fibreoptic broadband in areas of the Constituency with poor speeds. Sadly, a quick fix isn’t going to happen, but I will be continuing to pressure Openreach, and other providers, to ensure that all of Solihull gets the broadband speeds we deserve.
If you or someone you know has an issue where you need my help, please don’t hesitate to make contact. I cannot promise to solve every issue, but I will always try.
