Richard Foord, Tiverton & Honiton MP 

The summer months are a time getting out to enjoy our beautiful countryside with family and loved ones. But as your Member of Parliament, the summer is also a useful time for me to take time far from Westminster, beyond Uffculme where I live – to spend time in the towns and villages in our corner of Devon.

That’s why, in addition to the various meetings and local community events I attended, I also launched my first ever summer tour. This saw me visit 36 different places across five weeks to host a series of open town and village hall meetings. I also took a break in the tour to visit the Honiton Police Station front desk that will open next year, thanks to your submissions to a Devon and Cornwall Police online poll.

Many people took up the opportunity to let me know frankly and directly about local, national and international concerns – what they and you would like to see me arguing for in Westminster. I am hugely grateful to the hundreds of people who turned out and for the many positive discussions we had.

Several issues came up time and again – the pressure on our health services and local schools; the difficulties accessing special educational needs provision; and the outrage that we rightly share about the scandal of the way we taxpayers and billpayers have been ripped off by water companies.

The meetings also offered a forum to discuss very specific local issues, such as the need for more social housing, the scale of potholes, and poor-quality broadband provision.

There are so many issues which need addressing. This has been caused in part by this Conservative Government repeatedly squeezing local authority finances – which has left many Councils struggling to deliver our core services. There also seems to have been a lack of focus on fixing the small things, which can grow and spread if not kept in check.

The job of a good MP is not simply to proffer our own opinions. It is to listen and act on what we hear. This autumn, if you tune into Parliament on your TV, I hope that you will see and hear me raising some of the concerns that you let me know about this summer.