This week I can only add to the many tributes being paid to Councillor Harold Apps, who died last week after more than fifty years of public service. He was truly an inspiration to anyone who thinks that becoming involved in local politics is worthwhile.

There are many sports clubs around the Ashford area which do a fantastic job quietly and with no fuss, providing ways for thousands of people, particularly children, to have fun and keep fit at the same time. One of the most effective at this is Wye Tennis Club.

Two hugely important consultations for everyone who uses the railways are taking place at present.

Last week was a shocking and sobering one at Westminster. For years we have been told grimly by those in charge of security that, however good our police and intelligence services are, it was a question of when, not whether, a terrorist attack would succeed. We have now seen that happen.

years the issue of broadband speeds has become increasingly prevalent in my email inbox. There are two different issues within the Borough.

Ashford MP, Damian Green, has shown his support WWF’s tenth Earth Hour by making a special pledge to help protect the planet.  The world is changing fast, and it’s never been more important to show support for action on climate change.

For some years now the issue of mental health treatment has been a vexed one in Kent.

With the news that the John Wallis Academy has reached the stage of applying for planning permission for a new primary school building on the site, it is time to celebrate the improvements in education in South Ashford in the last few years.

It is always inspiring to see young people getting involved in good work so it was a real pleasure to attend the inaugural meeting of the Norton Knatchbull School’s Interact Group, and to see how many students there have signed up to it.

On the whole by any reasonable measure Ashford is a prosperous town set in the middle of a generally prosperous county. But we should all be aware that even in the middle of this generally comfortable existence live people with real problems.