In a week’s time I will be trying a new experiment to see if I can help older people in and around Ashford. It’s an Over 50s Fair, which I hope will attract as big a crowd as the Jobs Fair I held earlier in the year at Ashford College.

One of the parts of the public sector which attracts not enough attention is the probation service, which does a hugely important job.  From the Ashford office of the Kent Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company, which does probation work here, there are 193 service users.

This week I want to pay tribute to two examples of the excellent voluntary spirit that exists in the Ashford Borough, allowing people to improve the lives of others in their own spare time.

The decision by Ashford Borough Council to approve the plans to develop the Waterbrook site near Junction 10 is one of the most significant taken by the planning committee in recent years.

The Kent Show is always fascinating as well as fun, and this year in particular the debate about how farming will thrive after Brexit made it especially pertinent.

Local MP Damian Green is supporting a campaign run by charity The Reading Agency to encourage all primary school children to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, which launches across England and Wales on Saturday 14 July.

For some years one of the permanent issues which has been rumbling in the background without ever quite grabbing the headlines has been mental health.

Planning is at the forefront of many people’s thoughts at the moment, both locally as we move to the final stages of the preparation of Ashford’s Local Plan, and nationally as the Government ponders changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.

Taking the temperature of local business is always interesting and important, and at this delicate time for the national economy it is particularly relevant. So one of my regular business breakfasts organised by the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce was very timely last Friday.

This week I bring good news and bad news. The good news is that Highways England has been briefing me about their new plans to avoid Operation Stack.