It may seem as though the debate over where London’s next airport runway should be does not have much immediate relevance for businesses in Kent, but a presentation by Heathrow at the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce in Ashford revealed that businesses based here have strong views.

This month has seen World Cancer Day, which is used to raise the profile of the effects of the various forms of this terrible disease. I have been looking at how Ashford performs in various ways of helping to prevent cancer.

Last Friday the MP for Ashford Damian Green hosted his first Jobs Fair at Ashford College, which was attended by more than 100 people.  

The Jos Fair hosted a wide- range of employers from John Lewis to Kent Police, HR GO and The National Citizens Service.

This is the week when I must pay tribute to my predecessor as Ashford’s MP, Sir Keith Speed, who died recently.

It has been really interesting over the past few weeks discovering the degree of enthusiasm for my first Jobs Fair.

Following on from the very good news that Kent can recruit up to 200 extra police officers comes the equally welcome announcement that Ashford Police Station has been saved.

This week Damian Green signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment, in doing so pledging his commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust as well as paying tribute to the extraordinary Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to ed

One of my most useful recent meetings was with the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent, Matthew Scott, whose role is to set the policing priorities for the county, and then hold the Chief Constable to account for meeting them.

The Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott, has agreed to release funds from his investment reserves to make significant improvements to Ashford Police Station.

Clearly the health service has remained the main political talking point both locally and nationally over recent days, and I had a very instructive time at the William Harvey hospital at the end of last week.