Amidst the latest Brexit wranglings some really vital news affecting Gloucestershire was almost completely lost last week – the announcement by Highways England of a preferred route for the A417 Air Balloon scheme. 

As I write on Tuesday evening, Parliament has once again voted down the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. I fear the judgement of history will be scathing.

This week I called in Parliament for Cheltenham to receive investment from the £1.6bn Stronger Towns Fund. This money has been allocated by the Government to boost less well-off towns in England after Brexit, and is intended to be targeted towards those communities which feel left behind. 

Today, Thursday, Laurence Robertson MP and I will meet at our request local health Trust bosses to restate our serious concerns about their plans for general surgery changes at Cheltenham General Hospital.

Time’s up. After over a decade in which social media companies have been able to evade responsibility for toxic content on their platform, the Government has now signalled that action is coming.

Alex Chalk has welcomed a landmark court ruling which will stop developers from installing outdated ‘Trojan’ phones boxes for use as advertising billboards. In a landmark court case, a High Court judge has now ruled that new phones boxes will now need planning permission.

Many congratulations to the staff of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, whose skill and hard work has led to a ‘Good’ rating from the CQC health watchdog. This is up from ‘Requires Improvement’, and means Gloucestershire joins an elite group of just 33% of acute trusts. 

People taking upskirting pictures and videos will now face two years in prison and being placed on the sex offenders register. A new law making upskirting a specific criminal offence received Royal Assent (Tuesday 12 February).

Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk MP has welcomed new plans to tackle the problems caused by illegal traveller sites.  Home Office proposals will allow the police to intervene and remove travellers camped illegally.

This week I held talks with the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, about Gloucestershire health bosses’ plans to shift general surgery provision from Cheltenham to Gloucester.