Jade Uko, senior account director South East for DevComms, puts the month of May in a political perspective.

The East West Rail route decision looms large this month in Bedfordshire.

But Richard Fuller MP (Con, North East Beds) wanted a different decision made altogether, a complete rethink of the project. He asked a question in Parliament this month and was rewarded immediately with an urgent meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Richard’s Bedfordshire neighbour, Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Beds), is busy fighting plans for the closure of Leighton Buzzard Garden Centre, which is set to be replaced by housing.

Another local issue, this time in Cambridgeshire. Shailesh Vara MP (Con, North West Cambridgeshire) is asking the council to refuse a retrospective temporary planning application for a change of use; an access route for car transporters to the East of England Showground.

The PM got involved this week in local South Cambridgeshire politics when asked a question by Anthony Browne MP (Con, South Cambs) on South Cambs District Council plans to continue a longer-term trial of a four-day working week.

The MP cited online that: “The planning department has been particularly badly hit, with a dramatic reduction in the number of planning decisions referred to the planning committee.”

Brown’s advice probably comes from authority and experience; most MPs spend only three to four days a week in Parliament after all.

The Prime Minister agreed with Browne and said that the council should ‘reconsider’ its decision. The Lib Dem leader of the council hit back saying that its annual wage bill has dropped £300,000 in three months, due to greater staff retention and that service had improved in a number of areas.

Sparks fly in Essex as energy infrastructure continues to dominate. Four MPs from Essex and Suffolk have set up the Offshore Electricity Grid Task Force (OFFSET), chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin MP (Con, Harwich, and North Essex).

This group is aiming to stop the National Grid’s plans to install 180km of new overhead cables and pylons across the areas. The groups is advocating, instead, for an offshore solution.  A total 21,000 residents have signed a petition against the plans and to protect the East Anglian countryside.             

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