Connecting with my Constituency
This week, on the 15th of September, I had my first open Questions and Answer session at the Easthampstead Baptist Church in South Hill Road. The aim of this session was to increase the opportunities for my constituents to come along and engage in participating in political debates. People are getting increasingly interested in Politics and I believe that Q&A meetings are the most effective way to get involved in a discussion. I was pleased that participation was well attended and I hope that more people will engage in the discussion in the future. Following this event’s success my intention is to hold meetings quarterly and rotate around the entire constituency to include Bracknell, Sandhurst, Finchampstead and Crowthorne.
This week at the House of Commons the draft proposal of the Boundaries Commission report was announced which informed members of changes to their constituency borders. I am pleased that there were no alterations to Bracknell constituency. However, I would like to express my intentions to try and change the name of the constituency as I am often incorrectly perceived to be the MP of Bracknell Forest. The fact is I don’t and have never covered the entire Council. This is because I also represent the neighbouring wards of Finchampstead and Wokingham Without all of which form part of Wokingham Borough Council. I cover now and will cover in the future Bullbrook, Central Sandhurst, College Town, Crown Wood, Crowthorne, Great Hollands, Hanworth and Birch Hill, Harmans Water, Little Sandhurst and Wellington, Old Bracknell, Owlsmoor, Priestwood and Garth, Wildridings and Central, Finchampstead North, Finchampstead South and Wokingham Without. However, I do not cover 4 areas of Bracknell Forest namely Ascot, Winkfield and Cranbourne, Binfield and Warfield, Warfield Harvest Ride which all belong to Windsor Constituency. Consequently being described as the “Bracknell MP” is not helpful. I would greatly accept ideas of names and I encourage people to email me any suggestions that they might have.
Finally, I crossed the Rubicon and started Tweeting to share my daily events and proceedings. I hope many people will follow me on https://twitter.com/#!/DrPhillipLeeMP.
(Published in the Bracknell News September 2011)