A Happy New Year to all the residents of Bromley & Chislehurst!
I hope that everyone has enjoyed the Christmas period, and taken the opportunity to reflect on 2013 and gear up for new goals this coming year.
Looking back over the past twelve months, there is little doubt it has been a challenging time for some residents. Although we are making good progress with the economy, the effects of this can take time to filter through to peoples’ actual daily lives. It is, however, good to see that unemployment levels in our constituency have fallen substantially this past year, with the number of people out of work well below London and nation-wide averages. Bromley Council deserve a great deal of the credit for this, and I will continue to support their ongoing efforts to attract more investment in our Borough.
I am sure that many of you will have been pleased to hear the Prime Minister confirm this week that a future Conservative government will protect the basic state pension after the next election by maintaining the current ‘triple lock’ guarantee. This means that the state pension will rise every year in line with wages, or by 2.5 per cent - whichever is highest – until at least 2020 if the Conservative Party is returned to office. Under this policy, the state pension rose by 5.2 per cent in 2012, which is the largest cash rise ever seen. I fully support this pledge and believe it is absolutely right to give pensioners genuine security in retirement.
On a final note, I would like to extend my congratulations to local resident Alison Stammers who has been crowned High Street Champion of the Year.
The Chislehurst Town Team are continuing to work incredibly hard on behalf of the local community and their efforts compliment the additional improvement that are being taken forward by our other Town Team in Bromley North.
I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year and, as ever, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you feel I can be of assistance.