Christmas Adjournment

Greg Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

As this is the Christmas Adjournment debate, I have a list. It is not a list of the things I hope to find lovingly wrapped under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, but of issues I wish to raise not for the first time in this House, in the hope and confidence that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, through her good offices, can nudge them up the priority list in various Departments.

First, on off-grid properties, about one third of the households in my constituency use oil or LPG for their heating. There was good news yesterday in a written ministerial statement that the £200 support for them will start in February, but I gently urge the Government to see whether that payment is right for all off-grid properties, because there are significant pricing differentials with domestic heating oil and even within LPG pricing, particularly for those who do not have the land to have an LPG bulk tank on their property and so still rely on the 47 kg bottles, which are exceedingly expensive.

Secondly, on GP access, I cannot be the only Member of this House who hears from constituents struggling to get an appointment with their GP. In my constituency, there are many parts expecting new primary care facilities, but we have not got there yet.

The key example I give is the village of Long Crendon, where the doctor’s surgery was closed during the pandemic because the building simply was not fit for purpose. The parish council has secured land for a new healthcare centre, and the old clinical commissioning group—now the integrated care board—has agreed the rent to put the GP partnership Unity Health into the building to provide GP services. In this new, innovative model, the land was secured through planning gain but it is owned by the parish council and it is the parish council that wishes to develop the building. I made significant progress with my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar) when he was Minister for Health, but I fear that the project has become a little lost in some of the changes that have occurred during the year. I would be grateful if the Department of Health and Social Care would look at the project to see if we can finally deliver that new healthcare centre for Long Crendon and surrounding villages.

On banking, it is preposterous that, across the 335 square miles of my constituency, there is one high street bank left standing; we just have the Nationwide in the town of Princes Risborough. TSB closed in Winslow, Barclays closed in Buckingham and Princes Risborough, and Lloyds has recently closed in Buckingham. There was a suggestion that Buckingham would get a banking hub, but I see little evidence of it. I would appreciate the Government’s support in making that happen.

Of course, this would not be a speech of mine if I did not mention the railway whose name we dare not speak—but I will. Some 19 miles of HS2 is being built through my constituency. Along with East West Rail, it continues to dominate my working week, with countless problems arising from construction. Both projects are simply bad neighbours, despite promising the opposite.

I have three key asks. First, let us finally get resolution on fixing that which the projects have broken—namely our roads, though thousands of HGV movements, sometimes daily. Despite strong efforts by Buckinghamshire Council, there seems to be no agreement to secure the funding from HS2 and East West Rail to fix those roads. I would greatly appreciate the support of the Department for Transport in making that happen.

We also need real compensation for businesses affected by these construction projects. The Crooked Billet pub in Newton Longville has already closed its doors because of the duration for which roads into the village have been closed by East West Rail, yet there is no compensation on the table. With similar road closures coming up in the village of Steeple Claydon, the Prince of Wales pub, which has already been badly affected financially by other road closures, looks to have another grim year financially if the roads to nearby villages cannot be reopened.

Further down the road, the Government seemingly remain intent on building a new mega-prison next to Grendon Underwood and Edgcott, just a mile from where HS2 and East West Rail cross. It is simply inappropriate and unfair to lumber communities already so badly affected by the construction of Government infrastructure projects with another one. My right hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), when she was Prime Minister, agreed to look again at the prison, and I urge the current Government to look at it and deliver fairness for my constituents.

East West Rail still plans to launch next year with diesel-only rolling stock. As we head to net zero, that simply cannot be right, and I urge the Government to look again at that, too.

In the few seconds that I have left, Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish you, Mr Speaker, the other Deputy Speakers, all Members of the House and all the staff who support us here in Parliament a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.