Here in Monmouthshire, we’ve had some brilliant news!

If you haven’t already heard, I helped secure £1.5 million for Monmouthshire through the UK Government’s Pride in Place programme.

This is funding that will go straight to supporting high street revitalisation and community regeneration projects right across the county. The goal is to help boost local pride and breathe new life into our towns and villages.

Since becoming your MP, one of my top priorities has been to support our local economy and high streets as I know this is so important to all of us.

On the topic of 'pride in place', I recently spent the morning door-knocking in Abergavenny with Cllr Tudor Thomas. One of the biggest issues residents raised was the amount of litter in the area.

I’m pleased to say that following this, amazing volunteers Mary, Carolyn and Catherine from 'Keep Abergavenny Tidy' quickly jumped into action - collecting eight large bags of rubbish in under two hours!

We’re now following up with Pobl to look at longer-term solutions to reduce littering in this particular area, but this is exactly what politics should be about: listening to your concerns and working with the community to fix them.

I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful afternoon of music with the Friends of the Royal British Legion Band of Wales, and I also visited Llanfoist Primary School, where the Eco Council invited me and Cllr Sara Burch to discuss food waste in relation to the excellent universal free school meals initiative from Welsh Government.

It was brilliant to hear how much they value the food, but also to explore how ideas like hot compost bins and adjusting portions could help reduce waste. We’re now writing to Welsh Government to share these suggestions.

And finally, I enjoyed a beautiful walk at The Grange Project - this is a fantastic local rewilding project run by Tom and Chloe, who care deeply about climate change and moved to the area to make a difference. From hosting school workshops to working with volunteers planting trees, they’re doing amazing work for not only the environment but also our local economy.

Monmouthshire’s a fantastic place to live, with incredible people working so hard to make it even better.

If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our local area, please drop me a line via email or call my office on 01291 200139.