It was great this week to meet representatives from Surfers Against Sewage and the River Trust to talk about both bathing water quality and the impact of pollution on our valuable chalk streams. We had a big focus on abstraction and the challenge we will face with adequate supplies of water if massive housing numbers are forced on this area.
The catchments of the River Test and the River Itchen are already under huge strain, and we all know that at times parts of Romsey end up having their water supply augmented by tankering. This could get worse if the Government’s targets for housebuilding are foisted on the immediate Romsey area. I have previously urged Southern Water to make their position clear to Government, that their current infrastructure cannot provide water to thousands more houses in Southern Hampshire, and further abstraction from the Test will be hugely damaging to the River’s ecosystem.
One of the recurrent issues in my postbag over the last few years has been about miscarriage and baby loss. In the last Parliament we introduced baby loss certificates, and this week I had a long discussion with the charity Tommy’s about their worth. I was so pleased when the qualifying period was increased, which had been raised with me specifically by a local resident. To some it may seem insignificant, but to many families who have been through this trauma it is a welcome recognition.
Last weekend I was delighted to meet a constituent and nuclear test veteran who told me all about his experience in 1956/57. It has certainly affected the rest of his life and I have requested the Minister Alistair Carns to come and meet him. The Minister was only very recently in this constituency, at the Army Air Corps in Middle Wallop.
This coming weekend we will of course remember all those who gave their lives in the First World War and subsequent conflicts. In Romsey it is always such a poignant and well attended event. I was pleased to be able to plant a poppy in the Westminster Garden of Remembrance last week, on behalf of all my constituents. But I also met Countess Mountbatten’s Own Legion of Frontiersmen at Westminster Abbey for the Torch of Remembrance Ceremony. Wreaths were laid at the tomb of the unknown soldier by the Belgian Ambassador and I, with the Last Post plaid by buglers from the Duke of York’s Royal Military School Band.