James Wharton MP

Yesterday I was in the constituency office, with a series of surgeries and meetings. In the evening I attended the Annual General Meeting of Yarm and Eaglescliffe Branch of Stockton Conservatives.

Yesterday I met the Chief Exec of Stockton Council to discuss a range of issues, followed by visiting the new Nifco factory in Eaglescliffe. I also met the new Temporary Chief Constable of Cleveland Police.

In the evening I spoke at the Teesside Caledonian Society’s Burns Supper, an excellent and well attended event.

Tonight at scrutiny committee Stockton Borough Council decided to ignore the views and concerns of residents and traders in Yarm. They are pushing ahead with the introduction of parking charges, with no support from local people and leaving many residents with little confidence in their local authority. Yarm’s Conservative Borough and Town Councillors have been working hard on a campaign to stop the charges, along with Phil Dennis and Eaglescliffe Conservatives, but sadly Stockton has refused to listen. On Tuesday I spoke on this issue in Parliament and a link to that video is below, Stockton Council might think this is the end of the Yarm parking story, I suspect there will be a few developments to come yet…

Yesterday I held a number of surgeries and meetings in my constituency office, including with the Seamer Hilton Windfarm Action Group (SHWAG) and local organisation Catalyst.

In the afternoon I went up to Newcastle to record the Sunday Politics, which has replaced the Politics Show.

Last night I attended a packed public meeting at the Fellowship Hall, Yarm to discuss Stockton Council’s proposed new parking charges.

There were around 250 residents and traders present and there was real anger that Stockton wants to push ahead proposals for parking in the town without having undertaken any consultation. The cabinet member responsible appears to confuse a survey with actual consultation and the proposals are being pushed forward without the support of the Town Council, Borough Councillors, residents or traders.