Last Summer I launched my Get it Sorted campaign because I believed Medway Council was not doing enough to improve the quality of life on our streets.

What am I referring to specifically?

- The fact that literally hundreds of residents can’t park their cars on the same street they live in because there is not enough space.
- The fact that everywhere you look there are uneven pavements, potholes in the roads and broken streetlights.
- The fact that streets are simply not clean enough and Medway Council seems to have ran out of answers towards addressing problems such as fly-tipping and dog-fouling.

Over the last six months I have received a fantastic response from the people of Gillingham and Rainham. My team have been logging hundreds of complaints and developing an interactive map where users will soon be able to identify the key issues in their area.

The next step is to publish a report which will give a break down of the problems you are most concerned about, ward by ward, street by street.

But for now, if you haven’t had your say – get involved.

The new Rainham ‘Get it Sorted’ centre on Station Road is staffed by friendly volunteers all week. Come in for a chat and tell us about any problems you might be having on your street.

If anyone wants a free “Houses of Parliament” school poster I have 50 which were given to me at an event and which I’d (reluctantly) like to give away to anyone in the constituency who might be interested. Please contact my office and I will send one out to you free of charge!

The poster is perfect for any budding politicians out there and includes loads of facts, information and photos about the role of MPs, the functions of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, as well as the general history behind the British political system.

Please note that because of limited stock we can only send out one poster to each interested constituent.

I met with Charles Horton last week – Managing Director at Southeastern – to discuss all the complaints I had received about the new timetable that came in in December. Thank you to everyone who got in touch about this! It’s useful to hear from you so that I can know all the different issues affecting all the different trains. The majority of complaints were about the overcrowding of services and the delays.

I must stress that Mr Horton was very quick to acknowledge how poor the service has been recently – and rightly so! And I am pleased to tell you that Southeastern are taking action. They’re currently conducting a comprehensive review of the new timetable and examining its impact on both train performance and crowding. A full census is also being carried out in order to ensure that capacity and regularity meets demand, and changes will be brought in, accordingly, for the May timetable. Service performance is now their number one priority.

I will obviously be closely monitoring this situation but feel confident after speaking with Mr Horton that Southeastern is taking the action that is needed to get our trains back on track!!

On Saturday I met up with the organisers of “It’s Time To Dig Up Gillingham Skatepark” campaign group who want to get Medway Council to dig up and re-open Gillingham Skate Park which was closed in 1987.

The group were all enthusiastic participants of the skate park in their youth and believe that future generations should be able to reap the same benefits of this outdoor community facility as they once did.

One has to admire the enthusiasm and determination of this campaign. They have already gained nearly 2,000 members on their facebook group in little over two months – a great achievement in its own right.

I fully support the efforts of this campaign and will endeavour to do my upmost to help in whatever way I can.

At the moment there are simply not enough activities available for young people in Gillingham and Rainham.

Everytime I meet young people I get the same complaint: there’s just nothing to do.

That’s why I have plans to open my own youth centre in Rainham which would offer young people from the local area more activities to do on the weekend.

It’s also why I support the campaign to get Medway Council to introduce free bus travel for 11-18 year olds – an initiative which was rejected by Tory councillors.

In the meantime I will continue to support great initiatives like this one which, if successful, will directly improve the quality of life for our young people.

So come on Medway Council: dig up Gillingham skate park!

Today I want to talk about an innovative new approach towards tackling crime and anti-social behaviour which is being introduced across the country.

Restorative Justice works by bringing together offenders, victims and the local community.

Offenders are able to appreciate the true consequences of their actions whilst the victims and the local community are able to better understand the reasons why people turn to crime in their local area.

The scheme will be managed by both the police and the Mediation Service.

I think this is a positive means of brining the community together and finding local solutions to local problems.

What’s more, evidence shows that offenders who meet their victims are far less likely to offend again.

Of course this scheme can not be utilised for all offenders and it offers no guarantee that crime will be reduced.

But I genuinely believe that is the right approach towards preventing anti-social behaviour escalating in Gillingham and Rainham.

I am meeting Charles Horton on Thursday – he’s the Managing Director of Southeastern – and I’m going to be raising all the complaints that people have contacted me with on the issue of the London train services since the introduction of the high speed route. If you have any comments you want me to discuss with him email me on clarkp@parliament.uk, and I’ll make sure they’re addressed.

There’s also a Meet the Manager at Canon St station on Wednesday 4th March 8-10am, if you can make it. You’ll be able to discuss any issues directly with Southeastern. There’s more info on this on their website at www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/index.php/news/news_items/view/138.

The Home Office released crime figures last month for the period between July and September 2009. During this period I’m delighted to say that overall crime in the Medway towns was reduced by a wopping 22%.

Key stats worth noting include a drop in car crime (by 33.8%), criminal damage, (-31.8%), robbery (-20%) and burglary of people’s homes (-29%).

Area Commander of Kent Police in Medway, Chief Superintendent Steve Corbishley said: ‘These figures are a clear reflection of just how much work is going in to make Medway as safe as possible. A fall in over 400 offences riminal damage is testament to the impact that our Neighbourhood Teams have had across the area. It is also encouraging to see the positive reduction in burglary, car crime and robbery.’

Of course it was the current Labour government who awarded Kent police a £9.4 million increase last year in order to fund the roll-out of these new neighbourhood policing teams and support the costs of Police Community Support Officers.

But there’s still plenty more to do. We need more patrols around Gillingham and Rainham and more legislation at a national level in order to combat the rise of anti-social behaviour.

I will continue to work closely with Kent police to further ensure that crime keeps on going down.

p.s. if you want more information about crime statistics in your local area please visit: http://maps.police.uk/view/kent/