Being an MP involves a lot of travel across my constituency. We have to be in Parliament from Monday to Thursday, but the rest of the week I travel from my home in Didcot to visit local people and organisations across the length and breadth of the constituency, from Wallingford to Shrivenham and everywhere in between.
This means I know first-hand that the state of the roads across our area is not good enough and I fully agree with all the residents who regularly write to me to say the same.
I launched my Roads Survey last year and I am grateful to the almost 900 people who have so far filled it in and shared their thoughts with me about our roads. More than 80% of residents agreed that our roads are poor quality. Flooding on the A417 and safety issues on the A420 and A34 were frequently mentioned, and many people spoke about issues with congestion. I am meeting with the Roads Minister to share the findings with him.
From potholes to congestion to flooding and safety issues, it is clear that we need improvements. We do not need blanket 20mph zones across our area – and the Government is rightly making clear that these should be decided on a hyper-local basis with local consent. No-one objects to strict limits in areas near schools or other sensitive areas but are they required across an entire town? Constituents regularly say no and 71% of residents who filled in my Roads Survey agreed with the Government’s policies here.
I have been taking action since I was elected four years ago and have raised every issue that has been reported to me by constituents with the County Council and the Highways Authorities, who are responsible for maintaining our roads. This has resulted in some potholes and safety issues being fixed but I think everyone can agree that it should not take an MP writing a letter for this to happen.
I have spoken about the need to improve our local roads in 13 separate debates, met with the Roads Minister to raise it with them, and led a debate in Parliament on safety issues on the A34 and A420.
It is not all about money, but the Government has also rightly given the County Council millions in funding to help improve our roads and fix our potholes - including a substantial increase of 30% for 2023/24. We need to see this money used effectively.
I will keep campaigning on this, but please fill in my Local Roads Survey at www.david-johnston.org.uk/RoadsSurvey.
