Last week was one I will never forget. After making my usual train journey back down to Central Devon after a busy week in Westminster, I didn’t hop off the train in Exeter and jump in the car as normal. Instead, I carried on along the new Dartmoor Line all the way to Okehampton. After a decade of campaigning to help make this service a reality, the moment had finally arrived and I’ve never enjoyed a train journey more.
The benefits of the service will extend far beyond Okehampton and the immediate surrounding area. The tourism boost it will bring to Dartmoor will benefit businesses across our national park and the traffic it will take off the A30 should improve air quality for communities like Cheriton Bishop, Tedburn St Mary and Ide. Residents in towns like Chudleigh, Bovey Tracey, Ashburton and Buckfastleigh, who commute into Exeter via the Alphington Road roundabout, will hopefully find themselves stuck in traffic less often.
An article I recently wrote about the new service, as well as the trials and tribulations along the way, can be found at www.melstridemp.com/dartmoorline.
I visited several business across our constituency to promote Small Business Saturday this weekend (3rd December). The initiative, now in its ninth year in the UK, shines a light on small businesses and how important they are to our local economy. It encourages people to support the shops right on their doorstep and in previous years the initiative has helped to boost trade by up to 25% compared to an ordinary Saturday.
After meeting with the owners of 3 East Street, a café in Okehampton and an independent coffee shop in Crediton, I was in Chudleigh to visit the Highwayman’s Haunt. It was my latest visit to the pub after it re-opened in August following a two-year closure. It was great to have a look around, meet the new owners and hear about their plans to transform the pub into a mixed use premises with a licenced café, farm shop and campsite. We also discussed the challenges facing the hospitality and catering sector, which include staff recruitment and the continued impact of Covid-19. Face-to-face meetings with businesses such as these are hugely useful and shape a lot of the work I do as Chair of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee. Having started my own business from scratch, running it for 20 years before I was first elected as an MP in 2010, I know how hard it is to make a business work and how challenging the past two years will have been for business across our constituency. Getting direct feedback on specific issues or problems is invaluable.
Finally, a quick thank you to all the primary school pupils in Central Devon who have taken part in my competition to design my 2021 Christmas card. It has been wonderful looking through the entries and seeing the joy of Christmas captured so well by our young artists.