Fascinating tour of ABP Port of Ipswich this afternoon with Paul Ager and Andy Constable. Easy to forget its huge importance with the Port of Felixstowe on its door step but it employs over 1,000 people and is the number one grain exporter in the country. Long discussion about the future of the island site and the huge potential it holds for Ipswich.

Good to get the hard hat on again this afternoon in Ipswich. At the Maltings on Princes Street with Mark Pertwee and Vanessa Penn. A pretty wild night club back in the day by the sounds of things but has been sitting empty for 10 years.

New first class office accommodation (approx 24,000 sq ft) should be ready this May. Up to 300 employees could be based there. The Maltings is one of the first buildings you see when you leave Ipswich train station so this is a big positive. Will open at around the same time as the first Winerack apartments become available. Things are really happening!

Very useful visit to Suffolk County Council’s Highways Service Delivery Centre yesterday to discuss potholes and road quality issues in Ipswich. I know that the quality of some of the roads isn’t up to the standard we’d like in parts of the Town and I was keen to see what the County Council are doing to help tackle this issue.

The good news was that in the last budget Suffolk got £9.67 million to help improve road quality, much of this money will be spent on potholes. So far the County have purchase a new Thermal Road Repair System. There is no noisy drilling associated with this system meaning that work can be carried out during the evenings meaning more can be done quickly. The Council have a “report a pothole” website: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/roads-pavements-and-verges/potholes/report-a-pothole/ – Which seems to have increased the responsiveness of the Council when it comes to filling in potholes and other road quality issues. Currently I’m distributing my transport surveys and I’m sure there will be a great many potholes flagged up!

Absolute pleasure to meet Isaac Codjoe this afternoon, the youth MP for Ipswich. Isaac was elected by 11-18 year olds in Ipswich to represent the Town on youth issues. He’s doing a fantastic job in his role and is running a number of campaigns targeted at helping young people in Ipswich.

I plan to work closely with Isaac going forward to ensure the voice of young people in our Town is heard loud and clear.

I was delighted to move into my new flat just off the Waterfront a couple of months ago. Never before have I lived by the water, so it makes a pleasant change. However, I see it as my job to campaign for things that will make Ipswich an even better place to live.

One of these priorities is transport. For me, the overriding infrastructure priority needs to be a northern bypass! When it comes to campaigning for this I plan to leave no stone left unturned. So far I’ve met with officials from the Department for Transport on two occasions and the County Council leader, to make clear my strong support.

Interestingly, I also had a long chat with the Secretary of State for International Trade about it as well. Stressing to him the importance of a northern bypass from the perspective of our country’s largest and busiest sea container port: the Port of Felixstowe.

This issue needs to be covered from multiple angles and I will not shy away from being robust in calling for significant financial investment from the Government. Ipswich needs and deserves better transport infrastructure and less traffic. Rest assured, I’m on the case!

TOM HUNT
Conservative, Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Ipswich