IN recent weeks, I have been appalled at the numerous incidents of anti-social behaviour levelled at a number of our valued local businesses. It is completely unacceptable that our hard-working businesses have been targeted; not only is it frightening for those affected, it also presents a real financial challenge for the businesses.

The front door of the Brazz restaurant at the Castle Hotel was smashed whilst customers were enjoying their breakfast inside and days later the Rocket and Bird was broken into; windows at the Little Wine Shop were damaged a few nights later, Zizzis was burgled and most recently The Shed Café in Taunton was also broken into on two separate occasions.

Following these incidents, I made urgent representations to both the county council, Taunton Town Council and Avon and Somerset Police to understand how they are responding to these incidents. I’m aware that the police are currently carrying out enquiries and at the time of writing an arrest has been made. If you were in the area when any of these incidents took place, or have any information about the incidents, please contact the police on 101.

Whilst the police are handling the immediate incidents I have called a meeting pulling all local stakeholders together including the police, the town council, Somerset Council, representatives from Taunton Chamber and those businesses affected to look at the whole antisocial behaviour picture more widely. It is important that our businesses feel safe to operate and similarly those supporting our businesses need to feel confident and safe. The Prime Minister himself is giving anti-social behaviour in our communities special attention with his Antisocial Behaviour Plan and our recent funding increase to recruit additional police officers to the Avon and Somerset force is welcome. In fact, the target of 456 officers was overtaken in March, with 558 new recruits taken on. Training is underway. I shall be flagging that what my constituents want to see in particular is a local presence wherever possible in future and we need to see Antisocial Behaviour Plans delivering here.

It goes without saying that anti-social behaviour causes widespread distress and can have a devastating impact on individuals and neighbourhoods and I don't want to see this blighting the opportunity our local businesses have to take advantage of the recent welcome news that the economy continues to grow gradually (despite fears of a recession) with the announcement from the IMF that our economy will grow faster than that of France, Germany and Italy in the coming years.

Finally, work to improve the facilities of our local health services, particularly through the Musgrove 2030 programme, which involves upgrading many buildings across the entire hospital site, is moving forward. This is a top priority for me as the local MP. The new £87million surgical centre, which I was pleased to work to help secure funds for, is underway and I was pleased to welcome Hospitals Minister Lord Markham to Musgrove Park recently to discuss the future work plans for the whole upgrade. As well as a site visit, Lord Markham and I chaired a meeting with a range of stakeholders from the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust to share views on priorities to ensure integrated join up across all sectors of health in Somerset.

I stressed in particular the need to get a fully streamlined digital system for our health services. This is pivotal to the success of the future plans. This will make such a difference for patients in terms of health outcomes and speed of diagnosis and treatment, but it will also be really important in ensuring our hard-working health professionals can spend their time on what really matters rather than worrying about how to access multiple, diverse digital systems. With Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s unique position having already brought together community, mental health, acute and GP practices, Musgrove Park Hospital has the potential to become a digital pilot that could lead the way not just locally but nationally too. I will be working with local health stakeholders and Health Ministers on the future possibilities.

As ever, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if I can be of any assistance.