I have just come back from the Festival Lights at Canoe Lake. This was to raise money for a cancer charity and I lit a candle for Janet Money, a cousin, who died in August of breast cancer.

I hope that the new discovery linking treatment to the genetic make up of different cancers is going to make a difference fast, too many of my friends have died of cancer and most with young children.

We were really fortunate to get Nick Herbert, MP to launch this important document as he is the Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Although ‘Our Plan for Castal Towns’ has a wide range of issues which we will tackle, because of Nick’s role we concentrated on looking at Portsmouth’s sea defences and talked about the importance of the sea front to Portsmouth’s tourist economy and to residents. Here is a copy of the press release we sent out:

Launch of action plan to boost coastal towns

A new report setting out plans to regenerate coastal towns across the country has been launched in Portsmouth.

The plans were unveiled during a visit yesterday (18 December) from Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert who was met in Grand Parade by the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Portsmouth South Flick Drummond .

Mrs Drummond gave Mr Herbert a tour of the seafront, including the sea defences at Sally Port and the flood barriers on Spice Island.

The new report sets out a range of policies to revitalise seaside towns and deal with issues such as unemployment, poor transport and educational failure, as well as problems such as rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

They include plans to support seaside communities at risk of flooding, give councils a new power to levy business rate discounts and help seaside heritage attractions to secure lottery funding, establish a network of large scale Marine Energy Parks and lay DC cables to support the development of offshore wind farms.

During his visit, Mr Herbert met city councillor Terry Henderson and several young activists who had braved the snow and ice to join him on his tour of the seafront.

Flick Drummond commented: “It was great to have Nick Herbert take the time in his busy schedule to visit Portsmouth and I am pleased that communities are put at the heart of all our policies as they are the best ones to decide how their communities should be run. There is a lot in this latest policy document to help residents of Portsmouth.”

Nick Herbert commented: “I was delighted to visit Portsmouth to set out our policies to support coastal towns and I’m very grateful to Flick for showing me around. Portsmouth is a fantastic City which, like many coastal settlements, has been badly let down by the Government over the last 12 years. I hope that we will have an opportunity to put that right. And at the heart of it is the plan to give power back to local communities where it belongs.”

Portsmouth College Awards

This was a really exciting occasion and I was really pleased to be invited as education is what led me into politics to start with. I am always struck by the enthusiasm and dedication of our head teachers and I am not surprised that Portsmouth College has achieved Beacon College Status under their principal Steve Frampton. Steve is one of those inspirational heads who loves his job and not only knows his students well but is brilliant at working on partnerships with outside organisations thereby benefitting everyone.

What was great about the evening is that not only did academic achievement get recognised but also students who had achieved success through challenging circumstances. There are some students who have to live with many difficulties and yet still battle through to get qualifications and employment. Many young people give up too quickly so it shows great strength of character to persevere and I am sure that Portsmouth College provides the support that they require. I spoke to one governor who is finding financial resources to help young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) and will be working closely with Portsmouth College and other organisations to try and get them back on track.

Sadly Portsmouth College have not got the funding they needed to rebuild but education is often about the educators and not the premises and I know that Portsmouth College has a bright future.

Graham Hurley, the best selling author who sets his books in Portsmouth, was the guest speaker and was very interesting. The next day we saw him in Old Portsmouth taking notes so watch out for his next book.

Following the floods in 2000, Southern Water spent several years working to get an extra pumping station at Eastney and it is very close to being built. It was great to be invited to see it before the four huge pumps with Rolls Royce engines are installed and see the new underground chambers which will store the sewage before it gets pumped up to Havant for treatment. The new pumping station will enable an extra 9,000 litres of water to be pumped every second which should help alleviate flooding. Southern Water will also be diverting street water into a new system, at present it joins the sewage network, this will also help with flooding. Because the new pumping station is below ground, there should be no noise or vibration affecting local residents and we will be monitoring this and it will all be grassed over.

The whole construction should be finished by summer 2010 and I hope that we can all be confident that the 1 in 75 year flood is effectively dealt with.

A few weeks ago I spoke at the inaugural debate of the Portsmouth University Debating Club. It was really well attended and is going to be very successful, even 3 lecturers turned up. Although the Labour Parliamentary Candidate stated that it was a negative term and not true, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s report on Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2009 tells a different story. The first key point states: ‘The number of people unemployed or otherwise wanting work is the highest since 1997. The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds is now higher than at any point since this series began in 1993.’

This is very disappointing and a hallmark of the devastation that this Labour Government has left on this country. While I pointed out to the students that they were not the lost generation yet, once they graduate will there be a job for them?

The other disappointing key point was the rise in poverty: ‘even before the start of the recession, the number of people living in low-income households rose again in 2007/08. The number of people in low-income households is now as high as it was in 2000, having risen by 1.3m in the last three years.’ That means that many of the next generation are being bought up in poverty too and we must work hard to make sure that this is turned around.

At the Party conference in October, David Cameron, talked about poverty in his conference speech and it was very obvious from everyone there, a standing ovation made it clear that the growth in poverty was unacceptable and we must concentrate our policies on reducing levels fast. Many families in Portsmouth are on the bread line and finding life very difficult at the moment. Sadly the Labour Government has destroyed the economy making it difficult to do any quick fixes but we will put alleviating poverty at the top of our agenda and policy making.

As part of the International Day of Disabled People, Penny Mordaunt and I went to see the Remploy packaging factory in Rodney Road, Fratton just next to Fratton Park. Remploy gives disabled people a chance to get into the workforce and have a proper paid professional job. The tour of the factory was noisy even with ear plugs but it was fascinating to see how pieces of cardboard are cut into shape, put through the printer, folded for distribution and quality controlled throughout the process. Some of the machines are at least 50 years old and it takes skill to use them.

Remploy provides packaging for hundreds of organisations including Marks and Spencer, BAe systems, the Cookie Man among others, all looking to contribute to their Corporate and Social Responsibility. We need to encourage more companies to follow their example.