Cameron Thomas

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this important debate. There are no bustling city centres in the Tewkesbury constituency. Instead, our historic town and village high streets are characterised by independent stores, restaurants and pubs, which provide jobs and attract tourism. Less overtly, they promote social inclusion and tackle loneliness. My hon. and gallant Friend referred to the loss of connectivity and isolation. The largest age demographic in my constituency is the over-65s. They are typically less mobile than younger demographics and are more likely to live alone. According to Age UK, more than a million older people say that they regularly go over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member. The withdrawal of high street services is only likely to amplify the loneliness epidemic, particularly for my residents. Recently, I was pleased to work with the excellent independent councillor Gemma Madle to return post office services to residents in Winchcombe after a period of time when they had lost them. Almost half of the Tewkesbury constituency is categorised as within the lowest 30% of decent broadband connectivity across the UK. That is a shameful indictment of the national planning policy framework in a constituency largely comprised of the fastest-growing borough outside London. That again disproportionately exposes my over-65s, because their demographic has a lower rate of IT literacy than younger groups. Those older residents who do adopt technology to access online services are most likely to become victims of fraud: Age UK reported in 2019 that someone over 65 is defrauded every 40 seconds in the UK, and that not only the impact of that but even that threat is likely to dissuade residents from venturing online. Those examples show why it is especially important that my constituents have reliable public transport links to get them to our high streets, and that those high streets are preserved so that people can access the services they need. Currently, public transport links are woefully inadequate across my constituency; although the bus fare cap rise from £2 to £3 is unwelcome, it is unlikely to affect those thousands of my residents who do not even have a reliable bus service. If the cap rise were utilised to fund additional services in constituencies such as mine, I would support it. Regardless, I urge the Government to look at alternative measures for public transport, such as on-demand services. One example is the Gloucestershire Robin service. I hope that the Minister will commit to funding the infrastructure upgrades that my constituency already needs, if it is expected to grow yet further to accommodate the Government’s housing targets.