I’ve had another busy week getting out and about across North Cornwall, speaking to local people, community groups and businesses to discuss how I can work with them to fight for a fairer deal for everyone in our area.

It was a pleasure to officially open the St Breward Community Shop which is a fantastic asset for the village. It was heartening to see so many people coming together to volunteer and support the shop. Community-owned and run businesses are at the heart of our social fabric across North Cornwall and are wonderful to see. I’ll continue to do what I can to support them.

The new government’s minister for fishing and farming, Daniel Zeichner, visited North Cornwall in the past few days. I joined a roundtable discussion to hear from local farmers about tackling bovine tuberculosis. I also had a chance to urge the minister and the government to support North Cornwall’s fishermen and the inshore fishing fleet by limiting large vessels coming within six miles of the shoreline.

In addition, I raised serious concerns about the Marine Management Organisation and the lack of public consultation on recent applications for seaweed farms in and around Port Isaac Bay. I will keep up the pressure to make sure that local people’s voices are heard.

I’ve been in Camelford with the Westcountry Rivers Trust looking at water pollution, flooding, droughts and biodiversity in the River Camel and across our area. I also met with Surfers Against Sewage at Mother Ivey’s Bay near Padstow about continuing to work together to end the shameful dumping of raw sewage in our seas and waterways. I’ll be raising this matter when I meet with the chief executive of South West Water next week.

I’ve met with local police officers this week to discuss local people’s priorities for policing in our towns and villages. I’ve also had discussions with National Highways about the urgent need for safety improvement works on the A30 at Plusha after another tragic accident. I’ve been out with local Cornwall councillor Adrian Parsons to look at how we can tackle speeding problems in Treburley.

In Bude I met with Bude-Stratton Town Council about projects they are working on, followed by a discussion with the Bude Sustainable Tourism Project and their campaigning to reduce the environmental damage from single-use barbeques and single-use bodyboards.

I visited Bodmin Hospital to meet and have discussions with health chiefs about services provided there, as well as at Launceston and Stratton. There have been some issues at Bodmin Hospital with services moved elsewhere and it was reassuring to hear about plans to bring services back to Bodmin as quickly as possible, including mental health services.

I am determined to keep fighting for the best possible health services for our area, and am keeping up my campaigns for more funding, for more local and responsive services, to cut down ambulance and A&E waiting times – and of course to help make sure people can get a GP or a dentist appointment when they need one.

Ben Maguire

Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall