I WAS very pleased last week to see that Wiltshire Council has launched a consultation on its long-term housing and development plans. The Wiltshire Local Plan – the successor to the Wiltshire Core Strategy – will shape the development of housing, jobs and infrastructure throughout Wiltshire up until 2036.

It’s important we get this right as these plans will determine how Salisbury, Amesbury and South Wiltshire grow and develop over the next two decades. I am encouraging everyone to make sure that their voices are heard, with the consultation open until 19 December. Further details on how you can do so can be found at wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy-local-plan-review, where there is also a link to the consultation portal.

At this stage, no firm decisions have been taken on where growth and development should take place beyond what has already been set out in the Wiltshire Core Strategy, adopted in 2015. It is therefore a great opportunity for local residents to play their part by passing comments on the consultation paper. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that the views of our communities are heard in Trowbridge.

Here in the present, it is always wonderful to see the city turn out in force for the annual Remembrance Day parade and wreath laying. Salisbury is superb at honouring its military heritage in style and Sunday was no exception. Despite the bitter cold, the Guildhall Square and the parade route were busy with past, current and future members of the military family.

This week, my constituency diary includes a school visit, a catch up with a local charity director and a full surgery. I am fortunate that Salisbury is a very creative place with a rich cultural life – all the more so when constituency visits happily overlap with my ministerial brief in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

I will be meeting a number of local artists in the Chalke Valley and in the city, at the kind invitation of the Craft Council. Individual crafters contribute £3.8 billion to the UK economy and I look forward to seeing how local people turned their creative hobbies into thriving and internationally recognised businesses.