Column by Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie.

I hope everyone is starting to clear up from the effects of Storm Eunice and then Franklin. I can see the River Severn from Frampton and at one point on Friday, it looked very dicey for some of our villages but, luckily, flooding did not happen this time.

My thanks go out to our fire, police and severn area rescue teams, together with Gloucestershire County Council, Stroud District Council and Western Power for all the work before, during and after the storm to help people who were impacted.

I know there have been plenty of trees down and some small-scale damage but luckily no loss of life locally. The very good and clear warnings we are now receiving about the storms are helping to save lives. When a similar storm hit in 1990 during the day, 47 people lost their lives across the country.

Last week was a parliamentary recess and this meant I could spend the time in the constituency visiting as many organisations, businesses and people as I could.

Local councillors and I braved the wind to proudly plant a blossom tree - donated by the National Trust - on The Green in Church View, Berkeley. Sadly, the tree did not survive Eunice but the National Trust said it will be replaced. The National Trust is currently arranging planting schemes in many areas.

I also visited DarkLight Developments Ltd in Brimscombe, innovative leisure games experts and I got the chance to take part in a demonstration of laser tag vests. The company unsurprisingly had an extremely tough time during the pandemic when many of their income streams evaporated overnight. The business is now facing challenges with parts shortages but I was impressed with their optimism and I am happy to give it a shout out.

Another trip out was to the Barclays Van stationed in the Waitrose car park. This has been set up as a replacement for the bank closure. The bank confirmed that they had a high take up for the service and the site has been one of its more popular. While we never want to see banks close and often campaign against the same, when they do close, I welcome alternatives that provide a physical presence and services being made available for local people in useful places.

A visit to Sundealea in Cam was next on my list where I toured the operation. It manufactures high performance, sustainable fibreboard that is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable. There is a zero waste culture as it uses waste such as old egg boxes and turns them into fibreboard. I was impressed with this cutting-edge local company. They have big ambitions and a lot of talent.

Finally, among other business and organisation visits, it was a pleasure to speak to so many constituents. Our drop-in surgeries in Chalford and Cam recently have been packed full with people wanting to raise concerns. The range of subjects that we cover always amaze me but I like tackling the problems as homework locally or in parliament afterwards. Planning issues and concern about the Local Plan were high on the agenda too. I will be writing to the council about this.