I arranged two community clear ups in Blakenhall and Ettingshall picking up litter in hotspots that had been identified by residents raising concerns with my office. Local people responded to my invitations and helped us collect countless bags of litter and reported serious incidents of fly tipping. Thank you to everyone who took part and City of Wolverhampton Council for supporting our efforts.

I hosted a coffee morning at St Matthew’s Church on Friday 7th February. Constituents raised issues related to investment the East Park, the state of local pavements, inconsiderate parking, tree roots, fly tipping and cycling safety.

It was a pleasure to attend the Wolverhampton City Fairtrade Partnership Annual General Meeting and speak to the chair, Barbara Gwinnett. The meeting heard about the partnership’s key achievements in 2019 and plans for 2020, including opening a new Fairtrade shop in the city. I’m looking forward to hosting my annual Fairtrade coffee morning supporting Fairtrade Fortnight on 10am, 28 February at St John’s Methodist Church.

I met with construction skills apprentices at the Bilston campus of City of Wolverhampton College to mark Apprenticeship Week. Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to train for a career and it was good to see the excellent facilities available at the college. It was also exciting to hear about developments at the college to support the new skills required for electric vehicles, I look forward to seeing this progress in the future.