The reports last week that big oil companies may have been engaging in price-fixing are shocking. It is claimed their alleged actions could have raised the price we pay at the pumps by eight pence per litre. In Parliament last week I raised this with the Energy Secretary, reminding him that if customers have been ripped off, they should be compensated.

Outside the Commons Chamber I met representatives from the charities Oxfam and Action Aid, with whom I’ve been co-operating in recent months, trying to get to the bottom of what decisions must be taken to stop biofuels policy contributing to world hunger. I published an article on the issue which can also be found at my website, www.duncanhames.org. uk.

I returned to Wiltshire on Thursday, to participate in the public examination of Wiltshire Council’s emerging local plan. Alongside the local branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Wiltshire Clean Energy Alliance, I challenged the council’s recent inclusion of minimum distances between wind turbines and residential properties. I argued that this is an arbitrary measure, which is not supported by scientific evidence. The council could provide no evidence of any safety risk to residents backing up the late decision by councillors which, in truth, was intended to make it impossible to erect all but the smallest wind turbines in the county. In my opinion, there are both good and bad places to site wind turbines, and rather than blanket bans, each case should be considered locally on its own merit.

I took the opportunity over the weekend to get around the constituency. On Saturday I joined the 50th anniversary celebrations at Pewsham Pre-school in Chippenham. I then went to The Mead School in Hilperton, for their community day. I was interviewed on camera by a Year 6 pupil – just one of the many opportunities given for children to express themselves in new and often artistic ways.

On Sunday I was in Barton Farm Country Park to congratulate friends completing the Bradford on Avon Triathlon. I later enjoyed a guest match at the Avon Bowls Club beside Melksham House.

After a busy surgery in my constituency office on Saturday, my next constituency surgeries are at The Pound Arts Centre in Corsham on Friday from 10am to 11.30am, and at the same time on Saturday, June 1 at Melksham Town Hall.