Last week the Government announced a £1.9million grant to alleviate congestion on the A350 at Chippenham. This should make a welcome difference to the lives of workers and businesses in Chippenham.

Local residents have often complained to me about the queues of traffic on this stretch of the A350.

This news follows last year’s award of £4.25million of Government funding to improve Wiltshire’s rail offer, including the TransWilts service through Melksham.

Having backed investment in rail and roads, it is encouraging that motoring is becoming more fuel efficient.

Electric cars are at the vanguard of this development. Last Friday I spoke at the public switch-on of local charity Zero Carbon World’s electric car charging station at the Beeches Hotel in Bradford on Avon.

I have campaigned in Parliament to increase support for electric car use, and was delighted to congratulate innovative businesses showing how it’s done.

Parking policies came up in a discussion I took part in on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, where I also defended the Government’s support for farmers who have been squeezed in recent years, with the introduction of a new Grocery Code Adjudicator with the power to fine supermarkets for unfair terms.

I went to County Hall in Trowbridge to learn how the council and BT are planning Wiltshire’s next-generation broadband rollout with the help of £4million from the Government. I later joined councillors at Chippenham Town Hall to witness the investiture of the town’s new mayor, Councillor Sylvia Gibson.

On Sunday, I attended a ‘big lunch’ at The Mead School in Hilperton, which the Duchess of Cornwall attended along with hundreds of children and their parents. It was a wonderful event, made all the better by the weekend sunshine.

It was a strange sight at the Buttercross in Chippenham on Thursday as Oxfam ‘sold’ some of Chippenham’s best known landmarks.

Reassuringly, the event – which was filmed for a campaign video – was a spoof auction, highlighting the shocking impact of big land grabs, especially in Africa. They had my support and I’ve been pressing the Government to tackle this problem through the G8 meeting later this month.

My next constituency surgery is tomorrow from 1-2.30pm at Bradford on Avon library.