Significant investments into the local economy have been announced throughout July to include planning permission for Newhaven University Technical College providing educational opportunities for 600 students, approval for Rampion Offshore Windfarm positioning Newhaven as the South East Centre of offshore renewable technology and £19 million investment into regeneration for the town to include new port road access.

Norman says “HSBC cannot ignore the substantial investment that is being made into Newhaven, bringing local jobs, development and boosting the local economy. This is a real regeneration boost for the town.

“This is not the right time to be considering closing the Newhaven branch of HSBC, just as the town is getting a boost of funding and will see more people coming into the town. People will want to access banking services locally and not be travelling between towns to get a counter service.”

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Rosalyn St Pierre has frequently criticised the council for failing to opt in to national initiatives including grants to improve road junctions, reducing fuel costs by using electric or hybrid vehicles, as well as ignoring local proposals to synchronise bus and train timetables at stations like Cooksbridge to reduce the number of car journeys and relieve pressure on car parks, such as the one at Lewes station.

Cllr St Pierre says: “Rural life has changed significantly, many people are now forced to work outside the 9am to 5pm routine. Current estimates suggest rural families are now £5,000 per year worse off than those living in towns, partly because of transport costs.

“Vulnerable people, the sick and elderly not only face rural isolation, but also serious obstacles travelling for doctors and hospital appointments. This proposed reduction in rural bus services will have a further, very severe impact on people.”

Norman Baker MP added: “This very week East Sussex County Council is cutting home-to-school transport services, creating problems for pupils travelling in rural areas to schools such as Chailey, Lewes Priory and others. Furthermore, the effect on small to medium businesses makes the Council’s boast that they support East Sussex business sound hollow.”

£168 million of funding is being made available to 148 councils across the county to help fix three million potholes by March 2015. This is in addition to £183 million funding announced in March of this year to repair roads damaged by the winter severe weather, of which East Sussex was allocated £2,645,187.

Potholes are a blight that can damage cars, cause accidents and disrupt journeys and the coalition government is taking the issue very seriously.

Norman says: “This is a significant amount of money being made available to East Sussex and I hope to see proper long term repairs being made to the road network not a patchwork of quick fix measures that fall apart within weeks. With this substantial investment, the county council now has no excuse for its roads in future”

HSBC Bank plc have announced that the Newhaven branch of the bank will close on Friday 12^th September and will shortly be writing to all customers. Nearest branches for customers will now be in Seaford, Lewes or Brighton, all of whom operate longer opening hours than the Newhaven branch.

Lester Wynne-Jones from HSBS Bank plc says: “We have made this decision with great reluctance, but after a careful analysis of the branch’s commercial viability it was clear that it is no longer generating the custom necessary to justify its continued development.”

Norman Baker MP has met with HSBC representatives to get assurances that residents in Newhaven will still be able to access the services of the bank, especially the 23% of customers that HSBC say only use the Newhaven branch and are not registered for telephone or internet banking.

Norman says: “I have been assured by HSBC that customers not wishing to access alternative branches will be provided support in how to access banking via the Post Office or training for alternative banking services. I have also insisted that HSBC investigate leaving a cash machine in place following closure, to maintain some sort of service to its customers

“HSBC have also assured me that there will be no redundancies attached to this branch closure as staff will be redeployed to other branches”

“Although I appreciate viability of a branch is a priority for HSBC, this does not help those individuals who are reliant on a counter service to access their own bank accounts and it is a real disappointment to those customers. Not everyone wants to bank online.”

New legislation came into force on Monday designed to help people in England and Wales. It also applies to UK nationals overseas who are at risk of becoming the victim of a forced marriage.

Forced marriage can involve physical, psychological, emotional, financial and sexual abuse including being held unlawfully captive, assaulted and raped.

In 2013, the government’s Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage to more than 1300 people.

The maximum penalty for the new offence of forced marriage is seven years imprisonment.

Law enforcement agencies will also be able to pursue perpetrators in other countries where a UK national is involved under new powers defined in legislation.

It will still be possible for victims to seek enforcement for breach of a forced marriage protection order by way of the civil court’s contempt powers as an alternative to reporting the breach to the police.

Norman says: “Marriage should be about two people deciding they want to live together because they love each other. To force someone in to marriage to a person they don’t want to be with against their will is a corruption of marriage. Moreover it is in effect a life sentence for the person forced to marry, who at worst will then become a domestic servant by day and a sex slave by night. Forced marriage has no place in a civilised society and no cultural explanations can justify its use. I am therefore delighted to launch this new law on behalf of the coalition government”.

• Further information please see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/forced-marriage-now-a-crime
• Part of the government policy to end violence against women and girls in the UK. For further information see https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-in-the-uk

Football United Against Domestic Violence is a new campaign by Women’s Aid, launched on 10 June, to work with national footballing bodies, sports media, football clubs, the police, players and fans to send a clear message that domestic violence is always unacceptable.

Norman attend the launch event along with representatives of the Premier League, The FA and BT Sport to show their support and sign the pledge:

I stand proudly with Football United Against Domestic Violence to speak out:

• against all forms of domestic violence
• against sexist attitudes towards women and girls
• for healthy relationships for young people
• for positive role models in the footballing community

Norman says: “This is an important issue that needs the support of the whole community and I am pleased to be able to pledge my support to this campaign.

“To be able to have the footballing community join with this campaign makes a positive difference now to raise awareness and reduce the amount of domestic violence in the future and I would encourage local clubs to sign up to show their support and speak out against domestic violence.”

Figures published yesterday by the Office of National Statistics show more people are in work than ever before, with levels of employment up to 30.43 million in January to March 2014. Unemployment figures have fallen by 133,000 in the 3 months to March 2014 and down from 309,000 from the previous year.

Norman says: “It is encouraging to see a continuing upward trend of people entering employment. We have record numbers in work and employment falling at the fastest rate in over a decade. This can only help in pulling us out of the economic downturn, both at a national level and in the local area.

“Helping local people to find jobs is a key priority for me. Quarter by quarter, job by job we are rebuilding Britain’s economy. Every job created is a family helped and a boost to our economic growth. This is further convincing evidence of the key Lib Dem contribution in building a stronger economy and growth in our country.”

Local Lib Dem MP Norman Baker attended the celebrations of 150 years of the Seaford Line railway on Saturday 7 June.

An exciting programme of events was laid on by Sussex Community Rail Partnership, with local volunteers. These included a family cycle ride from Newhaven Town, a film screening at Bishopstone, vintage vehicle display at Lewes and a community picnic at London Road.

Norman says: “This was a fantastic day of events celebrating Seaford Line railway, with the local community out in force.

“The next challenge is to open the Lewes-Uckfield line, which would allow the return of hourly direct services from Seaford and Newhaven to London via Uckfield.

“Full steam ahead for the next 150 years!”

A major tax-free childcare package will help 13,940 families in East Sussex, local Lib Dem MP Norman Baker said today and 2,660 of those will be in Lewes District.

Working families will get up to £2,000 to ease the cost of childcare as part of a scheme to be rolled out in Autumn 2015. It means a family with two children under 12-years-old could benefit by up to £4,000 a year.

Norman says: “The announcement in the Queen’s Speech provides a huge boost to families in East Sussex. This is something Liberal Democrats have fought for and are now delivering in Government.

“We are committed to building a stronger economy and a fairer society and this helps children get the best start in life.” The Queen’s Speech outlines the legislative agenda for the Coalition Government over the next 12 months.

Norman added: “I am also really pleased that the Lib Dems have managed to secure free school meals for every infant, which will help their health and educational development.

“It comes on top of 15 hours free weekly childcare we have already delivered for all three and four year olds and pupil premium to help our schools.

“All these measures will help parents go to work and provide security for their families.”

In a letter to the MP, the council says: “A report will be presented to Lead Member meeting later this year outlining a process by which some localised restrictions could be introduced and enforced. High Street and School Hill in Lewes will be included in the assessment of that report”

Norman says: “This action is long overdue, but I am glad that it seems that the council is finally taking action. Only this week I have had a local resident contact me who had a nasty fall tripping on a broken pavement which required hospital treatment”

“For too long thoughtless drivers have been damaging paving stones, costing the council unnecessary expenditure at a time of tight budgets, and also forcing pedestrians out into the road.”

The MP has also asked the police to take action against pavement parkers when they come across them.