"Please go and get boosted when you are invited to do so by your surgery, by using the national booking service online or by calling NHS 119. Please also encourage your family and friends to get their third dose too. In Suffolk, our local NHS has done brilliantly on boosters so far. Having already vaccinated 49% of the population compared to 40% nationally - and with your help, we will meet the challenge to fight Omicron. As well as third vaccine doses, we are also progressing with Plan B. Requiring facemasks in most indoor spaces, reintroducing the work from home guidance and introducing a requirement for two jabs or evidence of a negative lateral flow test to gain entry into settings where large crowds gather. I supported these measures in Parliament this week because I firmly believe that they are proportionate, measured and targeted. If it turns out that the impact of Omicron is not as severe as feared, then I hope we won't need these additional restrictions for long.
In better news, I’m delighted that Freeport East had its special sites and status confirmed this week and that the necessary regulations will come into effect on December 30th. The Freeport is a collaboration between the Ports of Felixstowe & Harwich to create a single customs zone alongside innovative plans for green energy. This is great news for employment and prosperity locally and UK PLC more broadly with over 13,500 jobs set to be created, many of which will be highly skilled.
This week, I attended the second Offshore Electricity Grid Task Force (OffSET) meeting including the Energy Minister, Greg Hands. I, once again, raised the issue of a more coordinated approach and urged National Grid to be much more transparent. This follows hot on the heels of the recent visit I organised, where one of the directors of the government department responsible for energy policy came to Suffolk. Change is coming with the proposed National Policy Statements for Energy placing an expectation on applicants to demonstrate how the optimum connection locations have been identified and a requirement to coordinate multiple projects but I wanted to get across the current risk to our precious landscape and the risk of the eroding cliffs with cabling. I have engaged extensively in the various planning hearings and have always been clear that I would like to see the integrated infrastructure located at the brownfield site at Bradwell in Essex.
Finally, as this is my last column of the year, I’d like to wish all East Suffolk Extra readers a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year."