Like The Cherries, Bournemouth town has known highs and lows. I’ll always level with you, as a town, circumstances have meant that we’ve slipped in recent years.

But we are on the up again. Every day, I meet the people and see the places that will create the green shoots of recovery.

National headlines may scream “Bournemouth is failing,” but while I see the challenges, I also see the major investments coming to our town. Recovery—like AFC Bournemouth’s—doesn’t happen overnight, and often takes place behind the scenes, until suddenly it becomes very visible.

Things are getting better, and I’m confident you’ll see it for yourselves soon enough.

In the last year, I’ve spoken with more than 1000 people on doorsteps, and met many more on our high streets and at my office surgery in Boscombe. People often start by saying, “I know it’s not that important or “it’s just a little thing.”

But the issues people often call “small” are anything but, and to me, your small is no less worthy of my attention/nothing that matters to you is ever small. 

A broken swing does not have to be small. It’s not small to Rio, who’s campaigning to upgrade Mallard Park, nor is it to the children dreaming big for Churchill Gardens, or the young people passionate about Kings Park, Muscliff and Townsend play areas. 

I’m standing with families and their children. Attending council playground engagement events, I’ve been able to ask you to share your hopes for our local play areas. With millions earmarked for playgrounds, I’m committed to ensuring the funding is spent wisely and in accordance with what you want. 

An emptied van overnight isn’t not that important to the tradespeople who wake up to find their tools stolen and their livelihoods put on hold. 

I stand with those local tradespeople. I’m supporting new legislation requiring courts to consider income lost from tool theft, as well as urging Dorset Police to issue crime reference numbers faster so that claims can be made. The recruitment of an additional 40 Dorset Officers could not be more welcome. 

What of the shelves emptied by thieves? I’ve spoken with retail workers forced to watch their workplaces raided with impunity. 

I stand with shop workers. Having stood in their shoes myself, I know how it feels when someone gets aggressive. I back scrapping the £200 prosecution threshold, introducing a new offence for assaulting retail staff, and a far greater focus on shoplifting. 

Then there’s the bright orange Just Eat bag, pedalled by someone on an illegal gig shift. I meet residents who are concerned about illegal work in our town, and they’re right to be. 

We all must live within law, and I stand with those that do. I’ve demanded that delivery platforms stop approved riders from illegally selling accounts to people without the right to work.

The Government has strengthened its enforcement too, with 9,000 illegal working raids and 6,410 arrests enacted by our officers, an increase of 48% and 51% respectively. But the big firms must also do their part to prevent account-sharing. 

When small problems are ignored, they grow into bigger ones.

Restoring confidence begins with acknowledging that those problems are there

There is work and wrongs to make right, now and in the years ahead. That is why I write about these issues in my column, so that with your feedback, I can tackle the challenges that matter most. 

Like our football club, our town’s recovery is built on patience, persistence, and civic duty channelled in the right ways. Every conversation I have, every group I visit, and every issue I tackle is part of that recovery.

The green shoots of progress are here, and together we can turn them into lasting change. Bournemouth deserves nothing less.