For some time, the lights on the A35 East Road (Mitsubishi) Roundabout in Bridport have not been working at night.

You may have noticed, either driving by or walking across the road in the dark.

As soon as I was made aware of this, I petitioned National Highways and was determined to get to the bottom of why this issue was so complex and prolonged.

One of the reasons I set up my A Roads taskforce was to address serious safety concerns along the A35.

You will probably see major resurfacing work along the road both to the east and west of Bridport, and that flooding hotspots on the A35 in Dorchester are now resolved.

I found it wholly unacceptable for an energy company to cut off key safety infrastructure because of an internal processing error on their part and demanded an immediate resolution.
I am pleased this has now happened and that they have reformed their internal policies to ensure safety infrastructure like road lighting is not affected by such issues again.

Last week, I spoke out in the House of Commons chamber in support of new laws to clamp down on rural thefts, particularly of equipment and machinery. The Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill proposes new safeguards to break the business model of criminals selling used machinery.

It will require sellers of high value equipment to provide a traceable ‘unique identifier’ such as a serial number, to ensure a machine’s legitimacy can be guaranteed.

I know of many people around Bridport, Beaminster and Lyme whose vans or businesses have been broken into.

It’s not just the financial cost, but the mental health of hard working men and women dependent on their tools for a living.

I urged the minister to go even further with these safeguards and will support these reforms every step of the way. If you have been affected by equipment theft, I would be very pleased to hear from you.

CHRIS LODER

WEST DORSET MP