As Christmas draws closer and 2016 comes to an end, I think it is important to remember all the victories we have shared in the past 12 months. Together we have successfully deferred many plans that would have seen our green spaces compromised across Rainham, South Hornchurch, and Elm Park at Ingrebourne Hill, Dovers Farm, and in Wennington Village. In Dagenham, after an 18 month campaign we secured the future of the iconic Civic Centre with Coventry University leasing the building to offer the boroughs first Higher Education facility.

Recently Jon Cruddas MP for Dagenham and Rainham was contacted by Highways England to confirm that improvements between M25 junction 30 and the A13 are now open to traffic. An extra lane has been added on the A13 between the A126 and junction 30, to increase capacity an alleviate congestion.

The good news for drivers is that the extra capacity offered by this scheme is open in time for Christmas, and should help improve shopping trips to major destinations such as Bluewater and Lakeside.

It’s that time of year again – the Jon Cruddas MP Dagenham and Rainham Christmas Card Competition! This year was bigger than ever with 21 local schools taking part and 21 local businesses sponsoring the event.

Yet again, this month saw the Council Chamber at the Dagenham Civic Centre turn into an explosion of colour! This year there were thousands of cards, making it harder than ever for Jon Cruddas to choose the winning design. However after much deliberation Jon finally settled on a card designed by Daniel Moorey, age 6 from Brady Primary School in Rainham.

Back in 2011/12 local resident Dean Haxell was made redundant due to the closure of the Remploy factory in Barking which offered employment to workers with disabilities. The closure of the factory had a huge impact locally and Jon Cruddas MP fought the closures at the time.