While Parliament goes into recess this week and Parliamentary business begins to wind down, my schedule, both in Westminster and in York has remained very busy.

Following a Parliamentary debate I hosted in April on nursery funding and specifically the Government’s free entitlement scheme for three to four-year-olds, I recently took a delegation of nursery owners from the constituency down to Westminster to discuss their concerns further with the Minister for Education and Childcare, Elizabeth Truss MP.

This is a matter that is of great importance to me and, after visiting a series of nurseries over the past year, I’ve been determined to try to rectify the situation. It is important to remember that local nurseries are also local businesses and, like every other business, they need sufficient cash flow to keep going.

Sadly, 84 per cent of nurseries claim that the funding they receive does not cover their costs, with the average shortfall of around £547 per child per year.

While the issue is far from resolved, the delegation and I were encouraged by the minister’s willingness to look again at the funding formulas, which currently do not seem to be giving York nurseries a fair slice of the cake.

As an MP and before 2010, as a Parliamentary candidate, I’ve always felt it was really important to give local people a say on issues which affect them and I feel strongly that decision-makers should always listen very carefully to the people they represent.

I passionately believe that open democracy and localism should be at the very heart of our politics and our society.

Perhaps the most important local issue facing residents in and around York is the council’s draft local plan, which is out for consultation until July 31.

Readers will, I’m sure, be aware of my opposition to much of the plan, which proposes 16,000 new homes on the green belt, 40 wind farms to encircle the city and 80 traveller and showpeople pitches on inappropriate sites in rural settlements.

Since the draft Local Plan was announced in April, I’ve been working really hard to encourage as many of my constituents as possible to have their say on the proposals. I’ve been hosting a series of very well attended public meetings throughout my constituency, which culminated in two back-to-back meetings in Woodthorpe and Earswick last Saturday.

It’s very clear to me, both from the correspondence I’ve received and the constituents I’ve met at my meetings, that the vast majority of public opinion in York Outer is firmly against what’s been proposed in the plan.

While the plan is clearly a local issue, it’s also really important that local people have a voice in parliament. As the local MP, I’ve been doing all I can to raise my constituents’ concerns over the future of York’s green belt and the council’s unsustainable proposals, within the parliamentary arena.

Indeed, two weeks ago I was really pleased to be given the opportunity to host a debate in Westminster on the future of York’s green belt.

I spoke at length about the council’s proposals and the impact I fear they will have on the communities within my constituency if they go ahead.

In response, Planning Minister Nick Boles reconfirmed that planning policy is clear on the protections afforded to greenbelt land and he said that there is “no point for any local authority to propose development in a local plan that is transparently not sustainable”.

As we are fast approaching the end of the local plan consultation process, I wish to take this opportunity to urge all readers to get involved, by submitting your comments on the plan to the council. The most important thing is that the council is made aware of what local people think when deciding their next steps.

I would hate them to rely on apathy to push through a plan which I believe will impact greatly on the lives of all York residents.