Highways England came to see me to explain their plans to widen the M4 out to Junction 12 under their so called Smart Motorway project.

The aim is to provide a 33% increase in capacity by making a 3 lane a side highway into a 4 lane one. There need to be bridge works, new emergency reservations have to be constructed, a new central barrier installed, and new sensors and signs to regulate traffic flows and speeds.

Most of the work will take place at night. The motorway will be tackled in sections, starting in the west. Whilst works are underway on a section there will be 50mph narrower lane operation for traffic, with closures overnight when needed.

Works will start later this year, with completion of the whole motorway J 3 to J12 by March 2022

I stressed the importance of putting in the promised new noise barriers and noise reducing surfaces for the road.

I also stressed the need to keep the motorway flowing as freely as possible during the works, as this motorway is crucial to constituents travel plans and daily lives.

I could scarce believe my ears when I heard there is talk of a limit being placed on  how much water each one of us should be invited to use. Water is the staff of life. It is difficult to predict how much water you need for cleaning or cooking. I thought it was agreed that as water is so fundamental special care is taken to ensure we all have access to a good supply in our homes and places of work.

No-one argues  that with strong growth in our population we could run out of bread in a few years time. They do not  point out that baking more bread and putting in more ovens will entail burning more fuel and creating more emissions. They do not advocate   a bread allowance, to ensure we control the total and at the same time allow fair shares for all.

We do not do so for a very good reason. The market can take care of future demand. There is no need to interrupt individual choice. I do not eat a loaf of bread at the expense of my neighbour. There are enough loaves at affordable prices for both of us. Bread supply expands to fill the shopping baskets available.

The same should be true of water. Water is a resource in massive supply. Much of the surface area of our planet is taken up by huge quantities of water. You do not destroy the water by using it, but return it to the water cycle after use for reuse. It is the ultimate renewable. If we allowed full competition to supply domestic water as we now allow for commercial water, supply would expand to meet the demand. Let’s do just that.

Water is a good growth product. Let’s clean, store and use more of it. If we need an additional reservoir, put it in. If mending leaking pipes is cheaper, do that. There is  no need to ration.

I recently held a meeting with the Aviation Minister to encourage the government to do more to reduce aircraft noise over the Wokingham constituency.

I reminded the Minister that the changes NATs put through in 2014 concentrating more flights in a narrow Compton Gate without consultation or discussion increased flight noise over the constituency. It has led to many more complaints.

I asked for progress on

1. Flying higher for longer on approach to or departure from Heathrow
2. More encouragement of quieter aircraft
3. More dispersion of routes as before the changes
4. Ending the stack of aircraft, with more linear descents and regulation of flying speeds when distant from the UK to allow direct landing
5.  More restrictions on early and late flights

The Minister explained that there are changes underway, with consultation, on how to manage the airspace going forwards. She promised to come back to me on consideration of these and the other points I made at the meeting.

I’m all in favour of clean air. The Clean Air Acts which removed the smogs from London and our leading industrial cities were great acts of progress. They did not damage our economy, whilst improving the quality of life and saving our lungs.

Today more can be done. Particulate matter in the air can be unpleasant. It comes from domestic and commercial heating systems, from transport, from power generation and from some industrial processes. Progressively higher standards of pollution control can clean our air more.

There has been a tendency in the UK debate to concentrate on the impact of the car and lorry, and to minimise or ignore the role of other sources. It is true there has been quite strenuous efforts to clean the output from  factory chimneys. There has been a strong move away from open fires and coal and coke burning boilers. Their replacement with oil or gas systems has lowered the output of hazardous waste. There has been less concentration on the particulates coming from diesel buses and trains.

The government will be long on words and targets, but more  careful on proposing changes to the way individuals live. You cannot suddenly demand that everyone replaces their domestic boiler or scraps their coal or wood burning devices. Effecting change in the hearths and boiler cupboards of the nation’s homes requires patient progress and incentives to encourage voluntary change. Requiring people to burn less harmful  fuel in solid fuel devices would be possible. Banning bonfires is part of modern life.

The state should look to its own. There are still cities where bus fumes and particulate matter from the exhaust are an important part of the problem on the streets, especially near bus stops . There are stations where waiting trains keep their diesel engines running, with smoke and particulates circulating in high concentrations by the platforms. There are many public buildings with inefficient and dirty heating systems. Improvement and change in these areas would be the most positive way the government could lead this change.

I have to bring sad news. My Mother Amy had a severe stroke on Thursday evening, and died overnight in hospital.

I will provide more details for her friends when things are sorted out.