James MacCleary MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Jul 2025 · Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment · Hansard source

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  I speak today in the tradition of using these debates to highlight issues facing constituents. Sir David Amess set a high bar in making the most of his opportunity to champion his constituents, and while we came from different political traditions, I respect the example that he set. Let us start with road safety. Over the last year, I have raised serious concerns about rural roads throughout my constituency. I have highlighted dangerous junctions on the A27, and recently backed Arlington parish council’s campaign to improve safety on the rural roads around Arlington and Upper Dicker. Elsewhere, communities have been left to take matters into their own hands. Those living along the C7, which runs through Kingston, Rodmell, Piddinghoe, Southease, Iford and Swanborough, have raised more than £20,000 just to fund a feasibility study as part of the “Safer C7” campaign. The fact that communities are having to crowdfund for something as fundamental as road safety speaks volumes. It is a damning indictment of national Government failure to deliver the infrastructure that our villages and rural communities need. Let me now turn to the issue of housing and planning. Housing remains one of the greatest pressures facing my community. Too many families are stuck in temporary accommodation while genuinely affordable homes remain out of reach. In areas such as mine, we urgently need high-quality housing in which people can actually afford to live. At the same time, we see poor planning decisions and underused sites wasting precious opportunities. I have raised the case of Talland Parade in Seaford directly with Ministers as a prime example of what happens when developers are allowed to bank brownfield sites in town centres to the detriment of communities. I am hopeful that promised new powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will give local authorities the powers to act, at last, on cases such as this. We do need new homes, but they must come with the infrastructure to support them, along with proper consultation with local residents and a focus on affordability. I am glad that my local district council listened to local concerns, and chose not to include the Eton new town proposal in its draft local plan. That was absolutely the right decision. Speculative, large-scale developments of that kind, dropped into rural areas without proper infrastructure or consultation, do not serve our communities. Meanwhile, villages such as Ringmer are being bombarded with a constant stream of individual housing applications, with no investment in roads, schools or healthcare to match. That is not planning; it is placing pressure on communities that are already at breaking point. Transport provision is key to making planning decisions. I welcomed last week’s news of a direct rail service from Eastbourne to London Bridge, via Polegate, Berwick, Glynde, Lewes and Cooksbridge, which is a step in the right direction for rail connectivity across the south-east, but like many of my constituents in the area I was very unhappy to learn that it would not stop at Plumpton. My constituents deserve better than to be left behind in major transport decisions, and I will be objecting to the rail operator, GTR, and to the Department for Transport in the strongest terms. Finally, constituents regularly raise with me the ongoing and unacceptable closure of the west beach in Newhaven—the only stretch of sandy beach in our area. Even nearby coastal towns, such as the aforementioned and wonderous Eastbourne, cannot match up to our sandy stretch in Newhaven. Shut off by Newhaven Port & Properties, which is partly controlled by the French authorities, this treasured local space has been out of bounds to residents for too long. I have engaged directly with those responsible to demand answers and to push for the beach to be reopened. This is not just about a stretch of sand; it is about fairness, local pride, and the right of communities to enjoy what should be a shared public asset. Generations of local families have memories of happy summers spent on that beach. They should not have to look back wistfully; they should be able to return to it. We will keep fighting to reopen the west beach—enough is enough. None of these problems exists in isolation. The issues of road safety, GP access and housing all reveal a deeper failure of governance over many years. I will keep working with my local constituents, residents and campaign groups to get real change on the issues that matter, and to provide genuine representation for residents in Seaford, Newhaven, Lewes, Polegate and every village that I represent.

• 16 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q4. Severe pregnancy sickness—hyperemesis gravidarum, or HG—can mean vomiting more than 20 times a day. It causes physical discomfort, acute malnutrition and severe dehydration, which often leads to hospitalisation. It has profound and long-lasting mental health consequences. It was recently reported that a woman took her own life after being denied access to the only licensed treatment, Xonvea—tragically, her unborn child died too. The drug is licensed and available, yet women face a cruel postcode lottery to access it. Will the Prime Minister work urgently with the Department of Health and Social Care to end this scandal, so that every woman who needs Xonvea can get it, wherever she lives? Will he meet with me and campaigners to look at this as a matter of urgency?

• 15 Jul 2025 · SEND Provision: South-east England · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Sir Edward. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) on securing this important and timely debate. We all know that the SEND system is broken in this country—a point even acknowledged by the Prime Minister at a recent Prime Minister’s questions. Families in my constituency and across the south-east are in desperate need. Children are being let down, and councils such as East Sussex county council are under unbearable financial strain. Across my constituency, in Seaford, Lewes, Newhaven and Colgate, and across our villages, the reality is stark, and children are forced to travel unacceptable distances. One little boy in my constituency travels 56 miles daily to school in Hastings because school provision simply does not exist locally. We should bear in mind that East Sussex has a higher than average number of specialist provision schools, yet this is still taking place in the area. Multiple children still have no places for September. Imagine the anxiety and distress being faced by families right now. Colleagues have mentioned individuals coming to their surgeries to talk about this issue. Almost weekly at my advice surgeries, distressed parents speak to me about SEND provision in our area and a lack of spaces. Indeed, schools, including primary schools, in particular, have been in touch, concerned with the level of intake of children with special educational needs and disabilities—some are quite acute—and worried about how they are going to cope in the coming academic year. A local teacher I spoke to put it very well in relation to one of the structural challenges facing our SEND system: “Parents feel they have no choice but to fight for a full specialist place, because the so-called ‘facility’ secondaries can’t meet their needs.” The said that the primary to secondary “transition planning is broken and it leaves children vulnerable.” The situation facing one of my local families epitomises the crisis. Their child is severely disabled and cognitively delayed, and needs specialist schooling, yet despite unanimous agreement from the parents, nursery and mainstream primary school, the local authority insists that he attend a mainstream secondary school. It is July, and after months of battling bureaucracy, he still has no suitable place for September. Across East Sussex, nearly 5,000 pupils have EHCPs. Labour’s plan to strip away the legally enforceable rights that families rely on could leave more than 1,400 EHCP pupils in mainstream East Sussex schools vulnerable. We must be clear that children’s rights cannot be rolled back. We urgently call for a new national SEND body to oversee and fund the most complex cases, removing the postcode lottery once and for all. We need immediate investment in specialist and mainstream education, teacher training and support for local authorities. The system must put children and families first, because every child deserves better than what the previous Government offered them.