First of all, could I take this opportunity of wishing all readers a healthy, happy, and peaceful New Year? Let us hope that the spirit of goodwill, which is always so welcome a feature of the Christmas season, prevails through 2004.

The surroundings in which we live have a profound effect upon the quality of our lives. In South Staffordshire we are fortunate indeed. But not all of my constituents enjoy the benefit of a tranquil environment. And those of us who are fortunate enough to enjoy a degree of rural peace are constantly conscious of the many things which threaten it.

It would be a relief if we could relax in 2004, now that the M6 Toll Road is open and the noise of its construction over; and now that the Secretary of State for Transport has made it plain that there will be no major new roads along the route of the once-threatened Western Orbital, and no major international airport developed in the green fields around Bobbington.

But though we can be thankful that one of the country's major (and most controversial) construction projects is over, and thankful too that the major threats to the south of the constituency have indeed been removed, we must remember that the price of our environment, like the price of liberty itself, is eternal vigilance.

But all threats have not gone away. Next week I shall be seeing the Secretary of State for Transport to discuss his announcement that there will be a further motorway link in the Cheslyn Hay/Great Wyrley area. My constituents have suffered more than enough disruption and blight over more than thirty years and I shall want to know precisely what the Secretary of State has in mind. I will be reporting back to you through this column as the picture becomes clearer.

That is not the only threat. I have confidence in the good sense of our local councillors. But they will now have to determine all applications that come from the so-called Wolverhampton Business Airport. No one can reasonably object to the level of activity, recreational flying and some business flights, that currently exists. But there is no doubt that those who own the airport are out to maximise its potential. It will require firmness, as well as vigilance, to ensure that they are not allowed to develop significantly so that, in a few year's time, they can make further application for the sort of airport the Secretary of State has recently ruled against. The Green Belt in that part of South Staffordshire, along the Shropshire border, is not only beautiful. It is vital: not least as a green lung for those who live in the crowded conurbation nearby.

Finally, the Government is putting pressure on the County and the County in turn is putting pressure on South Staffordshire, to provide yet more housing. It is one of the paradoxes of modern life that in spite of a reasonably stable population more and more houses are demanded. This is partly the product of changing social patterns – more single-parent families, more divorces etc.

Whilst there is absolutely no doubt that more affordable housing is needed so that those brought up in the area do not have to forsake it the preservation of the Green Belt is essential for the quality of life of us all. A right balance has to be struck. I believe that South Staffordshire Council has tried very hard to strike this balance in the structure plan that it has produced. But there will be some fine-tuning necessary as the plan is developed.

The quality of our lives is indeed, to a very large degree, determined by the quality of our environment. May 2004 be a year in which that environment is properly recognised and protected.