Welcome to my April roundup where you can read all about what I’ve been up to for the past month. As your Member of Parliament, I’ve continued to work on various issues raised by fellow residents via email, telephone, at my surgeries and while out knocking on doors speaking to residents across Chester.

As we approach the month of May I’ve been busy speaking to residents to find out their key issues and priorities for our city and the surrounding villages. Earlier this month I was pleased to see that our City has been recognised as a top shopping and retail destination, this was a key pledge in my by-election campaign in 2022.

As always, if you have any issues or questions about Government and Opposition policies I can help with, please drop me a line at samantha.dixon.mp@parliament.uk

April saw the release of the Vitality Rankings, compiled by Newmark’s Consultancy & Analytics team, this uses metrics that reflect the drivers of retail health at that time. This year’s rankings placed Chester as the 8th best shopping destination in the country and the best in the North of England. I’m proud of our historic high streets, unique rows and vibrant tapestry of businesses in bringing this recognition to our city.

It is no secret that it remains a challenging climate for many retail and other local businesses, yet despite these challenges, businesses across Chester have shown impressive levels of resilience and have evolved to meet the needs of their local communities.

It was also great to read a positive review of the restaurant Twenty Eight and the wider City in The Times earlier this month. Hopefully this will be the start of a good spring and summer season for our hospitality industry and retail sectors.

As I highlight in every newsletter, we have some great events across Chester to complement the excellent businesses we have. In April we celebrated St George’s Day, this included a fantastic performance through the city that included several local primary schools.

Our Town Hall is a fantastic Grade II* Listed building, and one of the many architectural assets to our City. I enjoyed reading this piece by our resident Chester blogger, helping me appreciate the brilliance of this building in the heart of our city.

This month saw the Football Governance Bill have it’s second reading in Parliament. This Bill has the opportunity to help secure the future sustainability of our national sport for communities across the country. As a community that had the misfortune of losing it’s football club the importance of sport to our area is well-known. You can watch my video on this and my reaction to the news about FA Cup Replays here.

On the subject of issues important to our community, I continue to receive regular emails from constituents about their poor experience using Avanti West Coast services to and from Chester. I continue to raise this with the Managing Director of Avanti and the Government Ministers at the Department for Transport.

I am pleased to support the Labour Party’s plans for a phased renationalisation of rail-operating companies within the first five years of a Labour Government. Rail services need to reflect the needs of passengers, not the need of corporate profit which has seen services to Chester cancelled and delayed. This follows on from the announcement earlier in the month of our plan to allow local communities to take back control of local bus services.

I’d like to finish this month’s newsletter on the subject of my latest column in the Chester Standard. The importance of voting and participating in civic society. Police and Crime Commissioner elections may not be the biggest election of this year, but they are a unique chance for voters to shape local priorities and set the political weather for the weeks and months before the General Election.

PCCs play a vital role in shaping the safety andsecurity of our communities.

The Police and Crime Commissioner serves as avital link between the public and law enforcement agencies, ensuring accountability, setting strategic priorities, allocating resources and setting the police budget, and fostering community engagement. Their decisions directly impact the effectiveness of policing efforts and the well-being of residents across Chester and Cheshire.

Every vote will matter on 2nd May, make sure you have your say .

As always thank you for taking the time to read this update.