As ever there has been lots going on Portland.  One of the busiest campaigns has been to protect the coastal strip along the road from Southwell to the Bill from quarrying.

I met with campaigners and officers from the County Council to dicsuss how to protect this part of the world heritage site from quarrying.  Despite the many environmental designations the permission for quarrying is legal because it predates the protections going back over 50 years.

I am now liaising with Defra, the County, Natural England, the National Trust and the quarry operator to see if there is a proper solution.

The work on the Portland Academy is going well with all the schools now wanting to be a part of the project.  The next stage is for the County Council to put in a formal expression of interest to the Government.

I was delighted to be the guest speaker at the Portland Community Partnership dinner at Southwell.  As ever Phil Lamming and his team had organised a great event, this time to raise money for IVY - the island volunteers organisation.  The dinner was splendid and showed off the Portland Spa's catering very well.

The month also saw the Olympic Development Authority come dwon to the Academy for an event to mark Portland as being the first Olympic venue to start construction, it will be the first to complete and is something Dorset should be proud of and build on.  I am pleased the the Government has also now agreed the funding the Fire Authority needs to cover the Olympic events locally in 2012.  I am now working with the Police Authority to get similar support from the Home Office.