On the 21st August 2023 I wrote to the Rt Hon Lord Beynon at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding my deep concern over the potential reversal of the ban on electric shock collars in dog training.

You can read my letter in full below:

Groups across Gower have joined local MP Tonia Antoniazzi in calling on Dŵr Cymru to take immediate action following the latest of several sewerage discharges at beaches in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
 
These includes a discharge from a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) at popular beach Caswell which left the water unsafe for swimmers and saw Surfability, the UK’s first adaptive surf-school, forced to cancel lessons for a day to protect the health of their staff and service users.
 
Tom Barber, a senior coach at Surfability outlined the impact of sewage overflows, “…compromise not only the safety of sessions but the confidence to take vulnerable people into the water.  This isn't the first time this happened, and we doubt this will be the last”.
 
Now local groups are asking when Dŵr Cymru will take the urgent action needed to protect the health of people, the coastal environment, and the livelihood of people in Gower who rely on the tourist trade.
Tonia Antoniazzi said “people in Gower deserve answers as to what is being done now to deal with these urgent problems. Speaking to constituents I know they are frustrated with a lack of answers and simply a reiteration of how much money is being invested in systems.
 
I’m supportive of Dŵr Cymru’s business model but we can’t allow that to become a get out of jail free card for not dealing with the immediate issue of sewage making our beaches unsafe”.​

7A campaign to collect stationary for pupils in Gower has been re-launched this week by Tonia Antoniazzi MP and Rebecca Evans MS to help parents meet the rising costs of getting children ready to return to school in September.
 
People wishing to support the campaign can make donations of new pens, pencils, pencil cases, erasers, rulers, notebooks, sharpeners and stationary sets at various drop off bins across Gower and Swansea.
 
Donations are being accepted up until pupils return to school in Libraries across Gower including Pennard, Oystermouth, Clydach, Gowerton, Pontarddulais, Gorseinon.
 
Tonia Antoniazzi, Member of Parliament for Gower said, “We’ve brought back this campaign to help parents who are being hit hard by the ongoing cost of living.”
 
“We’ve had a decade of falling behind when we should have been forging ahead. Instead, families are having to cut back during this time of insecurity.
“I want this campaign to ease a little bit of pressure on families and I want to make sure that every pupil has what they need for their education this upcoming school year.
 
Rebecca Evans MS, said: “Getting kitted out for the new school year can be really exciting, but with it comes with financial pressure. Our local stationary campaign is a great way to help with some of that.
 
"Our school stationary collection has been really successful in recent years, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who has donated.
 
"I would urge families on lower incomes, and who qualify for certain benefits, to find out more about the Welsh Government's School Essentials Grant. Depending on the year the child is going into, you could be eligible for either £125 or £200 to help with the cost of school uniform or other essential kit.

You can find out more on the council's website."