Colne Valley Regional Park is a beautiful landscape providing an open, green, outdoor space for people across the constituency, from Gerrards Cross, to Denham, to Iver and beyond.

It’s a place to enjoy a good walk, spend some time with the family and appreciate the natural world.

However, because of its position on the outskirts of London, the Colne Valley Regional Park is under intense pressure from speculative development in the Green Belt. I met with former Prime Minister and Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Boris Johnson to discuss how to protect this vital green space which overlaps both of our constituencies.

We met with the team from Colne Valley, as well as local councillors from Denham and Iver, to explore options for further protecting the park.

This is essential to prevent the area being subject to speculative development encroaching on the Green Belt.

Residents from both our constituencies regularly use the park and we are determined to secure its future.

Not only is the park an amenity for residents but it is an essential environmental asset. The biodiversity that the park supports is not to be underestimated, providing a stable habitat for a huge range of wildlife. Imperilling the stability of this ecosystem is likely to have long term consequences for the environmental health of the whole area.

I have been campaigning since my election to include the Colne Valley Regional Park in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, for which there is an upcoming review.

With the support of local MPs like Mr Johnson and others, I hope we can make the case for inclusion and protect this place that brings happiness and peace of mind to so many people.

Joy Morrissey

MP for Beaconsfield