GEOFFREY Clifton-Brown, Conservative, who is hoping to be re-elected as Cotswold MP in his seventh election, said he is the only candidate who knows the Cotswolds 'in detail' and has "never been afraid to stand up for people".

The incumbent Cotswold MP who lives in Daglingworth, said infrastructure and forward planning is one of his priorities for the Cotswolds.

He stressed that it was a key issue for Cirencester, with 2,350 homes proposed in Chesterton and the regeneration of the town centre taking place before sufficient parking is available.

He said: “Forward planning in Cirencester and the Cotswolds is really important. Stroud has got neighbourhood plan, why have the Cotswolds not got one?”

Speaking on the Chesterton planning application, Mr Clifton-Brown said infrastructure needed to be in place to support the large number of new homes: “We do not know if Chesterton will get planning permission but if it does, we want to make sure we have the infrastructure to go with it.

“I think people have the impression that it is going to happen now, but it will take about 10 years.”

Other things on Mr Clifton-Brown’s priority list were to ensure there are excellent public services in the Cotswolds (including education and health) and to make sure the area is a place where businesses thrive.

If re-elected, he promised to fight for the right amount of funding for Gloucestershire schools, the Air Balloon roundabout project, a new ring road so drivers do not have to pass through the town to get to neighbouring towns or cities, an adequate provision of services in local hospitals, an improvement in bus and train services, the provision of emergency housing for the homeless, and improved sheltered housing.

Despite claims from Green Party candidate Sabrina Poole that Mr Clifton-Brown “thinks the rise in Foodbank demand could be due to people not living within their means”, with reference to a response he gave at a hustings event, Mr Clifton-Brown said: “I am sad about the increase of use in Foodbanks.

“We need to do proper studies to understand what has caused this increase.

“The Cotswolds, on the surface, it has got an air of affluence. But there are plenty of social problems.”

Looking at national issues, Mr Clifton-Brown said that he would support a “realistic Brexit”, “a Brexit that is of maximum benefit to the Cotswolds”.

He said: “The Conservative party is the only party setting out to unite everyone, the other parties are setting out to divide. The Lib Dems want another referendum.

“We have to accept the vote of the referendum, we have to go out.”

He said that rights for EU residents in the UK “should be the first thing we do”.

He continued: “I see lots of Europeans in jobs here but they feel very uncertain for the future. We need to make sure they have got reciprocal rights.”

He added that it would be impossible for the UK to stay in the single market but the government should seek to make sure it has access to the single market.

As a representative of a party which has traditionally been less attractive to young people, Mr Clifton-Brown said that more and more young people were now voting for the Conservatives.

He said that under the Conservatives, young people “are going to get good education, and businesses will thrive so they will get good jobs and earn a sufficient amount of money to get onto the housing ladder.”