Local MP Jesse Norman has been appointed as the new Roads Minister at the Department of Transport in the recent ministerial reshuffle.

The final details of the portfolio have yet to be published, but are likely to include strategic, national and local road infrastructure and investment, buses, cycling and responsibility for key authorities and agencies such Highways England and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Commenting, Jesse said:

"I am delighted to have been asked by the Prime Minister to take on this important brief. The Government has huge plans to invest in road infrastructure over the next five years, and we need to make sure that happens in a well-planned and cost-effective way.

"But of course I am also thrilled to be in a position to look again from within Government at the position of rural counties such as Herefordshire, where people struggle with such things as potholes, bad road surfaces and pressure on rural bus services.

"Ministers are very properly under a duty to be completely impartial in their actions, and I will be. But I will also be working very vigorously to make sure that the rural voice is heard