It is great news that so many of the national lockdown restrictions will be lifted on July 19.

The pandemic has been a very difficult time for the whole country. But if one of its consequences is that more people across the UK come to Herefordshire and visit Ross-on-Wye, that could be a real boost for local businesses and tourism.

For Ross, this can be a huge moment of renewal: a time when we can pull together the best ideas and the best thinking into a long term economic, social and cultural strategy for the town and the lower Wye.

For me, there are three major elements.

The first is a properly agreed plan to clean up the river Wye itself. Two weeks ago I wrote to the Environment Agency, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales pressing them to take responsibility, and come together with a cross border taskforce and a plan. And I made clear that I and my fellow MPs would support them in this initiative.

The second is a plan for the town itself. I am delighted that Herefordshire Council has retained Rose Regeneration to work with the Town Council and local people on a development strategy. Rose did great work on our successful recent £22.4 million Stronger Towns Fund bid for Hereford. I am chomping at the bit to go into bat at Westminster for more investment--but we need that strategy.

The third is to embrace the future. I think we should look at making Ross a pioneer in the use of LoRaWan, a wide area local network used for social care and telemedicine and a whole range of public services. Why not have Ross leading the whole country in this important and inexpensive technology? It could make a huge difference in years to come.