Some of you may have seen the front page of the Stratford Herald today, which show that my opposition truly do not understand our new 4Stratford service or the role of an MP and their website in a modern world. Our planning application alert service allows visitors to www.zahawi.com to view planning applications in their local area on an interactive map, and to sign up to receive alerts via text message or email when a new planning application is received within a user definable number of miles from their home. The new service is a pilot of a new residents portal named 4stratford.com that, should I be elected, will become the focal point of my online presence within the constituency. The portal will include a range of public data bringing together data from all levels of government including national, county and district. Example data sets that are expected to be available will include education statistics, health care indicators, crime statistics and alerts and public service locations. The site will also provide an interactive "Tell 4Stratford" feature allowing residents to leave their views on issues affecting the constituency through the web, email, text message and Twitter. 4Stratford will also provide a single easy point of contact to Mr Zahawi, as the constituency's MP, as well as to a resident's own county and district councillors. The planning alert service and the plans for 4Stratford.com are a demonstration of the Conservative Party's commitment to open and public data and putting the public in control. This commitment is enshrined in the party's manifesto which includes a new commitment to a "Right to government Data". Under a Conservative government data and information will no longer be something that Whitehall and Council bureaucrats can keep to themselves but will be accessible to anyone on request and in a digital form. We decided to pilot 4Stratford with planning data as it is obviously such a major issue in the constituency. Since we started work on the project everyone that I have spoken to has said that it is something that they would definitely subscribe to and I’m very proud that my team have managed to put the site and the alert system together in such a short time. My opponents’ responses have been interesting to say the least. Martin Turner of the Liberal Democrats said "Public information of this kind is already available for free on a number of websites. The last people you would to be offering this kind of service is a political party. What we should be doing is investing, as a society, in this kind of information - but not allowing politicians to try to monopolise it." Perhaps what Mr Turner hasn’t considered is that the limited number of websites that do provide access to this data require you to go look for it, whilst 4stratford will push relevant data to constituents. Is Mr Turner suggesting that it is a cost effective use of a busy constituent's time to check the website of the District Council, the County Council, Warwickshire Police, the Healthcare Commission, the Department of Health, the Department for Children Schools and Families and many more sites every day to see if information relevant to them has been added? My Labour opponent Mr Rob Johnston showed an even larger mis-understanding saying "This is usurping the role of local authorities, who have a responsibility to consult widely. It seems like a bit of a gimmick, because the Government's reform of the public service, and the IT revolution, will drive efficiencies and provide a better public service and make this kind of service commonplace anyway." The thing is this service is not about usurping the role of local authorities or monopolising data as a politician, it is about putting data in the hands of the public so they can better engage with consultations and make informed decisions. Under Conservative plans public authorities will have to make data publicly available and all this site will do is bring all of that data together in an easy to understand format and all in one place. An MP's website should serve all constituents regardless of their political persuasion and in a modern post bureaucratic world should be an information hub and communication gateway that empowers constituents, not tells them what to do and think as so many do at present. Mr Johnston's response is also unsurprising from a candidate of this government, who would rather that public information be held in secret by the bureaucrats of whitehall and that top down targets and planning decisions be enforced from central government rather than decided on a local level. They have had 13 years to improve public services and implement more effective IT, but their record speaks for itself.