My constituency, South West Surrey, is one of the most charming parts of Surrey (although I am probably slightly biased as I grew up and went to school in the area). It consists of three historic towns and a number of villages that lie between them. Farnham is the largest of the towns, Haslemere is a town of great charm and character and Godalming has a special place in my heart as my family are originally from there.In many ways, both the problems and the opportunities in my constituency reside in the same fact: we are only an hour from London. That creates not only huge economic opportunities—more than half the working population in my constituency commute to London—but huge development pressures that threaten the special character of my constituency's towns and villages, mostly as a result of the government’s flawed housing policy. In a nutshell it commits the South East of England to building 29,000 new houses per annum until 2026, around 5000 of which will be in my area: Waverley. As Waverley is very short of “brownfield” space much of this is likely to be by infilling – pulling down large houses with gardens and replacing them with mini blocks of flats.What does 5000 houses mean in practice? The average family has just under two cars, so there could be an extra 8000 cars in the area. Each car belts out 5.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. For Waverly, therefore, this means nearly 58,000 tonnes of extra pollution. There will also be a phenomenal increase in demand for school places and doctors: based on the official figures, Waverley will need to provide up to an extra 9000 school places and 80,000 GP appointments. There are of course some economic benefits, but my constituency has never had a problem promoting economic growth, but rather containing it.Another area of immense concern at the moment is the looming prospect of the local Primary Care Trust potentially closing one or more if its community hospitals. It wants to do this because it is £16 million in debt. However, having worked closely on this issue with fellow Surrey MP Anne Milton and the local community for some time now we believe that the PCT is being shortsighted and keeping its community hospitals open will actually save it money compared with sending patients to the Royal Surrey County hospital.Most people believe that an MP spends most of their time sitting in the Chamber of the House of Commons and occasionally asking questions or making speeches on great matters of state. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most MPs I know, myself included, spend the majority of their day working for and on behalf of their constituency, campaigning on local issues that make a difference to their constituents’ daily lives. This is why being an MP can be so rewarding. To be elected as an MP means that you have received the trust of thousands of people. This is why it is such a privilege to represent the collection of towns and villages that make up South West Surrey.