WELL, it has certainly been an action packed month, and that puts me in the delightful position of being able to report back on plenty of news, both in Penarth and Wales as a whole.

August may have been the month of the Olympics, but September was the month of the Paralympics, and it was fantastic to see just as much success. Twenty-six Welsh athletes went to Rio to represent us on the world stage, and they came back with seven medals, including four golds. I know you will join me in paying tribute to their fantastic achievements and congratulating them for doing us all proud.

We saw the Boundary Commission publish its initial proposals on re-drawing Parliamentary Boundaries, to ensure that each constituency has the same number of electors. This will have implications for Penarth, which will fall in a new constituency of Vale of Glamorgan East – while the Assembly constituency will remain with Cardiff South.

These are only initial proposals, and may be subject to change, but I wanted to update readers who may not have been aware about the plans.

The month also marked the return of the Assembly after the summer, and we are now into our third week. One of the main benefits of the summer recess is that it gives me the opportunity to spend time in my electoral region, visiting people and dealing with local issues.

Earlier this month, I visited Stanwell Surgery to meet with one of Penarth’s GPs – Dr Cathy Sloan – to discuss some of the issues affecting general practice. As well as having the obligatory blood pressure check, it was really beneficial to sit down and talk about the pressures GPs are under. They provide 90 per cent of NHS consultations in Wales, so it is vital they get the support they need.

A number of individual concerns were raised, some relating to the Penarth area and other more general issues. I have now arranged a meeting with Dr Charlotte Jones, chair of the General Practitioners Committee Wales, and I look forward to making progress on this.

I have also been working with a number of people from across the Vale on the Pass Wide and Slow Campaign. This is a fantastic initiative to promote road safety for horse riders, and raise awareness of the risks they face.

We met at the Penarth home of Jocelle Lovell who has played a key role in the campaign to date, and it was good to chat about the concerns the team have. I have assisted them with starting a petition, which can be accessed on the Assembly website, and I urge you to sign to help drive the issue up the agenda.

This too is an issue that is only at the start, and I will be visiting the Mounted Section of South Wales Police in October to take it further. While the summer may be over, the work I took on certainly isn’t and the months ahead provide an excellent opportunity to make progress and move things forward.