I was delighted to reveal some brilliant news last week.

Exmouth will receive £15.7 million from the government’s Levelling Up Fund.

This multi-million pound investment will deliver the Dinan Way road extension. Building this missing link will improve journeys and cut congestion in and around Exmouth.

Exmouth residents will be well versed on why it’s needed. Dinan Way currently forms a partial ring road around the town. It lacks a final connection to the A376 main road to Exeter.

Traffic from Dinan Way must use unsuitable residential roads to access the A376 and M5. Goods vehicles accessing the Liverton Business Park, surrounding employment and retail area, and the road to Budleigh Salterton are signed to travel through central Exmouth.

The Dinan Way extension will provide that final road connection.

The government funding boost will also regenerate the area around Exmouth train station. This will include improvements to pedestrian access to the town centre and better connectivity for cycle ways to the Exe Estuary.

It's been a truly team effort involving Devon County Council, East Devon District Council, Exmouth Town Council and I.

I’ve repeatedly made the case for investment in East Devon in Parliament and now I’m really looking forward to seeing spades in the ground as quickly as possible.

Others will have different ideas of where the money should be spent. I’m sympathetic towards calls to regenerate the Magnolia Centre, and discussed this option with East Devon District Council when we started working on the bid. Although the ownership of land made such a funding bid problematic, this should be explored again in the future.

This multi-million pound investment into East Devon’s largest town builds on the success of securing a new, state-of-the-art police station equipped with a public enquiry office.

And – looking east in our district – it follows the government backing a new school to replace flood-prone Tipton St John Primary and successfully campaigning to reverse EDDC's regrettable decision to keep Blackdown House in Honiton closed to the public.

I'll continue my efforts to make East Devon an even better place to live, work, and visit.