The new MP for Chester South and Eddisbury is determined to get to know constituents' issues in each part of her patch, after a whirlwind start to her Parliamentary life.

Aphra Brandreth won the reshaped seat for the Conservatives earlier this month in the General Election. It was one of few bright spots for the Tory Party on the night, earning 19,905 votes to closest challenger, Labour's Angeliki Stogia's 16,848, in what was the highest turnout in any contested North West seat.

Meanwhile, Labour's Samantha Dixon won the new Chester North and Neston seat, with a five-figure majority.

Speaking exclusively to the Chester Standard, the new MP – daughter of former City of Chester MP Gyles Brandreth – said she wanted to reassure people in Chester that their issues will be heard, even after the city was electorally split in two.

Aphra said: "I know people are concerned because it is geographically a very large constituency and I want to reassure them I understand that, and I'm happy to listen to people's ideas on how to address that, but I've already got ideas of my own.

"Over the summer I'm going to try and start surgeries across the constituency. Of course, people can get in touch with me via my office anytime if they have an urgent concern or they want me to help them with an issue, but I will also be able to see people at surgeries across different parts of the constituency, whether it's Westminster Park or Wybunbury, or down in Malpas.

"I know some people feel a concern that because the city of Chester has been split in two, that they're not going to get their concerns fully represented, but that's not the case at all.

"I'm ready to be involved with what's going on in the city of Chester. Of course I'm not going to stick my nose into all of Sam Dixon's business, but if people [in Chester South] have a concern for things like the repair of the City Walls. It's great that that's now under way, but I had already met with the campaign group and joined them on the City Walls walk.

"I also met with the Hospice of the Good Shepherd and I took part in their Great Canal Walk to raise money for them.

"So there are issues that I know matter to people, they're happening in the city but are important to people beyond the city centre, and I think it's a great opportunity that Chester now has two MPs."

Asked about what issues people in the Chester South area are facing, Aphra referred to the ongoing King's Moat development off Wrexham Road, where work continues apace on building hundreds of new homes.

She said: "Obviously we all understand that we need more homes, but I want to make sure that we've got the infrastructure that we need to go alongside that; making sure that we've got a new medical centre, we still don't have the primary school that is supposed to built as part of that.

"How can you expect people with young children to move in if the school isn't? And then the pressure of not having access to sufficient GP appointments for people already living there and new people coming in."

Further afield, in the traditional rural parts of the constituency, Aphra said the same issues of access to good education and GP services are also present, while "a key priority" for her is "listening to and speaking up for farmers and protecting our rural communities", as well as encouraging investment into rural public transport.

Asked if her father – now Dr Gyles Brandreth, chancellor of the University of Chester – had offered any helpful tips on being an MP, Aphra replied: "I would happily ask him, but I don't need to because he loves to give me advice.

"He regularly sends me text messages with thoughts that he has. I'm very lucky I have a really supportive family, my mum and my dad – somebody who has experienced the job – it has really helped to get his insights."

Aphra Brandreth becomes the first direct descendant of an existing Chester MP to become a Chester MP themselves, since the days when generations of the Grosvenor family would regularly be MPs between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Both Aphra and Gyles have hosted The Commonwealth Poetry Podcast, run in association with the University of Chester and the Royal Commonwealth Society, exploring the literary wonders across the 56 countries in the Commonwealth. Among their first guests were The Duchess of Cornwall (now Queen Camilla) and Dame Joanna Lumley.

The new MP also paid tribute to her fellow candidates for the seat: "I ran a positive campaign and I am pleased to say all the other candidates were. Whilst we don't always agree on policy, [they were] people who were interested in doing the best for everybody in Chester South and Eddisbury, and that's exactly as it should be."

For now, the new MP is busy setting up her constituency office, while looking forward to touring "the best possible constituency", as Aphra noted the area contains "so many lovely different villages", and is aiming to get regular surgeries set up in at least one location per ward.

Chester South and Eddisbury residents can get in touch with Aphra on local issues at aphra.brandreth.mp@parliament.uk .