There has been a lot of noise around national politics in recent weeks, but I have been keeping my focus closer to home and fighting for progress on a number of fronts.
Rawtenstall to Manchester Rail Link
Firstly, the Rawtenstall to Manchester rail link. I have been working with Rossendale Borough Council to deliver progress on this ever since I was elected. In recent months I felt we might be getting somewhere, despite the complicated nature of the issue. Then last month the Lancashire Combined Authority (that is Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool Councils) published their Transport Implementation Plan. Inexplicably, they failed to include our rail link on the project list, despite Rossendale being clearly identified as suffering from Transport Isolation. This is baffling, since all the evidence was on our side. It feels like we have simply been forgotten. I raised the omission in Parliament and have asked the Combined Authority to think again. This is not good enough, and we should expect better from a county council that is supposed to represent every part of Lancashire.
Road Safety Campaign
Another area where our County Council and the Reform leadership really need to step up is road safety. I have been running my road safety campaign in Rossendale since January, and earlier in the year I believed I had commitments from the County Council leadership to support speed cameras and other safety measures on roads like Burnley Road East, Burnley Road Bacup, Newchurch Road and Rochdale Road. I put a list of asks, based on our resident surveys, to the Council in April, and just last week I finally got a reply. To say I was disappointed would be a serious understatement. Despite warm words and promises of action, all I got back was the same old rubbish, that 'there have not been enough fatalities or serious injuries to justify action'. They simply refuse to listen to residents and to take our day-to-day experiences seriously. Again, this is not good enough, and I will not be giving up. Once again I call on our Reform County Councillors to work with me, and to get their leadership in Preston to act, before more people are killed or injured on our roads.
Pride in Place Programme
To finish on a more positive note. I have written before about our Pride in Place programme, the £20m over 10 years that I was able to secure from the Government for Rawtenstall, Waterfoot and Crawshawbooth. How this money is spent is down to the community, and for the past year our volunteer board has been working up priorities and projects. We are now just starting to see this money being spent, and over the coming months a number of programmes will be getting underway, along with the announcement of things like a community grant scheme. We are also very open to ideas, so if you have an initiative that could help our area, please do get in touch. One really good example of a Pride in Place project that is already making a difference is Rossendale Works. This great initiative helps people back into work by building confidence and new skills through a wide range of activities. The team behind it are hard-working and committed, and they are changing lives one at a time!
