GET IN TOUCH
As your local MP, I can help you with, or offer advice on, issues such as; benefits, immigration, tax, the NHS, child maintenance and education.
I would love to hear from you about what you think my priorities should be as your MP and what matters most to you.
Please use the contact form to get in touch with me. Please remember to provide as many details as possible, including your name, address and full details of your issue.
A constituent contacted my office after she was left unable to drive for months. The DVLA revoked her licence on medical grounds, but she had been seen by a consultant who cleared her to drive, and she had sent that evidence through.
She was told she would have to apply for a new licence, which she did. Then she heard almost nothing back for months.
When someone loses their driving licence, it’s rarely just an inconvenience. It affected her work and her family life.
We took her case up with the DVLA, and a new licence was issued this month. That’s 10 months after it was taken away.
That is a long time to wait for a decision when the medical evidence was already available. I have asked the DVLA to look at why it took so long, and I will keep pushing on that.
Being able to get around matters. It is why I keep pushing on road safety, on better transport across our towns and villages, and on making active travel work for more people.
If you are waiting on the DVLA, or any government body, and getting nowhere, please get in touch. My casework team is working right through the summer. ... See MoreSee Less
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Lower Darwen lost its station in 1958. The village has grown a lot since then, and today getting a train means having to travel to Blackburn or Darwen stations first, which for most people will involve taking the car.
This could be about to change, as plans for a new railway station at Lower Darwen have taken another step forward.
Consultants have now been appointed to develop the business cases for new stations at Lower Darwen and Ewood, and for the redevelopment of Blackburn station. I raised the need for a station in Lower Darwen in my debate on transport links for small towns earlier this year, so it is good to see the work getting underway.
I know the decision not to take forward a station at Spring Vale will disappoint people there, where the costs have been judged too high. I will keep making the case for better transport links across the whole of Darwen and Rossendale as well.
We are still in the very early stages of this process. Nothing has been approved yet, and no money has been committed. The business cases have to go to the Department for Transport and the Treasury first. If a station is approved, the current estimate for completion is five to 10 years.
These plans have been brought forward by Blackburn with Darwen Council and the Lancashire Combined County Authority, which recently took on transport powers from central government, putting this in its first Local Transport Plan. That is devolution doing what it was meant to do, with decisions about East Lancashire being made in Lancashire. ... See MoreSee Less
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Edgworth and Chapeltown residents have been without direct access to Bolton by bus for years, despite it being the nearest town for shops, work and hospital appointments.
I have been working with residents and North Turton Parish Council on this for a long time, holding meetings with Edgworth locals and putting the case to Lancashire’s Transport Chair, Transport for Greater Manchester and Travel Assist. I have raised the issue in Parliament twice, shortly after I was elected in 2024 and again this year during my debate on transport links for small towns.
A route that crosses a county boundary requires many more heads to be on board before it can be established, which is a large part of why this has taken so long.
The good news is that there is now a proposal on the table. From the 29th of November, the 235 would run from Darwen through Hoddlesden, Edgworth and Chapeltown into Bolton. The 236 would restore the Rawtenstall to Bolton link via Balladen, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, Hawkshaw and Edgworth. It would take in the current Rawtenstall town service, so the hourly journeys between Rawtenstall and Balladen stay.
Each would run roughly every two hours, Monday to Saturday daytime. The two are timed together, so Edgworth and Chapeltown would have an hourly service into Bolton.
These proposals are subject to a consultation, and the response from residents will be our chance to show the necessity of these new routes and the strength of feeling across Rossendale and Darwen. The consultation opens on the 19th of August and runs to the 15th of September. I will share the link as soon as it is live, and I encourage everyone who would use these buses to have their say. ... See MoreSee Less
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Pride in Place is bringing £20 million to Darwen over the next decade, and the decisions about where it goes will be made here rather than in Whitehall.
When I dropped into the Darwen Youth Zone, I could see for myself what a difference that approach makes. Here is a service which is genuinely being used and appreciated by the children and parents of Darwen.
That's why it may not come as a surprise that three bids associated with the Youth Zone were approved by Darwen's Pride in Place Board:
- The Making Rooms will be setting up a new Maker Zone at the facility.
- Blackburn College has partnered with Newground Together and the Youth Zone to set up Launchpad, a learning and support hub designed to help young people re-engage with learning, training, and employment
- The Youth Zone's own StreetZone mobile youth bus has received funding to expand its schedule and reach more young people across the community.
If you would like to have your say in determining which projects across Darwen are supported by Pride in Place funding, the Pride in Place board are recruiting for more board members as well as a new Chair. You can click the link in the comments below to learn more and to see how you can apply for a position. ... See MoreSee Less
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To everyone across Rossendale and Darwen opening an envelope today with A-Level results inside, well done.
Whatever the grades say, this is the end of two years of hard work, and whether today has gone the way you hoped or not, there are so many good options available to you - more than you might think. You don't have to have perfect results to get into a university. There are worthwhile apprenticeships to look into across Rossendale and Darwen, or you might find a year spent doing something else to be the best option, including potential resits.
The National Careers Service exam results helpline is open today on 0800 100 900 until 8pm. Your school or college will have someone there as well, and they would much rather hear from you than not.
To the teachers, support staff and parents who got this year group through to today: thank you, and good luck to all those students opening their GCSE results next Thursday as well. ... See MoreSee Less
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People across Rossendale and Darwen tell me the same thing about their town centres. They ask me why there's another vape shop or a betting shop opening up, when residents don't want them and nobody asked.
This is changing.
From the start of next year, vape shops and adult gaming centres will need planning permission before they can open. That gives the council the power to say no when the location is wrong, including near schools, and when there are already too many in one place. New powers will enable police and local authorities to close premises linked to crime for up to 12 months rather than six, which will give them time to do the job properly.
The Government will also be holding a consultation on scrapping the rule that has made it hard for councils to refuse new gambling premises.
This is just the first step to reclaiming our high streets, with more to come in the following months and years. And much more will be needed to fill the empty units along our high streets. That's what my Reindustrialisation Research Group is working on - bringing prosperity back to post-industrial areas like ours. But these new changes will put the decisions back in the hands the people who live here, which is where it should have been all along. ... See MoreSee Less
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William Cartwright's petition for a safe crossing across Burnley Road got over 4,000 signatures, but Lancashire County Council refuses to listen to Rossendale residents and continues to rely on an outdated approach to road safety. This has to change. ... See MoreSee Less
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A constituent with a foster child contacted me after being issued with a £900 invoice for respite services. Funding for the child's respite is provided by Bury Council through the Shared Lives scheme, but the services are provided by Lancashire County Council. When my team notified Bury Council, they took action and confirmed that the £900 invoice will be covered through the Shared Lives scheme.
Bury Council say this is not the first time it has happened. They told us that Lancashire County Council does not inform them when the cost of their respite care service increases, and residents are left holding a surprise bill.
Lancashire County Council tell me they are looking into the issue. But this is a symptom of a failure in joined-up thinking, and a sign of just how far we have to go to get our local councils working together properly. It's one of the many reasons pushing ahead with Local Government Reorganisation is so important.
If you are facing a situation which you just can't seem to get resolved, don't hesitate to contact me with your full name, address and the nature of your problem.
My office phone numbers are
Darwen: 01254 476410
Rossendale: 01706 489387
You can fill in a contact form on my website:
www.andymacnaemp.com
Or you can email me at:
[email protected] ... See MoreSee Less
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Adult social care touches nearly every family in Rossendale and Darwen sooner or later, usually at the hardest possible moment.
The Government has asked Baroness Louise Casey to lead an independent commission on how we fix it, and she has opened it up to the public. It is called the Big Conversation on Care. You can put forward your own ideas and vote on other people's.
It asks three questions. What is care? Who should get the most help? And who should pay for what?
If you have cared for someone, or been cared for, or tried to work out what help is available and got nowhere, your experience is worth more here than any policy paper. Please take a few minutes to click on the link in the comments and share your thoughts. ... See MoreSee Less
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