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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.
Today is the first National Day for Victims and Survivors of Terrorism, and one of the people who campaigned hardest for it lives in Darwen.
Travis Frain was 19 and on a university trip to Parliament when he was hit by the car driven by the Westminster Bridge attacker in March 2017. Four people were killed on the bridge that day, and PC Keith Palmer was killed outside Parliament.
Travis has spent the years since campaigning for the people affected by terrorism to be recognised and properly supported. He co-founded Survivors Against Terror and set up the Resilience in Unity, which records survivors' testimony and takes it into schools and colleges. He called for a national day, and today that day exists.
As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Terrorism and Security, I have worked closely with Travis and listened to many others. What comes through every time is that the impact of an attack does not end when the news moves on. It lasts years, and often a lifetime.
There are people across Rossendale and Darwen who were caught up in Westminster, in Manchester, and in Sousse. Today is for them, and for everyone still carrying what happened.
Specialist support is there for anyone affected, whenever they need it. Details in the comments. ... See MoreSee Less
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The Rossendale Pride in Place programme is launching a new scheme for anyone who has been thinking about taking on an empty shop or unit in Rawtenstall, Waterfoot or Crawshawbooth.
The Make Your Move grant is offering up to £10,000 towards the cost of bringing vacant commercial premises back into use.
New and early-stage businesses along with existing businesses looking to expand into an empty unit are welcome to apply. You do not need to be trading yet, and you do not need a signed lease, although you will need to show where you have got to with the landlord.
The grant covers fit-out work, shopfront improvements, fixtures and fittings, equipment, signage, accessibility improvements and essential digital equipment. It is paid in arrears, so after you have spent the money and sent in the evidence.
The first step is a short expression of interest, then successful ideas are invited to make a full application. You will need quotes for each item of spending.
The Make Your Move website has guidance, FAQs and the form to fill in. You can find it as a link in a comment below.
The deadline for expressions of interest is Monday the 28th of September. If you are not sure whether your idea fits, Rossendale council's economic development team will talk it through with you before you apply.
I'll say a bit more next week about what this could mean for our town centres. ... See MoreSee Less
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A lot of people in Darwen have been in touch about the roadworks across the town this week.
There are four-way lights on the A666 outside the Anchor, and three-way lights at Goosehouse Lane, Hollins Grove Street and Lower Eccleshill. With all four sets running at once, journeys that normally take minutes are taking far longer, particularly at the end of the day.
If you are travelling across Darwen over the next few days, it is worth allowing extra time or finding an alternative route.
I know that there are concerns about the disruption this has caused, and I am looking into the circumstances of these roadworks. I will update you when I have more information.
The council keeps a map showing current and planned roadworks, which is worth a look if you're unsure how you might be affected. I've shared the link in the comments below. ... See MoreSee Less
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Congratulations to every young person in Rossendale and Darwen picking up their results this morning.
It's not just GCSEs out today: BTEC Tech Awards, Cambridge Nationals and other Level 1 and 2 vocational qualifications are out too. Regardless of what your qualifications are called, you've all worked hard and deserve recognition.
Thank you to the teachers, teaching assistants and support staff who got this year group here, and to the parents and carers who lived through it alongside them.
If today has not gone the way you hoped, there are still options. Sixth forms and colleges will often talk to you even if you have narrowly missed a grade. English and maths resits run in November. Apprenticeships are open. Your school will talk it through with you, and the National Careers Service exam results helpline is on 0800 100 900, open until the 28th of August, 8am to 10pm.
Good luck to all of you, whatever today brought. ... See MoreSee Less
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Last week I wrote about the proposed 235 and 236 bus routes, and the long push to get Edgworth and Chapeltown a direct bus to Bolton again. I said I would share the consultation link as soon as it opened. It is open now, and it closes on Tuesday 15th of September.
Those two routes are the part I have been most involved in campaigning for, but there are a lot of other changes on the table which matter for Rossendale and Darwen.
A new 233 would replace the 33, running hourly Monday to Saturday and connecting Darwen and Lower Darwen to Royal Blackburn Hospital via Audley and Shadsworth.
A new 232 would link Blackburn and Higher Croft through to Darwen and Hoddlesden.
A new 535 would run from Blackburn to Bolton via Ewood, Bank Hey, Tockholes and Belmont, taking over from the M11 and the current 535.
The 236 would take over the current R2 town service, with the Rawtenstall to Balladen journeys kept hourly.
The TA8 through Spring Vale would change, with some of the roads it currently serves picked up by the 232 instead.
All of these changes are proposed to start on the 29th of November.
If one of these is a journey you depend on, this is the point to say so. The consultation is particularly keen to hear from anyone who thinks the changes would make it harder for them to get around, so if something here does not work for you, that is worth writing in about too.
You can respond to the consultation up to Tuesday 15th of September through this email address: [email protected]
Follow the link in the comments to learn more about the changes. ... See MoreSee Less
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William Cartwright got 4,000 signatures on a petition calling on Lancashire County Council to install a safe crossing along Burnley Road. In this third and final part of our conversation, we call on the Council to listen to William, listen to the residents and take proactive measures to prevent deaths and serious injuries before they happen. ... See MoreSee Less
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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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