Welcome to this week's newsletter.
The Health Secretary has announced that Leighton Hospital will receive hundreds of million of pounds in funding for a fully-funded rebuild of the site. This is fantastic news for residents in Crewe and Nantwich and beyond! I have been supporting Leighton with since 2020, raising it directly with the Prime Minister and relevant Government ministers. Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible, from the team at Leighton who created a very strong case for the develop, to the residents who signed my petition and shared their Leighton stories.
In Parliament this week I pushed for a meeting with the Government to see what can be done to ensure residents of Coppenhall Place get the compensation and investigation they deserve after they were sold homes without planning permission. What has happened in this case is shocking and lessons need to be learned to prevent it happening again.
Local grassroot football organisations will benefit from Government grants to fund new facilities. We have lots of teams locally that do amazing work helping people stay active - so it is great to see they will be able to get the high quality facilities they need.
Over the past few weeks we have heard some positive news about the economy. While there is still a long way to go, there are now signs that we are over the worst of the current situation, with inflation being to fall and the economy growing.
I also met with the More in Common Network - an organisation that was formed following the murder of MP Jo Cox. They carry on the work of Jo, helping understand and reduce division in society. Well done for all of your fantastic work.
Finally, a couple of tickets are now free for Prime Minister Question's on 28th June. Do let me know if you would like to have them. First come first serve!
Have a great weekend.
Leighton to be Rebuilt
Coppenhall Place - Pushing for an Investigation and Compensation for Residents
Funding for Local Grassroots Football
Good Economic News
Jo Cox - More in Common Network
Traffic Report
Leighton To Be Rebuilt
The Health Secretary has announced that Leighton Hospital has been successful in its bid to join the Government's £20 Billion hospital building programme and will receive hundreds of millions of pounds of funding.
This is fantastic news for everyone! It is something I have been supporting Leighton with since 2020, most recently raising in PMQs this year and this result is a huge tribute to the hospital leaders tireless efforts to make the case to government for the funding. I want to thank the thousands of people that signed the petition backing the campaign which local cross party MPs and others supported, including Ed Timpson MP, Fiona Bruce MP and Mike Amesbury MP who attended the debate I secured in 2021.
Leighton Hospital does fantastic work, helping us when we are most in need. But the simple matter is that the building has long past its sell-by-date. It was built in the ’70s and was never meant to still be in operation today. The original site has been expanded upon and has benefited from much investment in recent years – but these can only go so far. It was obvious that a complete redevelopment was needed.
Thank you again to everyone who has helped and supported this campaign. Thousands of you signed the petition calling for a rebuild and shared your stories with me about your experiences with Leighton Hospital.
Coppenhall Place - Pushing for an Investigation and Compensation for Residents
This week I raised the awful case of hundreds of residents living on Coppenhall Place in Crewe with Penny Mordaunt MP who you might recognise from the Coronation ceremony. Penny was characteristically forthright! These residents have found themselves living without planning permission, affecting their insurance and mortages in a scenario I am sure most homeowners would feel huge sympathy for. I have been supporting the residents over recent weeks to get answers.
Between them residents have been let down by developer Countryside and Cheshire East Council. I am pleased that Countryside has now commited in writing to me to cover out-of-pocket costs for residents. Still, they deserve full compensation for the situation they have found themselves in and they deserve a full investigation so something like this never happens again. Developers need to act responsibly and local authorities need to make sure they do. I think it's impossible for anyone but independent experts to unpick how it went so badly wrong here.
More background on the case here:
Funding for Local Grassroots Football
Grassroots football organisations in Crewe and Nantwich will benefit from Government grants for new facilities.
The successful local applications are:
Ruskin FC - £6,605 Grant for New Goal Posts at the Cumberland Arena
South Cheshire Youth League - £4,320 Grant for New Goal Posts at the King George V Playing Field
Cheshire Blades F.C. - £896 Grant for New Goal Post at the Peacock Sports Ground
We are lucky to have so many fantastic grassroots football clubs locally who do amazing work helping people take up sport and lead healthier lives. It is important that they are supported with the high-quality facilities they need.
Good Economic News
I know that the past few months have been difficult for us all, with the pandemic and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine pushing up energy and food prices worldwide.
We are not out of the woods yet, but I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the positive news that has been announced in the past month to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that our plan to tackle inflation and improve economic growth is working.
- Inflation has dropped - ONS figures show that inflation is now down to 8.7%, meaning we are well on our way to our target of halving inflation by the end of the year.
- The IMF has upgraded our economic forecast. We are no longer predicted to enter a recession and will grow our economy faster than Germany.
- The Bank of England has announced the biggest upgrade to their growth forecast on record.
- The UK has secured £18bn of investment from Japanese businesses
- Made steps towards a framework for financial services cooperation with the EU - growing one of our world-leading industries.
- We have seen a 25% increase in real-terms take-home pay for full-time workers on the National Living Wage
- UK services exports have grown at the fastest rate in the G7
Of course, we still have a long way to go, and I understand that people are still struggling, but this is positive news and shows that things are slowly on the up.
Jo Cox - More in Common Network
It was great to meet with the team from the More in Common Network in Parliament today. They are an organisation formed after the tragic murder of MP Jo Cox in 2016 and are part of the Jo Cox Foundation.
The name 'More in Common' comes from Jo Cox's maiden speech in Parliament, when she said "We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us."
The organisation carries on this work of Jo Cox by helping ordinary people with a wish to bring their community together set up 'More in Common Groups'. These groups run projects and events, build local networks and support one another in their work to build stronger, more connected communities.
Thank you for all of your great work!
Find out more here: https://www.moreincommon.network/
Traffic Report
The following are road closures for the week ahead as reported by Cheshire East.
Middlewich Road, Crewe (Between Pyms Lane and B5076) - Until 30th June
Prunus Road, Crewe - until 21st July
Flag Lane, Crewe (Between Bridle Road and Castle Street) - Until 7th August
Delamere Street, Crewe (Between Flag Lane and St Mary's Street) - Until 7th August
Mill Lane, Oakhanger - Until 31st October
Maw Lane Rail Bridge - 31st May
A5020 (Between A532 and Crewe Green Roundabout) - 31st May until 3rd June
Colleys Lane - 30th May until 2nd June