Politically Speaking: Mark Eastwood, MP for Dewsbury

My thoughts are with everyone who has been hit by the recent flooding in Mirfield following Storm Ciara, and I am immensely grateful to all those who have been working around the clock to help people recover.

Alongside Mirfield councillor, Martyn Bolt, and the Mirfield Rescue Team volunteers, who do some fantastic unpaid work for the Mirfield community, we saw first hand the devastation caused by flooding in the area, with homes cut off and people stranded.

With the help of a flood protected 4x4 vehicle, we were also able to gain access to the development site at Granny Lane, where Kirklees Council has just approved the building of 67 homes on the site.

With the whole of the site cut off and underwater, the council need to rethink its plans, and I have written to the CEO of Kirklees Council asking them to reconsider their decision. Unfortunately, they seem intent on proceeding with the development, despite clear evidence to suggest that the flood risk presented makes the site unviable.

Ultimately, the Environment Agency is responsible for ensuring that home and business owners receive protection from flooding, and I look forward to meeting the agency to show them the devastation caused by the recent floods and visiting Granny Lane itself.

Moving forward, in addition to the package of measures the government are providing to help people recover from the floods, including grants, support for local authorities and council tax and business rate reliefs, the government will be increasing investment in flood defences in the years ahead.

This investment is good news for Mirfield and will benefit our flood-hit areas, protecting more homes and businesses from flooding, and ensure the damage we have seen this year is avoided in the future.

In Dewsbury, I recently met with Kirklees Council representatives who showed me a very impressive computerised walkthrough of the town and their vision of how they will transform the town centre, via the Dewsbury Blueprint and the reported £200m investment linked to it.

For many years, during my time, living and campaigning in Dewsbury, I have seen numerous slick presentations from various council officers and councillors who have promised the town would be transformed, however, the town centre has continued to decline.

Despite these past failures, it is my view that we should be prepared to give council leaders the benefit of the doubt on this occasion and all work with them on this project to ensure that it is successful in the hope we see a much needed, long term improvement to our town centre.

At the election, one of my key priorities was to support the police in tackling crime and antisocial behaviour, as such, I was delighted to recently sign up to the Parliamentary Police and Fire Service Scheme.

This will allow me to participate with officers on the front line and will enable me to understand the needs of both services first-hand. I look forward to being able to report back to you on this.

On one last note, my constituency office and staff are now in place at 5 Northgate, Dewsbury.

If you require my help or advice, my office telephone number is 01924 939 007, and I can be contacted via my email address [email protected]