Dear Resident,
I hope you are well.
There have been lots of wonderful things going on in and around Scunthorpe over the past month, and Westminster has been as busy as ever! I am always keen to make sure that everyone in my constituency is well aware of all the great work going on in our patch, as well as keeping you informed on exactly what it is that I get up to down in Westminster to fight for the best interests of Scunthorpe.
This month, I have continued to fight for our local steelworks, push for cardiac screenings for young people alongside much more, all of which you can see below!
Holly's Helpful Contacts
From housing issues to crime and ASB, I receive lots of emails every day from residents who require support, which I am always willing and ready to assist with wherever possible. However, I want to make my constituents aware that additional support is available to you, which may enable you to access the help you need more quickly and directly.
It is for this reason why I have created my new ‘Holly’s Helpful Contacts’ page.
While I will always work hard to ensure that I help residents, my helpful contacts can provide you with additional advice on who to contact, and what they can help you with, whether that be on a local or national scale.
Working together, we can ensure that you get the help you need, when you need it.
Fly Tipping
It is no secret that flytipping is a nuisance, particularly in the Crosby/Town area. Residents have shared their frustrations with me, and as I have said before, I too am sick to the back teeth of individuals ruining our area and costing us as council tax payers to clean up their mess. Over recent months, I have consistently encouraged residents to reach out to North Lincolnshire Council whenever they spot an issue. This is the best way for fly tipping to be cleaned up in local areas, so that the problem can look to be addressed at its root.
While I know that North Lincs Council have been working tirelessly to address this issue, there is still more that can be done. I have asked the council to implement more measures to counteract these reckless incidents, which include exploring the idea of setting out regular skips, reviewing HMO and bin allocations, enhanced patrols and more.
We need to work together on this issue, making sure that any flytipping incidents are regularly reported to North Lincs Council so that they can address this. You can submit your report on the below link.
The council aims to collect fly-tipped waste within 7 days, but your reports are essential to making that happen.
Please also find below my progress reports on key local issues:
- Protecting and promoting our world class steel industry
- Improving local health provisions
- Improving local transport links
- Supporting our local businesses and community groups
- Working with our schools
Progress Report: Protecting and promoting our world-class steel industry
It should come as no surprise that, when it comes to the matter of our steelworks, I will not rest. Before the Easter holidays, I was able to attend the Westminster Hall debate on steel, which mainly focussed on Tata Steel in Wales. However, I wanted to make sure that our voice here in Scunthorpe was heard on this matter, as we know how important our steel industry is to our area. In the debate, I was sure to question the former Minister for Steel on a variety of issues, including the quality of scrap steel, retaining blast furnaces, and plenty of other steel-related concerns. You can see my interventions in the debate below.
Watch my interventions in the Westminster Hall debate here.
We also saw some reshuffling of Ministers within the Department for Business and Trade. This meant that my colleague, Alan Mak MP, was appointed as the new Minister for Steel. Following his appointment, I was eager to reach out to the Minister to ensure that our local steelworks were high up on his agenda. I was therefore very pleased when he made it a priority to visit British Steel earlier this month.
As many of you know, the negotiations between British Steel and the Government are still ongoing, ad so this was yet another great opportunity to hammer home just how important our steelworks are to our community, and how important virgin steelmaking is to the nation.
I look forward to working with the new Minister on this.
In the meantime, I have continued to raise the importance of our blast furnaces wherever possible in the Commons! The Defence Secretary, prior to his current role, had written to the PM to highlight the importance of Scunthorpe’s steelworks. I wanted to make sure that this was still a key area of importance for him, with virgin steel playing such a vital role in our national defensive capabilities. You can see my contribution, along with the Defence Secretary’s response, below.
Watch me contribute to the Defence Statement here.
In more news for the UK steel industry, the Trade Remedies Authority recommended that the safeguards currently in place for steel products entering the country be extended. These protections shield our world-class steelmakers from the risk of cheap foreign imports undercutting trade here in the UK, and so I wrote to the Government with other members of the APPG for Steel, asking that the Government follow these recommendations. You can see our letter below.
Progress Report: Improving local health provisions
I am, and have always been, keen to get stuck in when it comes to protecting the health and wellbeing of local residents. This has been seen in my successful campaigns for a brand new Accident and Emergency department in Scunthorpe, a brand new Community Diagnostic Centre which is currently under construction, in addition to my ongoing campaign to maintain current services at Scunthorpe General Hospital.
However, infrastructure is nothing without our fantastic NHS staff who provide phenomenal levels of care to those who require it. In the video below, I share with you the all-important figures of staffing levels here in North Lincs, which I hope will continue to stay on the rise.
Find my update on local health statistics here
My dedication to supporting the health and wellbeing of residents is one of the many reasons that I have also been so pleased to work closely with the Ayling family, following the sudden and untimely loss of their son, Nathan, to an undetected cardiac disease. The Aylings have established a fantastic charity, the Beat Goes On, where they campaign and fundraise to provide cardiac screenings for young people, to ensure that tragedies like Nathan’s cease.
As a part of my work with the Aylings, it was a real privilege to be able to attend the Bank’s Charity Ball with my family, where a brilliant amount of money was raised for the Beat Goes On. A massive thank you and well done to all those involved in this phenomenal fundraiser, it will make a real difference in the lives of young local people.
Further to this, I was also able to attend the ‘One Voice, Many Hearts’ Round Table meeting alongside Steve and Gill. Organisations, fundraisers and groups from around the UK had the opportunity to hear from cardiologists and families, and discuss the progress made and challenges faced as a part of efforts to make cardiac screening in the young accessible nationwide. Gill and Steve spoke very powerfully, as they always do, and I was pleased to be able to support them.
I was honoured to be a part of these discussions, and even more so to be asked to give the closing address. We are taking steps in the right direction, and I will continue to push for more progress for as long as it is needed.
Progress Report: Improving local transport links
Over the past month, we have seen an absolutely phenomenal amount of investment and development in our local transport sector, which is really encouraging. A lot of people in the area are reliant on buses, so it really is great to see the right infrastructure put in place with the help of the Government to ensure that the Scunthorpe constituency has a modern, reliable and affordable public transport system.
As a part of the Government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, North Lincolnshire Council received more than £1mn. In a recent and exciting update, North Lincolnshire Council has now received an additional £965,000 from these funds to improve bus services! We are already seeing improvements to our local bus services as a result of this, as was shared in my last update with the additional Sunday service of the 350 bus. Further to this, the service will now be running hourly from 5:45pm Monday to Saturday, with the final return journey from Hull at 11pm.
In addition to this, as of 2 April this year, bus service 103 will be running on evenings and weekends to ensure that residents in Kirton-in-Lindsey have improved access to health facilities, leisure centres and shopping facilities. From Monday to Thursday, buses will run between 6:00pm and 6:30pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays between 7:10pm and 10:25pm.
With all these additional bus services available in Scunthorpe, we want to make sure that as many residents as possible are able to access these facilities. Thousands of over 60s who have reached state pension age, disabled residents and their carers are entitled to free enhanced travel passes, which have been protected once again this year.
This is a brilliant scheme, which means that people are able to travel free on local buses, as well as receive free or discounted local train travel. However, despite the fact that more than 23,000 residents qualify, around 10,000 eligible residents do not claim them. If you want to check your eligibility, you can find more information by clicking the button below.
In addition to improving our bus services, this Government wants to ensure that electric vehicle infrastructure is in place here in Scunthorpe, so that those who wish to transition to an electric vehicle have the necessary means to support them in doing so. We recently welcomed in funding from the Government to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points available in our area, and I was pleased to have Transport Minister, Anthony Browne MP, here in Scunthorpe to welcome in this funding with us!
Scunthorpe is receiving millions of investment from the Government, and it really is great to see all the different ways that this funding will make a difference to our town.
As always, I would like to remind residents of my Pothole Patrol, as I know that potholes are a continual issue that affects residents. My team and I are more than happy to help, and so in addition to reporting any road defects to North Lincs Council, don’t forget that you can also report them to me and my team using my ‘Pothole Patrol’ reporting tool.
My team and I can then pass this on to NLC, and provide you with updates on your report when we have them. Together, we can improve our roads.
Progress Report: Supporting our local businesses and community groups
It is a large source of pride that myself and my office are able to support local community groups in accessing funding, by assisting with writing funding bids. We have been able to help out a large number of community groups in the area by helping secure funds in this manner, and we are always happy to offer our support to any other community groups who may need funding support.
We recently were able to support Cadney All Saints PCC with their grant application for a new roof and window blinds for Cadney Church Hall. £10,000 was requested, and we were successful in securing 90% of that bid! With the roof and window blinds installed, the PCC are now able to concentrate their efforts and fundraising on neighbouring Grade 1 listed All Saints Church in Cadney, while being able to have their weekly coffee mornings return on 6 May, running from 10:30am to noon. I would like to say a huge thank you to Debbie from the PCC for all of her hard work for the community, and her collaboration with myself and the team as we supported the PCC’s bid.
This kind of support is something I continue to offer from my office, and so I would encourage any local charity or community group who is looking for any additional (and free!) support when applying for funding to fill out my Community Funding Request Form, which you can access by clicking the button below.
Community Funding Assistance Form
I was recently able to take a trip down to St John’s Market, where I was able to meet with new traders. This included Pixies Attic, run by the lovely Hannah. It was great to talk with new traders and see the fantastic small businesses that we have here in Scunthorpe. I very much look forward to seeing the continued success of all those in St Johns Market!
This month, residents were also given the opportunity to enter into North Lincolnshire Council’s Grand Spring Giveaway, where a large variety of prizes were on offer for residents to win. This included a season pass to Normanby Hall Country Park, Go Ape vouchers, book vouchers and much more.
Entries are now closed, with winners to be announced in May. It really is great to see additional support for residents being offered in so many different forms, and I have my fingers crossed for all residents who entered the draw!
Progress Report: Working with our schools
Scunthorpe really does have a series of fantastic opportunities and developments for our future generation. It is always a privilege to see how the hard work of others in our community enables young children and students to flourish, creating the next generation of thoughtful, well-educated and hard-working individuals.
Some of the great work we have ongoing here in North Lincolnshire to help young children develop is our Imagination Library, which is something which we are really proud of. The Imagination Library provides a free book to a child every month from birth until 5 years of age, when they start school. This is a really accessible way to get young children excited about reading, and so if you, or someone you know has a child under 5 who isn’t signed up, I would encourage them to do so. You can find more information on how to sign up by clicking the button below.
North Lincs Imagination Library
I have also had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the Kingsway Children’s Centre at North Lindsey College earlier this month. Part of a £38mn redevelopment project by the Department for Education, this nursery highlights the Government’s desire to create modern and inspiring places to study for all. I would like to once again say a massive thank you to everyone involved in this project – from Gelder Group contractors to the absolutely phenomenal staff, who have been instrumental in the nursery’s three consecutive ‘outstanding’ Ofsted results. You really are a credit to our community.
On a national scale, the Government is keen to ensure that working parents are able to make the right decisions for their families. Affordable, accessible and high quality childcare is an essential part of this, which is why the Government has announced that:
- From April 2024, working parents of 2 year olds now have access 15 hours of free childcare.
- From September 2024, 15 hours of free childcare will be extended to working parents of 9 month olds.
- From September 2025, working parents of children aged between 9 months old and school age will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare a week.
Parents will be able to access this entitlement the following term, which begin on 1 January, 1 April and 1 September. To see if you are eligible for this entitlement, and to find out more about our education system and the support provided, please follow the link below.
Additionally, I am pleased to share that I will personally be supporting the Ten Minute Rule Bill on Neurodivergent Conditions (Screening and Teacher Training), presented by Matt Hancock MP. Young students must always be able to access the support and resources they require as they begin their education, and understanding, identifying and addressing neurodivergent conditions plays a major role in this. This Bill aims to play an important part in ensuring that legislation supports neurodivergent individuals from an early age, providing early identification and adequate teacher training to support those with neurodivergent conditions in an educational environment. I look forward to closely monitoring and supporting this Bill as it progresses through Parliament.
See my support for the Ten Minute Rule Bill here.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my latest local update. It really is a privilege to see all of the fantastic work that goes on in and around Scunthorpe, and I take great pride in being able to support residents wherever possible.
There is always more to be done, and so if you have any questions or concerns, on the above matters or any other, please do get back in touch with me.
I look forward to speaking to you all again soon in my next update.
My very best wishes,
Holly