Robbie Moore

I receive countless emails and letters from local people across the constituency about the shocking state of our roads. People are rightly frustrated about potholes, and about the little and long waits for repairs forced on them by Bradford council. This is perhaps one of the most important issues that all of us, as MPs, get correspondence about. Why? Because it impacts us each and every day, whether we are commuting to work or simply getting out and about in the car to go and do things. We all care about the state of our roads right outside our door. I want to take you through my constituency, Madam Deputy Speaker, referencing a few roads and highlighting the level of concern that constituents rightly raise with me. Take Elliott Street, which runs through the centre of in Silsden in my constituency. I was first contacted by residents on this major road years ago, and the situation was poor then. Over the last few years, it has only got worse, to the extent that people on social media described the state in which Labour-run Bradford council had left the road as a mere joke. Despite having consistently raised the matter with Bradford council, it took years for the council to finally get on with it. I am pleased that in just the last two weeks, the resurfacing works have now finished. The works are welcome—of course they are—but residents on Elliott Street and across the wider Silsden area should not have had to wait years for such a busy and important road to be repaired. Elliott Street is just one example. There are similar stories in Keighley, on Westburn Avenue, on Oakworth Road, on Halifax Road and on North Street—the list goes on. In Ilkley, we have a difficult junction at the top of the Cowpasture Road, north of Ilkley grammar school. Local Conservative councillors David Nunns and Andrew Loy have consistently lobbied Bradford Council to look at this dangerous junction. In the Worth valley, the sides of Hill House Edge Lane are crumbling, with cars getting stuck in the ditches as they pass one another. Again, local Conservative councillors Rebecca Poulson, Chris Herd and Russell Brown have consistently lobbied Labour-run Bradford council to sort the issue out, but no repairs have been undertaken.