Contribution
When constituents talk to me about what matters most in their day-to-day lives, roads come up time and again. Whether travelling to work, doing the school run or getting to vital medical appointments, the state of our roads affects people’s quality of life. When those roads are full of potholes and defects, and they damage vehicles and put cyclists and bikers at risk, it sends a clear message to residents: you have been forgotten. That is exactly how too many people feel in Kidsgrove, Talke, Butt Lane, Newchapel, Harriseahead and Mow Cop. Today, I want to speak up for them.
Last year, Staffordshire county council launched its highway recovery plan, but many of my constituents in Kidsgrove and the surrounding area still feel like they are waiting for it to start. Time and again, residents tell me, “We report defects and we chase them up, but nothing gets done.” Roads such as Gloucester Road, Newchapel Road and Kidsgrove Bank remain in a shocking condition. Vehicles are being damaged and people are quite rightly at their wits’ end. It feels as though Kidsgrove is being treated like the poor relative, left behind while other areas move forward. Roundabouts in places like Talke Pits by the old Normid look unloved and neglected. Some older and disabled people tell me that they fear leaving their own homes because of how unsafe the pavements are. For example, on Chester Road in Talke, residents have to walk in the road as a broken pavement has been fenced off by the Conservative-led council for over four years. Let me be clear: Conservative-led Staffordshire county council is failing Kidsgrove, and that is not okay.
However, just over the border in Stoke-on-Trent, we have seen a very different story. Since Labour took control of the council two years ago, the city has delivered a marked step change in how we deal with potholes. The new administration made road repairs a clear priority, and the response speaks volumes. Back in 2023, about 7,500 defects were repaired. A year later, that figure rose to over 13,000: a 76% increase in just one year under a Labour council. When the council pledged to fix 6,000 defects in six months, it not only met the target but beat it, delivering 6,500 repairs in four months. That is the difference that a Labour council makes.
Under the leadership of Jane Ashworth, Stoke-on-Trent city council has also increased its own capital investment in highways by more than 10% this past year, despite the financial pressures facing councils up and down the country, because it knows that the people of Stoke-on-Trent deserve better than the crumbling roads we inherited from the previous Conservative Administration. The Labour Government are now stepping up to help, fixing the mess left behind from those 14 years. Stoke-on-Trent will receive more than £9 million and Staffordshire county council more than £19 million in new Government transport funding. It is vital that we see the results of that in Kidsgrove.
Let us not forget that, back in 2022, the people of Kidsgrove put their faith in Conservative county councillors, believing that they would be strong voices for our area. Sadly, those councillors appear to have gone AWOL, leaving the residents behind. Residents in Kidsgrove deserve better than that. They deserve to know that their voices are being heard and that the money is there to put things right.
I welcome the extra funding for both Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, but this cannot be about money alone; it must also be about delivery. As we have seen in Stoke-on-Trent and across the country, where the Conservatives fail to deliver, Labour steps up to pick up the pieces and gets to work. I hope that the residents of Kidsgrove and the Talke and Red Street divisions will remember this as we approach the county council elections next month. I say to Ministers and the Secretary of State: keep backing innovative councils to get the basics right, including the Labour-led Stoke-on-Trent city council. Every journey matters, and Kidsgrove should never again be treated like the poor relative. As long as I am the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, I will continue to stand up for my local residents.