Ensuring Workington constituents get the road, rail, sea and digital infrastructure needed to succeed.
Our community needs better roads, improved public transport and better infrastructure. I will make sure that Parliament works for Workington, turning around the decades of neglect by complacent Labour MPs.
I will work with local people to improve our strategic roads, rail services and digital infrastructure. For too long we have been left behind, and he will work to cement our position in the Northern Powerhouse by lobbying for direct rail connections to Manchester Airport via the Cumbria Coast Line and ensuring our area has the 5G and rural broadband coverage needed to stay ahead in an increasingly digital world.
Upgrading our strategic roads, improving connectivity to the M6 and along the coast.
- I support making the A66 a dual carriageway from Workington to Penrith and beyond, reducing congestion and cutting journey times.
- I will campaign for improvements to the A66 in Workington itself - ensuring that the Ramsay Brow bottleneck is no more, opening up access to Workington Port, and making the start of ‘Route 66’ a landmark destination for locals and visitors.
- I will lobby for improvements to the B5300 coast road, improving the flood resilience of this vital connection to the north Cumbria Riviera, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the strategically important Silloth port.
- I will work with local Conservative MP’s John Stevenson and Trudy Harrison to ensure that the vital upgrades to the A595 are delivered. I will lobby Government to re-trunk the A595 – bringing this vital strategic link back in control of Highways England.
- I will lobby government for a study into reducing HGV traffic through the town of Aspatria.
Upgrading our West Cumbria Coast Line, cementing our position in the Northern Powerhouse.
- I will work with local Conservative MP’s John Stevenson and Trudy Harrison to lobby government to assess the feasibility of direct train services on the Cumbria Coast Line to Manchester Airport via Barrow and Lancaster.
- I will champion upgrades to the Cumbria Coast Line in Westminster to increase capacity, modernise signalling and modernise level crossings to improve safety and reliability.
- I will ask the Office for Road and Rail to assess the feasibility of re-establishing a railway to Silloth as part of a potential expansion of the Borders line to Edinburgh.
Delivering world-class digital infrastructure for West Cumbria.
- I will lobby government to ensure that mobile phone blackspots in our towns and villages are a thing of the past, proposing that West Cumbria is considered as an early pilot for 5G rollout.
- I will not accept areas not having access to superfast broadband and will work tirelessly to ensure that every home and business in the Workington constituency has access to the latest fibre broadband networks.
- I will lobby local authorities to require fibre to the premises as a mandatory planning condition on new properties built in the constituency.
- I will lobby OFCOM to ensure that West Cumbria has improved DAB radio coverage and will work with partners who are seeking to open up the DAB spectrum in West Cumbria.
Lobbying Government to establish Lillyhall as a new Enterprise and Learning Zone.
- I recognises the importance of Lillyhall as a centre of enterprise and of learning to the people and economy of West Cumbria.
- I will lobby Government and the Northern Powerhouse Minister to establish Lillyhall as the UK’s first Enterprise and Learning Zone, allowing businesses to benefit from lower business rates and to encourage new investment in the area for the creation of jobs and to support our diverse educational offering.
Improving the Ports of Workington and Silloth, recognising the importance of these strategic links to Ireland and beyond, in a post-Brexit Britain.
- I will work with local partners to ensure that the ports are able to meet the challenges of the future and will lobby for improved onward connectivity to the ports via road and rail.
Improving Flood Defence and Resilience, ensuring homes and businesses are protected.
- I will work with local partners and agencies to ensure that improved flood defences are delivered for Workington, Flimby and Cockermouth, ensuring that the events of 2009 and 2015 do not happen again.
- I will work will lobby for improvements to the B5300 coast road, ensuring that this strategically important route is protected from coastal erosion and our coastal communities are never isolated again.
