Schools Horsforth School's impressive new £1.3 million facilities are now coming into use. I have been delighted to lobby hard for this excellent and constantly improving school. This includes helping to obtain new resources and Specialist Science College status. I was delighted when the school marked my support by inviting me to open the new  facilities: four computer rooms, an "e-learning" and video conferencing unit, four maths classrooms, new changing rooms and a fitness suite.  Picture, right, shows me with the school's Head, Steve Jex. The new buildings follow the £600,000 permanent replacement for the sixth form centre destroyed by fire, for which I also lobbied Government. St Margaret's Primary School has been rebuilt. The development was needed to bring the school's two sites, at Town Street and Low Lane, under one roof. The school is one of five new primary schools in my constituency for which we have been able to secure Government support.  Picture, left, shows me with Alan Willey, Head at St Margaret's. Fighting Crime I worked closely with local people to retain a police base in Horsforth. Concerns arose when it appeared the police were planning to move out of the former station on Broadway.  It  provides a base for the Neighbourhood Policing Team and Volume Crime Team. I helped to negotiate an alternative location for keeping the Horsforth ambulance base in the area when it was required to leave the police station site.  Fortunately, we found a base on the Ring Road. Possible locations for the Horsforth neighbourhood Police Team were examined – including the new Library and Mechanics Institute.  But following discussions with senior police officers, it was confirmed that the former police station was being retained, and that the Neighbourhood Police Team would remain there. I had been critical of progress in increasing officers – but the levels in West Yorkshire are now at a record high.  Our local police are getting more resources and crime rates are falling – but all too often the response experienced by local people falls short of what should be expected. I will continue to pursue the police on behalf of constituents and communities in Horsforth that still feel they receive an inadequate response to their calls. Over the last two years, our local Police Division has recruited 90 extra constables and a 50 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Crime levels are also continuing to fall, especially those for burglary, robbery and car crime. (More on local Crime Fighting) Stanhope Drive Campaign Plans to sell off Stanhope Drive community centre for development have been greeted with dismay by many local residents. The plans are use the sale to pay for refurbishment of the former library. I have supported local residents in their campaign against the proposals. I have raised the issue of the lack of consultation by the Council, and pressed it to ensure that the site is not used for unwanted development. Put People First on Planning Horsforth and Rawdon are under increasing pressure from development. The Council needs to draw up a proper Action Plan to tackle these pressures. I know many local people share this view. As an objector to the series of excessive developments proposed for Riverside (pictured below, next to Clariant on the River Aire), I welcomed the recent rejection of the developer's appeal.  I have also objected to the massive development proposed for the former Woodside quarry site (next to the ring road railway bridge).  The development involves proposals for 470 houses and flats, 100,000 square metres of office space, two hotels, a pub, retail outlets, a 300-place multi-storey car park, nursing home, crèche and medical centre. This development is trying to cram far too much on the site, has massive traffic and environmental implications, and desperately needs major public transport infrastructure.  But the Council needs to do much more to protect the area from over-intensive development.  We need an Action Plan with teeth.  Horsforth Civic Society and I have been calling on the Council for several years now to use planning legislation to produce an Action Plan for Horsforth and the surrounding communities.  Action Plans are underpinned by planning law.  The Council is compiling three in other parts of the city.  They are based on public consultation and provide a framework of what the area and its communities can reasonably sustain.  Each planning application would be tested against them. An Action Plan would cover planning issues vital to our community, such as transport, roads and road safety, housing need, schools, health services, recreation, open space, employment, shopping, the character of neighbourhoods and communities, and design issues … to name but a few New planning guidance on housing (PPS3) also gives Councils more power to specify the area's actual housing needs, rather than what developers feel will make the biggest profit.  In the absence of an Action Plan, each application is viewed in isolation, which puts the community at a disadvantage. That is why we need a local plan with teeth – and one that gives local communities a reasonable playing field on which to engage with developers and the Council. Individual planning applications could then be assessed against it, and it would help to strengthen the Council and community position against future major applications and appeals. Besides the large Riverside and Woodside sites, we already have the Kirkstall Forge proposals, and Low Lane development.  Trinity and All Saints College already has planning permission for student flats at Brownberrie Lane and is seeking to expand it further. I understand developers are taking soundings regarding a 200-apartments development on Low Lane.  Each of these will have a major impact on the wider community, and an enormous one when taken together. Isobel' Law I have been campaigning for Isobel's Law – the ban on doorstep cold calling offering property services.   The campaign - which I am leading in Parliament - is named after 82-year-old Isobel Gray, who was brutally murdered by intruders believed to be linked to the bogus builders who had targeted her several times. Retired Chief Inspector Mick Grubb QPM, Chair of Horsforth Town Council, has also given his support.  Many Horsforth residents signed the petition calling for the ban that I recently presented to the Commons. (More on Isobel's Law) Fireworks I have campaigned with local people against the nuisance from fireworks. I presented a petition to Parliament signed by thousands of constituents, including many from Horsforth. I also worked closely with Bill Tynan MP on his Fireworks Bill. It was extremely disappointing that senior Conservative MPs thwarted attempts to reduce noise levels by threatening to talk the Bill out. We have already seen curfews on use, extension of bans on air bombs, and age restrictions on possessing fireworks. There were fewer problems in some areas as a result - but I support continued calls for tighter restrictions on use and noise levels. Ambulance Station Horsforth faced losing its ambulance station when the police gave WY Ambulance Service notice to quit the existing base. But pressure on WYMAS by myself and Councillors led to their identifying a new base on the Ring Road - with the bonus of being better placed and more easily accessible than the one it replaced. Mechanics Institute Work on refurbishing the Mechanics Institute has produced an excellent new library and community facility, following many years of lobbying by local Councillors, user groups and myself. Pharmacies The campaign to protect our local pharmacies from Office of Fair Trading proposals for a free for all has succeeded. Many local people signed the petition I presented to Parliament calling for the Government to throw out the proposal. It could have led to pharmacies closing as a result of competition from supermarkets. The pharmacists' national negotiating body has confirmed to me that the Government's response has provided a good basis for the future of our local pharmacies. Planning Applications I have worked closely with local people to resist or reduce controversial developments.   These have included large application, like that for the Riverside development (next to Sandoz, which we successfully opposed), mobile phone masts, and proposals for intensive developments of flats.  If there is a planning application in your area that concerns you, please contact me.  (Contact Me) Mobile Phone Masts In recent years, Horsforth has seen a number of controversial mobile phone mast applications. Besides supporting constituents in objecting to inappropriate mast sites, I have also pursued these concerns at parliamentary level. As secretary of the All-Party Group on Mobile Telecommunications, I helped produce a 19-point report to the Government calling for improvements to the planning process. I also secured an Adjournment Debate to pursue the report with Ministers. To read my speech on mobile phone masts (Click Here) Roads and Road Safety A new crossing was secured at the notorious junction of Church Avenue and Broadgate Lane, following lobbying by local Councillors, residents and myself. It follows successful campaigns for crossings on the A65 at Hall Lane and Layton Lane. A number of roads are being resurfaced, with more in the pipeline. But there is a huge backlog, created mainly by inadequate Government funding over 20 years. Lobbying by Councillors, residents and myself means Broadway no longer resembles a battlefield, with new access roads providing facilities for residents, and increasing safety on the Ring Road.  I have supported residents in calling for crossings on Broadgate Lane for use by residents and Broadgate and St Mary's primary schools.  The crossings and junction improvements are to go ahead.  But we were disappointed at the Council's decision not to proceed at this stage with the proposed traffic island at the junction of Broadgate Lane/Stanhope Drive/Alexandra Road.  Instead, the Council planned to re-route traffic down Alexandra Road - but this was withdrawn after concerns expressed by residents and myself. HMS Aubretia HMS Aubretia was paid for by Horsforth folk, who raised £241,000 during a Navy Week in 1941. But the vital role it played in the Battle of the Atlantic was identified only a few years ago when I picked up a passing reference to it on a TV documentary. Following this I secured copies of logbooks, photographs, and other documents for Horsforth Museum. I even took up the cudgels with Bill Clinton when the Hollywood film U571 threatened to re-write the event as an American triumph!   A copy of his apologetic response is on display at the museum. I was also able to secure a photograph of the stricken U110 taken by the ship's Second Officer, Barry Sheen  - now Sir Barry and a retired High Court Judge.  I also contacted Ret Commander David Balme, who was the officer who led the boarding party that recovered the Enigma machine from the U110. Aubretia was responsible for depth charging the U110 to the surface, allowing the recovery of a German Navy Enigma code machine. King George VI described the event as the single most important naval engagement of the war. The town celebrated its proud connection in a special Aubretia Day, when a commemorative stone was unveiled outside the museum.   I was able to arrange for Sir Barry to attend. I am delighted that the Town Council is organising another celebration as part of this year's 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.