Read High Peak MP Robert Largan's latest column for the Glossop Chronicle.

High Peak needs you! Local councillors make key decisions that affect all our lives and can make a real difference for the better.

Whether it is deciding how to spend the £10 million Future High Street Fund to regenerate Buxton town centre or the £2.4 million UK Shared Prosperity Fund, protecting our countryside and green spaces, improving street cleaning and bin collections, or finally getting on and building the Mottram Bypass.

For too long, however, local people have been let down by High Peak Borough Council.

Under the current Labour administration, the Council failed to submit a bid to the first round of funding for the Conservative Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

This could deliver a transformational £20 million for High Peak to improve local healthcare provision and leisure facilities.

The Labour Council frequently dragged their feet and delayed crucial decisions. I had to consistently push the Council to meet the required deadlines for the second round of bidding.

Unfortunately, the Council also failed to bid for funding to help local people with energy bills by insulating more homes. The £1 billion Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund enables councils to provide upgrades, such as external wall insulation, to council homes in their area with an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C or below.

Households across the High Peak are facing rising energy bills. This was a chance for the Council to help cut fuel bills by upgrading and insulating homes for the most vulnerable.

Fortunately, the Government have now indicated that there will be a second round to the Fund. I hope the Council gets their act together and submits a bid. High Peak households can’t afford more incompetence from the Council.

If you care about your local area and want to make a positive change, why not put yourself forward, and stand for election in May? No previous experience or particular qualifications are required. The only requirement is that you have a passion for making a difference.

Change is possible. Labour have already lost their majority at the Town Hall, following the election of hardworking local councillor Kev Kirkham in Buxton last April.

Whaley Bridge Labour Councillors Kath and Shannon Thomson also resigned in September, saying Labour’s broken promises had “left us feeling betrayed and humiliated” and that “undemocratic stifling of debate and suppression of disagreement” in Labour had “sickened” them.

Meanwhile, High Peak Conservative Councillors have a positive plan to deliver a competent council that puts local people first.

If you want to make the Council more accountable and improve your local area, I want to hear from you. You can volunteer at www.robertlargan.co.uk/getinvolved. Let’s work together to make the High Peak even better!

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