Read: Reporting back - Levelling Up in Keighley

It is now just over two years since I was elected as Keighley and Ilkley’s MP in 2019. It was a dramatic election, and one in which I stood on a manifesto to level-up.

It is fair to say that there are a lot of people who ask me what levelling up means. It’s a phrase people know, but what does it mean to be ‘levelled-up’?

For me, levelling up means four key things - empowering local leaders and communities, growing the private sector to create more jobs, spreading opportunity, and restoring local pride.

Keighley is a town which has been forgotten and ignored for a very long time - and by all political parties. Sadly, too many in Westminster believe that the North stops at Manchester - but whilst that is not only untrue, there is a whole world of untapped talent waiting to be utilised.

As Keighley’s MP, I’ve made it my mission to stand up for my part of West Yorkshire, and lobby hard for our community. The good news is that in the last two years, we have started to see success.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly set us back, but it also provides new opportunities as we build back better.

People need positive destinations, good training, and the right advice and experiences. That’s why in Keighley, we’ve secured funding to create two new hubs; a new Skills Hub will deliver training in digital, communication and personal development, and a new Manufacturing, Engineering and Future Technology Hub to specialise in training local people in critical manufacturing and engineering skills, to help create more local jobs.

I’m delighted my local NHS trust - Airedale - is working so closely with the Levelling Up Goals on their own plan to level-up, because in my view, good health and wellbeing is of vital importance. As part of the Towns Fund, I’ve secured funding for a new Keighley Health and Wellbeing Centre to improve local services, and cut waiting times.

Work is beginning to improve local public transport infrastructure, to provide better and more reliable services - including the basics, like real time bus information.

Keighley is a former Mill Town with lots of unused brownfield sites. These are prime for redevelopment, but it is too often more cost effective for developers to propose building on green spaces, rather than spending extra money regenerating these sites. It is in situations like this where the government is right to step in and take action. That’s why I've secured £15m to create a new Development Investment Fund to bring these sites back into use, create new space for businesses to grow, as well as for new start-ups.

Our high streets have been battered in recent years - something which has only been made worse by the rise of online shopping and the COVID-19 pandemic. Our high streets and town centres need to be a place where people visit for enjoyment, not only to buy what is essential. That’s why I’ve secured money to regenerate parts of Keighley Town Centre, and for a major tree planting programme to make the community a place that can be enjoyed.

Across the country, communities with strong local leadership are being transformed. It isn't easy, and the pandemic has without doubt delayed our plans, but we are seeing change, and it is clear the government is serious about the levelling-up agenda.

Robbie Moore is the Member of Parliament for Keighley and Ilkley