Jake Berry

AT the time of writing, we don’t yet know who has won the contest to be elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party, and Prime Minister.

But by the time the Free Press has been printed and hit the news-stands across the Valley, we will all, finally, know whether Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt is the new resident of Number 10 Downing Street.

I’ve been very clear that I’m backing Boris as he’s the best person to deliver Brexit by 31st October, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.

Jeremy Hunt has been a good Foreign Secretary and I hope that he will continue to serve in a Boris Johnson-led government, but it’s time for the United Kingdom to recover some of its can-do spirit, optimism and positivity.

We must come out of the EU on October 31, with Boris as PM we’ll have the will and the drive to make sure that it happens and importantly that we make a success of it.

We had a great turnout at my Pensioners’ Advice and Information Fair last week at Kay Street Methodist Church in Rawtenstall last week. Lots of people were asking me about the leadership contest and Brexit.

Interestingly though, just as many people were asking me what on earth was going on with Rawtenstall town centre’s redevelopment plans.

Work on the bus station is progressing well but the plans for the other part of this important town centre site have hit a hurdle as the council finally realised that their plans wouldn’t work.

Because of online shopping, local high streets are changing rapidly but the way to support them is not to build lots of new retail units - a point I made directly to the leader of Rossendale Council over a year ago.

Rossendale residents together with Conservative councillors and local retailers have been raising concerns for months that the plans for Rawtenstall town centre needed to be looked at again, but Labour ignored the warnings and ploughed ahead regardless.

Everyone I speak with about the Spinning Point development has been clear what they would like to see; more open space for events and an improvement to the traffic flow and parking situation - it’s just a shame it’s taken the council so long to agree.

Now, as it’s confirmed as not a single retailer has signed up for their plans, Rossendale Council have finally caved to pressure and agreed to think again.

So, after losing around £5 million from the Empty Homes Scheme scandal and hundreds of thousands from their Local Plan that they had to scrap, what I, and I’m sure everyone else would like to know is...just how much has Labour’s latest failure cost us?