Jon Pearce MP for High Peak

2 days ago

𝟑𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝! 🎉

I'm so proud to have hit the 30,000 cases milestone in less than two years since you elected me in July 2024. Me and my team have hit this figure faster than any other new MP I know, and certainly faster than previous High Peak MPs!

Here's just some of the issues I've been tackling for High Peak:

▪️Cost of living struggles and household support
▪️Benefits, pensions and Universal Credit
▪️Housing issues
▪️Problems with public transport
▪️School places and SEND support

The cases aren't just numbers, but real people with real issues. Helping local residents tackle their problems is one of the most rewarding parts of my job, and me and my team will always do all we can to help.

Need help? 📩Email: [email protected], or give my office a call on 01298 918189 📲

Please include your name, postcode, a brief summary of the issue, and any reference numbers you have.

You can also book a surgery appointment to meet with me face-to-face, either in-person or online.

I'm always here to help 🤝 ... See MoreSee Less

Jon Pearce MP for High Peak

3 days ago

🚫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐲-𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 🚫

When I was out and about in Gamesley recently I noticed this appalling fly-tipping. We all agree that fly-tipping is a blight on our neighbourhoods and it's massively frustrating for residents fed up with rubbish being dumped on our streets and green spaces.

Although I'm pleased to hear this mess has since been cleared up, this problem will only get worse in Gamesley and across Glossop if Reform-run Derbyshire County Council's disastrous plan to close Glossop tip goes through. To keep up pressure on Reform to back down on this proposal, please sign my petition at: www.jon4highpeak.com/help-me-save-glossop-tip/

To tackle this problem properly, I'm pleased the Government has announced its new Waste Crime Action Plan, the biggest crackdown on fly-tipping yet.

It means:
✅ Fly-tippers will be forced to clean up their own mess
✅ Penalty points on driving licences
✅ £45 million more to catch and prosecute offenders
✅ New powers to shut down illegal waste sites

This is about protecting our area and making sure those responsible face real consequences.

If you’ve seen fly-tipping locally, please report it - and together we’ll keep pushing to clean up our community. You can report it at: www.highpeak.gov.uk/Report_It ... See MoreSee Less

Jon Pearce MP for High Peak

3 days ago

Two weeks ago, I held one of my regular coffee mornings at the Twig cafe at Gamesley Community Centre.

As always, it was great to chat to residents about their concerns and the issues their community is facing. I’m working hard to improve bus services, which are still too infrequent and unreliable, and, like many local people, I’d love to see Gamesley have the station residents were first promised back in the late 1960s.

I’m confident that, working together, we can achieve great things in Gamesley. And the thing that gives me hope is the Gamesley Community Centre itself and the fantastic volunteers – led by Helen Thornhill and her team – who have truly achieved wonders there in such a short space of time.

Before I was elected, I worked closely with Helen and local people to save the Community Centre when Derbyshire County Council tried to close it down. It is now great to see that with ownership transferred from the county council, the centre is now a community asset – run by, owned by, and serving the needs of, the local community.

It is great to see the impact that has had, with local people creating an inspirational project in their heart of their community.

It now includes the Heating Project social club for elderly people; exercise and boxing classes; a toddlers’ group set up by a local mum – and the Twig cafe. Crucially, thanks to the help of The Bureau, it’s also now developed into a health and wellbeing hub, with mental health support, twice-monthly visits from NHS health visitors and nurses, a regular NHS sexual health clinic, a smoking cessation service, and a screening programme.

But this is just the start. Last autumn, I visited the centre to meet with Derbyshire FA, the Football Foundation and Gamesley FC to discuss the need for future investment in new changing facilities and a 3G pitch to replace the current damaged astro turf. It’s a long process, but the community centre has launched a fundraising campaign, which was featured on BBC Breakfast in February, and we’re looking into the various grants that might be available. This investment isn’t just important for Gamesley – it will benefit people from across Glossopdale.

We have also been able to secure nearly £200,000 of investment in the community from Labour East Midlands mayor Claire Ward to develop the wellbeing and health hub and secure its long-term future. The money comes Claire’s new £3m Community Development Fund which is designed to invest in, and empower, local communities. This is another example of the change and improvement that Labour listening and investing is bringing about.

Gamesley shows what grassroots community work looks like. Real people, real impact, no nonsense and no excuses, and I’m excited to see what we can work together on next.

I’ll be back in Gamesley again soon – not least to get my regular chips and curry sauce from the legendary Chippy! ... See MoreSee Less

Jon Pearce MP for High Peak

4 days ago

Having been born and bred in Derbyshire, I know just how fortunate we are to live in one of the most scenic and beautiful parts of the country.

As we mark English Tourism Week, I’m immensely proud of the fact that High Peak attracts so many visitors each year.

Tourism is an important part of our local economy – bringing in some £500m annually – with spending by visitors helping to support jobs and ensure our towns and villages can thrive.

But it’s important that tourism is sustainable – that we can preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Peak District National Park which people rightly flock to visit and explore – and that local people truly benefit from it.

That’s why I’m backing Buxton’s bid to become the UK’s first ever Town of Culture. This new annual competition – which is open to small, medium and large towns – is part of the Government’s plan to boost local economic growth and opportunity throughout the country and to showcase just how special and unique Britain’s towns are. Forgotten for too long by Whitehall and Westminster, this Government is determined to put the towns many of us live in, and of which we are rightly proud, back on the map.

Buxton already has so much to offer: magnificent architecture, natural beauty, and spa heritage; our Opera House, Pavilion Gardens, and the Devonshire Dome. But this prize offers us the opportunity to become one of the key northern cultural hubs.

More visitors are great for our local economy but this must be sustainable. The Monsal Trail may only be 4.5 miles from Buxton, but it’s so difficult to access; without pavements, the narrow gorge is impossible to walk and riding isn’t much safer. I’m strongly supporting the proposal to allow an innovative very light railway (VLR) to be trialled between Buxton and Blackwell Mill. The electric battery operated Revolution VLR prototype, can transport up to 56 people, making it far easier for walkers and cyclists to get from Buxton to the foot of the Trail.

I’ve also been making the case to ministers for the proposed “Mini Switzerland” plan - to fully integrate bus and train services across the Hope Valley.
I’ve long argued that we need better, more regular and reliable bus services running along the corridor linking Castleton, Hope and Bamford. The next step is to improve our public transport and have buses running to more frequent, easy-to-remember, schedules. We also need them to be pulling up at stations just before the trains arrive and for tickets to run across the network.

For too long Hope Valley has been plagued by illegal parking. Recently we’ve made good progress with tackling these problems, with better signage, road markings and improved pay-and-display giving us a much better chance at managing this issue ahead of the summer months.

Our tourist economy has so much potential, but it has been overlooked for too long. I’m determined to change that. Playing to our strengths and delivering sustainable tourism will make us all better off. ... See MoreSee Less

Jon Pearce MP for High Peak

5 days ago

Brilliant to have UNISON’s support locally for Mummy's Star’s campaign for better rights for pregnant women and mums on maternity leave diagnosed with cancer.Jon Pearce MP for High Peak with Trades Union Congress (TUC) Women's Gold Medal winner Sonya Pickford. We will be supporting the campaign by Jon and Mummy's Star to ensure women with cancer don't lose their maternity leave. ... See MoreSee Less

Jon Pearce MP for High Peak

1 week ago

𝐁𝐮𝐱𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 🚨

The fight to stop the removal of health services from Buxton goes on. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have still not complied with their obligations to inform and consult or produced an Equality Impact Assessment that I have been demanding they produce for months. There is nothing in the proposed further three month pause that addresses these issues.

I have met with Karin Smyth, the Minister of State for Secondary Care, to raise these issues and I have also had further meetings with Derby and Derbyshire ICB who commission the services.

I have made it clear that Stockport NHS foundation Trust must be held accountable to their patients and contractual duties. I have also raised the strength of feeling locally with thousands of you signing my petition.

I am determined that a proper process must be followed and that the best possible outcome must be secured for patients in Buxton and the surrounding areas.

I'll obviously update you again as soon as I hear anything. Thank you again for all your support in fighting to keep these services. If you haven’t signed the petition please do so here: www.jon4highpeak.com/help-me-protect-local-nhs-services-in-high-peak/ ... See MoreSee Less