I met with Highways England to discuss the three major road schemes currently taking place in Fylde. They gave me updates on the A585 bypass at Singleton, the Preston West Distributor Road and new junction to the M55, and the M55 link road to St Annes.
All three of these projects should be completed in 2023 and represent an enormous investment in our infrastructure.
I also attended the latest meeting of the M55 Link Road working group. All of the clearance works for the new road have been completed and any time now we will see work start on a huge concrete slab to protect a water main on the site. The earthwork contract will be awarded to contractors next week after the completion of the tender process.
I had some very constructive talks with representatives of Westinghouse this week.
We need to see a Westinghouse reactor built at the Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey; if we can secure such a deal, it will play an important part in securing the future of the Springfields site in Fylde. It will ensure we have a skills base retained to develop our own nuclear power stations, and we will also be manufacturing the fuel here – that means energy security for us all.
This week sees the first step on the roadmap out of lockdown with thousands of Fylde schoolchildren back in the classroom.
I want to thank all of the headteachers, teachers and school support staff who have worked so hard throughout the pandemic to deliver lessons at home and prepare for the return to school. It has been a difficult time with the changing legislation around Covid-19 but they have more than risen to the challenge, including making preparations for in-school testing for secondary school students. My thanks to them all.