Potholes are more than just an eyesore and a symbol of decline. They are dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists, can cause unnecessary damage to vehicles, and create real costs and inconvenience for working people.

Councils have been in an impossible position for a long time. Funding has not kept pace with the scale of the highways maintenance challenge, while the condition of our roads has deteriorated and the backlog of repairs has grown. That is a problem all of us see and feel as we go about our daily lives across the borough.

So it is great to see road maintenance being prioritised, with £60 million being invested across Greater Manchester by Mayor Bev Craig, of which Oldham will receive £5.2 million.

This adds to Oldham Council’s £18 million highways budget, alongside its £2 million accelerator programme. That additional investment is designed to tackle areas where repeated smaller patch repairs on the same section of road are no longer enough, allowing a more substantial repair to be carried out instead of the constant cycle of ad hoc filling that frustrates local residents who simply want a proper repair that lasts.

And we must not forget the condition of our pavements. In some places, they have become hazardous because of deterioration, a lack of proper maintenance and the impact of repeated utility works. For older people in particular, uneven or damaged pavements can create serious trip and fall hazards, with consequences that can be far more serious than simply an inconvenience.

We need to make sure this investment delivers the lasting improvements residents rightly expect: better roads, safer pavements and repairs that fix the problem rather than simply patching for the repair to fail and then the pothole return.

News that its future was under threat raised significant concern not just from the scientific community, but from all of us who recognise the cultural importance of the observatory, best known for its enormous Lovell Telescope, whose position on the Cheshire plains can be seen from the hills of Oldham and across the North West.

Importantly it provides a tangible connection to science which I have no doubt ignites an interest for the many young visitors who attend each year and inspires them to learn more, and who knows, to perhaps become the next Professor Brian Cox.

Let’s get this resolved once and for all.

Hillsborough Law has passed the Commons but is returning to the Lords so we can strengthen the duty of candour and give bereaved families greater equality & justice

Giving 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote and making our democracy more accessible, more transparent & safer through the Representation of the People Bill returning

Bringing our railways back together and delivering a better, more reliable railway for passengers through the Railways Bill continuing it’s passage through Parliament, after already passing the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act into law in 2024

Securing our borders and delivering a fairer, better-managed immigration and asylum system with the Immigration and Asylum Bill continuing to go through the Commons

Giving leaseholders greater control and making commonhold the default through the proposed Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill

Protecting social housing, strengthening tenants’ rights and stopping the loss of council homes through the Social Housing Bill

Cutting household bills by taking VAT off household electricity bills from October

Giving working people greater rights, with the Employment Rights Act bringing in a six-month deadline to bring an employment tribunal claim from October and further trade union reforms from the end of October

Continuing to deliver the Renters’ Rights Act, with the next phase of reforms to private renting due later this year

Continuing to empower communities, local leaders and our Mayors through devolution

A lot to be getting on with and it will be great to get stuck into Parliament again as a minister covering local government, devolution and regional growth.

It was good to join colleagues in No.10 North as we progress the next stage of devolution.

We’ve almost completed devolution across the North of England with Cheshire and Warrington, and Cumbria due for their first mayoral elections next May, and my hope for Lancashire to develop a mayoral devolution agreement remains, at which point we would see the entire North of England represented by mayoral devolution, new Strategic Authorities to oversee investment, growth alongside a range of extended powers and freedoms.

The same is true across the country where there is appetite to end the centralising and disconnected political culture, which often sets areas in desperate need against one another in bidding wars, for what usually ends up being limited investment which doesn’t address the scale of the social and economic challenges those places face.

For those who have longed believed the centralised and disconnected stronghold in Whitehall and Westminster has held our regions back, it’s a hugely exciting time.

This week we’re kickstarting our record £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, supporting more than 70,000 new homes, with nearly two-thirds for genuinely affordable social rent – the biggest council housebuilding comeback in decades.

This means £10 billion for councils, housing associations & other partners, with £529 million for Greater Manchester to deliver around 4,400 new homes for our city-region.

Here in Oldham, 605 children are currently living in temporary accommodation. This investment will help families stuck in temporary accommodation or on housing waiting lists get into safe, secure homes.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing the good work of organisations such as First Choice Homes and Vistry Group in Oldham and I know they and other providers are ready and willing to do even more. Likewise Oldham Council has been working hard to free up brownfield sites and many schemes will see redundant land brought back into use alongside good transport links.

I’ll keep fighting for more decent family homes for local people, while pushing back against the over-concentration of HMOs in our borough. They are too often fuelling the housing crisis by removing family homes from the market and normalising shoe box living.

It’s time we got on and fixed the housing crisis so that local people finally have the security of a decent affordable home.

I’ve always had dogs around growing up and our house wouldn’t be the same without Alfie now.

It was really distressing to hear from animal charities how many dogs are given up by their owners who aren’t able to afford to keep them, or who have been forced to move to a new rented home which didn’t accept pets.

So it’s really important that the flagship Renters’ Right Act means that tenants now have the right to request a pet, alongside a cap being introduced for vet prescription fees at £21 and the new Animal Welfare Strategy to tackle puppy smuggling.

Small but important steps to make owning a dog a little easier.