to ask people in Northern Leave constituencies what changes you would like to see in your area?

[chomalungma]

I really hope there is going to be change in these areas. I live near some of them and I can see some of the issues. But I don't live in them.

What would you like to see done in your area? What advice would you give to the Conservatives when they come and ask for what needs to be done locally?

Transport links?
Encouraging businesses locally
Better local housing?
Improved schools

What would you like to see change in your local area?

Actually invest in the areas and stop fucking cutting everything to the bone.

It won’t happen though.

Interesting shopping lists with brexit looming. It's like saving for a Maserati when you know you're getting made redundant in a month.

GhostofFrankGrimes

Lets not pretend that there was any chance of these happening before.

Anyone who ever uses trains in the north of England, even if visiting, would like to have a seat and the train run on time. I thought that rail services in London other than the Underground and DLR were bad, until I went to Bolton and Blackburn a couple of years ago on local trains from Manchester.

Absolutely nothing will happen. Nothing has for 10 years, why expect it now.

ghost Are you up north?

Is a reliable and suitable public transport network really that much of an ask? Is wanting an increase in jobs something we shouldn't get?

Bloody hell we aren't asking for a Maserati, a clapped out fiesta will do, we just want change and not lip service. (Oh and we want trains that are not made out of a coach)

Yes, I'm up north. I've seen bus services reduced and spent plenty of money on overcrowded train journeys. Why would the tories do anything about the privatised rail network?

Better paying jobs, more affordable housing and public services eg libraries buses trains

I voted remain and labour

Full time jobs that negate the need for in work benefits and housing benefit. The investment funding would come from the billions, and it is billions, that are paid out for frankly non productive things.

Joined-up transport. Hs2 seems pretty irrelevant - I'm quite near the west coast main line, getting to London, Manchester and Liverpool) from the station is an acceptable time already, it's getting to the station in the first place which is the problem.

Jobs and schools ... there seems to be a load of new housing being built but afaik all the schools including the poor ones are oversubscribed.

Why would the tories do anything about the privatised rail network?

The network isn't privatised. The infrastructure etc is owned by a Govt owned body. It needs massive improvement. The operating firms are pseudo nationalised - running trains that the govt tell them to, to a timetable controlled by the govt, using stations owned by the govt, using lines controlled by the govt, etc etc. It's all government controlled, just operated by private firms.

From where I am Leeds/Manchester/Liverpool is the south. I'm a remainer in a leave voting constituency. Even here I am very aware that I'm in a middle class bubble, everyone I know voted remain, the average salary at work is double the average in this region. The percentage of children who go to university in this region is about 10 % and yet at the state school my kids go to about 10 a year go to Oxbridge. The town I live in has some of the most deprived wards in the country on the east and some of the most affluent on the west.

So, while I absolutely agree improved transport links are vital, I think it needs more. Education and social care needs to be heavily invested in, particularly early years. People need to see a better future for themselves. I work a few miles from Hartlepool, we are continually recruiting, but there are many in that town who can't see how they could ever get the qualifications we require, we are irrelevant to them and their job search. We do a lot of outreach work in the community including offering several advanced apprenticeships every year but those still need good A level results and a hard working ethic that is hard for those from chaotic backgrounds. I'm not sure what the answer is. I think giving people hope requires lots of dedication from a variety of individuals, but e.g. we work with a charity that does some amazing work with people from very deprived backgrounds but it's very driven by the person who set it up and I think the same model expanded too far would lose the authenticity of his voice that makes it work.

I'm quite near the west coast main line, getting to London, Manchester and Liverpool) from the station is an acceptable time already,

Likewise, but I seldom travel to those cities. I travel to other places which take forever to get to, usually far longer than by car and far more expensive than by car, that's if there is actually a railway station there. Far too many quiet/rural lines between pretty big towns with pathetically sparse/slow railway services.

YY to the trains. Hs2 is a waste. The services to London are already good, but travelling from Leeds to Manchester or Hull, or within Yorkshire is hopeless.

It doesn't matter where one lives

The majority voted for Brexit 3 years ago & this has still not taken place !

All the below will always be on the political agenda;
Education
Healthcare/social care
Transport
Housing
Crime
Employment
Green issues/nature
Technology
Benefits
Local issues
Armed forces/emergency services
Etc

@CountFosco

I don't live far from Hartlepool, about 30 mins in a car, but I don't drive and the transport links from further afield where I am are not good. People can be as qualified as you need to be, but it's not much use if you can't get there. And please, no one start preaching about learning to drive, I've tried, and failed, 4 times - how much more money do I keep throwing at something? Especially when money is tight anyway.
A lot around here relies on tourism, two local towns that have a lot of visitors (I work in one) but working in tourism = shifts - and the bus services to and from these towns stop at 7.30/8pm. A lot of care work here too - same problems with shift work and transport. Costs me £20 to get a taxi home/to work. I work permanent nights and have a 20 minutes bus ride, and 50 minutes wait either side of my shift. Maybe could progress of I could work days but I can't afford a taxi 5 days a week to either get there for an early, or home after a late, so that's not going to happen. Think a lot of people are in this situation too.
Moving isn't really an option, it's cheaper to live where I do and pay £20 a week for a bus ticket, and pay cheaper rent.
People need to be able to get to the jobs to be able to do them. Plus not being just left in bad weather (my village is on the route for the gritters to collect the grit) yet we're the last to get any. Whole area (a lot of hills!) Grinds to a halt at the first hint of snow, so then we end up not getting to work/getting home/school buses stop etc.
There's a small shopping park about 15 mins away by car, no bus route except the local council bus that goes 3 times and stops at 12. None on Sunday.
Nearest big hospital that you need to attend for pretty much anything, 30 mins in a car, 3 buses and half a day on public transport. And longer on Sundays.
I see that as one of the biggest problems where I am, the jobs might be there, but people are stuck living in areas with poor links and can't get there. Plus we keep losing the industry we do have. Don't know what the answer is, but I can't see it getting any better, used to have better links a few years ago but everything has just been scaled back more and more.

Fascinating
I'm from the south but everybody I speak to in / from the north of ANY political hue says the same

TRANSPORT TRANSPORT TRANSPORT

If cities outside London were allowed control over their public transport systems then they could improve them

• which would improve jobs
• which would improve schools
• which would improve productivity

It is MADNESS that Durham to London
is quicker than Hull to Manchester

The M62 was a massive project when it was built back in the 1960's. Took ages to build over complex terrain.

We need a massive project like that to help with the links across the Pennines.

choma
No, the North does not need MASSIVE projects
it needs lots of local scale improvements and service upgrades
managed on a bottom up basis by the cities and towns involved

properly integrating buses and local trains and trams and ferries
has no money in it for Private Equity
but it is what the cities outside London need to grow and thrive

the fact that integrated buses like TFL are illegal in Newcastle (see court case passim) is disgraceful

I live in one of the Northumberland Leave constituencies that turned blue this week. Personally I voted Remain/Labour but I can see why others didn't.

Any investment in the area appears to start and end in the larger towns and the tourist areas - Cramlington, Morpeth, Alnwick, Hexham, etc - and not a lot seems to trickle outwards to the less picturesque towns or the smaller villages. Blyth town centre being a prime example where lack of regeneration and investment has led to a run down town centre, few facilities, and high levels of deprivation whereas somewhere like Cramlington has a modern, indoor shopping area and leisure facilities and the likes of Alnwick has investment in keeping the tourists interested. It creates resentment towards the people who control the investments and when people resent their representatives they want to change them.

I live in Wolverhampton, which, apart from my constituency, is now Conservative.

The city is dying on its feet.

We have some of the worst health, addiction, crime, homelessness, employment and social problems in the Midlands.

An old Nationwide building in the city centre was recently raided as a cannabis farm!

The (Labour) city council are useless at tracking down owners of derelict and empty houses, are incompetent at enforcing works orders and have closed down the Civic Hall, which drew people into the city.

A lot of people are apathetic and have no aspirations or ambition.

Chronic illness is rife and criminality is a viable career option around here.

At one P(olice)A(nd)C(ommunity)T(eam) meeting, it was reported that some primary school girls wanted to be prostitutes as they saw them with loads of cash.

Transport is important, as we are effectively a dormitory for Birmingham.

Social services, education, health, addiction services as well as policing are the main priorities.

The austerity years have cut everything to the bone and charities are picking up the slack everywhere you look.

Yes to transport too. Not just trains but buses and transit systems.

I went to London and was amazed by the sheer number and frequency of buses compared to here where there is one bus every thirty minutes which takes an hour to reach it's final destination ten miles away (the nearest city centre) and the fares are extortionate - £6.40 for an adult return, £3.20 for a child, so a family of four will have paid £19.20 before they even go anywhere/do anything else, you can only use your ticket on that company's buses and you can't get a ticket that covers you for multiple companies. On a Sunday there are no buses at all until 10am so the earliest you can get to the city is 11am, leaves you pretty fucked if you've got a job that starts earlier than that. No buses whatsoever on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, or New Years Day. The metro system (mass transit trains that run underground in the city and overground in outlying areas) doesn't extend up into Northumberland.

Im in Northumberland and I would love to see better transport links.

We need more infrastructure - schools, facilities, healthcare - to cope with all the new houses they keep building. The local school can hold 220 pupils and is full. The council has recently given planning permission for 500 new family-sized homes but no planning for schools.