Letter to Dewsbury Reporter
20 August 2007
I have now met with the Chief Executive of Kirklees and other stakeholders to look at both the Marks & Spencer issue and more importantly the wider issue of neglect in Dewsbury.
My job is to act as a constructively critical friend of the council and to hold it to account on behalf of Dewsbury and Mirfield. Although it is currently a Conservative council, I would have been equally as stinging in my criticism had it been a Labour council.
I also wanted to say thank you to the many people who have stopped me in the street, written and emailed in support - and of course those 95% of Reporter readers who agreed with my assessment in your poll last week.
My decision to go public on this issue came after 2 years and three months of frustration at the lack of focus on Dewsbury.
I now look forward to working with Kirklees Council, developers, retailers, traders, the voluntary sector and the wider public sector to ensure that Dewsbury attains the bright future we all want realised.
I am cautiously encouraged by some of the sounds I'm hearing from the council officers and look forward to continuing this positive dialogue on behalf of everyone in Dewsbury and Mirfield.
Best wishes
Shahid Malik MP