Josh Simons MP: Bickershaw had the worst waste dump in Britain - the power of our community is getting it sorted

After months of campaigning, the government announced the illegal waste site at Bolton House Road in Bickershaw will be cleared.

That means primary school kids will be able to play in their field, small businesses can reopen and families like Nicha’s can reunite.

I had the privilege of letting the Year 6 class in Bickershaw Primary School know the good news on Friday.

But while I had the honour of delivering that news, this result is a testament to the relentless graft of our whole community.

When I first learned of this site, I shared residents’ anger.

After months of inaction, criminals were being allowed to operate with impunity, and the waste had grown to become one of the largest illegal dumps in the country.

Even more outrageous, every door that residents knocked on told them it was someone else's problem. I made it my problem.

I stood in front of the community in the local church and said something simple: I will take responsibility for this.

I promise I will get a commitment to clearing it up, in full, by the summer. I kept that promise.

Not just because I worked hard behind the scenes, spoke up against things I thought were wrong, but because the whole community came together, campaigned, and spoke with one voice.

To me, this campaign has been a story of how the North so often gets overlooked.

After the government agreed to clear the waste in Oxfordshire, I stood up and voiced my outrage.

Why should middle class residents in Kiddlington be prioritised above working class primary kids in Wigan?

We fought back. And this weekend, we won.

We never backed down - not in the face of the criminals who dumped this waste on our doorstep, or agencies passing the buck, or decisions we thought were wrong.

I have been blown away by the action residents have taken, including the vocal leadership of Nicha.

Her letter to King Charles was signed by over 20,000 people and she will be a partner in the years ahead in confronting waste crime and the organised criminals that do it.

Our country is broken in so many ways. I did not come into politics to go through the motions of tinkering with a system that just isn’t working for so many people.

Taking responsibility, making a promise that is hard but I know I will fight to keep, then keeping it - that is who I am.

There is a wider issue here. So many of the places we live, work, and play are a disgrace: our high streets, parks, grass verges, even our woods and lakes.

We need to clean up Britain.

I want to harness this community spirit to declare a War on Waste, tackling not just the high illegal dumps but the littering and flytipping that blights our communities.

I will be saying more about this in the coming weeks.

It starts with an ambitious plan for the green space around Bickershaw, Platt Bridge, Bamfurlong, and Abram.

The illegal tip backs onto Bickershaw Country Park but these green spaces is seriously under-utilised.

There are not enough sports facilities for children and I would like to see the land at the site and immediately surrounding it form a legacy that the community can be proud of long into the future.

I am so proud to represent Nicha, Bickershaw, and the whole community in the towns I represent in Wigan who came together.

And I want everyone to know: if there is something you know must change, I will back you, and together, we really can change the communities and the country we love.