§ Mr. Graham Riddick (Colne Valley)I wish to present a petition to the House that calls for Kirklees council to be split and a new council, based on the Huddersfield area, to be created. The petition has 8,053 signatures by people both from within my constituency and from the remainder of Huddersfield. They no longer want councillors from Batley and Dewsbury to have a say in the affairs of their area. They do not identify with Kirklees, which many of them feel is too big, too bureaucratic and too unaccountable.
The petition follows a phone-in organised last year by the local newspaper, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, when more than 14,000 people called for Kirklees to be split and only 400 supported the status quo.
I support the campaign to split Kirklees and I hope and believe that it will be successful. The petition states:
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House, following consultation with the Local Government Boundary Commissioners, legislates to disband Kirklees council and create a local authority named Greater Huddersfield to incorporate Huddersfield, the Colne and Holme Valleys, Denby Dale, Kirkburton and parts of Mirfield.
§ To lie upon the Table