Joan is pictured at the opening of the Hardman Football Development Centre. 

ON YOUR BIKE

I hope that the better weather and all of the sport on television at the moment are encouraging readers to get out and enjoy an active lifestyle. 

I have been lobbying Government to make sure that all schools have adequate sports facilities and swimming pools. Even better, these facilities can also prove to be a fantastic community resource open to all – as we have in the constituency at Holden Lane High School.

And I have been doing a lot of work to see that we have the football pitches in the constituency to allow grass roots football to really flourish. There’s no reason why anyone shouldn’t be able to try out the tricks being used in Germany for themselves!

One of the other things that I am working on at the moment is looking at how Government can support healthy living in our everyday lives. Last week saw national bike week and I was pleased to see the announcement that there would be an extra £15 million for cycling, particularly to provide safer routes to school. It’s so important, because it will allow young people to build activity into their every day lives

The new investment will double the budget for Cycling England, which is the national body which is tasked with making cycling possible for more people. The money will provide more money for the cycling Links to Schools project. This ties schools in to the wider 10,000 miles of the National Cycling Network. I know that cycling becomes a lot more attractive if you do not need to go on busy roads.

As the Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander said: "At ten to nine in the morning one in five cars are on the school run. By encouraging cycling, seemingly small choices can have big impacts - improving the health of children, tackling congestion and helping the environment.

Of course, a big part of this is about road safety. Britain has one of the best road safety records in the world and the Government is committed to reducing the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on our roads by 40 per cent by 2010.  A reduction of congestion in front of the school gates would be one way of saving lives. The Road Safety Bill is another. This piece of legislation is currently going through Parliament and will introduce new powers to tackle speeding, drink driving, fatigue and poor driver training.

More information can be found out about safer routes to school at www.saferoutestoschool.org.uk. If you are interested in the Road Safety Bill and what I am doing to reduce traffic accidents, then please contact me. I am always pleased to hear from constituents.