Ben Bradley MP says Mansfield has so much to be positive about for the future

I have been talking about redeveloping the Town Mill site with the owners and there are some really positive plans for renewal.

I’ve also had a zoom meeting discussing the town centre, focused on how we should use the town centre funding of £25 million to improve and regenerate the place.

We obviously need to make it a more desirable place to visit, and for businesses to invest in too.

I have also had meetings with Andrew Cropley, the principal of West Nottinghamshire College to talk about exam results and what the college will be like when the students return in a couple of weeks.

They’ve started their enrollment for the new academic year and I’m pleased that things are going well.

I also spoke to them about the Government’s £1.3 million funding boost which is to be used to improve facilities and is a welcome opportunity for them to use it on a range of projects, including the new sixth form centre.

I joined Parliamentary colleagues Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield, and Brendan Clarke-Smith, the MP for Bassetlaw, to meet with the Coal Authority.

We’re pursuing the possibility of finding new, renewable energy from the water in the tunnels under our feet.

The heat is removed from the water in our pit shafts and tunnels and can be used to heat homes and businesses, in a way that is sustainable and environmentally friendly.

This would be a great idea for our area, making use of the miles and miles of old tunnels and turning it in to something useful.

Mansfield has such an amazing industrial and mining heritage and it will be great to be able to use this for the future.

It will be great for us to be able to utilise our past and use the legacy of the pits to encourage green renewable energy which can be used well in to the future.

It's great to be able to spend the summer locally, learning about projects and opportunities and bringing stakeholder groups together, which all helps to inform what I’m doing when I head to Westminster in a few weeks’ time.

Ben Bradley is MP for Mansfield.