Selby Times - January 2026

This is my first column of this year, so I’d like to take the chance to wish everyone a happy new year. December feels like a lifetime ago, but it’s not too late to give a special shoutout to Gethin from Athelstan Primary in Sherburn, who won my Christmas card competition and whose design appeared on the front of my card. It was a real joy to host Gethin and his family down in Westminster, where I gave them a tour of Parliament and introduced them to the Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle. I run the competition every year, so keep an eye out if you’ve got a little one who might want to take part!

I started the new year where I left off, blowing off the cobwebs by cutting the ribbon at the reopening of Osgodby’s Village Institute. It’s the start of an exciting new chapter for what is a cherished community space, and I’d encourage anyone who’s local to the area to get involved with the committee as they make the most of their new digs!

That excellent start to the year left me with a positive feeling about 2026. We’ve come a long way in just a few years, with construction having started on the Selby SEN school, work set to begin on the area around Selby train station, and new breakfast clubs set to roll out at Selby Community Primary and Barwic Parade Primary from this April. These positive developments have been hard fought, and I’ll continue to campaign for improvements locally until I see them delivered.

This brings me on to another issue I’ve been campaigning on locally – poor mobile signal. I picked up on this issue both because of my own frustration at the poor service I get in Selby, but because I know it’s a hindrance for residents and businesses too. When I first took it up, the mobile operators wouldn’t even accept the scale of the problem, but with the help of the hundreds of people who fed back their experiences to me, we’ve been able to hold them to account properly.

But the time for talking is done, and that’s why I’m really pleased to report that new phone masts have received planning consent which should improve signal right across Selby town centre, along Bawtry Road and down onto Staynor Hall too. At least one of these new masts should be operational by Easter, and I’ll be continuing to liaise with people to make sure that the positive impacts are being felt. 

Closely linked to this is the issue of power cuts. Towards the end of last year, villages right across our area were plagued by repeated, extensive power outages. These aren’t a new occurrence, but the frequency at which they’ve been happening is totally unacceptable and is causing real issues for local people, particularly for those who are vulnerable or elderly. I’ve been working hard to hold Northern Powergrid to account on this for months, but there comes a point where we have to say, collectively, that enough is enough. That’s why I escalated our concerns to the CEO, demanding answers and action to put this right. Like the mobile operators, Northern Powergrid have now accepted the scale of the issue, and I’m pleased to say they’re stepping up their efforts to manage vegetation, accelerate infrastructure improvements, and they’ve assigned a specific team to tackle the frequent outages in our part of Yorkshire. I’ll be hosting a follow up meeting with the power company and local Parish Councils, where I’ll be reaffirming the fact that the time for action is now.

It's also been a busy first week or two back in Westminster, where the government has released the first road safety strategy in over a decade. This is particularly significant for a rural area like ours, where so often we see tragic news of serious injuries or fatalities on our roads. The strategy will see tougher laws introduced on dangerous and drink driving, advanced safety technology mandated on new cars and street design guidance updated. The strategy also recognises the specific issue of rural road safety, and I’ll continue to campaign for more appropriate speed limits and infrastructure improvements in our county. 

Above all else, we’re prioritising action on the cost of living this spring, and that’s why the government has extended the freeze on fuel duty, has frozen rail fares and funded an extension of the cap on bus fares. In April, the government will take direct action to bring down energy bills by £150, and a further increase to the national living wage will see an additional £900 a year paid into the pockets of low paid workers. 

With more police on the streets by March, energy bills down, new health hubs and breakfast clubs opening in April, and more funding being put into the basics like pothole repairs and frontline NHS services, I have a real sense of optimism about the year ahead. It’s an opportunity to break with more than a decade of decline, and one that I know that our town is ready to seize. 

Finally, I’d like to thank all of the wonderful community groups who are starting 2026 where they left off – supporting local families and helping to make Selby a great place to live. If you’ve got any thoughts or questions about anything I’m working on, locally or nationally, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me by email on keir.mather.mp@parliament.uk. Together, let’s make 2026 a year to remember for Selby!