A NORTH Yorkshire MP has told councillors more funding is needed for local transport to help improve Selby’s economy.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, appeared before Selby District Council on Friday to face questions on his constituency from scrutiny committee members.

Questions included how Selby could better benefit from Government plans to give more power to cities, including Leeds, when spending money and running buses, and what benefits Selby would gain from the proposed electrification of the Transpennine railway.

Mr Adams said: “It has been many years since we have had significant rail investment in this country.

“Selby has a lot of residents that commute outside of the district and any investment that will help them and speed up journey times has to be welcomed.”

Mr Adams, who launched the first Selby Jobs Fair last year, was also asked what he could do to attract new jobs to the Selby district.

He said: “My priority has always been about promoting Selby District as a good place to do business and to attract more jobs.

“We have had some successes such as the job fair I organised which is still bearing fruit.

“There’s also a number of private companies which have announced they will be taking people on.”

The Conservative MP was also asked his opinion on the results of budget cuts across the district, in a year which has seen Selby District Council adopt an entirely new structure, the arm’s length Service Delivery Vehicle, which, along with the creation of Access Selby earlier this year, led the council to report savings for the year totalling £1.7 million – £1.25 million of which would be due to the restructuring alone.