Local election candidate interview - Loraine Butterworth

Loraine Butterworth

Labour candidate in Smallbridge & Firgrove ward, Loraine Butterworth works in Manchester as an Admiral Nurse working with people with dementia and their families and has been a councillor for the ward since 2004. Not only is she the only Labour councillor in the ward, she is the only Labour councillor in the Pennines Township.

We asked Loraine if being the only Labour councillor in ward and township made things more difficult. She replied:

“It was very daunting at first but once you find who your allies are, it makes it easier. In Smallbridge ward we don’t work together I do my thing and the Liberal Democrat councillors do theirs.”

Given the very demanding job she has we wondered what made Loraine stand for the council for the first time in 2004 and why she is now seeking to extend her term of office by at least another four years. She explained that her husband had stood on occasions and she had helped out with his campaigns, so she was already committed, albeit vicariously, to the Labour cause locally and so when the opportunity to stand came up, with all the council seats being up for election in 2004, it wasn’t such a big step to stand for election herself.

Loraine explained that her job is demanding, but her public sector employers offer flexible working and accommodate her need to attend meetings, however, she does try and to arrange meeting times around her work were possible, something that as Chairwoman of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee she is in a position to do.

Questioned about the main issues in Smallbridge & Firgrove Loraine said: “Lots of individual case work involves problems with neighbours, anti-social behaviour, fly tipping and the ongoing problem of off road bikers riding illegally on roads, pavements and playing fields. Minor stuff on the police agenda, but major to an individual. These are some of the more aggravating and annoying things that I deal with. However, it is not only young people who are nuisance; it can be older people as well.

Loraine lives on Mizzy Road, Cronkeyshaw and when challenged on how she can effectively represent a ward she does not live in she explained: “Because I don’t live in the ward I can have a more objective view; because they live in the ward the Lib Dem councillors can be tempted to focus on their own particular area around their property and that is not always what is best for the ward as a whole. I can see the whole of the ward as I am not personally affected by issues in the ward. If affords a better overall view if you do not live there.”

Quad bike ruts, dog mess and fly tipping are all major gripes of those using Firgrove Playing Fields and so we asked Loraine what she could promise locals she would do to alleviate the long-term problems.

She said: “Problems with quad biking need reporting to the police every time, and get the log number for the report. People get fed up keep reporting, but then when I meet with the police they say 'there has only been two reports this month', so it is not a high priority.”

She continued: “One Lib Dem councillor in the ward has been at the front of a high profile campaign for an off road bike track, which in theory seems a good idea, however in practice I do not believe those causing the problems will use it. There is also the issue of getting bikes to the track; are bikers, or the parents of young bikers, going to buy trailers to transport the bikes to the track? I don’t think they will, they will still ride them, illegally, on the roads and pavements to get there. Consequently, I believe off road bikes and quad bikes should be regulated to make it much more difficult to obtain them.”

We put it to Loraine that at this election she in asking the constituents in Smallbridge and Firgrove to vote for her again, she is in effect asking for their endorsement of her two years as their representative on the council.

She replied: “Perceptions differ, some think that having been councillor for two years makes it easier to get re-elected, however, others think it is harder because no matter how much work you try and do, or how many problems you attempt to resolve, there are always people who will accuse you of doing nothing for them. It can be a problem that people don’t always see what you are doing, people are not always patient, and the progress of the council can be very slow. For example, it can take months, sometimes years, to get planning permission for say a play facility in my area. Problems cannot be solved within weeks – some projects can, and do, take years and hence I am asking voters to give me the chance to continue the good work I have been doing on their behalf for the past two years.”

We asked Loraine what sort of a reaction she had been getting as she canvassed door-to-door. She answered: “Pretty good, although it is hard to tell sometimes; those who say ‘I keep my vote secret’ I don’t think vote for you. It hasn’t been very anti-Labour, only one nasty encounter, although in truth there has been a lot of anti-Blair, even from Labour voters. It would be better if what happens nationally was not a factor in local elections, but sadly it often is and the current scandals are not helping. I would urge voters to consider only local issues and how they affect their lives.”

Labour has been working together with the Conservatives in Rochdale Council and that has led to concerted criticism from the Liberal Democrats of a “unique coalition” that is not seen anywhere else in the country. We asked Loraine how she had found working with councillors who do not share her, and her parties’, political ideology and more important how well was the co-operation between the two parties working.

Loraine is convinced the arrangement is working well and is in the best interests of the people, not just in her ward, but also the whole of the Borough. In the Pennines Township she is the only Labour councillor and even when teaming up with the Conservative councillors they are still well outnumbered by Liberal Democrats, but she said that the support of the Conservatives was very helpful, particularly as "they tend to be more sensible than some of the Liberal Democrat councillors".

Asked if the council remained a ‘hung’ council after the election would she be happy to see Labour continue to work with the Conservatives she said: “I would be happy to continue to work together with the Conservatives. Contrary to what the Lib Dems claim we decide our own votes and a look at the records will show we don’t always vote the same way, a very good example of that was the councillors pension proposals at the recent full council meeting where most of the Conservatives voted with the Lib Dems to defeat the proposal. It is clearly not a ‘done deal’, but the co-operation between us does help the council and the people of Rochdale. We are prepared to be sensible and put party politics to one side and work together.”

As Loraine brought up the example of councillors remuneration we asked her opinion of the current councillors allowances and the criticism that councillors are getting paid far too much. She said: “I think the allowances are pretty low, certainly Rochdale’s are lower than the allowances paid by the majority of other councils. For the work a councillor does, the number of meetings they attend, it is not a wage. For the hours you put in, the allowance is pennies really. I know people have the idea we are on a phenomenal amount of money, we aren’t.”

We moved on to ask Loraine what being the Chairwoman of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee involved. She explained: “We look at the work of two Primary Care Trusts, Heywood & Middleton and Rochdale. We look at things like Healthy Futures and standards and achievements and request information about, for example, teenage pregnancies, drug and alcohol issues and TB vaccinations.”

Given her role on the committee and the fact she works for the NHS we asked Loraine her opinion of the proposals to cut services at Rochdale Infirmary.

She replied: “Making it better, children and obstetrics, I think there is no choice – that is the big flaw in whole thing, there is no choice on children and obstetrics. The other problem is Rossendale, Blackburn and Burnley are also under review, and that could leave a huge area of Lancashire with no obstetrics or children’s services. If they take paediatrics out of Rochdale Infirmary then there will be problems when children present at A&E. there will be no consultant to see the more complicated cases and this will then mean a transfer to another hospital, and that is far from ideal.
 
Loraine did point out that she believed there are positive benefits to the people of Rochdale borough from the  proposed changes. For example, she said the Infirmary will have a cardiac centre of excellence. She added: “There are to be 31 LIFT Health Care Centres around the Borough, bringing health care closer to home and reducing visits to out patients hospital clinics, much more care is to be carried out off the hospital sites and locally for people in Rochdale. There are to be more specialist units, for example, for CVA, so that people are treated by the best person for the job, rather than the present system where you may be treated by a doctor who has rare experience of dealing with that particular problem.”

We finished the interview by asking Loraine if she was confident of retaining her seat on the council. She was a little hesitant which she explained as not wanting to appear arrogant. She thought her chances were 50-50, but she was buoyed in that she felt she had not seen any great swell of support for her main rival, the Liberal Democrat candidate.

She said that between now and election day she would be doing lots of leafleting, as people expect to get a leaflet and people recognise door canvassing as the traditional way of handling elections, though she was mindful of the increasing use of the Internet and grateful for the opportunity to put her pitch on the Rochdale Online web site.

We asked one final question of Loraine and that was given her husbands own political ambitions had not come to fruition does she have his complete backing or is there a little part of him that is a envious of the position she is in.

She replied with a broad smile on her face: “I have his complete backing.”