We will allow Hopwood Councillors votes, say Heywood and Middleton Township chairmen

Heywood Township chairman Councillor Alan McCarthy and Middleton colleague Councillor Peter Williams say they will defy Council's Hopwood Hall decision.

In a controversial stance of defiance, Heywood Township chairman Councillor Alan McCarthy and Middleton Township Chairman Councillor Peter Williams, have said that they will continue to allow votes from the three Hopwood Hall ward Councillors at their township meetings.

Under a motion passed by Rochdale Council, two of the Hopwood Hall members are to be allowed on the Heywood Township and one in the Middleton Township; a move which sparked outrage among opposition councillors, who believe that the electorate for the ward would not be able to hold their councillors to account if they did not hold full voting rights on both townships.

Now, in an open letter to the leader of the Council, Councillor Alan Taylor and to the Chief Executive Roger Ellis, the township chairmen have said: "It is our intention to continue to allow each councillor to sit on the township, and when we take a vote, to allow their votes to be recorded. What you do following such an occurrence, we will have to wait and see."

"As the chairs of Heywood and Middleton Township Committees, we have been left with an impossible task of running devolved townships without the full representation of all elected members for the wards which the public elected to represent them.

"This new policy of preventing councillors from recording their support for constituents at township, and then being held to account by their electorate, has not been thought through. It has removed in Heywood the Chairman and Vice chairman of the planning sub-committee and the ability of the third member to substitute for any absence. It has also removed the Vice Chair of Heywood Township.

"In Midldeton it has reduced the numbers on our Planning Committee and the ability to find substitute members, and two legitimate elected memebers are apparently not allowed any official voice in our affairs.

"And let it be clear by any communication sent out from the council, that it was the full council who failed to nominate and not the Labour Party, it is not our job to implement stupid policy set by others, the question remians how would this policy be implemented if the three councillors were of three different parties - who would nominate who for where?

"It would appear that in both townships, where we supposedly have devolved powers, Hopwood Hall ward residents will not have full voting rights when it comes to allocating devolved budgets or setting township priorities."

In response Council leader, Councillor Alan Taylor has sought legal advice on the matter, and claims that the Hopwood Hall councillors have abandoned the townships by not nominating which of them will vote on either township.

“It is quite clear that Councillor McCarthy has absolutely no idea what he is talking about," said Councillor Taylor. "The Council failed to vote on this issue because Labour failed to nominate. I have taken legal advice on this issue and it is clear that Councillor McCarthy is misleading people in a desperate attempt to cover up the fact that three of his Labour Colleagues have affectively abandoned the townships. Their failure to nominate anyone does not do Heywood or Middleton any favours whatsoever.

"Let’s make it clear that this problem has arisen because the Labour Party, driven by current Mayor Robin Parker at the boundary review in 2003/04, effectively gerrymandered the boundaries for electoral gain. This is what has caused this situation and I will not tolerate misleading comments by a Councillor who is clearly out of his depth.”