This was the Tweet with which the MEN’s reporter greeted my first election victory, back in 2022. I’ve had elections three out of the last four years so I know a bit about them, and I am delighted that this year it’s Anna Charles-Jones’ turn. I found being a candidate quite stressful. Any election is for a Ratepayer candidate. That’s because we’ve never lost, so that creates a lot of pressure every new election. The reason why I mention that Tweet is because I think it is wrong. It REALLY IS a surprising result. Heald Green and Long Lane Ratepayers’ Association has won EVERY election in the ward since 1929. It’s remarkable that we keep doing this. It feels like David and Goliath. We are just a bunch of lowly volunteers, we don’t have access to fancy websites, analytics, sophisticated party campaigns, professional graphic designers, public relations specialists or paid staff. Everyone on our committee has at least three jobs. I designed Anna’s election leaflet. For our campaign have a lot of wooden boards which we glue a paper sheet with our candidate’s name onto. It isn’t complicated. It’s certainly authentic. I am pretty sure we’re unique.
Although we have a long track record we certainly aren’t complacent. We work very hard for our ward, and have been proactive on issues like parking, arranging Traffic Regulation Orders, seeking enforcement and raising the issues at all relevant forums. For the problems with The Beech Tree pub we organised an article in the Manchester Evening News, for the Local Plan we have campaigned on this issue for close to a decade and were out delivering leaflets across the Village last summer keeping everyone informed. Our group has submitted information to key phases of the consultation. We’ve worked hard to improve our communication with our electronic newsletter to keep people informed about local issues. We publish our free Contact magazine, delivered to all houses in the ward. As a group on Stockport Council, our leader, Anna Charles-Jones, participates in a number of key meetings about the running of the council. This meant when a resident complained at Cheadle Area Committee this week that he felt the meeting rules weren’t clearly explained Anna was able to raise this issue at Thursday’s Constitution Working Party, seeking to change this in future meetings. We always try to listen.
We’ve had some lovely new volunteers join our group this year – and they have been amazed at the hours we have to put in to the councillor role and what we have to deal with. From those who know us we often get the line “I wouldn’t do your job.” We’re often doing this for less than minimum wage, if you pro-rata our allowance. There’s research that shows the councillor role is becoming increasingly difficult, you can read it here: The 21st Century Councillor – Revisited – 21st Century Public Servant. This found several distinctive challenges have emerged to being a councillor, all of which we can relate to and some of which I have written about in previous blogs, these are:
- Perma-austerity has deepened with sustained underfunding of public services
- Communities are in distress, moving from the pandemic straight into the cost-of-living crisis
- Incivility in public life has grown with rising issues of abuse and harassment for councillors in particular
- The rising profile of equality, diversity and inclusion has drawn attention to how public services systematically fail some workers and citizens
- Complexity of place has intensified, through combined authorities and integrated care systems, alongside local government reorganisation.
- Remote and hybrid working can enhance individual flexibility but can make it more difficult for councillors to build the relationships they need to function effectively.
What I do know, because we three councillors are messaging and working together pretty much all of the time (social media tends to make this role 24/7), is that Anna Charles-Jones is by far and away the best candidate on the ballot paper, and the person best placed to address these challenges. I was told when I started it takes about four years to really understand the role of being a councillor, and I agree with that. Anna, with her ten years of experience, has the network, the connections, and the relationships to be the strong advocate Heald Green needs. We need her Planning knowledge to help with the latter stages of the Local Plan development. She also has links to our predecessors, who sometimes have the useful back story to why something has evolved a particular way. I know her commitment to the role is total – she loves being a councillor and is very proud to represent this ward.
Being a councillor is Anna’s main job. This allows her to focus on the many additional commitments and responsibilities being our Group Leader brings as well as the many additional meetings she has to attend. This includes her participation in the Mayoral Development Corporation, which is delivering the regeneration of Stockport town centre. She is universally well regarded by councillors, council officers and professionals we deal with. She is also a trustee of a local charity and a governor at Outwood School.
The other thing I wanted to touch on is that as a disabled person she has to work so much harder than everyone else – even things that non-disabled people take for granted like calling on houses and delivering leaflets is so, so much harder and physically demanding. I greatly admire her grit and determination to get past this; though it’s not something she herself draws attention to.
I mention this because as I was drafting this blog I asked Anna what her proudest achievement was as a councillor? And the thing she came back to me with was – her involvement with the development of the new Moya Cole hospice and having seen the whole project through from start to finish. When we visited this week, she had goose bumps going into the building – seeing the realisation of those plans. Anna is proud to have advised on the early stages, using her experience from other planning projects to ensure residents nearby were engaged early on. The reason it holds such a special place for Anna is because of the time as a child that she spent in hospital – giving her a real understanding of the difference that the fantastic new facilities will make for people receiving care in the new building, particularly the access to outdoor space from the individual rooms, something which she recalls feeling emotional about the first time she saw the plans.
As the photos below show we have a laugh – we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we try to make it fun as we go about our work – but we councillors, we take the role very seriously.
Please vote for Anna on 7 May – we need people to get out and vote. We think it’s a minor miracle each time we win, we one hundred percent don’t take it for granted. We are truly grateful for all those who support us; and for all the positivity we’ve had on the doors so far in this campaign.
