The Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and housing are two of the main issues that the local election in May is going to come down to, not ‘Partygate’, Leigh’s MP has said. James Grundy believes that those two issues are going to be what his constituents and those across Wigan are most concerned about when it comes time for them to hit the polling stations on May 5.
The cost of living crisis was also listed by the Conservative MP as a key issue for council wards as it has a direct impact on residents. He believes hyperlocal issues are what will decide the election rather than national politics and the controversial parties that have gone on in Downing Street.
“The GM Clean Air Zone is something coming up organically across the county, so it is helpful that the Prime Minister intervened with that ,” Mr Grundy said, talking about the key issues.
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“Labour said ‘it is nothing to do with us, we wanted nothing to do with it’ but when a vote comes up in the chamber they say ‘we have got to have it’. Places for Everyone has generated huge controversy and the most objected sites in Greater Manchester are in the Leigh constituency with the one in Mosley Common and the second most objected to being in Pocket Nook Lane behind Lowton High School.
“Local residents feel incensed about a development in those areas with no additional infrastructure to deal with the pressure put on local amenities. People are concerned about overdevelopment.
“Broadly speaking those are some of the key issues we are looking at. How much that will play out when it comes to looking at the ward boundaries next year will be difficult to tell.”
Almost 165,000 new homes are proposed in the latest Places for Everyone plans - which cover all boroughs across Greater Manchester except Stockport - down from the 180,000 in the 2020 version of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, and the 227,000 suggested in the first draft which was published in 2016.
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A public consultation on revised plans for a Clean Air Zone in Greater Manchester has been promised by transport bosses in the city-region. The controversial scheme, which was due to start in May, is currently under review after the government agreed to delay the deadline by which Greater Manchester must lower air pollution below legal limits by two years to 2026.
Mayor Andy Burnham and the 10 council leaders in the city-region now want all charges to be scrapped, but they say more government funding is needed. Local authorities have until July to submit a new Clean Air Zone scheme that achieves air quality compliance by 2026 which the government must agree to.
Addressing whether the scandal involving Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have an impact on the upcoming election, Mr Grundy said: “Obviously people were upset about ‘Partygate’ and I was on TV saying it was wrong and I am glad the Prime Minister apologised for that. I think it will have an impact in terms of morale on voters but I think that things like housing, cost of living, and food prices are going to be more important. People will be looking at what will have the biggest impact on their own lives.
“By and large people care more about things that have a direct impact on them and that is true for every election. I think local elections are always about local issues, people tend to vote differently locally compared to the national level.”
Leigh’s first ever Conservative MP believes that next year’s election will bring more surprising results, though, after a review into council ward boundaries. The review of the ward boundaries of towns across England is currently underway, with the Boundary Commission set to make changes to which areas fall in MPs constituencies by 2023.
“In last year’s local election the Conservative vote increased by 100 per cent but we did not gain any wards because of the way vote distribution is,” Mr Grundy continued.
“We worked out that we could poll the exact same number of votes as Labour in Leigh but win just two out of nine wards for the Conservatives and this is because some wards are small and some are oversized.
“I think the next big litmus test will be next year’s all out local elections under the new ward boundaries where the ward boundaries in Leigh are going to change quite dramatically because of these recent housing developments.”
