"My dad will be spinning in his grave." These are the words of a lifelong Labour voter abandoning his political tribe.
In Manchester, Francis Granger is a rare breed. But he is not alone in feeling 'forgotten'.
With the largest number of Labour councillors in the country, the ruling party at Manchester Town Hall will remain firmly in control of the council come May. But the local elections could leave Labour with more chinks in their armour.
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Francis has witnessed Manchester change massively since he moved to his wife's family home in Beswick 23 years ago. But he wouldn't dream of leaving.
"I love it here. I know it's a council estate, but look at this," he says, pointing to Pin Mill Brow, a green space which is located directly in front of his property.
However, Francis feels the streets around Aden Close are 'neglected'. "All the money is going there," he adds, gesturing towards Ancoats and the city centre.
This feeling of being 'forgotten' has made some apathetic. Last year, fewer than one in four people in the city who were registered to vote actually did.
The lowest turnout in Greater Manchester last May was in Fallowfield where just 15.22 pc of the electorate cast their ballot. Some students living in the transient suburb have said they don't see the point in voting in local elections.
But blaming low turnout on students alone does not paint the full picture. In the Ancoats and Beswick ward last year, turnout was only 24.08 pc.
George Hutton, who also lives in Aden Close, stopped voting two years ago. The 89-year-old has lost faith in politicians and objects to new voter ID rules.
For the first time, voters will need to present photo identification in polling stations at all local elections in England on May 4. The government says it wants to 'ensure maximum participation in elections while protecting the integrity of the ballot box', but the controversial move has been criticised.
"I've lived here for 78 years and now I've got to prove who I am?" George says. "They're just going about it the wrong way."
Whether this new requirement will affect the results remains to be seen, but Beswick is one place in particular where local politicians are concerned it will lead to fewer people voting. And in Ancoats and Beswick, every vote counts.
Last year, Labour won the council seat by just 98 votes. It followed a shock by-election loss - by a bigger margin - to the Lib Dems just a few months earlier.
The February by-election followed a win for the Greens in Woodhouse Park at the 2021 local elections – a result the party pulled off again the following May. Since then, a Labour councillor in Hulme defected to the Greens, taking the total number of opposition councillors to five – the magic number which gives them the power to propose motions and amendments in the council chamber.
Nevertheless, Labour were left with 91 of the 96 seats. Although a third of these seats are up for grabs this year, all eyes will be on three in particular.
Ancoats and Beswick
Labour won in Ancoats and Beswick by the narrowest of margins last May and both parties expect a close contest again this year. The ward has a mix of new Mancunians living in luxury flats and long-term residents on social housing estates and in privately-owned homes.
Beswick has benefitted from a new library and leisure centre in recent years – but residents living in the shadow of the Etihad Stadium still say they feel 'forgotten'. Residents regularly complain about litter, flytipping and anti-social behaviour.
Sheila Paton, who moved to her home in Morna Walk as soon as it was built 50 years ago, puts some of the problems down to youths having nothing to do. She remembers a time when there was a local lads club that kids would go to.
There were also swimming baths, a school and a nursing home nearby which have all gone now. Labour blames the loss of local amenities on austerity.
The New East Manchester masterplan which was supposed to transform the area around the Etihad Campus was thwarted following the funding cuts. But there is now a renewed focus on social and affordable housing in the area.
The regeneration of the Grey Mare Lane estate is finally coming to fruition as work to retrofit council homes nears completion. But promises that privately-owned properties would also benefit from the investment have not been kept.
Last year, housing association One Manchester said funding is not available for the roofing, rendering and insulation work on privately-owned properties. And despite Labour councillors and the local MP fighting their corner, some long-term residents have given up on the ruling group at the town hall as a result.
One homeowner living on the estate who votes Labour in general elections says she won't be supporting the party locally. Praising the work of local Lib Dem councillor Alan Good, she says she will vote for the opposition this time.
Meanwhile, another resident who has lived on the Grey Mare Lane estate almost all her life says she is grateful for the help local Labour councillor Irene Robinson has given her. But she says the whole saga has left her not wanting to vote at all, criticising the cross-party councillors for not working together.
"I just think it's a bit of a mess because nothing gets sorted by anyone," she says. "The estate looks like an absolute mess – some of it looks like a shantytown. I've lived here since I was five, but the heart and soul has gone out of the community."
Tracey Grange, who lives in Aden Close, expresses similar sentiments, but she considers herself lucky as those living on her estate 'look out for each other'. She has always voted Labour in the past despite her dad's Tory tendencies, but two years ago she decided that this has not got her neighbourhood anywhere.
"I just feel we've been forgotten about," she says. "We're the forgotten estate."
Litter is the main issue for Tracey, but she also disagrees with the expansion of the Eastlands residents parking scheme, worrying that friends and family will be caught out by the new requirement for visitor permits. As she explains why she feels forgotten, her husband Francis appears, parking his car on the drive.
A postman by profession, he arrives with newspapers in his hands which he has picked up for the neighbours. Previously, he never doubted voting Labour - and he still would at a general election - but he voted Lib Dem at the last locals.
"I'm not too happy about it," he says. When asked whether he believes voting Lib Dem has made a difference in the area so far, he concludes, "Not really, no."
He explains that the Lib Dem councillor lives "over there" in Ancoats, where "all the money goes" and asks "what have they built here?" The other side of the council ward differs dramatically with its high rise flats and new townhouses.
The lack of green space in this now densely populated district has become a big issue. Plans for a new office complex at the former Central Retail Park off Great Ancoats Street now feature green space, but campaign group Trees Not Cars, who lobbied the local authority to turn it into a park, say it is not enough.
It comes after a proposal to develop New Islington Green into another office scheme was approved during the pandemic, leading to the loss of much-loved green space. Manchester council - which opened the new Mayfield Park nearby in September - says it is investing in improvements to Ancoats Green.
Near the Green in George Leigh Street, it doesn't take long to find a Labour voter. Eleanor, aged 24, says she votes Labour because she works in the NHS.
"I'm not up to date with what's going on in the local area," the doctor says. Her comments echoed what another Labour voter in Aden Close said earlier that day.
Others in Ancoats are so disinterested, they don't vote at all. One says he's happy with how Manchester has developed, but is unenthused about politics.
Brenda Campbell has lived on the same terraced street in Ancoats for 45 years. Aside from parking problems, the 83-year-old says she loves it here.
But as she's got older, she hasn't bothered voting. "I don't know a lot about it," she says, "but I don't think anybody does anything really. I'm not really into it."
However, Susan Soanes, who lives a few doors down, takes a stronger stance. The teacher, who has lived in Ancoats for 15 years and has voted Labour all her life, is now voting Lib Dem.
She complains about the state of the pavements and claims residents weren't sufficiently consulted on the plans to pedestrianise Cutting Room Square. "No Labour councillor has knocked on my door for the last five years," she says.
Labour councillor Majid Dar, who is standing for re-election this year, says he has been campaigning with other party members across the whole ward. He argues that Ancoats and Beswick is better off under council leader Bev Craig.
Taking over from Sir Richard Leese, who ended his quarter-of-a-century reign in late 2021, the new leader 'listens', Coun Dar has said. But Lib Dem candidate Chris Northwood says voters tell her that Labour are 'not listening'.
The other candidates standing in Ancoats and Beswick are: Sarah Ajiboye for the Conservatives, Jacob Sebastian Buffett for the Greens and Peter Clifford.
Woodhouse Park
The Greens have unseated Labour councillors in Woodhouse Park for two consecutive years. Last May, they won the Wythenshawe ward, beating Labour by less than 200 votes. This year, they believe they will do better.
Delivering at least 7,500 leaflets - one to each household in the council ward - every month, no one can deny the Greens are getting their message across. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, their campaigners congregate outside Wythenshawe Forum for their second session of door-knocking that day.
A short drive away, several residents in Barrowfield say they will vote Green again in May. They praise the work that Green councillors have done so far.
Many started voting for the party two years ago when Rob Nunney became the first Green councillor in Manchester for more than a decade. Residents refer to him by name when explaining why the Greens are getting their votes.
Roy Dickens, who lives in Cranham Road, says he has been trying to get the council to deal with a 'dangerous' tree in front of his property for months. "I got hold of Rob," he says. "He had a look at it and within four days it was gone.
"No one else was interested. That was a vote winner for me."
Those living in the ward who once voted Lib Dem or Conservative know by now to vote Green locally if they want Labour to be beaten. The challenge that remains for the opposition group is to win the support of Labour voters too.
Back in Barrowfield, David Halton says he decided to support the Greens because he 'wanted something different' – but he would never vote Labour anyway. Meanwhile, a few doors down, one Labour voter is now considering going for the Greens whose work in the area she is 'very pleased' with.
Their neighbour, Bill, has already been converted. He agrees to put a party poster up in his window and tells Green candidate Anastasia Wiest why. "You're the only party that's ever come round and canvassed and done anything," he says. "You're the only party that seems to be doing anything."
Several Labour sources concede that the Greens are good with case work. But the ruling group takes full responsibility for the wider vision in Wythenshawe .
Earlier this year, the town hall approved a 'once-in-a-generation' masterplan to redevelop the civic centre with a new public square, cultural hub and food hall. Hours later, the local authority learnt that it had lost out on £20m of Levelling Up cash, but local Labour councillors and candidates pledged to make sure the plan will move forward 'with or without investment from national government'.
Described as 'enthusiastic', Labour candidate Dave Marsh is hoping to take the seat of veteran councillor and ex-European Parliament member Eddy Newman who is standing down. Anna Hablak and Eric Houghton are also in the race for the council seat, representing the Lib Dems and Conservatives respectively.
Didsbury West
Lib Dem leader John Leech comfortably held onto his seat in Didsbury West last year with a majority of almost 900 votes. It followed a win for Labour in the marginal ward the year before, which unseated Lib Dem councillor Richard Kilpatrick, who is hoping to regain the swing seat at this year's local elections.
The Lib Dems are optimistic about repeating last year's victory in the leafy south Manchester suburb, especially after Labour councillor Greg Stanton announced he would not be seeking re-election, just weeks before the vote.
The former Lib Dem councillor, who defected to Labour three years ago, said he wanted to spend more time with his family. Sympathetic about his reasons, some in his party expressed disappointment over the timing of his decision.
Labour's new candidate Leslie Bell has been involved in the party for decades. Living in Burnage, he recognises that 'wealthy' Didsbury West is very different.
Joined by a team of councillors and campaigners who work their way through the cul-de-sacs along Burton Road, he points to parking as a major problem. And it's not long before a voter tells him how much it is affecting the area.
Walking on Walsingham Avenue one woman turns around when she hears the Labour team talking about the neighbouring Didsbury Mosque. The mosque has thousands of visitors every week, she explains, and "we're the parking".
Typically a Labour voter, she tells the party's candidate directly that she is voting Green this year in 'protest' over the parking problems. "Everyone's moving out because of it," she says. "Labour haven't done anything for us."
She'd vote Labour again if the town hall introduced residents' parking schemes, she says. But she claims this option has been dismissed due to the high costs involved.
Other issues that could lose Labour votes are controversial developments. Plans for new flats at Didsbury Point have become a political football, with both parties competing to represent long-term residents - many of whom have objected - while accusing each other of opposing the affordable housing in the scheme.
One resident revealed earlier this year that his family were considering moving out because of their concerns over the impact it will have on the community, while another said that it would 'definitely' sway some voters in the swing seat. Labour councillors are keen to state that they appreciate residents' concerns about parking problems worsening as a result of these developments.
But they are adamant that the antidote to many of the marginal Manchester ward's problems is more affordable housing and a better public transport network. Elsewhere in the ward, previously rejected plans for a retirement complex at the Jessiefield in Spath Road have also proven to be controversial.
Despite councillors from both parties raising concerns about the development at a planning meeting in March, it is feared that the committee's decision to approve the application could lead Labour to lose votes. These are all reasons why a Labour voter might switch to Lib Dem in Didsbury West, but asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, local Labour campaigners struggled to suggest why someone would switch the other way.
One theory for why people might switch to Labour in West Didsbury emerges from a conversation with a party member the following week. Coun Leech, who was the Withington MP for 10 years, is well known in the area and last year, some Labour supporters might have lent him their vote because of his reputation, but he's not up for re-election this time.
The question is, how much last year's victory was based on the personal brand the Lib Dem leader has built up over the decades he's spent in public office? The other three candidates standing for election in Didsbury West are Wendy Madeleine Andrew for the Social Democratic Party, Martin Cartwright, the Conservative Party Candidate, and James Young for the Green Party.
Candidates standing elsewhere in the city include candidates from Reform UK, the Women's Equality Party, Northern Heart Manchester and the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, as well as some independents. Labour expect to hold onto at least 30 of the available seats, which include two in Ardwick.
Across the city, the ruling party claim voters are angry with the Conservative government this year. "People are in the mindset that there's a general election coming," one source says. "The atmosphere has really set in with the people. If people are sceptical, I've only got to mention Johnson or Truss."
Labour say voting for them locally sends a strong message to the government. But the Conservatives - who last won a council seat in 1996 - say the national picture for their party is 'nowhere near' as bad now as it was four years ago.
Whether this approach to the local election campaign will convert many to switch their vote to Labour is questionable, but it is hoped it will help increase turnout among supporters of the party. And party campaigners claim that this call to arms to "get the Tories out" has rallied record numbers of volunteers.
Back in Beswick, the Lib Dems are trying to win over another Labour voter. Sylvia Glenn says it's 'soul-destroying' to see her 'lovely' estate kept untidy.
"Some people probably think there's more problems going on in the world but we live here," the resident of Aden Close who has lived there since 1991 says.
But the retired social worker doubts anyone will do anything about it. "We're not stupid," she says. "You only visit when there's a general vote or a local one."
Candidate Chris Northwood confidently claims she has come more recently, but after consulting her trusted spreadsheet, she discovers the last visit was last May. They laugh it off and go back to discussing the problems in the area.
As the conversation comes to a close, Sylvia - who was 'brought up Labour' - seems to be having her doubts. "Maybe it's time for a change," she concludes.
Read more of today's top stories here.
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