Back in 2018 Councillor David Meller won Stockport’s Cheadle Hulme North seat by just two votes. He was finally declared the victor after no fewer than three recounts - defeating Lib Dem candidate Claire Halliwell to become its first Labour councillor in more than 50 years.
Four years later he remains the sole Labour councillor in the area, his ward colleagues - Lib Dem councillors Tom Morrison and Jilly Julian - having successfully fought off any further gains by his party in the interim. But the electoral cycle moves on and Coun Meller - now cabinet member for economy and regeneration - will need a renewed mandate from residents if he is to continue to represent them.
With Labour and the Lib Dems essentially neck and neck going into this year’s local elections - with 25 and 26 seats respectively - Cheadle Hulme North is undoubtedly a key battleground. And with the Conservatives last managing a second-placed finish in 2015, it’s looking like a straight face-off between the two parties.
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Coun Meller will be desperate to hold the seat for Labour. But the Lib Dems will be equally determined to get Michael Hannon, elected at his expense - restoring their traditional domination of the ward.
Something of a bellwether seat, victory here could well hold the key to who takes control of the town hall for the next municipal year. The Local Democracy Reporting Service headed to the ward's Councillor Lane shops to speak to voters ahead of next week’s ballot to get a feel for which way the electoral wind was blowing.
Among those stopping to chat was Philip Wild, of St Davids’s Road. For the 54-year-old taxi driver the election is a ‘toss up between the Liberals and the Labour’ - underlining the inherently marginal nature of the ward.
“David Meller and Jilly Julian come and knock on the door. We have had a right problem over the back here - people smoking cannabis and kids ragging through the estate - like every estate has got - and they are getting on it.”
Philip says he remains ‘undecided’ on which of the two parties to endorse, also noting that ‘kids on motorbikes riding through the estate’, is another issue that needs dealing with. He continues: “There’s a new problem, we have a brook that goes through the estate, they cleaned it out and now we have got rats. They (Labour and the Lib Dems) are working on that for us with Environmental Health.”
He has less encouraging words for the Tories, whose candidate is Brian Dougal, however. "I’ve not seen any Conservatives,” he says. “Nobody has knocked on the door, they are not interested in the area.”
Another ‘undecided’ was Lucia Leju, a health care support worker at Stepping Hill hospital. She echoed Philips' concerns over motorbikes and anti-social behaviour.
“I think it’s getting better than before, but it still needs sorting out,” she says. "Motorbikes sometimes just tear across the road and inside the areas as well, especially in summer.
"It’s terrible because there are little ones riding on bikes as well. It’s not frequent, but it is disturbing.” But it is the cost of living crisis that worries her most.
“The most disturbing crisis is affecting everybody - everything is shooting up,” she says. “Food is expensive, everything is expensive, heating, all of that.”
Town halls may be able to do little to arrest the soaring cost of energy, fuel and commodities - but they can act to lessen their impact to some extent. Stockport council, for example, agreed a rebate on the general element of council tax for those in bands A to D at its annual budget setting meeting in February.
It came after Labour accepted a Lib Dem amendment to its proposals for the coming year.
And any party that can offer more of these sort of measures may just have Lucia’s vote.“Everyday life, it should not cost people this much,” she says.
“I work in a hospital, I wonder how will the elderly cope with the cold. Even though the government says it will top them up with an extra bit for heating, it’s still difficult.”
Julian Himsworth, of Lavington Avenue, is another floating voter. But he feels the council - run by Labour since 2016 - has been guilty of wasting money.
“I think there has been a lot of money wasted on irrelevant schemes,” he says, admitting that it would put him off voting for Labour. The 59-year-old has been unimpressed with new cycle lanes in the area, as well as the £172k refurbishment of Stockport town hall.
“I think those type of things - in this area there are other things they could spend money on such as schools and more policing.” he adds. “There are a lot of kids on mopeds flying about, but you never see any police.”
However, Labour can rely on the vote of Gillian Rowbotham, also of Lavington Avenue. A traditional Labour voter, she says that Coun Meller is the only candidate to have knocked on her door during the campaign.
“He has been around a couple of times, he actually makes himself known,” she says. Gillian also believes he has done a good job. “He is bringing in the train station in Cheadle for a start,” she says.
The 50-year-old is also impressed by Labour’s ‘Our Pass’ travel scheme for school leavers, a two-year pilot headed by Mayor Andy Burnham.
“My son has got a card for the bus up until he is 19,” she continues. "He pays a £10 charge and that lasts him - you can go free on the buses all around Greater Manchester.”
Zhubair Syed, of Oak Avenue, remains undecided - but feels the Labour-run council is generally performing well. “I think the local government around here is doing all right so, for me, leave it as it is,” he adds.
“I think they are doing all right, there’s nothing to say they are doing badly. They are making cycle paths wherever they are possible for safety reasons.
The restaurant manager continues: “They make a cycle path but people don’t even use them, they use the road. Maybe they can enforce that sometime. But they are doing all right, I can’t complain.”
There was encouraging news for the Lib Dems from Alan Bodgers, of Redesmere Drive, however. He told the LDRS: “I’m going to vote Liberal which we do every single time because we had a lot to do with the Liberal Democrats before we moved to this area and they were very, very good - and we have found they are good here.”
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, says she would also be voting Lib Dem, having been impressed with their track record locally. “When you want anything done it has always been the Liberals that have been in that have done the most,” she says.
That view was shared by another voter, who also asked to remain anonymous.
“It’s probably the Lib Dems again,” he tells the LDRS . “There were a couple of issues over the last year or so where they were the only ones that actually did anything."
He continues: “In the past Labour have not really done a great deal. They say they do but they don’t seem to.” But there could be more votes to be had for any party that can engage those who are put off by politics in the current climate.
“I’m not intending on voting,” one man in his early 40s, tells the LDRS . “ I’ve not taken the time to read who is standing for what and, to be honest, politicians at the end of the day - I don’t trust them as far as I could throw them."
Another was even more blunt, adding: “I’m not voting because I don’t feel it means anything to me.” So, with just over a week to go until the polls open, there still appears to be everything to play for in this tightly contested ward.
It is sure to be a tense night - perhaps with a recount or two thrown in - before we know for certain who has won the battle for hearts and minds in Cheadle Hulme North.
Stockport council local elections will be held on Thursday, May 5.
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