Tories unveil list of candidates to fight May local elections
GROUP LEADER AMONG THIOSE STANDING IN KIRKLEES NEXT MONTH
THE Conservatives have revealed their list of candidates to fight the local elections in Kirklees on May 5.
They include group leader David Hall (Liversedge and Gomersal), senior members Liz Smaje (Birstall and Birkenshaw) and Bill Armer (Kirkburton), and sitting councillors Donna Bellamy (Colne Valley) and Vivien Lees-Hamilton (Mirfield).
Other names returning to the fray include veteran Trevor Bellamy, who is taking on the Lib Dems and Labour in Golcar, Itrat Ali, standing again in Heckmondwike after cutting Labour’s majority last year to just 148, and Tony McGrath in Holme Valley North, who came close to unseating the Independent last year with just 113 votes in it.
Commenting on the group’s line-up, Clr Hall said: “I am extremely proud of our candidate team, who represent the whole cross-section of our communities. They are professional and dedicated and will serve their communities to their best of their abilities.”
The Tories will be hoping that David Heathcote (Lindley) and Keith Mallinson (Dewsbury East) will have made an impact with high-profile campaigns in their areas.
Damian Brooks is standing in Holme Valley South following the announcement that Clr Nigel Patrick - currently Mayor of Kirklees - is to step down.
■■THE OTHER CANDIDATES ARE:
Maria Ackroyd (Almondbury), Daffyd Mills Daniels (Ashbrow), Mohammed Laher (Batley West), Keiron Gavaghan (Batley East), Piers Briggs (Cleckheaton), Isaac Barnett (Crosland Moor & Netherton), Jason Easingwood (Dalton), Vicky Rank (Denby Dale), Sean Guy (Dewsbury South), Sajid Hussain (Dewsbury West, Eileen Marchant (Greenhead) and John Roberts (Newsome).
The Conservatives have pledged to ‘listen to public opinion’ and ‘scrap’ contentious and unpopular road schemes if they take control in May.
They described the felling of 126 mature trees to widen a section of the A629 Halifax Road in Huddersfield and diverting HGVs through residential streets – planned as part of congestion-busting improvements at Cooper Bridge – as ‘huge negatives.’ Group leader Clr Hall and deputy Clr John Taylor (Kirkburton) have suggested a
Tory landslide is unlikely but that with Tory gains in key seats an informal coalition may be achievable.
Alongside Lib Dems and Greens the group has already called for a review of the £250m Huddersfield Blueprint and the £210m ‘cultural heart’ at the centre of it.
Reacting to news that a planned temporary surface-level car park to replace the former Alfred Street multi-storey has been dropped, Clr Taylor said: “I have been challenging Labour for a while now to outline how they are going to cope with the rising costs of construction and general inflation and have not had a straight answer.
“I have been asking if the council will look to borrow yet more money on top of the £210m at a time when interest rates are rising, or would it reduce the scope of the programme?
“This knee-jerk decision [to not go forward with the car park] looks like it will be de-scoping things. I wonder what they will drop next.
“A conservative administration is committed to reviewing the scope and costs of the programme and doing so in an open and transparent way, with opposition councillors able to scrutinise the decisions.
“Only a Conservative administration can save Huddersfield from more taxpayers’ money being wasted as Labour dithers.”
■ A third of all 69 seats are up for election on May 5 with one seat in all of Kirklees’ 23 wards going to the polls. Of those 23 seats Labour hold 11, Conservatives six, Lib Dems four, Holme Valley Independents one and Greens one.
I am extremely proud of our candidate team. They are professional and dedicated David Hall