Valley hopefuls line up for election fight

THE Green Party have announced they will be contesting all but one of the elections to Rossendale council next month - one more than Labour.

Candidates have been confirmed - with 12 Rossendale council seats up for grabs on May 5.

Seven of the wards are straight three-way fights between largest party Labour, the Conservatives and the Greens, with the other five featuring four Independents and one candidate under the Community First banner.

Intriguingly Labour who are leading a hung council - have opted not to contest either Healey & Whitworth - defended by Community First’s Alan Neal against Tory Michael Whitworth, or Greensclough, where Independent Jimmy Eaton seeks reelection against Stuart Haughan of the Conservatives and the Greens’ Alexander Vijatov.

Council leader Alyson Barnes will be bidding to hold her Goodshaw seat for Labour against Green candidate Ingrid Falat and Jonathan Foxcroft of the Conservatives.

The current state of the parties is: Labour 17, Conservative 13, Independent 3, Community First 2, Green 1. Labour and the Tories are each defending five seats this time out, with Community First and Independent one apiece.

That means Labour require seven of the 10 seats they are contesting to take control of the council, while the Tories would need to win 11 of the 12 on offer.

Christine Gill (Labour, Hareholme), Brian Essex (Conservative, Helmshore), Denis Kostyan (Conservative, Irwell), and Joseph Stevens (Labour, Longholme) are all standing down, with former Heywood & Middleton MP Liz McInnes bidding to hold on to Longholme - a seat she held until 2014 - for Labour, against Conservative Bob Smethurst and Chich Hewitt - of the Green Party. The sudden emergence of a mass Green contingent follows the defection of Coun Julie Adshead from the Labour benches last year, and the creation last autumn of a new Rossendale Green Party, instead of being part of a wider Burnley, Rossendale and Pendle grouping.

Coun Adshead, party secretary, said key policy points included the climate emergency and social justice, and said they were a “mixed” grouping looking to attract votes from all sides of the political spectrum. She said: “Aside from the obvious focus on green issues - the key words to define Green Party policies, I would say, are ‘fairness’ and ‘community.’ We seek to put our community at the front of decision making.”

There are no elections in Cribden, or Facit & Shawforth

wards this year.

Candidates in each ward, listed in alphabetical order:

●●EDEN

Anne Cartner Cheetham - Conservative Party

David James Hancock - Labour Party

Gill Hewitt - Green Party

●●GOODSHAW

Alyson Barnes - Labour Party Ingrid Falat - Green Party Jonathan Charles Laurence Foxcroft - Conservative Party

●●GREENFIELD

Geoff Blow - Green Party

Neil Anthony Looker - Labour and Co-operative Party

Granville Morris - Conservative Party

Val Roberts - Independent

●●GREENSCLOUGH

Jimmy Eaton - Independent Stuart John Haughan - Conservative Party

Alexander Vijatov - Green Party

●●HAREHOLME

Paul Chynoweth - Green Party Matthew Thomas Littler - Conservative Party

Annie Julia McMahon - Labour Party

●●HEALEY & WHITWORTH

Alan Neal - Community First Michael Whitworth - Conservative Party

●●HELMSHORE

Thomas Christopher Belli Labour Party

Katrina Brockbank - Green Party Caroline Snowden - Conservative Party

Dave Stansfield - Independent

●●IRWELL

Daniel James Brogan - Green Party

Michelle Christianne Smith Labour Party

Scott David Ian Smith - Conservative Party

●●LONGHOLME

Chich Hewitt - Green Party

Liz McInnes - Labour and Cooperative Party

Bob Smethurst - Conservative Party

●●STACKSTEADS

Jackie Oakes - Labour Party

Clare Pickup - Green Party

David Bryan Watson - Conservative Party

●●WHITEWELL

Mary Joanna Green Coogan Labour Party

Karl Kempson - Conservative Party

John David Payne - Green Party Gareth David Trickett - Independent ●●WORSLEY

Ann Kenyon - Labour Party Deborah Lord - Conservative Party

Richard Thomas Francis LordNavin - Green Party