Candidates line up for all-out election battle
L●Every seat will be contested l●Boundaries have been re-jigged l●Next full ballot in four years
CANDIDATES are preparing to stand for election to Rossendale Council in a whole-council poll for every single seat on May 2.
Topics during the Rossendale Council election campaign are likely to include town centre and market regeneration schemes in Haslingden, Bacup and Rawtenstall; housing, planning, leisure centres and swimming pools, council finance, the local economy, tourism, green spaces, transport and renewable energy, judging on themes raised at council meetings.
Perhaps Lancashire devolution?
All seats in every borough ward will be contested, after the previous phased system of electing one-third of councillors year-by-year was recently ended.
And ward boundaries have also been re-jigged following a review.
The change means voters will be marking crosses next to multiple names on this May’s ballot papers.
And the next wholecouncil elections will not be expected for another four years.
But there may be individual by-elections here and there, if vacancies arise on the council.
Well-known councillors standing for re-election include Labour’s Alyson Barnes, the current council leader; Conservative Jenny Rigby and Community First’s Alan Neal.
Labour’s Andy MacNae is also standing again and, separately, is Labour’s Rossendale and Darwen candidate for the Westminster general election this year.,
However, David Foxcroft, the borough’s outgoing Conservative opposition leader is not standing for re-election.
After eight years in local politics, he said he is taking a break to focus on his family.
But he said local politics
remains vitally important.
He, Jenny Rigby and Scott Smith have all made headlines in recent weeks regarding accusations and rows at Rossendale Council meetings about issues including the former Lancashire Empty Homes scheme.
David Foxcroft had potentially faced a councillor standards investigation after refusing to withdraw some claims, which
some opponents and an officer said were inaccurate.
But, for clarity, there is no suggestion that this was a factor in him not seeking re-election this May.
Elsewhere, veteran councillors standing again for re-election include Jimmy Eaton, who was an independent but is now standing for Labour; and Anne Cheetham for the Conservatives.
There are also Green Party challengers across the borough, which has had one elected Green councillor in recent times, Julie Adshead.
And independent Janet Whitehead is standing for re-election too.
Community First councillor Dayne Powell is not standing in this election.
But a new candidate, Mike Royds, is standing for the party in Whitworth.
BACUP candidates are Helen Bauld, Daniel Brogan and Dympna Bull, all standing for the Green Party; Judith Driver, Jimmy Eaton and David Hancock, all standing for the Labour Party and Jayde Susana Holmes and Deborah Lord, both standing for the Conservative Party.
BRITANNIA & LEE MILL candidates are Danielle Ashworth, Andrew Walmsley and Michelle
Smith all for Labour; James Delargy, Joanne Jackson and Alex Vijatov all for the Green Party and Jenny Rigby and Robert George Wells for the Conservatives.
GOODSHAW & CRIBDEN candidates are Maureen Anderson, Ingrid Falat and David Goodwin, all for the Green Party; Alyson Barnes, Greg Bleakley and Christine Gill, all for Labour and Tony Cope, Jonathan Charles Laurence Foxcroft and John Greenwood, all for the Conservatives.
GREENFIELD AND EDEN
candidates are Anne Cartner Cheetham, Simon Holland and Christian Lee, all for the Conservatives; Sharon Green, Gillian Hewitt and Jacob Rorke, all for the Green Party and Neil Looker and Nick Pilling, both for Labour.
HAREHOLME AND WATERFOOT
candidates are Chris Adams, Sara Bird and Elliot Green, all for the Green Party; Tom Belli, Nick Harris and Annie McMahon, all for Labour and Matthew Littler, Barbara Marriott and Kenneth Slaughter, all for the Conservatves.
HASLINGDEN
candidates are Hazel Armor, Katrina Brockbank and Kamran Shah, all for the Greens; Ken Booth and Toby Cheetham. Both for
the Conservatives and Ann Kenyon, Adrian Lythgoe and Marilyn Procter, all for Labour.
HELMSHORE candidates are Samara Barnes and Ann McIntyre, both for the Labour Party; Geoff Blow, Jean Duckworth and Chich Hewitt, all for the Green Party and Ann Hodgkiss, Caroline Snowden and Alan Woods, all for the Conservative Party.
LONGHOLME candidates are Mohammed Abdullah, Elaine Brignall and Margaret Jane Pendlebury, all for the Conservatives; Terry Bird, Harold Duckworth and Rosie Jones, all for the Green Party and Samantha Harrison, Liz McInnes
and Matt Norton, all for Labour.
WHITEWELL AND STACKSTEADS
candidates are Julie Adshead, Bob Bauld and John Payne, all for the Green Party; Jan Brindley, John Howard Lowe and David Bryan Watson, all for the Conservatives; Jackie Oakes, Marie Rolli and Gill Windwood, all for Labour.
WHITWORTH candidates are Caitlin Chippendale for Labour; Vivienne Hall, Andrew Ovens and Paul Shellard, all for the Green Party; Alan Neal and Mike Royds for Community First, Scott Smith for the Conservative Party, and Janet Marie Whitehead, an independent.