• Councillor Search

William Hobhouse

William Hobhouse

Ward: Bamford
Party: Liberal Democrat

Address:
Carr Hill House, Shawclough Road
Rochdale
OL12 6LG

Tel: 01706 632904

Email: william.hobhouse@rochdale.gov.uk

Disastrous Conservative Plans for local schools.

The Conservatives nationally have announced plans to set up Swedish-style “free schools”. These will be schools funded and managed outside local control. However, their overall plan to cut the education budget means their ability to establish new schools will inevitably depend on...

Date posted: 15/02/2010

A little Christmas message

We were due to go to Germany via the Tunnel on Monday, and as you will know, the Tunnel was closed. Instead we returned to Rochdale and have been part of the worst, or best, snow for at least a decade. With so many of us leading busy lives, maybe it’s just a pleasure to leave the car at home...

Date posted: 22/12/2009

Small Business Waste

This entry is a guide for Rochdale Borough small businesses who have been stung by the massive hike in prices for trade waste by the new Greater Manchester PFI contractor Viridor.
Anyone turning up at a trade waste site in Greater Manchester will pay a minimum of £58. That’s the...

Date posted: 13/11/2009

Celebrating Excellence

I had the pleasure of attending, as a School Governor, the Celebration of Excellence Evening at Oulder Hill Community School and Language College.
The celebration is, I believe, in its second year and publicly recognises the talents and achievements of many pupils in the school. The Gracie Fields...

Date posted: 12/11/2009

Energy From Waste

Residents like their councillors to have jobs in the real world. This diary is from that real world.
There are no state owned landfill sites left in Greater Manchester. That’s one of the reasons we have to recycle, but that still leaves about 70% of our waste looking for a solution that...

Date posted: 04/11/2009

20mph near schools. Labour scupper progress.

Who would disagree that vehicle speed should be reduced outside schools? No-one. So if you want to do something about it, you could pass a motion as follows:
‘We call upon the council to introduce as a priority a mandatory and enforceable 20 miles an hour speed limit on roads outside all...

Date posted: 15/10/2009

Anti-manufacturing?

Sir James Dyson of Hoover fame spelled it out yesterday: successful countries invent things, make things, educate engineers, export things. Obvious really, if it wasn’t in direct contradiction to the reality in UK plc.
In Rochdale Borough, the Council has had a decade long policy of stating...

Date posted: 06/10/2009

Rochdale’s Food Project

Nearly one year ago, with the public success of Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food in Rotherham, I floated that we might take some of his inspiration and get it to work in Rochdale. Cue my Jamie Oliver inspired appearance in the Rochdale Observer last year with apron and frying pan.
I received...

Date posted: 24/09/2009

Conference News

I am writing these notes from Bournemouth - where I am at no cost to the taxpayer!
Everyone nationally and locally is talking about the terrible state of the nation’s finances. This means council finances as well, because councils are mostly funded by Westminster. Money from Council tax only...

Date posted: 22/09/2009

A Day in the Life of a Councillor!

I get the impression that readers are interested to get a feel for the day to day work of a Councillor, so here goes for Thursday 3rd September 2009.
Into my factory at 7.30am to run production which finished at 11.30. In between time, I rang 2 of my Lib Dem Council colleagues to discuss our...

Date posted: 03/09/2009

Devolution in Action 2

One of the real pleasures of my work as a ward councillor is helping to make things happen at the Area Forums. During my stint as Rochdale Township Chair, I tried to visit most of the forums in the town. These days I concentrate on the two in my ward – Brimrod and Bamford.
A week ago, we...

Date posted: 27/08/2009

The BNP is here in Rochdale Borough

The BNP got 11% of the vote in the Rochdale Borough. Well above the regional average. That’s sad news for a borough that prides itself on its community cohesion, its mixed schools, its multiculturalism.
There’s little doubt that the BNP vote has come mostly out of the poorer areas,...

Date posted: 08/06/2009

Rochdale Needs Jobs

Why has the recession hit Rochdale Borough hardest in all of Greater Manchester?
Rochdale, like Oldham, Bury and Bolton are industrial towns. They’re built on the back of textiles and the industrial revolution. This is Rochdale’s history.
My working life is in manufacturing, and...

Date posted: 03/06/2009

Asbestos History Repeating Itself?

As someone who was not involved with the way T&N managed to continue manufacturing asbestos long after the terrible dangers were well known, it came as a great shock to find history repeating itself the other side of the world.
The visit of Laurie Kazan Allen to Rochdale put into sharp focus...

Date posted: 01/06/2009

D Day for Springfield Park

Many Rochdale Online readers will know of plans to build a golf driving range on Springfield Park.
The opposition to this removal of 12 acres (out of 36 acres) of the park is considerable, but this has not stopped the Council continuing with their proposals.
The chance for residents to set the...

Date posted: 16/04/2009

Devolution in Action

The month of March will see the launch of new Rochdale Township Area Forums in Bamford, Norden and Healey.
With the Township budget set at about £1 million, Area Forums are much the best way for residents and communities to decide their priorities and make sure that they get a fair slice of...

Date posted: 20/02/2009

Combating extreme views in Rochdale

Since living in Rochdale, I have believed that the town’s Asian community is generally moderate, well integrated into the town, and provides no comfort to extreme opinions. Now I cannot say this with any certainty following the Ramadhan Foundation’s Gaza Conference at the Castlemere...

Date posted: 29/01/2009

A Community Success!

Not every week does a community achieve a real success. Sudden has. As the Sudden Junction was nearing completion, on one corner appeared two large size advertisement hoardings. What was intended for this corner was an acoustic fence and some trees.
The Council’s environmental plans,...

Date posted: 23/01/2009

What the People Want on Recycling

Council has pledged 50% recycling by 2011.
Alternate Weekly Collections as now run by the Council will plateau recycling at about 35% in this Borough.
Wera and I have surveyed the residents of Norden and Bamford to find out whether they are committed to 50% recycling, and whether they will...

Date posted: 29/11/2008

The Pay and Grading Review

The Pay and Grading Review affects Council employees (except senior management) in every local authority in the country. Councils have to grade each employee correctly, reflecting the skills, scope and qualification of their job. After the grading comes the pay, which means that now every employee...

Date posted: 09/11/2008