Anthony Joseph William Bennett
Labour Party
Norden Ward
Address
49 Shawfield Lane
Norden
Rochdale
OL12 7RQ
A local election should be contested by people who live in the ward, know the concerns of the people that live in the ward and understand the area that they want to represent. I have lived in Norden with my wife, Rosey, for a number of years. We have four grown up children and I currently work as a senior lecturer in management at Sheffield Hallam University. I was a candidate for Labour in Norden last year and I strongly believe that candidates should want to represent the ward and not just appear as a “local activist” for a month then disappear.
Norden has been neglected by the Liberal Democrat Council. They have controlled all decisions made by Rochdale Township for the last 10 years and as a consequence Norden’s environment and safety have suffered and the community of Norden has had decisions imposed upon it without consultation and without being listened to. It is time to curb this power.
The main concerns of the people that live in Norden are:
- Speeding vehicles on Edenfield Road, especially heavy lorries.
- Lack of parking areas, resulting in danger to pedestrians especially children and Norden’s older residents.
- No Council funded youth club.
- Building developments left unchecked causing serious health and safety issues.
- Lack of play areas for young children.
- Uncoordinated planning decisions without reference to the views and needs of Norden.
- A 25% reduction in Norden’s waste collection service.
With your help, I am determined to start to put these matters right.
If elected I would strongly put the case for Norden and its residents at Rochdale Township meetings and at Council meetings.
Resources must be distributed more fairly and decisions must be taken only after taking into account all the effects on the whole community of Norden. For example, by collectively using all the money allocated to Norden Councillors by the Township, we could start to tackle the problems of speeding traffic in Norden straight away.
Thank you for reading this. I hope that you will make me your choice for Norden and I can start to redress the neglect of Norden that has occurred in the last two years.
