The big issues on voters' minds ahead of Stockport's first 'all out' election in nearly 20 years
“It’s gone down the pan... drastically,” Thomas Beech says. He's sat nursing a can of Pepsi outside Woodley Precinct’s Startpoint Cafe.
“Some kids are feral,” he adds. “I have seen kids roaming the streets at 3am. That’s something that’s not uncommon.“There’s a lot of drugs on the estate now. It’s hard drugs as well. That was unthinkable at one time. I think it’s beyond repair, there’s nothing you can do.” The Lib Dems have held all three ward seats on the council since 2004. However, Labour’s Joe Barratt ran a strong campaign last year, and narrowly missed out to Lib Dem Vince Shaw - who took 41 per cent of the vote to his 35pc.
“I have always voted Lib Dem around here, but I would like to see him given a chance. He did quite a bit for the market in Stockport and I think he has a bit of ‘get up and go’ about him.However, like Thomas, Dave also points to crime as being high on his agenda. “The main issue is there’s quite a bit of petty theft, like anywhere,” he says.
A proud dad of two twins, he believes children need recreation areas that are fit for purpose. “In all honesty, I think kids need outdoor space,” he adds. Her husband, who also didn’t want to be named, also plans to vote Lib Dem. “I won’t vote Labour ever again and I would never vote Conservative ever again.”
“They’re all the same, they don’t do anything apart from waste money,” he says. “If there was something to vote for it would be all right, but there isn’t - it’s just a game for them.” It has left the Tory presence on the council severely depleted - just four members are now left - and there was little sympathy for the party when the Local Democracy Reporting Service visited Bramhall to find out what voters had to say.
“There’s still people paying an awful lot more for their mortgages. They seem to have conveniently forgotten the disaster they created with the mini-budget.”“Why do you think?” she laughs. "Because the Conservatives, there’s that much going on with them, there’s always something, isn’t there? “With council stuff you can tell there’s been a squeeze for a few years,” she says. “It’s things like potholes and that sort of thing are not dealt with the way they should be. Far too many budgets have been squeezed - you can tell things are slipping from what they used to be.”
“It all still depends on how much money they are going to get. You can have all the money in the world - but if you’ve not got the budget to do them, you can’t do them.”"I would have to look into it,” Patricia France, from Patch Lane, says. “But I have got to give the Conservative a chance to see what he can do, because I think Labour would just make it worse.”
“No, that’s rubbish,” the 68-year-old snaps back. “I don’t know what they’re looking at. You have got to go to Stockport or Handforth Dean to do your weekly shop. Have a look around there [the precinct] and see if you can do a weekly shop? If you have a family it can’t be done. She believes local Tories will have suffered due to the backlash over Boris Johnson and the ‘partygate’ scandal which tainted his premiership.Meanwhile Jeff Tuck, a retired computer programmer from Ashley Drive, says it's Labour that gets his backing.
Chloe Francis, takes a different view on tactical voting, however. “I’ll probably vote for the Liberal Democrats to stop the Tories getting in,” she says.
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