OLIVER Ryan is determined to focus on what is happening on his own doorstep after stepping back from his powerful cabinet role.
The Labour councillor held on to his Audenshaw seat after much talk he would lose to Conservative Danny Mather.
Now after securing a 342 majority – almost half the one he secured when he stood in 2018 – he is determined to not let local issues slide.
He said: “I can talk at length about the executive stuff I did but first and foremost, I’m an Audenshaw councillor.
“I have been for eight years. I’ve been given the honour of doing it for another year and hopefully more after that.
“I hope people have faith in us to do our job and stick with us. First and foremost, I’m Audenshaw through and through.
“Absolutely there were nerves. It was a really tightly fought campaign, we tried to fight for every vote and spoke to loads of people.
“I launched my campaign last June, so I spent the year trying to talk to as many people as I could and keep the issues local.
“But ultimately, it’s a combination of people being annoyed about all the stuff that’s going on nationally – people are very annoyed, especially about the cost of living.
“Locally, there are some issues we’ve really tried to listen to people about and tried to help them out with.
“There are things like crime and speeding – there are massive issues with them. We’ve a new police hub in Audenshaw and some roads that we’ve put new safety equipment on.
“We’ve done an awful lot to try and tackle some of the bigger issues in the ward, things like anti-social behaviour.
“Additionally, we’ve set up Home Watch groups and worked with community groups to set up things like the Band In The Park days, to try and bring more of a community feel back to the ward.
“And I think people appreciated that.”