EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ged-ding in a new direction

TAMESIDE Council has a new leader and Cllr Ged Cooney has promised a new direction.

No more prioritising central issues over what happens on the streets of the borough’s towns.

No more seemingly putting Ashton above everything else. No more ignoring the things that really get people annoyed.

And those who oppose him over issues – including Godley Green Garden Village – can sometimes be right, which he has no problem with.

After securing the vote following previous leader, Cllr Brenda Warrington’s decision to step down following his challenge, Cllr Cooney now starts the job of taking Tameside Council forward.

“I hope to change the way we were dealing with business as councillors,” he said.

“I want to re-focus our energies and make things town-based. I’ll elevate them and engage with the police, the community, the businesses and politicians.

“I don’t want to be discussing issues in Longdendale, in Dukinfield or wherever in Droylsden. We understand we are a council but I want to try and get back to community discussions – something like District Assemblies Two.

“There are also corporate partnerships and working with the police. They now want to be seen and people welcome that. That’s right and we’re going to get back to that.

“For too long, we’ve talked about too many big corporate issues. The public wants to talk to us about their streets needing cleaning, the lights, the potholes, and we need to have that discussion.

“We’ll still have all the big things but the person who pays our council tax is the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker – the elderly person, the person with a family, the single person.

“They’ve got to feel as though we value what they pay and we do things in areas where they see that.

“I want to bring new initiatives and we want change. There’s been issues over decision making.

Decisions that are wanted for Ashton should be made in Ashton and we’ve got to try and find the money which helps restores Ashton and Hyde, which helps Droylsden, helps Stalybridge.

“Yes, we have bigger world issues, things like children’s services and education. No disrespect to those but the majority of people will talk about where they live, they shop and the issues they have.

“People complain to me every week, ‘This bin’s not been collected, that bin’s not been collected.’

So we’ve got to solve that. We’ve got to tackle the points people who pay our council tax are raising.

“That’s what we’ll focus on. We’re politicians of the people.

“To me, it’s not about titles. It’s about what we do.”

The Correspondent asked Cllr Cooney his views on several matters – and it seems there are becoming more and more in the area – and here is his response.

On Tameside Labour’s ‘divide’

It’s not a spilt Labour group. I got support across the council. Some people who they supported did not win and I understand those feelings.

I’ve seen some of the Twitter comments about me but I’ll live with that.

There are winners and losers but things will calm down. If people want to work best for the community, they work together.

People have genuinely said that’s what they want to do and I welcome that. No area won’t have representation and that’s important to me.

I hope they have that voice, that’s how I’ve always dealt with business. I don’t want to say, ‘This is me, this is how we do it.’ What I want to say is, ‘We’re listening. This is how we as a collective have decided what we’re going for.’

On opponents

We have to accept some of the opposition voices are not necessarily wrong.

I’ve been in big projects for the council for years and I’ve always seen strong opposition – and it’s been for genuine reasons.

The Godley Green Garden Village opponents are there for genuine reasons.

 

I won’t deny that traffic’s going to be a problem. Of course it’s going to be a problem. We need to talk to them and resolve that.

A place for a doctor, that needs to be resolved, as do school places. The issues that they raise are genuine, we accept that and we’ve got to be able to answer that.

If we’re not able to answer them in the right way, when it goes to the Minister, it won’t go through.

I’m getting the same questions in Ashton and Hyde, ‘What’s happening to our town centre?’

We’re also getting it in Droylsden, Dukinfield, Denton and everywhere else.

On Brenda Warrington and comments about his campaign

I’m not getting involved in that. If someone loses, they lose.

I’d hope people would be magnanimous in that sense. The party has a right, everyone has a right. I’ve been involved in eight or nine challenges over the years.

That happens, you have a right to stand.

I know what I did and who I contacted and the process but get one thing right, there is nothing wrong in a democracy and it’s heathy for that when people are challenged.

That will happen to me and I’ll either win, lose or accept it and resign but that’s what happens in a democratic process.

Hopefully I’ll just accept. I might not like it, of course I wouldn’t.

But I’m very disappointed I’ve got a Labour MP, a Shadow minister, making statements and using his Twitter site for that but they have a right to do that.

I’m disappointed but I’m not going to get mithered over it, I move on.

If people want to have a pop at me, I don’t have an issue with that – that’s democracy.

On Metrolink

It’s vitally important we don’t have the trams stopping while work to put in HS2 is carried out.

But I’d like to see it go into Stalybridge and split off and go into Denton then on into Hyde.

I’ve always had an argument. The problem is the tram is geared to go in and out of Manchester.

If I go into London, I could get the Circle Line, which goes around.

To get to Stockport on the tram, I go into Manchester. To get to Bury, I go into Manchester. I want to be able to go from Tameside to Stockport, Rochdale or Oldham.

The reverse is they would be able to come into Ashton, Stalybridge, Hyde or Dukinfield. People could say, ‘We’ll pop on the tram and go into Stalybridge or Denton or Hyde.’

I’ve been arguing we need an orbital tram rather than one which just feeds in and out of Manchester.

It’s not cheap but I think the network needs to look at how you link up towns in other ways rather than everything coming in and out of Manchester.

Manchester isn’t the centre of the world. I get a lot of people work in Manchester and a lot of the people who live here will do because they work in Manchester and the tram takes them in and out.

But we’ve tremendous links with elsewhere.

On his town, Droylsden

What I see is a wealthy owner of the precinct who’s got plans – I’ve seen them for the Concord Suite and the shops around there.

They’re fantastic and I want to revitalise what’s going on in and around the canal.

And they want places that are open in the day, they don’t want it to be a nightlife place.

We either have the Concord Suite mothballed or we work with the new owners of the precinct – and you’ve a 20,000-capacity arena being built down the road.

But people have to understand, Tameside Council doesn’t own Droylsden precinct, nor does it own the car park and shops behind.

They’re owned by a man who sees Droylsden as a vibrant place – there’s the tram, the 20,000-seater arena.

There is a demand but that then spills into other towns.

On Ashton town centre ‘disgrace’

Calling Ashton town centre ‘not fit for purpose’ is a disgraceful remark from our officers.

They’re part of that but we have to accept that Ashton needs to be resolved. Look at it and you think, ‘Yeah.’

We’ve got new buildings in, like the college, and we’re going to be bringing people back into the buildings.

We’ve got young kids at the college who have spending money. We’ve got to make sure that offer is there. It isn’t.We want Ashton – and I know from talking to the Ashton members – they want it to be the place where people come to shop.

Coaches still run people into Ashton, so we’ve got to say, ‘Let’s give them something they’d want to come back to.’

There will be early turnarounds in Ashton – as well as Hyde and Stalybridge – that will tackle the criticism we’ve been receiving.

Some little jobs can go a long way and people will see that what we say is what we mean.

It’s vital we get that Ashton Moss development moving at long last. I’d love to have hi-tech businesses on there. It’s important we get that moving.

Ashton has got to be and is the capital of Tameside as a town but Hyde is the equivalent and that’s got to have the same drive.

Go to Uppermill and it’s teeming with people, Stalybridge should be the same.

We’ll be making announcements on them soon.

On partnerships

There are partnerships at work. People want to know what the police are doing where they live, that’s why the police want to come out of Ashton police station and talk to us.

Businesses are saying, ‘what are you doing to help us?’ I’d be saying, what can you do with us that helps us both?’

It’s about partnership working, that’s what I want to change. It’s important in all areas. Everyone might have a bit of money but out it all together and you get a fair sum.