A WOMAN running to be the next Mayor of Greater Manchester has said Tameside is among one of the boroughs “left behind” by previous mayor Andy Burnham.
The Green Party’s Geraldine Coggins drew cross-party agreement at a hustings event, where she said people in Tameside and Oldham had been left “struggling and let down” by underinvestment.
She said: “They have seen these shiny towers pop up and they know that the city centre is thriving, and they know that they’re struggling and their towns have been left behind.
“My plans around Manchester involve not pouring that funding only into the city centre as we’ve seen before, but spreading that funding, that investment, and that opportunity right across our city region.
“We’ve really got to rebalance the inequality that we have seen over the decades that the old parties have been in charge.”
Coggins is just one of seven candidates running to be the Mayor of Greater Manchester in the Thursday, July 30 poll.
She was joined at the hustings by the Conservative’s Phil Eckersley, Labour’s Bev Craig and the Liberal Democrats’ Richard Kilpatrick.
Marlon Scott West, for Restore Britain, did not attend the hustings.
Independent candidate Marcus Farmer did not respond to repeated requests to join the panel until 10am that morning, and had thus not been accounted for in the event’s plans.
Reform UK’s Sian Astley joined him as he attempted to enter just moments before the event – then refused to participate herself when he was denied entry, despite being scheduled.
Of the parties which did remain, issues involving Tameside remained a consistent topic of debate, though all candidates agreed that more had to be done to support the area.
Of particular interest to the candidates was the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, which is run by Tameside Council.
It is one of 86 funds across England and Wales which make up the Local Government Pension Scheme, but crucially to members, invests a proportion of its money into fossil and oil industries.
All candidates agreed the practice needed to stop, and would continue to advocate for investment in cleaner energies.
With regards to more direct support to Tameside, the candidates agreed that better employment opportunities and business investment would be primary ways forward, alongside region-wide commitments to more housing and transport.
Coggins in particular outlined stronger support for the high street as a significant step, and said her plans for an ‘Empty Shops Team’ would bring more activity to otherwise desolate high streets.
“The money poured into the city centre hasn’t trickled down,” she said.
“I want to see more investment into our town centres and local high streets, and put power into the hands of local business and trade organisations that are able to do that.
“We’ve moved online thanks to austerity, and places like the Trafford Centre out of town are taking away from out town centre – we need to look to a new model of our town centres and high streets for the future.”
Elsewhere, Richard Kilpatrick argued for more mayoral development corporations, as seen in Stockport, which has seen a more than £2 billion regeneration project in the borough.
According to Bev Craig – who also currently runs Manchester City Council – her own work on the Good Growth Fund has already helped provide more than £180 million to support towns outside the city centre in the same manner.
Both agreed that more infrastructure ought to be provided in the region to ensure more jobs, particularly for young people – a point echoed by the Conservatives’ Phil Eckersley.
As it stands, Tameside’s unemployment rate is higher than average, with an average of roughly 74 per cent, according to government figures.
Meanwhile, the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits in Tameside is on average around 4.8 per cent.
He said: “The key thing to address is supporting businesses and employing people. The way we do that is by reviewing business rates, and reducing some funds for those struggling businesses to continue to create employment opportunities.
“We’ve got young people who are desperate for jobs, and I really push for future technologies like coding and coordinating AI use for our young people, because that’s where all the future jobs are going to be.”
A full breakdown of each candidate’s policy is available here. Polls are open on Thursday, July 30, with results announced the following day.