VOTERS head to the polls tomorrow to determine the shape of Kirklees Council in the year ahead. BARRY GIBSON finds out what people are talking about on the doorsteps.
KIRKLEES Council’s leader is in buoyant mood ahead of tomorrow’s election.
“We’re hoping to hold on to all the seats we’ve got and gain one or two others,” said Clr Mehboob Khan, who heads the 24-strong Labour group.
The Greenhead councillor believes the Lib Dems are vulnerable to an anti-government backlash in several seats around Huddersfield.
“We hope to take Dalton and we’re running neck-and-neck with the Lib Dems in Golcar,” he said yesterday.
“Colne Valley is a three-way fight between ourselves, the Lib Dems and the Tories.
“On the doorstep people are concerned about the haste and depth of Government reductions in public services, they are worried about jobs and growth.”
Clr Khan added that voters were also concerned about issues closer to home.
He said: “People are interested in the protection of the green belt and they are worried about safety, given that West Yorkshire Police is to lose 1,500 jobs.”
Clr Kath Pinnock, who leads the 20 Lib Dems on Kirklees, hopes her party will not be punished by voters angry at the coalition government.
“We’ve had a very positive reception but it’s up to the voters to decide what happens,” she said.
“I really don’t know if we will face a backlash, no doubt there will be some voters who put national issues above local matters.
“But it’s a foolish politician who makes predictions.”
The Cleckheaton councillor added that the concerns of voters varied across Kirklees.
She said: “It’s different from ward to ward. In Colne Valley a lot of people feel that the green belt is a very important issue. In Dewsbury there is more concern about housing and road safety.
“People in Cleckheaton are talking about the situation with the bus station.
“There’s a real variety of issues.”
Clr Robert Light leads the Conservatives, who have 19 seats on Kirklees.
He said many voters were concerned about the Local Development Framework (LDF) – the Kirklees blueprint for 28,000 new homes by 2028.
Clr Light said: “People are worried about the scale of erosion to the green belt which the council is proposing.
“The LDF consultation was a botched job and residents feel that Kirklees is totally ignoring their views.”
The Birstall and Birkenshaw man added that this was part of a wider problem.
“Kirklees isn’t listening to the people,” he said.
“People in north Kirklees think the council is too Huddersfield-centric and that applies equally to people in the valleys.”
Clr Light hopes his party can win seats, despite being in power in Westminster.
He said: “There’s always some degree of anti-government backlash but a lot of people recognise that the Conservative government is trying to clean up the mess left by the last Labour government.”
The Greens are defending two of their four seats in this year’s election.
Party leader Clr Andrew Cooper is optimistic of Greens holding on in Newsome and Kirkburton.
“It’s going well and we’re getting a good reception on the doorsteps,” he said.
“We’re confident of holding the seats. People are telling us they have already voted for us by postal ballot, which perks us up.”
Clr Cooper added that his party also had high hopes of winning control of Kirkburton Parish Council.
The Newsome councillor said: “We’re running 17 candidates compared with 10 for the Conservatives and we’re hoping for a strong showing.”
KIRKLEES is divided into 23 wards, each of them with three councillors.
One seat in each ward is up for grabs tomorrow.
Labour, which currently runs a minority administration on the council, is defending seven of its 24 seats this year.
The two most vulnerable are Dewsbury East – which the party won by 600 votes in last year’s election – and Heckmondwike, where Labour had a majority of 800 in 2010.
The Lib Dems are the second largest group on Kirklees with 20 seats.
The party is defending eight of them this year.
Clr Roger Batttye faces a tough fight to keep his seat in Dalton.
Labour’s Clr Peter McBride won by 1,000 votes in the ward at last year’s election.
The Lib Dems are also under pressure in Holme Valley North from the Conservatives and independent candidate Ed Holroyd-Doveton.
And the Tories will also be pushing hard to retake the seat they lost to the Lib Dems in Lindley last year by just 150 votes.
The Conservatives are the third largest party on Kirklees with 19 seats, of which six are up for grabs this year.
The party appears most vulnerable in Dewsbury South, where Clr Salim Patel is trying to keep his seat.
Labour won the ward by more than 2,000 votes last year.
The Greens are defending two of their four seats.
The party held Newsome last year with a majority of 600.
The Greens look vulnerable in Kirkburton, where the Tories won by 1,100 votes in 2010.
Seventeen of the 51 seats on Calderdale Council are also up for grabs tomorrow.
The council is currently run by a Lib Dem / Labour coalition, but the Conservatives are the largest party.
KIRKLEES COUNCIL
ALMONDBURY
James Blanchard, Lib Dems*
Craig Fennell, Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
Tony Leach, British National Party
Elliott Ledsam, Labour
Eileen Marchant, Greens
Janice Thomas, Conservatives
ASHBROW
Bill Armer, Conservatives
Sharon Fallows, Greens
Cath Harris, Labour*
Manjit Singh, Lib Dems
BATLEY EAST
Jon Bloom, Lib Dems
Peter Cunnington, Greens
Mark Griffin, Independent
Mohammed Laher, Conservatives
Amanda Stubley, Labour*
BATLEY WEST
John Birkenshaw, Conservatives
Matt Blakeley, Greens
Irfan Iqbal, Lib Dems
Peter O’Neill, Labour*
BIRSTALL AND BIRKENSHAW
Suzy Brain-England, Lib Dems
Robert Light, Conservatives*
Clive Lord, Greens
Michael Williams, Labour
CLECKHEATON
Robert Barraclough, Greens
Dan Howard, Labour
David Pinder, Conservatives
Andrew Pinnock, Lib Dems*
COLNE VALLEY
Donna Bellamy, Conservatives
Lynn Bradbury, Lib Dems*
Chayley Collis, Greens
Tabatha Ellam, Labour
Melanie Roberts, United Kingdom Independence Party
CROSLAND MOOR AND NETHERTON
Chas Ball, Greens
Jackie Grunsell, Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
Mahmood Hussain, Lib Dems
Mohammad Sarwar, Labour*
Louisa Waple, Conservatives
DALTON
Roger Battye, Lib Dems*
David Honour, Greens
Chris Meadows, Conservatives
Cliff Preest, Labour
DENBY DALE
Craig Armistead, Lib Dems
Rachel Firth, British National Party
Paul McEnhill, English Democrats
Terry Sigsworth, Greens
Graham Turner, Labour
Elaine Ward, Conservatives*
DEWSBURY EAST
Greg Burrows, United Kingdom Independence Party
Mark Eastwood, Conservatives
Eric Firth, Labour*
Dennis Hullock, Lib Dems
Tony Kelsall, Greens
DEWSBURY SOUTH
Naheed Arshad-Mather, Labour
Adrian Cruden, Greens
Bernard Disken, Lib Dems
Chris Kennedy, Independent
Shaun Maddox, Independent
Salim Patel, Conservatives*
DEWSBURY WEST
Naz Hussain, Lib Dems*
Darren O’Donovan, Labour
Andrew Stimson, Greens
Christopher Walker, Conservatives
GOLCAR
Daniel Greenwood, Greens
David Hill, Independent
Robert Iredale, Lib Dems*
Matt Moll, Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
Hilary Richards, Labour
Clinton Simpson, Conservatives
Skye Turner, British National Party
GREENHEAD
Michelle Atkinson, Greens
Mohammed Haleem, Lib Dems
Judith Hughes, Labour*
Robert McGuin, Conservatives
HECKMONDWIKE
David Brooks, Greens
Josie Pugsley, Lib Dems
Mark Roberts, Conservatives
David Sheard, Labour*
HOLME VALLEY NORTH
Edgar Holroyd-Doveton, Independent
Ian Leedham, Labour
Basil Smith, Conservatives
Barry Ward, Greens
David Woodhead, Lib Dems*
HOLME VALLEY SOUTH
Oliver Constance, Lib Dems
Sue Macklin, Greens
Steven Morris, Labour
Ken Sims, Conservatives*
KIRKBURTON
Carol Dixon, British National Party
Mike Greetham, Labour
Derek Hardcastle, Greens*
Amanda Shaw, Conservatives
Jatinder Singh, Lib Dems
LINDLEY
Tony Brice, Conservatives
Douglas Morgan, Labour
Richard Plunkett, Greens
Tony Woodhead, Lib Dems*
LIVERSEDGE AND GOMERSAL
Karen Allison, Greens
Richard Farnhill, Lib Dems
Lisa Holmes, Conservatives*
Gordon North, Labour
MIRFIELD
Brian Firth, Lib Dems
Karen Rowling, Labour
Kath Taylor, Conservatives*
Cassandra Whittingham, Greens
NEWSOME
Mohammed Saeed, Labour
Philip Scott, Lib Dems
Ian Slattery, Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
Julie Stewart-Turner, Greens*
Jas Virdee, Conservatives
CALDERDALE COUNCIL
BRIGHOUSE
Scott Benton, Conservatives
Matt Bowles, Lib Dems
Joyce Cawthra, Independent*
Edith Martin, Labour
ELLAND
John Ford, Conservatives
Angi Gallagher, Labour
Stella Haigh, Lib Dems
Susan Thomas, Greens
(independent councillor retiring)
GREETLAND AND STAINLAND
Jim Gallagher, Labour
Mark Mullany, Greens
Sam Stafford, Conservatives
Peter Wardhaugh, Lib Dems*
HIPPERHOLME AND LIGHTCLIFFE
David Kirton, Conservatives*
Chris O'Connor, Independent
Jennie Rigg, Lib Dems
Anthony Rutherford, Labour
RASTRICK
Adrian Hartshorn, Independent
Peter Judge, Labour
Chris Pillai, Conservatives*
Nick Yates, Lib Dems
* Denotes the defending party