Bamford should be in Rochdale says William Hobhouse!

10.59.09am GMT Mon 31st Oct 2005

Cllr. William Hobhouse campaigning to keep Bamford in Rochdale!

Bamford Councillor - William Hobhouse has been joined by dozens of local residents in his battle for Bamford, Brimrod, Marland, Oakenrod and Sudden to remain in the Rochdale Parliamentary Constituency. The Boundary Commission have recommended that this be the case but the Conservative Party have asked for the whole area to go into Heywood and Middleton.

Cllr. Hobhouse said, "I have carried out extensive consultation of my Ward and it is quite clear that people would prefer to be in the Rochdale Constituency. I can only think that the Conservatives are mischief-making as it makes perfect sense for Bamford to be the Rochdale Parliamentary Constituency. Resident's Postal Addresses are in Rochdale - it is closer to Rochdale and any other decision by the Boundary Commission would be simply ridiculous."

Cllr. William Hobhouse worked with Paul Rowen MP and has consulted over 2000 residents and dozens of people have already replied - "The unanimous view of these residents is that their area should be in Rochdale. Right across my Ward in Brimrod, Marland, Oakenrod, Sudden and Bamford people feel quite rightly that they should be in Rochdale. It was important that I talked to people and found out their views - at the end of the day our job is to represent people's views, not to guess as the Tories have incorrectly done."

Rochdale MP - Paul Rowen said, "William was quite right to consult, I knew that many people would respond but I was shocked at the amount of people who have returned his survey so far. We will be asking the Boundary Commission is to ignore the Conservatives. It is obvious that they have not talked to local people about this, if they did they would not be asking for Bamford to go into Heywood and Middleton. I scratch my head sometimes with them!"

Cllr. William Hobhouse will be using his evidence in a presentation to the Boundary Commission on 4th November.