Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. This includes the constituencies of Stockport, Hazel Grove, Cheadle and the Reddish area of the Denton and Reddish constituency. It is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrats, who hold 35 of the 63 seats on the council, there are two other parties, the Conservatives and the Labour Party, the Independent Ratepayers are also present.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport for 2006/2007 were Councillor Peter Burns and Mrs Margaret Burns and the Mayor's Charity during his Mayoral year is in aid of the building fund for Wellspring (Stockport).

There are four MPs covering Stockport Metropolitan Bourough, Andrew Stunell (Liberal Democrat), Ann Coffey (Labour), Mark Hunter (Liberal Democrat) and Andrew Gwynne (Labour).

Wards and Councillors

There are 21 wards, each represented by three councillors.

Bramhall North

Helen Foster-Grime... Liberal Democrats
Ken Holt... Conservative
Maureen Walsh... Conservative

Bramhall South

Brian Bagnall ... Conservative
Paul Bellis... Conservative
John Bryan Leck... Conservative

Bredbury and Woodley

Stella Humphries ... Liberal Democrat
Mike Wilson ... Liberal Democrat
Chris Gordon ... Liberal Democrat

Bredbury Green and Romiley

Hazel Lees... Liberal Democrat
Margaret Purcell McLay... Liberal Democrat
Syd Lloyd... Conservative

Brinnington and Central

Maureen Rowles... Labour
Chris Murphy... Labour
Colin MacAlister... Labour

Cheadle and Gatley

Paul Carter... Liberal Democrat
Pam King... Liberal Democrat
Brian Millard... Liberal Democrat

Cheadle Hulme North

John Pantall... Liberal Democrat
June Somekh... Liberal Democrat
Paul Porgess... Liberal Democrat

Cheadle Hulme South

Ingrid Shaw... Liberal Democrat
Suzanne Wyatt ... Liberal Democrat
Stuart Bodsworth... Liberal Democrat

Davenport and Cale Green

John Abrams... Liberal Democrat
Roy Driver ... Liberal Democrat
David White... Liberal Democrat

Edgeley and Cheadle Heath

Sheila Bailey... Labour
Richard Coaton ... Labour
Philip Harding... Labour

Hazel Grove

Kevin Hogg... Liberal Democrat
Christine Corris... Liberal Democrat
Stuart Corris... Liberal Democrat

Heald Green

Peter Burns... Heald Green Ratepayers
Sylvia Humphreys... Heald Green Ratepayers
Derek Whitehead... Heald Green Ratepayers

Heatons North

Les Jones... Conservative
Jackie Jones... Conservative
Anthony Patrick O'Neill... Conservative

Heatons South

Colin Foster... Labour
Owen Breen... Labour
Tom McGee ... Labour

Manor

Susan Derbyshire ... Liberal Democrat
Jenny Humphreys ... Liberal Democrat
David Roberts-Jones .. Liberal Democrat

Marple North

Martin Candler... Liberal Democrat
Andrew Bispham... Liberal Democrat
Chris Gordon... Liberal Democrat

Marple South

Shan Alexander... Liberal Democrat
Christopher Baker... Liberal Democrat
Roy Weaver... Liberal Democrat

Offerton

David Goddard... Liberal Democrat
Wendy Meikle... Liberal Democrat
John Smith... Liberal Democrat

Reddish North

Ann Graham... Labour
David Owen... Labour
Peter Scott... Labour

Reddish South

Joan Kidd... Labour
Walter Brett... Labour
Tom Grundy... Labour

Stepping Hill

Margaret Clay... Liberal Democrat
Benjamin Alexander... Liberal Democrat
Mark Weldon ... Liberal Democrat

Executive councillors

The Council Executive is as follows

Leader of the Council: David Goddard
Deputy Leader and Regeneration Portfolio: Sue Derbyshire
Transportation Portfolio: David White
Children and Young people Portfolio: Mark Weldon
Adults and Health Portfolio: Maggie Clay
Customer Focus Portfolio: Martin Candler
Leisure Portfolio: Shan Alexander
Communities Portfolio: Hazel Lees
Environment Portfolio: Stuart Bodsworth
Finance Portfolio: Paul Carter

Structure

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (Stockport Council) uses an executive system. There are 10 executive councillors, including the leader of the council, each has a separate portfolio containing responsibilities for different services and areas of the council. There are also six scrutiny committees which scrutinize decisions made by the executive.

Politics

Stockport Council has 63 elected members, belonging to three different parties. The largest party, and the ruling party is the Liberal Democrat party, which has 35 of the 63 seats. In the council elections on Thursday 4th May 2006, in which one third of the seats were up for re-election there was no major change, however there were Liberal Democrat gains in Offerton where ex-LibDem councillor, then independent, Eric Pyle lost his seat in favour of John Smith - a retired police-officer. However, there was a significant loss in Bredbury Green and Romiley, as councillor Brendon Jones was defeated by 400 votes, and replaced by the Conservative candidate, Syd Lloyd. It is notable that Ex-Councillor Foulkes, lost his seat and was replaced by the then, Ex-Councillor, now Councillor Tom McGee, standing for the Labour Party. Labour was the only party to make a net change in this election.

The 'All Out'

The previous election before 2006 was in 2004, when all councilors on the council were put up for election at the same time. This election was conducted exclusively by Postal voting. Each elector was given three votes, and asked to pick three candidates - the number of votes each candidate received then determined when they would next stand for election. Elections are scheduled for 2007, 2008 and then 2010.

Non-mainstream parties

Stockport Council has seen a number of candidates for non-mainstream parties including the Green Party of England and Wales, United Kingdom Independence Party and the British National Party.There have also been independents. However, so far, only the independents have been successful as non-mainstream candidates to win seats.