Stuart Bodsworth

After local residents raised concerns Stuart has demanded a speed survey be carried out on the Ramillies Estate. “A speed survey will be carried out in various locations around the Ramillies Estate.” Said Stuart. “I am expecting to get the results in late June or early July and it will tell us whether there is a problem with speeding vehicles around the estate or not.”

Local Election Result 2010

The people of Cheadle Hulme South gave Stuart Bodsworth and the Lib Dem team a big vote of confidence in this year’s local election.

The Local elections on May 6th saw a massive turn out of voters keen to have their voice heard. Turn out for the election rose from 42.6% to 72.3% and Stuart Bodsworth’s majority rose from 217 votes (5.3%) to 1313 votes (17.4%).

Stuart Bodsworth said, “It has been a great honor to serve the people of Cheadle Hulme South as their local councillor since 2003 and I am humbled by the increased trust local people have placed in me.”

Stuart was first elected to serve Cheadle Hulme South in 2003 and has worked for the entire Borough of Stockport as the Executive Councillor for the Environment for the last three years. 1313 votes is the largest majority local people have given him.  

 It was my honour to lay a wreath at the Cheadle Hulme War memorial this weekend on behalf of the council. I was proud to do this because I feel very strongly that the act of remembrance is important. I am lucky that I have never had to fight to defend the democracy I value so highly and work within every day. But I know that my freedom has been and, yes, is being defended at great cost by brave men and women who put everything they have on the line to defend our country, our democracy and our way of life.

Now, more than ever, it is important for all of us to do more than just remember the importance of the military covenant. I was totally opposed to sending British forces to war in Iraq and for me the injustice of the mission made my support for the brave young men and women being sent to fight even more important. As a society and as a nation we have to look after our military personal and their families, it is literally the least we can do to make sure that they have decent homes to live in, decent health care and that their families are cared for if the worse happens.

This year’s remembrance Sunday was blessed with good clear Autumn weather. The ceremony itself always makes me emotional. The sacrifice made or offered by our armed forces is the greatest anyone can make and the solemnity of the remembrance ceremony is very touching. The brave heroes of yesteryear remembering their lost friends and no doubt their own close scrapes. Alongside them a grateful town and perhaps most poignantly the young people who are considering offering this country the greatest sacrifice of all!

For me the most touching part of this year’s ceremony was the face of a young air cadet on duty for the parade. As the lone bugler played the last post I noticed his eyes fill with tears. The young man would probably feel embarrassed to know he had been spotted but in my view he should feel proud of his emotion. His proud unmoving stance gave credit to his service and training as an air cadet and his welling tears gave credit to his humanity. These quiet salt tears show that the sacrifice of our armed services in history and today will not be forgotten. He understands the depth of the sacrifice he is considering offering to this country he is a reminder of why the sacrifice is offered. His freedom to choose his own path through life is just one of the prizes won by his predecessors.

The only sour note sounded this remembrance Sunday did not come from the bugler, the piper or the brass band that accompanied our procession through Cheadle Hulme. It came from a Conservative glory hound. I was proud to offer a wreath on behalf of all of the people of Stockport as the Council’s representative, Mark Hunter was equally proud to offer Parliament’s respects. Alongside us in the civic party were representatives of the Police, Fire brigade, veteran’s, cadets and the scouting movement. There was also one other who insisted on joining the civic party, no doubt confident that nobody would cause a scene on Remembrance Sunday. I don’t question for one second that the Conservatives, both individually and collectively, genuinely wanted to pay their respects, but for one individual to use the remembrance ceremony to try to increase his personal credibility undermines that genuine commitment. If the self promoting Conservative candidate was simply there to remember the fallen he would have quietly and respectfully laid his wreath at the appropriate time. But, by insinuating himself into the civic party, he may have made himself feel important but he actually belittled himself and brought shame to the Conservative Party, how very sad.

The Highways Agency is advising drivers using the M60 between junctions 19 at Middleton and 23 at Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester to allow extra time to complete their journeys over the next six weekends.

Starting Friday (June 19), work is being carried out along this 6-mile section each weekend until August, weather permitting.

A full carriageway closure will be in place with a contraflow on the opposite side of the motorway while the work is being carried out. Various entry and exit slip roads will also need to be closed.

The work is taking place over weekends when traffic volumes are lighter and disruption to drivers can be kept to a minimum – however some delays can be expected. Work will start each Friday at 9pm and the motorway will be fully reopened by 5am each Monday.

To ensure the ongoing safety of road-users and our workforce, a 40mph speed limit will be in place throughout the roadworks – which are planned to be completed by 5am, July 27.

Overhead message signs will be used to advise drivers of the closures so they can choose an alternative route.

Highways Agency project manager Manuelle Salathe said:
“We regret any disruption this work may cause to drivers and would encourage them to plan their journey in advance and allow for extra time to get to their destination.”

The exploratory works are taking place to assess the condition of the carriageway on this section of the M60.

The Highways Agency’s North West Traffic Officer Service will deploy extra crews for the duration of the work with a dedicated patrol to cover the roadworks area and react quickly to any breakdowns or accidents to help keep drivers on the move.

The Highways Agency Regional Control Centre will be monitoring incidents and traffic conditions from motorway cameras as well as using electronic signs to provide drivers with up-to-the-minute information.

Come to the St. Ann’s Hospice Summer Fair this Saturday, 20th June, from 12 to 3pm.  Entry is jusy £1 (accompanied children free).  There’s a BBQ, bouncy castle along with lots of other stalls and fun.

Congratulations to Wendy Orrell, the new Liberal Democrat councillor for Stepping Hill following last Thursday’s local council by-election.
A by-election was called following the sad death of Cllr Maggie Clay.  The Conservatives had activists visiting from far and wide: having lost Stockport to the Lib Dems in the Euro elections, they needed to show they could win something.

But when the votes came in, the Conservative share of the vote fell.

Wendy was elected with a majority of 443 over the Conservatives, with Labour pushed into fourth place behind UKIP.

The full result:

LD 1779 (47.38%)
Con 1336 (35.58%)
UKIP 257 (6.84%)
Lab 225 (5.99%)
Green 158 (4.21%)
In the by-election, the Conservatives claimed, entirely falsely, that Wendy Orrell didn’t live in Stepping Hill ward.  In reality, Wendy has lived locally for forty years and was the only candidate who did live in the ward.  Following legal threats, they admitted the mistake and printed a retraction, but still haven’t apologised.

Thank you to everyone across Stockport who gave the Liberal Demcrats your support in the European elections last week.

For the first time ever, the Liberal Democrats topped the vote across the whole of Stockport Borough and also won both Cheadle and Hazel Grove parliamentary constituencies.

Across the whole country only 11 local authority areas had higher Lib Dem votes than Stockport.
You returned our hard working MEP Chris Davies to fight our corner in Europe.

All our Lib Dem Members of the European Parliament will be working hard to get the best deal for Britain and make Europe work for us.

Stronger together - poorer apart.

Help us reform parliament in Britain and Change Politics for Good:

I want the right to sack my MP

I want to know MPs can’t be bought
off by party donors

I want the right to find out what
government is doing

I want the power of government
to be cut down

I want my vote to count

Visit TakeBackPower.org and read the full plan for reform: 100 Days to Save Democracy. Sign the petition, spread the word and join the campaign online.

Read Mark Hunter’s views on the MPs’ expenses scandal at AboutMyArea.

Stuart Bodsworth is backing a new campaign to help local people save money and reduce their impact on the environment.

The Love Food hate waste campaign was relaunched this week in Manchester. Since the Love Food Hate Waste campaign was first launched in 2007, research shows that 1.8 million more UK households are now taking steps to cut back on the amount of food they throw away, resulting in an overall saving of £296 million a year, stopping 137,000 tonnes of food being thrown away. This prevents 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases being emitted, which is the same carbon impact as taking 100,000 return flights to Australia out of the skies.

The campaign was set up after research found that 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away from UK homes each year - a third of the food we buy. The cost to consumers of wasted food is £10 billion a year Love Food Hate Waste’s role is to provide practical help to cut back on this waste.

WRAP’s revitalised campaign is designed to help even more people reduce their bills and their carbon footprint.

For more details and useful tips and advice visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com