WHO will get your vote when Saddleworth and Oldham go to the polls on Thursday, May 2?

In the local elections, voters will cast their choice of who they want to elect to represent them on Saddleworth Parish Council and Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council.

In the borough elections, one seat will be contested in each of the 20 wards in Oldham, including three wards in Saddleworth: Saddleworth North, Saddleworth South, and Saddleworth West and Lees.

Each ward is represented by three borough councillors, with one up for election each year.

Residents who are registered to vote can have their say in all the elections based on where they live. You will receive a poll card telling you where to vote.

The counts for all elections will take place from 10pm onwards on May 2 in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Civic Centre.

Saddleworth West and Lees candidates

Adrian Alexander – Labour

I arrived in Oldham in 1979 to play rugby league for Oldham where I met my wife.

Ginny and I have worked tirelessly for the last eight years in Saddleworth West and Lees, improving roads, green initiatives such as Lees Eco Park, and the stopping of the awful development on Knowls Valley. Unfortunately, the builders have appealed and the fight goes on.

Furthermore, for the last two years I have chaired the Saddleworth and Lees District Committee.

I am now trying to develop the area tastefully for main street businesses and improve security for the residents.

Sam Al-Hamdani – Liberal Democrat

I am a local councillor, born and bred in Saddleworth and living in Lees. My day job is combatting corporate tax avoidance as part of the Fair Tax Mark.

As a local parish councillor, I have been working hard both on crucial issues that affect the whole community.

These include: protecting the green spaces of Thornley Brook and Ashbrook, individual problems for constituents, whether it is support for residents denied disability benefits, home security, or the everyday annoyance of potholes.

The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework has put our green spaces under threat. I’m fighting to ensure that development happens on brownfield sites and to ensure that it benefits our community, not takes away our crucial green space.

Local services are being lost. We must save them. Springhead Post Office has closed. I am fighting to get it replaced.

There isn’t an endless pot of money, but residents don’t feel that spending is going on things that make a difference. Oldham Council is withholding money from Saddleworth. We must demand better from the Council.

As a local front-line councillor, I will ensure that people are heard, that they get honest support when they need it, and that the council proves that it spends your money fairly and equitably.

The council must deliver more for the community. A vote for me is a vote for a fairer, more open council. As a borough councillor, I can deliver for my community. I will demand the best for you.

Paul ‘Boots’ Errock

My name is Paul (Boots) Errock and I have worked and lived in Saddleworth and Lees all my adult life.

Many of my family, friends and loved ones also live in the area.

Married for 33 years I have two grown-up children. My parents also lived in Saddleworth and Lees.

I am a bricklayer by trade and formed Marshall Errock Construction Ltd, in 1983. The head office is in Lees and the company operates nationally.

I love the area, the people, our community, and care very much about it what is happening here.

Saddleworth First is about local investment and representation of:

schools
healthcare
job creation
law & order
regeneration
welfare
youth clubs
public toilets
re-paving
roads
public park investment
community centres
sports
leisure
charities
entertainment.

Make your vote, make a difference.

Tom Lord – Conservative

Tom, a Legal Aid criminal barrister, is standing for election to Oldham Borough Council and Saddleworth Parish Council on May 2.

He is campaigning in the Saddleworth West and Lees ward for Borough and for Springhead Lower and Grotton on the Parish Council.

Tom helps disadvantaged children in education and enjoys running and climbing.

Paul Taylor – UKIP

In the local election of councillors for Oldham, to be held on May 2, the local branch of UK Independent Party (UKIP) is fielding candidates in all three Saddleworth wards, as well as 11 others across the borough.

Saddleworth West & Lees candidate is Paul Taylor MSc MBA having spent over 30 years of GMC Fire Service, becoming the commander in charge of the Oldham area.

As such, he is fully aware of the issues that are blighting our local communities: anti-social behaviour, drug misuse and dealing, fly tipping, over occupation of rented properties, unfair social housing criteria, GP demand, NHS demand, destruction of our green spaces.

Local issues are more than just potholes and wonky street lights; they are those that cause anxiety, stress and detract from your quality of life.

The above issues are why you are asked to vote UKIP in these elections to make the difference we all want by taking back control of our democracy at local level.