SADDLEWORTH’S MP has told of her devastation at seeing the area scarred by moorland fire.
But Debbie Abrahams has hopes it can benefit from the election on new Mayor of Greater Manchester, Bev Craig.
Fire personnel are still working at Dove Stone Reservoir weeks after the blaze broke out and despite recent rain.
Now the focus is starting to turn towards the question, ‘Now can large fires like that be prevented?’
And Ms Abrahams believes new Prime Minister Andy Burnham can play a part having seen for himself what the location has to offer.
In 2019, the then Mayor of Greater Manchester visited and heard of the issues that have been in plain sight this year.
Meeting with Dr Andrew Taylor, chair of the Greenfield and Grasscroft Residents Association, and others concerned, he heard about problems including moorland fires.
Back then, he said: “You will be hard pressed to find a more picturesque spot in Manchester. It’s amazing.
“We want to support the management group at the site to see if there is more we can do to help them. I hope we can create a way forward that everybody can get behind.”
Now he is at Number 10 Downing Street, Ms Abrahams hopes his previous experience can help.
She said: “We have a Prime Minister who has spent a lot of time around the area, including a few years ago coming to Dove Stone and having a public meeting there, specifically on the issues we’ve just had, fires at the time.
“He made the pledge around Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and I’m really, really grateful to them over the last few weeks for all that they’ve done.
“But also to make sure statutory agencies do their job and organisations like United Utilities are held to account.”
Like many people in Saddleworth, Ms Abrahams has had to keep a watching brief as the Dove Stone fire was at its peak.
But she told how she has been keen to get involved in helping by adding: “My normal week is Monday to Thursday in Parliament, and then I’m back home.
“This has been my home for 40-odd years. I’m back here and this is where I live. It’s where I hold so dear. Lots of friends and community members that I really cherish.
“So I will always make sure that they are a priority, both in terms of the work that I do, but more generally.
“When the first outbreak happened and I was in Parliament then. I was in London on the Monday, but I was here knocking doors just to see that everybody was all right, if there were any concerns around smoke that they’d felt, that there was a lack of communication and so on.
“But the knock that we did, people were very grateful, and that’s what I keep trying to do.”
Mr Burnham’s elevation to being Prime Minister meant a new Mayor of Greater Manchester had to be found.
Labour’s Bev Craig won that election and Ms Abrahams told her she will make sure Saddleworth is not forgotten.
She told Saddleworth Independent: “I am going to hold her to her pledge about making sure that areas across Greater Manchester, including here in Saddleworth and the rest of Oldham, get their fair share of the growth that we’ve seen.
“Andy has done a fantastic job. Greater Manchester’s growing at twice the rate of the rest of the country, we need to see a little bit of that.”
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