THE Labour Party’s constitution puts great emphasis on localism and communities. Indeed, the third objective as stated in the constitution states that the Labour Party aims to, ’…... make communities stronger through collective action and support….’ Presumably, the Bolton Labour Party does not subscribe to this particular objective but picks and chooses which bits of the constitution fits the councillor’s own agenda.

The Harper Green ward covers two towns with one third of the ward in Bolton (Lever Edge) and the other two-thirds in Farnworth. Unfortunately for the Farnworth residents of the Harper Green ward, the three Labour councillors appear to have little interest in the town that they are supposed to represent.

Of huge importance to the people of Farnworth is the proposed Masterplan which seeks investment of £27 million and in many ways is a smaller version of Bolton’s £1.2 billion Masterplan. The Farnworth Masterplan has come about because the people of Farnworth fought back against the 45 years of Bolton-centred investment by the Labour Party that left Farnworth to languish in the background whilst Labour ‘tried to get Bolton right’, or in other words, ‘spent all the money in Bolton’. All of this on the orders of Farnworth’s - including Harper Green - Labour councillors.

Despite, in less than 18 months, Labour losing five councillors that covered all or parts of Farnworth, Harper Green Labour councillors cannot help themselves as they slip back into the ‘Bolton Town Centre is more important to them than Farnworth Town Centre’ mode.

Whilst they continually emphasise the importance of Bolton town centre they fail to come out publicly and support the regeneration of Farnworth.

It did not go unnoticed that not one of the three Harper Green ward Labour Councillors attended any of the open-days in Brackley Street earlier in the year. These open-days were aimed at eliciting residents’ ideas about the future of their town.

The six other councillors (five from Farnworth and Kearsley First and one from UKIP) attended these nine meetings and ensured that there was at least one councillor at every one of these open days.

I have little doubt that there will be much Tory-bashing by the Labour group in the coming months.

Perhaps, Labour feels that by going on the attack, that it will deflect attention from the disastrous effects of its past policies on all of the towns in this borough.

After the local elections in May, I stated publicly, that I felt that we had the opportunity to press the reset button in this borough and move on with a positive approach to the future prospects of ALL of the towns in our borough.

Perhaps Labour councillors should take heed: I see a further three seats lost at next year’s elections should they continue with their current tactics – particularly on the periphery of the borough.

Cllr Paul Heslop

Kearsley Ward