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Stockport Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr Mark Hunter, has announced he will step back from his position as group leader and Leader of the Council at the group’s AGM in May – though he will continue as a councillor for his home ward of Cheadle Hulme South.

Mark became leader of Stockport Council in 2022 when the Liberal Democrats again became the largest party at the Town Hall – just one seat short of an overall majority. He was previously leader 2002-2005, before being elected as Member of Parliament for Cheadle, a constituency he represented for 10 years. He remains the only person to have led Stockport Council on two separate occasions.

First elected as a Tameside councillor in 1980 at just 22, Mark served for nine years before moving to Stockport with his family in 1990. He won a seat on Stockport Council in 1996 representing Marple North Ward and became leader in 2002. Following the sad death of Patsy Calton in 2005, he was selected as parliamentary candidate for Cheadle and entered Westminster after a by-election in July.

Mark said

“It has been a privilege to lead Stockport council at such an exciting time with our district centres thriving, the town centre’s transformation continuing at pace, and Stockport recognised as the best place to live in the North West by The Sunday Times in 2024.

“After careful consideration, I have decided that this is the right time for me to pass on responsibility for leading the Liberal Democrat group and the Council to the next generation. Stockport is in a great position to continue moving forward. With our vision, drive and ambition we are well set for future success. I would like to thank all my colleagues, and the members and officers who work tirelessly to ensure our borough has such a well-run local authority. Working together, we have achieved a great deal but much more remains to be done.

“With a career in public service stretching back 45 years, it is time for me to consider what I want to do next. With two grandchildren already, I will not be short of things to do, and I remain open to new opportunities in public life where my experience may be of benefit. It’s the start of a new chapter for me personally and I am very much looking forward to the future.”

Deputy Leader of Stockport Council, Cllr Mark Roberts, has spoken out at the latest guidance from the government over the latest legal guidance over the newly coined term ‘grey belt’. The new classification will require councils across the country to reassess their Green Belt land and force them to release much of it for development to meet Labour’s massively increased housing targets.

“With this developers’ charter to concrete over the Green Belt, Labour have decided to simply rename much-valued Green Belt as the ‘grey belt’ and hope that residents will shrug their shoulders. It isn’t just previously developed land, as they had originally promised.

“The Labour government are so hell-bent on concreting over our green spaces that they are even proposing changes to the statutory consultees for planning. This includes removing Sport England from the list, who have consistently advocated for the protection of our open spaces where sports are played, despite us facing a national obesity crisis.

“Our greenspaces give us a huge improvement to our quality of life, as well as critical ecological benefits, regardless of what a London-based Labour government arbitrarily decides should be its label.”

The guidance was given as an update to the government’s National Planning Policy Framework. Councils expected the clarification to be given late last year, it was then promised in January but it still didn’t arrive until two months later, leaving far less time now to draw up our Local Plan.

“Labour’s heavy-handed approach to planning has caused chaos in councils up and down the country, alongside joy in the offices of developers. We have now been forced to rip up the plan we devised last summer because the government has doubled our housing target and tied our hands behind our back. They have completely changed the game. It is sad to see that Labour have fallen into the same trap as the previous Conservative government – they now sit squarely on the side of developers, not residents.

“Our draft Local Plan was a brownfield first solution that would have built the much-needed homes where they were needed in Stockport. Labour have cast that aside and are instead trying to give developers free reign to build on the most profitable land available. This means green spaces will be bulldozed, whereas the eyesores that are brownfield sites will remain untouched for generations. They have disregarded local voices and rigged the game in favour of developers. They have called their planning work a ‘comprehensive modernisation of Green Belt’, but it feels more like a national review and contraction of Green Belt by the back door.”

After an at times heated debate at Stockport Town Hall, the Council finally voted to adopt the Liberal Democrat budget for the next financial year by 32 votes to 27, with the three Green Party councillors also supporting the proposals.

Labour failed to put forward an alternative budget or even an amendment to the proposals but voted against the entire budget.

Despite the difficulties in trying to protect services, the Council is required to find £20million of savings for the coming year as a direct result of underfunding by successive governments.

It is a legal requirement for each local authority to pass a balanced budget. This year a record thirty councils have requested emergency support from central government to do so, which they will ultimately have to pay back.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Mark Hunter, said:-

“I’m disappointed but not altogether surprised by the lack of support from government, and this has led to us having to take some very tough decisions. We have simply been faced with a whole series of unpalatable options, but our priorities remain protecting the vulnerable, defending demand led services such as Adults and Children’s social care and ensuring front line services are properly funded.

“Despite all the difficulties, we are up for the challenge. Stockport has an indomitable, can-do spirit, and it is that spirit and determination that will see us through these tough times.

“I remain positive and ambitious for Stockport and all our residents and, by working together in partnership, we have proved we are a borough on the up. Much has been achieved already, but the best is yet to come!”.

Cabinet Member for Finances, Jilly Julian said,

“There were incredibly difficult decisions that needed to be made in this budget. None of us entered local politics to make such tough choices, but the financial climate means that we must take these types of decisions must be made if we want to keep Stockport moving forward.

“There are cautionary tales in every corner of the country, in recent times we’ve seen more councils than ever before declaring bankruptcy, or applying to government for emergency financial support. To be clear, this means asset stripping the borough, and slashing funding for any sort of non-statutory community work. They are options we simply will not consider in Stockport.”