Our Policies

Our Policies

Economy

We want Middleton to become a thriving centre of commerce and help local businesses be the successes they want to be. To enable this Middleton should have a Business Zone. A Middleton Business Zone will immediately help new start-ups by applying a two-year business rates holiday regardless of the business size.

We will create a new Middleton Business Forum (MBF), this forum will help our existing businesses network and make sure local independent businesses have a strong voice. By co-operating in the forum businesses could share resources and their experiences.

We also want a Business Improvement District (BID) that initially would be centred on Middleton town centre, but eventually, and if successful benefit other parts of the town. In the BID area, established local businesses would contribute through a mutually agreed levy on their business rates. This levy will be used to help develop schemes that benefit the BID area, for example, schemes aimed at making Middleton an attractive commercial area.

We believe that, as with residential properties, empty commercial property should attract a surcharge on their business rates thereby encouraging fuller occupancy and discouraging some of the speculative property purchases seen in the town.

The town needs a strong Town Centre manager, and we believe the brief for the job needs to be extended to cover not just the centre but the whole of Middleton. The main task of this role should be to attract investment into Middleton. We have a purpose-built square in Middleton Gardens that, as well as hosting the market, could be used much more effectively too. We believe that by hosting events each weekend and other times, the towns footfall could be increased massively, and this increase will fuel the need for commercial spaces and new businesses.

Why don’t we use empty commercial spaces to attach community pop-ups, and allow new small businesses to rent a small space for a small rent?

Scrapping of car parking fees for council car parking could be achieved easily and would be funded by increased business rate income from businesses attracted to the town centre.

If our Middleton economic approach was adopted Middleton’s commercial success would turn a corner for the benefit of all who live and work here.

Homes

We need and will support the building of new and affordable homes in Middleton. But not at any ecological cost.

Recent waves of new build housing have focused on building executive homes, and often the developer’s promise of building some limited affordable housing doesn’t materialise.

We believe the focus needs to be on building lower-cost housing stock for people to buy, along with rental stock that people can afford. We want speculative purchasing by potential landlords who simply want to make a quick profit stopped wherever possible, as this often leads to inflated rental prices because of the lack of availability.

The demand on existing infrastructure such as roads, water, and sewage is seemingly poorly calculated when developers propose new building schemes. This often results in breakages and the need for protracted repairs. We ask that full consideration is given to the strain on existing infrastructure and that as part of the planning process future requirements are thoroughly scoped out.

Brownfield sites should always be used for new housing developments, a stop to the recent green belt and green spaces land grab is needed. We have and will continue to vote against all development on our green spaces and green belt.

We’d like to work in partnership with others to achieve matched funding for improvements to our green spaces, this will help promote healthier lifestyles and active living.

Roads and transport

We oppose the creation of a new pedestrian crossing between Assheton Way and Oldham Road at Taylor Street as we believe this will cause traffic chaos in an already saturated traffic area. Instead, we have written to Transport for Greater Manchester proposing that the Oldham Road / Townley Street junction have a pedestrian crossing provision included in the junction traffic signals. This will be of greater benefit than the proposed single crossing and will bring this junction’s signalling in line with the standards for this crossing layout.

Our buses also need to be better connected, not just to Manchester, Oldham, and Rochdale but east, west, and locally.

A Metrolink connected Middleton is something we can support but only once our town has had significant investment so that Middleton is a destination to come and visit by tram and not simply a means of leaving Middleton to go elsewhere. Our town needs to be thriving before the trams start arriving!

Cycle lines if installed should be well maintained, this could encourage cyclists to use them more. We oppose the creation of Castleton-style cycle line provision in Middleton.

More EV charging points are needed especially when on-street parking is the only option.

Commercial EV charging stations should always be located away from residential areas.

Local accountability

We want greater accountability from those who represent us. Local democracy is being eroded and this must change.

Our Township Committee meetings need to be more open. Questions from the public whether they be written, received in advance, or delivered on the evening need to be addressed properly and procedurally with consideration given to those residents present at the committee. It isn’t acceptable to reject and dismiss residents’ questions. Sufficient time must be allocated and increased if necessary to hear questions from residents. The people of this town want a township meeting that is fit for purpose, where councillors are respectful, the meeting is flexible and where residents’ concerns are taken on board and solutions are brought forward.

We will introduce neighbourhood community forums for residents to meet with councillor officers and get answers to their questions.
Education

We insist on proper planning for educational needs requirements on all new housing developments in the town. All too often this isn’t considered in a timely manner and provision becomes hap-hazard.

We’re mindful of the safety of parents and children on the way to and from school. We will continue to propose safer walking routes such as the one proposed by MIP in 2022/23. We recently asked for a new pavement to be installed on the field side of Springfield Road to help protect the parents and children at Parish Primary School, only for this to be ridiculed and rejected by local Labour. This simply isn’t acceptable.

Health and social care

We’d like to work with local bodies on solutions to address the disparity in access to health and care provision in our town. We’ll push to be included on the relevant NHS boards and/or governing bodies to make sure your views and experiences are shared.

We demand regular updates for residents from our primary care providers, just like those given to residents in Heywood. We are keen to work more closely with local Primary Care Network leaders to enable this.

Youth engagement

Working with Your Trust and Youth Services we want to see an improved offer for our children. Middleton Arena is a fantastic yet underused venue. We should use this space to provide regular experiences for our children. An offer for the more academically minded could include I.T. courses and public speaking, and for children less academically minded vocational courses such as mechanics and physical training. Both could be overarched with learning about mental health improvement, healthy living, gang violence, and social awareness amongst others.

Outdoor play provision needs improvement too, we’d like to see Limefields play park enhanced, this could be achieved by working with charities and sports bodies.

Policing

Middleton needs a visible police presence; we also want the CCTV cameras installed that will cover the entire town centre that local politicians have been talking about for at least three years.

Working with neighbourhood community forums we’ll identify areas that may benefit from a local Neighbourhood Watch scheme and work with residents to get them up and running.

Renewal and regeneration

The town centre of Middleton needs a boost, our town centre is in dire need. As mentioned in our ‘Economy’ section, this boost comes from schemes designed specifically for the town, a new Business Zone, a Business Forum, and a BID will have a direct effect on the commercial viability of new start-ups in the town. Key too is the recruitment of an active Town Centre manager.

We do not support making Market Place into a pedestrianised zone, as we feel this could if successful drive more businesses out of the gardens and simply move the problem from one part of town to another. We propose making Market Place one way in the direction of Boarshaw, the benefit of this proposal helps the existing businesses in Market Place as it will allow for the creation of parking spaces. Traffic coming from Boarshaw will be diverted left and through derelict land exiting at a new junction with Townley Street by Lodge Mill.

A relaxation of licencing laws in areas such as Middleton Shopping Centre and Middleton Gardens could help to bring more business and customers into the town.

Heritage

Middleton’s heritage is vast and of national significance, however, in recent times a lack of enforcement by the council has resulted in the loss of material and a general undermining of our heritage offer. We demand that changes are made at the council to make sure enforcement is a top priority else we will make the same mistakes again with investment. Long Street shops are an example of grant money spent to make them look the part but without enforcement, they all too soon start to look shoddy at best.

We would like to help make sure Lodge Mill is recognised as a heritage asset. This building should be added as a listed building. This will protect it and open up more avenues for investment.

The Providence Chapel site needs redevelopment which we fully support.