Heald Green and Long Lane Ratepayers Association is a

Ratepayers' Association Ratepayers' Association in the United Kingdom and other countries is a name used by a political party or electoral alliance contesting a local election to represent the interests of those who pay rates to the municipal government. In Canada a rat ...

in the

Heald Green ward Heald is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anthony Heald (born 1944), American actor * Brad Heald (born 1983), Australian bass guitarist * Chloe Heald, British TV personality and Playboy model * Clare Heald (1895–1973), Engl ...

of the

Metropolitan Borough of Stockport The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, south-east of central Manchester. As well as the towns of Stockport, Bredbury and Marple, it includes the outlying areas of Hazel Grov ...

. In every

local election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

since its creation in 1927, independents sponsored by the association have held the council seats in the ward. The association has also supplied three mayors and two deputy mayors since the ward became a part of Stockport in 1974. The association states that it does not have a manifesto or party policies, instead sponsoring councillors who live in the area to represent the community.

History

The association was formed in 1927 following the creation of the Heald Green electoral ward. In 1962, the ratepayers' launched a community magazine named ''CONTACT''. The ratepayers' association would become entangled with the construction and development of runways at

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

several times through its history. As far back as April 1960, the association joined forces with the

Hale Barns Hale Barns is a village near Altrincham in Greater Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre, 2 miles west of Manchester Airport and close to the River Bollin. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 9,736. Medieval ...

and

Handforth Handforth is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 6,266. In the 1960s and 1970s, two overspill housing estates, Spath Lane in Handforth, and Colshaw Farm nearby in Wi ...

ratepayer associations to spearhead opposition against the development of the new runways, due to

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...

concerns. During a meeting of the Manchester Airport Consultative Committee, founded by the airport in 1969, the chair stated "we are watching the airport consultative committee like hawks and we shall not hesitate to give it a kick in the right place." In 1997, the group began campaigning alongside local groups such as the Manchester Airport Joint Action Group and the Stockport Campaign Against Runway Extension against the construction of Runway 2. Councillor Peter Burns made a statement on the runway in 2005, nearly four years following its construction amid local complaints: "I feel that Manchester Airport has already broken an undertaking given to residents under the flight path of this runway - and it had only been open for 102 hours." A spokesperson for Manchester Airport stated that due to debris, planes were forced to land on the second runway from the

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

direction.

Electoral performance

References

External links

Official website
{{British political parties 1927 establishments in England Locally based political parties in England