Council Candidate Statement: Derek Heffernan (Liberal Democrat, Saddleworth North)
Derek Heffernan, pictured during the hustings debate in Dobcross last Thursday.
Derek Heffernan has emphasised his personal experience and contacts, as he aims to win another term as a borough councillor for Saddleworth North.
Cllr Heffernan, a Liberal Democrat, also used last Thursday’s hustings debate in Dobcross to warn against a return to Labour control of Oldham Council, saying services in Saddleworth had been “pretty poor” under Labour in the past.
Having spent 16 years on the borough council, and 24 years on the parish, Cllr Heffernan said in his opening statement to the meeting that his main philosophy as a politician was to be “open and honest” with local people.
He said: “If you ask me something and I can’t answer it, I’m very happy to say I can’t answer it and I’ll find out. If I can’t do anything and I know I can’t do anything I’ll be very honest and say no.”
Cllr Heffernan continued: “If I can do something about it I will do something about it, and the answer there is I will do my best. And quite often I am successful.”
He added: “I have a lot of experience. I know people inside and outside the council who affect the lives of people in Saddleworth. And I have a pretty good bunch of people behind me, who have other contacts than I have.”
Cllr Heffernan, who lives in Austerlands, went on: “So if you vote for me, which you have done for many years, you will get the back-up not only of myself, but of other people. I’ve lived 37 years here, I know and have lived most of the problems, and know and have done something about many of them.”
On how the Lib Dems have run the borough council, Cllr Heffernan commented: “In the last three years, we have succeeded in balancing a budget, which this coming year has meant savings of £41m. That is on top of two other lots of savings in the previous two years. Altogether in three years it is in the region of £80m.”
He added: “Services are affected by savings, but the aim has been to reduce the impact of those savings on the most vulnerable. And that is what I’ve been part of. One of my main responsibilities has been with people with learning disabilities.”
Cllr Heffernan also told the audience that, away from the political arena, he has been involved in local charities over many years, in particular Macmillan Cancer Support.
You can listen to Cllr Heffernan’s opening statement in full here.
The debate took place at The Swan in Dobcross last Thursday, and you can read a Saddleworth News article about it here.
The other candidates in Saddleworth North, which covers Dobcross, Diggle, Delph, Denshaw, Scouthead and Austerlands, are Labour’s Sean Fielding (interview here), Independent Ken Hulme (interview here) and Phil Sewell of the Conservatives. I’ll be publishing details of their statements over the coming days.
Cllr Heffernan is also standing in the Springhead Higher ward of Saddleworth Parish Council, which covers part of Springhead, as well as Scouthead and Austerlands. There are four candidates competing for two seats. You can hear from Lib Dem Barbara Beeley here and Independent candidate Rob Knotts here. Also standing is Conservative Natalie Wolstenhulme.
Polling day is 5 May. For full Saddleworth News coverage of the Saddleworth Parish Council election go here, and articles about the Oldham Council election are here.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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