The local MP says joining Greater Manchester is a ‘no-brainer’

Towns on the outskirts of Greater Manchester should join the city-region as part of a major shake-up of councils, an MP has said.

Smaller councils that currently sit within counties, such as in Lancashire and Cheshire, are expected to merge as the two-tier system of local government is scrapped. But the move could also open the door for Greater Manchester to take in areas along the border.

Councils will now be asked to submit their merger proposals to the government. But sources tell the Manchester Evening News that there is one ‘obvious’ place on the outskirts of the city-region that may look to join – and for the local MP there, it’s a ‘no-brainer’.

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High Peak Borough Council, which includes the towns of Buxton and Glossop, is currently part of Derbyshire County Council. But as the county council embarks on a major restructure, High Peak could look at merging with Tameside or Stockport councils – or both.

Glossop already shares some public services with Tameside, including the NHS. The market town which sits just 15 miles east of Manchester, is also home to many Mancunian families – including those who were moved to Gamesley in the 1960s slum clearances.

Speaking to the M.E.N. as the government unveils its English Devolution White Paper, High Peak MP Jon Pearce said it’s a ‘no-brainer’ for his borough to join the city-region. He said: “The reality is, if you look at where our kids go to college, it’s in Greater Manchester.

“If you look at where people are going to hospital, it’s Tameside – a little bit maybe to Chesterfield, but that’s very difficult to get to. And if you look at our trains, we don’t have any trains that go south of Buxton into Derbyshire. All our trains go to Greater Manchester.

“It makes entire economic sense. It’s where people’s jobs are. It’s where people go shopping. It’s where people go to the theatre. It’s the football teams that they support. All of our social and economic connections are in the North.”

The Labour MP said he would not like to see High Peak Borough Council split up and would prefer for the whole borough to merge with Tameside council.

However, he is ‘entirely open minded’ if there is a

‘better idea’, such as part of High Peak joining Stockport.

But he believes ‘there’s only really one choice’ when it comes to staying in Derbyshire or joining Graeter Manchester. He added: “I do think if people look at the choices, the benefits of Greater Manchester and the North as a whole are so significant for everybody.”

However, some local councillors in the area are not entirely convinced. High Peak borough councillor Adrian Hopkinson, who moved to the area from Chesterfield in the 1980s and now represents the Old Glossop ward, says the move has been mooted for decades.

He said: “I came here in 1986 and they were talking about it then. They’ve been on about Glossop [joining Greater Manchester] all that time and there’s a lot of people against it. Some are for it, but some are against it. So I don’t know if it would be that popular.”

Fellow Conservative councillor Linda Grooby, who currently leads the Tory group at High Peak Borough Council, was also sceptical. She said: “I wouldn’t see it as being a good thing to do for High Peak, although I can understand that Glossop is much closer.”

Their comments come as the government unveils its long-awaited English Devolution White Paper. The document, published today (December 16), says that all two tier areas and smaller or failing unitary authorities will be expected to develop reorganisation plans.

For most areas, this will mean creating new unitary councils with a population of 500,000 or more, according to the White Paper – although decisions will be made on a ‘case-by-case basis’. The government says that closing and merging councils could save £2bn.

The M.E.N. understands that the government will write to all two-tier areas, including Derbyshire, in January, asking them to put forward proposals to merge district councils. The first new unitary, or single-tier authorities, are set to be created by April 2027.

However, the M.E.N. understands that the government does not want to break up areas that already have a devolution deal. This includes Derbyshire which is a member of the East Midlands Combined Authority where voters elected their first mayor in May.

Nevertheless, Henri Murison, who is the chief executive of the business-led think tank the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, believes the High Peak should be allowed to join Greater Manchester as part of the shake-up. He said: “The Hope Valley line is a key economic link between Sheffield and Manchester and the communities along it are conclusively part of the northern travel to work area.

“Towns like Glossop are as much part of Greater Manchester as Stalybridge or Heaton Chapel. The 90,000 people there use many of the same services, such as in health, making this the right footprint for public service reform as well as transport.

“Derby and its neighbouring communities belong in the East Midlands, which I hope expands to include Leicestershire through this same process, and I wish them all well following local government re-organisation.”

High Peak Borough Council and Tameside Council have been approached for comment.