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Election Support from Labour and Greens

The Friends of Dodge Hill contacted all ten candidates standing in the May 2023 local elections. We asked for their support, if elected, for:
1. An independent judicial review into the decision making processes for the job, including why a consultation was not carried out despite a SMBC conservation area management plan being in place requiring one. The review should also consider how the cost of the job escalated to over £400 per square metre. The review must be fully independent and fairly consider evidence presented by both the residents and Stockport Council.
2. A restoration of the historic Yorkstone paving on the south side of Dodge Hill from Roman Road to Wesley Mount. This must done in consultation with residents.

Sadly neither the Conservative candidate nor any of the Liberal Democrat candidates responded. But FoDH are delighted to have received positive responses from both the Green Party and Labour:

Green Party response

Labour Party Response

Friends of Dodge Hill is a community group. It is politically neutral with no affiliation to any party or candidate.

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£500 per Square Metre! Stockport Council’s Paving Shame (Apr 2023)

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FOI: Stockport Council Blows £180,000 on Five Grand Paving Repair (Mar 2023)

Following a Freedom of Information request by the Friends of Dodge Hill we can reveal that Stockport Council spent ‘approximately £180,000’ destroying the heritage Dodge Hill paving and replacing it with cheap flags. FoDH now demands the council launch a full judicial review into the decision-making processes that went into this budget busting, heritage wrecking decision.

Residents’ preferred solution would have been to repair the missing Yorkstone paving with matching stone which the council already owns in storage at their ‘Eco Centre’ – we estimate the cost of this repair would have been £5,000.
– A maintenance plan exists for the Dodge Hill Conservation Area requiring residents to be consulted before such work commences. This heritage safety net was wilfully ignored by the council. They knew they were supposed to do this but purposely chose not to.
– We have emails from councillors dating from 2020 onwards assuring residents that a consultation would take place. It did not.
– Even as the historic paving was being ripped up by the council, a councillor argued that a full consultation had taken place. Only when FoDH asked to see the results of this consultation did the councillor admit that no consultation occurred. Were the councillors lying to residents or were council officials lying to elected representatives? We want answers.
– Stockport Council’s complaints procedures are no more than a council official emailing those council employees responsible to ask if they’ve done anything wrong. Obviously, they say ‘no’ and this is taken at face value. This is considered a full inquiry. They are marking their own homework.
– 48 hours before they ripped up the paving, some residents received a letter asking them not to park on the south side of Dodge Hill so that ‘reconstruction work’ could take place. The letter makes no mention of replacement. The entire job was carried out using deception, lies and a huge wad of your council tax (£4,500 for every home on Dodge Hill). It is an eyesore and a desecration of a 140-year-old heritage site.

The only way to resolve this issue is a full, independent judicial review:
‘Judicial review is when a judge assesses the lawfulness of a decision or action, or a failure to act, by a public body. It is not concerned with the outcome of a decision, but whether or not the law was applied properly and the correct process followed.‘

Thank you for your continued support
The Friends of Dodge Hill Committee

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Stage 2 Complaint: An Unsatisfactory Response from Stockport Council (Jan 2023)

Update from the FoDH Committee

The initial response from the council regarding the ripping up of the historic Dodge Hill paving without consultation was less than satisfactory. In December, we escalated this to a Stage 2 complaint. We have now had their response – and it raises a few issues. Here’s a summary (full version of response via link) and some of the initial thoughts of the Friends of Dodge Hill committee…

1. ‘The management plan does not have any formal legal status and is designed as guidance for officers’ – Wonder what this chap, who the council prosecuted, makes of this non-legal status: http://tiny.cc/9ux3vz. Also, does this mean that residents who have paid considerably extra to ensure work to their properties complied to the plan can claim compensation? Would this apply across all 37 conservation areas in Stockport? Legal advice required.

2. ‘My findings are that there is no requirement to carry out a detailed consultation exercise for maintenance works’ – This is not maintenance, repairing the missing stones would be maintenance – this is replacement of 170 sq metres of heritage. The management plan gives no caveats for classifying work as ‘maintenance’. Also contradicts the guidance given to FoDH by the Victorian Society.

3. ‘[Councillors] have cited ‘ongoing thefts’ of the heritage stones. […] The last [reported theft] was received on the 14th September 2020′ – No thefts over a two and a half year period is hardly ‘ongoing’.

4. ‘The Council are not able to advise whether the Police arrested anyone linked to the thefts. […] This would need to be raised with the Police’ – We know the villains were caught with the stolen flags in the back of their van… what happened next?

5. ‘My findings are that the Council have made efforts to retain and re-use the existing natural stone materials where possible’ – Just not on Dodge Hill (see below).

6. ‘You ask why The Market Place Conservation Area has had a completely new road barrier constructed using York stone paving. […] To clarify, this was because a very limited amount of the stone had been stored and was identified for use in the Town Centre for repairs. This was used for the paved restriction near the Market and the grade 1 listed church’ – The church is indeed Grade 1 listed, but the previously tarmacked (now Yorkstone flagged) road outside is not. Also ‘repairs’ does not include a new build Yorkstone road barrier.

7. ‘The council have spoken to those residents on Dodge Hill who were directly affected by the work. In some cases, there were specific discussions about aspects of the scheme’ – Simply not true – where is their evidence? FoDH were promised a copy of the results of this consultation by a councillor. We’re still waiting.

8. ‘I have been advised that the remaining flags from Dodge Hill are stored at the Eco Centre for future re-use within highways projects within conservation areas’ – AreaS, not specifically Dodge Hill Conservation Area. Like the Victorian benches ‘relocated’ by the council from Heaton Norris Park, it is clear that Heaton Norris is being asset stripped of its historic resources for use in affluent areas of Stockport.

9. ‘ The materials used in Dodge Hill go beyond what would normally be laid in a typical residential street’ – Basically, it’s not as cr@p as the tarmac vandalism we have carried out in the Shaw Heath and Edgeley Conservation Areas – what are you lot complaining about?

Finally… ‘If you are unhappy with my decision, I would advise you to take this matter up with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’

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