Community champion Barbara bows out

Councillor Barbara Beeley (third from the left) bids farewell to Saddleworth and Lees District Partnership colleagues (from the left), Councillors Val Sedgwick and John McCann, community development officer Christine Wilson, district co-ordinator Lisa MacDonald, and Councillor Garth Harkness

A councillor hailed as a community champion is to stand down from the council.

Barbara Beeley, Lib-Dem councillor for Saddleworth West and Lees and chairman of Saddleworth and Lees District Partnership, will not be seeking re-election to Oldham Council at the end of her current four-year term in May.

Warmly praised by fellow councillors for her extensive involvement in local matters, Councillor Beeley, a council member for seven years, said: “A tremendous thank you should go to the district team who never flinched when I came up with crazy ideas, such as having a stall on the Uppermill market to hand out information leaflets to encourage take up of free insulation, even though it was below freezing!”

At a farewell ceremony for officers, The Peak District National Park Authority thanked Councillor Beeley, whose ward includes Dovestone reservoir, for her work as Oldham Council’s representative.