LABOUR have entered into an alliance with the Liberal Democrats to take control of Trafford Council with the new coalition pledging to abolish the green bin charge, scrap the Timperley Wedge and Turn Moss developments and build homes exclusively on brownfield sites.

The deal was hammered out at a council meeting at town hall on Monday night.

During crunch talks, Labour agreed to adopt significant parts of the Lib-Dem manifesto, in exchange for the Lib-Dems lending their support to Labour’s nomination of Andrew Western as Leader of the Council.

The deal hinges on Labour protecting Trafford’s green belt with the agreement stipulating that “the Labour administration will adopt a brown field first approach to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework proposals”.

The deal says it is a “priority” to build affordable homes on brown field sites in Trafford Park and scrap plans for housing at Timperley Wedge.
The two parties agreed that the green bin ‘tax’ should be abolished next year.

The new coalition also committed to “addressing the pot hole problem once and for all” with a new Highways Investment Programme.

The agreement also acknowledged that closer scrutiny of the Amey contract is needed.

The deal will be considered a coup for the Lib-Dems who only have two seats in the Council. 

The party feared that their influence at town hall would be further reduced after they lost one of their three seats to the Conservatives in the local elections.

But the party has negotiated itself into a position of strength with key elements of their manifesto now guaranteed by a Labour council.

Lib-Dem councillors cautioned their Labour colleagues that the agreement must be honoured in exchange for their continued support.

“The Liberal Democrats have taken the decision to support the Labour Party to form a minority administration on the basis of supporting their nomination for Leader of the council”, reads the agreement.

“This agreement will bring real improvements to the people of Trafford and our community, and will enact many of our manifesto promises.”
“Should any part of this agreement not be honoured the Liberal Democrats will withdraw their support of the Labour administration.”

The agreement commits Labour to enforce a number of Lib-Dem policies, including addressing parking problems in Timperley Village, improving youth services, building more affordable homes and meeting carbon emissions targets.