Rochdale Liberal Democrats Announce New Chairman

Reporter: Kirsty Rigg
Date online: 24/11/2008

A brand new chairman has taken over at the Rochdale Liberal Democrats. 

Rochdale born and bred Hilary Rodgers, who lives in Healey, has taken the throne as the new constituency chairman, and will oversee the work of the Cabinet councillors.

Hilary was voted in at the Liberal Democrats Annual Group Meeting last week and takes over from outgoing chairman John Rodgers.

She said: “I am delighted that my local party members have shown their faith in me by backing me as their next chair. This year, we had some excellent local election results, which have seen us increase our majority on the council yet again. I will be working my hardest to make sure that this success continues.

Hilary added: “The Liberal Democrats in Rochdale are a growing and progressive party. We have full control of the council and the local MP, which shows that people believe in what we campaign and stand for. This year has been a busy year for us and we have campaigned on many big issues such as saving our post offices and card accounts, increasing recycling, more investment in our public transport and cutting crime. I believe that it is important that our party continues to campaign on the issues that really matter to local residents and this is something I will be pushing next year as chair of the party.”

Leader of Council Alan Taylor said: “I would like to say a big thank you to our outgoing chair, John Rodgers, for all of the hard work and dedication that he has shown. I think Hilary was an excellent choice and I am sure she is going to be a successful chair for us. She has always been a hard working campaigner in Healey and I know she will now be working hard for the rest of our constituency as well. She has my full support and I look forward to working with her.”