Andy Burnham went for a stroll over the high street in Ashton in Makerfield accompanied by two serving police officers, to chat to them and hear their views, and listen to what feel needs changing.
After that, Andy Burnham explained a bit more about his plans if he were to get elected as Makerfield MP.
Expanding the Bee Network and a Youth Zone in Ashton
The Bee Network, Burnham’s political ‘baby’, means more regular buses, a £2 cap on journeys, bus passes valid at all times instead of only after 9.30am. Plans are now to incorporate rail and build a Golborne railway station in Golborne, and as these two steps have already been set in motion, a change of mayoral leadership will not affect them.
Young people need somewhere to go and something to do and, for the youth in Ashton, Burnham is planning to open up a Youth Zone, similar to the highly successful one in Wigan and the branch in Leigh, and the Wigan Youth Zone is happy to help with facilitating that.
Hoping to change how Westminster treats the region
Burnham feels that at the moment authorities don’t have enough accountability, and that is one of the things he wants to change. He said the fact that Platt Bridge suffered bad floods in 2015 and again in 2025 showed that not enough had been done to prevent flooding or even have a warning system in place for residents, in spite of promises made in 2015.
When asked what he will be able to do for the region as MP that he can’t do as mayor, he explained that as mayor ,and now during this campaign, he has seen and heard what the main problems are in Makerfield, and he feels that the area needs government funding to improve things, funding that is, at the moment, mainly sent to areas less deprived and therefore in less need of urgent change.
Revive the high streets, help businesses and fight crime
Another point Burnham made is that at the moment local councils don’t have the powers to block vape shops from opening in any business premises as they don’t require special planning permission, he wants Parliament to change the law to give local councils just that power, to block vape shops blighting the high-street. In order to help local high streets, he wants to tax large warehouses more and reduce tax for small businesses.
Burnham said that none of these changes will happen overnight, but he hopes constituents will start to see the results soon once he gets the mandate to represent Makerfield in parliament.
He wants to roll out crime fighting measures similar to ‘Operation Vulcan’ in Makerfield and beyond, closing ‘dodgy’ shops that act as fronts for organised crime, and putting ‘place before points’. A crack down on illegal e-bikes through changes in the law is also on his list, as is a higher police presence on the streets and more raids to fight drugs and crime.
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