Denton & Reddish Constituency

The constituency comprises the former townships of Audenshaw, Denton, Dukinfield and Reddish (including parts of Heaton Chapel and Heaton Norris) and the old village of Haughton Green.

It currently has around 65,000 electors. Andrew Bennett was the MP from the seat’s creation in 1983 to 2005, when Andrew Gwynne became the new MP for the area.

Its traditional industries were cotton spinning, hatting and engineering. Today it has a wide range of industries from Celmac and Vitafoam in Dukinfield, Scapa UK and the Ashton Moss strategic regional employment site in Audenshaw, Nelstrops in Heaton Norris and Malbern and System 3 in Denton. The Crown Point North and Morrisons retail developments opened in Denton town centre in 2004, and a further large retail scheme is under consideration for the former Oldham Batteries site in the town.

There are large areas of terraced houses in Reddish, central Denton and Dukinfield. Haughton Green includes a former Manchester overspill estate. Much of Denton West, Heaton Chapel and Audenshaw have 1940s suburban housing, occupied by people who originally moved out of Manchester.

The constituency follows the River Tame from the centre of Stockport almost to the centre of Stalybridge. The Tame Valley is for the most part an attractive countryside park. The constituency is divided by the M60 and M67 motorways, and currently covers five council wards in Tameside MBC (Audenshaw, Denton North East, Denton South, Denton West and Dukinfield) and two council wards in Stockport MBC (Reddish North and Reddish South).