Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, presented Citizen’s Awards to two long-standing members of the Friends of the Horses Field Committee.
Sue Doyle and Pat Quinn have retired as Secretary and Minute Secretary this year – the Committee was formed in the early 1990s to save Horses Field – a field on the boundary between Tameside and Stockport – from development proposals.
Gwynne has worked with this group as Councillor for Denton West and then as MP for 25 years now and presented the awards to Sue and Pat for all their hard work over the years.
The presentation was also a celebration of the announcement yesterday (23 October) that the Horses Field is to be added to the Greater Manchester Green Belt – the strongest protection the land can have. This is the culmination of almost three decades of campaigning.
Gwynne had suggested this for the Tameside Unitary Development Plan at the last review, and for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, whilst Councillor Brenda Warrington – who joined Gwynne to present the awards – pushed really hard to secure this commitment from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Andrew Gwynne said:
“It was an absolute pleasure to present my Citizen’s Awards to Sue and Pat in recognition of all their hard work with the Friends of the Horses Field Committee over the years.
“This is a really special green space, and means a great deal to me. For one thing, as MP for Denton and Reddish, I think it’s a really important shared space between two communities – in fact, this is demonstrated by the fact that Pat lives in Reddish and Sue lives in Denton.
“I don’t think there can be a more fitting “retirement” present for Sue and Pat than the news that Horses Field is now part of the Greater Manchester Green Belt – a very happy ending after decades of campaigning!”
