Reform UK - Newton East

31/05/2026

Good to see the High Street resurfacing begin 🚧👍

31/05/2026

🚧 High Street Roadworks

Today the High Street is being resurfaced. It will reopen tomorrow and then be closed again for the following two Sundays.

29/05/2026

🚨 Leader's Update - George Woodward - St Helens Borough Council

We're at the end of week three now and settling into our roles as Leader, Dep Leaders, Cabinet Members, and Ward Members. It's still a surreal honour to have been elected as your representatives across our borough.

It was an absolute pleasure on Sunday to attend the Minster Making special service at St Helens Minster (formerly St Helens Parish Church) where we were warmly welcomed by the congregation to mark this new day for the church.

This week we've been getting to grips with important council business and familiarising ourselves with the huge portfolios that each member will oversee.

Our first introductory Cabinet Meeting is next week where we will vote to re-draft our Local Plan - which determines how land is developed across the borough. We shall be refocussing our land use towards a greater emphasis on densifying urban areas to revitalise town centres, rather than concreting over green spaces.

At the July Cabinet Meeting, we shall be fulfilling a key campaign priority by implementing Article 4 to force all HMOs to go through planning. This won't ban HMOs altogether - where appropriate, they are a useful tool for diversifying housing stock - but it will give us valuable control through planning and also importantly give residents the opportunity to make your voice heard by objecting.

I've also begun to set our cultural bearing too. I'm pleased to announce that St Helens Council will not be engaging with, nor funding Refugees Week this year. The previous administration had earmarked £60,000 of tax payer money to pay for the event. In light of the illegal immigration emergency facing Britain, we don't think that this is an appropriate use of council resources.

Next week we shall begin looking into the council finances. It's so important to halt the council racing towards a cliff by getting the repeated overspends under control.

St Helens Borough voted for Reform and you are getting Reform.

More important updates coming soon...

Cllr Dr R. George Woodward
Leader of St Helens Council

23/05/2026

🗑️ Fly Tipping

I have reported the unsightly fly tipping on the A49 just south of Haydock Island.

- Cllr R. George Woodward

21/05/2026

Update 👇

🚨 Council Leader Update - George Woodward

It's been an absolute whirlwind of a week for your new Reform UK administration in St Helens Borough Council. We're ready to deliver for the people of our borough!

We've spent these initial days getting inducted into the council systems and undertaking all training to get up to speed as fast as possible. This includes the standard items such as parking passes and picking up IT to get online, as well as getting to grips with the more constitutional training sessions about the Code of Conduct and navigating local governance.

It was a pleasure to make our first public engagement on Sunday as we were invited to the Holy Cross Catholic Church in the town centre for their May Procession and Mass. There, we engaged in prayer with their congregation before proceeding around the church in celebration of the Virgin Mary. I thank Father Jino for his invitation. I found it particularly heartening to see so many young people there, who had recently taken their First Communion. We must defend our Christian roots.

At Full Council yesterday, we appointed our choice of Mayor - Reform Cllr S Little - and defeated the Opposition's motion to instead install a Conservative mayor. I also appointed my Cabinet, who will oversee the various portfolios of council business and implement our Reform agenda that is so desperately needed. I'm excited by the fabulous mix of skills and talent in cabinet, ranging from experienced accountants, to business owners, to talented young members who we shall nurture into experienced cabinet portfolio holders.

As we look forward, it's now time to start the difficult job of fixing our council. We knew before the election that the council finances weren't in the best position - and that has only been driven home now that we're combing through the books. The previous administration overspent and dipped into reserves for years and years in a row. So much so that the external auditors of the council declared that the financial position is unsustainable.

On top of this, unfunded promises were made to the electorate, conveniently just prior to the election, including £1.8m of spending on "free" school uniforms. We were particularly shocked to learn that this pledge wasn't budgeted for, but instead was forecast to be funded straight from council reserves. I note, with disappointment, that the Opposition failed to notice this irony while criticising our new Reform UK administration for hiring one member of staff on a sub-£50k salary.

We will bring financial responsibility back to St Helens. No stone will go unturned as we look to achieve maximum value for money for residents of our borough.

Thanks and until next time.

Cllr Dr R. George Woodward
Leader of St Helens Council

14/05/2026

⚠️ Road Resurfacing

🚧 High Street, Newton
📍 Full length
🗓️ 31 May, 7 June & 14 June (Sundays only)

⚠️We'll be resurfacing a number of roads across the borough over the next few weeks, which means some roads will need to close while the work takes place.

Upcoming closures:

🚧 Market Street, Newton West
📍 Crow Lane West to Heather Brae
🗓️ 16-17 May

🚧 Adelaide Ave, Canberra Ave & Timor Ave, Thatto Heath
📍 Various
🗓️ 18-21 May

🚧 Canterbury Street, Windle
📍 Keswick Road to Dentons Green Lane
🗓️ 22 May

🚧 Old Lane, Rainford
📍 Full length
🗓️ 26-29 May

🚧 High Street, Newton
📍 Full length
🗓️ 31 May, 7 June & 14 June (Sundays only)

🚧 Low Bank Road, Billinge & Seneley Green
📍 Camp Road to Wigan boundary
🗓️ 1-4 June (nights 7pm-5am)

🚧 Walmesley Road
📍 Osborne Road to Ecclesfield Road
🗓️ 1-3 June

🚧 Washway Lane, Moss Bank
📍 City Road to BOC Depot
🗓️ 15-16 June (nights 7pm-5am)

🚧 Warrington Road, Rainhill
📍 View Road to Rainhill Road
🗓️ 17-18 June (nights 7pm-5am)

🚧 Clipsley Lane, Blackbrook
📍 West End Road junction
🗓️ 21 June

You can see the full list of planned works and find out more about our highway maintenance programme at: sthelens.gov.uk/CarriagewayResurfacingWorks

Thank you for your patience while we carry out this work.

09/05/2026

Newton-le-Willows, thank you so much for your support. It’s the honour of my life to be elected as your local councillor for St Helens Borough Council.

Newton East turned out to be a really close fight at one of Britain’s longest counts in history! After about 9 hours, we received the results for our ward, showing a really interesting result - nearly a four-way tie between Labour, Reform, Indy, and Green. Newton-le-Willows is truly a special place. It was a tough battle, but we managed to get George over the line for Reform UK.

This result would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of my colleagues, John Owen and John Murphy, for driving our campaign forward in Newton-le-Willows. We launched our campaign in Oct 2025, when we embarked on our ward-wide door-knocking campaign. Without our monumental effort, I truly believe that it would’ve been a different result. Without a shadow of a doubt, we worked harder here in Newton East than any other party, and we shall continue to do so. John and John are top blokes, who also deserved to win. Thank you for your efforts and here’s to next time!

Well done to all candidates on the ballot paper, regardless of affiliation, for putting your heads above the parapet. It’s not easy being a candidate. It comes with a lot of pressure and scrutiny that most aren’t up for. Whether you won or lost, whether you’re Reform, Labour, Indy, Green, you deserve kudos for putting your name out there. –“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”--

I’m so proud of my Reform friends and colleagues across the borough for achieving a historic result, jumping from three to 34 Reform UK councillors in one election. A swing like this hasn’t been witnessed in Merseyside ever. It’s a testament to the strength of our local Reform UK branch that we were able to achieve this not only with very little resources but instead with simple hard graft. Across our borough, we’ve knocked on over 45,000 doors; more than any other party. It’s those little chats and conversations that build rapport and gain support for our candidates, and guide us to victory. Well done.

It’s now time to deliver for the people of Newton-le-Willows and St Helens Borough. We were elected yesterday on a mandate for change, and change is what we’ll bring.

Let’s get to work.

- Cllr Dr R. George Woodward

07/05/2026

Newton-le-Willows, polls have now closed.

It's been a tough but rewarding day. Across the borough, our candidates and volunteers knocked on over 2000 doors today.

The Count begins tomorrow morning.

Thank you to all of our voters. We will save our borough. 👍🇬🇧

07/05/2026

Calling all Reformers. You have till 10.00pm to vote! 🇬🇧

07/05/2026

Your Newton-le-Willows REFORM UK team have been out knocking on doors all day long and we're still going!

Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers for helping fight the fight for our borough 👍🇬🇧

Vote Reform UK TODAY 🩷🩷🩷