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Smoothing the way to brave new world

27/ 9/2006

WHAT was the biggest upheaval in the history of local government needed careful handling.

The new Rochdale Metropolitan Council had absorbed five surrounding authorities in 1974 and with it great potential for conflict and discontent.

Such a major change also required great determination, organisation and sheer hard work.

But the town was convinced it had selected the right man to become its first chief executive in John Towey.

Mr Towey had been born into conflict, coming into the world in Leigh during the general strike of 1926.

He immediately became his family's biggest earner that week as each baby born in the mining and cotton town received five shillings.

After a scholarship to his local grammar school he was called up to an even bigger battle.

In 1945, at the age of 18, he joined the Army and was sent to India as a bombardier, working in the cartography and survey section preparing maps for the field batteries.

Mr Towey spent three years in the Far East and on his return to Britain went to Sheffield University to study law.

Armed with a first class honours degree, he was articled clerk to Bolton Council then, after passing his final exams, joined Blackburn Council as assistant solicitor, later rising to senior then principal assistant.

He had previously applied without success to Rochdale Council but at the second attempt, in 1964, he was appointed deputy town clerk.

For a decade he served under K B Moore, being involved in much of the work to rebuild the town centre.

Settling into Rochdale life, he became a founder member of the Ecumenical Centre and was later its chairman.

Mr Towey was heavily involved in the local government reorganisation work and when it was completed he took over the new post of chief executive.

Looking back on that time he reflected: "It was a revolution. It was enormously disruptive. Never have so many people retired in one day. All that expertise was lost in a way it would never have been lost in the old local authorities."

One of the main tasks of his new job was to get the council up and running and bring together the different factions and have them working as one.

He also went into it with a determination to find out what kind of community the people wanted then try and give it to them.

Mr Towey strongly believed, too, that the government should lend a helping hand.

He said: "We regularly hear of governments of all colours giving assistance to other parts of the country. I would love to have the time to do a calculation of how much of our taxes comes back in the way of grants. I'll bet we are a creditor.

"Environmentally we are a deprived area when compared with, for instance, Bournemouth. It's not just Rochdale but the whole North West.

"Yet this part of the country is a product of the Industrial Revolution. This area made Britain great. There should be more allotted in grants to rectify the situation."

Mr Towey was a great believer in a unitary authority large enough, but no more, to run everything with which it was concerned.

Indeed he also believed it should have been given control of the hospitals.

For the next 12 years Mr Towey worked hard to improve life for the people of Rochdale.

He brought money into the town to improve rundown industrial areas and devoted much of his time to providing better services in the community.

There was also the task of overseeing the continued transformation of the town centre which included the building of the Exchange Shopping Centre.

All this was despite having to deal with a mass of red tape from Westminster and Brussels.

In all his work he displayed a keen sense of justice and social concern.

That included being president of the Rochdale Victims' Support Scheme.

In October 1986 Mr Towey retired amid a flurry of tributes from all walks of the town's life.

His deputy, David Shipp said he was a: "Firm believer in democracy, in the right of people to participate in the government of their affairs."

Mr Towey himself, in his last engagement as chief executive, called for a return to the "good old local authority" days.

He said: "Since 1948 local authorities have been in a constant state of change.

"In the early days they ran everything, did so efficiently and there was rarely cause for public complaint.

"The services they provided were of a very high standard. Why can't we learn the lesson from this?"

He also hit out at the many pressure groups which authorities by then had to deal with, describing them as: "coming onto the battlefield after the battle is over to shoot all the wounded."

Rochdale's fledgling metropolitan authority had indeed been in safe hands, something recognised in the 1988 new year honours list when Mr Towey was awarded the OBE.