The Mancunian Way: The town where people are desperate NOT to join Manchester

The boundaries of Greater Manchester might be defined officially, but how residents feel is quite another matter. We all know someone who still insists they live in Lancashire, or that Wigan is a region to itself.

Now, just nine miles away, a town with a strong local identity and no desire to change is facing the prospect of joining Greater Manchester.

Chapel-en-le-Frith lies in a region known as High Peak in Derbyshire, which is set to see significant change in a major restructure of the council. What exactly will happen is still up in the air - but it could see areas like High Peak join larger authorities like Greater Manchester.

It’s something locals are less than keen on, to put it mildly. In fact, opinion is so strong that a Facebook page has even been set up for locals to voice their opposition.

The High Peak MP, Jon Pearce, said it's a 'no-brainer' for his constituency to join Greater Manchester. But people in Chapel-en-le-Frith think the idea is ‘brainless’. Arthur Carrington, 78, said he felt ‘no affiliation’ between Greater Manchester and the town.

“I think most people around here don’t go to Manchester anyway. That’s a big city and we’re country folk,” he told our reporter George Lythgoe.

“I can see the Glossop connection but not here. I think it would look wrong. This is country, (Manchester's) a city. It’s not so much the name being on the address that’s the issue, there is just no affiliation.

“I think Andy Burnham is a good mayor. But people around here think they’d just get the little bits and everything would go to the city.”

You can read the full story here.

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