In profile: Heswall councillors Andrew and Kathy Hodson share some hopes and fears

Heswall councillor Andrew Hodson has said he hopes to see "the lifting of Birkenhead" in his political lifetime.

Cllr Hodson said despite previous attempts that "flopped" to regenerate the struggling town, "it looks like this time we're going to succeed."

The comments were made in an interview with Cllr Hodson and his wife Kathy, both councillors for Heswall, said by some to be one of the richest neighbourhoods in the UK.

Kathy and Andrew will have been married for 25 years in April. Andrew has been a councillor for the ward since 1994 while Kathy was elected in 2013.

Previously they worked together in the cleaning business where Andrew was a managing director and Kathy was the managing secretary.

Andrew first got involved in politics when he was against Tesco plans to build a new supermarket. Having been a councillor since the 1990s, Andrew has sometimes been referred to as a "heavyweight councillor" by others on the local political scene.

Things used to be very different in those days with Kathy calling it a "baptism of fire."

Andrew said: "You didn't have any training. You just got a big fat envelope on a Friday. No computers and you didn't know what was going on so you just learned as you went along.

"I learned to keep my mouth shut for the first year and watch the other councillors. I wish some of the newer councillors would continue to do that."

Despite being born in Liverpool, Andrew considers himself more of a Wirralian than a Scouser. He said: "It may sound strange. I am a Tory but I'm not interested in the general politics of everything.

"I'm mainly there as a councillor an d my true belief is to be there for my community and get things done for Heswall, Gayton, and Barnston.

"I can't be dealing with half of the shenanigans that go on. I am more interested in my community and what I can do for it."

Kathy was born and grew up in Bromborough. Even though she became a councillor later on, she has always been interested in national politics.

She said: "I have probably been more interested in geopolitics in the past than local issues so as a local councillor, I like to see how the local politics plays into the national politics, how one feeds into the other.

"I enjoy being a councillor. I'd be bored rigid if I wasn't. It keeps your brain active, it keeps you involved with your community. I walk into Heswall every day, I shop locally, and I think that's important."

I ask them what it's like being married and working in politics together. Kathy said: "I disagree with him every day on something but politically we are very similar, in tune. The council doesn't take over our lives, we do have a private life but when we're lying in bed, we do discuss things.

"If we disagree on something, we bicker but eventually one of us will come out on top. In any marriage, it's a compromise."

"We don't absolutely agree on everything because one of us is giving in and have always worked together okay. We've both got strong personalities so one of us isn't under the other's thumb.

There have been times though where both have found themselves on different sides of an issue. Kathy said: "Andrew has spoken against an application I've then voted for but that doesn't create a problem.

"If it was the other way around and he was on the planning committee, that's what I'd have been doing. He understands that when I'm on planning and there are no legitimate grounds for refusal, I'm not going to refuse."

For both of them, the highlight of their time on the council has been when Andrew was Mayor and Kathy was Mayoress in 2010. That year, both did over 800 engagements and Kathy helped raise £126,000 for charity.

Andrew said: "You get to know all the different organisations and all the volunteers. Until you're the Mayor, you don't realise what's going on. I used to say that without the volunteers, we wouldn't have the society we have in the Wirral."

Kathy added: "It highlighted how many volunteer groups and people who give up their time for nothing that you're never aware of. You know what goes in your own community but you don't know what happens everywhere else."

While they don't represent the area, both are keen to see Birkenhead regenerated. Andrew said: "I hope in my political lifetime that we see the lifting of Birkenhead and all the plans we have for it.

"This is the third time we've gone through this process and it's always flopped. It looks like this time we're going to succeed. We'll feel like we've achieved something. If we get Birkenhead right, it will affect the whole of the Wirral."

Kathy, who's on the council's education committee, added: "That's a generation being born now. What we want to do is make sure the children on the East side have as much of an advantage in education so when they get to 18, Birkenhead's regenerated and the children living in poverty are brought up. I want to make as much of an impact as I can."

This year, both will be up for re-election at the same time as Wirral moves to all out elections. To keep a high profile, Andrew regularly posts on the local Facebook group and makes a point to go to all the local pubs.

He even says it sometimes takes hours to do his shopping at the Tesco he once opposed because people stop to talk to him. While confident of his chances, Andrew said it has sometimes been tough on the campaign trail.

He said: "As you can imagine, central government, and we're in power at the moment, might make tough decisions that we might not be happy with and we get the fallout locally which makes it difficult for us."

"People say to me that "you're brave being a Conservative at this time." I'm going to be honest, there are problems but I just say to them I feel like I'm swimming against the tide at the moment.

"Then people turn to me, "Andrew we all know you in Heswall. You're a local politician and we know you stand for local issues.

Both have no plans to stopping anytime soon even planning to take their laptops with them on holiday over Christmas. Andrew said: "As long as we're both fit and able and we're elected, we're going to carry on as long as we can."