A non-binary person has been elected unopposed as a parish councillor in Delph.

Labour’s Meg Birchall, who uses they/them pronouns, was elected unopposed alongside the Lib Dems’ Kevin Dawson in the Delph Ward of Saddleworth Parish Council.

Meg is one of 11 councillors elected to the parish council unopposed in the Delph, Dobcross, Greenfield, and Springhead Higher wards.

Elections for the Springhead Lower and Uppermill wards will take place on polling day, May 4 – the same day as elections to the borough council will take place.

Meg told The Oldham Times they are believed to be the first openly trans councillor in Oldham, and possibly even in Greater Manchester.

Speaking to The Oldham Times, Meg, aged just 20 years old, told of their experience of homelessness when they were younger, the importance of trans representation, and their priorities to focus on the environment, green spaces, and housing.

How important is representation in the parish council?

Meg: “I don’t think there’s a great difference between the need for representation on the parish and representation everywhere.

“Local politics is, generally speaking, quite dominated by older people because they’ve got the time to be doing it in a way that a lot of younger people don’t necessarily.

“Then you’ve got the fact that I’m a trans person which is a pretty big thing to be doing in local politics, because right now it’s all focussed around a national, and I don’t want to refer to it as a ‘debate’, because I’m not a debate – I’m a person, fundamentally.

“Being that person on the parish council, talking about allotments and the civic hall, in part it humanises us a lot.”

What inspired you to run for parish council?

Meg: “I’ve been a member of the party for a fair amount of time. I joined when I was 16 and I turn 21 on the bank holiday after the election.

“My granddad lives in Delph and my parents both work very long hours, my dad is an engineer so it’s quite a manual job, my mum has done a varying number of, especially when I was younger, quite low-paid jobs – at one point she was a carer and then she went in to drug and alcohol work.

“So I spent a lot of time with my granddad in Delph, spending most of my time there it becomes a part of you. Getting the opportunity to represent the ward as a younger person, bringing a fresh perspective, is something I think is really needed, and that’s why I put myself forward.

“I think it’s quite important for me as a trans person to just be there and be visible.

“I’m not going to be in every meeting stood there talking about being trans and how much that means to me, but just by being there and being trans, that does a lot.

“And like I say, making sure we can help with the cost of living crisis, which has been affecting a lot of people across the borough; trying to focus on accessibility for places like Greenfield station; housing – a lot of younger people in Saddleworth don’t have the opportunity to stay living where they grew up, and I faced homelessness when I was 16, so I know what it’s like to be displaced from where I’ve been living and where I’ve grown up, having that unstable housing situation.”

Can you tell me more about your experience facing homelessness?

Meg: “I’ve actually been homeless twice. The first time I was eight or nine years old. Before my mum went back in to working in drug and alcohol use she had actually struggled with it herself, and she lost her job as a result of that.

“We ended up in a hostel, and then the second time it was a domestic issue, so my father and I were thrown out by my former stepmother just short of my seventeenth birthday so in the end I spent Easter and then my actual birthday being bounced around various parts.

“We started off in Travelodge as part of what First Choice Homes was doing at that point.

“You lose your foundations, you lose your sense of security, effectively.

“So many trans people and LGBT people more broadly face homelessness because of family conflicts. When it happened the main source of the argument, if you will, was not my dad, it was me, and he got sent out with me.

“You’re there at 16 years old with one room between the two of you, a kettle and two cups.”

Now that you’re elected, what are your priorities in Saddleworth?

Meg: “Accessibility, like at Greenfield station, making sure Saddleworth is a place that everyone can access and everyone feels welcome. I don’t have the accessibility concerns that others have at Greenfield station, but I know what it’s like to feel unwelcome somewhere.

“Just earlier this year I was out for my anniversary at a restaurant in Saddleworth and I went to the bathroom and I got called a transphobic slur, so I just really want to make sure people can feel like Saddleworth is somewhere where they’re not only safe, they are welcomed.

“We need to make sure that we not only preserve, but create local jobs. Saddleworth Labour campaigned with a petition to protect jobs at the Lees Co-op. Saddleworth has a great number of local independent businesses as well, and it’s really worth lifting up those small businesses as well.

“I’m also a Co-operative councillor as well, I’m Labour and Co-op, so just helping to enshrine and lift up those co-operative values. Saddleworth has a long history of co-operation, we’ve got the old Co-op building which is now the Millgate Arts Centre, which I think is a great use of that building.

“Focussing on the environment, Saddleworth has a lot of really great green spaces. Focussing on protecting the local area’s flora and fauna, and initiatives such as Incredible Edible.

“And then there’s also the new health centre, which we also campaigned for at the borough election last year, working with the NHS and the council, and our MP Debbie Abrahams to make sure things like health are accessible to the people of Saddleworth.”

What would you like to see done to increase the number of houses in Saddleworth?

Meg: “We really need to focus on a brownfield strategy, fundamentally, we also need to make sure the housing is good quality, and that we have a good amount of affordable housing.

“It’s all well and good if you’re building houses to build these lovely, fancy, extortionate houses, but we need to make sure that the people of Saddleworth – you’ve got a lot of young families that have moved here, we want to make sure that their children can continue to live there once they’re of age.

“We need a good variety of the sorts of homes that are being built in Saddleworth as well, so it’s not necessarily all three or four bedroom houses, there’s apartments for people who are single, or are only going to need that sort of housing.

“Just making sure you’ve got that variety and affordability, and most importantly we don’t want to be building on the greenbelt, we want to focus on brownfield first, and that’s Labour policy: brownfield first.”