Councillor Warburton was an officious critic of Len Fairclough at the Town Hall. In May 1972, Warburton backed a housing committee plan to do up a building in a run-down area, but Len preferred that the money be spent on a series of old people's bungalows. After failing to get Len to change his mind, Warburton took an interest in his opponent. While in Coronation Street to tell Hilda Ogden and Archie Crabtree to take down No.13's front porch which had been built without planning permission, Warburton approached Emily Bishop to ask her if she thought Len's interest in local government was waning. Emily flatly suggested that he asked Len himself instead of snooping.