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A gimmick is defined in my dictionary as a device for the purpose of attracting publicity – so I would expect that Cllr Norman Owen would be sufficiently familiar with the term to be able to use it properly.
Unfortunately, he applies it to real money, which will make a real difference to the real issue of the condition of our highways.
It is not a gimmick to resurface around 90 roads in the coming weeks from the final £850,000 of a five year investment programme.
It is not a gimmick to resurface at least another 100 roads from an extra £2.8m investment found by the Lead Member for Finance, Cllr Bill Hinds, thanks to extra savings we have made on tripping claims.
It is not a gimmick to set aside an extra £0.5 million to fill potholes in response to the 50% increase in repairs needed as a result of the severe winter.
And it is not a gimmick to top that up with the extra £200,000 the Chancellor awarded Salford in his budget to tackle potholes.
These are a genuine response to the genuine concerns of the people of Salford and Cllr Owen’s negative comments are, I fear, symptomatic of his philosophy: he attacks what is good for Salford – because what is good for Salford is bad for Norman Owen.
It is, however, a gimmick for Cllr Owen to be photographed pointing to a pothole he know is in a programme to be repaired. And when Cllr Owen voted for a cut in the budget that includes potholes last year – well, that was just plain hypocrisy.
Councillor Derek Antrobus
Lead Member for Planning
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The Lib Dems have clarified their position. Cllr O’Neil has confirmed that they have spoken to local business about TIF, which they are rightly entitled to do, but they have NOT discussed or are funded in any way by Peel Holdings.
I am glad they have distanced them selves from the activities of Peel and I feel they have by making this statement shown they are indeed honourable.
As a result a previous article questioning this party has been withdrawn from this site.
Now, with this issue out of the way we can get down to some real debate on the issue of congestion, once we know what is on the table!
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The Leadership Report for January will cover the following topics:
1. New Year Greetings
2. Liberal Democrat Scrutiny Farce
3. Good News for the City’s Schools
4. New recycling scheme already making a big impact
5. Bus travel gets safer in Salford
6. Lottery win is child’s play
7. Ice rink is no slip-up
8. Plea for more carers
9. Christmas crackdown nets bogus blockbusters
10. City’s pledge for skills
11. One stop shop celebrates sucess
12. New year honours
13. Crime Statistics for Salford
14. More BBC posts to move to Mediacity:UK
1. New Year Greetings
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2008.
2. Liberal Democrat Scrutiny Farce
You may recall that in the last leadership report we highlighted the hypocrisy of the Liberal Democrats in attempting to block the HMR funding for Seedley South. When we reached the scrutiny committee the proceedings became even more farcical with Geoff Ainsworth refusing to answer any questions and Cllr Owen stating that he never actually supported the call in he was merely supporting the community!!
This illustrates a wider problem with the Liberal Democrats that they are quite prepared to support contradictory decisions as long as they are popular.
So completely unsuccessful was the call in – that the labour party representatives voted against it as well as the Conservatives even Joe O’Neill could not stomach the complete about face that Norman was proposing.
Obviously our Langworthy colleagues will use this in the election campaign but we should remind the rest of the city how Liberal Democrats cannot be trusted to provide leadership or not to change their mind.
3. Good News for the City’s Schools
The latest figures for GCSEs and A-levels show that Salford schools are continuing to make their mark nationally.
The city’s schools were confirmed as the second best-improving in the country.
The media singled out St Patrick’s RC High and Oakwood School for their individual performances and the way they have maintained and improved their results and helped make a real difference to pupils’ lives.
This is great news for Salford. These latest statistics clearly demonstrate the continued and significant progress being made in all our schools.
They not only recognise the great improvements in exam results, but also the hard work and dedication of teachers, support staff and parents who are raising the aspirations of pupils and encouraging them to achieve.
4. New recycling scheme already making a big impact
Six times more cardboard and paper and five times more glass, plastic and cans are now being collected in those parts of Salford that have got the new blue and brown recycling bins.
Residents in Irlam and Cadishead, Broughton, Kersal and Pendleton have so far taken delivery of the new bins, with the remainder of the city due to get them in a phased roll-out up until June.
The new bins, which replace the green boxes and bags, join the current black household waste bin and the magenta-lidded bin for garden waste.
Salford, like all other local authorities, has to meet tough new government recycling targets, with a legal responsibility to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
This is an extremely encouraging start to the scheme and we take it to be a sign that Salford residents are really wanting to do their bit for the environment and recycle more. We are now providing them with the improved facilities to do that.
Salford residents were encouraged to remember the green message at Christmas and recycle their festive rubbish.
5. Bus travel gets safer in Salford
Salford’s targeted approach to reducing crime and anti-social behaviour on buses is showing results with incidents down by almost a third in the past year.
Between October 2006 and September 2007, there was a 31% reduction in incidents on buses, compared with figures for the previous year and a 26% reduction in criminal damage to bus shelters over the same time period. Incidents on school buses are also down 61%
The success is being attributed to the cumulative effect of a number of initiatives developed by the council and it s partners such as the installation of CCTV cameras in bus shelters, improved reporting of incidents by bus operators and prevention work in schools,
We will endeavour to build on this encouraging progress. There is a big drive to encourage people to make greater use of public transport and concerns about public safety shouldn’t be a barrier to people using it.
6. Lottery win is child’s play
Salford children who’ve given their views on how play provision in the city can be improved have helped secure more than £600,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.
Nine projects will benefit from the funding including the Swinton Families Play Zone which will provide twice weekly child-led after school activities and the ‘Everyone Can Play’ initiative which will run activities for young people with a disability in the holidays and after school.
Having somewhere safe to play was the most common theme that came out of a survey of 200 adults and children surveyed.
We are delighted to have received this award. We’ve listened to what young people want and now we’ve got the resources to act on it.
Play is an essential element in the social, physical and mental development of children and young people and it is something to be encouraged.
7. Ice rink is no slip-up
Nearly 7,000 skaters helped make Salford’s first Winter Wonderland a slideaway success, attendance figures show.
Salford has really got behind what we did here. It was something a bit different, something a bit special for the city. We are really pleased and would like to thank everyone for their support.
We know that some people have been back more than once and we are delighted that there’s already a campaign for something next year.
The council’s partnership with Northwest Funfairs means there will be no cost to the council for restoring the civic centre lawns.
They will be paying for the council’s ground maintenance team, who will start by filling in any ruts to get the lawns level, then it’ll be a case of re-turfing and re-seeding so everything’s ready for the spring. We will hurry along nature as much as we can but I would ask people to be patient while the restoration takes place.
Staging this type of event shows that what we do as a council is about much more than just providing traditional local authority services, it’s also about contributing to the community and enhancing people’s lives in other ways.
Other figures revealed that almost 80 per cent of those taking to the ice were under 18. On site medical teams dealt with three suspected broken wrists and two suspected broken noses before the patients attended A&E.
Meanwhile, eight-year-old Naomie Bate, from Broadoak primary school won free tickets for the rink for her and friends after winning a council competition.
Entrants were asked to decorate a skate, with Naomi’s singled out for its pink festive design and use of different materials including cotton wool, glitter and tinsel.
Naomi beat 500 other designs to claim her prize.
8. Plea for more carers
More Salford families are needed to give youngsters in council care a home.
The lack of city-based families means children are being sent further afield or are having to be placed with much more expensive fostering agencies.
In some cases children are staying longer in residential care and missing out on all that a family home can bring simply because there aren’t enough people in the city who want to foster or adopt.
In total, Salford City Council is responsible for the care of approximately 570 children, aged up to 18 years.
Most are cared for by fostering agencies, many outside the city, or are in residential care. Fostering agencies, which are registered and regulated, have to be used where families cannot be found to look after children.
Potential foster carers or adoptive parents make a real difference to these children’s lives but we sometimes struggle to find enough people who want to make that commitment.
People who think they might be able to foster a child, even for a short-term placement, or are thinking of adopting can always just call us to find out more about how they might be able to help.
9. Christmas crackdown nets bogus blockbusters
Christmas bargain hunters were warned to steer clear of dodgy DVD sellers after £300,000 worth of fake films was seized in Pendleton.
Salford Trading Standards, working with police, seized around 20,000 of the discs from market stalls in a series of raids.
Titles taken in the crackdown ranged from The Bee Movie to 3:10 to Yuma, and even included The Golden Compass, only just released in cinemas.
Unwary buyers were helping to fund organised crime as well as purchasing a poor quality product.
People selling these DVDs are not Del Boys out to make a few extra quid for the kids at Christmas. They might not be there when you hand over your cash, but the people behind these traders are often drug dealers or serious criminals involved in gun crime.
If you think you’re not doing any harm by picking up a bargain or getting the latest cinema release early, think about what you’re really helping to pay for; that’s the true cost of counterfeiting.
The DVDs were taken by police at Pendleton in a number of so-called “disruption raids” – high-profile, visible seizures of stock from market stalls aimed at unsettling the criminals as they try and cash in on Christmas.
All of the discs taken will be crushed and recycled.
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