Councillor Jimmy Hunt has agreed to be interviewed for the electorate.
If you have any questions for Jimmy, his contact details can be found under the candidates section, which includes his telephone number and email contact details.
This video is also available from YouTube, Facebook, Podcast Ready and a free download at the IPod store.
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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As a result a previous article questioning this party has been withdrawn from this site.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 this month will cover the following topics:
1. Salford Women’s Centre Secures Council Funding
2. Salford Innovation Forum Officially Opened
3. Salford City Council Website has the key to Success
4. Salford Council Tax Rise Amongst the Lowest
5. Primary Schools in Salford have been made Safer
6. Partnership Reduces Commercial Robbery in Salford
7. Pledge to make Salford’s Shoppers switch to Fairtrade
8. Cellists from the Philharmonic Orchestra Playing at Turnpike
Training Centre
9. Peel Holdings
10. Good Luck
1. Salford Women’s Centre Secures Council Funding
The future of Salford Women’s Centre is clearer now the council has committed funds for the next year. It is after the centre satisfied the council that it now has a clear business plan in place.
We are delighted that Salford Women’s Centre is now back on track and faces a more secure future. We have always said that should the centre be able to address our concerns over its management and develop a viable business plan that sets clear objectives and keeps it within budget, then we would look to continue contributing to its funding. The management team has now satisfied us that everything is in order and that things are well on the way to recovery. We shall continue to monitor the centre’s progress and ensure that there is ongoing commitment to the delivery of the plan.
The council has never set out to victimise the centre. Our position has always been to ensure that we get the best value for money on behalf of the taxpayer. We are confident that it is now in a better place to deliver on this and we wish the centre and its staff well for the future in continuing to offer high quality support to those in need.
In contrast to our approach, the Lib Dems demanded we sign a blank cheque to supports the Women’s Centre and were concerned that we required a business plan! Had we, without any conditions handed over more money, not only would we have been financially irresponsible, but it would not have solved the problem of the Women’s Centre and would still have been running on a deficit budget.
2. Salford Innovation Forum Officially Opened
Salford Innovation Forum has celebrated its official launch (7th March) after more than six years hard work by the team at Salford City Council in partnership with the University of Salford and other organisations such as the NWDA, Northwest Universities Association and Charlestown and Lower Kersal New Deal For Communities.
In the coming years the facility, which was on an underutilised brownfield site, will deliver a minimum of 600 new and safeguarded jobs, and has the space for the creation of 55 high growth small business enterprises.
This project is part of the wider regeneration of the City spearheaded by Salford City Council, connecting people to opportunities.
3. Salford City Council Website has the key to Success
Salford City Council’s website has been ranked as one of the best of its kind in the country.
The website (www.salford.gov.uk) was among only four to achieve an ‘excellent’ rating and was the only one to pass a range of accessibility tests in an independent survey of all 468 council websites.
The Socitm Insight Better Connected report praises the site for being easy to use and for providing local people with information about plans or issues where they can have their say.
It was also commended for its postcode search system to find nearby libraries and for its information about a wide range of council services.
The website’s newest section, Your Salford, was also highlighted as an area of best practice.
This feature allows people to find local information relevant to any address in the city, by entering a postcode or street name. It gives details about council tax in the area, bin collections, nearby facilities and schools and who the local councillor is.
This is the third time in just 12 months the city council has received national recognition for its website. Last May it won the Local Authority Website of the Year and the Accessibility in Focus award in January for its built in features to help people with visual impairments or where English isn’t their first language.
The website is packed with over 30,000 pages of content and gets approximately 100,000 visits every month from people all around the world.
This achievement puts Salford one step ahead of other local authorities and we feel extremely proud that we are setting an example of such a high standard and we would like to thank everyone involved in making the website a success.
4. Salford council tax rise amongst the lowest
Salford council tax payers will again experience one of the smallest bill increases in the country, paying just 3.4% more than last year.
The new budget leaves front line services intact and will see the average Salford household paying around £978, an increase of 61p a week.
Over the past 10 years, Salford has seen the 14th lowest average council tax rise nationally, supporting the Audit Commission’s recent judgement that its residents are getting a good, value-for-money service from the city council.
We appreciate that nobody likes seeing an increase in their bills and that’s why each year we endeavour to keep any council tax rise to a minimum without making cuts to services or compromising on the quality of what we offer.
It has been a challenge this year with the tough settlement the government has imposed on us, but we’re confident that we can maintain and improve the hundreds of services and activities that we provide, ranging from care services to street repairs – services that touch the lives of every resident.
The Audit Commission has praised the council for offering a good value-for-money service for its residents and this is something we look to build to on.
The overall increase covers a 3% increase for Salford City Council services, a 7.5% increase for police services and 3.5% increase for the fire service.
The council tax element for policing costs will increase by 7.5% each year up until 2010 – the first time an agreement that sets precept levels for a three-year term has been sealed by all 10 district leaders.
This ground-breaking deal will enable six new police officers dedicated to neighbourhood policing to be employed in Salford, with a total of 104 new officer posts across Greater Manchester.
At the meeting of full council, councillors approved a city council budget for the 2008/9 financial year- to be funded from council tax payers and government grant – of £213.152 million. The government grant for Salford is £125.092m, and revenue from council tax will total £88.06 million.
5. Primary Schools in Salford have been made Safer after a
Crackdown on Security
Eight schools in Little Hulton and Eccles have spent £45,000 on tightening building security and installing extra safety features to playgrounds.
The money from the government’s Safer Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) has bought new intruder alarm systems, outdoor lighting and roller shutters and grills to stop people from breaking into the schools.
New playground fencing has been installed at Peel Hall primary school to create a safer environment for the children to play and video intercoms have been installed at St Paul’s Peel, Dukesgate and Wharton schools.
The schools have also introduced a new initiative which uses the latest technology to ‘’stain” thieves’ sticky fingers and help trace any stolen goods.
The technology, called SmartWater, uses a special liquid containing a unique DNA-style code which is painted onto expensive equipment often targeted by criminals. It is virtually invisible to the naked eye and difficult to remove.
Each code is registered with the police and stolen property can be traced to the rightful owner.
The SSCF was brought in for local authorities to use combined funding streams from the Department for Central Local Government and the Home Office to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
The money has bought extra equipment to help deter thieves from breaking into the school to steal valuable goods as well as features to keep children safe while at school.
We are committed to improving the security of all of our schools and we regularly go out to visit the schools to show them how they can protect their property more effectively.
6. Partnership Reduces Commercial Robbery in Salford
Commercial robbery has been reduced by 49% in the last year due to a joint initiative between Salford Division GMP and Salford City Council’s environmental health team.
The ‘Risk and Reward’ initiative beat eleven other divisions of Greater Manchester Police to win the Problem Solving Partnership category at last Friday’s annual Police Excellence Awards.
As crime reduction has moved away from being seen as the sole responsibility of the police, the award recognises the success of different agencies working together to reduce crime.
The initiative is the first of its kind in Greater Manchester, and the partnership’s main aims were to reduce commercial robbery by 25% and repeat victimisation by 50% by sharing resources and working strategically.
Amongst other actions, the partnership provided a support and monitoring service to over two hundred commercial premises previously affected by robbery, which led to a 73% reduction in repeat victimisation.
The initiative has now been identified as best practice and was rolled out in the ten Greater Manchester Local Authorities on the 27 February with a view to all areas working together to achieve the same goal.
Fiona James, crime reduction advisor for Salford Division, said: “We are committed to protecting all workers from criminals who target commercial premises, and will continue to work with our partners to tackle violence in the work place and free employees from the fear of attacks.”
This is a real achievement for Salford and proves that we should encourage different agencies to work together in partnership to create sustainable solutions to long term, reoccurring problems within local communities.
The partnership now hopes to be recognised for its work at the national Tilley Awards, which take place on the 9 September in Leicestershire.
7. Pledge to make Salford’s shoppers switch to Fairtrade
To support Fairtrade Fortnight (25th Feb – 7th March) Salford City Council and its partners is asking 10,000 residents to swap one item of their weekly shop for a Fairtrade item.
In an attempt to raise public awareness about the Fairtrade logo, shoppers and businesses are being asked to register online (www.salford.gov.uk/fairtrade) and pledge their support to supplying and buying Fairtrade products.
As a Fairtrade city, thousands of distinctive pledge cards will be distributed around Salford and as an incentive, those who make the pledge before 28th March will have the chance to win a Fairtrade chocolate cake made by professional caterers, Citywide.
The online resource will also offer visitors background information on the Fairtrade campaign as well as recipes and a list of local stockists.
Salford Council is one of many authorities across the United Kingdom who want to support a better deal for disadvantaged producers in the developing world and encourage the wider distribution and consumption of Fairtrade products in the community.
8. Cellists from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Cellists from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra will be playing at Turnpike Training Centre on Friday 14th March 2008 from 12-30pm-1.30pm to ease the stress of your working day.
The session is part of a week-long mini-tour around libraries, schools, offices and nursing homes in the city.
The aim is to take music out into the communities as part of the Orchestra’s new partnership with Salford City Council in the run up to the BBC’s creation of a new centre in the North at Mediacity:uk, Salford Quays in 2011.
As you will be aware, I have received a reply to my letter in which Peel have admitted they telephoned people in Roger Jones’ ward. I have further concerns which I will raise with them as to whether they have co-ordinated their activities with other political parties.
It is not true as is being maintained that they simply asked people’s opinions in Roger’s ward, they sought to make them aware that Roger was supporting the congestion charge and hoped to influence their vote.
This not just a question for us as a political party but also a question for local democracy. I will be taking this matter further.
We would like to wish everyone standing for election good luck. We hope that by supporting you with good literature and people on the street that we have a successful campaign.
Councillor John Merry
Leader of the Council
Councillor David Lancaster
Deputy Leader of the Council
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Councillor Peter Councillor has agreed to be interviewed for the electorate.
If you have eny questions for Peter, his contact details can be found under the candidates section, which includes his telephone number and email contact details.
This video is also available from YouTube and a free download at the IPod store.
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This city will be in real trouble if we ever are mad enough to let those two faced Tories take charge. Having moved a motion on a referendum for the TIF bid because they don’t have the stomach to face the real truths of today. They show no leadership, they abdicate responsibility, they are weak and seek only to use the the people of Salford for political gain. They are singularly without answer or solution on an ever growing problem. So I ask them if you don’t want congestion charges then what are you going to do about it?
Don’t hold your breath for answer from Salford Tories, they have not got one! They only want to use this issue to get votes and then they will reverse track and follow like sheep the national Tory policy on road pricing. Two faced Tories!
The Tory council of Bury did exactly what the Labour group did in Salford, defer any decision until we see what is on the table. Tory Run Cambridgeshire has introduced congestion charging! The Tory national policy is road pricing!
So I say again, to these two faced Tories come clean, tell us what you are really going to do! Shame on them, they sicken me with their lack of backbone, lack of honesty and lack of policy!
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