From Stockport Council:

Stockport Council is launching a month long appeal to raise the profile of the flooding disaster in Pakistan to give the borough’s residents the opportunity to support the victims. The flooding has had a devastating effect on millions of people’s lives in Pakistan and funding is urgently needed for aid to help those affected.

The Council is urging employees, residents and community groups to organise fundraising events to raise much needed funding for the UK Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) throughout September. Council employees have already held a number of fundraising events to raise money for the appeal. To raise the profile of the flooding disaster the Pakistan flag will be flown from the Town Hall at various times throughout September.

The Council is encouraging people to donate funds directly to the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal by phoning 0370 60 90 900 or send cheques to DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal and post it to DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal, PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA or visit http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now. However for those who wish to donate through the Council there will be two collection points on the Town Hall Reception and one at Stockport Direct and people can also contact the Council on 0161 474 3176 to arrange to give any fundraising money to the authority to send to the DEC.

Freom the Council:

Seven visitor attractions within Stockport Council’s cultural portfolio have recently been awarded rosettes for successfully passing a ‘mystery shop’ inspection by VAQAS, the Visitor Quality Assurance Service provided by Visit Britain. It is the first time all seven attractions have gained the accreditation together, as Stockport Art Gallery receives

its first ever award. The quality mark is used by the national tourism board, Visit Britain, to assess cultural venues across the country for the quality of the visitor experience. For more information about the visitor attractions log onto www.visit-stockport.com/attractions or contact the Tourist Information Centre on 0161 474 4444.

From Stockport Council:

The Marketing team at Solutions SK, Stockport Council’s wholly owned company, has won a Local Catering Association’s (LACA) Education Marketing Award for the school meals service.

Over 700 people from the UK’s catering and hospitality industries attended the LACA awards and conference event which recognises the best performers and their successes over the last year. In providing a schools meals service, the team involves the whole school, working with children, parents, employees, suppliers, and local sports personalities such as Stockport County footballers.

The many successes in the last 12 months included a High School Meal Deal Pilot in partnership with the School Food Trust, National School Meals Week, Stockport’s Healthy Weight Strategy and the ‘Go 4 Lunch’ promotion.

From the Council:

The public consultation period for the review of these two policies began on 19 July 2010 with a closing date of 15 October 2010. These are being conducted at the same time as they are closely related matters involving related business premises.

Stockport Council is the licensing authority for the sale / supply of alcohol, the provision of hot food and drink (after 23:00 hrs) and the provision of regulated entertainments (plays, indoor sports, live and recorded music and dancing etc.). Any amendments or additions to this policy must be agreed by the Council by 7 January 2011.

For full details of the consultation, please click here.

Stockport Council’s Corporate Resource, Management & Governance Scrutiny (CRMG) Committee met last night.  Its job is to keep an eye on how the council operates internally - the “back office” side of things.

As a new item, we discussed the Council’s use of RIPA, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

RIPA provides a framework for a variety of public bodies - including councils, the police, the Benefits Agency and others - to use covert surveillance to gather evidence against members of the public suspected of breaking the law.

It’s been pretty controversial, with a typical Daily Mail comment against it being

When it was passed in 2000, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act attracted little public attention.

Those who did take an interest were informed that, far from being a cause for alarm, it would offer greater protection from Big Brother by regulating for the first time spying by the police and the security services.

Yet in only eight years, RIPA has become one of the most powerful tools of the surveillance state, used almost without restraint by councils determined to catch anybody daring to put their rubbish out on the wrong day.

It hasn’t been used for that in Stockport.

Stockport Council, we now know, used RIPA seven times in 2008 and seven times in 2009.  It wasn’t used to catch people putting out their bins on the wrong day, or to catch dog walkers.  It’s mainly been used to tackle anti-social behaviour and illegal selling of alcohol to children when other methods of gathering evidence have failed.

Councillors on the CRMG Scrutiny committee will be getting a quarterly report on how RIPA is being used by the Council so we can keep an eye on it.

Overall, I’ve long had concerns about the RIPA legislation - whether it’s too broadly drafted and gives too much power to the various public bodies that use it.  The Coalition government is considering changes and it may be that authorising RIPA requests moves from the Council to  Magistrates.

However, Stockport Council’s use of the legislation seems to me to be both appropriate and proportionate at present, and I look forward to monitoring it and ensuring it stays that way.

For some time, every council has opened up its accounts - down the the last receipt and invoice - for any member of the public to inspect. This happens for one month a year and your opportunity to view Stockport’s finances in detail ends next Friday, 30th July.

From the Council:

A notice has now been published advising that until Friday, 30 July “any person interested, on application initially to Business Services Directorate, Stopford House, Piccadilly, Stockport, SK1 3XE, telephone 0161 480 4949, ext 4124, may at the appropriate offices of the Council inspect and make copies of the accounts of the Council and the residuary body for the period ended 31st March 2010 and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating thereto.”

A copy of the public notice can be viewed here (pdf).

The Stockport Express has published two letters about councillor expenses this week.

One, from Robert Whalley, makes (again) the completely false claim that councillors have awarded ourselves a 5% increase in our allowances.

The increase this year was zero, last year was one percent. The 5% claim is simply untrue.

Then we have a letter from Eric Kime suggesting (I think - it’s not entirely clear) that no councillor should have any allowance at all.  It’s a lovely idea, but many of us - myself included - simply couldn’t afford to do the job without some form of financial compensation.

I do feel strongly that councillors should get no increase in our allowances whilst council employees also have a pay freeze.

This relates to the in-year savings of £6.5 million the Government has asked Stockport Council to find, as our part of sorting out the economic mess the country finds itself in.

Stockport Council press release:

Stockport’s Executive agreed on Monday (12th July) to share collective responsibility for the savings across a wide range of activities so that no single service or group of people is affected too much.

The bulk of the savings is being found by cutting back on revenue and capital expenditure planned for later this year; it was also agreed to make a contribution from Council’s reserves. In addition, the Council and partner organisations had to revise their spending programme to reflect the loss of special Performance Reward Grant.

Specific reductions within the £6.5m agreed at the Executive include:

* saving £70,000 on senior management costs in the Children and Young People’s Directorate

* saving £60,000 from a £200,000 campaign for carbon reduction

* saving £100,000 by reducing training, publicity and printing within Children and Young People’s Services

* revising a £50,000 campaign to tackle vacant shops to now spend only £25,000

* saving more than £100,000 by scaling back a programme of traffic calming, pedestrian and cycle ways in the borough

Council leader Councillor Dave Goddard told the Executive: “We have to save £6.5 million this financial year. This is about sharing collective responsibilities to deliver the most important priorities for the borough. All services will be affected to some extent but we are protecting frontline services as much as we can. These are decisions for the times we are facing, everyone is being affected by the national financial position and Stockport is no exception.

“At the heart of our approach lies our commitment to improve all our communities by building on Stockport’s position as one of the best-run Councils in the country. Partnership working is a strong point in Stockport, and we are pleased that our partners agree with us that this is the best way forward,” Cllr Goddard said.

Councillor Sue Derbyshire, Executive Member for Finance, added: “These are decisions for the times we are facing. The role of councils is changing and we have to respond to that. It is with deep regret that we have to deal with these savings in-year.

“However the financial situation found by the current government has led to this result. We have and will continue to make representations to government about the need to protect local services, especially to the most vulnerable. Plans had been in train for some time to identify savings that were inevitably going to be needed in future years and those plans assisted in forming these recommendations.”

Looking further ahead, the Council expects to face significant reductions in government grants over the next four years and is carrying out a thorough review of all its services and budgets to identify where the necessary savings can best be found. The Council knows it will have to employ fewer people in the future, but says the introduction of compulsory redundancies will be the last resort.

From the Council:

Stockport Council is undertaking a Community Governance Review of Offerton Park Parish Council. The Council received two petitions from Offerton residents asking for Offerton Park Parish Council to be abolished and was legally obliged to undertake the review. The review will consider what are the most suitable governance arrangements for people living in the Offerton Park Parish boundary. It will also consider the best ways of ensuring local democracy and the delivery of local services for residents.

For more information on the Community Governance Review visit www.stockport.gov.uk/communitygovernancereview or email communitygovernancereview@stockport.gov.uk.

Full Council last night (Thursday 1st July) was the first proper one since the General Election and so the first opportunity for our 13 Labour councillors to vent their spleens about how hypocritical, unprincipled, etc. etc. they feel the Lib Dems to be, how terribly they think the Coalition government is doing and all that sort of thing.

Not unreasonable - that’s one of the joys of being in opposition, as Labour are now at both Council and National levels, and I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of it.

Even so,  apart from getting things off their chests, I can’t help thinking that the 60 councillors present could have spent our time a little more productively, but that’s how it goes I guess.  Life wouldn’t be life without overlong meetings that achieve little, though outside politics not many get quite this shouty.

A brief note of commiseration for Adrian Nottingham, newly elected Independent Ratepayers councillor for Heald Green.  Yesterday was Adrian’s first Full Council and - not being in it for the party political argy-bargy, I suspect he found the nearly-three-hours of political slanging even less productive than the rest of us.

Here’s my twitter feed from the meeting, starting at 6pm and with the last tweet sometime around 10pm.

Just about to start an evening of fun & excitement.

Superbly short prayer by geoffrey clarke - thanks!

(have to say that - geoffrey reads these as a friend on facebook, but short prayers = v good)

all stockport county season ticket holders declaring an interest on the county motion.
Presentation on our standards committee. Most members are independent from council.

Standards committee had 15 complaints against cllrs last yr, none were upheld.

Apologies from 3 cllrs: conservatives mick jones, linda holt & brian bagnall.

Now a presentation on participatory budgeting - more exciting than it sounds (a little).

“you say, we pay”. Groups bid for money with council help; communities decide where money goes.

76 group & 449 residents decided how £100k would be spent in poorer areas of stockport.

Residents vote by electronic handset on whether each project gets all, most, some or none of money requested.

Big increase in people who felt involved in their communities as a result of this project.

Cllr foster-grime suggesting we’ll look at using this public participation elsewhere - good.

Every group that applied got some money; some tactical voting by public against groups that weren’t theirs.

Support right across the chamber for “you say, we pay”.

Cllrs in front of me tucking into maltesers, fruit mix & fruit pastilles. I’ve just got water.

Two cllrs reading rail enthusiast mags - spot the members of the integrated transport authority.

8,000 call centre jobs in stockport - cllr goddard tells us its now a career & battery hen days are gone.

half the labour group have questions for cllr goddard.

Cllr verdeille asks about the view from school being built in reddish. Think there’s a joke I’m missing.

Just been given a mint - the evening’s looking up.

Council will be sponsoring stockport county next season. Not glamorous, but money to stay afloat.

Lab asks cllr weldon (ld) if he now supports academies as they’re in coalition agreement. Answer: no.

4 stockport schools have expressed an interest in becoming academies (out of 117).

Mellor, ludworth, offerton high & larkhill nursery are interested in academy status.

Cllr o’neill (con) proposes motion cheering on stockport county. Think I can support that one.

That german bikers mag looks interesting - not sure those ‘leathers’ would save that lady rider in a crash.

cllr foster-grime highlights contribution of county fan david schofield in saving the club.

Motion supporting stockport county is passed. Think the next motion may be more contentious.

rest of mtg is lab attacking coalition gov. Fair enough - the privilege of opposition. 2.5 hours to go.

Just assume we’re all rehearsing the standard lines on the coalition unless I say otherwise.

Just seeing who can get tv on their phone. Don’t think there’s much on though.

no change, labour still going on.

Still going on the first labour motion.

Deputy mayor joins in the fun. Didn’t know dep mayor could speak in debates - learn something new every day.

damn that rule about not having whisky on tap in the council chamber.

lab call for named vote - we all hold our hands up until our names are called out.

Some confusion as cllr nottingham abstains on motion which is carried as amended.

last motion was on compulsory redundancies. Voted to avoid if at all possible, but can’t give 100% guarantee.

lab leader reads my blog & @libdemvoice. Would love to see you commenting on both, andy - get stuck in.
Lib dem leader: we’ll fight for stockport & criticise gov when we think they’re wrong. No slavish support.

Time for a comfort break, I think.

Still going on police cuts. Just admiring con leader les jones’ HoC portcullis cufflinks - trappings of power?

Coalition unable to reverse lab police cuts, but in gr man the plan is no cuts in frontline police numbers.

we’re still repeating the same arguments round in circles. Isn’t that what’s the Internet’s for?

lab now claiming lab police cuts will mean disaster. Come on - stop scaremongering, cllr harding.

fellow cllr on chapter 91 of the lost symbol. Feel like I could have read all 91 myself by now.

Meeting getting shouty - I did miss over what exactly, but I don’t suppose it matters much.

Motion on police cuts carried as amended. Can’t quite summon enthusiasm to tweet the details.

Onto the last labour motion - on cuts in general. Hot and sweaty - and not with excitement, sadly.

cllr harding (lab) railing against private enterprise - it doesn’t work, we’re told. Not quite persuaded.

“condem govt” gets name-check from lab, then more cheap insults. Come on cllr foster - you can do better

Lib dem executive announcing on 12th july what we’ll do on cuts.

good speech from cllr o’neill (con) - notably lacking in name-calling. And is that a slight breeze?

Cllr sue derbyshire (ld) also made excellent speech: fiery & never descending into inanity.

and a thoughtful speech from cllr scott (lab). We may be on a roll, but I still want to go home sometime.

chapter 99.

Cllr bailey (lab) can’t contain here fury. We’ve lost her respect, apparently. We’re devastated.

From the Council:

Stockport residents are being encouraged to complete a questionnaire on the Council’s Highways and Transport Services.

The survey, running for the third year, includes questions on the condition of roads and footpaths, walking and cycling, congestion and local bus services, and takes about 20 minutes to complete. A random sample of 4,500 local households has started to receive a National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction survey.

The deadline for returning the surveys is 16th July. People’s views in Stockport can be compared directly with those in 100 other local authorities in England and North Wales as all the questions are the same. The survey is a joint initiative between the National Highways & Transport Network and regional Highways Service Improvement Group. The results are expected to be published by the late summer.

From the Council:

Stockport Council has been crowned joint ‘Public Sector Team of the Year’ at the Insider Property Awards North West 2010.

Over 800 property professionals attended the award ceremony at Manchester Central, which toasted the region’s top property performers.

Developers recommended Stockport Council for the award and judges described Stockport’s year as “jobs, jobs and more jobs”. Recent investment successes for Stockport have included the BSkyB announcement of 550 new jobs at BAM Properties’ St Peter’s Square development on the A6; 300 new jobs at Jacobs Engineering at Cheadle Royal Business Park; and over 100 new jobs at Stockport Business Incubator in Reddish.

From the Council:

Anyone interested in the future development of the borough over the next 15 years is asked to comment on Stockport Council’s Core Strategy Proposed Submission document. A public consultation is taking place on the document until July 19th. The document sets down a broad plan for the development of Stockport up to 2026. Residents can feedback on:-

· Sustainability

· Climate issues

· Housing needs

· Safeguarding the environment

· Access to services

· Transport

· Economic development to boost the borough

The documents are available to view at Hygarth House, Wellington Road South, Stockport, all local libraries (including mobile libraries), and Stockport Direct Local Centres, between 9am-4.30pm Monday to Friday. The documents may be viewed on the Council website www.stockport.gov.uk/ldf.

Comments can be submitted by completing the form on the website, or forms can be picked up at the same locations and sent to The LDF Team, Communities, Regeneration & Environment, Stockport Council, FREEPOST, Stockport SK1 3YQ, or faxed to 0161 474 3572. For more information contact the LDF Helpline on Tel: 0161 474 4395; email: planning.policy@stockport.gov.uk or visit the Council’s web-site at www.stockport.gov.uk/ldf.

From the Council, though I certainly add my congratulations:

Congratulations to John Schultz, former Council Chief Executive, who has received a CBE for Services to Local Government in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

John Schultz joined the Council as Chief Executive in May 1994 and retired in March this year. He was also President of SOLACE, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, in 2006-07. John Schultz has said: “It’s a great honour but it’s not just about me, it’s a tribute to the work of everybody at the Council.”

At next Tuesday’s Cheadle Area Committee, there’s a report on “commuted sums” - money allocated to parks and play areas.

We’re being asked to commit a further £1,397.77 to a future project at Gatley play area.

Other local parks and play areas that have received these commuted sums include:

• Brookfield Recretation Ground behind Chestnut Avenue, Cheadle has £17,690.56 - most of which is being spent on their new Multi-User Games Area.
• Over £34,000 has been spent on improvements to the play area at Bruntwood Park
• Nearly £10,000 being spent on the Carrs Road rec ground in Cheadle (that’s actually in Cheadle Hulme North ward)
• Nearly £40,000 being spent on the Diamond Jubilee Recreatin Ground in Cheadle, behind Frances Street.
• Over £34,000 was spent on Gatley Rec Ground improving the skateboard ramps and the children’s play area.
• £443 committed towards the building of new play equipment on William Scholes Field (the bulk of the money is coming from the Government Playbuilder project).

Edited to add: all this money comes from developments.  When a planning application is approved, there’s frequently a sum of money to pay to improve the local area.  Traditionally this went on highways improvements, but Stockport pioneered the use of this money for open spaces and play areas (the Council went to the High Court to defend the policy, won and has since seen it copied across England).

The next Cheadle Area Committee will be held at Ladybridge Park Residents Club, Edenbridge Road, Cheadle Hulme starting at 6pm on Tuesday 22nd June 2010.  You can download the (unusually short at only 61 pages) agenda here.

As always, the meeting is not only open to the public, but we really want more people to come along.  You can turn up late if you like, and you can ask questions of the police, council and councillors (though where there’s no agenda item the question fits into, it needs to be submitted in advance - you can send it by email to stephen.fox@stockport.gov.uk if you like.

Tuesday’s agenda includes

• Brief presentation from Inspector Steve Gilbertson of West Stockport Area police and his colleagues, plus the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues directly with Steve and his team.
• Update from Julie Henshall, our Area Conditions Officer, who deals with issues like graffiti, fly-tipping and littering - you can ask Julie questions.
• Update from Rod Camblin from Highways - he’s the guy who goes around checking potholes and dodgy pavements, marking them up with orange paint and getting them fixed - you can ask Rod questions too.

Then we have the planning applications.  These are quasi-judicial, which means there are rules we follow and a set way things are done to ensure the outcome is fair.

This time round councillors will be considering:

• DC044007 - application for change of use of 9 Wilmslow Road, Cheadle from retail premises to class A3 (restaurant, snack bar and cafe use).  The recommendation from the planning people is to refuse this on the grounds that we already have too many of that type of premises in the area.
• DC044066/DC044125 - conversion and alteration of existing listed farm buildings to five dwellings on Ladybridge Farm, Ladybridge Road.  The planning officers are recommending we grant that one.
• DC044147 - single storey rear extension to 17 Oaktree Cottages, Anfield Road, Cheadle Hulme.  Officers are recommending we grant that one too.

In all cases with planning applications, councillors have (by law) to go into the meeting with an open mind and listen fairly to the arguments.  Our task is not to decide whether we fancy having the development, or whether its popular.  Our task is simply - again by law - to decide whether the development is within the rules and guidelines as set down in the Council’s Unitary Development Plan.

If we refuse an application, the developer can appeal and - if successful - the Council pays lots of money for the appeal costs and the development goes ahead anyway, so it’s worth getting it right.

From the Council:

Stockport Council’s new civic building will be the first in the borough to meet the Changing Places requirements for fully accessible facilities.

The Changing Places Consortium runs a campaign on behalf of people who cannot use standard accessible toilets, a figure which currently stands at 230,000 in the UK. This includes people with profound and multiple learning disabilities as well as other serious impairments, their carers and many other disabled people.

The new facilities will provide enough space and equipment including height adjustable changing bench and hoists. The new building has been designed to be fully accessible for disabled and able bodied people alike. The entrance to the building is a level entrance providing easy access to those with limited mobility and the lifts are appropriate for both wheelchair users and able-bodied people.

Currently there are only 13 facilities in the North West which meet Changing Places requirement, with only one in Greater Manchester. The Changing Place website promotes the use of these facilities and provides a search facility to locate a changing facility anywhere in the UK, complete with maps and directions, allowing carers to locate the nearest facility before venturing out. For more information on the Changing Places campaign please visit www.changing-places.org.

Stockport’s local election results from 1980, in my ongoing publication of the results from 1973 up to 2004.

Among the familiar names, Maureen Rowles was elected in Brinnington (Maureen’s back on the council this year after a two-year gap) and Paul Porgess won in Cheadle Hulme North.

Another very poor year for the Liberals too, winning just one seat.

Following the annual reporting of councillors’ allowances in the press (Stockport’s councillor allowances total a little under £1 million for 63 councillors), which as I wrote a couple of weeks ago  seems reasonable to me if we want a good range of councillors able to run, and hold to account, a local authority with an annual budget of half a billion pounds.

In this weeks Stockport Times, a letter writer asks whether we could make do with fewer councillors.  Do we really need three per ward, or could one or two do the job?  Could we run Stockport with just 21 councillors, or 42, instead of 63?

It’s a good question to ask.

From my perspective, there’s more than enough useful work for 63 councillors to do, whether it’s dealing with casework from residents, attending local meetings (in my case, village partnerships, residents meetings and occasional others) plus the formal council meetings.  Other councillors also get involved with external bodies.

It’s also worth saying that most councillors - from all parties - do voluntary work outside the council.  For example, I think the majority of councillors are also school governors of at least one school (I’m vice chair of governors at Gatley Primary, and a leader of Gatley Cubs, for example).

So could we get by with far fewer councillors?  Probably the answer is yes, but you’d get a poorer service.  Your problems would take longer to sort out, you’d see a councillor at meetings less often, and there’d be less effective oversight and leadership within the council.

Maybe that’s a price worth paying.  In these times of austerity, there’s a case to be made for the residents of Stockport accepting a poorer service from their councillors if it would save a few hundred thousand pounds.

In my opinion, it would be a false economy but who knows - perhaps I’m wrong.

The other question is who has the power to change it.  As far as I know, the requirement for metropolitan boroughs like Stockport to have three councillors per ward is set down in the law passed in the early ’70s when they were set up, and it would require a further Act of Parliament (i.e. a new law from MPs) to change it.

From the Council:

Stockport Child Safety Week takes place from 21st to 25th June, bringing together a range of agencies, including Stockport Council and the NHS that are committed to reducing the number of children who are injured through accidents. More children end up in hospital because they’ve been seriously hurt in an accident than any other cause. The week will include activities for under fives at Children’s Centres and other locations and will culminate on Friday 25th June with a safety awareness event at Merseyway Shopping Centre.

People attending the event can get advice, arrange free fire safety checks and access to a limited number of free items that will help to keep your child safe.

For a full list of events for Child Safety Week call 0161 217 6028. To find out more about Sure Start Children’s Centres in Stockport visit www.stockport.gov.uk/surestart. The events have been sponsored by Stockport branches of Halfords, Mothercare, Boots and BabyUK in Reddish.

We come onto the Stockport local elections for 1979, in my run through all the results from 1973 up to 2004.

1979 was the last time Stockport local elections fell on the same day as the general election, prior to 2010. It was the year Margaret Thatcher came to power and, with no serious Liberal challenge in any of the parliamentary seats, the party suffered.

This year had turnout never seen before or since, with one ward (Ladybrook) having a turnout of over 85% - simply staggering for a local election.

Somem familiar names cropped up, too. Colin Macalister - last year’s mayor - comfortably held his Brinnington and Lancashire Hill seat and John Pantall won Cheadle Hulme North and Adshead.

From the Council:

With the help of the Stockport Boost campaign, 1047 families across Stockport have been able to take advantage of the national ‘Home Access’ scheme which provides free computers to help support learning and development. The scheme has helped around half of all eligible low-income families in Stockport gain access to a computer and get online at home. This is an exceptionally high rate of successful applicants compared with our ‘near neighbour’ Local Authorities of a similar size.

For more information about the Stockport Boost campaign visit the Council Website at www.stockport.gov.uk/boost.

The late ’70s wasn’t a great time for Stockport’s Liberals.  Today, all 18 councillors in Hazel Grove constituency are Lib Dems.  Back in the late ’70s that number was precisely zero.  The Liberals came third in Edgeley and Cheadle Heath (the one seat the party won in ‘76 at the height of the Jeremy Thorpe scandal), but resumed their winning ways in the two Cheadle Hulme seats.

Note also the Communist candidate in Reddish Green and Longford (Andy Verdeille, now leader of the Labour group, saw him off) and the National Front candidate in Adswood and Cale Green.

From the Council:

On Monday, 7 June 2010 work should commence to repair the frost damaged steps on the footpath crossing the land above Exchange Street in the town centre (the footpath is an important pedestrian link between the railway station and the bus station). The work is estimated to last 1 week. During this period the footpath will be closed and signs will be erected at the top and bottom of the route advising the public.

This successful outcome has been achieved through the collaborated efforts of several council service areas – notably Environmental Services and Town Centre Management - in partnership with the relevant landlords and their agents; This has also been part of a much wider initiative to address and develop longer term sustainable solutions regarding the upkeep and repair of this important high profile site.

 Samuel Linton  tragically died following an Asthma attack at Offerton High School on 4th December 2007.

Stockport Council (which covers Offerton, for those reading this from outside the area) has been working to learn the lessons and work with schools to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again.

We discussed it at our Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday.

A new policy has been written.  It includes good advice like the need for schools to phone an ambulance right away in a medical emergency, to ensure the paramedics can get to the child quickly and to have spares of things like inhalers held in the school office.

Training has been given.  There have been two training sessions so far and 112 of Stockport’s 117 schools have attended.

Councillors were concerned that five schools hadn’t yet attended the training, with a couple suggesting they should be forced to.

That raised a challenging issue schools and local authorities are facing up and down the country: who’s in charge?

The answer is that the schools are in charge, pretty much.  The Council simply doesn’t have the power to force schools to attend a particular training session- it’s all about partnership.

The really interesting, and challenging, question is how things will develop as we get more academies - as the Government is working for.  Those academies may be completely divorced from the local authority.

To use this example, rather than the local authority working with schools to develop a new policy, give training and implement it, will every school develop their own?  Or will schools buy in a policy and training from a private company?  Or perhaps voluntarily come together to do the work?

It can certainly be done, but it’s not yet clear how it’s going to work when there are lots of academies (at the moment we just have one in Stockport) and it’s not clear whether the outcome will be better or worse than how things work now.

There’s an article in the Stockport Times this week from a Peter Rowe of Bramhall, claiming that councillors allowances have risen by 5% this year.

Sadly for my bank balance, Mr Rowe is mistaken.  Councillors’ allowances are linked to council pay.  Last year they increased by 1%, this year not at all.

From the Council:

Celebrations for Stockport Market’s 750th anniversary commence with a day of fun in the town centre on Saturday 5th June in the Market Place, between 10.00am to 4.00pm. ‘Making Markets Matter’, organised along with the National Market Traders Federation, will offer free fun activities for all the family including chef demonstrations, exciting prizes, children’s activities, live music and dance, street entertainment and fabulous freebies.

To celebrate World Environment Day, the event will include fun and informative stalls to help visitors find out more about going green. Meanwhile, St Peter’s Square will be hosting a celebration of bikes, with the Stockport Loves Bikes event. On offer will be bike displays and demonstrations, bike dressing workshops, a best dressed bike competition, bike parade, pedal powered music, bike repair service and cycle training, safety and security.

From the Council:

Stockport Council is supporting Signpost Stockport’s Carer Information Day at Stockport Town Hall on Tuesday 8th June from 10am-3pm. The free event gives carers an opportunity to collect information and advice about a wide range of services from over 50 information stalls. Carer Information Day supports National Carers Week from 14th-20th June which has a theme of ‘A life of my own’.

This focuses on how carers miss out on things others take for granted such as family occasions, going on holiday, meals out, and relaxing in the evening with no worries or responsibilities. For more information about the events and activities taking place as part of Carers Week contact Signpost Stockport for Carers on 0161 456 2808.

At the Children and Young Peoples’ Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday we looked at the Council’s draft “Corportate Parenting Strategy”.

This aims to set out, in broad terms, how the Council looks after children that come under its care - either in childrens’ homes or foster care.

As of 30th April 2010, Stockport had 321 Looked After Children, mostly placed in foster homes and the council’s two children’s homes.

To summarise the whole strategy in one sentence:

A Care Leavers’ group has suggested that the term LAC (Looked After Child) should refer to being “Loved, Appreciated, Cherished”.

That’s what the council strives for, and what it’s made a lot of progress on (the two council children’s homes are very highly rated and won plaudits from one councillor).

It’s easy to say; often harder to do.  It’s tough to love, appreciate and cherish the teenager from the broken home who’s just sworn at you and stormed out.

But it’s so important, and Stockport provides a great deal of support for foster carers (plus money to cover the additional costs of fostering).

If anyone’s interested in finding out more about making the difference that turns someone’s life around, by fostering and adoption, visit the Council website here.

Like many others, I’ve been frustrated that the large pothole at the bottom of Massie Street that should have been repaired weeks ago.

Our Council highways officer, Rod Camblin, has told us (at Cheadle Area Committee) that there was some confusion with the contractors, but since then it’s still not been fixed.

Pam and I are chasing this up and I very much hope it will get done swiftly.

Stockport Council’s Children and Young Peoples’ Directorate has the job of helping all young people in Stockport.  Schools, childrens homes, foster carers and other services for young people fall under its remit.

At the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee on 2nd June, councillors from the  three parties have the chance to hold the directorate - and the Executive Member responsible, Cllr Mark Weldon - to account.

Anyone expecting the sort of scenes we get in the council chamber, with parties angrily denouncing each other across the benches, would be surprised.  Yes, there are disagreements from time to time, but there are far more agreements.

It isn’t just about holding the Department to account either.  These scrutiny committees aren’t just about telling the Council off when it underperforms - they’re also about working positively for improvements.

The Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee has done as well on that score.  Some of the councillors worked on a study to see how we could better help young people who find themselves caring for others (it turns out that the big challenge is finding those young carers).

Research was done, an excellent report written and the Executive - the Council’s ruling body - have responded positively and some good things are already done.

The agenda for the meeting comes out a week or two beforehand. This latest one was 131 pages, so we all took a few hours to read it, then - where we had the opportunity - more time going through it with colleagues to tease out the key issues.

All the council’s scrutiny meetings (and nearly all of the other meetings) are open to the public to view. Normally we have a handful of attendees, though last night there was no-one. I’d hesitate to class it as a good night out, but if you’re interested in the work councillors do, you could do worse than come along to one.

The latest in my posting of local election results for Stockport from 1973 to 2004.  Not the Liberal’s finest year this one - in fact the party won only a single seat, Edgeley and Cheadle Heath (which now has three Labour councillors).  In Cheadle & Gatley, the Conservatives were way ahead.

The Jeremy Thorpe scandal had been raging in the media, with Thorpe resigning as leader of the Liberal Party on 9th May, four days after these elections took place.

Each ward in Stockport gets £3,000 of area fuflexibility funding each year.  Typically, this is given to local organisations applying for funding.  It can also be used for other projects to improve the ward (e.g. in Heald Green they spent around £7,000 on some additional paving improvements in the village centre, on top of the main improvements along the frontage that came from central funding).

Officially, I think the area committee as a whole has to approve each allocation.  In practice, it’s left to the three councillors for each ward to decide how their ward spends its money, and I think we’ve always managed to agree.

In the last meeting we gave £1,200 to the Gatley festival, to help fund the temporary hard surface laid down around the entrance to the field.  That involved spending the last of our 2009/10 budget and a little of the 2010/11 budget.

So for this year (up to April 2011) we have £2703.67.

At this meeting there was a bumper crop of applications - all very worthwhile and all ones we wanted to support.

Cheadle & Gatley Football Club were looking for £2,000 towards kits for their 250+ members.  It’s a great club that does a lot for young people across the area, with 75% coming from our ward and most of the rest from Heald Green.

We allocated £1,000 from Cheadle & Gatley, with £500 from Heald Green and our colleagues in Cheadle Hulme North kindly giving a further £250, so we were able to give them £1,750 in total.

Acorn, Ash & Chestnut Avenues Residents Association asked for  £64.99 to enable their secretary to print minutes, leaflets etc, and we were happy to give that.

Friends of Hall Street Green in Cheadle wanted £1,000 towards the excellent project their working on to enhance the Green (in total it’s over £35,000 and they’re applying for grants from a variety of different places).

So that leaves us with £638.68 for the rest of the year up to April 2011 - wish it could be more!

We sadly felt unable to make a contribution towards the Scouts Japan 2010 trip.  The total cost of the trip, for 150 Scouts and Leaders, is £300,000 and they still need to raise a little over £100,000 to meet the target.  Unfortunately, we didn’t feel we could help.  Not only would our money have barely made a dent in the total; it wasn’t really something specific for our area.

Stockport celebrated double success at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) North West Awards 2010 last week. The newly restored Covered Market Hall won the accolade of best regeneration project.

The Grade II Listed Market Hall, which has undergone a £1.7 million restoration with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, has been transformed into a vibrant retail and community space. A second scheme in Stockport, the Citadel on Middle Hillgate, was highly commended in the residential category.

This scheme by Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust involved a major redevelopment of the landmark former Salvation Army Hall building into 14 shared ownership flats. The contest short-listed 49 projects from across the North West, at an awards ceremony held at The Monastery in Gorton.

Employees at Stockport Council, NHS Stockport and partner organisations enjoyed a dress-down day to support IDAHO, the International Day against Homophobia.

Pictured on the marble staircase in Stockport Town Hall are people dressed in the spectrum of colours represented on the IDAHO flag.

Stockport Councillor Stuart Bodsworth, champion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues said “I am proud that Stockport is flying the flag for an end to homophobic bullying and discrimination…I’d like to thank everybody who showed their support for equality by wearing their rainbow colours.”

Richard Popplewell, Chief Executive of NHS Stockport, and Council Corporate Director, Adults and Health, added “tackling inequalities is a major focus in Stockport, both at the Council and the NHS. Our staff played a key role in showing support for our local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and taking a clear stand against homophobia.”

The Stockport Times has a front page story on councillor allowances: the total for all 63 Stockport councillors come in at a little under a million pounds, or about 0.2% of all council spending.

Should you be outraged?  Pleased?  Indifferent?

Should councillors get allowances, or should we do the work for free?

First, let’s clear up my expenses.  Apparently, I got £5,954.95 (that’s what the paper says, I assume it’s true) and that’s the lowest of any councillor.  But it’s only the lowest because I joined the council half way through the year.  This year I’ll be somewhere in the middle (I’ll get the basic allowance of about £9,500 and a little extra because I’m vice-chair of one of the council committees).

After that, two questions: do taxpayers get value for money, and what would happen if allowances were significantly cut or abolished.

Value for money

The basic allowance for a backbench councillor is about £9,500 a year.  We pay tax on that income, and it covers all our normal expenses.   I did calculate how much it worked out as for me, given the hours I spend on council business (excluding my political campaigning) and it came out as just a little above minimum wage.

I’m not blowing my own trumpet here - I’m quite certain that the majority of councillors from all parties are in a similar situation.  In terms of hours put in, the allowance doesn’t work out as a fortune, or even an average income.

I firmly believe the public get good value for money from that nearly-a-million pounds for 63 committed councillors working on behalf of their constituents and everyone across the borough.

The Leader, Cllr Dave Goddard, works full time as council leader - and then some.  He leads a council that provides over 600 services to over 250,000 people with a budget of half a billion pounds.  For that, he was paid less than £40,000.  Try finding someone to do that job at that price in the private sector!

What about cutting or abolishing allowances?

The policy the councillors have followed recently is for allowances to rise by the same amount as council staff, which for this coming year means no increase at all.  That seems fair to me.

But couldn’t we make big cuts to allowances?  Why not halve them or abolish them altogether?

Well, we could do that, but I for one wouldn’t be able to stay on the council.  I’m not retired, and I have to earn money to support my family: I simply couldn’t afford to put in the time required to be a good councillor without some sort of allowance, and I certainly wouldn’t want to hang around as a bad one.

If we want our councillors to exclusively be wealthy retired people, abolishing allowances is probably fine.  But if we want people of all ages and all backgrounds to have the opportunity to serve on the council and use their energy and talents for the benefit of the people of Stockport, a sensible allowance is essential.

So don’t congratulate me on taking the lowest allowance this year, but do consider the value for money you get from all your 63 councillors, Lib Dem, Conservative, Labour and Independent, who put in a lot of time and energy overseeing the spending of half a billion pounds.

We all chose to be councillors, most of us enjoy it and get a lot out of it.  But don’t begrudge us sensible allowances that aren’t excessive given the time we put  in an, in many cases, allow us to do the job in the first place.

(As always, these opinions are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of other councillors, the council as a whole or the Lib Dem group).

Over 20 local businesses attended an international trade clinic in Stockport to find out more about selling goods or services around the world. The event showcased the range of support available to businesses looking to expand into new markets abroad.

Attendees received valuable information about the assistance available to companies looking to take advantage of international trade, with specific insight into trading with South America, North America and Europe.

For more information call the Economic Development team at Stockport Council on 0161 474 3737 or email econdev@stockport.gov.uk.

Stockport Council is supporting Foster Care Fortnight which runs from 17th to 30th May in a bid to recruit more carers.

The Council’s Fostering team will be holding events during the two weeks including a weekend of promotions in Merseyway and St Petersgate on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th May. Foster Care Fortnight is an annual campaign to raise the profile of fostering and highlights the need for more foster families.

This year’s theme is ‘Do You Have The Skills To Foster?’ which aims to encourage people to consider a career in fostering and focus on the personal and professional skills that a modern foster carer needs to fulfill their role as a child care expert.

Views are being sought on the future development of Bramall Hall and Park.

An extensive consultation is being carried out to give people the opportunity to learn about plans and comment on future proposals for improvements to the historic hall and park. The consultation will continue throughout May.

An exhibition stand is currently on display showing the plans for the hall and park at Vernon Park Museum from 4th May to 18th May.

The Council is at the early stages of developing proposals to improve Bramall Hall and Park. A key priority is to develop a holistic and sustainable vision to guide the future management of the site.

For more information about the consultation contact Melissa Marshall from the Council’s Conservation & Heritage Team on 0161 218 1534 or email melissa.marshall@stockport.gov.uk.

The 2011 Census will mainly be delivered by post out and return of questionnaires, so it is vital that there is an accurate list of addresses for Stockport. In January, the Council’s GIS Team supported the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to develop an accurate list for Stockport. The next stage in this process is a visual address check by census staff from ONS who are currently checking addresses in Stockport to identify:

· Those that are not on their list, such as, newly built or converted properties

· Those that should no longer be on their list, such as, demolished properties

· Numbers of people living in establishments such as hotels and care homes

This process has already started and address checkers will be working in a series of postcodes across the Borough until the 28th August. Census staff will mainly be undertaking visual check, but may knock on doors to clarify how many households are present. All census staff have an official ID card, which they carry at all times, and census staff will not be entering properties during the address check process. The Police and our Customer Contact Centre have been informed that this activity is underway.

If you have any questions about the address check process, or receive any from residents, please contact Annalie Burns, Assistant Census Liaison Manager on 0161-474-3021 or by e-mail: annalie.burns@stockport.gov.uk.

The residents’ association for Acord, Ash and Chestnut Avenues, off Oak Road in Cheadle, is a good example of one that works well.  It’s well run by its officers, with support from local councillors (especially Pam King) and the Council.

Yesterday’s meeting included discussion of:

• The new Multi-User Games Area, soon to be constructed.
• Issues for tenants of Stockport Homes, including the condition of some properties.
• Anti-social behaviour and crime issues, especially youths playing football in the avenues.

The police didn’t make it to this meeting - they did come to the last one  A representative from Stockport Homes and a couple of council officers came along, plus Pam and myself.

If anyone else is interested in setting up a residents’ association for their road or area, just let me know.

Congratulations to Cllr Andy Verdeille, who steps into Peter Scott’s shoes as leader of the Labour group on Stockport Council.  Cllr Philip Harding remains Labour deputy leader.

I wish Andy well - he now leads the main opposition group, and I believe that good councils need good oppositions.

From the Council website - I haven’t done the sums myself:

•  Liberal Democrats 37
• Labour 13
• Conservatives 9
• Independent Ratepayers 3
• Independent 1

And just for fun, here are the total percentages of the votes cast in the local elections across the 7 wards in Cheadle constituency, which Mark Hunter held for the Lib Dems.  These are calculated by me, so sorry for any mistakes.

Lib Dem: 46.14%

Con: 35.49%

Lab: 9.45%

Independent Ratepayer: 6.63*

Green: 0.73% **

BNP: 1.13% **

* Only stood in one of the seven seats

** Only stood in two of the seven seats

And finally, whilst I’m in geek mode, here are the total percentages of the votes cast in the local elections across the whole of Stockport Borough, including Cheadle, Hazel Grove, Stockport and parts of Denton and Reddish constituencies:

Lib Dem:  57%

Con: 14%

Lab: 24%

Independent Ratepayers: 5%*

* Only stood in one of the 21 seats

Note: these figures supplied by Stockport Council.

Four new councillors join Stockport Council after these local elections:

Daniel Hawthorn (Lib Dem, Manor) - our youngest councillor, age 23.

Lisa Walker (Con, Bramhall North)

Mags Kirkham (Lib Dem, Bredbury Green and Romiley)

Adrian Nottingham (Independent Ratepayers, Heald Green)

One new councillor has previously served on the council, so welcome back to Maureen Rowles (Lab, Brinnington and Central) after two years away.

And finally, a fond farewell to Syd Lloyd (Con, Bredbury Green and Romiley) and Colin Macalister (Lib Dem, Brinnington and Central) who lost their seats in this election.

 You’ve got me for four more years.  Thanks to everyone who supported me in the local council elections yesterday.  Thanks also to my two opponents, Colin Owen for Labour and Adam Calmonson for the Conservatives - I wish them both the best for the future.

My result was:

Iain Roberts (LD)  4332  (53%)

Adam Calmonson (Con) 2964 ( 36.5%)

Colin Owen (Lab) 848 ( 10.5%)

Turnout:  8114 (71.6%)

Here are the other results as I tweeted them:

Stockport result: bredbury & woodley ward. Ld 4009, con 1723, lab 1025. Ld win (chris gordon).
Stockport result: cheadle hulme north: ld 3939, con 1995, lab 930. June somekh (ld) elected.

Stockport result: davenport & cale green ld 2453, lab 2032, con 1321, green 415. David white (ld) elected.

Stockport result: edgely & cheadle heath. Lab 3137, ld 1532, con 1177. Others under 300. Philip harding (lab) win.

Stockport result: heatons south : lab 3401, Con 2286, ld 1697, grn 322. Tom mcgee (lab) elected.

Stockport result: heatons north: con 2680, lab 2396, ld 1596, green 419, bnp 205. Anthony O’Neill (con) elected.

Stockport result: bredbury green & romiley. Ld gain from con (mags kirkham beat syd lloyd). Ld 3123, con 2979, lab 945

Stockport result: reddish north bnp 536, con 1100, ld 1115, lab 3209. Peter scott (lab) elected.

Stockport result: cheadle & gatley: con 2964, lab 848, ld 4332. Iain Roberts (me, ld) elected.

Stockport result: cheadle hulme south: ld 4110, con 2797, lab 631. Stuart bodsworth (ld) elected.

Stockport results: stepping hill: bnp 264, grn 208, lab 954, ld 3305, con 2296. Mark weldon (ld) elected.

Stockport results: hazel grove ld 3777, lab 844, con 2697. Stuart corris (ld) elected.

Stockport result: bramhall south: ld 3195, lab 387, con 3775, ukip 213, green 173. John leck (con) elected.

Stockport result: heald green: ind ratepayers 3462, lab 680, ld 1469, bnp 328, con 952. Adrian nottingham (ind) elected

Stockport result: offerton lab 1199, bnp 573, ld 3173, con 1536. John smith (ld) elected.

Stockport results: reddish south. Ld 1433, con 1320, lab 3196, bnp 326. Tom grundy (lab) elected.

Stockport results: manor ld 2605, lab 2030, con 1269, bnp 464. Daniel hawthorn (ld) elected - age 23, well done daniel!

Stockport results: bramhall north is dead heat between ld & con. Ld 3673, lab 521, con 3673. Time to draw lots.

Stockport results: two ballot papers in the box, chief exec will draw one at random to determine the winner of bramhall north.

Stockport results: and tories have won bramhall north. Lisa walker (con).

Stockport result: brinnington & central: lab 2413, ld 1394, con 508 bnp/grn/ukip under 320. Maureen rowles (lab) elected

Think I’ve tweeted all the stockport results, now in the pub. Came so close to overturn tory 1,000 majority in bram nth.

Overall stockport result: ld gain 1 from con, lab gain 1 from ld. Stockport stays lib dem controlled.

Anyone looking for the results to the local council elections in Stockport will have to wait to this afternoon (Friday).  Counting starts at the Town Hall at 11am, with results expected early afternoon.

Congratulations to Mark Hunter, Andrew Stunell and Anne Coffey, who all held their seats for Cheadle, Hazel Grove and Stockport respectively, and thank you to everyone on the Lib Dem campaign team who worked so hard over the last few years, and especially the months of the campaign.

Stockport Council is encouraging residents to take part in Walk to Work Week which takes place from the 26th April.
The Active Stockport campaign has linked in with the national initiative as a way to encourage residents of all ages to fit in their recommended five times thirty minutes of exercise per week.

The Council has also signed up to the Walkit.com website - www.walkit.com which allows local residents to plan journeys in the borough. They can find out how long their journeys are by foot, how many calories they’ve burnt, step count and carbon saved.

The website can be used like a sat-nav, by entering the postcode or address of the start and finish of the journey. Residents can choose the most direct or least busy route and print off maps.

The Council Plan, 2010-11 has been published on the Council website. The Council Plan sets out the strategic direction for the Council and provides the framework for the delivery of the Council’s key priorities and outcomes.

The Council has aligned its priorities with those set out in Stockport’s Community Strategy – Stockport 2020. This decision was made to reflect the Council’s leadership role on the Stockport Partnership.

The Council’s new priorities are:

A Thriving Stockport

• A competitive economy

• A vibrant Town Centre

• An educated population

• An enterprising culture

A Safer, Stronger Stockport

• Cohesive communities

• Engaged communities

• Low crime rates

• Community pride

A Healthy Stockport

• Active people

• Empowered people

• Independent people

• People with good emotional and mental health

A Greener Stockport

• A unique built environment

• Excellent parks and open spaces

• A sustainable approach to the natural environment

• Good connections

The Council Plan also includes a suite of measures and targets together with a revised Corporate Risk Register. For further information contact the Policy and Performance Team on 0161 474 3083.

Last night (Thursday 22nd April 2010) was Stockport’s last Full Council of the civic year.  It was the last for councillors Maureen Walsh (independent, formerly Con), Chris Blackburn (LD) and Derek Whitehead (Independent Ratepayers), all of whom are standing down.  Whether it’s the last for another 20 or so of us up for election in 13 days time is down to the voters.

With the second leaders’ debate starting at 8pm, we were hoping for a quick one.  We didn’t quite make it for the start of the debate, but we’ve had much later finishes (and didn’t Nick do well, though in all fairness Cameron and Brown clearly improved a great deal too).

The main topics of the meeting were:

• Presentation on policing in Stockport by Chief Inspector Rebekah Sutcliffe
• Adoption of the new Local Development Framework, which will replace the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) as being the set of rules and guidelines under which we take planning decisions.
• Motion calling for the people of Greater Manchester to be allowed to pay for 104 extra police: would cost 11p/week for Band D council tax payers but blocked by the Government.

Here’s my Twitter feed from the council chamber:

I’m hoping for a short one - there are more exciting debates to be had tonight.

Prayers over, soduko & crosswords out.

mayor telling us what he’s been doing. In official capacity…trips to B&Q not included.

4 people in public gallery - hi there, hope you enjoy the evening.

cllrs bodsworth & white answering public question on how we achieve energy saving targets

chief supt rebekah sutcliffe presenting on policing in stockport.

Haven’t met rebekah before but I’ve heard good things.

Crime falling substantially across stockport, but more to do.

Burglary detection up from 6% to 18% since 2004. Over 45% violent crimes detected.

Impressive crime detection rate of 103% for march. Possible that’s a typo.

Police aiming to get better at spotting & dealing with repeat victimisation.

New police cust service desk calls people back after they’ve reported a crime, gets feedback.

New spotlight unit works with 197 offenders, has seen 36% cut in reoffending levels & big savings.

Now just 1 person in public gallery - hope leaders’ debate gets better viewing figures.

Hi to matt from stockport express - your dedication in reporting dull meetings is appreciated.

excellent q from cllr richard coaton (lab) - when families are evicted, do police monitor them

Chief insp sutcliffe doesn’t know where evicted family went to, but police should monitor.

Cllr whitehead (ind) asks value of electronic tagging (he took out 1st patent on it 40 yrs ago)

No-one has elec tag stats to hand. Cllr whitehead 1,police 0

Cllr porgess (ld) saying stockport police performing well, but vehicle crime is problem.

Expertise that’s improved burglary detection rate now being applied to vehicle crime.

cllr foster-grime makes point of information disguised as question - the excitement may be peaking.

Cllr verdeille (lab) wonders if cllr foster-grime (ld) has cracked vehicle crime single-handed.

Very competent performance from chief insp rebekah sutcliffe.

Local development framework very briefly proposed & seconded.

Cllr leck (con) saying something about woodford. May be very wise, but I’m struggling to hear.

cllr hogg (ld): cllr leck scaremongering on woodford aerodrome - nothing ruled in or out.

Cllr hogg: when lib dems run the country, business confidence will return (laughter all round)

Leader pays tribute to 3 cllrs retiring: chris blackburn (ld), maureen walsh (ex con), derek whitehead (ind)

agma has released extra £3.5m to continue feasibility study for a555 bypass.

Leader hopeful stockport county coming out of administration on 10th May.

1437 new jobs created in stockport 209/10 - target was 500. Unemployment down again too.

Cllr foster-grime (ld) stockport crime lowest for 6 yrs due to partnership working.

Stockport safest place to live in greater manchester, crime down by 16% in last year.

cllr verdeille (lab) & foster-grime (ld) clash over something or other - not quite sure what.

Labservatives thrilled at andrew stunnel getting parking ticket - really getting grip on major issues.

Cllr foster-grime (ld) says she’ll be brief on police funding motion. timers out.

cllr porgess (ld) all parties supported 11p/week on council tax to pay for 104 new police.

…govt blocked it, so we still have too few police in Greater Manchester.

5 min recess to read amendment from cllr peter scott (lab). This had better be good.

Nope, it’s 4 pages of lib dem bashing the daily mail would be proud of. Labour scared.

Labour dropping any attempt at addressing issue in favour of political point scoring. Sad.

cllr bailey (lab) throwing insults across the chamber. Come on, I’ve better things to do.

Cllr Bailey singing praises of gordon brown. That was the high point, now it’s getting silly.

Cllr bailey appears to be admitting failure of lab sentencing policy.

tories abstain on nasty, false lab amendment - enjoy sitting on the the fence guys.
Cllr foster (lab) trying to get most mentions of word ‘panic’ into his speech. Not bad.

and we’re done. Last full council of year, whether it’s my last is up to the voters.

Over the last few months, the Lib Dems have been repeatedly attacked by Stockport Conservatives over the level of Council Tax.

The Conservatives say it’s too high and want a tax freeze.  Fair enough - I’d like Council Tax to be lower too, but to do that you’ve got to say what you’ll cut.

The Council would need an additional £5 million in cuts to freeze council tax.  So far, the Conservative “fully costed” plan is to get a few hundred thousand by reducing the communications budget.  OK, so what about the other £4+ million?  Doesn’t sound fully costed to me.

Stockport is already the lowest spending borough in Greater Manchester.  Lower spending that Conservative Controlled Trafford and Bury.  So where would the axe fall to freeze council tax or make the even bigger cuts the Tories have called for?

Cutting the roads budget is an obvious one - it’s what some other Tory-controlled councils are doing.  We could save money by repairing fewer potholes and pavements, but people tell us they want them fixed.

A Council Tax freeze would save residents less than £50 a year.  In contrast, Nick Clegg’s plans to make the first £10,000 of our income tax free would see most people better off to the tune of £700 - a working couple would be £1400 better off.  And that’s fully costed - the Lib Dems have said exactly how it would be paid for.

So which is it to be?  A Conservative promise of tax cuts if £50  with no idea how they’ll be paid for, or the fully-costed Lib Dem plan to put £700 in your pocket?

Coming back home this evening, I noticed the Council have removed the tree stumps outside 20 Torkington Road, 32 Torkington Road and 3 Springfield Road in Gatley (hopefully the one by 6 Barcheston in Cheadle’s also been removed, but I didn’t see it this evening).

This is work Pam King and I decided to fund from our ward budget - to remove the four stumps - which were partially blocking the pavement - and repair the pavement costs around £2,500 (a little over 10% of our budget for the year).

Thanks to Peter Pollard and his team at Stockport Council for doing the work.

I’ve been asked by AboutMyArea and Gatley.net to provide a candidate statement, putting my case as to why the residents of Cheadle & Gatley should re-elect me as a local councillor on 6th May.

Since the first was 300 words and the second 200, there’s been some editing between the two to get the word count down.  I can only hope I’ve not accidentally contradicted myself.  As the 200 word statement is Gatley oriented, I cut some words by removing a few Cheadle references.

Here are the two as  submitted them:

The 200 word version

Since my election in September 2009 I’ve worked hard for the people of Cheadle & Gatley. I’ve had several areas of flooding fixed, reported over a hundred potholes, faulty streetlights and broken pavements. I’ve had many pieces of graffiti cleaned up, worked hard to improve parking and traffic problems and worked with the police and council to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. I’ve worked to get the right outcome on the Tatton site - investigating a land-swap deal to get Gatley a much-needed car park and playing my part in opposing the developer’s appeal.

But there’s more to do. Fixing our roads after the winter freeze, improving parking, getting ‘Gatley North’ rail station built, helping our village centres to recover from the recession and making them attractive destinations for shoppers.

There’s more to do tackling traffic problems, including the Kingsway junction and on the South Park Road estate. More work making us all safe from crime, giving our young people more to do, and many other issues.

In the months since my election I hope I’ve shown that I get things done, and I’ll always fight for our area. Re-elect me and give me the opportunity to continue this work.

The 300 word version

Since my election in September 2009 I’ve worked hard for the people of Cheadle & Gatley, with results that can be seen around the area. I’ve had several areas of flooding fixed, reported over a hundred potholes, faulty streetlights and broken pavements. I’ve had many pieces of graffiti cleaned up, worked hard to improve parking and traffic problems and worked with the police and council to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, including in the Oak Road area. I’ve worked to get the right outcome on Gatley’s old Tatton site - investigating a land-swap deal to get Gatley a much-needed car park and recently playing my part in the successful defence of the Council’s refusal of the unsuitable planning application at appeal.

But there’s much more to do. We need to get our roads back in order after the winter freeze, to improve parking, get Cheadle and ‘Gatley North’ rail stations built on the Stockport to Altrincham line, help our village centres to recover from the recession and make them attractive destinations for shoppers.

There’s more work to do tackling traffic problems, like those at the Kingsway junction, on Schools Hill and on the South Park Road estate. More work making us all safe from crime, giving our young people more to do, and a host of other issues.

In the months since I was elected, I hope I’ve shown that I get things done, and I’ll always stick up for the people of Gatley and Cheadle and fight for our area. Re-elect me and give me the opportunity to continue this work.

The General Election and Stockport Council local election both take place on Thursday 6th May. Stockport residents aged 18 and over by that date, who aren’t on the current electoral register, are reminded that the last day to register to vote in time for both elections is Tuesday, 20 April. Residents must be on the electoral register to vote in the elections.

Residents can collect a voting registration form or application forms for either a postal or proxy vote from the Elections Office in Stockport Town Hall (entrance in Lacy Street, off Edward Street) from Monday to Friday from 9am-5pm. People can also phone the elections hotline on 0161 217 6026 from Monday to Friday 8am-6pm to request a form. Completed forms must be received by the Elections Office by 20th April (or 27th April for a proxy vote). Forms can be posted or hand delivered to the Elections Office, or faxed on 0161 474 3029.

Stockport Council has now delivered over 200,000 Official Poll Cards and Official Postal Poll Cards to all eligible registered electors for the local election. The cards are for information only. However, if residents have not received their poll or postal poll card, they should telephone 0161 217 6026 to check that they are still registered. General Election Official Poll Cards and Postal Poll Cards will be delivered soon.

Registered electors will be able to vote, in the usual way, at their local polling station from 7.00am -10.00pm on 6th May. Postal ballot packs will be posted out later this month. There is more information on the election on the Council website www.stockport.gov.uk/election2010.

A lot of the debates between the political parties in local politics is about who’s better at sticking up for local people, getting things done and managing the council - without fundamental differences on what to do.

Not all, though.  Sometimes issues come along where the parties fundamentally disagree.  Then it’s up to us as politicians to spell out those differences and up to the electorate to decide which approach they prefer, at the ballot box.

In our area, the Conservatives have been attacking the Lib Dems pretty vocally - they think we’ve got the wrong approach on finances, and we should be spending less.

This approach was set out by Stockport’s Conservative leader, Cllr Les Jones, speaking at the Budget Full Council meeting on 25th Feb this year.

Cllr Jones said that spending in Stockport was far too high and, over several years, should be cut by 15-20% - or around £75 million to £100 million a year.

Stockport is already the lowest spending authority in Greater Manchester - we spend less than Conservative Trafford, less than Conservative Bury.  So if the local Tories are calling for big cuts, it seems right that they should explain what will be cut.

After all, anyone can call for big cuts.  Anyone can stand up and demand millions be stripped from a budget.  That’s easy.  Actually doing it - deciding where the money gets cut from - that’s the hard part.  Honest politics must include saying where you’ll make the cuts (as the Lib Dems are doing both in Stockport and nationally).

The Conservatives haven’t yet done that.  They’re calling for cuts of at least £75 million a year, but have identified savings of only around £1 million a year.

The remaining £74 million represents a big chunk of our annual budget - the Conservatives need to give us some idea of where the axe will fall.

That’s our challenge to the Conservatives, and it’s the story we’re leading on in our leaflets.

It’s one of the real choices voters have to make.

The Lib Dems have been hard at work to make efficiency savings in Stockport.  We made £9 million of savings in the past year, with £16.5 million planned for the coming year - with minimal impact on frontline services.  That’s why we’ve been able to hold the Council Tax rise down to below the rate of inflation - something Conservative Bury was not able to do - and put more money into fixing our roads and pavements.

The Conservatives are calling for much bigger cuts - which would have huge effects on services and lead to hundreds of job losses - but either don’t know or won’t say how they would be achieved.

As I was only elected to Stockport Council last September, a few people have asked why I’ve got to stand for election again next month.

Last year’s by-election was called when Cllr Brian Millard died.  Had he lived, he would have been up for election this May.  When I won the by-election, I took over that position so I’m up for election next month too.

If I win next month, I’ll be elected to serve a four-year term.

Cllr Pam King will be up for election in 2011, then Cllr Mick Jones in 2012.

There are two sets of elections in Stockport on 6th May.

The first is the local council elections - one third of Stockport’s councillors are up for election.  In Cheadle & Gatley that’s me.  Although I was only elected last September, I’ve got to stand again as that’s when the late Brian Millard would have been up had he lived.

The second, as you might have spotted, is the General Election.   Cheadle’s had a Lib Dem MP since 2001 - first Patsy Calton and then Mark Hunter since 2005.  We want to keep it that way.

The Conservative’s want to persuade us that the election is Cheadle is between Labour and them - an interesting claim to make when Labour got 4% of the vote last time round.  The reality, as we all know, is that whatever happens in Cheadle isn’t going  give Gordon Brown one more or one fewer MP.

Mark’s shown that he does a great job at sticking up for us and getting things done in our area - even many of his political opponents readily admit that.  The question is whether we want a hard-working local champion, or not.

As political activists, the next month is what we’ve all been working towards for years, but it’s also daunting, and it’ll all come down to the count at the Town Hall in a few weeks time.

We’ll be working to persuade you that Mark’s the best person to be our MP, and that I and the Lib  Dem candidates for the local elections are the best people to represent you and work for you on Stockport Council.

In the last few months, a huge amount of time has been spent by the ten Greater Manchester authorities deciding whether to expand our existing relationships into a Combined Authority, or City Region. All ten authorities have now agreed to go ahead - Stockport was the last to sign up.

This is my personal perspective as a Stockport Lib Dem councillor.

A brief history

After the Greater Manchester Council was abolished by you know who in 1985, the ten Greater Manchester authorities banded together informally to form AGMA - the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.  At first it was little more than a talking shop, but in recent years it’s taken on a far more formal role.  Waste, Police, the Fire Service and transport have been managed on a cross-Manchester basis.

Whilst this has had many frustrations and its fair share of problems, I think it’s fair to say that the model’s been reasonably successful in delivering integrated services at a lower cost.  That means we as residents of Stockport get a better service for less money than if we’d done all of this alone.

Congestion charging

The biggest battle we in Stockport have had with AGMA was over the proposed Congestion Charge and TIF bid a couple of years ago.  Six of the Greater Manchester authorities wanted it, four didn’t.  Had AGMA had simple majority voting, we’d have the C-Charge today.  But because there’d been a change in AGMA’s rules, moving to have two-thirds majority voting in most areas, it couldn’t be forced through and went to a referendum in which the scheme was rejected with 80% voting against.

The Congestion Charge experience left many people wary of giving AGMA too much power - and very aware of the need to get the balance right so we got the benefits of working together without losing control over our own destiny.

City Regions/Combined Authorities

The new City Regions/Combined Authorities (of which Greater Manchester is now the first) look to be going ahead.  Here’s what the Government are saying about ours.

Historic plans for the UK’s first ever Combined Authority covering the
whole of Greater Manchester to drive locally the region’s economic
growth were launched by Communities Secretary John Denham today.

The proposals will bring together 10 local councils in a new flagship
‘city region’ with powers devolved from Whitehall over economic
development, housing,  climate change, transport and regeneration. This
will give Greater Manchester leaders the chance to lead the way on
accelerating recovery regionally and nationally.

This is the next step in the Government’s pledge to devolve more powers
to councils to improve local leadership, drive up economic growth and
deliver greater prosperity. The Combined Authority will have far greater
freedom to drive forward rapid change to improve local services based on
local needs and priorities. Responsibilities will include:

*        Helping to deliver the improvement of skills across the
city-region, identifying priorities for young people and offering
training and job opportunities;

*        Drive forward tackling climate change locally as the UK’s fourth
low carbon economic area;

*        Leading further education for 16 to 19-year-olds controlling a
budget worth hundreds of millions, deciding places and apprenticeships;

*        Set up pilots to improve public services in Greater Manchester
focusing on supporting children in their earliest years, transforming
deprived neighbourhoods and affordable housing;

*        Connecting local businesses to international markets, linking to
broadband and building its science and research capacity;

*        Greater transport responsibilities and influence, comparable to
the powers held by Transport for London.

The combined authority does not replace the existing local authorities.  It expands the ways the authorities can work together.  It has no direct democratic link to the population - it answers to councils and council leaders, not to voters.

Stockport - and the other authorities - will continue much as they do now, but with one councillor (almost certainly the leader of each council) sitting on the Combined Authority.

Our concerns - the democratic deficit and no way out

The rules for setting up the combined authority were that all ten councils had to agree.  If one said no, the proposal would fall.  The whole thing was sprung on us quite suddenly earlier this year.

Concerns expressed by Stockport councillors (of all parties) included:

• Once a council was in the combined authority, it couldn’t choose to leave.  A council could only leave if the Secretary of State give his/her permission.
• Voting was to be by simple majority (6-4).  Had that been in place two years ago, we’d have the Congestion Charge now.  It makes it too easy for one party to railroad through its own views, ignoring the needs of the others.
• With no direct link between the electorate and the combined authority, there was concern about giving more powers to the body.
• The details of what the combined authority would actually do, and which powers and funding it would have, were amazingly hazy.  I had a 60-page document full of nice words - I felt the meat could have been pared down to half a page.

Making the decision

The decision making process should have been far more open than it was.  There was little opportunity for the public to have their say.  Suggestions of a referendum were quashed.

In Stockport, we had a discussion and Q&A session for councillors, followed by a special Full Council meeting.

At the Full Council meeting, Labour and the Lib Dems both supported a motion which, in effect said we’re happy to work together for mutual benefit, but not on a simple majority voting basis and not if we can’t choose to leave.  The Conservatives supported those red lines but were opposed to the closer working altogether.

Negotiations and Love Songs*

Stockport and Trafford both had their identical red lines on 7-3 voting and being able to leave.  There followed a frenzied few weeks of negotiations, deals, perhaps a little bullying, concessions and the odd bribe.  We found ourselves running to keep up, but our leader Dave Goddard was determined that the decision would be made by the majority Lib Dem group as a whole, not just by him.

The first set of concessions saw us gain 7-3 voting on some strategic issues.  The Lib Dem councillors debated it fully and thoroughly and decided it still wasn’t in Stockport’s best interests to join - though there were certainly good arguments on both sides.

At that point, Labour in Stockport took the view that we should be supporting the move, and Conservative Trafford decided to support it too (the other Lib Dem authorities - Oldham and Rochdale - also supported the move).

The second set of concessions went further.  In addition to 7-3 voting on the strategic and policy issues (which would have prevented the Congestion Charge), we got assurances from the Government that we would be permitted to leave if we wanted.  We also got a bigger say over the overall direction of the City Region.

The final piece of the jigsaw was on budget day.  Darling announced a big chunk of money - £120 million pounds, I think - which we could access if we were in the combined authority but not if we were outside.

The Lib Dem councillors voted again, and this time decided to join the Combined Authority under the new deal.

We feel that, under the terms we now have, Stockport’s best interests are served by joining.

Where are we now?

The Combined Authority doesn’t start until May 2011.  There’s now a consultation that runs to 14th July, though to be honest that feels like it’s more for show than anything.  I’m still unhappy at how we’ve got here.  I believe the decision could have been far better managed, could have been taken over a longer period of time, and could have involved the public far more.

Having said that, I do believe we’ve made the right decision.  There was a deal on the table and we had to decide whether Stockport’s best interests were served by being in or staying out.  Despite all the uncertainty and the wooliness, I think we’ve made the right call; and by holding out for more, I think we’ve got a better deal for the people of Stockport.

* obscure Paul Simon reference - sorry.

A Gala Concert and three course meal will be held in celebration of St George on Friday, 23 April 2010 at 7.00 pm in the Ballroom at Stockport Town Hall. The event is being held on aid of The Mayor of Stockport Charity Fund.

Entertainment will be provided by Stockport Operatic Society, Stockport Recorder College, Stockport Youth Orchestra and Ian Gough (organist).

Tickets are available for £40 each, or £350 for a table of ten from the Town Hall Box Office on 0161 474 3256.

Around 2,000 children are currently taking part in ‘Crucial Crew’, an annual event organised by Stockport Council which teaches children vital lessons on how to keep themselves and others safe.

‘Crucial Crew’ is the first annual safety event in the UK recognised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and is now in its 16th year. Professionals from Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, North West Ambulance Service, NHS Stockport, British Transport Police, Stockport Women’s Aid, and the Council are presenting interactive learning sessions strengthening the link between knowing the correct response to a situation and actually doing it.

Issues covered included:-

• how to escape from a house fire

• basic first aid for someone who has collapsed

• the effects of alcohol and smoking

• dangers of the railway environment

• awareness of domestic violence/abuse issues

• cycling safely

• personal safety in relation to street crime

• age-restricted products

• cyber safety

Stockport and Trafford Councils last week celebrated the launch of a Strategic Alliance of Streetscene Services to maintain and improve roads within the boroughs.

Launched on the 9th March, as part of the Stockport Boost campaign, the partnership aims to streamline services and offer further value for money for residents. To achieve the aims, ten major contractors have been chosen by the Councils to undertake highway works. Nearly all the selected contractors are businesses based in Greater Manchester, giving a boost to the local economy, and are specifically seeking to recruit and train locally.

The contracts will run for a minimum of five years and include works such as structural improvements to roads and repairing street lighting within the area. With a value of up to £100m over the life time of the arrangement, it is hoped that the Alliance will expand and be used by other public sector organisations across the North West of England to further reduce costs to taxpayers and provide long term continuity to highway service improvements.

A new phase of the Stockport Boost campaign is being launched this month and will show how the Council helps local residents with over 600 value-for-money services.

Over the next few months the Council will be letting residents know about the broad range of services they provide and how they can get in touch to make the most of what’s on offer.

Stockport people are helping by putting their faces to some of the key services that make Stockport a good place to live. Improving parks, play areas, roads and footpaths, supporting businesses, young people, the vulnerable and older people, are just some of the services that residents will be promoting across the borough.

Look out for more information on the Council website, on posters and in the local media. To find out more visit: www.stockport.gov.uk/stockportboost.

Over 100 local businesses had the opportunity to pitch for work from Stockport’s public sector organisations at the Council’s third Meet the Buyer event.

The event, organised as part of the Stockport Boost campaign proved popular with over 270 one-to-one appointments taking place, allowing local businesses to sell their goods and services to public sector buyers.

Meetings were available with a range of buyers from across the public sector including Stockport Council; associated companies NPS Stockport, SK Solutions, Stockport Homes and Pure Innovations; as well as other public sector organisations such as Stockport Sport’s Trust, Stockport College, Stockport NHS and Stockport PCT.

A wide range of opportunities and services were in demand, ranging from a handy person role through to large-scale commercial contracts.

Further information on the Stockport Boost campaign is available by logging on to www.stockport.gov.uk/boost.

Stockport Council took part in another major operation to crack down on illegal activity across the borough focusing on Reddish, Brinnington and the Heatons.

The Council’s Licensing and Trading Standards teams joined forces with Greater Manchester Police and HM Customs & Excise in ‘Operation Supervortex’ on Friday 5th March.

· Activities carried out during the operation included:

· Underage test purchasing which resulted in three premises being found to sell alcohol to an underage volunteer.

· Illicit alcohol seized in raids on off-licences including over 2,000 bottles of wine and 180 bottles of spirits.

· Two prohibition notices were issued on Private Hire Vehicles by the Council’s Licensing team following a series of roadside checks which revealed potentially dangerous defects.

· One off-licence in Heaton Moor was temporarily closed by Licensing following breaches in licensing conditions.

Investigations by the Council’s Licensing and Trading Standards teams, Greater Manchester Police and HM Customs & Excise are ongoing in relation to the above issues.

There will be an open discussion on the issue of alcohol and drug misuse, including problems of crime and anti-social behaviour, the impact of health, treatments and the negative effects on young people of parents who misuse drugs and alcohol at the next Cheadle Area Committee on Tuesday 30th March, 6pm at the Ladybridge Residents Club, Edenbridge Road, Cheadle Hulme.

The following Cheadle Area Committee will be in Cheadle Library, Ashfield Road, Cheadle at 6pm on Tuesday 20th April 2010.

The diversity and equality report report provides an overview of the excellent diversity & equality related work carried out across the Council during 2009 and demonstrates how we are progressing against some of the key equality targets we have set ourselves.

Commenting on the report, Cllr Marin Candler, the Members’ Equality Champion said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those elected Members, employees, customers and partners who help the Council to ensure that our services and employment opportunities are open and accessible to everyone in the borough. This report reflects their excellent contributions to promoting equality and valuing diversity across our borough.”

To read the report, visit the Council Website. For further details contact Steven Longden on 0161 474 1325 or emailsteven.longden@stockport.gov.uk

Stockport Council will be showing its support for Earth Hour by switching off the Town Hall’s exterior lights for one hour.

Earth Hour 2010 will be held on Saturday 27th March, between 8.30pm and 9.30pm. It has been organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) who are asking households and businesses all over the world to turn off all non-essential lights and appliances during this hour to raise awareness of climate change.

In support of this, Stockport Council will be turning off the external spotlights on the Town Hall and is also asking its employees and residents to take part in the initiative by switching off their lights at home for one hour.

The Council is also supporting the 10:10 campaign this year which aims to get organisations and individuals to reduce their carbon foot print by 10% in 2010.

For further information about the Earth Hour initiative go to http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/

For more information about the 10:10 campaign visit www.1010uk.org

As I reported last month, there’s an ongoing debate about a so-called “City Region” for Manchester.  Although still vague, it boils down to a new body to take control of transport and economic/skills development across the Greater Manchester area, with all the local authorities having input.

In Stockport, none of the main parties were happy with the proposals.  They were vague and wooly, removed the two-thirds majority voting and, once in, an authority couldn’t choose to leave.

Stockport and Trafford declined to support the proposals on 1st March.

Now I hear that Trafford has changed its mind and will be supporting the City Region.  According to Crain’s:

council leader Matt Colledge said in a news release that the authority had “secured assurances”, without giving further details.

The powers that be at AGMA (the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) have come back to Stockport with revised proposals too.  I don’t have all the details, but it looks broadly like they’ve tried to address the concerns Stockport and Trafford had, and I suspect it’s a matter of judgement whether they’ve succeeded.

We’ll be discussing this next week, so I’ll report back then.

OK, I’ll try not to get too excited about a sign, but it’s one I asked for way back in September or October and it’s taken a while (some problem with the wrong fittings first time around, I think).

Anyway, it’s now here - a sign asking people not to walk their dogs inside the Scholes Field running track.

The track, used by Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club, was fenced to stop people on quad bikes tearing up the track.  But there’s still a problem with dog walkers and dog mess (especially as dogs are often let off the lead).

I don’t think anyone wants kids in the long jump sandpit landing on dog mess, or sliding on it on the football pitch in the centre of the running track.

I’m sure most dog walkers will take note of the sign; but bringing in the wardens is an option if it remains a problem.

Following complaints from residents, Cllr Pam King asked the Council’s Enforcement team to investigate vehicles being sold in front of 1 Stonepail Road.

The Enforcement team have investigated and we’ve now heard back that selling vehicles is not permitted from those premises.  The owner was given fourteen days to remove the vehicles or further action will be taken.

I spent today in the appeal over the Tatton cinema site.  The developers were appealing against the Council’s rejection of plans for a small supermarket and a care home.

The short report is that the Inspector heard both sides, had a site visit and will make his decision in around six weeks time.

Now for the slightly longer version.

This was  my first planning appeal - I had a general idea of what to expect, but no more.

We gathered in Committee Room 3 at the Town Hall.  There were five people from the developers’ side, four councillors, a few council officers, and a few other people (including four other Gatley residents - three against the development and one for).

It was a small enough group that we could all sit around one large table, and everyone was able to have their say.

Parts of the meeting got very technical, with the experts from each side throwing around obscure acronyms and quoting bits of the Development Plan we base planning decisions on.

Others were more understandable, and no-one was forced into technical jargon - we were able to make our points in plain English.

We have no idea about the outcome. The Inspector heard our arguments and will now go away and reach his decision.

The issues that were considered were:

• The effect on the living conditions of future residents of a care home, with regard to amenity space and  noise.
• Disabled parking
• Over-development of the site
• The effect on the conservation area
• Traffic
• Viability of the local centre

There was substantial discussion over issues such as the amount of amenity space around the care home (and a rather technical discussion about the definition of “amenity space”), the noise from delivery lorries to a supermarket, parking spaces in front of the Tatton and wider traffic issues with the complexity of the junctions.

If anyone would like to know more detail, I’ll happy to provide it; but for now all we can do is wait.

The next step in a radical shake-up of the way disabled people use state funding took place, as Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Disabled People, named the Trailblazer areas which will test the Right to Control. Right to Control gives disabled adults more choice and control over the state funding they receive – allowing them to shape the support they receive, or use the money to buy their own services or equipment.

Disabled people in the Trailblazer areas can expect a more personalised service joining up housing, support into work and community care. There will also be extra support and advice to help people choose services and decide how to spend their money.

The eight Trailblazing local authorities have been named as:

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Sheffield City Council (joint)

Essex County Council

Greater Manchester – incorporating Manchester City Council, Oldham Council, Bury Council, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and Trafford Council

Leicester City Council

London Borough of Barnet

London Borough of Newham

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, and

Surrey County Council (two Districts Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, and Reigate and Banstead Borough Council)

Each of these local authorities will have to work with disabled people to develop individual support plans and each plan will make effective use of all the funding available to an individual, to meet their goals. £7 million will be available for Trailblazer local authorities and Jobcentre Plus to make the changes necessary to deliver the Right to Control.

This nationwide scheme is supported by the Council as part of the Stockport Boost campaign, Home Access is a national project to supply low-income families with a

laptop and access to the internet through a national application process. The aim of the programme is to support families by ensuring access to the educational and social benefits of current technology.

Applications for the Home Access grant were invited from January this year. Feedback from Welfare Rights and other local support services has identified a high level of interest. The scheme is due to run until February 2011, or until the grant money has been allocated.

There are no catches - if approved, the Home Access Grant is yours to keep and does not need to be paid back and equipment given back when your child finishes school. At the end of the initial 12 months of the programme, you can decide if you want to keep the internet - you won’t be locked into anything that you don’t want or can’t afford.

Full details of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, are available by clicking here.

For further information contact Mike Partridge by email at mike.partridge@stockport.gov.uk or the National Team on 0333 200 1004. If you would like Home Access posters to display contact Aine Graven by email at aine.graven@stockport.gov.uk.

As reported in Craine’s business:

BSkyB is to create 550 jobs with a new Sky call centre in Stockport.

The 23,500 sq ft regional office in the St Peter’s Square development in the town centre will open in June.

The centre will handle enquiries for pay television, broadband and telephony and recruitment is expected to start in March. Roles will include training, coaching and HR, as well as customer services

This is something the Council has been working very hard to secure for some time.  We’ve known for a couple of weeks that a big company was moving in; now we know it’s Sky.  Great news for the town.

I was very glad to see that the no-entry signs at the north end of Old Hall Road, Gatley (around the triangle) are now lit again, after several months.  I’d been told there was a technical issue being investigated, so it seems it’s been solved.

I’m aware of a number of other signs that should be lit and aren’t around Cheadle & Gatley - those are being chased up too.

At Cheadle Area Committee yesterday councillors rejected an application for a small tapas restaurant at 76 Stockport Road, Cheadle.

Residents were concerned about parking, noise and smells from the restaurant.  Planning officers actually recommended rejection on a slightly different basis - that the location was outside the “district centre” (in this case, the centre of Cheadle village).

Councillors were concerned in particular that, in granting permission for a restaurant at that location, we would be giving permission not just for this venture but for any future one that might come along should it fail or close up.

The result was a rejection of the application.

I admire the aim of the two brothers in wanting to set up a small Spanish-style community restaurant, and I wish them every success in finding the right location and making a go of it.

This was application DC/043443.

Some might say we get more than enough genuine charity bags through the door, but at least anything we donate is going to a good cause.

A label came through my door - and others in the area too - that gives every appearance of being a complete scam.

This claims to be from “ASTHMA charity”.  There’s no such organisation as far as I know, there’s no address, website or charity number.  The email address is from gmail - anyone could have set it up.

The label claims it has authorisation from the local council -  not true.

I’ve contacted Trading Standards, who in turn have contacted the police.

Please - only donate to genuine charities with a genuine charity number.

A telephone scam involving fraudsters posing as Council staff has recently been reported by a Heald Green resident.

The scam was first uncovered in other areas of Greater Manchester last year, and the Council issued a warning to local residents on its website at the time. The scam involves residents being contacted by phone and informed that they have “overpaid” their Council Tax.

They are asked for their bank account details so a refund can be processed and a £39 administration fee debited. It is believed that several scammers are operating in the borough and the amount of the so-called ‘fee’ they ask for varies. Residents are asked to report any suspicious calls to the Council by phoning 0161 217 6014.

Anyone with information about the scam such as a name, phone number or address of the person or business making the calls to households are asked to contact Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.

Stockport’s first ‘Enterprise Centre’ has been launched as part of the Stockport Boost programme, offering free help and guidance to new businesses or those thinking of setting up a business.

The Centre is located in the Business Incubator at Broadstone Mill in Reddish, Stockport Enterprise Centre and offers companies up to three years of free one-to-one advice, general awareness sessions, assistance with business plan generation and networking opportunities.

The Centre will act as a focal point for business start up support and assistance across the borough. Business Link’s Intensive Startup Support Programme (ISUS) is also available through the Centre. ISUS aims to help people to start their own business through a series of workshops and one-to-one support.

The Centre has been launched as part of an expansion of the Stockport Business Incubator which now operates 37,000 square feet of high quality, flexible workspace at Broadstone Mill. It is home to 24 small businesses and over 100 employees.

For information on Stockport Enterprise Centre call the Council’s Economic Development Team on 0161 474 3734 or 0161 474 3737. Information on ISUS is available through Business Link Northwest on 0845 00 66 888.

Here’s the official announcement on Stockport’s Council Tax. Because of rising costs and the small grant we get from central government, millions have been cut from spending to keep the rise this low - I’m very happy to go into more detail about exactly what’s changed, and any other details (some of which I’ll try to post over the next few days anyway).

My personal feeling is that we’ve got the balance about right.  We’ve cut spending but protected services in this budget.  The Conservatives are arguing for big cuts in services too (15-20% over some years - equivalent to hundreds of job losses).  I’d prefer to pay a few pence extra a week to secure the important services.

At the Budget Council meeting on 25 February, Stockport Council set its budget for the financial year 2010-11 and a Band D Council Tax of £1,362.98 for Council services. This represents a 3.25% increase in the Council-controlled element of the Council Tax or an extra 83p per week for a Band D household.

When taking account of the Greater Manchester Police and Fire and Rescue precepts, which the Council does not set but has to collect, the overall Band D Council Tax is £1,559.96, an increase of 3.6% or an extra 91p per week for a Band D household.

The overall Band D Council Tax for the Offerton Park Parish area is £1,626.70. This is because of the precept of set by the Parish Council which results in an addition of £66.74 to the Council Tax.

The Council Tax charges in 2010-11 are:-

For quite a while the fence alongside the alleyway from Gatley Station to Gatley Road (passing the end of Brentwood Drive) has been falling into disrepair.  At the Gatley Road end, a couple of panels have been missing for ages; at the station end a couple of panels were bending inwards.

I’ve been trying to get it sorted out for a while.  The sticking point seems to be the ownership of the fences.  They’re the responsibility of the landowner to sort out, but we didn’t know who the owner was and it’s hardly fair to saddle taxpayers with the cost.

A couple of days ago, I was told by the Council that they’d tracked down the owners via a land search.  That means the Council can serve 14 days notice for problems to be sorted - if not, the Council do the work and charge the owner, recovering the costs through the courts if necessary.

But then I was told the fence had partially collapsed.  I went over to look and saw two panels had fallen into the path and were mostly blocking it.

On this one, the Council’s Rights of Way people were very helpful.  Within a few hours, the fence panels had been removed from the path, making the alley passable again.  We still need to get the landowner to sort it out properly

Stockport had two Full Council meetings tonight.  The first passed a resolution saying we would only go into a City Region if it retained two-thirds majority voting and we could leave in three years if we chose.

The second passed Stockport’s budget for 2010/11.

As usual, I was reporting from the meeting via Twitter, so here it is.

Cllr syd lloyd taken ill before mtg - hope he makes a swift recovery.
1st of 2 full council mtgs kicking off. Let’s hope we’re not here to 2am.
1st mtg considers whether we support new city region plans for greater manchester.
Fond farewells being said to our retiring chief exec, John Schultz.
Leader dave goddard presenting report & recommendation for city region
leader - why are we rushing decision: new region won’t meet until apr 2011.
Leader - red line 1: losing 2/3rds on new combined authority.
Leader - red line 2: a council must be able to withdraw in 3 yrs.
Leader - we will oppose the city region plan unless red lines met.
Leader - at least 1 other council will take same line tomorrow.
Labour supporting motion. Tories reject idea of city regions,
Cons agree with red lines, can’t support motion due to overall opposition to city region.
resolution passed, only tories voting against. Red lines will stand.
And we start the 2nd meeting, to agree stockport’s budget for 2010/11.
Cllr syd lloyd enters the chamber, glad he’s recovered.
Cons critical of healthy eating & fitness agenda.
Cons say ld have good intentions but concerned over delivery.
Lab disagree with con - work on lifestyle & quality of life important.
Cllr candler (ld) 1 yr plan prudent given huge unknowns.
Cllr candler (ld) “kill the chill” campaign saved lives - money worth spending.
Cllr candler (ld) rejects con claims that communicating with residents should be cut.
cllr les jones (con) singing praises of stockport homes.
Cllr foster-grime (ld) stockport homes good; we will look to make it even better.
now running through med term financial & capital strategies, agreed by all.
Now onto the substance of the budget for 2010/11. Cllr derbyshire presenting.
if we had same central gov funding as manchester, our coun tax bill would fall by 90%.
we get £296.33 per head support grant. Even Trafford gets more. Manchester gets £729.62.
Our council tax increase will be 3.25%
by end 2010/11 efficiency savings of over £16.5 milliom per annum will be achieved.
8 people in public gallery tonight.
Con-led bury has higher council tax rise than stockport, tho’ get much more govt. Funds
Stockport council employees get no pay rise this year, in line with national agreement.
Neither lab nor tories offering any amendments to lib dem budget.
Lab don’t think stockport should get higher govt grant - we get less than Trafford!
Cllr weldon’s phone goes off. That’s a contribution to the mayor’s charity (mine is on silent).
Cllr lloyd (con) appears to be critising us for making efficiency savings. Bad lib dems!
Cllr lloyd (con) not a happy bunny. Cons will not offer amendments or an alternative budget.
Cllr syd lloyd (con) runs out of time whilst accusing lib dems (inc. Me) of lying about tory cuts.
Sadly for cllr lloyd, tory leaflets call for no council tax rise: an extra £5m in cuts. Nice try, Syd.
You can’t have it both ways, syd. If you want no tax rise, it means cuts.
cllr bailey (lab) wants more involvement in settng the budget.
Cons claiming budget is too large. Odd: stockport is one of the lower spending authorities.
Cons calling for council to do less; but reject our suggestion they want cuts. Very confusing.
Cons claim lib dems inconsistent - not all ld councils have same council tax increase. Wonder how cons measure.
Deep into “worthy but dull” phase - lab theme is lack of transparency & not enough consultation over budget.
Cllr pantall “after 30 budgets…”. I was in primary school at the first of those,
full council brings out ding-dong politics - cllrs on all sides behave differently in other meetings.
Lib dem speakers attacking cons for calling for big cuts, sticking up for council’s record.
Cons want 15-20% cut in council spending. Would mean 500+ job cuts, but no clues where they want the axe to fall

lib dem stockport gave opposition 10 days to review budget. Lab tameside & con trafford produced on night.
budget is passed 36-18 with lab & con against, much to everyone’s shock.

Although we’re all hoping not, I’m told this evening’s Full Council meetings at Stockport Town Hall could go on to 2am.

First we’ve got the meeting to consider whether a proposed City Region is right for Stockport and for Greater Manchester.  This would create a new body, on which the leaders of the ten Greater Manchester authorities would sit.  It would deal with transport (replacing the current Independent Transport Authority) and take on some roles around economic development of the region.

I’ve written more about it here, and there are several good comments too.

Next there’s the meeting to set the budget.  The Lib Dems are taking what I firmly believe to be a responsible approach.  We’ve found ways to cut Council spending that won’t impact on front-line services and so are proposing a reduced rise to 3.25%, which is a good deal lower than in recent years.

Despite being a low-spending authority, Stockport receives less money from central Government than most, and the difference has to be made up with Council Tax, so it’s always a tough decision.

I believe we’ve got the balance about right.  The Lib Dem proposals protect services, are the result of spending cuts within the council and come in at under the rate of inflation.

Stockport Council took part in a major operation to crack down on illegal activity in Reddish and Brinnington last week.

The Council’s Licensing and Trading Standards teams joined forces with Greater Manchester Police and HM Customs & Excise in ‘Operation Mistral’.

Activities carried out during the operation included:

Underage test purchasing which resulted in one premises being found to sell alcohol to an underage volunteer. Over 600 bottles of wine and 234 bottles of spirits of illicit alcohol was seized in raids on off-licences.

A warrant was executed by the Police at a residential address on Brindale Road which resulted in the Council’s Trading Standards team seizing around 8,000 counterfeit DVDs and associated equipment.

Two prohibition notices were issued on Private Hire Vehicles by the Council’s Licensing team following a series of roadside checks which revealed potentially dangerous defects.

A public house was issued with a notice of closure for the remainder of the weekend following evidence of widespread smoking on the premises.

Investigations by the Council’s Licensing and Trading Standards teams, Greater Manchester Police and HM Customs & Excise are ongoing in relation to the above issues.

To report illegal activity in relation to counterfeit DVDs and the sale of illicit alcohol, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Yesterday evening I attended my first Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee at Stockport Council.  This is the committee, made up of councillors of all parties plus a non-councillor rep, which looks at what the Children and Young People’s Directorate are doing and, hopefully, makes useful suggestions.

We saw an excellent example yesterday of how this can work well.  Over several months, a small cross-party group of councillors with officer support have been investigating the way young carers are helped.  These are young people who find themselves caring for parents or siblings for a variety of reasons.

National statistics suggest that there are probably around 1,000 young carers in Stockport, but we only know of around 150.  That’s the first problem: young carers often don’t want to admit it.  They fear being bullied or stigmatised at school, or simply don’t recognise that they are carers - thinking what they’re doing is the norm.

But caring for others is a heavy burden for any child to take on without support.  Young carers often do poorly in school, get into trouble when they arrive late and so on.

The report we saw last night identifies that these young carers need help, but not huge amounts.  If we can identify them, there are small steps that could make a real difference.  For example, schools simply understanding their situation and giving them a little more leeway, or giving them access to a phone at lunchtime so they can check all’s OK at home would make a real difference.

You can read the report here, starting on page 169 of the agenda.

The ten local authorities in Greater Manchester have a decision to make over the next few weeks: whether to go ahead and form a new “City Region” - a body which would see the ten authorities working together to deliver transport (as now), post-16 education funding, skills & training funding and inward investment.

In Stockport we had an all-party briefing from officers, including Howard Bernstein who’s closely involved with  the plans.

The aim is for Stockport to make its decision at an Extraordinary General Meeting prior to the budget meeting on  25th Feb, with the Manchester-wide decision being taken before the General Election.

I should say up front that I haven’t made up my mind on this one.  I can certainly see some logic to it, but I’ve some big concerns too.

The current situation

After Greater Manchester County Council was abolished in 1985, the ten metropolitain borough councils established AGMA - the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities - as a voluntary way to work together where it made sense to do so.

Four “joint authorities” were also created to oversee/run fire, police, waste and (some) transport services across Greater Manchester.

It’s argued that AGMA has been beneficial, giving Greater Manchester a bigger voice, more influence over national and regional policy and more direct control city-wide decisions.

AGMA and the join authorities are not directly accountable to voters.  They have some accountability to councils.

The case for a City Region

The “City Region” is something new from central government.  The idea is to take regionally some of the powers currently held by Government agencies and quangos, in the area of our economic development.

For example, the City Region would control the £600 million annual budget for post-16 education in Greater Manchester, would work to attract investment and boost jobs.

We’re all joined at the hip, the argument goes.  We (the ten Greater Manchester authorities) need to work together more to benefit  us all.

The consultants say there’s no reason for this new “Combined Authority” City Region to cost more  - it’s claimed to be an efficient and effective option.

The alternatives

We’re told that there are two alternatives to this new Combined Authority City Region, covering economic development and transport.

1. Leave AGMA and the joint authorities as they are now, but create a new joint authority for economic development (on top of transport, waste, police & fire).

2. Keep the status quo.

The concerns

Here are some of the concerns that were raised in the briefing session:

• AGMA requires a 7-3 majority vote to take action - meaning that no one political party can force things through on its own.  The new Combined Authority will work on simple majority voting.
• The Combined Authority is not answerable to voters in any way.  If you think they’re doing something wrong, there’s no way you can vote to express that - especially if the leader of your council voted against the decision.  Local Authority councillors can have a degree of oversight.
• It’s much more difficult (and potentially not possible) for local authorities to withdraw from the Combined Authority once they’re in.  In fact, authorities could potentially be forced to join even if they don’t want to.
• The details are vague.  No-one knows exactly what the new body will do, how much money it will cost (or save) and whether it would be better than going it alone.  Lots of time and money has been spent investigating, but we’re still going on educated guesses.
• What if it went in the wrong direction?  Remember the Congestion Charge?  Had a referendum not been forced through, that would have been imposed by a similar body.
• Why bundle in transport (which is something we probably do want to continue being dealt with on a Greater Manchester basis) with the much woolier and less clear-cut economic investment?

This certainly isn’t my area of expertise, so there may be errors and omissions, which I’ll correct whenever they’re spotted.

In the meantime, please have your say.

Martin Lewis, the UK’s best known financial journalist and founder of the Money Saving Expert website, has given the Stockport Boost campaign the big thumbs up.

MoneySavingExpert.com has become one of the UK’s biggest independent financial advice websites with over nine million people visiting it each month. With regular appearances on GMTV and the Tonight programme, Martin Lewis is one of the country’s best known consumer champions offering information and guidance on a wide range of financial issues.

The Money Saving Expert website can be accessed by visiting www.moneysavingexpert.com

Further information on the Stockport Boost campaign is available by logging on to www.stockport.gov.uk/boost (free internet access is available at all Stockport libraries).

Last week I was writing about Cllr Maureen Walsh resigning from the Tory group on the Council.  I was interested to know why the Conservatives were being less than honest in their leaflets.

Syd Lloyd, another Tory councillor, didn’t want to answer that and, in time honoured fashion, challenged me on something totally different to distract attention.

Syd said that Lib Dem claims of Tory cuts were untrue and challenged me to provide evidence.

Well, I can only suggest that Cllr Lloyd reads the material his party is putting out.

In their recent newspaper, the Conservatives called for free parking in Council car parks.  Reasonable idea, of course - worth considering.  In the run-up to Christmas, the Lib Dems found ways to offer free parking on several days.

But I oppose it as a general scheme because the money from car parking in Stockport (several million pounds of revenue) pays for parking enforcement and a range of other services.  If the money doesn’t come in,  it means cuts to Council services.

The Lib Dems are working hard to improve parking enforcement at the moment - it seems odd that the Conservatives are calling for something that would reduce parking enforcement further,  leading to more cars parking illegally on our streets.

Stockport Council has continued to keep the pressure on rogue traders in a bid to safeguard borough residents. The crack-down focused on targeting rogue traders who prey on the elderly and vulnerable members within the community. The Council’s Trading Standards, Licensing and Environmental Services teams worked in partnership with Greater Manchester Police, the Bailiffs Department and the Vehicle and Operators Service Agency (VOSA) as part of the operation. As part of the Operation Storm:

• Around forty vehicles were stopped by the police and four vehicles were seized as the drivers had no insurance.
• Traders were advised by the Council’s Trading Standards team on business documentation and their legal responsibilities.
• The Council’s Environmental Services team also advised traders on their legal duties and are writing to a number of traders for carrying waste without holding a waste carriers licence.

The Council’s Licensing Team came across an alleged bogus charity collector who had taken possession of numerous items of clothing donated in good faith to the National Blind Children’s Society. The items have now been passed on to the charity and a full investigation into this has been launched by the Council’s Licensing Team.

Anyone with concerns about rogue traders should call Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or visit www.stockport.gov.uk for further information.

Green minded Solutions SK, a Stockport Council wholly owned company are converting waste oil from secondary school kitchens to bio-fuel.

With the help of their suppliers Solutions SK have arranged for the used oil to be taken from the kitchens and used as bio-fuel by local company Green2Go. The oil is used by Green2Go to fuel generating systems that provide heat and power to public buildings.

The use of this fuel delivers an 80% reduction in carbon emissions compared to an equivalent amount of energy from the National Grid. Waste oil will therefore make a valuable contribution to reducing carbon emissions.

Stockport County fans packed the (not enormous but normally still half-empty) public gallery for last night’s Full Council meeting.

As last time, I was tweeting from the meeting.  Here are all my tweets together in one place.

full council about to start. Cllr maureen walsh sitting with independents for 1st time.

I’m sitting right behind the executive - best behaviour, then.

Rabbi Chaim from Gatley’s Yeshurun synagogue opens with a prayer.

Mayor detailing smbc gritting efforts - members of gritting team in gallery.

Round of applause for council’s gritters - which they fully deserve.

Stockport county motion withdrawn, leader will address all points raised.

members declaring interests - all county season ticket holders coming forward.

Everyone with a bus pass now declaring an interest - almost the entire council.

stockport county interests turning into “I support county more than you” competition.

John abrams of liberal revolution blog joins us in the gallery - hi john!

Questions on stockport county, footpaths, childcare, education funding from public.

leader says sale sharks should become stockport sharks - scandalous that it doesn’t.

2 questions have been ruled out as illegitimate by legal folks, questioner refuses to sit down.

Presentation on children & young people’s services. First a dvd to watch.

brilliant to see the positive ways young people getting involved.

3 young people shadowed our head of children’s services - 1 had been through care system.

Children are inspecting our services, more inspections planned.

“children in care council” - young people affecting what the council does.

Children involved in shaping children’s programmes in Stockport.

Executive from sk youth now presenting to whole council. Much braver than I ever was.

council needs to speak to young people & do more to tackle cyber-bullying.

Gatley sk youth rep: have more events @ skate park.

Leader offers sk youth a regular slot in Review - great idea.

cllr foster-grime wants more young people to stand as councillors - yes!

cllr ben alexander suggests sk youth coming to local area committees - another good idea.

brilliant stuff from sk youth - thanks to all involved.

Cllr meikle telling us all the hard work greater manchester people doing in Haiti.

we were hoping to get docklands cast-off trains but even those are delayed. NW stuck with ancient diesel.

cllr porgess defending grtr man police performance in face of lab attacks.

leader rises to speak about Stockport County.

Leader: there is a way out for Stockport County & it’s a critical part of our community.

Council supports County £50k a year for last six years.

Leader revealing huge support: more time spent helping County than on own half billion pound budget.

sale sharks own edgeley park, their mortgage is higher than the value of the ground.

When you buy a stockport county match programme, every penny goes to sale sharks.

Meeting in Preston next thurs with football league - hopefully to get county out of administration.

Leader: Council does not have money to buy County - it’s not an option. Melrose bid passing all the tests.

meeting suspended whilst shouty member of the public is ejected after repeated warnings. 15 min break.

And we’re back…Leader:council offered facilities to County e.g. Gym, pool facilities.

Lab cllr scott: County is very important to the town, need to shout about it. Lot’s of benefits.

Con cllr les jones: stockport county gets us name recognition across the country.

All parties supportive of action the Council’s been taking on Stockport County.

Leader: money raised selling pixels of County ground has vanished - no one seems to know where it is

Leader: need to get County out of administration, then build trust & move the club forwards.

Cllr Dave White: £50m for improving stations not from Govt, part of next rail franchise deal.

Council has 330 tonnes rock salt avail, pressing for more deliveries.

Cllr white: thanks to stagecoach & other operators keeping buses running during freeze.

Cllr Bagnall (con) congratulates stockport on good gritting - better than Manchester.

questions to cllr dave white constructive, except Mick Jones’ point scoring against me. Nice try, Mick.

Cllr White: Cheadle railway station raised with ministers and elsewhere many times.

sen transport budget has been overspent this year, no cuts. Review to provide service within budget.

Cllr weldon: falling pupil nos mean £6m less for secondary schools; we’re talking to schools.

cllr bodsworth: properties with no green bins to get 21L caddies for weekly food waste collection.

Motion on police funding from cllr foster-grime: manchester suffers from unfair poor funding.

Cllr foster-grime: we want level playing field on police - if it’s good enough for London…

3 hours in and my tweeting enthusiasm slightly waning.

Lab line on police is there’s enough money from Govt: management is the problem.

Cllr Derbyshire: Stockport has excellent record on partnership working to to tackle crime.

Down to 3 in public gallery. Pauline Banham, John Abrams + 1 - I salute you.

3 hrs 15 mins in - I may get to vote on something soon.

Tories supporting motion calling for more police funding, doesn’t know if a Tory gov would deliver.

lab attack motion on police funding. Apparently, we should just let the issue drop.

Lab cllrs disagreeing with each other over whether gmp police is doing a good job.

Cllr Bailey (Lab) thinks we should give up asking for a fair deal for Greater Manchester police.

Cllr Porgess (ld): why is Surrey gaining more funding at Manchester’s expense?

Cllr porgess (ld): g man police to lose 100 officers to balance budget.

Cllr Weldon attacking Labour cllrs for dodging the issue on police funding.

I don’t think Cllr Bodsworth meant to say Cllr Bailey was “right on the game”. (It was corrected).

yay - 3 hrs 45 mins and I’ve cast my first vote of the night. ld & con for, lab against.

guillotine at 10pm focusing minds. Motions on gritting & wooton bassett soldiers agreed by all.

Lab motion on concessionary travel - last motion of the night.

Ld amendment concerned that age for free travel to be raised by lab gov from 60 to 65.

Lab: all benefits moving to 65, concessionary travel should be no different.

very detailed discussion on semantics of sub-clause of previous clause of consessionary travel motion.

ld & con for amendment & motion as amended. Lab agin amendment, abstain on final vote. Passed.

And we’re done - woohoo. Home to the family.

Councillor Colin MacAlister, the Mayor of Stockport, has joined the Liberal Democrat Group on Stockport Council.

Having begun his mayoral term of office as a Labour councillor, Colin first became Independent and has now joined the ruling Lib Dem group.

Colin’s move comes hot on the heels of Cllr Maureen Walsh leaving the Conservatives to sit as an Independent.  Maureen was the Deputy Leader of the Conservative group.

Labour remain the second largest group on Stockport Council, with the Conservatives being third (the Independent Ratepayers Association also hold three seats).

Margaret Newton and Rosie Deverell from FLAG will be holding a drop-in information session on Wed 10th Feb from 2-4pm at Cafe Unity in Heald Green.

FLAG is a free independent service that puts people who need practical or emotional help, due to disability or illness or age, in touch with those local organisations who provide it.

FLAG is your link to the health and social care services provided by a consortium of independent voluntary organisations in the area, as well as the services provided by Stockport Council.

Whatever your problem, issue or need, talk to FLAG first. If help is available, FLAG will make sure you find it. The service is informed, independent and confidential.

For more information, email info@stockportflag.org.uk, telephone 0161 474 1042 or drop into Cafe Unity in Heald Green, 2-4pm on 10th Feb.

This is a letter the police are putting out, reporting on Operation Beach in the Gatley area.

Over the last two and a half months the West Neighbourhood Policing Team has run an anti burglary operation within Gatley called Operation Beach.

Operation Beach has reduced the rate of Burglaries by 67% compared to last years figures. The operation has also assisted to reduce robberies by 75%. This is an excellent achievement.

As part of the operation, the mobile police station was deployed to the area to be used as a base to conduct the operation. Over 1800 residents were visited by officers and given crime reduction advice including leaflets about burglaries and to avoid being a victim of crime.

The area was split up into various zones, these zones were patrolled and suspected offenders stopped and questioned which drove the offenders out of the area. Target offenders and their friends were constantly visited to disrupt criminal activity, which also proved a success.

As a result of the operations success we have now continued a similar style operation in the Cheadle Hulme and Heald Green areas however patrols will continue within your area. The public can help assist us by joining a local neighbourhood watch. I ask you to promote the joining of the neighbourhood watch in your area. If you need to contact a member of the neighbourhood policing team please call 0161 856 9770. I would like to thank you all for your support throughout this operation over the Christmas period and for your continued support.

Many thanks

Sgt 11366 Darren Spurgeon
PC 02780 Mark Shaw
PCSO 65081 Mark Salt

Stockport West Neighbourhood Policing Team
Cheadle Heath Police Station
Europa Way
Adswood

Further Support and Information for Stockport Borough Council:

Littering/Graffiti stockportdirect@stockport.gov.uk 0845 833 4444

Parking parking@stockport.gov.uk 0161 474 4926

Road Safety Unit traffic.services@stockport.gov.uk 0845 833 4444

Street Lighting stockportdirect@stockport.gov.uk 0161 217 6111

The school admissions consultation is launched from Monday, 25 January to Monday, 22 March 2010. You can have your say on the Stockport website.

The Council have told us that the key proposed changes are:

· New admissions criteria proposed – from September 2011

· Holiday dates: Queen’s Jubilee – 2012.

· Primary In-year admissions – from September 2010: done centrally by Admissions Support & Advice Team.

· New closing dates and acceptance of offers for Reception & Year 7 intakes – for September 2011 admissions.

· Proposed Increase of Published Admission Number at Stockport School from 185 to 215.

Full details of the proposed changes, their rationale and the option to make responses to the consultation can be found on the Council’s website.

Kevin Melling, from Stockport Council, and Cllr Dave White have been visiting every Local Area Committee meeting to get feedback from councillors on how Stockport can improve its response to freezing weather conditions as we saw for nearly a month from around 18th December.

The Tories have been attacking the Council for not gritting more pavements.  Odd when you consider that Stockport did better than most and that you can’t just scatter grit on pavements like you can on roads.  It’s the action of cars grinding the grit into the ice on busy roads that actually does the job.

That doesn’t happen on pavements - you need to clear the snow and ice first and - as many of us found over the cold period - that can be a very slow and laborious process.

But I guess making that sort of attack is easier than understanding the issues and coming up with serious suggestions.

I had two comments:

1. If we can get more business owners to clear in front of their premises, the people clearing pavements could focus on those used by elderly people: paths from sheltered accommodation and old peoples’ homes, and to medical centres and doctors’surgeries for example.  We need to counter the misinformation being spread in the media about the risk of being sued.
2. Where residential roads have steep slopes (e.g. Kendal Drive, Eskdale, Rydal Close, Airedale Close), they should be given higher priority on the gritting list.

Overall, and having seen and heard from many other areas around the country, I believe Stockport did better than most at keeping the roads clear, resuming refuse and recycling services as quickly as possible and getting help to the most vulnerable.

Many Council staff went above and beyond the call of duty in working to keep everything moving.

But, of course, that doesn’t mean no improvements can be made and I was very pleased to see Cllr White and Kevin Melling taking the initiative to go out and ask for feedback.

On Wednesday morning I met with Mrs Yule, the Headteacher at Lady Barn House School on School’s Hill, Cheadle.  This followed concern from local residents about traffic and parking around the school at dropping off and picking up times.

Hopefully I’ll find the time to write more detail about what the school has been doing, but for now I’ll give the summary.

The school does make efforts to minimise the problems.  In the morning children are dropped off in the car par, in the afternoon picking up is obviously trickier as the kids can’t always be there at just the right time.

Exiting the school, there are “no right turn” signs, though some parents ignore them.

The school encourages parents to be responsible when parking and driving, and are very happy for the police to hand out tickets to those breaking the law.  They regularly send out letters to parents reminding them of the need to be responsible.

Of course, most people who live near a school recognise that traffic increases for short periods in the mornings and afternoons - it’s a problem every school in the country has.

And, as Inspector Gilbertson told us at the Area Committee meeting, when you have parents parking illegally and willingly accepting the fine, with no intention of changing their behaviour, there’s little police or the school can do.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve the situation in this case.  I was keen to look at ways the Council could help the school to stop traffic needing to come onto Schools Hill at all.

We’re going to explore whether there’s a safe and affordable way to have parents parking off Schools Hill (perhaps Cheadle Baths or the Sainsburys/John Lewis car park) and be bussed or walked to school from there.

For both the school and the Council there are issues and challenges to be overcome; but we’re talking about it, and that’s got to be a positive start.

Stockport has appointed Eamonn Boylan as the Council’s new Chief Executive, subject to confirmation. Mr Boylan’s appointment goes before a full meeting of Stockport Council on 4th February for ratification.

Mr Boylan is currently Deputy Chief Executive of national housing and regeneration body the Homes and Communities Agency where he is responsible for improvement programmes for land, private finance, growth and new initiatives

Stockport Council Leader, Councillor Dave Goddard, said: “We are delighted that Eamonn is to become our new Chief Executive. This is a real statement of intent from Stockport that we want to move from excellent to exceptional. Eamonn has a proven track record and we are absolutely certain he will drive us into the best possible position.

“We know that Stockport has a great workforce, we have good transport links and we have sites ripe for development. The climate is still challenging economically and we have total confidence that Eamonn is the right person to take us on the next stage of our journey.

“National inspectors have told us we run one of the best authorities in the country but there is no room for complacency. We need to provide value-for-money in all the 600 services we deliver. We want to build on our current success to improve life for everyone here in Stockport. Eamonn will play a crucial role in that constant improvement, regeneration and in providing value-for-money.

“He knows the region well and he’s played key roles already in attracting international investment and in working with other authorities to achieve great results.”

Mr Boylan, who lives in south Manchester, is expected to take up the post later this year when current Chief Executive John Schultz retires.

Previously Deputy Chief Executive of Manchester City Council (2002-2009), Director of Housing and Community Services at Manchester (1999-2002) and Director of Housing and Operational Services at Sheffield (1997-1999), he has played a key role in the development of the Housing Market Renewal Programme, the Northern Way Growth Strategy and, through his work with the Core Cities Group and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, in the emerging policy framework for city regions.

Said Mr Boylan: “I am delighted to be appointed Chief Executive. Stockport is renowned for being a well-run authority and I look forward to building on those strengths. There’s no doubt this will be a challenging time but I am determined we maximise the opportunities available for improvement, investment and regeneration.

“I look forward to working with colleagues not just within the Council but also in partner organisations across the borough and the region.”

The Deputy Leader of Stockport’s Conservative Group, Cllr Maureen Walsh, has this week resigned from the Conservative Group, leaving local Tories in disarray.  She now sits as an Independent on Stockport Council.

Having got to know Maureen over the last few months, I personally feel  angry at how she has been treated, and how local Tories have tried to cover their tracks and pretend there’s nothing wrong.

There are some councillors you respect, whichever side of the chamber they’re on, and Maureen is one of them.  She’s represented her ward of Bramhall North well and done a great deal of charity work through the Council, raising thousands of pounds for good causes.

I understand Maureen is going to put out her own leaflet to put the record straight, so incensed is she at how she’s been treated.

Here’s what we’ve said in our latest leaflet to North Bramhall and Hazel Grove:

Bramhall residents have been stunned by the news that popular local councillor Maureen Walsh has decided to quit the Conservatives.

Cllr Walsh, who has represented the Bramhall North area for 10 years, has decided to leave the party after a string of disagreements which have left local Conservatives deeply divided and in turmoil.

In a sign of desperation, the Tories have now selected a candidate for the local elections in May who doesn’t even live in Bramhall!

Cllr Walsh meanwhile is so upset, she is circulating her own message to local residents which directly contradicts the ’spin’ the Tories have tried to put on the chaos.

Rather than say more at this stage, I’d prefer to wait for Maureen’s own words

Stockport Council’s website – www.stockport.gov.uk – has had a re-vamp. The changes to the site have been made following valuable feedback from residents.

Changes have also been made following an independent assessment from The Shaw Trust - a national charity which supports disabled and disadvantaged people. These changes will ensure that the new website is as accessible to as many people as possible.

With over one million visitors a year and with online facilities for applying, reporting and paying for Council services, the Council’s website is becoming an increasingly important way for the authority to engage with local residents, businesses and visitors to the borough.

As part of the on-going evaluation, the Council would like to find out more about the users of the website and hear users’ views on how the Council can improve its online service. To comment on the Council’s website, please visit www.stockport.gov.uk/haveyoursay. Free internet access is available at all Stockport libraries. The closing date for people to give their views has been extended to 31st January 2010.

Let’s get active! That’s the message to all Stockport residents from some of the borough’s biggest sporting stars.

With 2010 here, local people are being encouraged to make a fresh start for the New Year by getting fitter, healthier and more active. To help everyone keep their New Year’s resolutions, the Council and Stockport Sports Trust have re-launched the Active Stockport campaign to help people fit more physical activity into their daily lives.

As part of the Stockport Boost programme, Active Stockport aims to help people of all ages improve their fitness levels and do the five, 30 minute sessions of physical activity per week that Government guidelines recommend. And to encourage all Stockport residents to fit more exercise into their daily routine, the borough’s sporting stars, including Stockport Metro swimmers Kerri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten and Stockport County footballer Paul Gerrard, have given the Active Stockport campaign the big thumbs up.

To find out more about how the Active Stockport campaign can help you get fitter, healthier and more active, visit: www.stockport.gov.uk/active or call Stockport Sports Trust on 0161 433 4070.

Tickets are now on sale for the Annual Hatters’ Ball in aid of the Mayor of Stockport’s Charity Fund.

The Ball will be held on Friday, 29 January 2010 at 7.00 pm in the Ballroom at Stockport Town Hall.

Tickets cost £50 each and are available from the Town Hall Box Office by calling 474 3256.

The Safer Stockport Partnership is encouraging people who feel they have been the victim of a hate crime not to suffer in silence and report it.

Hate crimes are defined as incidents which may or may not constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate towards the victim because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or the fact they have a disability.

There does not have to be evidence to suggest the motivation, the fact that the victim feels it is motivated in this way is sufficient for the police to deal with and record the incident as a hate crime. Hate incidents and crimes have a damaging effect on communities and need to be reported in order that the police and their partner agencies can protect other members of the community who may be targeted in this way.

To report a hate crime directly to Police, call 0161 872 5050. For more information please contact Dennis Bishop at Greater Manchester Police on 0161 856 9662 or 07901562722 or email dennis.bishop@gmp.police.uk.

Stockport Council will be marking the UK’s 10th annual Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday 27th January. Holocaust Memorial Day aims to educate people about the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of discrimination.

It is commemorated internationally on 27th January, the date in 1945 when the allies liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2010 is The Legacy of Hope.

The Council’s 14 libraries have organised special displays during the week to mark the event which was established to remember the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution, and to reflect on more recent genocides. As well as displays, library staff will direct people to booklists, for adults and children, on the Holocaust Memorial Day website www.hmd.org.uk

Stockport libraries open on 27th January are Central Library, Bredbury, Brinnington, Edgeley, Great Moor, The Heatons and Reddish. Hazel Grove and Marple are open until 1pm on the day. For more information about your local library please telephone 0161 217 6009.

The Heroes Welcome in Stockport campaign was launched on 11th November 2009 by the Mayor Colin MacAlister.  It aims to encourage local businesses and organisations including retailers to offer discounts to serving armed forces personnel on production of an identification card.

Sounds good to me.  If you’re a business sign up, decide what level of discount you’ll offer, get a sticker to display and (if you wish) go on the national Heroes Welcome in the UK database.

See the leaflet and application form below.

Application form:

Cheadle Area Committee is holding a special Public Forum: ‘Underage drinking, health and anti-social behaviour’ with representatives from Mosaic, the Police and the Community Safety Unit taking part and answering questions from the public at the next Cheadle Area Meeting on the 26th January.

Cllr June Somekh (leader of Cheadle Area Committee) has stated that:

“Underage drinking, health and anti-social behaviour is a very serious problem, and this area (Cheadle sk8) has a totally unacceptable number of teenage drinkers. It is particularly worrying that many, who are admitted to hospital, actually return there. I think we need to spread the message to as many people as possible”.

(Cut-and-pasted from AboutMyArea ).

Dignity in Care programme

Stockport Council is urging low income families to see if they are eligible for a grant to buy a Home Access Computer.

The Government Home Access Grants will assist families to purchase a computer and internet package helping to support children’s learning at home. The grant covers the cost of a computer, one year’s internet access, service and support and safety features.

The grant is available to parents or guardians responsible for and living with a child who is in school Years 3 to 9, (age 7–14) and claiming Free School Meals or certain income related benefits.

The Home Access Grant does not need to be paid back and the computer remains with the family even when the child finishes school. At the end of the first 12 months families can decide if they want to keep the internet – families won’t be locked into anything that they don’t want or can’t afford.

To check if you are eligible for the grant contact the Government’s Home Access Grant Service on 0333 200 1004, Minicom 0121 748 1471 for an application pack or visit www.homeaccess.org.uk.

Yesterday was our monthly meeting with the police, the one where we go through individual issues - often in some detail.

Our area, Stockport West, is headed up from the police side by Inspector Stephen Gilbertson of Greater Manchester Police.   Representatives from Stockport Council’s Community Safety Unit, Services for Young People and Neighbourhood Renewal teams also come along.

Several councillors also make it each time  - though rarely any Conservatives for some reason: at yesterday’s meeting there were three Lib Dems, two Ratepayers Association (from Heald Green) and no Conservatives at all.  (There are no Labour councillors in the area covered by Stockport West).

Anyway, down to business.

In Cheadle & Gatley issues discussed included:

• a recent increase in anti-social behaviour and incidents around Oak Road and Ashfield Road in Cheadle.  This area will be getting a lot of focus in the coming months and hopefully we can keep the problems down.
• traffic and parking issues around Lady Barn House School on Schools Hill, Cheadle (even worse in the last few days as they’ve had to close their car park for safety reasons).
• special advice has been given to shops and other premises believed to be at higher risk of robbery, such as the Spar on Foxland Road, Gatley.
• Inspector Gilbertson is working for improved enforcement of the “Access Only” rule on the South Park Road Estate, so hopefully we’ll see tickets given out soon.  A recent survey by Stockport Council found that 80% of traffic entering the estate is doing so illegally.

Inspector Gilbertson reported that a pre-Christmas focus on reducing burglaries in Gatley and Heald Green had considerable success, with just six burglaries (compared to 19 in the same period last year).  Operation Beach involved leafleting and visiting houses to give advice and contacting schools and churches.  The aim is to run similar operations in other local areas.

The meeting also highlights the good work being done by different agencies coming together, using all the different methods available to cut crime.

If you’ve any issues you’d like me to raise at the next monthly meeting, just get in touch.

Since the snow started falling before Christmas I’ve been trying to keep people up to date with what’s happening in Stockport with gritting of roads and pavements, schools opening and refuse collections.  I’ve had lots of comments from a wide range of people - many concerned that the Council isn’t doing enough to grit the roads and pavements they use.

I’ve also been seeing what’s happening elsewhere - it’s clear that the same sorts of comments are being made about pretty much every council in the country.

I’m quite sure that improvements can be made.  In Stockport I think there are ways we can improve the service to people on hilly residential roads (like Kendal Drive, Airedale Close  and Eskdale in my ward).  I also think we need to look at doing more to clear pavements in key areas - not only by shops but also near doctors’ surgeries, for example.  Along with Cllr Pam King and other councillors, we’ll be looking to make sure the Council learns those lessons.

But some of the complaints made against Stockport, and many other councils, do seem unfair to me, and I’ll try to explain why.

Gritting policies

Every council has a similar approach to gritting.  They have a list of priority routes (main roads, trunk roads, bus routes) that probably make up between 30% and 45% of the total road network.  Those get gritted first.

If those are done, and if there’s time, councils will then work down the list to minor roads, residential streets and cycle lanes.

In most cases, councils don’t get down to the lowest priority residential streets.  The main roads have to be gritted regularly (often twice a night in the worst conditions),, and they have to be gritted at the right time too.  It’s no use gritting in rain - the salt just gets washed away - and gritting too early will see the salt blown off the road before any snow arrives.

True, councils could buy more gritters, more salt and draft in more people.  That’s fine as long as we’re willing to pay higher council tax to fund it all - everything has a cost.  We’d also need to accept that other services would suffer.  If more of the people who normally collect our refuse are clearing snow, we’re going to have even less refuse collection.

Gritting isn’t a perfect solution

Gritting isn’t a perfect solution that magically clears snow and ice - as we all know.  Gritting works best on busy roads - passing traffic grinds the salt into the snow and ice, making it much more effective.  On quiet roads and pavements, just scattering salt may not do much at all.  (You’ll notice that clearing pavements normally involves shovelling the snow and ice away and then gritting the bare pavement to stop it reforming).

Pavements

Councils have no legal duty to clear snow and ice from pavements.  That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done (and Stockport has done it a lot in the town and district centres, along with some local centres).  But it does mean that clearing pavements comes after clearing the priority routes - which the Council does have a legal obligation to do as best it can.

In some other countries, householders are legally obliged to clear the pavement in front of their house if they’re able to.  In this country, nonsense in the media about the risks of being sued has scared a lot of decent people from doing even that.  Perhaps as a country we need to be looking at how we, as residents, can do more.

Steep slopes and grit bins

Where residential streets are on steep slopes, Stockport provides grit bins and has tried to refill them as often as it can (although clearing those priority routes takes precedence).

The system isn’t perfect.  There are places that, I would say, need grit bins but haven’t got them.  In others, bins are empty as the grit disappears as soon as it’s put in.

At least one council has put the locations of its grit bins on the Internet so people can find their nearest.  I’ve also heard suggestions of locking grit bins and having local volunteers in charge of them, to stop all the grit being pinched for private use - not sure how that would work in practice though.

I don’t think there are any obvious solutions, but I’m sure we can do better.

Running out of salt

Even just gritting priority routes, the country is now, we’re told, running out of salt.  The Government has ordered everyone to use less.  Hopefully this is an exceptional year and it’ll be another three decades before the next freeze like it, but we can’t be sure.

Had all the councils across the country started off gritting lots of residential roads and pavements, would we have run out of salt by now?  I don’t know, but we should bear it in mind.

Conclusion

I feel Stockport Council’s done pretty well.  The priority routes have been kept clear throughout the cold period.  Additional gritting has been done where possible.  Pavements have been cleared in the town, district and some local centres. Though disrupted, we’ve had more refuse collections than many other local councils and pretty much all our schools are now open.

But there is (in my opinion) room for improvement, especially  in clearing steep residential roads and pavements - though some of that may be a community effort rather than something we just leave to the Council.

Stockport Council has around £38 million of investments and, on Tuesday, around a quarter of the councillors attended a training session from Stockport’s Treasury team - the people who manage all those investments.

Across the country,  all local authorities make investments of this type.  It isn’t money sitting around doing nothing.

Part of it is money the Council knows it’s going to have to spend, but it doesn’t need to do so yet.  For example, it knows its insurance premiums will be payable at the end of the year but, until they’re due, the money should be earning a return.

The other big chunk is for contingencies - unexpected costs like the bad weather we’re seeing now.  Just like the rest of us, it’s good sense for councils to have something put aside for a rainy (or snowy) day.

Stockport is, by general agreement, pretty good at this.  Top considerations for any investment is security of the loan and liquidity (our ability to get the money back when we need it).  After that is the rate of return on investments (which for Stockport is currently a healthy 3.15% overall - many councils are getting 0.25%or less).

All of Stockport’s investments are with top-rated institutions and the Council works with external advisors and other councils to keep a close eye on the markets.

So far, so good.

But a change in the Government regulations that came through  late last year means that, for the first time, councillors across the country need to be scrutinising their council’s investments far more closely.

Hence the training session - two hours after which my head was hurting quite a lot (clearly being an investment banker isn’t my natural profession).  From now on, Stockport’s catchily-named Corporate Resource Management & Governance Scrutiny Committee - of which I’m one of nine members representing all the political parties on the Council - will be receiving quarterly reports from the Treasury team and doing our best to check, challenge and adviseto keep the Council’s investment portfolio as healthy as possible.