Here are the dates for the Primary School cross country races this season. All the meetings start at 10am, at William Scholes Playing Fields, Gatley.

The league is free to all schools. It’s been in existence for 35 years and around 300 runners come to each race meeting. For more information contact Ian Burnett on 0161 485 2155 or email i.b.burnett@googlemail.com.

Wilf Richards Memorial Primary School Cross-Country League

Saturday 18th September 2010

Saturday 9th October 2010

Saturday 6th November 2010

Saturday 15th January 2011

Saturday 5th February 2011 (includes parents race at 10.30)

Thursday 17th February 2011 - Walter Hesketh Trophy Cross Country Relays

Saturday 5th March 2011

Playing football in the street is illegal in Stockport borough.  National laws makes it illegal when it causes an obstruction, and a by-law in Stockport extends that to all football.

I’m a big fan of taking a common-sense approach to the law.  If a couple of kids are having a kick about on a quiet road and doing no-one any harm, I’d no more advocate taking action than I would suggest fining everyone who ever drives at 31mph in a 30mph zone.

But not all street football is benign.  When heavy footballs are flying into people’s gardens, breaking windows and teenagers are jumping over hedges and onto flowerbeds to retrieve them, or where balls are smacking into parked vehicles, that can cause serious problems.

If you have an issue with street football causing you problems, do get in touch with Pam or myself and we’ll get action taken.

From Stockport Council:

Playschemes take place in 20 Stockport primary schools and parks over the next five weeks, having started on Monday August 2nd. The Stockport Council-run playschemes are all FREE and are for children aged 5-11 years on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Parents/carers leave their children with qualified staff. The playschemes offer arts and crafts, outdoor activities, organised games, free play and many more.

All playschemes (apart from Reddish Vale Country Park) operate from 10.00am – 12noon and 1.00 – 3.00pm. Parks are in bold.

· Week August 2nd-6th (except August 4th): Warren Wood Primary in Offerton; St George’s CE Primary in Heaviley; St Mark’s Primary in Bredbury, and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary on St Petersgate in Stockport town centre.

· Week August 9th-13th: Banks Lane Junior in Offerton; Orrishmere Primary on Cheadle Hulme; Abington Primary in Reddish; and Cheadle Heath Primary in Cheadle Heath.

· Week August 16th-20th: St Christopher’s Catholic Primary in Romiley; Prospect Vale Primary in Head Green; Vernon Park Primary, Peak Street; and Alexandra Park in Edgeley.

· Week August 23rd-27th: Arden Primary in Bredbury; Outwood Primary in Heald Green; Brinnington Park; Meadowbank Primary in Cheadle.

· Tuesday August 31st-September 3rd: Fir Tree Primary in Reddish; St Paul’s CE primary in Brinnington; and Cale Green Primary in Shaw Heath,

· Tuesday August 31st- September 2nd: Reddish Vale Country Park (1.00 – 4.00pm).

A mention for SAVY - Stockport Action for Voluntary Youth.  SAVY is the umbrella group bringing together voluntary youth groups in Stockport, with 62 groups under the umbrella including Girl Guides, Scouts, faith groups (Christian, Muslim and Jewish), Air Training Corps and many more.

The 62 groups involve over 1,000 voluntary youth workers (of which, in my own small way, I’m one) and engages with over 5,000 young people and children.

SAVY provides supports and guidance, CRB and safeguarding training, an active youth forum, training and advice.

From the Council:

Stockport Council, on behalf of the Stockport Partnership, has commissioned a research and engagement project, to review employment and skills issues, and improve awareness of support services in the Town Centre residential area.

The Neighbourhood Renewal Team will be carrying out this work. They have extensive knowledge and experience of worklessness and a proven track record in engaging with local communities and stakeholders.

The work will include consultation with local residents and employers in these areas. It is anticipated this piece of work will provide a blue print for future consultation and engagement on economic drivers in other Priority 1 areas of the borough.

For further information please click here (pdf) or contact Liz Madge on 0161 476 1262 or elizabeth.madge@stockport.gov.uk.

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).

From the Council:

Stockport Council has beaten off national competition to secure a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £269,000 to provide work placements in the local heritage sector. HLF’s Skills for the Future programme aims to provide new training opportunities for unemployed people across the UK seeking a career in heritage.

Paid training places will be available from the autumn at a range of sites including Reddish Vale Country Park, Stockport Heritage Library and various museums, as well as alongside Stockport’s many voluntary heritage groups. The placements, which will be a year long, will teach trainees practical skills like traditional horticulture, conservation, document archiving and management of collections. For further information please visit www.hlf.org.uk.

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.

 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.

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.

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.

Free early education and childcare for children in Stockport is increasing from 12 1/2 hours a week to 15 hours a week from September this year. As well as the new and extended hours, there will be more flexibility for parents who won’t be restricted to just morning or afternoon sessions.

The free hours are available at most early year’s providers including day nurseries, pre-schools or playgroups, independent schools, maintained nursery schools or classes, and accredited childminders who are part of an approved network. From September 2010, the following will apply:

· a free place is available for up to 15 hours a week

· no more than six hours can be claimed on one day

· there is a maximum of 570 hours per year (e.g. 15 hours during 38 week term time during the academic year)

· the free entitlement is available for all children from the start of the term after they become three years of age

· no more than two schools/settings are permitted at one time

For further information please contact Family Info Link on 0808 800 0606, email info@familyinfolink.co.uk or visit www.familyinfolink.co.uk.

We often think that there’s not much for young people to do.  Sometimes there’s lots to do , but we just don’t know about it.

Visit the Stockport Plings site to see what’s on  in your area and follow it on Facebook or Twitter.

I’m meeting up with Steven Flower, one of the people behind Plings, next week - I’ll be interested to see where Plings can go next and how we can make it even easier for people to find out what’s going on.

Perhaps not really a secret but not many of us parents had heard of Awesome Walls at Pear Mill, Stockport before taking our kids there for a birthday party on Sunday.

It’s pretty fantastic seeing the kids (in this case, 7 and 8 year old girls) climbing up walls that I’d certainly be thinking twice about.  Awesome walls claims the highest climbing wall in England (looked pretty high to me, I must admit) and has a host of other walls for climbing and bouldering at all sorts of angles.

The highest climbing wall in England?

Not an angle I’d have a go at

These are the walls the party girls were climbing - to the top.

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.

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.

Primary schools throughout Stockport are being urged to take steps to a healthier future by participating in the national Bike and Scoot Week campaign which runs from the 26th to the 30th April 2010.

Bike and Scoot Week is a national campaign which links with the Council’s Active Stockport campaign highlighting the health benefits of getting active.

Last year over 45 Stockport primary schools took part in the campaign and up to 3,000 children cycled or scooted to school and the Council would like to encourage even more children to get involved this year.

It was agreed by councillors of all parties that great progress has been made over the last decade in helping children and adolescents with mental health problems.

From hyperactivity to attention deficit disorder and depression, mental health covers a wide range of areas.  Of the 68,000 young people in Stockport borough, it’s estimated that 6,360 - nearly one in ten - have a mental health disorder.

A decade ago, help for these young people was woefully inadequate - no help was the norm.

As we saw at yesterday’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee,  the Primary Care Trust has worked in partnership with Stockport and other local authorities in the area and has made big improvements.

A tiered approach has been developed to enable children to get the most appropriate treatment.

Mental health is too often the poor relation.  Despite affecting a huge proportion of the population at one time or another, it never gets the focus, or the funding, of  higher profile health problems like cancer.

Councillors from all parties were united in our belief that mental health services are critically important and, whilst a great deal has been achieved, there’s clearly a long way still to go.

You can read the full report in the Children and Young People’s agenda available here.

Just reported graffiti in Gatley Rec on the skateboard park, the old toilet block and some of the furniture in the playground.

Good news - the swings have been put back in Gatley Rec too.

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.

This is the information I’ve been passed by Gareth Davies at the Council. The approach Gareth suggests sounds sensible to me.

“The swings at the park have been the subject of sustained vandalism for
a period of several months - it appears that the owner (or owners) of
Staffordshire Terrier type dogs have been allowing their pets to chew
the seats. This is a relatively common complaint as the swings are ideal
- if that is the right word - for training the dogs to bite.

Over the last six months or so six seats have been destroyed, along with
a further three on nearby William Scholes fields. Our usual practice
where we have periods of sustained attacks is to remove the seats for a
‘cooling off’ period once it’s clear that the problem is not isolated
and that there’s clearly a person or group of persons abusing the
equipment.

In the case of Gatley Rec, the seats were removed on the 1st of this
month and we’ll now leave them off until early-mid March whilst the dog
wardens and ASBAT teams step up their patrols and increase visibility to
discourage the perpetrators from returning.

So, all being well, the swings will be re-hung in a few weeks time and
certainly in time for the school Easter break. Obviously if the problem
persists we’ll review the situation again, but I’ll keep you up to date
and let you know when they’re back on and if they need to come off
again. It’s a shame that we have to resort to this ‘all or nothing’
approach but it does seem to be the only effective way of counteracting
problems such as this.”

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 swings have been removed at the Gatley Recreation Ground.

Unfortunately, it seems they were getting regularly broken - I’m told at least in part by someone using them to train a pit bull (quite how that works, I don’t know).

Every time the swings get broken, replacing them costs money so, for now, it’s been decided to leave them out of action.

Hopefully this can be revisited in the spring.

I’ve received this letter from Richard Booker at the Council. It also includes a map showing where the multi-user games area (MUGA) will be situated - I’ll add it when I can. This is excellent news - Cllr Pam King has done a lot of work to get this facility going, and the process has involved the residents association right through the process.

Ask For: Richard Booker
Telephone:0161 474 4829
E-mail: Richard.booker@stockport.gov.uk

Dear Resident,

I am writing to inform you about the improvements that will take place in Brookfield Recreation Ground. There will be path improvement works carried out to improve access across the site, and a new hard surface sports area will be created giving children and young people better access to sporting facilities.

Local young people have expressed a need for a safe place locally where they can meet and engage in positive sporting activities. Currently, many children and young people in the area can only play on the road outside their house and in some instances this is impacting on the quality of life for other residents. The Acorn , Ash and Chestnut Residents Association have been working in partnership with Stockport Council and Stockport Homes to improve access to sports facilities for young people in the area.

Work is expected to begin on the path improvements and sports area before the end of March.

The next meeting of the Acorn, Ash and Chestnut Residents Association will be March 9th 6.30pm at Cheadle Library

Yours Sincerely
Richard Booker
Parks Dev Officer

The latest edition of the Stockport Visitor Attractions guide now available with details of activities for all the family to enjoy during half-term.

The guide is produced by Stockport Council as part of the Stockport Boost campaign and includes a list of exciting events taking place across the borough. Events include a free fine art exhibition and a tour of Hat Works giving children the chance to experience what it was like to be a hatters apprentice at a local factory, plus tours of the Air Raid Shelters giving children the chance to step back in time and experience life during the war.

The February half-term events guide is available from all Stockport Visitor Attractions and the Tourist Information Centre and members will be receiving a copy directly through the members’ courier delivery this week. For a full list of events visit www.visit-stockport.com/attractions.

For the first time, Manchester Harriers are holding parent’s cross-country races on Saturday 6th February, and there’ll be prizes!

Harriers run the Primary Schools Cross Country League at William Scholes Field, Gatley on Saturday mornings from 10am.

The remaining dates of the season are Saturday 6th February and Saturday 6th March.  The league has been in existence for over 30 years and there are about 300 runners at each race meeting.

There will be two parents’ races - one for ladies, one for men, running from 10.30am on Saturday 6th February.

There’s also a primary schools relay event after school on Thursday 25th March, starting at 4pm, with trophy presentations at 5pm.

Contact Ian Burnett for more information at i.b.burnett@googlemail.com or by calling 0161 485 2155.

Cheadle’s Abney Hall has been a stately home, featured in an Agatha Christie novel, been a town hall, a language school and an office building.  Now its owners, Bruntwood, want it to become an Independent school, and they came along to Thursday’s Cheadle Village Partnership to tell us about it and get some feedback.

So what was the message from Bruntwood?

They were keen to stress that the development protects Abney Hall, that a lot of attention will be paid to avoiding traffic problems, and that users of the park will still be able to walk everywhere they can now.  Whether all of that’s achieved we’ll have to judge when the plans come out.

The plan is for an existing independent primary school with around 300 pupils to move into the Court building behind the main hall.  As those pupils left the primary school,a similar-sized senior school would grow up in the main hall.

There’s a long way to go (not that long, though - the aim is to open the primary school before the end of 2010).  In a straw poll at the Village Partnership meeting, most but not all were positive about the plans, from what we’d heard.

As always with anything that’s likely to come for planning permission, myself and Cllr Paul Porgess (the two councillors present) need to stay neutral and avoid expressing a view for or against.

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 ).

For young people who want to get involved in organised activities there’s no shortage of things to do.  Sport, drama, art, music, Scouts, Guides, church clubs and more besides - all turning parents into the proverbial taxi service.

Some could do with more money but, more importantly is adult helpers.

Several of the activities my (junior school age) children do only exist because parents get involved and help.

Gatley Beavers and Cubs nearly closed down last year when the parent rota got too slim.  Fish Club at the United Reform Church on Elm Road, Gatley needs two or three parents to help out on a rota in addition to the regulars.

Basketball, which my son and his friends are enjoying, holds matches with paid referees and staff in Reddish on Saturdays.  They have highly competitive leagues, both girls and boys playing, and everyone has lots of fun - so much so that they’re expanding rapidly.

And yet, useless at basketball as most of the parents are, it couldn’t operate without mums and dads taking on some of the work: scoring, collecting the money and organising the players to be at the right place at the right time.

The two Cheadle teams (Cheadle Thunder and Cheadle Hurricanes) play in Division Two and Divison One respectively of the year 5 & 6 league.  They train at The Kingsway School  on Monday afternoons.

For basketball, training is being set up in High Schools across Stockport.  Players, boys and girls, can start from year 3 and aren’t expected to have any basketball skills at the beginning.  If you’re interested in finding out more, call 0161 480 2223 or email stockport@sportforallcentres.co.uk.

This year we’re celebrating 80 years of Scouting in Gatley - we’d love anyone who was in Gatley Cubs or Scouts in years gone by to get in touch.

To kick things off, I’ve received this wonderful photo of bob-a-job in 1949.

This was sent to me by Bill Mansell, then patrol leader of Peewit Patrol.

In the photo (as best as Bill’s memory serves) are:

Mr Mottram who owned the shoe shop outside which the photo was taken.

Colin Wyatt, doing the polishing and being closely watched by Peter Renshaw (without hat) and Derek Harris.

The group of three at the back are, from left to right, P.Barratt, D.Franks(?) and D.Chandley.

Colin, Peter and Bill were friends from childhood having been born and brought up in Windsor Avenue, Gatley.  Two others made up the Windsor  Avenue Gang, but the did not join Scouts.

If you know (or are!) any of the people in this photo, do let us know.

My thanks to Gatley & District Rotary Club, who kindly invited me to speak to them last Wednesday - I even got a meal and a drink into the bargain, which can’t be bad.

The Rotary Club  do a lot of good work.  It’s 1.2 million members wordwide are currently raising money to tackle polio in the developing world (Bill Gates will donate three hundred million if they can match it with their own fundraising).

Locally, the Rotarians do everything from providing the Santa for the Walter Stansby Memorial Park to funding a special garden for the Seashell Trust and kitchen equipnent for Gatley Youth Club.

The Rotary Club, which meets most Wednesdays at Cheadle Golf Club, are always looking for new members - drop me a line if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch.

Last month members of Gatley Youth Centre made the trip to London to visit the Houses of Parliament and ask their local MP Mark Hunter some interesting questions.

Led by Youth Work Manager Anthony Atkins and colleague Richard Whitwam, members of the centre were given a full tour of the Houses of Parliament. They were given exclusive access to see the House of Commons, the House of Lords and various other areas of historical significance.

Following the tour, members of the centre were given free reign to ask Mark any questions they liked in a special ‘Question Time’-like discussion. The hour hour long Q&A session included saw a real range of topics discussed, ranging from local youth facilities to tackling crime.

Commenting after the day, Mark said:

“It was a real pleasure to welcome members of Gatley Youth Centre down to Westminster.

“As well as having the chance to properly explore Parliament, we all had a compelling discussion about the issues of today.

“It is great to see the strong work of local organisations like Gatley Youth Centre. Young people are the future and their interests are hugely important to all of us.

“Their questions were really insightful – much better than the riff-raff you get from some politicians!”

Following the launch of the national annual ifs Young Business Writer of the Year competition, Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell has urged teenagers living in the Stockport area to get involved and say what they think about bankers pay and bonuses.

The banking crisis has had wide ranging effects on the UK and much has been said about the huge salaries and bonuses enjoyed by City bankers but up until now voices from younger generations have been left out.

That’s all set to change with the start of this competition which is open to all UK school and college students aged between 14 and 19 and enables them to test their writing skills by inviting them to come up with a 1,000 word article with the headline, “Bankers rewards - asking for trouble?” As well as the title “ifs Young Business Writer of the Year”, the winner will also receive a £500 cash prize.

Commenting, Andrew Stunell said:

“This competition offers teenagers a fantastic chance not only to hone their writing skills and get them thinking about banking and finance issues but also to have their voices heard on a wider level.

“I strongly urge bright and engaged youngsters from across the Stockport community to grab this opportunity with both hands.”

Rod McKee, Head of Financial Capability of the ifs School of Finance, said:

“We are pleased that Mr Stunell has highlighted some of the benefits of this popular competition and urged his constituents to submit an entry. Issues relating to bankers rewards can be complex and contentious so it will be interesting to read local teenagers views.”

Anyone aged between 14 and 19 who wishes to enter the competition simply has to e-mail their article (which must not exceed 1,000 words) to ybwy@ifslearning.ac.uk between now and the competition closing date of Monday 26 January 2009.

For more information please visit www.financialcapability.co.uk

Gatley Primary’s always been a good school, but under the leadership of Michelle Murray, Vanessa MacManus and the rest of the Senior Management Team, it’s been going from strength to strength over the last couple of years.

For the governors, this is sub-committee week (and somehow I seem to be very bad at getting the right dates and times in my diar).  Between the governors we’ve been reviewing the school’s achievements and plans, and I can only say that it’s nice when the main role of the governors is to congratulate the staff and children on their achievements.

We’re lucky to have a bunch of really good schools in our area.  Not only Gatley Primary but also Lum Head, Cheadle Primary and Kingsway.  I’m privileged to know many of the children and, in the vast majority of cases, the modern negative stereotypes we see all too often in the media couldn’t be further from the truth.

 This is your chance to reward and recognise people who make a difference in Stockport by entering them in the borough’s citizens’ awards: Proud of Stockport.

The Awards are now in their third year, celebrating those who do exceptional and extraordinary things to support our communities. Do you know an individual or a group of people going out of their way to make Stockport a better place?

Is there a residents’ association or community group, which has greatly improved things for local people? If so, this is the chance to give these people their spot in the limelight by nominating them for specific awards.

Ambassador for Stockport

Rewarding someone who has helped to give Stockport a good name and improve its reputation.

Best Street

Rewarding the residents who help make their street a better place to live.

Children’s Champion

Rewarding a person or group of people who influence children’s day to day lives in a positive way.

Citizen of the Year

Rewarding adults who help their community in lots of different ways.

Community-spirited Business

Rewarding the Stockport business that puts a lot back into the community, be it through fundraising, caring services or staff initiatives.

Good Neighbour

Rewarding those people who go out of their way to be the best neighbour possible.

Green and Glorious

Rewarding a group or person that is responsible for a great community clean-up.

Life Changing

Rewarding someone who has turned their life around against the odds.

Sports Personality

Rewarding those involved in sport in Stockport.

Volunteering Champion

Rewarding individuals or groups of people who make a real difference to Stockport, such as resident associations and community groups.

Young Citizen of the Year

Rewarding young people under the age of 18 that help their community in lots of different ways.

You can submit a nomination online here - the final date for nominations is Thursday 17th December 2009,

Events over the next eleven days:

• Aged 14-16?  Use the Urban Evolution themes to inspire your own piece of creative writing with help from professional writer Julian Jordan.  Ideal for beginners.  2-4pm, Satuday 14th November, Stockport Story Museum (SK1 1ES).  Free, booking essential (call 0161 474 4453).
• Vintage photography.  What do your clothes say about you?  Happy Goth?  Sad Punk? Angry Rocker? Try dressing in the ‘looks and locks’ of young people from the past and capture it all with some ‘vintage’ photography.  Hat Works Museum (SK3 0EU), 2-4pm, Sunday 15th November, ages 13-25 years.  Free - call 0161 355 7770 to book.
• Design an album cover and have it displayed. Remaster a cover for an album you’ve inherited in your collection.  Finished artwork will be displayed in the Urban Evolution exhibition.  Stockport Story Museum (SK1 1ES), 1-4pm, Saturday 21st November, ages 13-25 years.  Free - call 0161 477 6517 to book.
• Identify Yourself. Give Gok Wan a run for his money.  Design a T-shirt which expresses your unique identity.  Discover the history behind Manchester gangs and learn how Victorian gang members customised their outfits to demonstrate their group identity .  T-shirts supplied, but feel free to bring another item of clothing you’d like to design into.  Stockport Story Museum (SK1 1ES), 2-4pm, Sunday 22nd November, ages 13-25 years.  Free - call to book on 0161 477 6517.

This evening I took the family to the opening night of the Urban Evolution exhibition at Stockport Story, next to the covered market - and I can strongly recommend it.

The exhibition takes a look at our history over the last seventy years, from the perspective of what it was like to be a young person in each age, from the Second World War through the fifties’ teenager’s bedroom to transistor radios and what it means to be a young person today.

That’s not all.  Not only did young volunteers contribute much of the content for the exhibition, they also planned the whole layout -a mixture of photos, film, posters, artefacts, sculpture and more.

Everyone involved can be very proud of what they’ve achieved. The Urban Evolution exhibition runs from 11th November 2009 to 28th February 2010 at Stockport Story Museum - don’t miss it.

I’ve received this from Andrew Stunell, Lib Dem MP in the neighbouring constituency of Hazel Grove

The Government is set to cut nearly £800 from the budgets of some of Stockport’s poorest people in April, according to Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell.

Government plans to alter the Local Housing Allowance could leave low-income families up to £780 a year worse off. At the moment, families receiving Local Housing Allowance (LHA) are able to keep up to £15 a week if they choose a home with a rent below the Local Housing Allowance’s maximum for their area. Chancellor Alistair Darling now proposes removing the £15 a week payment from April next year.

Estimates indicate that around half of all the people receiving LHA pay a contractual rent that is lower than the LHA maximum rate. This means that over 1,500 people in the borough will lose out as a result.

Commenting, Andrew Stunell said:

“£15 per week may seem like small change to Government Ministers, but for local families struggling to make ends meet this money is important.

“The government has a track record in secretly raising taxes for the poorest and most vulnerable people. Now they want to take away a vital source of their income just like that.

“Cutting this scheme will save very little money, if any at all, but will make a huge difference to local families budgets. This is irresponsible behaviour from Labour during a recession, and Gordon Brown has once again abandoned the people who need the most help.”

Now Mr Stunell is joining with other Liberal Democrat MPs to press the Government for a rethink.

Just a quick plug for Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club, providing opportunities for young and old from across the south Manchester area and based at Scholes Field in Gatley with the shiny new pavillion.

Yesterday was one of the regular cross-country days, giving opportunities to hundreds of young people to catch the athletics bug.

Recognising the parking issues that these once-a-month occasions cause, the Harriers were yesterday handing out advice to parents on where to park: suggesting Gatley Hill and Foxland Road in addition to Beech Avenue and the new enlarged car park by the pavillion.

A big thank you from Gatley Cubs to the Cheadle Hulme Firefighters.  We took the cubs to take a look at the firestation on Turves Road. They got to see all the equipment t firefighters wear, have a look around a fire engine, get a ride in the engine and have a go at spraying water from a fire hose.

In a couple of weeks we’re going back for some first aid training.  One of our helpers might even be considering a change of career.

I’m running a series of posts to summarise over 400 pages of documents in way that helps those who live and work in Stockport Borough understand the issues we’re facing, the options we have and the Council proposals in how the Borough develops over the next 17 years.

This is the third post.  You can read my overview plus my piece on  the Accessibility Appraisal paper.  This one covers the Core Strategy DPD Preferred Options Consultation, which you can read in full, and comment on, here.

This time I’m trying to condense 140 pages into a few hundred words - wish me luck.

What issues is the strategy trying to tackle?

Although both the population of Stockport Borough and the amount of traffic has fallen slightly in the last few years, we don’t expect that to continue.   The Government is asking Stockport to provide 450 new dwellings (houses or flats) every year - that’s over 7,000 by 2026.

At the same time Stockport, like everywhere, has issues to tackle with how things are now.   We’re the third most polarised borough in the country with pockets of deprivation and much more affluent areas.  Our main roads are congested. Stockport Town Centre isn’t all it could be.  Lots of people live in the Borough and travel out for work, with lots more living outside and travelling in.  And, in common with most other areas, we have an aging population and a lack of affordable housing.

The general approach

So we expect to have thousands of new flats and houses, which means (over time), more shops, offices, schools, sport, leisure, culture and health facilities and cemetaries.  Where should they all go?

This was the subject of a previous consultation.  Different options were looked at and the conclusion was, in the main, to strengthen existing centres.  By far the most development is planned for Stockport Town Centre.  Another big chunk goes into the District Centres and the Large Local Centres, with a smaller amount elsewhere.

Stockport has 8 District Centres: Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall, Edgeley, Hazel Grove, Marple, Reddish and Romiley.  It has 10 Large Local Centres: Gatley, Heald Green, Moor Top, Heaton Moor, Shaw Road/Heaton Moor Road, Heaton Chapel, Davenport, Great Moor, North Reddish and Marple Bridge.

Housing

There’s more to this than just building lots of houses and flats.  How big should they be?  How expensive?  Where should they go?

The proposal in this strategy paper is

• a 50/50 split between houses and flats overall, with most flats going in the Town Centre (which will end up with a much higher population) and most houses going around the District and Large Local Centres.
• The majority of the flats to have two bedrooms.
• 40% of new housing to be affordable for those on lower incomes.
• 80% of new housing to be in existing buildings and previously developed land.
• More social rented housing for Bramhall, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Edgeley, Davenport, Marple, Romiley and the Heatons.
• If Woodford Aerodrome becomes vacant, using it wholly or partially for housing is one of several options.
• Stockport currently has no formal Gypsy and Traveller pitches.  Following Government guidance, we are expected to create 35, plus another ten travelling showpeople pitches.  This should increase to 57 pitches in total by 2026 and they should be be in urban areas with good access to services.
• 50% of the new dwellings to be in the Central Housing Area, with up to 2,000 in the Town Centre (the Central Housing Area is the Town Centre plus some areas around it).
• A further 35% of new dwellings to be within walking distance of District and Large Local centres.
• 15% of dwellings to be built elsewhere.

Reducing the size of some struggling centres

Even in the recession, most of our District and Local Centres are doing OK, including Cheadle, Gatley, Bramhall and Heald Green.  Walk around them and you won’t see many empty units.

Some are suffering more, including Hazel Grove and Edgeley.  For these, one option is to reduce the size of the centres - for example, by turning retail units at the edges of the centres into residential properties.

For all centres, the paper also offers the option of limiting the number of hot food and fast food outlets either within a centre altogether or near to schools and play areas.

Cemetaries

It may not be something most of us give much thought to, but Stockport’s cemetaries will be full in 10-15 years.  Should we create new cemetaries (if so, where?) or re-use existing ones.

Strengthen District and Local Centres

The overall strategy is to maintain and enhance the Town Centre along with existing District and Local Centres.

Here, I confess, I don’t think the document is very clear (and, in one case, makes a fairly blatant mistake).  The section in question is 7.135 on page 70.  It refers to changes in planning policies.

The paper proposes  controlling the scale, clustering and mix of uses in Centres to meet local needs and enhance the viability of the Centres.  Great in principle, and fine if there are lots of retailers and developers with different schemes.  The problem comes when the commercial environment isn’t quite so strong.

You might want to have a retail outlet in a particular place, but if no retailers want to open there, your real choice might be something else (a take-away, for example) or nothing. It could well be that nothing - an empty unit - is the best choice in some cases, but we should be aware of the issue.

With that in mind, I’m not clear exactly what the paper’s proposing.

Outside Local and District Centres, the paper proposes that we permit a change of use from service to non-service (e.g. offices or residential) unless there’s a good reason not to, as part of the strategy to strengthen the Centres.

In Large Local Centres, the paper says we should restrict the size of new shops and leisure units (where not re-using an existing building) to a maximum of  500 square metres (and 250 square metres in other Local Centres).  For District Centres, the much higher limit of 25,000 square metres is proposed.  (I think incorrect wording results in this paragraph actually saying the opposite of this).

There’s also a sentence which, I think, suggests that a new small convenience store would not be permitted if other local retailers already provide the same services.

Requiring that new convenience shops meeting local needs (up to max 250 square metres) will only be allowed where there are no alternative sustainably accessible facilities.

Again, it not necessarily a problem; but I don’t understand why we’d want to single out convenience shops.  If we’re going to protect that one type of shop from competition, why not protect newsagents, cafes or hairdressers?

Building business

The plan identifies the need to build strong business centres around Stockport, and argues that this should be primarily achieved by enhancing and promoting the Town Centre for new office development.  That fits in with the principle of enhancing the Town Centre overall, and concentrates more traffic flows into the centre (which is the location best served by public transport and car parking).

In particular, the strategy is to attract ICT, digital, creative and new media companies into offices around the A6 south of the M60 - especially in the civic quarter.

There’s also strong office provision in some our District and Local Centres: Bramhall, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Hazel Grove, Stepping Hill and Gatley.  These should be supported.

Heavier industry should have direct access to main access routes (e.g. motorways) without having to go through residential areas.  The Bredbury Industrial Area is given as an example of a location that fits the bill.

The report says that there’s no specific need to find new areas of employment close to deprived areas: either they are there already, or there are good public transport links from those areas to the Town Centre.

Sport, green spaces and leisure

Stockport has an oversupply of senior sports pitches (compared to the Government recommendation for how many we should have) but slightly too few mini soccer facilities.

The report also identifies a shortfall of leisure facilities in the Town Centre, Hazel Grove, Reddish, Romiley and Edgeley, with too few sports halls (relative to the population) in the north and north east of the Borough.

There’s a discussion about our green spaces, both “formal open space” - parks and similar - and other green spaces.

Should we continue the current strategy of retaining a semi-rural character for our river valleys; or should we use that space to meet more formal needs, for example by building sports pitches there?

Overall, though the Cheadle area (Cheadle, Gatley, Heald Green and the northern part of Cheadle Hulme) was identified as having more than enough formal open space (again, compared to Government recommendations), the Borough as a whole falls 105 hectares short.  The Heatons also do well for green space, with Victoria, Tame Valley and Werneth needing improvement.

The plan rejects giving absolute protection to current green space.  It gives the example of the Cheadle Committee area, where there’s lots of formal green space and a shortage of affordable housing.  It suggests the option to swap some should be left open.

Transport

The strategy paper advocates more people living, working and playing in Stockport Town Centre along with our District and Local Centres.  If that’s going to be successful, we need to be able to get to and from those places.

Issues identified include:

• a lack of orbital train links from Stockport to Manchester Airport and Tameside
• a lack of train links between Stockport and some District Centres (Marple, Cheadle) and a general weakness in public transport between Marple and Stockport
• congestion across many of the Borough’s main roads

It notes that there are plans currently in place to improve transport provision, including SEMMMS, aiming to deliver the extended A555 Relief Road by 2016 and rail improvements scheduled to start from 2014.

Other reports and plans are noted including the 2009-2015 Stockport Cycling Strategy,  the Greater Manchester Integration Transport Strategy (GMITS) and the South Pennines Integrated Transport Strategy (SPITS).

Beyond those (which I won’t cover here, but will do at some stage if I have the time), the paper comes up with a selection of ideas that fall some way short of firm proposals:

• we need to shift from single-occupancy car use to more car sharing, cycling,  walking and public transport.
• promote flexible working and home working
• introduce more 20mph zones in residential areas
• improve the network of walking and cycling routes, both direct (normally on-road) and off-road for recreational and less confident cyclists.

Disclaimer

In this post I’ve attempted to summarise Stockport Council’s Core Strategy Development Plan Document (DPD) consultation paper.  This is my own work; it is not an official Council or Liberal Democrat summary and I’d be frankly amazed if there weren’t significant omissions and mistakes.   Nothing in this summary should be taken as indicating either my or the Liberal Democrats’ support for, or agreement with, the strategy paper.

Good news first - the failed green light I reported two days ago has been fixed.

Some other issues I took a look at this morning:

• There’s a section of the wall on the Gatley Hill side of Styal Road where a few bricks are missing, opposite 22 Styal Road.
• Although the trees growing in the woods and overhanging Styal Road near Church Road have been cut back - so you don’t hit your head as you walk along - there are still some that obscure the traffic lights, making it a very dark walk at this time of year.
• There’s some foliage growing out over the pavement from the railway, where Gatley Road passes under the railway bridge (Network Rail should cut this back).

Stockport Council secured over a million pounds in Playbuilder funding, being spent on refurbishing 22 play areas across the borough, with equipment for 8-13 year olds.

Currently, Scholes Field has some fairly elderly and poorly-used play equipment in the south east corner (near to the paths to Borrowdale Avenue and Linksway).  The plan is to replace this with a new, improved play area in the year 2010-2011 and there’s £50,000 to do it.

Local people (including the likely users of the equipment) will be consulted both on the location of the play area and the equipment to go in it.

For example, we could look at keeping the play area where it is now, moving it nearer to the new pavillion or elsewhere on the field.

More on the Playbuilder scheme on the Stockport Council website.