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

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

Discarded products and materials have been transformed into imaginative and inventive objects serving everyday needs, from cooking implements through to personal adornment. These objects demonstrate how waste materials can be recycled in an imaginative way to serve very practical purposes.

The exhibition was put together by knowtrash in partnership with the Eden Project. knowtrash is a collection of over 1,000 contemporary recycled artefacts sourced from Africa, Asia and the Americas. At Hat Works visitors will see bags, hats, jewellery and other items used for personal adornment. Stockport Story Museum displays more practical objects, such as stoves, lights, kitchen utensils and toys.

‘Treasure from Trash’ will be on display at Hat Works and Stockport Story Museum until 6th June. Admission is free.

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

One in five (22 per cent) students may be missing from the electoral register meaning they will not be able to vote come polling day. The Electoral Commission and NUS are calling for students to visit www.aboutmyvote.com as a simple and quick way to register. For further information please click here.

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

They’re taking it seriously, and have special screws which can be used to fix plates and make it much harder for criminals to remove them.

In addition to the regular patrols, the mobile police station is on Oak Road a day a week and some people who’ve have particular problems have had detailed discussions with the police.

Inspector Gilbertson, at this evening’s Cheadle Village Partnership, was keen to stress their zero-tolerance approach and encouraged residents to report any problems.

Stockport Homes is taking action against some tenants who have been responsible for certain problems and are in breach of their tenancy agreements.

Parenting contracts, parenting orders and other mechanisms are also brought into play.

That’s not to say the problems can all easily be solved, so please let me and the police know if you’re aware of anti-social behaviour issues either in the Oak Road area or elsewhere in Cheadle & Gatley ward.

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.

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.

Come along to BossCo on Gatley Road  from 3:30pm-8pm on Thursday 25th March and see what local goodies are on offer.

The from the south end of Styal Road in Heald Green, the route goes along Brown Lane, up St Anns Road North to the High Grove pub.  It then goes along the path by the allotments to Kingsway, up Kingsway (on the dual-use pavement), along Broadway in Cheadle, through Brookfield Park, along Brookfield Road, onto Councillor Lane, then through some residential streets into Stockport.

The finishing touches are still being put to the route (some of the signs are slightly out of position and some additional road markings are still to be added).

This is an excellent route, developed by the Council in consultation with cyclists.

If anyone comes across something leaking into a watercourse (river, stream, etc.), please let the environment agency know right away.

The Environment Agency has a duty to investigate any potential pollution incident in any watercourse. The EA incident hotline number is 0800 80 70 60.

Thanks to Andrew Taylor for letting me know about the incident.

Update: The pollution in Micker Brook actually came from premises in Hazel Grove and travelled down from there.  The drums  appear to be unrelated to the pollution.

We want to identify the culprits behind this illegal dumping, so please get in touch if you’ve any information.

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.

Thieves stole cigarettes, alcohol and money at the Spar on Friday evening, and hit the assistant around the head with a baseball bat, seriously injuring him.

Two men were arrested in Wythenshawe on Monday, a third came to Cheadle Heath police station voluntarily.  All three remain in custody.

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.

As part of that, councillors are invited to join the police and see what happens in these sorts of operations. (Police come to some our meetings too, though I can’t help thinking they get a raw-deal excitement wise).

I turned up to Cheadle Heath Station at 6pm and spent the evening being expertly hosted by Mattie, who’s job was to find us interesting things to see without us getting in danger. (Our job was just to do what we were told - much easier).

A reporter from the Stockport Express and two other councillors were also out with the police in the evening.

We had operation Airborne in the south (mostly around Hazel Grove last night) and operation Vortex in the north (Reddish, Brinnington).

A few different activities were happening.

Most pubs have responsible landlords, who want to see the police and actively invite them along. They don’t want trouble-makers annoying the regulars and they’re very happy for the police to put in a show. That was the situation with the first call of the night at a pub near Hazel Grove.

A later call was more serious. A pub known for causing trouble and breaking licensing rules had tens of police sweep in. Drinkers were checked by the police sniffer dogs and allowed to leave after checking. Where the dog sniffed drugs, people were searched and treated appropriately. (The dog will detect anyone who’s recently had drugs on them, but of course the police can’t act unless drugs are actually found).

In Reddish, another pub was being visited for the second time. Last time, a drugs dealer had been arrested after being found with drugs in his socks and pants, so the police wanted to make clear they were still watching it closely. However, this was a more relaxed approach. The sniffer dog went around checking but, unlike the previous place, it was a more friendly, low-key approach.

We then drove around Cheadle & Gatley just taking a look for any problems (it was all clear, but if you saw a police car in the Oak Road area of Cheadle at around 12.20am, that was us).

We also had a visit to the CCTV control room for Stockport - something which gave me a good deal to think about and I’ll write in more detail another time.

It was certainly different to my usual Friday evenings (sadly not out at pubs and clubs these days - more usually at a meeting or at home with the family). But it also gave me a lot to think about with how the different agencies can work effectively together to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime as effectively as possible, and whether there are powers we should be using better.

A tiny Japanese insect that could help the fight against an aggressive superweed has been given the go-ahead for a trial release in England.

Since Japanese knotweed was introduced to the UK it has rapidly spread, and the plant currently costs over £150m a year to control and clear.

But scientists say a natural predator in the weed’s native home of Japan could also help to control it here.

Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: “These tiny insects, which naturally prey on Japanese Knotweed, will help free local authorities and industry from the huge cost of treating and killing this devastating plant.”

Knotweed is currently holding up (and inflating the price) for adopting Ashfield Road and putting proper parking restrictions in place, and it’s an ongoing issue elsewhere in Gatley and Cheadle.

Because it grows so vigorously, from a piece as small as a fingernail, and can push through concrete, clearing it away is time consuming and expensive.

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.

It broke during the cold weather in January.

Pam King and I reported it to the Council.  They’ve had the experts come and look at it, and the news isn’t good.

The clock’s gone seriously wrong, the company that made it went out of business in 1976 and the estimate for repairing the clock is £3-4,000.

The Council’s currently looking at where that money can come from and it won’t be fixed overnight.

The Council have been looking at improvements and, at the request of the Partnership some months ago, have included it in a wider look at the village parking and traffic situation instead of taking it on its own.

I’m hopeful we can find the right balance.  As with so many parking issues, we’ve got two competing concerns.

On the one hand, many people quite rightly want more parking in Gatley (hence all the work councillors and council officers have been putting into looking at ways to get a new car park behind the Tatton cinema site).  We’re cautious about putting down further restrictions to make the parking situation even worse.

On the other hand, there are genuine and important concerns about safety.  Ideally, we wouldn’t have parking at the top of Old Hall Road, for example.

Stonepail Road has just this issue.  It’s used extensively for parking and, being narrow, can’t take two vehicles passing when cars are parked down the side.

Elderly people from Guardian Lodge in particular need to cross to the bus stop on Church Road, and others are concerned about the general safety on the road - one of those “accident waiting to happen” concerns.

We’re hoping to agree plans for general improvements to Gatley village in the next few weeks, and I aim to make some changes to Stonepail Road as part of those.

Our local Police Inspector - Steve Gilbertson - has also agreed to bring figures on actual accidents reported to the police on Stonepail Road to the next partnership meeting.

On a scale from one to four, the joint inspection team assessed the Authority’s performance as ‘two’, which represents adequate performance. Inspectors found that Greater Manchester Police Authority has developed excellent relationships with other public services such as councils and the health service, and with the Force’s new chief officer team. It is committed to supporting the Force through a comprehensive change programme to boost frontline resources and performance.

However, the Authority must forge a more strategic role, improve its scrutiny and performance management and ensure value for money in how its own and the Force’s resources are used. Copies of the report are available from Greater Manchester Police Authority or from the Audit Commission website and the HMIC website.

In addition to being newer and smarter, puffin crossings have cameras mounted at the top of the lights that track pedestrians and traffic, ensuring that pedestrians have enough time to cross the road (which can be a problem especially at the station crossing) and cars aren’t waiting around for too long when there’s no-one crossing the road.

Cheadle already has puffin crossings in the village centre.

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.

They’d been away and done a stack of computer modelling, looking at every permutation in changing the lights, putting in right filters and changes different parts of sequenc.

Manchester UTC told us that a right filter wasn’t viable, and other options either wouldn’t help east-west traffic, or would have a knock-on effect to north-south traffic.

The most promising option looked to be changing the phase from three minutes to two.  I wrote in more detail about what it would mean and how it should help here.

Although they’d done all the modelling and we’d been promised the change would be made in late January or early February, I checked a little while ago (standing at the junction and timing the phase) and confirmed nothing had been done.

On enquiring, we were told that they’d gone to the junction to make the change, got worried at the last minute about the effect on traffic backing onto the M60 and decided not to do it after all!

To say Mark Hunter and I were unimpressed would be something of an understatement.

The latest plan is for councillors to go down to the junction with Manchester UTC in rush hour, have them make the change and see what happens.  If traffic backs onto lane one of the M60, it can be reverted easily.  If it all goes OK, then we can see how it goes.

That should happen in the next few weeks, but it’s still be to confirmed with Manchester UTC when the relevant person comes off leave next week.

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.

The findings were presented at the Gatley Village Partnership meeting last night.

The proposal was to make Church Road one way (southbound only) between Gatley Road and Gatley Green.

The main benefit would be 16 additional parking spaces.

However, several disadvantages were identified.

• would cause problems for buses, especially high frequency route 11 which would have to be diverted.
• extra pressure on Park Road/Altrincham Road junction with a lot more people turning right.
• possible loss of business for traders, as people who currently come into the village from the Wythenshawe/Heald Green side might not bother if they have to drive all the way around.
• possible faster traffic speed down Church Road - cars tend to drive faster when there’s no traffic coming the other way to worry about.
• A longer route for people living around Gatley Green and nearbye roads to go towards Cheadle.

Overall, it was felt that the benefits of a one-way system weren’t clear enough to move forwards with it at the moment.

Other improvements to Gatley are being considered, which I’ll write about separately.

One had failed well before Christmas, then a second went.  I’d asked the Council to fix them but obviously something went wrong, as the Council had marked them as fixed but they still didn’t come on.

I chased again a little while ago, so I was very pleased to see both lamps working last night.   It’s not a long path, but it’s got a few twists and turns that put you out of sight of either end at some points - definitely not one you want to be walking down in pitch blackness.

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.

We’re going to get an extra PCSO and part of an extra PC in Gatley to beef up the team (which will then be a sergeant, 1.5 PCs and 2 PCSOs).

The current neighbourhood officers for the Gatley area are:

PC 02780 Mark Shaw  mark.shaw@gmp.police.uk

and

PCSO 65081 Mark Salt mark.salt@gmp.police.uk

The neighbourhood team direct phone number is 0161 856 9776.  This number does not replace 999 or 0161 872 5050 for a police response to urgent and non-urgent incidents.

(And before anyone asks about Cheadle, I don’t know but I’m sure we’ll find out soon, as the police aim to be regular attendees at village partnerships and Area Committee meetings).

Part of that campaign was a petition on the Number 10 website, to which we’ve now had a Government response.

The closure of Cheque and Credit Clearing is a commercial decision and one that the Payments Council, an independent body that sets the strategy for UK payment systems, will take. The Government, however, recognises that certain groups still value cheques as a significant method of payment and appreciates all concerns.

The Government believes it is imperative that adequate alternatives be in place for all users of cheques, in particular for users identified as being highly dependent on this method of payment (such as the elderly, small businesses and the Third Sector) ahead of any potential closure of the cheque clearing system.

The Government further considers that the Payments Council, in consultation with all users of cheques, should develop a robust set of criteria by which the suitability and usability of the alternatives are assessed, and should develop a strategy to make users aware of the available alternatives.

The petition read:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to save the cheque by reminding the banks of their duty to serve the customer - and not vice versa - and by asking members of the Payments Council to vote against abolishing the cheque bearing in mind the great inconvenience such a decision would cause to Britain’s most vulnerable people.

With additional information:

On 16 December 2009 the Payments Council - which represents the major banks - will vote on whether or not to scrap the cheque as a method of payment in Britain. Over 4 million cheques are being written each day and many people prefer to pay with goods and services in this way. Some of Britain’s most vulnerable people, including many elderly, disabled and housebound people, rely on cheques as a means of payment and will be greatly inconvenienced by this decision. The “save the cheque” campaign is backed by a high number of MPs from all political parties, is lead by Cheadle MP Mark Hunter and supported by leading consumer group Which? The campaign seeks to ensure the Payments Council do not decide to abolish the cheque.

We still have several years to save the cheque (or to get an alternative that meets the needs of customers, especially the elderly, and not just the bankers).

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.

It starts at 1pm, with registration from 12, should be a bit of muddy fun this year! Please come along to get involved or to cheer those doing the running.

The fun run is either 1 , 3 or 6 miles. runners can decide how far they want to
go.

You  sign up online at sportrelief.com (find my nearest mile) and  get a pack sent in the post with sponsorship forms.

Here’s what the police are saying:

Following numerous and significant complaints from residents living on Coniston Road and surrounding roads we, the Neighbourhood Policing Team, are undertaking positive action with respect to parking problems occurring on Saturday mornings.

The public footpath does form part of the highway and as such can be obstructed by the parking of vehicles on the pavement. Please ensure that wherever you park your vehicle it does not block the pavement or cause the road to be narrowed to such an extent as to prevent emergency vehicles from gaining access.

We would like to advise you that instances of obstruction parking, such as parking vehicles on the pavement, parking within 10 metres of a road junction, illegal parking on the yellow lines or parking on the road which causes an obstruction is an offence and will be liable to fixed penalty notice being issued.

This policy is an attempt for the police to work with the local community to resolve these considerable issues which are adversely affecting the area.

Please do NOT:

Obstruct the pavement;
Obstruct the road;
Park within 10 metres of a road junction;
Disregard the parking restrictions indicated.

Thank you for your help and cooperation.

West Neighbourhood Policing Team
Tel: 0161 856 9770
Email: stockport.westnpt@gmp.police.uk

I’m still waiting for Council officers to come back with proposals for improving parking retrictions on Coniston Road following a consultation late last year - I’m chasing it up.

Whilst both myself and Mark Hunter have done our bit in getting action on this, it’s the residents who have really made the difference. Hopefully we’ll see the situation improve in the coming weeks.

We were told that Gatley’s Red Lion Pub is being sold by the brewery and will not re-open as a pub (I can’t guarantee that, of course - just passing on the information we’ve been given).

We had a discussion about Pub Watch - going well in Cheadle but falling down a little in Gatley.

Other points of note:

• A new scheme will see people barred from all the pubs in their area if they’re convicted of domestic violence after being out drinking.
• Cheadle Hulme pub watch is being linked into Cheadle’s successful scheme.
• The police have detected less drug use in pubs than when they started doing passive checks eight months ago (they use passive sniffer dogs and check toilets for traces of cocaine).

I’ve also reported graffiti on the path from Gatley Station to Gatley Road (along with all the missing fence panels).

The graffiti at the top of Schools Hill is taking a little longer than expected to clear off - because it’s on electrical equipment, there’s some Health & Safety clearance needed and the Council’s having trouble getting it sorted with whichever mobile phone company owns the gear.

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.

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.

I hope that I find you well after such a cold start to 2010. January and February have been unbelievably busy – largely because of an ever-growing list of engagements and commitments to do with the fast approaching General Election, which is now certain to take place in the coming weeks.

Thanks to all of you that have already been in touch to voice your support for my re-election – not to mention those that have made financial donations to the campaign – serving local residents is my passion and I hope to work hard towards building on my current record of action for many more years to come.

Let me fill you in on what’s been happening in recent weeks:

• With regards to the cold weather, there are a number of pieces of info:

1. To save money on your heating bills which will inevitably by more expensive with the weather take a look at this: More Info

2. Make sure you are not one of up to 8000 people in the area who are entitled to cold weather payments that don’t receive a penny: More Info

3. Freezing temperatures are responsible for a large number of new potholes across the area. The Liberal Democrat team are as a result checking roads across the area and reporting them to the Council. Just this week Stockport Council have announced an extra £2 million to tackle this problem – I am sure residents will agree this is an important step!

• We have all seen the images and heard of the tragedy in Haiti, and many of us have donated money to the relief project and emergency funds. Many will be aware that our local fire-fighters in Greater Manchester have been out there saving lives – my parliamentary colleagues and I co-sponsored a special parliamentary motion to pay tribute: More Info.

• I’ve been campaigning for the introduction of vital new heart drug (Dronedarone) to be made available on the NHS – it has been rejected because of costs but experts predict it could save an estimated 40,000 lives a year – see the article on the front page of the Daily Express.

• I challenged the Secretary of State for Transport in the House of Commons to guarantee any new high-speed rail links would stop at Stockport – as a Lib Dem Shadow Transport Minister I will continue to campaign to make sure we get the best deal from High Speed Rail, despite the Conservatives putting its funding in doubt: More Info

• Great news for Cheadle Hulme – there are to be massive railway station improvements after continuous campaigning from local Lib Dems and the Cheadle & District Rail User Group. This includes full disabled access for the first time – just get in touch if you’d like a copy of the plans: More Info.

• I recently revisited Cheadle Kingsway Sports Club’s impressively refurbished clubhouse – here’s further information on the opening and for booking details for social functions.

• I joined with residents in Bramhall to oppose a controversial planning application in Bramley Close near Bramhall village centre: More Info

• Cheadle Hulme Shopping Centre traders got together to beat the cold and celebrate Chinese New Year recently. I was delighted to join in the festivities organised by Linda Lee and her team at Rainbow 88: More Info

• One of my key election pledges is to protect and develop local health services – here’s a note on a recent pledge I’ve signed on cancer care.

Often readers of my Notes ask me why other pieces of local news they know I’ve been involved in aren’t included – the answer is simply that to include everything would be impossible – since I’ve been the local MP I’ve helped many thousands of people and these notes are just to give you a taster of what I’m working on locally and nationally 365 days of the year. In addition, the Lib Dem team regularly send out Keeping in Touch leaflets and Newsletters to keep everybody informed – always funded by voluntary contributions.

As always, if you require any further information or I can help with any problem whatsoever, please do get in touch!

Best wishes,

Mark Hunter MP

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.

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:-

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

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.

Dog mess is a difficult problem to solve, but we need to do our best to keep on top of it.  It isn’t acceptable for owners to let their dogs foul in private gardens, or not to cleanup after them.

Enforcement normally comes down to getting the dog wardens to visit the area more regularly, hopefully warn a few people or even hand out fines, and get the message across.

I’ve ask the Council to get the dog wardens visiting Greenbank Road more often and I’ll be chasing this up.

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.

This is a most worthwhile cause - please drop by the Fire Station on Turves Road, Cheadle Hulme to get your car washed tomorrow if you can.

Hopefully it will be cleared off quickly.   I’m a firm believer that, whilst we can’t possibly watch over every location all the time, quickly and consistently clearing away graffiti is the best way to stop it.

Let me know if you spot any more graffiti around Cheadle & Gatley.

For two whole weeks the Council will be asking staff to swap their usual products for Fairtrade products. This could mean swapping their usual bananas for Fairtrade bananas, their usual cotton socks for Fairtrade cotton socks, and their usual cuppa for a Fairtrade cuppa.

This means that every time you go shopping, you can use your wallet to make a stand. The Fairtrade Foundation is hoping that over one million swaps will be made over the course of the fortnight.

For more information on how you can help please visit the The Big Swap.

Over the last few months, several serious and, in some cases, longstanding problems have been fixed including Gatley Green, Longley Lane, Styal Road (by Church Road), outside Hewitt’s on Gatley Road and opposite the exit to Gatley Medical Centre  on Old Hall Road.

I’ve been targetting those places where there’s a problem first (i.e. not just blocked grids, but blocked grids causing regular problems with pooling or flooding).

I’ve now been assured that the following, all of which I raised with the Council, are either already cleared (in one or two cases) or will be cleared soon:

• Bottom of West Drive, Gatley
• Corner of Oakwood Avenue and Gatley Road, by railway bridge
• Outside 40 Altrincham Road
• Opposite BP garage on Stockport Road, Cheadle
• Between Oak Road and Manchester Road on Stockport Road, Cheadle
• Bottom of Schools Hill, Cheadle

The corner of Kingsway and Gatley Road is also being looked at.  This has been cleared more than once in the recent past and keeps on coming back, suggesting there’s a more serious problem that needs attention.