Councillor John Taylor

Participation at Council Meetings and Panels

I attended all full Council meetings, Board meetings and Cabinet meetings throughout the year.

Participation on School Governing Bodies

I remain a Governor at Astley Sports College. During issues raised by Ofsted and executive body took over Tameside’s role therefore my involvement with the school decreased slightly during this period.

Constituency Work

I have dealt with numerous complaints and enquires throughout the year with housing and traffic issues being at the forefront, I have dealt with these issues both during my surgery sessions and via the telephone.

Members Advice Surgeries

I have attended almost all of the PACT meetings and our meetings are extremely well attended and during these sessions we resolve most issues where feasible to do so.

Training and Development

During the year I have attended three Member training session. Part of my role as Deputy Leader is to assist in providing training for Councillors.

Achievements during the Year

In May 2010 I became the Deputy Leader of the council this has meant that I have now taken on several new roles one of which is representing the Leader of the council when he is unavailable, Media, Marketing and Communications and I am responsible for all staffing issues.

I became Chairman of Tameside Sports Trust and within the Labour Group I take the lead on group campaigns and this year has proved to be an extremely busy year in this area.

Tameside council has a proud record in working with the Voluntary Sector who assists the council with grants. Part of my new role is to merge together money allocated to the groups which amounts to £5m which is distributed each year in grants. This year we have piloted a new scheme call You Choose via our District Assemblies, £500k will be allocated to various groups via the scheme, which is known as Participatory Budgets. The community then chooses who receives the money by attending organised events which will be taking place in District Assembly areas throughout the borough. We have recently held two very successful events piloting the scheme in Denton/Audenshaw ward and Droylsden ward. My next task is to evaluate these pilots and introduce the scheme to other areas alongside my colleague Cllr Kevin Welsh who is the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods.

My workload could not be completed without the assistance of various council officers. I have the support of a team of Executive Support Officers who assist me every day and I also receive support from the Member Services office. During the year several officers have left the organisation and one of these officers, Lesley Larkin proved to be exceptional in the support she provided to Councillors.