Councillor Margaret Sidebottom

My eleventh has come to an end and as usual it has been a very busy one. I was re-elected again last year to stand in St. Michael’s Ward and thank you everyone who has again put their faith in me to look after all who live and work in the Ward and in Tameside. I am always available to anyone who wants to contact me and also to go and visit those who are in need. I hold four surgeries per month and they are advertised on the Tameside website

I still stand by what I have written in the past that a Councillor has many roles which involve the community not just politicians:

• A politician - work done in Wards and as a delegate
• A policy maker - work done in Council and at Council meetings
• A manager - getting Best Value, performance standards, contracting service providers
• A negotiator - in disputes with traders, planning and unions
• A carer - sitting with the elderly and housebound people having a chat about their problems and doing some shopping for them or taking them to hospital
• An equaliser - making sure that everyone has the same rights and status, and are free from discrimination or disadvantage.

I will also add to that list good time management and the quality of assistance I have received from my fellow Councillors, officers, the Cabinet Team, the Member Services Team and the Democratic Services Team (we couldn't do without all of them). I would also like to add the Police, Patrollers, PCSOs and the community and all our partners

I now have the pleasure of writing my twelfth Annual Report, which consists of all the meetings and training sessions, events and conferences I have attended throughout the year.

Participation on Outside Bodies

• I am on the Assembly of the New Manchester University and I have attended meetings
• I am Chair of SACRE - Standing Advisory Council On Religious Education - and I have attended the meetings
• I am Chair of TRHMAP - we have now changed the name of this panel to THIP - Tameside Hate Incident Panel and I have attended the meetings 
• I am a member of TREC - Tameside Racial Equality Council - and I have attended the meetings and general meetings
• I am Chair of the Community Cohesion Partnership and I have attended the meetings
• I am a member of the Multi Agency Forum, I have attended the meetings
• I am Chair of the Domestic Violence Forum and I have attended the meetings
• I am Chair of the Tackling Sexual Violence Group
• I am now Vice Chair of The Elected Member Older Peoples Champions Network North West
• I am now Chair of the Friends of Cedar Park and have attended meetings
• I am on The Resources and Community Scrutiny Panel and attend meetings
• I am on the Governing Body of Tameside College and I have attended the meetings and the meeting of the Ethics and Audit Sub Group
• I am on the LGBT new group now called Proud Tameside Network
• I am a member of the Older Peoples' Partnership and have attended the meetings
• I am a Trustee on the Women's Project Management Committee
• I attend The Dignity in Care Group.

Participation in the Community

• I have helped at School Fêtes and go to any presentations
• I attended Duke Street Youth Awards
• I attended the Crucial Crew, which is run by the Police for primary schools
• I also attend school presentations and school productions
• I attended the Great Fun day at Cedar Park
• I attended the Diwali celebrations
• I attended the Pets Service at St Peters Church during which my husband released all his pigeons
• I attended the Tameside Elders Association Group
• I attended the Khush Amdid Day Centre
• I have also attended residents association meetings
• I also attended Home Watch meetings
• I am also involved in the Church’s
• I am also involved in Youth Clubs
• I am also part of the Connecting Communities Group
• I support Fair Trade and fund raise for numerous charities
• PACT meetings with the Police, Patrollers and New Charter Housing
• I hold four surgeries
• I also visit people in their homes and if need be take them shopping
• I also visit any of my constituents if I know they have gone into hospital
• I do site visits with my constituents to look at their complaints
• I also hold public meetings when required
• I also attend the RIQ Forums
• I also attend the Disability Forum
• I am Secretary of The Freedom Club a Disabled Group open to all Disabilities.

I am available to my constituents day and night by fax, phone and e-mail.

Positions in Council

• I am vice Chair of the taxi licensing committee
• I am Chair of the Equality Champions Group and I have attended the meetings 
• I am now Vice Chair of the North West Champions Network and Chair of the Executive Committee 
• I am a member of the Economic Forum and Lifelong Learning Partnership, which has amalgamated, and I have attended meetings 
• District Assembly - I have attended the meetings
• I chair the Equalities Champions Group and I have attended the meetings
• I have also attended meetings with unions
• I have also attended youth issues meetings
• I have also attended Full Council meetings
• I have also attended the Labour Group meetings

Participation in Training

I have also had the following training sessions:

• Domestic Violence training
• Rape and Sexual Violence training
• Health and Safety
• I also attended training in Forced Marriage
• TSP Training
• Corporate update on Council Matters
• Achieving A Drugs Free Healthy Lifestyle Seminar
• Licensing training
• I attended and opened a Disability conference
• I attended the TSP conference
• I attended and opened the Equality Conference
• ICT training
• 14 to 19 years Education Training
• THIP away Day
• College Strategic Away Day
• Community Cohesion away day
• I had Training in Restorative Justice
• I attended and took part in the TSP away day

Participation in the Labour Party

• I have attended Ward meetings and given Verbal reports
• I am Secretary of the Ward
• I am a member of the Women's Forum
• I am a delegate to the Constitutional Labour Party
• I am a delegate to the LGC - Local Government Committee
• I am a Member Of The Co-op Labour Party
• I have attended Co-op meetings

I have met a lot of fantastic people throughout the year; I would like to thank all those who have supported me this year as well as my family. I would also like to thank all those groups of people who give their time and commitment to helping and working for the people of Tameside. They all deserve every credit for the work they do in the community. I now look forward to Labour winning again in the next Election. I also look forward to the challenge of new opportunities, and to continue to provide a service for the Community and any forthcoming issues at ward level and in the community.

We have all worked hard together to make this a better place to live The Police have been working alongside the PCSOs and the Patrollers in different operations all over St Michaels and we have started three new Home Watches. We have also gained two new Police Community Volunteers who are working alongside the Neighbourhood team. The PACT meetings are going from strength to strength in watching and monitoring Burglaries, Drug Misuse Dog Fouling Mini Mote Bikes Etc every month we see the stats going down on certain things. But we must make sure that everyone knows about Distraction Burglary, Acquisitive crime, and Bogus Callers. We have to make sure that you don’t leave your windows open and doors unlocked so please be very careful if you need advice contact your neighbourhood team.

I have also worked with Schools and Churches to do clean up days around the area where everyone had a litter picker and a black bin bag and spent a few hours making the area cleaner.

I have also worked with other partners in doing clean ups in the Ward.

I have also had Public meetings on different issues in the Ward including Parking, traffic management and planning issues. If anyone in the Ward needs advice please come to my Surgeries which are now advertised on the Tameside Public website.

Cedar Park hold a youth club on a Thursday and Friday night so do come along and join the fun.

We have a Friends of Cedar Park Group that meets on every 3rd Tuesday of the month at 9.30am if you have any good ideas and care about your park please come along to the meeting in the Youth pavilion.

I am very pleased to say that we now have a small cenotaph in Cockbrook where on Armistice Day we can place our poppy wreaths.

I am very pleased to say that we now have 4 home watch meetings a month and are looking at a 5th They are very well attended and a lot of issues are discussed so please come along and air your views as we need to stick together as a community to keep everyone safe and be good neighbours you can also get good advice from the police, patrollers and PCSOs.