Participation at Council Meetings and Panels

I have attended all Council meetings except when on other business.

At the 2007 Annual meeting of the Council I was once again elected Chair of the Speakers Panel (Planning) and Tameside’s representative on the Greater Manchester Police Authority.

As Chair of Speakers Panel I have chaired all the meetings of the Speakers Panel (Planning) and some of the Appeals Panel. As Chair I have also been involved with organising training for Members of the Panel and induction training for new Members.

Amendments to the Council Constitution mean that Speakers Panel will no longer deal with Appeals against dismissal.

Participation at District Assemblies

I have attended most of the DA meetings and the Business meetings.

Participation on Outside Bodies and Partnerships

Once again my outside bodies are Ashton Pioneer Homes (APH) and Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA).

GMPA

During the year GMPA has undertaken a strategic review and my portfolio has changed from Corporate Planning to Chair of Finance Assets and Technology Committee.

I have also served on the Scrutiny Committee, Complaints and Professional Standards Committee, Appointments Panel and the Strategy Sub-Committee as well as attending meetings of the full Authority.

APH

This year I was again elected as Chairman of Ashton Pioneer Homes. During the year I have chaired all the Board meetings.

Participation on School Governing Bodies

I am a LEA Governor at St Peter’s CE Primary School A-u-L and have attended where possible all Governors and Committee meetings.

Constituency Work

On May 1st 2008 I was elected as the Councillor for St Peter’s Ward for another term of 4 years. 

I was elected as Secretary of St Peter’s Ward for 2008.

The three Ward Councillors at St Peter’s continue to meet regularly to discuss constituency problems and support local community groups. 

Achievements during the Year

Neighbourhood policing and the deployment of Community Support Officers has proved very popular the PACT structures are now in place and members of the community can inform the Police where they feel the priorities should be. Burglary, Robbery and Car Crime are all reducing. As a member of GMPA I have worked with colleagues and officers of GMP to provide an extra 8 police officers and a sergeant to work exclusively on neighbourhood policing in Tameside.

Ashton Pioneer Homes continues to be successful and the 16 new family houses in the Clifton Street/Layard Street have been completed on time and to an excellent standard. All balcony door and window sets in the high rise fats are being replaced and all the 14 lifts are being completely replaced. The new digital aerial system has been installed ensuring the residents a continued service once the analogue system is switched off. Improvements continue to be made and the building of 10 new houses is being planned for 2008.

Oxford Park received a Green Flag Award this year it was well deserved and reflects the amount of time and effort that everybody puts in to this community park. The refurbishment of the Pavilion at King Georges Park Ashton has been completed and work has started on the improvements to West End Park.

The new landscaping around the statue of Hugh Mason at Trafalgar Square has been completed and is a great improvement.

I did say last year that I hoped progress would be made on nursery provision to replace Trafalgar nursery. The new Sure Start building has been opened but sadly Sure Start were let down by the private nursery provider which means it will be later this year before the nursery opens.

Members' Advice Surgeries

I have held several Surgeries at Ashton Town Hall.

Training and Development

During the year I have attended training sessions on various subjects given by TMBC, GMPA and APH. 

I have also attended the Royal Town Planning Institute Summer School at the University of Swansea.

Other Key Tasks

In July 2007 I represented the Greater Manchester Police Authority at the LGA Local Government Conference in Birmingham.

In September 2007 I represented Ashton Pioneer Homes at the National Federation of Housing Annual Conference in Birmingham.