Executive Leader's Annual Key Note Address 2010

The Tameside Way: Guarding Jobs, Economic Prosperity and Protecting Front Line Services

View the Key Note Address 2010 Leaflet to accompany the speech 884.85 KB

In his key note address this year the Executive Council Leader, Cllr Kieran Quinn outlined some of the key activities and commitments that the council will work to deliver with the help and support of councillors, officers and partners during 2010-2011.

Despite the economic and budgetary challenges that Tameside faces, he said that the focus will be on planning for the future and not planning for cuts to services. He said the council is not prepared to be panicked or rushed into decisions that affect people lives and livelihoods.

Condensed Speech

Below is a condensed bullet point highlight version of Cllr Quinn’s speech. View the Full Key Note Address 2010 Speech.

“Whilst the Tories continue to denigrate local government, what last year’s severe weather highlighted for me is that when the going gets tough everyone and especially the most vulnerable can rely on us. Whether it’s the caretakers making sure our schools are open, the gritting teams keeping our roads open, the homecare workers visiting to make sure people are safe and warm, the librarians delivering books on sledges, the head teacher sleeping in the school to make sure it would be open the next day, or our patrollers doing essential shopping and picking up prescriptions for people who couldn’t get out and about – examples of our staff going above and beyond and even savings lives go on and on.

• We are well placed for the challenges ahead because we have high quality managers and staff, whose discretionary effort and dedication make Tameside different. We have high quality and hard working members who work as a team with the officers to make this council what it is today – and what it will remain in the future – one of the best – if not the best in the country. – This is “the Tameside Way” it’s our DNA, it’s how we do things now and how we will continue to do things in the future.
• I want people to take pride in where they live and work and tell us when things are not right or need improving. When they do I pledge that we will sort it. In the new year we will launch a major campaign to recruit “an armchair army” of people from across the borough who will help us keep Tameside clean, tidy and attractive.
• We will work with partners to further develop the “Pride of Tameside Awards” to include sports, young people’s achievements, business successes and wider community activity.
• We will launch the new £500k “You Choose” fund to support community groups, which Tameside residents will decide how to spend. “You Choose” will be held in each District Assembly area; they will be open to all local community groups to apply and local people will decide how best to spend the money.
• We will introduce a scheme which will encourage staff and residents to act as the eyes and ears around the borough reporting grot spots, reporting rubbish and problems with street furniture. We want everyone to play a part and take an interest and some responsibility for how the borough looks.

Investing in Front Line Services and Innovation

• We have already reduced our workforce significantly, and will continue to work with our staff and Trade Union colleagues, using where we can the processes and procedures we have in place to reduce our head count still further.
• Working with our local MP’s we will continue to press the government to re-think and review their decisions on spending cuts. We will press them to return to issues of where and how many cuts are needed and in so doing, ensuring that the poor, the elderly and most vulnerable are not disproportionately affected as is now the case.
• We will press forward in developing the “Tameside Big Society”. We will continue to support the work of the 3rd Sector, working more closely with organisations like St Peters Partnership and other social enterprises where we can foster and encourage the “grow your own” philosophy supporting local employment initiatives and helping to get people back into meaningful work.
• Working with our partners we need to start “thinking” what only a short while ago was “un-thinkable” and develop and deliver a new model of local service delivery. If we are to meet our financial challenges head on, but without radical cuts to services, we must think differently and deliver services differently.
• We will work with partners including health, New Charter, Age Concern and all the other public and voluntary sector agencies to better join up how we deliver services into people’s homes. This will not only deliver efficiencies and cost savings, which are important, but it will also make things easier for the public.
• We have a long track record of innovation and have never been afraid of taking a calculated risk. Despite doubters and stone throwers we will continue to innovate and take risks. Our next iPhone application for Events will be released shortly and others will be developed to help make accessing information and services more convenient for the public.

Investing in Schools, Skills and Young People

• We will work behind the scenes with our partners and MP’s to lobby the government and Michael Gove to ensure that we receive the additional investment that we need to rebuild or remodel all our secondary schools.
• We will actively promote apprenticeships across Tameside, ensuring that myths are busted and opportunities for those that want them exist. Through Tameside Works First and with our partners we will remove barriers to apprenticeships.
• We will continue holding the highly successful Apprenticeship Fair event and next year more will be done to work with young people in schools beforehand to help them understand what opportunities apprenticeships offer to help them and their parents make the right choices about their future.
• We will not only meet the government’s targets for 20 per cent of young people entering apprentices by 2020, we will exceed that total and do it within the next five years. By 2015 we will have at least 25 per cent of young people when they leave their education getting skills and real employment opportunities through apprenticeships.

Investing in our Local Economy

• We will renew our Tameside Works First commitment to pay local small and medium sized businesses within 10 working days to help with their cash flow and we will renew our commitment to procure locally wherever we can, supporting local jobs and employment.
• We will continue to run the successful “Meet the Buyer/Seller” events next year and we will continue to do so for as long as the local economy needs them, and as long as local businesses want them.
• We will promote and support local consortia to better bid for larger contracts.
• We will continue to work closely with all parties to ensure that more and more benefits from our BSF programme are realised in this borough. Over the next 12 months I have set a target that £12 million of BSF spend should be spent locally in Tameside, further boosting jobs and also boosting local communities.
• We will continue to build on our existing good working relationships with the Local Education Partnership (LEP) to exploit the expertise and business acumen that our partners can bring into other areas of our business. This will help to safe guard jobs as well as attract new investment into the local economy.
• Next year in partnership with the LEP we will be expanding our horizons further and new schemes outside the BSF programme are being planned. These include a new residential respite centre which we intend to build on the Astley/Cromwell site for severely disabled children as a replacement for Boyd’s Walk that we currently rent – budget £1.188m.
• We will continue to engage more and more with local businesses through visits and our summit meetings and will we launch a new “Key Account Management Programme” to help build stronger relationships with Tameside’s key employers.
• We will develop new economic sites and promote Tameside as a place to inwardly invest. We are committed to the continuing development of established strategic employment sites, such as St Petersfield and Ashton Moss and have a strong focus on the next phase of development and investment in the borough, with delivery plans for new strategic employment sites that will contribute to significant economic and employment growth over the next 10 to 15 years.
• We will work to bring the next generation internet access to Tameside to support and encourage new media companies. This is another benefit of the Metrolink extension work that will give Tameside a technological edge.
• We are already working on funding bids to the Regional Growth Fund to support the development of our town centres. These bids will be submitted in January 2011 and will themselves help to safe guard jobs in the borough.

Investing in Transport

• We will now work closely with Jonathan Reynolds MP and Andrew Gwynne MP to lobby the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond to ensure the Mottram bypass is a government priority in the future and I will continue to work with the AGMA Leaders to ensure it remains a priority in the LTP 3 plan.
• Whatever happens in the future we will be standing “four square” in support of those residents and communities whose life is currently blighted by the traffic chaos in and around Mottram.

Investing in our Towns and Communities

• We will continue to invest in making Tameside an even more attractive place to live and I can announce that next year we will be taking our “In Bloom” entry to the next level where we will take on the best that Europe has to offer.
• We will continue working with police and patrollers to keep Tameside safe but in light of the huge cuts imposed on Greater Manchester Police the task ahead of us will become ever more difficult.
• We will continue to work closely with partners delivering more joint operations such as the Caterham kit cars scheme, the first cycle of which has now been completed. The unique scheme which is aimed at stopping young people from being drawn in anti-social behaviour by giving them a positive distractive activity will continue to operate next year.
• For the years ahead we have developed a new cultural offer that will retain and in many cases increase the amount of cultural opportunities and activities in Tameside whilst significantly reducing costs. The new cultural offer will increase the support provided to local groups and will maximise the community use of the fantastic new schools which are being built.
• It also important that we show our support and gratitude to the troops that continue to fight for Queen and country. We will foster our ties and relationships with the Duke of Lancaster and Mercian Regiments.
• We will introduce a new bylaw that will enable us to deal with individuals who deface and desecrate our war memorials.

Investing in a low Carbon Future

• Our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint will continue beyond 2010 because it is not only the right thing to do, in terms of doing our bit to help save the planet, but also because saving energy also makes economic sense.
• We will support and work closely with local companies who are developing innovative energy savings products and help them to further innovate and excel in this field.
• We will also encourage all local businesses to be more fuel and energy efficient.
• Next year we’ll look into piloting the use of solar panels on one of our civic buildings, and gain income via the national Feed in Tariff, helping to preserve local services for people in Tameside.
• Next year we will aim to recycle 40 per cent of our waste, and by 2014/15 we aim to have 50 per cent of all domestic refuse recycled. This work will be supported by concerted and comprehensive marketing and publicity to get people on message and on board.

Investing in Health and Wellbeing

• Prevention and early intervention are key issues in dealing with the significant challenges around health, and health inequalities across Tameside. We have made great strides in dealing with some of the key health challenges like smoking, drinking, poor diet and lack of exercise – but much more needs to be done and this will be a priority next year.
• With our partners we will continue to support the development of services for older people.”