Leader's Blog  
  

Taking Stock and Looking Forward at Full Council

Friday, 12 October 2018

This Tuesday evening the familiar surroundings of Guardsman Tony Downes House in Droylsden played host to the penultimate Full Council meeting of the year. As always, it allowed to take stock of what has gone before, and to look forward to what the last few months of 2018 have in store for us.

It was also the first time we were able to formally welcome Tameside’s newest Councillor, Pauline Hollinshead. Councillor Hollinshead joins us after a successful by-election in Ashton Waterloo last month, following the sad death of Cath Piddington. Anybody who remembers Cath knows that she’ll be a hard act to follow, but I’m totally confident that Pauline is up to the task and will make her own mark on the area.

Following the publishing of the latest feedback letter from Ofsted after their recent monitoring visit, it was only natural that children’s services were a major topic of discussion. At the meeting, I accepted Ofsted’s conclusions in full, and pledged that they would serve as a focus for the next steps in our improvement journey. Councillor Ryan, the Executive Member for Children, also informed us about the work undertaken by the Tameside Youth Council and the continuing progress of improving the quality of children’s homes in the borough. Our appreciation was also expressed to everybody in our Children’s Services, who have been working tirelessly to drive forward real and lasting change. As a Council we will be unwavering in our commitment to give them the support they need to finish the job.

We also took the opportunity to move forward on our campaign to protect our shared environment for future generations. It’s easy to be sceptical about what a place like Tameside can do in the face of a global issue like climate change, but I firmly believe if residents and businesses all commit to making small changes in consumption and lifestyle it will build up to a big impact. There are several things we’re working on to make this happen. At the end of last month we joined the nine other Greater Manchester councils and Recycle4GM to support the 2018 edition of Recycle Week, raising awareness of the importance of recycling and engaging residents in fun and innovative ways to make them think about their own use and waste. You can expect to hear much more about our plans for a Green Tameside in the very near future.

A number of motions were also debated and passed on a series of important local and national issues including combating anti-Semitism, and toughening the stance of the council and our partners on raising awareness of and preventing modern slavery. Our commitment to the environment was reinforced by pledging to end the council’s use of disposable and non-recyclable plastics whenever it can be avoided, encouraging our residents and partners to do the same, and writing to the Environment Secretary to request the strengthening of legislation against plastic pollution. We also recorded our opposition to the closure of yet more high street banks in the UK and Tameside. Nearly 3,000 across the country have shut since 2015 – a rate of almost 60 a month. These banks are an important part of our local communities, especially for elderly people who may not be comfortable with online banking or travelling long distances.

My thanks go out to everybody who attended Full Council or followed it online or on social media. We should be proud of what we’ve all achieved so far this year, and prouder still that we did it by drawing once more upon the shared values of Tameside; our respect for each other, our belief in the power of our communities, and our determination to see a job through to the successful finish. It is these values that have carried us to the progress that we’ve made so far. It is these values that will continue to drive us further still.
 

Posted by: Executive Leader

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