Letter from Parliament

Paul Rowen MP

On my return from Parliament last Thursday night I spoke at the Rochdale Rotary Clubs meeting about my work as a teacher, Councillor and now MP. The President of the Club is David Acton who is married to Shelia.  I met her and the other the hard working staff at Syke Community Base on Friday.

I have known Sheila Acton for over 20 years and her tireless work for the people of this town through the voluntary sector is an example to all. This includes her work at Sparth Community Centre, campaigning to restore Syke Pond, reestablishing CVS and setting up the Syke Community Base are but a few examples.

The potential loss of funding at the Base is a real concern. I am pleased that Councillors Alan Taylor, Tom Bailey and Elwyn Watkins have acted to protect the base in the short term. The problem with funding needs dealing with and I am concerned with the Local Strategic Partnership’s interpretation of the new Government rules. This has directly led to the funding problems and I will be asking that Council look hard at the effectiveness of the LSP and whether it needs to be reconstituted.

I had another busy surgery last week at ASDA, though not as busy as the week before when I spent three and a half hours meeting residents with problems and complaints. If you need to discuss a problem with me, you can see a full list of my advice surgeries at my website:

• www.paulrowen.co.uk

Later that even meeting I met with Sobia Andleeb and Zafar Iqbal from Desi Arts UK, film makers who are based in Newbold. They are an extremely talented group of people who are working to provide opportunities in acting and film production for woman who would never get that opportunity. Zafar Iqbal  premiered his full length feature film ‘Banana Boys’ in December at the Odeon in Rochdale and is now looking to get it shown across the country.

On Saturday morning, I was pleased to visit the Rochdale Cycling Club on Molyneux Street. Louis Blank does an excellent job catering for children, especially physically disabled riders and cyclists with learning difficulties. I was pleased to present him with a cheque for £250 from a company who wish to remain anonymous.

I also met members of the club  who use bicycles that are loaned free of charge. These range from tandems for the use of visually impaired riders, trailer bikes to accommodate children from four years old, electric bikes for those not fit enough to ride a normal bike, and even one five seater bike on which an adult can take out four children.

This all costs money though and I would encourage anyone to go down to the club, see the excellent work they do and make a donation. Louis can be contacted on 01706 644944.

In the afternoon, I met campaigners in Rossendale – campaigning like us against Post Offices closures. I went to meet them with Councillor Dale Mulgrew.

Post Offices are an important lifeline and the thousands of signatures that we have received back in our office are a reflection of your affection for them.

The Government have delayed the decision on closures until after the local elections - a cynical ploy in my view . We haven’t delayed our campaign though.

On my way back to Rochdale on Whitworh Road that I witnessed  the football hooilgans from Bradford and Bolton. I hope this is the last we see of the type of football violence . The fact that football hooliganism has touched our town is disgraceful. It was even more worrying that some of the people involved put footage on video sharing website You Tube. I acted quickly and ensured that this footage was removed , as soon as I had ensured that the police had access to it.

From what I saw I have nothing but praise for the way that our police handled the situation. An extremely dangerous situation was handled quickly and efficiently with the professionalism I expect from our force.

I know that Rochdale Football club has done an excellent job in our community and I am reassured that that Manager Keith Hill and Chief Executive Colin Garlick are continuing the good work.

Spotland has been one of the safest grounds in the country for many years and this isolated incident should not discourage people from supporting our club – especially on the great run we’re on.

Monday morning saw the dreadful flooding and hopefully this has now passed. My office dealt with a huge number of complaints and worked alongside our Mayor, Councillor Peter Evans and Councillor Greg Couzens in helping residents.

I would like to praise Council Officers, many of them who went beyond the call of duty to aid residents. Julie and Beth from Littleborough Housing Office did a great job in difficult circumstances. Their actions are a credit to our town.

This week in Parliament has been a busy one. I have of course been raising a number of issues in Parliament. These include Transport questions and speaking in a debate on pleural plagues and sitting on the Pensions Bill.

On Tuesday afternoon I met a delegation from Greater Manchester Police including Rochdale bobby Mohammed Sultan. His late dad Babar Asghar was a great supporter friend of Sir Cyril Smith.

Over eighteen thousand police lobbied the Home Office in London on Wednesday which shows the strength of feeling.

On Thursday I voted with the government to restrict MPs pay rise to 1.9% - the same as granted to the police.

This weekend I am due to taske part in the Holocust Memorial Service in Littleborough as well as present the cup for the annual start of season match between Rochdale Hornets and Oldham Ruffiheads. Promises to be an exciting match!