My report to council

Posted By: Alan Taylor
Date Posted: 07/10/2008

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Leader of the Council

This is the second year the Borough have had a Liberal Democrat Leader of the Council with a Liberal Democrat majority on the Council. My Cabinet colleagues will highlight issues relating to their own portfolios, but everything will still be guided by a strong commitment to the fundamental change of attitude and approach by our Council, to put the customer first.

May I welcome all new Members of the Council and say, although I am Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, I am Leader of the Council, and my door is open to every Council Member, if I can be of help or assistance to you.

Can I put on record our thanks to the players and management at Rochdale Football Club for their achievement in reaching the play-offs for promotion. For a few weeks, the people of this town were united with pride and enthusiasm, and reaching Wembley was the icing on the cake. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be our year, but the way the team have been playing, I hope that next season will see us promoted. Immediately before tonight’s Council meeting, we have a special meeting of Council, to confirm the conferring of the Freedom of the Borough on the Football Club at a special ceremony later in the year, when they will be presented with a special casket containing the Freedom scroll. Arrangements will be made for supporters of the Club to be represented at the Ceremony

The efforts and achievements of Rochdale’s most determined learners were celebrated at the recent Adult Learners Week Awards, organised by the Council. The celebrations at Rochdale Town Hall, saw prizes awarded to learners for achieving a broad range of personal milestones, including developing new skills, overcoming difficulties, changing career
and motivating other adults to learn. Whatever you want out of life, learning can steer you in the right direction. I was delighted to present the awards, which celebrated creativity, imagination and determination, which the winners had shown.

More recently, the Council has been externally assessed as having reached Level 4 of the Equality Standard for Local Government, making it one of only 14% of all Metropolitan Authorities to do so. Our policies and processes were examined to determine how fair and equal services and employment practices are in the Council, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, belief or sexual orientation. The assessment process looked at leadership and corporate commitment, community engagement and accountability, service delivery and customer care, employment and training. The Equality Standard has five levels, and reaching level 4 is a fantastic achievement that reflects the Council’s commitment to equality. I was pleased to do my small part to help, but I’d like to congratulate everyone whose hard work and commitment across the Council has made this recognition possible.

The Borough is a healthier place to be thanks to the support business and the public have given smoke free legislation since its introduction in July last year. Out of the 5035 business visited by the Council’s Environmental Health Service, since the ban on smoking in workspaces and public spaces was introduced, 97% have complied with the law, and no-one has been prosecuted. To help gauge the level of support, a recent survey by the Council has also shown that 96% of the public and 100% of businesses are aware of the ban, and 85% of the public and 95% of businesses support the ban. The law is a major milestone for public health in the Borough, and the Council and local Health Services have done an incredible amount of work to make the Borough smoke free, but the support of businesses and the public at large has been crucial, and their continued support will be vital if we are to ensure lasting improvements in our health. Most people of my age, who started smoking started because of peer pressure. You were offered a cigarette and it was the natural thing to accept it. That now will happen less and less, and the more people who never start smoking the better it will be for their health and their friends and family who had to suffer from the danger of their cigarette smoke. I know from personal experience how difficult it is to stop smoking, but the Borough’s Stop Smoking Service has helped 2109 people to stop smoking last year, and I understand that nationally over a quarter of a million people have been helped to kick the habit.

During tonight’s Council Meeting, Council will have been asked to confirm its support of and approval for the new Constitution for the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. We had seminars to which all Members were invited in the Town Hall on the 19 June to go through these proposals in detail, and I fully support the recommendations. This is the opportunity to get more power devolved from Central Government, and from various quangos that take decisions covering our Region. It is not suggesting that any powers be taken away from the Metropolitan District Councils, and I hope that all Members of Council feel more comfortable with these proposals now that they have been explained in such detail.

One of the things that could become easier with this new City Region Governance is the promotion of by-laws, and of course, one by-law I would promote and support would be the banning of over the counter sale of fireworks. I have agreed that our Trading Standards Department support the lead by Lancashire in seeking to ban the retail sale of large fireworks. We together with Lancashire County Council and other Local Authorities will contact the Consumer Minister and urge him to consider restricting the sale of the larger fireworks for display organisers only and ban their sale to the public. This already has the support of the Lancashire and Merseyside Fire Services, and I would expect the Greater Manchester Fire Service, with their previous full support, to be backing this move as well.

We have, of course, received a response to the AGMA £3,000million Transport Innovation Fund bid from the Government. We bid for £1,200 million and have been offered £1,500million. I do not know if that has ever happened before – that we actually get more than we ask for! The balance of the £3,000million is of course, subject to revenue from a congestion charge. AGMA have until the Autumn to respond to this offer.

The whole offer has to be accepted, or rejected. There are no proposals that anyone is allowed to cherry pick, and this is a one-off offer of 30 years investment in public transport in one go. Investment like we have never seen before. It is difficult to comprehend the extent of the transformation that is going to happen, but residents of the Borough can be assured that the improvements will be hugely beneficial, and I am especially keen to make sure that local people and business have all the detailed information they need to make informed judgements on what the plans will mean in the long term.

This is not about a Metrolink extension down Drake Street, although that must be very welcome for what it could do for the revitalisation of Rochdale Town Centre and Drake Street. It is about providing public transport early in the morning, and late at night that’s reliable, clean and safe. It’s about new rail rolling stock, improved stations, improved park and ride facilities, and the possibility of opening the Heywood/Castleton rail line. But most of all, it’s about improving our bus services. I recently went to York, which has a well developed transport system with good park and ride facilities, and they already have new fleets of double unit buses that actually look like trams, that are easy access at pavement level, that are easy to use for families with push chairs and for people with wheel chairs and for the disabled. It was a pleasure to ride in them, and perhaps the most startling thing for us in Greater Manchester was that they had “customer service hosts”. In old money, bus conductors!

Many people who use their cars would prefer to be able to use a better public transport system. Because of the level of public transport provision in London, people think of using that first, not their car. These improvements in our Borough would give everyone here that option. Many people in the Borough are not car owners and rely on public transport now, that’s around 40% in the Middleton Township and about 36% in the Heywood Township 33% in the Rochdale Township and 27% in the Pennines Township, and a quarter of all car owners who work in Manchester do not travel by car. All these people already have to put up with a wholly inadequate public transport system. This is what this massive investment will put right. The whole Borough will benefit.

Between now and October, everyone in Greater Manchester will be given the facts and be invited to comment on the proposals. Already AGMA has started looking into what concessions should be available with regard to congestion charges, and the boundaries of the charging zones.

The Liberal Democrats have never opposed the idea of a referendum, I said that at the last Council meeting in April. The public of Greater Manchester will have all the information to take a reasoned judgement on the proposals by the autumn. Unfortunately, already opponents of the TIF bid are objecting to the new referendum proposal put forward by the Leader of Manchester City Council, and are trying to reduce the amount of information available to the public. I find this very sad.









Councillor Alan Taylor
Leader of the Council
10 July 2008