My report to Council

Posted By: Irene Davidson
Date Posted: 19/10/2009

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Environment & Sustainability Portfolio.

HIGHWAYS & ENGINEERING SERVICE
Local Transport Plan
Cabinet have recently confirmed the £7.5m additional investment secured through the Local Transport Plan process for repairs to retaining walls. This has been a collaborative project with neighbouring districts and will provide much needed work for local civil engineering construction companies. The first schemes of the three year programme are currently out to tender and will be starting on site next month.

Detailed proposals for the new Transport Interchange (bus station) on Smith Street in Rochdale are being prepared and we are looking forward to construction starting early next year. £10m additional investment for this project has been secured through the Local Transport Plan process.

The Metrolink Phase 3 project is maintaining progress. Officers are continuing to work on the extension from Maclure Road to the Town Centre, and the new stop at Kingsway Business Park.

Street Lighting PFI
The Street Lighting PFI project is still on track despite the difficult financial market. The contract with the Community Lighting Partnership will be signed this month (currently programmed for w/c 19th Oct.) so that the project can start early in the new year. As previously reported the project will deliver significant additional investment in the Borough (£35m) and will replace the majority of our street lighting stock. Officers are also working with EOn (one of the consortia members) to deliver other energy efficiencies as part of the project.

Carillion are continuing to provide Street Lighting services as an interim arrangement prior to the commencement of the new Street Lighting PFI investment programme with CLP.

Parking
I am pleased to report that Town Centre traders in Rochdale have indicated that our ‘Free after Three’ initiative is helping support retail activity in difficult trading conditions. As I have previously reported, despite budget pressures arising from the downturn in income from parking, we have supported local business by maintaining parking charges (which we have not increased since 2005).

Winter Maintenance
Officers are working with the Highways Agency to share the use of their winter maintenance depot at Milnrow. This will save us the investment needed to provide our own ‘salt barn’, and will give us opportunities to deliver a more efficient gritting service.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Environmental Management Transformation Project
Phase one of this project is well underway and officers are working in partnership with a project team from Impact on redesigning the way in which street Scene Services are delivered and perceived across the council. The use of Telematic Technology, redesigned customer service portals alongside other procedural changes will lead to significant efficiencies and increased standards of service delivery. Phase one is on target and is due to be on-line late December 2009 and following this phase two will be making use of the business intelligence software and other findings to drive out further improvements to the service and to raise the profile of the Council and street scene related services through more open accountability and quality of information that we make available to the public.

Partnership Business Group
The Street Services Management Team is supporting the Safer Communities Partnership by being actively involved in all the Township Tactical Tasking Groups and the Borough-wide Partnership Business Group. This involvement with the Police and other partners such as the Fire Service has already tackled problems with prostitution on Richard Street near the main Railway Station and is now concentrating on small fires caused by black bags and refuse left in alleyways. Joint patrols with Police in our Parks and open spaces are also being piloted. Street services now also have a nominated Officer who attends and leads for the service at the individual Township Tasking Groups and works with partners on crime and safety issues and who report directly to the PBG on actions and progress made. One significant issue that seems to be becoming more apparent of late is the issue around side waste and wheelie bin fires near or close to domestic properties. One example of the proactive work being carried out here is that Environmental Management Officers have been working with GM Fire service on campaigns to deal with this ongoing problem and to highlight the dangers around waste being set on fire.

Chewing Gum
Rochdale Council were successful in being selected to work in partnership with DEFRA on a bespoke campaign and in October we will be launching an advertising campaign as part of our involvement with the nationwide Chewing Gum Action Group. Advertising including posters, leaflets and Digital Signage Vans will press home the message that people should dispose of chewing gum responsibly or face a £75 fine. This campaign compliments the chewing gum removal work carried out by the Street Services team earlier in the year and the special gum-resistant coating we have laid down on Yorkshire Street.

Farm/hard to reach areas: New AWC collection
Letters informing residents of the new service to be delivered week commencing 24 August (residents will also be offered a free compost bin).
Bins and calendars to be delivered from week commencing 31st August.

Collections will be slightly different to existing AWC and will operate as follows
week 1 residual
week 2 paper/card
week 3 residual
week 4 cans/glass bottles/plastic bottles/aerosols/foil

Connect2
Implementation of Year 1 work programme including contract details, works access, land negotiations, planning permission, partnership work with Kingsway Business Park, British Waterways, Sustrans, internal liaison with Highways, Rights of Way, Finance, Convening Officer Group. Also undertaken community engagement work including servicing Steering Group, events, publicity.

Work with Schools
Preparations for LEAF (Local Environmental Action Fortnight) – two weeks of workshops for schools across the Borough on various environmental topics.
Liaising with Encams (who operate the Eco-Schools scheme) to strategically promote the Borough’s successes in Eco Schools
Developing assessment procedure and development actions for all schools against the DCSF Sustainable Schools framework

Allotments
Work on the new Valley Road allotment site in Middleton has now commenced with a three month contract period. The site is very much about play and growing food crops in the 21st century. Funded by 106 Planning Gain and Play Pathfinder, key features are innovative play, community gardens and allotments. The scheme has already had coverage by the media at national level. We look forward to its completion.

Heywood Cemetery
The new Woodland Memorial Garden in Heywood Cemetery was opened on 30 August by Councillor Susan Emmott. This scheme is a joint project of the Friends Group and the Council. This is an innovative scheme set in a woodland setting of trees and wild flowers, protecting and enhancing the bio diversity. A return to nature for those who wish their final resting place to be amongst trees, birds and beautiful views, a true place of contemplation and memories. There are opportunities for the scattering of cremated remains and memorial facilities.

North West in Bloom
As Members will know the beautiful displays created for this competition also have a huge impact on the Authority’s entry in the North West in Bloom competition. The judges have now been up and down the North West to scrutinise the efforts made by councils and their communities, our Council’s turn to show them the best the Borough has to offer was on 20 July.

The judges took into account the cleanliness of streets, the quality and maintenance of floral displays, allotments, school grounds and the effort made to encourage people to recycle.

Last year the Council celebrated success after winning North West in Bloom’s Heritage Award for best restoration project for improvement works to Packer Spout, the fountain behind Rochdale Town Hall. This year we have been invited to the awards event next week to receive another award, which one as yet we don’t know, along with the members of Kellett Street Allotments who have also won an award … watch this space.

Green Flags
Seven parks across the Borough achieved Green Flag status this year, the National Benchmark of Excellence for Parks and Green Spaces with Truffet Park in Middleton and Packer Spout Gardens achieving the standard for the first time. The others are Milnrow Park, Hare Hill Park in Littleborough, Broadfield Park and the Memorial Gardens in Rochdale and Queens Park in Heywood.

The Green Flag scheme was introduced in 1996 and was inspired by the Blue Flag scheme for clean beaches. Awards are given every year to parks and green spaces that are welcoming, safe and well-maintained with a strong community involvement. In order to qualify, parks and green spaces must be freely accessible to the public and have given regard to sustainability, conservation and heritage and I am sure that Members will agree with me that our parks and gardens fit the bill admirably.


PLANNING & REGULATION SERVICE
Local Development Framework
A four page feature will appear in the next edition of Local Matters to coincide with the commencement of the consultation period of the Local Development Framework Core Strategy consultation. This next stage will illustrate a first set of proposals for the future planning of the Borough. The engagement of all residents of the Borough is a key component of our strategy and is an example of best practice amongst Local Authorities.

Transport Strategy
We are consulting with key stakeholders on the latest version of the Transport Strategy. Meetings with the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive have been very positive and are leading the way towards an agreed transport investment package.

Rochdale Town Centre Master Plan
Again this will feature in the next edition of Local Matters, giving residents of the Borough an opportunity to comment on the exciting proposals for Rochdale Town Centre.

Rochdale Town Centre Progress
With work now well underway on the Sixth Form College, there are encouraging signs of further investment in Rochdale Town centre with the submission of a planning application for the Metrolink Stations at Maclure Road, Wet Rake and Smith Street. Discussions are also advanced about the Bus Interchange proposal with a planning application scheduled for this month. Planning consents have been granted for two new private office developments and a new Aldi is proposed which will integrate with the redevelopment of the Central Leisure complex.

Economy
There is encouraging news for the local economy with an increase in the number of major planning applications now becoming noticeable. The Borough has been more resilient than most authorities in the levels of interest in development and it is now apparent that there is renewed interest in private housing development in particular. The economy appears still to be fragile but developers are increasingly confident. Our performance in dealing with planning applications has remained above Government targets and a recent example is taking only 6 weeks against a target of 13 to secure an approval for a new factory building on Kingsway.




COUNCILLOR IRENE DAVIDSON
14 OCTOBER 2009