My Final Report to council

Posted By: Alan Taylor
Date Posted: 15/01/2010

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.

The regeneration of our Borough enters an important stage in 2010. A lot of the things will move closer to reality. 2009 brought the new Middleton Arena – 2010 will see the development on the other side of the road take shape when the new Tesco store goes up on the site of the old civic centre and leisure centre. In Rochdale the Sixth Form College is shooting up, and, after the work to clear the land where Electric House was, the town’s new transport interchange will be next! Within a few years Metrolink trams will come down Drake Street into a transformed town centre. The Town Centre masterplan for Rochdale has got some bold ideas for what the place could look like in the future, including more greenery, a cultural quarter and the largest town square in the country. For Heywood, we’ve got the new ‘mini town hall’ – the first of four new ‘joint service centres’ for the Borough. The Phoenix Centre isn’t just a library and council customer service centre – it’s also somewhere you can see a health specialist, have minor operations or physio. There are computers where you can get on the internet for free, plus rooms available for community groups to hire. It’s a new breed of building for us – and something all four townships will be getting over the coming years.

Early in 2010 our Big Clean campaign will be back, making the Borough a cleaner and greener place to live and work. We’ll be tidying up local areas and we need the community to get involved and tell us about local grot spots. I think it’s a really important role we have to encourage residents, organisations and local businesses to take some pride in their area through initiatives like this.

The new year will also bring a new identity for our area. We’ve been working over the last few months to develop a new ‘brand’ for the Borough. This is more than just a logo or a colour scheme – it’s a complete visual identity for the place and a set of ideals that residents, businesses and public and voluntary sector organisations can work towards to improve local, regional and national perceptions of the Borough.

I don’t like the word ‘customers’, but every resident of the Borough is essentially one of the Council’s customers. It’s really important for me that the customer experience is fantastic – and that they can access the services they need when they want and in the way they want. New technology brings new opportunities for change to both improve our service and make it more convenient, so I’d encourage them to use our website to access our services online. Over the next year we’ll see more services become available online to make it easier and more convenient. One success story from this year is our new online benefits checker – hundreds of people are logging on to the website every month to see what they’re entitled to, and then make a claim. It’s not only more convenient but it saves us money that we can use in different ways to improve what we do.

Our Cabinet Recession Action Committee meets fortnightly and many new initiatives have been undertaken. One thing I want to see is the Council offering more apprenticeships for our young people, and that we give help to private business to follow our lead. The new Manchester City Region is something we should all support, as that will bring extra jobs and prosperity to the whole of Greater Manchester.

On a personal note, I’m known as a workaholic, but in my present state of health I don’t feel I can devote the hours I feel are necessary to do the job of Leader as I want to do it. Unfortunately my health is simply unable to cope with the demands and requirements at this time. There are a lot of people involved in trying to improve my health and I think I need a period of time to concentrate on them.

It has been a great honour to be Leader of Rochdale Council, and I have really appreciated the warmth I have received from Councillors, Officers, our Partners and the general public. I would also like to thank the cross-Party support that I have received since my health deteriorated, and the kind words that I have received from AGMA councillors for my close working relationship across Parties with them. The Leader of AGMA has said that I transcended both political and parochial differences, and pressed the benefits of working together for the people of Greater Manchester, and I thank him for that.

When I became Leader of the Council, I had a clear set of priorities for our Borough, which I feel we have achieved successfully. These included devolution to townships, a Cabinet Member for Older People, more investment into our voluntary sector, a yearly reduction in Council tax and improving our local environment. I have to say that my proudest moment has to be securing the Metrolink extension to our town centre. The long-term benefits and regeneration that this will offer to Rochdale are immense and in addition to this the future development of Rochdale town centre is something I look forward to seeing in the future.

Councillor Alan Taylor
Leader, Rochdale Borough Council
19 December, 2009

The new Leader of the Council will answer any questions from Members of the Council