Canal27ways

Category: Trafford Council

  • Question to Council 17th September 2014

    Question to Council 17th September 2014

    Full Council

    I asked a question regarding wheelie bin thefts by ward.

    Since April 2013

    • 630 bins have been reported lost/stolen in Gorse Hill Ward
    • 620 bins in Clifford (Old Trafford)
    • 286 bins in Bucklow/St Martins (Partington/Ashton upon Mersey)
    • The grand total for the 21 wards of Trafford is 2395
      So Gorse Hill and Old Trafford accounts for 52% of all Trafford’s bin thefts.
    • The council knows of no recovered bins.

    Clearly, if these bins are still in circulation here, our bin men are emptying 1250 more bins in Old Trafford and Gorse Hill than there are households and the council is doing nothing about it.

    In reality they’re not in circulation and if the council gets enough £25 fees for replacing they’re not too worried.

    But the regularity with which these bins are stolen and the sheer inconvenience faced by residents when it happens makes this a very pressing issue for me. I don’t want to see a slight reduction in bin thefts, I want it reducing in Gorse Hill so that it becomes a very rare thing.

    It seems hardly any work has been done to understand why Gorse Hill is suffering to such an extent. Given that the other blight we’re suffering is the dumping of mattresses, my inclination is to put the letting agencies and their contractors under the initial spotlight. Both Clifford and Gorse Hill have the high numbers of such lettings so lets begin there. I’ve written the email below to council officers to look at correlation and means of engagement.

    Bin Thefts

    “wheelie bins” by Leo Reynolds, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

  • Trafford Budget Debate – Variations on a theme of Pickles worship

    Trafford Budget Debate – Variations on a theme of Pickles worship

    Local public services have taken the biggest hit from this government. It’s the poorer areas that have taken the biggest hit. Surrey actually gets an increase in its funding.

    Labour called for Tory Trafford council to make representation to Government that the cuts would impact on the most needy, and adjourn setting a budget until March giving time for the Government to respond. It’s clear that Eric Pickles has determined to target northern (mainly Labour) councils. We’ve seen £1bn taken out of Greater Manchester with the loss of 22,000 jobs.

    There was a real opportunity for the Tories in Trafford – their Tory ‘Flagship Authority’ to take on Pickles. They hint they think that too much has been cut.

    So, it wasn’t going to be the best debate. They wanted Labour to surrender and come up with a budget of our own based on their loss of courage. Andrew Western (Priory Ward) gave a robust attack. Brian Shaw from Davyhulme was probably their best speaker on the night but it was a depressing night. The risks for the most vulnerable are there to see for all.

    As for the Lib Dems. It’s so long now since they made any useful contribution, I can’t tell them apart from the Tories.

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • More Cuts for Trafford

    More Cuts for Trafford

    Budget Meeting

    Full council meets tonight to set a budget for 2014/15.

    Trafford will cut its spending by £4,451,000 from £159.003m to £154.552m or 2.8%. When you take cost pressures into account it’s £17m… and it’s going to get worse.