Quick thank you to David for his work

Can you help us over the coming months?we have a lot of work and a lot of people to talk with,so if you feel the need for change within Salford and are sick of the same old rhetoric we could be the change you have been looking for,so come along and join us.

Interesting response from our Cllr Leader

You should check your facts . £11m out of the so called handout to Peel is a loan at commercial rates which will generate a return. The whole package is bringing in £180 million of investment for a new port which will not only be green but also create hundreds of jobs. If I was a labour canvasser calling round and you showed me that I would only have to point to the first paragraph which makes it clear that these are the Tory and Lib Dem cuts . I would then urge them to vote Labour to send a clear message. Whilst I respect the fact you will be running your own candidates, in respect of the mayoral election you are going to have to make a 2nd choice. I will be interested to see which way you go.

Strange how a company like peel bringing in £180 million in investment as to tap up the Council for £11,million!! the creation of hundreds of jobs would i be wrong in saying we have heard that before from Labour in regard to peels other success in relation to media City and the BBC, how many jobs were we promised?yes your right john the article does mention the Condem cuts but any one with an inch of sense would understand the context of  it being placed in the article read the bottom!!in regards to the Mayoral campaign i am leaving all details in respect of this to our Chair, you accused us of bottling Eccles well we both agree we will never let any future contest go without offering the people of this city some choice in the future.

This off the Salford star,i really hope in MAY when that unknown never seen Labour face asks for your vote show them this.

Salford City Council’s proposals for its new budget will see £24.8million in cuts during 2012/13, as part of an eye watering total of £94million of cuts between 2011 and 2014/15, forced by the ConDem Government.

In mid February, Salford Council’s councillors will be asked to approve massive cuts to front line services for some of the city’s most vulnerable people which, according to latest Salford Council statements will include…

• £567,000 cut to intensive and intermediate home care support. These cuts include thirty jobs for home care support workers who help people to get back on their feet after operations, or those who are terminally ill, or who have had problems with childbirth. The Council is partially privatising the service.

• £876,000 cut to Day Care Services within two years which will see the service slashed at Humphrey Booth in Ordsall, Craig Hall in Irlam and possibly St George’s in Charlestown. The campaign to save them is already in full swing (see here).

• £396,000 cut to Salford Council’s Welfare Rights and Debt Advice service this year, just when people need it most.

• £1,903,000 cut to Adult Social Care via `personalisation’ which few vulnerable people actually understand.

• £201,000 cut to help for carers within the next two years.

• £990,000 cut to Youth Services, or `new integrated service’ as the Council likes to put it. More riots anyone?

• £2,610,000 axed in total this year from Children’s Service including the Youth service, SEN statement staff and Schools Music Services.

• £380,000 cut to community and recreation facilities budget, while the Parks For People strategy totalling almost £1million for improvements to Kersal Dale, Clowes Park, Buile Hill Park, Albert Park and more has been torn up.

Altogether a total of 400 Salford Council jobs are being lost, 230 more than was originally envisaged. On top of 40 vacant posts that won’t be filled, the Council is hoping for 360 voluntary redundancies – so far, according to a Salford Council report being discussed today, “in response to the invitation made to staff there have so far been around 250 expressions of interest, of which around 60 so far have turned into formal applications for voluntary early retirement, voluntary severance and other voluntary options.”

Meanwhile, Salford Council is cutting £1million from its fat cat budget – for those earning above £50,000. So far, Deputy Chief Executive Kevin Brady (£120,000+ in salary) has been farmed out to AGMA (Assoc of Greater Manchester Councils) being taking voluntary retirement next year.

Prestige capital projects around MediaCityUK and Central Salford are getting cuts of just under £1million, although Salford Council is still borrowing £1.665million towards a total £1.915million spend on the projects. The MediaCityUK is also going to get a £300,000 cut to its revenue budget, although the £3million sponsorship of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra still goes ahead.

Peel Holdings, as usual, is the biggest winner in the budget, getting £30million in public handouts for it Port Salford project. £15million of this comes from a grant, while £15million comes direct from Salford Council.

However, while the mainstream media concentrates on `sexy’ cuts to fat cats and big regen projects, it’s the most vulnerable people in Salford who are going to feel the hardest cuts of all…

* If anyone knows of any Salford Council cuts affecting them directly please contact the Salford Star and we’ll do further features info@salfordstar.com

I wonder will the Liberal Democrats put together a budget this year or will we see this again.

Abstained due to lack of information even though they have a member on the Budget scrutiny panel Time to go i think…

Shame this story only broke today on the star,i wonder what the result would have been in the mayoral election if the timing had been better

SALFORD COMMUNITY GETS HAMMERED IN COUNCIL CUTS

Star date: 1st February 2012

A Salford Star Exclusive

400 JOBS TO GO…HOME CARE AND DAY SERVICES SLASHED… WELFARE ADVICE CHOPPED…£2 MILLION AXED FROM CHILDREN’S SERVICES…£1MILLION FROM YOUTH SERVICES…COMMUNITY RECREATION FACILITIES FLEECED…BUT PEEL HOLDINGS PORT GETS £15MILLION!

While Salford Council has been making great play that it is cutting £1million off its fat cat budget, behind the smokescreen a further £23million is being axed from other budgets that will hit Salford’s most vulnerable people.

Make no mistake, while Salford’s prestige projects are hardly touched, and Peel Holdings gets a £15million Council handout for Port Salford, the community is being forced to pay – yet again!

Full story here…

Rubbing salt in the wounds?

Well we fought hard over many years to get a residents parking scheme set up in the streets around the precinct in Swinton South,why well the Greedy owners sold the rights at the car park so the residents could not park in or around their homes,there was still a problem of business use and of course miss use of permits,but we fight on,Strange that one Swinton South Labour Councillor  thinks it was a good idea to get Councillors parking permits to park in the residents parking area.Question i thought they paid to park at the Town hall!! and it’s not a long way to walk.QUESTION how many councillors have the same permits not a bad little perk don’t you think?shame the residents again are the ones to suffer under new Labour.

Thought of the day

I am nearly at 57 and for most of my life i have had to make decisions,but one thing i have always said is when you make those decisions you have little choice but to stand by them and face the consequences of your actions.Before i make those decisions though i try to look at all the choices available to me,perhaps Cllr Merry and his band of whipped followers should have thought long and hard at the views offered by the opposition within council and the vast array of public opinion before making there choices. It’s obvious from reading the budget papers and the secretive nature imposed on the public and press today we are in for some big shocks could it be a Stalinist purge of the upper management structures? it’s obvious from the figures available many of the job losses will be upper management.  But rest assured the Labour lead members and others within the Labour circles will not feel the effects.Yes Councillor Merry is right on attacking the Condems,but my answer to him is simple Squirrels have the sense to store there food away for the winter,perhaps if we had been better prepared we to could have faced the ravages of he Condem Government,the people will throw out the Condems during the coming elections but i hope before they make that choice they realise what brought us to this mess in the first place! National and Local Labour for they  reaped but some where along the line they forgot to sow. `The people spoke once perhaps it’s time to sit up and think of the Titanic failures of New Labour before it’s to late.