The week that ended.........27th January 2013.

Weather (part one)

The week started with snow turning up on Monday. The schools then closed just after dinner. This created havoc. Tuesday saw Standish High closed on Tuesday as well, which was difficult for some parents as they had young children going into primary school but their older children not going in, if they went to the High School.

Parking issue

Tuesday saw me meeting a Council officer (traffic section) this was over parking on Preston Road near  to the Junction off Kenyon Road. They are wanting to put double yellow lines down all over the place. There has been a problem with identified with flow of traffic because the Council saying parents are parking dropping off their children and this is blocking the flow off traffic. I disagree and residents must not be penalised and I believe there is a way forward, so long as the Council are willing to listen!

Places meeting

On Monday night I attend the Confident Places meeting at the Town Hall. Where do they think of these names? It wasn't a bad meeting but there was some elements I don't like. The Council are talking about putting some roads in to get traffic moving, which I like the idea off. However, one of these roads will lead to the roundabout at J26 off the M6. This will bring extra traffic there and I believe that a new slip road should be built off the M6 on directly onto the M58. This will stop traffic queueing up on the M6 to get off. The Council have said they will look into this and will carry out a study.

I have some concerns on some of other issues like when Labour Councillors keep going on about building more Council Houses. Also Haigh Hall came under fire a bit, including the 9 hole golf course. As a Golfer (Well I try) I can't understand why the 9 hole is closed so soon because of a planning restrictions. I have asked for the Council to get this lifted to allow golfers to play a bit later. After all it is in the middle of nowhere. This is another example of the Leisure trust mismanagement and I believe that a study should be looked at to see if they should be brought back in house. I am told this will be done and I will report the findings once I have some information.

Sickness has gone through the roof and way to high. Labour cllrs say staff are losing their jobs so going off on stress. It is a hard fact that all services across the country are having cuts and jobs are being lost. I have been made redundant twice in my life, so I know a bit of how it feels. But just to allow staff to go off sick because of this should not be allowed but what should happen if full support be given! I know that not all sickness are because of redundancy so there might be areas where the Council can do reasonable adjustments to allow staff members back sooner. This area is costing the Council a lot of money.

Pre Budget meeting

Also this week I had a meeting with the head of Finance to discuss what is being looked at with regards the budget. The options on the table looks like a council tax freeze but the Council will need to look at a further £1.5 m cuts or they can rise Council Tax by 2%.

I have asked for some details to look at and once I have been able to look at that I can review whether there can be savings without cutting front line services. Another words are the Council still wasting money and I believe they are. Plus also there are a number of areas where they are taking some huge risks.

Weather (part two)

Friday saw Standish and Wigan get a snow bomb. This is a new terminology. It is where a large amount of snow comes down in a short space. The M6 was closed and drivers had to be rescued by mountain rescue. Then some drivers had a snowball fight. I heard it was northbound against the south bound carriage ways and some built snow men.

The snow has disappeared nearly has fast as it came down and things should be back to normal. However on Saturday morning I had to take the unusual step of cancelling the surgery at the Library because of the 8 inch's of snow.