Letter from Parliament

Jim Dobbin MP

I would like to reiterate what I have said before about my strong opposition to congestion charges in Middleton.  Cllr Peter Williams Chair of Middleton Township is vehemently against this charge and is leading the campaign against it. There is no gain for the constituents of Middleton in this proposal.

I was surprised to read that the Deputy Mayor has suggested the abolition of prayers at council services.  Personally I hope this idea is rejected. When I read about the recent conduct of the council I think you will agree that we need all the divine intervention available.

I note the controversy surrounding the planning issues and the comments from one member of the council who has since resigned from a senior position.  I merely comment that in all my time on Rochdale Council, I never experienced any councillor abusing their position of trust.  If anyone has information about corruption then it is the duty of all to come forward with proof.  It is mischievous to make assertions without proof.  This is an extremely serious matter and these accusations should be substantiated or silenced.

On Thursday 15th I attended the Siddal Moor Awards Ceremony. It was good to see so many young men and women coming back to receive their awards and now at the threshold of their careers and working life with so much to offer.  Well done to all staff, parents and especially pupils. Heywood has a lot to be proud of.

Friday 15th was the Springhill Hospice Lunch for the committee to select the Rochdale Man of the Year.  As usual this was no easy task with many fine nominees, but of course we can only choose one and I know we made a good choice.

Saturday 16th I attended the Middleton Cricket Club’s Christmas Fair and enjoyed meeting people and stocking up with lots of cakes, jams, etc.  In the afternoon, I was able to drop in at a surprise birthday party for a close friend and neighbour and on the Sunday we celebrated the christening at St Vincent’s of my youngest grandson William,(he behaved really well and slept through it all) before driving down to London. 

Let me begin by apologising to the principal, staff and graduates of Hopwood Hall College for all the problems I had getting back to the UK to take part in the Award Ceremony at Hopwood last Friday evening. I had travelled to Slovenia at the start of the week with Michael Connerty MP, Chair of the European Select Committee and we then flew to Macedonia for further meetings. We were supposed to return to the UK from Macedonia on Thursday but found that the airport was fog bound with no hope of the fog lifting for 24 hours.  We had to travel by road to Southern Greece, and book in overnight in order to fly home via Berlin on Friday. We missed the first connection by minutes and had to wait several hours for the next plane to London. I had then to drive up from Heathrow and sadly, did not make it in time for the awards evening. I offer my belated congratulations to all of the graduates, their families and lecturers and I thank Cllr Colin Lambert for standing in for me at such short notice.

Slovenia is taking over the Presidency of the European Union from Portugal and the visit was essential and gave the committee a good idea of how the Slovenian presidency will pursue the European agenda.  The committee usually visits an aspirant neighbouring country, hence the visit to Macedonia where we discussed its future with the young Macedonian Prime Minister, who despite his country’s many problems had a clear vision for its future.