It must be time for Read and Feed says council leader Richard Farnell

Councillors John Blundell and June West at a 'Read and Feed' Library

'Read and Feed' programme

Rochdale's nationally acclaimed 'Read and Feed' programme held last year at Smallbridge Library is to be extended right across the townships to five additional libraries.

It encourages youngsters to use their libraries more and keep up with their reading skills so they don't slip back over the summer holidays. In return, they get a free lunch.

This year's programme, being launched this week and generously funded by the Townships, will be rolled out to Balderstone, Belfield, Junction Library and Community Centre, Darnhill and Langley libraries.

It is the brainchild of Councillor John Blundell, who pioneered the scheme last year and has done so much to get it rolled out across the borough. It is such a great idea, it is also being adopted by a number of other councils.

There's also to be a new 'Fit' element included, with activities and sport sessions being run by Link4Life.

Who is an ACE employee?

The council has launched its new annual ACE Staff Awards, they are open to all staff across the council. They are an opportunity to recognise and celebrate individuals and teams who have gone the extra mile.

As residents, partners, staff and users of our services you'll be able to nominate individuals or teams who deserve to be recognised for their commitment, hard work and dedication in delivering excellent services.

As well as those staff that are front-facing there are many others who work behind the scenes in operational and support functions that should also be recognised for their commitment to the Rochdale borough.

Closing date for nominations: Friday, 15 September 2017 at 5pm

Ask Andy

As part of his manifesto commitment, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has set up a monthly Question Time-type event. It's planned to run on the last Thursday of every month.

The inaugural Question Time will be on, Thursday, 27 July 2017, 7pm-9pm at:

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Training Centre
Cassidy Close
Manchester M4 5HU.

It's your opportunity to ask Andy a question about the issues that matter to you. 

Café proves best things come in small packages 

Petit café is the second new business to open in historic Baillie Street in recent weeks, thanks to support from the council's work in enhancing Rochdale town centre. The chair man of Rochdale Township, Councillor Shaun O'Neill attended the grand opening.

The owners spent £20,000 of their own money renovating the grade II listed property and they're in line for the council's new business renovation grant to help meet the cost. The new grant offers news businesses in selected areas match funding of up to £5,000 to help pay for their improvements.

Support your local businesses

Statistics show that for every £1 spent in the local economy, 63p stays in the local economy, compared to just 40p with larger businesses.

Flags are a walk in the park

What a great week for the local environment following eight of the Rochdale borough's parks being awarded Green Flags. Only parks which are "beautifully maintained" qualify.

It's our best ever tally and congratulations to Jubilee Park in Middleton and Heywood's Hopwood Park for their first Green Flag.

They join Rochdale Town Centre Parks, Queen's Park, Heywood, Littleborough's Hare Hill Park, Milnrow Memorial Park, Middleton Cemetery and Truffet Park on Langley who have all retained Green Flag accolades.

Of course, a big thank you must go to our grounds maintenance staff for their hard work and professionalism.

Thanks also to the many Friends' groups and scores of volunteers who help make our parks such special places. Again, without their support such success would be difficult.

Rochdale Borough Council, despite budget pressures, is investing an extra £1.5 million every year improving our environment. It is money well spent.

A clean and green borough does wonders for a sense of wellbeing, pride of place and is also important in attracting new investment to the area.

Next up is Britain in Bloom

We're working hard to keep the borough Clean and Green
Talking of sprucing up our environment, here are some impressive facts and figures we should be shouting from the rooftops.

Since 1 April 2017, the Highways Maintenance Team has:

• Cleaned 10,843 highway gullies
• Completed 2,875 highway patches (repairs to potholes and rough road surfaces)
• Inspected 773 works carried out by utility companies on the highway network
• Received and responded to 265 service requests received through the call centre
• Received and responded to 159 service requests via elected members ·
• Attended 56 emergency responses within one hour of notification
• Attended 98 emergency responses within 24 hours of notification
• Attended 115 out of hours call outs
• Inspected 855km of highway network for safety defects 
• So far of the £2 million extra allocated to potholes, the council has spent about £650,000

Youths are cleaning up too

I've blogged extensively about the importance of a clean, green environment and the positive impact it can have on people's lives. 

Living in an area with parks and other open spaces will always features strongly in residents' satisfaction surveys. I'd argue that those who get involved in community clean-ups appreciate and enjoy their neighbourhood more.

I will be attending one such event in my ward next month. The Youth Service has invited me along to Balderstone Park to see their clean ups for myself - and will be presented with bag and grabber to do my bit along with other volunteers.

On the beat

Another new environmental initiative is that our new Town Centre wardens for Rochdale, Middleton, Heywood and Littleborough will be in post within the next four to six weeks.

They will be the council's 'eyes and ears' providing a highly visible and predominantly town-centre based presence and will deal with environmental offences such as littering, dog fouling, commercial waste issues and A-board issues mainly by way of Fixed Penalty Notices.

Former Environmental Quality Officers, Environment Wardens, and Crime Reduction and Anti-Social Behaviour Officers are also being combined into nine new Public Realm Inspector Roles. All inspectors are now in post and are each working in their designated areas.

The search is on…

For the borough's best new building or regeneration project.

Now in its seventh year the annual Rochdale Borough Design Awards celebrates the best in new development design, focusing on the relationship between good design and building successful communities

The council is asking the public for nominations for this year's awards. Councillors can nominate too. Anything that's caught your eye; a project that blends in with its surroundings; something with innovative green features or a user-friendly community development.

Traffic stoppers

Nice to see four of the council's school crossing patrol officers (SCPO) being feted after clocking up a combined 45 years' service. What an achievement. This is what public service is about – and these are the very people that the Chancellor of the Exchequer considers overpaid.

Well done to Robert Cooper, Helen Cowan and James McCan who received their 10 years' service award and Patricia Devall who received her 15 years' award from school crossing patrol supervisor Nicola Mcilvenny.

If you know anyone who's interested in becoming a SCPO ring 01706 925762 to register.

Meet the buyer

Over 150 small businesses from Rochdale and beyond took centre stage at an event designed to help them win contracts with big public sector Greater Manchester organisations last week.

There were over 315 appointments at the first meet-the-buyer event at Stockport Town Hall, organised by STaR procurement. Rochdale Borough Council's Cabinet has given clear targets to STaR that at least 20% of Rochdale Borough Council contacts are awarded to local firms – and we expect them to far exceed this. That's what we mean when we say Rochdale is Open For Business.

Youngsters get their first choice

More than 93% of on-time applications for secondary school places across the borough got their 1st preference school place, compared to 83.5% nationally.

Lottery let down

As outlined in my report to full council, our Heritage Lottery bid to renovate Rochdale Town Hall has been rejected. Although it rated as a high priority, they just haven't got the money. It's ridiculous they've only got £40 million to award to 22 bids costing £224 million. It was inevitable that most applicants would be left disappointed. We are looking at resubmitting a scaled-down bid and examining alternative avenues of funding.

Have a DIY summer

With the summer holidays around the corner, national community charity, Groundwork is encouraging local communities to have a 'DIY summer' future-proofing their local area and promoting the social, economic and environmental benefits of adopting a more sustainable lifestyle.

The charity aims to demonstrate that living and working in a greener way can help people cope better with the challenges of reduced public spending and deliver wide ranging benefits in terms of health, wellbeing and financial security.

Festival feels good

I hope you'll all be able to support this year's Rochdale Feel Good Festival by attending, on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 August 2017, for another showcase of entertainment, food and culture.

The festival, which is celebrating its tenth birthday, will include live music across indoor venues, a main stage and a quality food court and family entertainment. It's always a smash hit so make sure you pop along.

Read all about it

If that wasn't enough you've got the Literature and Ideas Festival to look forward to as well.

We've got some big names attending this year, not least Labour's former Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie's special envoy Terry Waite, who was released from captivity in Beirut after being held hostage for almost five years.

Further details of the programme will be announced shortly and tickets go on sale at 10am on Monday 7 August 2017 from the Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival. The festival will run from Tuesday 17 to Monday 23 October 2017. 

Danny's a champion

It was nice of new deputy Councillor Donna Martin to appoint Councillor Daniel Meredith as the Young Carers Champion at Full Council.

Danny has had first-hand experience in caring for family members as a teenager, so he will be well suited to the role.