Council leader's column: foster carers, the Feel Good Family picnics, railway station ticket office closures and road safety at a Middleton primary school

Neil Emmott is the leader of Rochdale Council and a councillor for West Middleton.

This month he dedicates his column to foster carers, the Feel Good Family picnics, railway station ticket office closures and road safety at a Middleton primary school.

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As always, there has been much to celebrate and cherish across the borough over the last few weeks. I am proud of the high quality, value for money services we are consistently delivering for our residents.

I was delighted with our decision, agreed unanimously be our cabinet, to increase payments to our borough’s foster carers. This is in recognition of the incredible work they do to support local children who cannot safely live at home, or with extended family members. The positive change will boost weekly payments by over 12 percent for an allowance that covers daily living expenses such as food, clothing and heating. This progressive uplift will help foster carers with the cost of living increases, so they can continue to support the borough’s most vulnerable children. It is hoped the changes will support the recruitment of more foster carers, which are urgently needed in the borough for children of all ages. In addition, the changes will make fostering more financially viable for new foster carers, making it more accessible for single applicants and young families to come forward to foster.

As my colleague Councillor Rachel Massey, cabinet member for children’s services and education said, we must not forget the amazing work our foster carers do support our most vulnerable children and young adults. This welcome news also ensures we are now in line with neighbouring local authorities and independent fostering agencies, which makes the future look brighter for the vulnerable children who need our help. Anyone interested in becoming a foster carer, or would like to find our more, visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/fostering

In addition, I was pleased with another success story, as people flocked to our Feel Good Family picnic events in Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Rochdale last month. Over 9,500 attended events at Limefield Playing Fields, Queen’s Park, Hare Hill Park and Falinge Park as the spaces were transformed into a busy spectacle of theatre, puppetry, circus, dance, storytelling and music.

At the recent full council meeting, councillors passed a motion condemning the proposal to close hundreds of railway station ticket offices across the country. If this decision goes through it will adversely impact thousands of older and vulnerable people, increasing social isolation and restricting those that need and rely on public transport. I fear this is just an excuse to axe jobs. Locally, we could see the closure of Littleborough ticket office and reduced hours at Rochdale Railway Station. Remember, the distant days long ago when the government was talking about levelling up northern communities? Yet again, this has been proven to be a hollow statement, just empty words, as we continue to suffer from a lack of national funding and constant cuts. Thankfully, the campaign to prevent ticket office closures is growing by the day and the consultation has now been extended until early September. Let’s keep the momentum going, as our campaign to force a u-turn and ensure this crazy idea is dropped continues.
 

Read more: Consultation on train ticket office closures extended to 1 SeptemberPublished: 26 July 2023

 

 

In a boost for the Middleton community, I was very pleased that work to improve road safety outside the biggest primary school in our borough has got under way. The project, which is part of the Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TFGM) Bee Network, will see the creation of a brand new crossing point outside Bowlee Park Primary School. New car parking spaces have been created elsewhere, ensuring there is no loss of overall parking provision in the community for those who need to travel by car. In addition, the crossing outside Lakeland Court in nearby Wood Street will be upgraded, to also include a dedicated section for pedestrians and cyclists.

As well as supporting road safety, the new facilities will complement work done to create new cycling and walking routes in nearby Bowlee Park last year. The new scheme will create a seamless cycling route from Wood Street, along Windermere Road and across Bowlee Park to Heywood Old Road and the Edgar Wood Academy. I know from speaking with residents across the community that this pioneering project will be warmly welcomed.

Finally, I am always proud of the range of services we deliver to support young families. We are continuing to provide food vouchers for eligible families over the summer holidays, benefitting over 12,000 young families across the borough. Also, in partnership with Your Trust, we are delivering the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme. All activities are free and include food. The events are a variety of fun and activities for young people to take part in. More information can be found at www.haf-rochdale.co.uk.

I have always been a strong advocate for our library service, with 16 excellent branches across the borough. There are some great free events taking place across the summer, so check the council web site for fun activities to keep children entertained over the holidays.

That’s just a snapshot of the wide-range of good news, showcasing high quality, value for money services that I promised when I became leader and, day in day out, we are delivering for our residents.