August 2008

[David McNulty]

I spent a morning with one of our street cleansing teams. We've revamped the way we do this work and it was interesting to see how the new approach worked. The aim is to do a deep clean and then track the deterioration and respond to that in a timely way. This is a more focussed way than simply having a rota with a set amount of miles to be covered each day regardless of condition. We've also invested in new equipment - especially mechanical sweepers - which not only cleans more thoroughly but gives very precise figures on what's been achieved.

In the ward I'm working in the small mechanical sweepers removed 45.62 tons of detritus (gritty dusty material) and litter from residential areas in the first six months of the year. The large mechanical sweeper has removed 45.52 tons from A roads during the same period and our retail teams have removed 4.68 tons from shop fronts. Meanwhile on average 1.1 tons of litter is being removed from litter bins each month in the same ward. Finally, an average 1.31 tons a month is being picked from the pavements.

That's over 110 tons of dirt and litter being removed from one ward in six months. I'll leave you to double that for the year and then calculate what it means across 21 wards. Anyway, next time someone says what does the council do then you might want to add to the list: remove thousands of tons of dirt and litter from our roads and streets.

Of course that begs the question why is there so much? The most disappointing statistic is the fact that we have to pick up more from the pavements than we do from the litter bins.

Many of the team have worked for Trafford for a long time and as we work through the morning it's clear just how proud they are of the work they do (including picking up 5 tons of rubbish after every MUFC match). I'm also convinced that the new system with the new equipment and the pride in their work the team takes is making our streets cleaner than they've ever been. And if everyone co-operated with disposing of litter properly they'd stay looking good for much longer each time we do them.

I visited The Hub at Pownall Rd. This was previously a Day Centre and has now been let to Altrincham Baptist Church (ABC) to develop community facilities and activities. ABC has transformed the place into a welcoming space for children, young people and older adults. There's a lively evening session going on for younger children (I join in and spend a worrying time in the gunge tank but escape serious dunking) and a teenagers youth club. I'm impressed with the number of volunteers involved.

I'm spending more time on health matters each month. In August this included attending a regional workshop on Healthier Horizons for the North West which is the strategy to reduce health inequalities for our region. In Trafford we have generally good health. However, there are some worrying aspects: obesity in children; alcohol misuse in some areas. We are also looking at how we can improve our response to cancer eg enhancing preventive measures through early diagnosis and ensuring people are on the right pathways. We also had a flurry of interest in our GM Health Commission when it suggested councils might want to think about their powers in relation to product placement in films to encourage smoking. There were lots of attempts to be humorous by saying films like Casablanca would be banned. That trivialises an important issue which is how should we respond to attempts to influence young people to take up smoking when it is so clearly dangerous for their health and longevity.

Working at Manchester wide level continued on transport with the results of a MORI survey on the proposed programme including the congestion charge and preparations for a referendum in a few months time. Organising this correctly is a complex challenge not least in terms of making sure that we have a proper register of voters at the right time for the poll.

Meanwhile there are still significant amounts of detail not available which people will want to know before they are asked to cast their vote. We had to postpone several discussion forums which we'd planned to debate the issues because we weren't convinced that some crucial information about how Trafford would be affected would be available in time. This has created a lot of additional work for us but it's important that people who want to debate this should have the fullest information.

We also met with Sir Bob Kerslake the head of the new Homes and Communities Agency to discuss our plans for housing growth in the sub region. It's not an easy time and the challenge is to make sure that our plans are still feasible given the changes in market conditions since they were outlined. So we have to develop ideas that support people through the next couple of years and also ensure that we're ready as the market then starts to pick up again.

I visited one of our play schemes at Lostock College. Trafford is very good at ensuring we have high quality play opportunities for children during the holidays. This was a really enjoyable experience and not only because I was unbeaten at giant connect 4.

I joined with some business colleagues and The Messenger to judge the Trafford business awards. This was encouragingly difficult. We had some excellent nominations and it was very hard to select a winner in most categories. Trafford is renowned for the quality of its entrepreneurs and these entries confirmed why.

I also had a whole series of routine meetings. I'll rattle through a few examples and main points. Voluntary and Community Action Trafford (VCAT) working on trying to develop a new centre with them. Equalities - confirm we're on track with the improvements we've planned. Audit Commission - update on performance so far (strong) and proposed changes to how we'll be assessed next year. Emergency planning - schedule a test of our procedures for November. Trade Unions - progress in last few months especially on job evaluation.

I signed a dispersal order. This enables the police to ask groups of children and youths to leave a specified area if they judge they need to. It's always a tricky decision. Children and young people have the right to gather together with their friends to hang out. And that's an important right for them. However, now and again particular parts of our borough can find themselves with very large numbers of young people gathering, including many travelling in from elsewhere, and becoming a source of nuisance and intimidation for local residents and businesses. Where this is happening and where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing stemming from these groups then a dispersal order is considered. I was satisfied in this case that there was a serious problem. Initial feedback from local parents and shopkeepers has been very positive. This should also make the area safer for young people themselves.

Lindsey, our director of communications, left us at the end of the month to go to live and work in Malawi. I'm sorry to see her go but hopefully it means we'll get excellent coverage in the Malawi Times.

I dented my car. Actually this was more of a crater than a dent. I was very irritated until I found Dentmaster on the internet. They came round and popped the dent back out and charged about 25% of what I thought it might cost me. I'm not on commission from them merely sharing good information in case you're ever in the same boat (dented car). My son Gerard is living with me. He's in his 20s and the attitudes and behaviour that were endearing in a ten year old are a source of friction between us now that I expect him to behave like an adult. I finally got to see Persepolis which is a very good film. I read a good book on Klimt (after seeing the exhibition in Liverpool). I've finally picked up a guitar again after not playing at all for about 15 months and not playing seriously for about ten years. Was the old magic still there? Unfortunately not. Mind you my hair is so much shorter than it used to be that this could be a Samson effect? I'm determined to try to get back to some kind of performance level. I'll keep you posted.