I was delighted to have the opportunity to attend the annual celebration of the Salford Link Project in Eccles this afternoon – it was a great event and I really enjoyed the music and martial arts demonstration put on by the children who attend the centre.
The Link Project does some great work and I’m delighted that they took the time to honour the hard work that Dr Jarjis Rahman has put into the centre over the last two decades. I know Dr Rahman from his time on the New Prospect parent board and I know he has shown exceptional dedication to the community in Eccles and beyond.
It seems that Salford’s Labour Council is going to perform a dramatic u-turn, and axe their plans to bulldoze 40 hectares of Green Belt land at Barton Moss for heavy industrial usage.
The plans would have a catastrophic impact on local residents in Cadishead, Irlam, Peel Green and Brookhouse, and I’m delighted that Labour have finally seen sense and moved to withdraw their proposals.
I’m particularly pleased for the “Save Our North West Green Belt” campaign group, who have worked tirelessly and have been rewarded for their efforts on behalf of the community.
It’s important to ask, though – why did these daft proposals ever see the light of day in the first place? As with the Congestion Charge, Labour haven’t listened to local people and instead have had to backpedal after wasting all our time and money only to be howled down with derision.
Your local Conservatives, by contrast, have backed local residents from the start and stood up for their concerns.
It’s been a bit of a railway-themed week – on Wednesday I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Walkden Station (FOWS) and yesterday I was at Eccles Town Hall for the public meeting held by Friends of Patricroft Station (FrOPS) along with my Barton ward colleague Antony Yates.
Friends of Walkden Station have gone from strength to strength since they were formed in 2007, and have had some real success with the new Sunday services starting in May – that improvement simply wouldn’t have happened without the hard work that FOWS have put in.
Friends of Patricroft Station are a relatively new group, but they’ve clearly hit the ground running and are already making a big impact. There’s a lot of potential at Patricroft station, particularly with the improvements proposed in the Bridgewater Canal Corridor strategy, and it’s great to see another group of community-minded local people.
All our local station adoption groups do a great job and I will continue to do all that I can to support them.
I’m really pleased that the local residents fighting Labour’s plan to bulldoze Barton Moss continue to go from strength-to-strength, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to attend their meeting yesterday at Higher Irlam Social Club.
It’s brilliant to see so many community-minded people standing up for their local environment – fantastic to see. I’ll be heading back to Irlam on Saturday for the vigil walk out onto the moss and I will continue to give every support that I can.
Don’t forget that a Conservative Government would abolish the Labour Government’s daft planning targets which have contributed to the plans to build on Barton Moss – Conservatives will return power to our local communities and let residents decide.
Like most local residents, I’m appalled by the latest schemes put forward by Peel Holdings – they would lead to a wholesale destruction of the local environment in Worsley, Eccles, Irlam and Cadishead, to the severe detriment of our local communities. I hope that the Council treat the plans with the disdain that they deserve at the next stage of the Core Strategy process.
However, let’s not forget that Peel are merely doing the bidding of the Labour Government on this issue. The Government’s regional planning guidance, imposed on the people of Salford, demands that we make space for over 30000 new homes as well as heavy industry on our green land. The Council’s own plans, although less dramatic, would still wipe out huge swathes of Green Belt land on Barton Moss and green field land at Burgess Farm.
A Conservative Government would scrap the dangerous regional planning guidance and return powers to local people – allowing our precious green land to be protected.
I was really pleased to see such a huge turnout of local residents for today’s protest against Labour’s plans to bulldoze the Green Belt at Barton Moss.
It’s really encouraging to see that so many people care about their local community and environment and are prepared to stand up and be counted.
The campaign committee fighting the proposals in Irlam, Cadishead and Peel Green have done a marvellous job and I’m delighted that a strong team of local Conservative Councillors and local campaigners were able to go along to the protest and show their support for the residents.
The proposal would remove almost all of the green space between Peel Green and Irlam, and the local infrastructure simply cannot cope – the A57 is already full beyond capacity and there are already approved plans for Port Salford and the Reds Stadium. The loss of Grade 1 agricultural land and the City’s “green lung” would be simply unacceptable, and the proposals would create a huge headache for residents in Irlam, Cadishead, Peel Green and Brookhouse.
Of course, one of the main reasons that these proposals have seen the light of day is because the Government has imposed central planning targets on our local communities. Under Labour’s current plans, this will leave us with tens of thousands of empty tiny flats, and acres of green belt and green field sites destroyed.
A Conservative Government would abolish these unfeasible targets and return the power to decide how much development we need to local residents. Under a future Conservative Government, it would be up to our local communities to make these decisions – not Labour’s faceless bureaucrats in Whitehall.
This afternoon I went along to the public meeting called to discuss plans for an incinerator recycling centre on Green Lane in Eccles, together with my fellow Prospective MP Matthew Sephton and our local campaigner for Barton ward, Antony Yates.
It was great to see such a huge turnout – I’m glad that so many local residents in Eccles, Patricroft, Monton and Winton care about the future of their local community. The plans would have a huge detrimental impact on the local area, both in terms of the likely emissions and the huge increase in traffic along Green Lane and Canal Bank.
It was good to see cross-party support for local residents, although there was one notable exception - Eccles ward Labour Councillor Jane Murphy who refused to oppose the scheme even when asked the direct question.
Local people have set up a campaign site and also a Facebook group where you can find more information. No planning application has been submitted yet, and I will make sure I support residents if and when that application goes in; in the meantime I’ve encouraged residents to put forward a positive vision for the future of the Mitchell & Shackleton site by responding to the Core Strategy consultation.
It was great to have the opportunity on Saturday to get out and about in Eccles town centre, along with my colleague Matt Sephton, the Prospective Conservative MP for the Salford & Eccles constituency, and Eccles ward Councillor Judith Tope.
Our first port of call was the Gateway centre, where the library staff were putting on some excellent festive entertainment for local residents. It was great to see the children enjoying themselves with the crafts and face-painting, and useful to talk to the Gateway staff about the building and the work that they do.
We then called in at the Eccles Community Art Gallery and had a very interesting discussion with two of the local artists. There’s some excellent work in there – all from local artists – and I’d encourage residents to pop in there on a Saturday when the gallery is open.
Near to the gallery, the Council’s regeneration team had taken over one of the vacant shops (of which there are still far too many, it must be said) for a consultation day for the Bridgewater Canal Corridor Masterplan. The Canal is a fantastic resource for local people in Worsley and Eccles, and I hope that we can fulfil the potential that it has. The consultation runs until the end of January – click here to read more about it and to submit your comments.
Finally, we made it to the Farmers’ Market. This did not disappoint and I hope that they continue in 2010.
The Advertiser have been running an excellent series of features trying to encourage residents to shop locally, and I hope that events like the farmers’ market do tempt residents from Eccles and the nearby area to stay and use our local retailers and businesses, especially in these difficult economic times.
I’m very grateful to all those local residents who have contacted me about the Labour proposals to bulldoze the green belt at Barton Moss.
Many local residents in Peel Green and Brookhouse have signed our petition against the proposals, and concerned local residents in Irlam and Cadishead are producing their own petition for the local community there to complete (I wouldn’t dream of duplicating!).
If you’ve not signed either petition yet, and you want to show your opposition to the Labour plans, you can now sign my petition online.
Don’t forget also that you have until 15th January to submit your own comments and objections to the Core Strategy – visit www.itsyoursalford.info to find out how to respond.
Just a quick reminder that the deadline for Network Rail’s “Action Stations” survey on local station facilities is the end of December – click here to fill in the survey.
There is a lot of work to do at the local stations that are within Worsley & Eccles South constituency or serve some local residents - Walkden, Moorside, Swinton, Eccles, Patricroft and Irlam – and the more local people who fill in the survey, the louder our voice will be heard!
It only takes a few minutes to complete, and there’s a prize draw for everyone who takes the time to finish.
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