Sunday 22 September 2013

The Week that ended.......22 Sept '13

Bit of a quiet week. Started with Monday and attending Ex Cllr and Friend Henry Cadman's funeral in Swinley. Henry Cadman was a Cllr with me for the Wigan Central Ward between 2004 and 2010. Back in 2001 when I first decided to run for a Cllr Henry was a great help. He had been a family friend for over 40 yrs. He was a great Cllr for the Wigan Central Ward too and I know he will be missed by family and friends and the community.


On Wednesday the By-election was called for Winstanley Ward. This was after the death and funeral of ex Cllr Rona Winkworth. She was a Labour Cllr and it is fair to say we didn't get on but it is sad when anyone dies and my thoughts are with the family.

I guess people say they come in three's and later in the week a community activist Syd Hall died at his home in Scholes. Syd was 77 and I hope I have his energy at that age. When I was elected for the Wigan Central Ward he was soon on the phone. In fact he was always on the phone night and day, trying to get this and that. Also if there was a problem he would let me know and also try and help. Syd was a serious pain in the backside at times and this was not because he wanted to be but because he was passionate for his community and the people that lived there and that is not a bad thing. I have many memories of Syd but one thing that I will cherish was his cheeky nature and smile. At times he would ask for things that just weren't going to happen and when you say to him, "Come on and be real." He would give you his cheeky grin and say well you don't know if you don't ask. So true. RIP Syd you will be sorely missed.

Now the dust is settling on the fact that the Council have adopted the Core Strategy it is clear that many residents are upset, frustrated and feel let down by this Labour controlled Council. One resident wrote to the head of the planning Dept and the Chief Executive with his thoughts. Here is a link to that post, I suspect others have written too and will be telling them what they think of them.

Also during the week a report came out about the death of Daniel Pelka's death. Here is the thread for that post. In this day and age there needs to be more accountability and if those that fail children then they should resign or be sacked and not be able to pass the book or just come out with words like, sorry or we will learn from this. Actions speak louder than words!

As a Cllr I get requests for info that we don't know about or things we wouldn't think we would get asked for. One resident came to me over the issue of Burial fees and the fact that when you bury someone's ashes in the memorial garden you are paying for a lease of 25 yrs. After that time you have to pay to renew. The issue here is that should the person that buried the ashes have moved, which could well happen or that person dies then the Council doesn't seem to look for the next of kin. If no renewal fees are paid then they can exhume the ashes and scatter them on another part of the cemetery. This issues needs to be resolved before that happens and I have written to the Council to say they need to put things in place now, like using tracing agents to try and find the family before they exhume any ashes. Here is more on that issues plus all the fees.

This week we have had a strange danger alert in Standish when a man approached a student of Standish High. Well done to Standish high for getting the message out quickly and alerting parents to this. Also later in the week we had a violent man on the run, I hear that he had robbed the large Coop in the village, police were alerted as were Woodfold primary school, as the man was seen running up school lane. The school stopped any student leaving on their own and contacted all parents saying if they did let their child either walk home on there own or part way on their own that there would not be able to that day and all parents had to pic their child up. This is another good example that good communications is key to keeping us all safe. The police later caught the person and is now in custody.

The week coming up is going to be a busy one with a number of meetings coming up.

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