The week ahead (12th to 18th December)

Although we're almost halfway through I forgot to post earlier what's on this week.

Monday saw a working on housing issues, where jointly with the HPCH board we started to consider what the councils response to some of the housing 'tenancy issues' should be, ie things like should the council offer fixed term tenancies etc. A useful if not wonderfully well attended session which the comments made will be considered before a workshop early next year with a slightly wider audience including more tenants and bodies such as citizens advice etc.

Tuesday saw a meeting of te council corporate select committee for a first look at some of the issues around the councils budget for next year, this was followed by a meeting of the executive that considered amongst others items the report on the Glossop Halls, along with a report on the Buxton Housing Market Intervension Project.

Wednesday sees a day in London for a one day event at the Local Government Association looking at issues around the impending changes to the council's housing revenue account and what this will mean for councils, tenants and all involved in council housing.

Thursday sees some more meeting around the community fund review, along with the Gamesley Christmas Market and a meeting of te Councils regeneration select committee looking at housing numbers in the local development framework and th Glossop design and place making strategy.

Friday sees this months councillors surgery followed by another community fund meeting, before my final weekend of the leadership academy at Warwick University.

The week ahead (5th to 11th December)

This coming week will most likely be subject to the weather - if the expectations of snow cone to pass.

Monday sees some catch up meetings in Buxton followed by a look round the CESP works with HPCH board.

Tuesday is looking at the QEII fields initiative, followed by Corporate Select which is looking at Glossop Halls and a confidential report on the transactional review.

Wednesday has elements of Tuesday but with a different audience.

Thursday sees a trip to Matlock for a meeting on Community Safety with a meeting of audit and regulatory in the evening.

On paper it's a quiet end to the week, but it's still early yet, and with the way the weather reports are looking it could all be subject to change.

The week ahead (28th November to 3rd December)

This coming week start with a very early start to make the first train out of Glossop to travel to London for an event at the LGA around how the health service reforms will work in two tier areas like ours.

Tuesday has less miles in it and will see some meetings with community groups and how the council works with them, Wednesday was similar but will now see the pensions strike instead.

Thursday is further community group meetings in the morning followed (hopefully in my part) by a HPCH Gamesley Walkabout that is taking place, starting from the bus stop at the end of Eyam Lane at 2.00pm.

Lastly Friday sees amongst other things a meeting looking at what should be the local priorities for our local community safety partnership.

The week ahead (21st November)

This week starts off quite busy with a meeting of the Community Select Committee on Monday, followed by a meeting of the council's executive on Tuesday.

Wednesday sees the day start off bright and early for a trip to Matlock for the Community Safety Board, followed in the evening by this month's constituency Labour Party meeting.

Thursday sees this year Gamesley Community Awards with the week coming to a close in a meeting's sense with this month's shopper's surgery in the Glossop Market Arcade on Saturday.

Sport Action Grant's - Open for application

If you are involved in a local sport of community group you may be interested in the following, which I heard about via a tweet from Derbyshire Sports (@DerbysSport)

Derbyshire County Council have announced a new £180,000 Sports Action Grant fund to encourage clubs and community groups to promote healthy and active lifestyles and that the fund is now open for applications.

Sports clubs and local community groups can apply for grants of up to £1,000 to help them provide activities that:

• encourage more people to take part in sport and physical activities
• promote healthy and active lifestyles
• encourage volunteering within sport

Successful bids could include the development of existing local sports initiatives or new projects which support the council's priority to promote healthy and rewarding lifestyles.

The guidance note on the county website advises that they would like to fund a wide range of different sports

projects and that groups can apply for funding to:

• improve or renovate existing facilities

•

buy equipment available for use by more than one member of the group

•

pay for coaching costs eg for new sessions (maximum six sessions) or on an occasional basis to build knowledge and skills of existing coaches

•

pay for promotional costs of new sessions

•

pay for costs relating to a sporting event eg a summer gala to attract new volunteers, parents/carers or children

•

The fund will be distributed over 18 months through three timetabled rounds. The deadline for the first round of applications is December 9, 2011.

Application forms and further information can be found at http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/sportsactiongrant
pay for sports development opportunities for club members

Movember

You may have seen some newspaper coverage dring the last week or two on Movember, which is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

The ways it works, is that at the start of Movember, folks register with a clean shaven face and then they have the rest of the month to grow and groom their their Mo, raising money along the way to benefit
prostate cancer.

I've never took part myself, because I don't like the idea of been clean shaven, however if you're interested in sponsoring someone locally, you could sponsor Howard Town Councillor Colin Waude who is taking part - to do so goto : http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1380774

National Stress Awareness Day

Today (2nd November) you may or may not know has been National Stress Awareness Day, one of the many awareness day ran to raise awareness of a particular issue or cause.

Organised by ISMA (International Stress Management Association UK) it aims to highlight the importance of stress management, which according to recent research by insurance company AXA has almost doubled in the last four years.

Now in it's 13th year, with this year's theme being "Wellbeing and Resilience at Work " the day aims to raise awareness of stress issues and in particular encourage more companies to take steps to reduce stress to their workers, as well as providing information hints and tips around measurer's and techniques you can use to reduce stress.

If you're have any particular issues around stress the ISMA website has a range of how to's and guides including links to a top 10 sheet on steps to stress free living. You can view these by clicking here

Related articles

• National Stress Awareness Day - PSHE resource (brilliantbook.wordpress.com)

NaBloPoMo

For November, I will once again be trying to complete NaBloPoMo which is an initative aimed at encouraging bloggers to post every day for a month.

Whilst this first post is a bit light over the next few days and weeks there will be a range of posts covering things such as older people's housing to recycling and possibly various things in between.

There's also potential for requests - so if there's a topic you'd like to see covered please get in touch via the option above or the comments

Development Control - Glossop Special

The next meeting of the council's development control committee, next Monday (7th November) could almost be billed as a Glossopdale special given that out of the 5 applications for consideration 4 are from Glossopdale.

The first is for the development at the former Samas Roneo site (and we will come back to that in more detail shortly), the second for a residential development on the site of the former bus depot at York Street in Old Glossop, followed by advertising and listed building consent for signage at the Gatehouse in Glossop, and finally the application to keep portacabins at All Saints School in Old Glossop.

Two of applications are recommended for approval, and two are marked with a recommendation for refusal, but as to whether they will end up in line with the officer recommendation, you'll have to wait till next Monday to find out.

November 2011 Councillor's Surgery

Gamesley Councillors Anthony Mckeown and Dave Wilcox along with Hadfield South Councillor’s Bob Mckeown and Edward Siddall are inviting Gamesley residents to join them for their latest councillor’s surgery, which is taking place this Saturday morning  (5th November).

The surgery which follows on from last week's shoppers surgery in Glossop is in the slightly warmer venue of the GRA Office on Winster Mews in Gamesley and runs from 9.00am until 10.00am, and local are welcome to call in for a brew, even if they don't have a particular issues or grumble to raise with the councillors.

Councillor Anthony Mckeown said “This Thursday sees the Gamesley Community Bonfire which I hope will be a success, however as the dark evening and winter weather come more into effect, issues you may not have noticed earlier may well now be a concern and if we can help we'd like to help solve these issues, please let us know because together we can make a difference and improve our local area”

Councillor Mckeown added "don’t forget Councillor's aren't just available at surgeries and If you can't attend our surgery,  we still want to hear from you and there's a variety of way's you can get in touch and let us know your concerns. You can see the ways to get in touch by going to my website at www.anthonymckeown.info/getintouch for further information"

Stop Loan Shark's

Just short of a fortnight ago, a meeting took place on Gamesley with a range of agencies in attendance to look at issues around 'financial inclusion', with one of the issues mentioned being around access to credit, and the need for better alternatives than either the legal (such as Wonga and the like - with apr's of over 4000%) or illegal loan sharks.

In terms of alternatives, various options around getting a credit union operating in the High Peak are being considered, however unfortunately these options will take some time before they become a usable option.

To get something in place quicker especially with Christmas coming up, some options are being considered around around some sort of savings club and I will advise more details on those when I know them.

Getting back to the topic of the post, one of the folk in attendance at the meeting was from the Illegal money lending team, who are tasked with trying to stop loan sharks, and they produce the leaflet pictured, which although aimed at 'advice workers' give a number of useful steps you can take to try to tackle 'loan sharks'.

If you click on the picture it should become readable, or alternatively copies are available from the GRA Office.

You can also get advice by calling 0300 555 2222 - emailing reportaloanshark@stoploansharks.gov.uk, visiting www.direct.gov.uk/stoploansharks or texting loan(space)shark(space) + your message to 60003.

Natwest Community Force - Vote Now !!!

Voting is almost at an end for this year’s Natwest Community Force, with voting closing at mid day on Monday 24th November.

As regular readers may recall a little earlier in the year, I asked for any local groups bidding for funds to let me know and I would try and publicize their applications.

To date I’m aware of 3 local groups bidding for funds, which is conveniently as you get 3 votes.

The three bids that I am aware of / will be voting for are :

British Red Cross - Fire and Emergency Support Service 

The British Red Cross in Derbyshire are bidding for funds to help replace a specially modified vehicle which works across Derbyshire. The vehicle is called out by Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, to the scenes of fires, floods and other disasters across the county to offer practical and emotional support to the families affected.

For more information on the bid – goto http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/2074

Blythe House Hospice 

Blythe House Hospice is a day care hospice situated in Chapel-en-le-Frith. They provide information, care and support to anyone within the High Peak community living with or affected by cancer or a life-threatening illness, including families and carers. They are bidding for funds to get a van which would be used for collections and deliveries and transferring stock across the 5 charity shops they have.

For more information on the bid – goto http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1750

For more information on Blythe House Hospice goto : http://www.blythehouse.info/

High Peak Women’s Aid 

Glossop based High Peak Women’s Aid, who provide safe temporary accommodation for women and children escaping domestic abuse and an Outreach Service to women living in the community to enable them to live safely in their own home, are bidding for funding to improve and update communal areas in the refuge.

For more information on the bid goto http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/457

For more information on High Peak Women’s Aid goto http://www.highpeakwomensaid.org.uk/

If you’ve not voted yet, please do so if you can, it only takes 5 minutes and you don’t need to be a Nat West customer to take part. To vote click on one of the links above or goto http://communityforce.natwest.com/

Weekly Bin Collections

Many of you will have seen over the weekend the most relaunch of efforts to get council's to return to weekly bin collections - with the 'bribe' fund this time increased to £250m from the £100m offered earlier this year.

In response to queries from High Peak Radio and Radio Derby I commented as follows on the proposals :

“Whilst any offer of additional funding at a time of heavy cuts in central Government funding is welcome, the latest bribe to return to a weekly waste collection is not one the council will be taking up.

"There were initial teething problems when fortnightly collections were first introduced. However, in the last three years, High Peak’s recycling rate has doubled from 18.66 per cent in 2007/08 to 42 per cent in 2010/11, with public satisfaction levels for the service remaining high.

"We are currently reviewing our waste collection rounds and practices to improve efficiency and productivity, including looking at ways of improving plastic collections to drive up the recycling rate still further.   

"Whilst full details for the £250m funding are still to be released, the initial details committing any bidders to sign up to a scheme for five years with only half the total cost being met would not appear to offer any benefits to the people of High Peak.”

Tameside Elite Boxing Academy - Gamesley Bank Holiday Fundraiser

If you're about locally on Bank Holiday Monday (29th August), Tameside Elite Boxing Academy or Gamesley Boxing Club as it's also known are holding a fund-raising event at the Gamesley Community Centre on Melandra Castle Road

The event will run from 1.00pm until 8.00pm and will feature a fun and games disco, a 35 foot adult / kids bouncey castle slide, a human barfly velcro wall and much much more.

In addition to helping the boxing club the event will also be looking to raise money for one of the club's own boxers Gavin Bolger who is now a marine and was injured in Afghanistan in the early hours of Thursday 25th August.  

Gavin has now being moved from Afghanistan to Birmingham where he is reported as been stable and receiving further treatment for his injuries. The Melandra Castle Pub held a minutes silence and lit candles on Sunday in support of the troops and their families in Afghanistan.

If you're about on Monday please call in at at the fun day, and I'm sure all our thoughts and prayers are with Gavin, Lauren and all their family hoping for a quick recovery.

For further information either about the day or about the Boxing Club contact Steve on 07790655496

HPK/2011/0452

A display board from the recent consultation

The letters and number above, or at least what it represents will no doubt become a popular topic of conversation amongst locals in the Gamesley area over the next few months.

The reason for this is that the letters and number will be the reference for the planning application by BNP Paribas for land on Glossop Road including the former Samas Roneo Warehouse.

The details of the application (ie how many houses etc) are not yet known as the application is currently awaiting validation / processing - however from the site / location address for the application it would seem to indicate that the application will include the field next to, as well as the former Samas Roneo Warehouse.

Further details will be advised, as and when they are available.

Summer Activities - 8th to 12th August

If you're looking for things to do during the summer holiday's, please find listed below activities taking place this week being run by High Peak Community Housing in partnership with various other folk across Glossopdale :

Glossopdale

08.08.11 9.30am-12pm Craft club/latin dance, Glossopdale Community College

08.08.11 12.30-3pm Muay Thai/Circus skills, Glossopdale Community College

08.08.11 1.30-3.30pm Sports Coaching Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

08.08.11 1.30-3.30pm Kite Flying, Newshaw Lane Hadfield

08.08.11 10am-3pm Summer Playscheme Gamesley Community Centre

08.08.11 1.30-3.30pm Street games Gamesley Community Centre

08.08.11 1pm-5.45pm Pay & Play Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane

09.08.11 9.30am-3pm Football for fun. Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane

09.08.11 9.30am-12pm Latin dance/animation Glossopdale Community College

09.08.11 10am-3pm Trampolining, St Phillip Howard Glossop

09.08.11 12.30-3pm Animation/Muay Thai Glossopdale Community College

09.08.11 1.30-3pm Summer Playscheme St Andrews Junior School Hadfield

09.08.11 1.30-3.30pm Sports Coaching Chapel Lane Park Hadfield

09.08.11 3.15-5.45pm Pay & Play Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

10.08.11 9.30-3pm Football for fun Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

10.08.11 9.30am-12pm Muay Thai/Latin Dance Glossopdale Community College

10.08.11 10am-3pm Multi Sports St Phillip Howard Glossop

10.08.11 11am-12.30pm Fun Activities Morgans Park Gamesley

10.08.11 12.30-3pm Gardening/Candle design Glossopdale Community College

10.08.11 1pm-5.45pm Pay & Play Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

10.08.11 1.30-3.30pm Sports Coaching Gamesley Community Centre

10.08.11 2pm-4pm Fun Activities Morgans Park Gamesley

11.08.11 9.30-3pm Football for fun Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

11.08.11 9.30-12pm Latin Dance Glossopdale Community College

11.08.11 1.30-3.30pm Sports Coaching Chapel Lane Park Hadfield

11.08.11 1.30pm-3.30pm Kite Flying Chapel Lane Park Hadfield

11.08.11 12.30-3pm Design a fragrance Glossopdale Community College

11.08.11 3.15-5.45pm Pay & Play Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

12.08.11 9.30am-12pm Rounders/Latin dance Glossopdale Community College

12.08.11 12.30-3pm Cricket or Cooking Glossopdale Community College

12.08.11 1pm-5.45pm Pay & Play Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

12.08.11 12pm-3.30pm Chill Factor E Trafford Centre (NOW FULL)

12.08.11 1.30pm-3pm Wave Boarding St Phillip Howard Glossop

12.08.11 7pm-9pm Street Games Glossopdale ATP Newshaw Lane Hadfield

NatWest Community Force

From an email received today :

At NatWest we know there are lots of fantastic groups of local people making a difference in their community. I am sure you can think of some in your ward. This is why I want to appeal to you, to help spread the word about CommunityForce to these local groups.

In each of our local markets we will be offering three community projects the chance to win awards of £6,000 each. And it will not be us that decide the winners, but local people, your residents, who know the projects and what will benefit your area most. 

NatWest CommunityForce is more than just financial support; it is about connecting people to projects. Groups can also ask for help in the shape of volunteering time and expertise from local people on our website.

If you know a local charity, organisation or group which you think would benefit, please ask them to register at: http://communityforce.natwest.com/ by 4th September. 

Our goal is to make sure that the Government support we have received is paid back in every sense. Part of that is about supporting the communities in which we work and CommunityForce is one way in which we hope to do that.

If you would like to know more about NatWest Community Force, please have a look at the website.

If you know of any groups that could apply or would be interested in finding out more details please let them know - and if you're part of a local group that's already applied to the NatWest Community Force  and you're  application has been accepted, please let me know and I'll advertise local bids when voting starts on the projects towards the end of September.

Gamesley and Charlesworth Safer Neighbourhood Meeting

This coming Tuesday (14th June) sees the next meeting of the Gamesley and Charlesworth Safer Neighbourhood Team, starting at 1.30pm in the Gamesley Residents Association Office on Winster Mews.

Amongst other things the meeting gives local residents an opportunity to meet with the local police and discuss issues in the area along with an opportunity for setting local policing priorities.

If you can't attend on Wednesday, but have any issue's you would like to raise, please let me know either by leaving a comment below or by clicking on the get in touch link on the menu above.

Getting / Staying in touch

I’ll shortly by setting out along with County Councillor Dave Wilcox a new list of surgeries, however in the meantime you can keep / get in touch with me as your local councillor via any of the following :

Email Newsletter : You can sign up for a weekly email newsletter by using the box on the left or by clicking here

By email : Anthony.Mckeown@Highpeak.gov.uk or Anthony@labourhighpeak.info

By telephone call me on 01457 866688 or 07801 708166

On Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/anthonymckeown

On Facebook : click here

If I’m your local councillor and I can be of assistance, or if you are involved in any local groups holding an event I can help advertise via this blog etc, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If your unsure which ward you are in, or want to contact your County Councillor or MP, please put your postcode in the write to them box on the left.

Tenant Community Awards 2011

Nominations for this year's Tenant Community Awards run by High Peak Community Housing are now open.

Nominations are been sought in the following categories :

• Young Person of the Year Award
• Good Neighbour Award
• Made a difference in their Community - Individual
• Made a difference in their Community - Group
• Tenant Involvement Award

To nominate someone you need to fill in a nomination form which is available by clicking here or by calling into the Gamesley Housing Office or GRA.

The deadline for entries is Friday 29th July 2011, and all nominations must be on an official nomination form.

All nominations must have the support of at least two other residents, one of which is a tenant and all nominees must live in or have benefited a neighbourhood managed by HPCH.

The picture above shows local's Mandie Farrell and Dawn Stevenson with the chair of High Peak Community Housing Agnes Bradley after winning the helping hand award at last years awards, and it would be nice to see locals winning again this year !