EXECUTIVE MEMBER REPORT TO COUNCIL 26th November 2014

ENVIRONMENT

Saltersgill Allotments

Saltersgill Allotments are now self-managed and run by Saltersgill Allotment Association. The association will now be responsible for the management and lettings of allotments, rent collection and any repair works. The council is working on the interim hand over period to ensure successful completion.

Winter Maintenance

The first winter gritting took place on 5th November. The weather will continue to be monitored on a daily basis and gritting will take place when necessary.

Green Flag

Middlesbrough parks are to be judged for the National Green Flag award therefore representatives of Keep Britain Tidy will visit 's parks on Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th November.

The award is given to a park or open space that demonstrates it is well managed and meets the following criteria:- a welcoming place, healthy, safe and secure, clean and well maintained, has sustainability, looks after its conservation and heritage, has community involvement, markets itself well and has a 5 year plan.

The peer group judging is given to towns that hold five or more Green Flag Parks, Middlesbrough is one of fourteen local authorities that participate in the peer group award. This is the second time that the town parks will have been judged collectively and if passed, the award will last for two years.

The parks involved in the award are Stewart Park, Albert Park, Park, Park, Lake and Recreation Centre, Cemetery and Fairy Dell.

Andy Mace, Streetscene Service Manager will lead on this year’s Peer Group award with the help of the Park and Cemetery Managers.

Refuse Collections

The collection dates for the Christmas and New Year Period are as follows:

Usual Collection Day Revised Collection Day Thursday 25th December 2014 Saturday 27th December 2014 Friday 26th December 2014 Sunday 28th December 2014

Thursday 1st January 2015 Friday 2nd January 2015 Friday 2nd January 2015 Saturday 3rd January 2015

Full details will be available on the Council’s Website.

Recycling

Throughout October the Waste Policy team continued to work with residents to educate and advise them on the recycling scheme, this was carried out via door knocking in Grove Hill, and Pallister Park. By doing this the team engaged with residents to answer any queries on the service and remind them what items should be placed in the blue lidded bin.

Greenwaste

The kerbside Greenwaste Service ceased for the winter period with the last collection on Friday 31st October. This year was another success with over 5000 tonnes of Greenwaste collected and composted.

Residents are reminded that any garden waste can be deposited at the SITA Household Waste Recycling Facility, Haverton Hill and Newham Grange Leisure Farm over the Winter months.

The Greenwaste Service is due to resume at the beginning of April 2015.

LEISURE

End of an Era

Clairville Stadium hosted the final event of its 51 year history on Thursday 23 October 2014. The 'Smile Mile' was an informal/non-competitive mile run covering 4 laps of Clairville's famous track. There was an open invitation to run in the 'Smile Mile'. The event was intended to give the many 1000s of people that have used Clairville Stadium through its 51 year history the opportunity to reminisce and share happy memories of the Stadium.

The Event attracted around 300 participants. Whether young, old, fun runner or Olympian, all shared in their happy memories of Clairville Stadium. The 'Smile Mile' was started by Byron Matthews who was present at Clairville's opening event in 1963, the run was then led off by 2 junior athletes from Middlesbrough Mandale Athletic Club. The two

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junior athletes were carrying a flag to symbolise the transition of activities from Clairville Stadium to the new Middlesbrough Sports Village. Participants in the event were later able to sign the flag in tangible recognition of the nostalgic event.

A formal presentation following the run included a display of memorabilia from Clairville’s 51 year history as well as chance to step into the future as the virtual representation of Middlesbrough Sports Village was shown on a large screen. There are plans to display artefacts from Clairville within the new facility.

Everyone who attended Clairville track in the final week of the facilities operation for a nostalgic lap or two made a donation of £2. Proceeds were distributed evenly to those charities associated with Run Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough Swimming Club

Middlesbrough Amateur Swimming Club now have a new Head coach. Tom Harforth, who was previously the assistant coach for 3 years. Tom is aiming to nurture a fresh generation of swimming stars, fronting a revamped coaching team at Middlesbrough Amateur swimming club. A newly appointed Assistant Coach Matt Cross also joins the club from Plymouth Leander Swimming Club. Matt brings with him the experience gained working under the Supervision of John Rudd who has steered a number of swimmers to International Success.

Neptune Centre

On Monday 27th October 2014 building work commenced on areas of the Neptune Centre which include a new and updated reception space incorporating the library, new reception desk and reconfiguration of access ways to the 2nd floor activity areas and gym. This work is expected to take five weeks and is currently well underway. Coupled with this is the repair work being carried out on the balance tank underneath the main swimming pool, the tank has developed a leak and repair work is underway to rectify the problem. This work is expected to take three weeks form the start date, hopefully meaning the pool should re-open on Monday 17th November 2014.

Rainbow Leisure Centre

The Rainbow Centre recently completed a modernisation and refurbishment of the first level entrance area in August 2014, which now incorporates a new look combined reception/library area with an open plan layout. In addition to this there has been an upgrade of facilities within the male and female toilets, to give visitors to the venue a more attractive and modern environment.

On Thursday 30th October 2014 the Rainbow Centre hosted a fun day event on behalf of the disabilities team which included use of the full Main Hall that had soft play and bouncy castles, arts and crafts area, disco and an indoor crazy golf area.

The Rainbow Centre is currently in the process of Quest assessment which is judged on the quality of the service we deliver. Quest is UK national benchmarking service that is used as a tool for continuous improvement. It defines industry standards and good practice and encourages ongoing development and delivery within a customer-focused management framework.

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