Miles Platting Issue 27 Summer 2014 Miles Platting What’s inside Community You Decide 2014 Spirit lives Voting Day page 3 Child Support Wednesday 25th June (3pm – 8pm) page 4 Victoria Mill Community Centre, St George’s Day Parade Lower Vickers Street page 7 We’ve had a great response to our Miles Platting Community You Decide fund for 2014 and it’s now your chance Garden News to decide who gets your vote and wins the cash! page 16 Inside you’ll fi nd an extra leafl et listing all the projects that are looking for funding, have a read and then come along to the voting day on Wednesday 25th June to cast your votes. You For more information, or to get can also see these project outlines displayed at a number of involved with the community community venues in the area (Victoria Mill Community Centre, gardens contact Amy or Issie on: St George’s Youth & Community Centre and the Adactus Housing 0161 203 2600. offi ce from now until the voting day. We’ve altered the voting rules slightly to make sure you as Miles Platting and Adactus Housing Adactus Miles Platting residents are getting your say in a fair way. gets connected. More details of voting rules can be found on page 19 of this issue. Facebook: ‘Adactus Miles Platting’. Twitter: ‘AdactusMP’. This document is available in other languages, larger text, Braille and on audio cd. miles platting spotlight Coffee Morning at the Library Since undergoing internal refurbishment in December last year, Victoria Mill Community Centre, now home to the Miles Platting Outreach Library, is attracting more residents than ever before. And to make the most of the shiny new facilities, the centre is now hosting a monthly coffee morning run by Adactus Housing in partnership with the library. The coffee mornings are held on the fi rst Wednesday of every month from 10:30am until 12pm. The idea is to try and get guest speakers down to the centre each month and so far, we have been visited by Mind Your Money (money advice service) and Macmillan Cancer Support. Please feel free to pop along to the next coffee Amy Davis, Neighbourhood Development Offi cer morning which will be held on Wednesday comments, ‘Since the improvements were made 2nd July – there’ll be free tea, coffee and lots to the inside of the centre, and now with the of biccies! If you are interested in volunteering library facilities there too, it is a lovely place to at the coffee mornings or if you have an idea sit and relax. We hope that the coffee mornings for a future guest speaker contact Amy on: might just encourage a few more people to come along, sit, chat, drink coffee and relax together!’ 0161 203 2600 Miles Platting Community Library Lower Vickers Street, Miles Platting M40 7LJ The Miles Platting Community Library’s opening times: The Miles Platting Community What else is happening Library’s opening times: at the library? Tuesday: 2.00pm – 5.00pm Thursdays 1:15 – 1:45pm (term time only) Wednesday: 10.00am – 1.00pm Tiny tots and toddler time for babies, tots and pre-schoolers with their parents and carers. Thursday: 1.00pm – 7.00pm Saturday: 10.00am – 1.00pm Thursdays 3:30 – 5:30pm Miles Better inspirational craft ideas led by artist So go on what are you waiting for, Fiona Smith. pay us a visit! 2 miles platting spotlight Community spirit is well and truly alive You may think that things have gone quiet with regards to the saving and restoration of the Ancoats Dispensary but rest assured we are working hard in the background to progress this wonderful campaign. Although our fi rst round submission for funding The Manchester Metropolitan University have was rejected in March of this year, we have now won a £46,000 Collaborative Skills Training Award re-submitted a more robust application and will and Ancoats Dispensary Trust are one of the receive the result of this in July – so not too long groups who will begin work in September with the to wait. University in research to discover how and in what In the meantime the Group have been busy way we could record particular periods of history networking with other organisations including some relating to Ancoats and the neighbourhoods close you may not have heard of, so just to give you an by. This will lead to a public exhibition showcasing update. If you want to join the Halle Community the work under the heading of ‘Creating our Future Choir that has just started at Halle St Michaels in Histories’. George Leigh Street, we will be able to put some If you are around on Sunday the 27th of July at 12 information about this on our website noon we will be having a stall at ‘Party in the Park’ www.ancoatsdispensarytrust.org.uk so you can at Phillips Park so do come and have a chat, have a get yourselves down there and sing your hearts cuppa and fi nd out how you can be part of Ancoats out. You don’t need to be able to read music and Dispensary Trust because we are going to need there are no auditions – just sheer enjoyment. lots of willing hands if we are successful this time On another note (excuse the pun!) but if there round. People who can roll up their sleeves and are any youngsters out there who love to sing or get ‘stuck in’. write their own music or both and want to join in and learn how to do it better then there is a group called ‘Brighter Sound’ based at Band on the Wall Visit our website: and they meet every Wednesday evening at 6pm www.ancoatsdispensarytrust.org.uk – 8pm. If you are between 13 years and 18 years Facebook page ‘Save Ancoats Dispensary’ and old then that’s the place for you. Let us know if it is Twitter page ‘twitdispensary’ but remember we a problem for you to get there as Brighter Sounds are still out there and won’t be going anywhere wants to encourage young people from North and for a while. East Manchester to join this group but recognize that it might not be easy for you to reach Band on Linda Carver the Wall. Co-ordinator for Ancoats Dispensary Trust If we know what the problems are that are preventing young people from joining then perhaps we could work together to sort them out. Each month they hold a showcase on a Wednesday and perform to family/friends or anyone who wants to support them. Ancoats Dispensary Trust is friends of the Halle and the Band on the Wall and we are hoping to work with them in some capacity at the Dispensary. 3 miles platting spotlight Child Support Agency/Child Maintenance Options – Important Changes Thousands of letters are to be sent to single parents in Britain informing them of changes to their child maintenance arrangements. The government wants parents to agree their child maintenance agreements “amicably” or face a charge. Child maintenance is fi nancial support that helps Direct Pay (Child Maintenance Service) and towards a child’s living costs when its parents Maintenance Direct (Child Support Agency) have separated. Under the old system many single parents used the Child Support Agency (CSA) to With Direct Pay and Maintenance Direct sort out maintenance payments, but ministers arrangements, the service managing your case announced last year the CSA would be abolished calculates child maintenance but doesn’t collect it. and replaced by Child Maintenance Options. There The paying parent makes payments directly to the are now two options available to parents. receiving parent. Collect & Pay Once the statutory service has calculated the amount, it’s up to you to agree with the other With a Collect & Pay arrangement, the service parent how and when money is paid. It’s a good managing your case will collect payments from idea to keep a record of your payments, in case the paying parent, and pass them on to the there are any problems in the future. receiving parent. Under the Government’s plans to introduce fees With Collect & Pay the Child Maintenance Service and charges in 2014, customers who choose will manage the maintenance payments and can Direct Pay will not be charged collections fees. take enforcement action if the paying parent doesn’t keep up with payments. Parents with a Child Maintenance Service case can move to Direct Pay now if both parents agree, but The Government plans to introduce fees and under the Government’s plans, from 2014 either charges for parents using the Child Maintenance parent will be able to choose Direct Pay. Service in 2014. However, paying parents may not be able to It is proposed that choose Direct Pay if they have missed payments (or not made them in full) and the receiving parent • paying parents will have to pay an additional tells the Child Maintenance Service that they want 20% collection fee on top of their usual child to use Collect & Pay and pay the 4% collection fee. maintenance amount for using the Collect & Pay service. The main difference between a Direct Pay or Maintenance Direct arrangement and a family- • receiving parents will have a 4% collection fee based arrangement is that the statutory service deducted from their usual child maintenance decides on the amount – and this means it’s amount for using the Collect & Pay service. legally binding. If the paying parent doesn’t keep The Government believes that charging both up with payments the receiving parent can ask parents to use the Child Maintenance Service will the service managing their case to take action encourage them to consider working together to to enforce payment.