(Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 23/07/2014 18:15

Public Document Pack

Customers and Corporate Directorate Linda Fisher, Acting Chief Executive Governance & Committee Services Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale, OL16 1XU

Phone: 01706 647474 Website: www.rochdale.gov.uk To: All Members of the Council Enquiries to: Mark Hardman e-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 01706 924704 Date: 15 th July 2014

Dear Councillor,

COUNCIL

You are requested to attend the meeting of Council to be held in the Council Chamber at Rochdale Town Hall on Wednesday, 23 rd July 2014 at 6.15 pm.

Deadlines for submissions in respect of this meeting are as follows –

Wednesday before Council Noon Motion pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 11. (16 th July 2014) Notification of question at Council by a resident or ratepayer of the Borough.

Tuesday before Council Noon Notification of questions to representatives on Joint (22 nd July 2014) Authorities and Outside Bodies and to Portfolio Holders and Committee Chairs. Notification of amendments to proposals and recommendations being submitted to Council.

Notifications should be forwarded to Mark Hardman and Peter Thompson, on behalf of the Acting Chief Executive.

The agenda and supporting papers are attached.

If you require advice on any agenda item involving a possible Declaration of Interest which could affect your right to speak and/or vote, please contact staff in the Governance and Committee Services Team at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.

Yours Faithfully

Linda Fisher Acting Chief Executive

Rochdale Borough Council

COUNCIL

Wednesday, 23 July 2014 at 6.15 pm

Council Chamber - Town Hall, Rochdale, OL16 1AB

A G E N D A

Apologies for Absence 1. Mayor's Annoucements 2. Declarations of Interest 1 - 3 Members must indicate at this stage any items on the agenda in which they must declare an interest. Members must verbally give notice of their interest at the meeting and complete the form attached with this agenda.

Members are also advised to take advice with regard to any matter where there is potential bias or predetermination in any business to be considered at the meeting and whether they should take part in decision making at the meeting.

Members are reminded that, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and the Council's adopted Code of Conduct, they must declare the nature of any discloseable pecuniary interest; personal interest and/or prejudicial interest required of them and, in the case of any discloseable pecuniary interest or prejudicial interest, withdraw from the meeting during consideration of the item, unless permitted otherwise within the Code of Conduct. 3. League of Young Voters - Presentation to Council 4. Armed Forces - presentation 5. Minutes 4 - 20 To authorise the signing of the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 4 th June 2014. 6. Public Questions and Petitions To receive petitions and questions from members of the public, where these have been received in accordance with the Petitions Scheme and/or Council Procedure Rules. 7. Notices of Motion To consider Motions submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11. 8. Local Policy on Political Groups Report to follow.

9. Establishment of a New New Political Group on the Council 21 - 22 10. Review of Political Balance 23 - 27 11. Appointment to Committees, Sub-Committees and Joint 28 - 37 Committees 2014/15 12. Development Consent Order Application - Delegation 38 - 40 Arrangement 13. James Handley Bequest 41 - 43 14. Members' Quarterly Reports To receive quarterly reports from Members of the Cabinet, Chairs of Township Committees and Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny Committees and to permit questions from Members of the Council. (a) The Leader of the Council (44 – 49)

(b) The Cabinet Member for Finance (50 – 53)

(d) The Cabinet Member for Public Health and Regulation (55 – 61)

(e) The Cabinet Member for Community, Culture and Tourism (62 – 67)

(f) The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Neighbourhoods (68 - 72) (g) The Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families (73 – 77)

(h) The Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment (78 – 82)

(i) The Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Employment (83 – 86)

(j) The Chair of Heywood Township Committee (87 – 88)

(k) The Chair of Middleton Township Committee (89 – 90)

(l) The Chair of Pennines Township Committee (91 – 93)

(m) The Chair of Rochdale Township Committee (94 – 97)

(n) The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (98 – 99)

15. Representatives on Joint Authorities and Outside Bodies

To permit questions to representatives on any Joint Authority or Outside Body, where received. (a) Report of the Representative to the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (100 – 101) (b) Report of the Representative to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority (102 – 105) (c) Report of the Representative to Transport for Greater Manchester (106 – 107) (d) Report of the Representative to the Armed/Reserve Forces (108 -111)

Page 1 Page

Agenda Item 2

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CODE OF CONDUCT ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL ON 25 TH JULY 2012, MEMBERS ARE REQUIRED TO DECLARE DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS, PERSONAL INTERESTS AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS (LISTED ON THEIR REGISTER OF INTERESTS).

MEMBERS SHOULD REFER TO THE CODE OF CONDUCT AND/OR THE MONITORING OFFICER AND/OR THEIR DECLARATION FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE

MEETING AND DATE Indicate either Nature of Interest • Discloseable Pecuniary Interest OR ……………………………. • Personal Interest OR • Personal and Prejudicial interest Agenda item

Page 2 Page

Signed………………………………………………………………………………………… Please print name…………………………………………………………………………………………..

IF A MEMBER HAS A DISCLOSEABLE PECUNIARY INTEREST THAT HAS NOT BEEN INCLUDED ON THEIR REGISTER SUBMISSION, THEY ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO UPDATE THEIR REGISTER ENTRY WITHIN 28 DAYS. FAILURE TO PROVIDE PROPER NOTIFICATION IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.

THIS FORM, INCLUDING ‘NIL’ ENTRIES, MUST BE GIVEN TO THE GOVERNANCE AND COMMITTEE OFFICER NO LATER THAN AT THE END OF THE MEETING Summary of discloseable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests.

Disclosable pecuniary interests A ‘disclosable pecuniary interest’ is an interest of yourself, or of your partner if you are aware of your partner's interest, within the descriptions set out in the table below. "Partner" means a spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom you are living as husband or wife, or a person with whom you are living as if you are civil partners.

Subject Description Employment, office, Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit trade, profession or or gain vocation Sponsorship Any payment or provision of any other financial benefit (other than from the Council) made or provided within the 12 month period prior to notification of the interest in respect of any expenses incurred by you in carrying out duties as a member, or towards your election expenses. Contracts Any contract made between you or your partner (or a body in which you or your partner has a beneficial interest) and the Council - (a) under which goods or services are to be provided or works are to be executed: and (b) which has not been fully discharged. Land Any beneficial interest in land which is within the area of the Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council. Licences Any licence (alone or jointly with others) to occupy land in the area of the Borough for a month or longer. Corporate Tenancies Any tenancy where (to your knowledge) - (a) the landlord is the Council: and (b) the tenant is a body in which you or your partner has a beneficial interest. Securities Any beneficial interest in securities of a body where - (a) that body (to your knowledge) has a place of business or land in the area of the Borough; and (b) either – (i) the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body; or (ii) if the share capital of that body is of more than one class, the total nominal value of the shares of any one class in which you or your partner has a beneficial interest exceeds one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that class.

Personal Interests You have a personal interest in any business of the authority where it relates to or is likely to affect - (a) any body of which you are in a position of general control or management and to which you are appointed or nominated by your authority; (b) any body - (i) exercising functions of a public nature; (ii) directed to charitable purposes; or (iii) one of whose principal purposes includes the influence of public opinion or policy (including any political party or trade union), of which you are in a position of general control or management; (c) the interests of any person from whom you have received a gift or hospitality with an estimated value of at least £25.

Prejudicial Interests Where you have a personal interest you also have a prejudicial interest in that business where the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice your judgement of the public interest and where that business - (a) Affects your financial position or the financial position of a person or body described above; or (b) Relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to you or any person or body described above.

MEMBERS ARE ADVISED TO REFER TO THE FULL DESCRIPTIONS CONTAINED IN THE COUNCIL’S CODE OF CONDUCT ADOPTED ON 25 TH JULY 2012. Page 3 Agenda Item 5 Public Document Pack

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

MINUTES OF MEETING Wednesday, 4 th June 2014

PRESENT: The Mayor (Councillor Rush) (in the Chair); Councillors Farooq Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shefali Farooq Ahmed, Daalat Ali, Sultan Ali, Bell, Beswick, Bethell, Cecile Biant, Surinder Biant, Blundell, Boriss, Brett, Burke, Butterworth, Clegg, Danczuk, Dearnley, Duckworth, Dutton, Neil Emmott, Susan Emmott, Emsley, Farnell, Furlong, James Gartside, Jane Gartside, Godson, Hartley, Heakin, Holly, Hornby, Hussain, Joinson, Lambert, Linden, Martin, McCarthy, Mir, Neilson, Nickson, O'Neill, O'Rourke, Rashid, Robinson, Rodgers, Rush, Sheerin, Stott, Sullivan, Wardle, West, Williams, Winkler, Zaheer and Zaman

OFFICERS : L. Fisher (Acting Chief Executive), D. Sharp, A. Leonard and S. Walter- Browne (Customer and Corporate Directorate)

Apologies for Absence: Councillors Shakil Ahmed, Darnbrough, Greenall and Murphy

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 1 There were no declarations of interest

ELECTION OF MAYOR 2 On the Motion of Councillor Susan Emmott, seconded by Councillor Dearnley and supported by Councillor Neil Emmott, it was decided that Councillor Wardle be elected Mayor for the ensuing Municipal Year.

DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE 3 Councillor Wardle signed the Declaration of Office and took the Chair.

Councillor Wardle, the Mayor, took the Chair.

APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY MAYOR 4 Councillor Neil Emmott declared an interest in this item and left the Chamber for the consideration of the item.

On the Motion of Councillor Farnell, seconded by Councillor Dearnley and supported by Councillor Brett, it was decided that Councillor Surinder Biant be appointed as Deputy Mayor for the ensuing Municipal Year.

MINUTES 5 DECIDED – That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 2nd April 2014 were approved as a correct record.

LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS, 22ND MAY 2014 6 The results of the local elections held on 22 nd May 2014 were reported –

Page 4

Elected candidates are shown in bold Ward No. 1 Healey BAILEY LIB DEM 214 COATS GREEN 146 DURRANT CON 877 HEAKIN LAB 1027 KERSHAW UKIP 723 Rejected 13 Total Electorate 7964 Percentage Poll 37.7%

Ward No. 2 Kingsway ALI LAB 1934 CLAYTON LIB DEM 324 HOLLINRAKE GREEN 355 KERSHAW ` CON 303 Rejected 19 Total Electorate 8424 Percentage Poll 34.8%

Ward No. 3 Milkstone & Deeplish BIBI IND 137 EDLER RESPECT 132 MAHMOOD CON 438 WESTERMAN UKIP 192 WHARTON LIB DEM 130 ZAHEER LAB 2111 Rejected 20 Total Electorate 7637 Percentage Poll 41.4%

Ward No. 4 Balderstone & Kirkholt ANSLOW UKIP 669 NICKSON LAB 1088 SWARBRICK LIB DEM 183 TAYLOR CON 262 Rejected 18 Total Electorate 7300 Percentage Poll 30.4%

Ward No. 5 Castleton CROSSLEY CON 459 DAVISON IND 716 RASHID LAB 1120 SMITH LIB DEM 269 Rejected 29 Total Electorate 7785 Percentage Poll 33.3%

Page 5

Ward No. 6 Spotland & Falinge BIANT LAB 1316 FAULKNER IND 567 KHAN CON 303 RAWSTRON LIB DEM 197 SINGLETON UKIP 635 Rejected 16 Total Electorate 7980 Percentage Poll 38.0%

Ward No. 7 Central Rochdale ALI, SAJAD CON 193 ALI, SULTAN LAB 2509 JONES LIB DEM 228 LITTLEWOOD IND 224 Rejected 38 Total Electorate 7354 Percentage Poll 43.4%

Ward No. 8 Bamford CLEGG LIB DEM 438 DUCKWORTH CON 1644 MIAH LAB 755 Rejected 43 Total Electorate 7717 Percentage Poll 37.3%

Ward No. 9 Smallbridge & Firgrove ASIM LIB DEM 345 BLUNDELL LAB 1717 BRANTON CON 471 Rejected 62 Total Electorate 8068 Percentage Poll 32.2%

Ward No. 10 Norden ANDERSON LIB DEM 178 ANDREWS GREEN 131 BENNETT LAB 637 HOLLY CON 1117 SIMPSON UKIP 641 Rejected 8 Total Electorate 7779 Percentage Poll 34.9%

Page 6

Ward No. 11 West Heywood HOWARD CON 248 MALCOLM LIB DEM 97 MCCARTHY LAB 1029 MITCHELL UKIP 1006 Rejected 7 Total Electorate 8572 Percentage Poll 27.8%

Ward No. 12 North Heywood HOLT CON 125 HUMPHREYS UKIP 550 MEREDITH LAB 899 RUSH LIB DEM 998 Rejected 8 Total Electorate 7546 Percentage Poll 34.2%

Ward No. 13 Hopwood Hall BIRCHENOUGH CON 315 FOSTER UKIP 769 MACSPARRAN LIB DEM 97 WARDLE LAB 1275 Rejected 8 Total Electorate 8390 Percentage Poll 29.4%

Ward No. 14 E ast Middleton COOPER LIB DEM 112 FITZSIMONS CON 365 GARDNER UKIP 749 WEST LAB 1092 Rejected 17 Total Electorate 7851 Percentage Poll 29.7%

Ward No. 15 South Middleton BELL LAB 1226 BRAIDEN CON 677 JACKSON GREEN 150 JAYES LIB DEM 89 PAGE UKIP 781 Rejected 6 Total Electorate 7970 Percentage Poll 36.8%

Page 7 Ward No. 16 West Middleton COOPER LIB DEM 126 EMMOTT LAB 1167 FERRARI CON 174 SEVILLE UKIP 855 Rejected 8 Total Electorate 8626 Percentage Poll 27.0%

Ward No. 17 North Middleton BRAIDEN CON 273 FURLONG LAB 851 KENWORTHY UKIP 779 WHITAKER IND 129 WILKINS LIB DEM 55 Rejected 5 Total Electorate 7849 Percentage Poll 26.7%

Ward No. 18 Littleborough Lakeside AADAHL UKIP 763 COATS GREEN 120 MILLS CON 773 EMSLEY LAB 1015 SWIFT LIB DEM 86 Rejected 8 Total Electorate 7719 Percentage Poll 35.8%

Ward No. 19 Milnrow & Newhey ANDREWS GREEN 291 BUTTERWORTH LAB 1116 CONBOY CON 564 KELLY LIB DEM 1103 Rejected 20 Total Electorate 7897 Percentage Poll 39.2%

Ward No. 20 Wardle & West Littleborough BAMFORD LIB DEM 113 CLEGG CON 1458 FINLAY LAB 549 THOMAS GREEN 283 Rejected 13 Total Electorate 7492 Percentage Poll 32.2%

Borough totals : Total number Electorate of votes 157920 53713

Page 8 POLITICAL GROUPS AND GROUP LEADERS 7 The Council was advised that Councillor Farnell would be the Leader of the Labour Group and Councillor Dearnley would be the Leader of the Conservative Group.

LEADER OF THE COUNCIL 8 The Mayor informed the Council that Councillor Lambert had submitted his resignation as the Leader of the Council and the Annual Meeting of the Council was now required to elect a new Leader for a period of up to four years.

DECIDED – That Councillor Farnell be appointed as Leader of the Council for a period of up to four years from 4 th June 2014 and ending on the day when the Council holds its first annual meeting after the Leader’s normal date of retirement as a Councillor, subject to the provisions as set out within paragraph 3.2 to the submitted report.

NOTIFICATION OF THE DEPUTY LEADER, THE CABINET AND ASSISTANTS TO CABINET MEMBERS, ALLOCATION OF PORTFOLIOS TO CABINET MEMBERS, AND DETERMINATION OF THE DELEGATION OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS 2014/15 9 The Leader of the Council announced the appointment of Councillor Williams as the Deputy Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Council announced the following determination of Portfolios and the appointment of the Cabinet -

Portfolio Portfolio Assistant to Holder/Cabinet Portfolio Holder Member Leader of the Council and Lead for Councillor Farnell Assistant to the Regeneration, communications and Leader – Councillor Strategic Projects including the Nickson relationship with Rochdale Development Agency Assistant Portfolio Holder (Regeneration) – Councillor Blundell Finance – covering finance, Councillor Brett Councillor Rashid procurement and welfare reform Adult Care – covering Adult Care and Councillor Iftikhar Councillor Sheerin vulnerable adults services Ahmed Public Health and Regulation – Councillor Cecile Councillor Zaheer covering public health, public protection, Biant planning, coroners and registrars services and regulatory matters Community, Culture and Tourism - Councillor Daalat Councillor Emsley covering community cohesion and Ali equalities, community safety and the relationship with Link4Life Corporate Services and Councillor Neil Councillor Heakin Neighbourhoods - covering Legal and Emmott Democratic Services, Human Resources and payroll, performance and

Page 9 transformation, Townships, IT and the relationship with the voluntary sector Children Schools and Families - Councillor Martin Councillor Surinder covering Children’s Services, including Biant schools, Youth Service and Children’s Social Care Services Housing and Environment – covering Councillor Councillor Danczuk strategic housing, Highways, Property Beswick and Operational Services (including countryside and street services, and facilities management) and with responsibility for waste services issues Business, Skills and Employment - Councillor Councillor Furlong covering public sector reform, training Williams and apprenticeships

The Leader of the Council reaffirmed the existing arrangements for joint arrangements and for the delegation of executive functions.

DECIDED – That the appointments by the Leader of the Council of the Deputy Leader of the Council and of the Cabinet; of the determination of Portfolios; and the re-affirmation of joint and executive arrangements, be noted.

APPOINTMENT OF OPPOSITION PORTFOLIO/SHADOW SPOKESPERSONS 2014/15 10 DECIDED - That the appointments to the posts of Opposition/Shadow Portfolio Spokespersons for 2014/5 be as follows:-

· Finance – Councillor Clegg · Adult Care – Councillor Jane Gartside · Public Health and Regulation – Councillor Darnbrough · Community, Culture and Tourism – Councillor Stott · Corporate Services and Neighbourhoods - Councillor Neilson · Children Schools and Families – Councillor Sullivan · Housing and Environment – Councillor Winkler · Business, Skills and Employment – Councillor James Gartside

APPOINTMENT OF TOWNSHIP COMMITTEES 2014/15 11 Council considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive inviting appointments to the Township Committees.

DECIDED – That (1) the Heywood, Pennines and Rochdale Township Committees comprise all the Members whose Wards are partly or wholly within the respective Township areas; (2) the Middleton Township Committee comprise all elected members from the Hopwood Hall, East Middleton, South Middleton, West Middleton and North Middleton Wards; (3) appointments to Township Sub-Committees, Township Working Parties, Partnership Arrangements and local Outside Bodies be made at the first meeting of the appropriate Township Committee; (4) Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Township Committees and Township Sub-Committees be appointed at the first meeting of the appropriate Township Committee.

Page 10 POLITICAL BALANCE ON COMMITTEES 2014/15 12 The Deputy Chief Executive reported on the provisions of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 as they relate to the composition of Committees and Sub-Committees, presented a review of the political balance requirements and sought agreement as to the nomination arrangements for the political groups to nominate for appointments on Committees and Sub-Committees for the 2014/5 Municipal Year.

DECIDED – That (1) the political balance allocation for 2014/15 be noted; (2) those Committees and Sub-Committees with a membership of 3 will be appointed on the basis of two members from the Labour Group and one member from the Conservative Group, or as may be determined by the Deputy Chief Executive in exceptional circumstances looking to achieve political balance over time; (3) the Standards Committee be appointed on the basis as set out at paragraph 3.6 to the submitted report.

APPOINTMENTS TO COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES AND JOINT COMMITTEES 2014/15 13 The Deputy Chief Executive invited consideration of revisions to the Council’s decision making arrangements and the appointment of Committees, Sub- Committees, Joint Committees and related bodies, including substitute members, for 2014/15.

DECIDED – That (1) Council confirms the Committee arrangements for 2014/15, including (i) the disestablishment and re-allocation of functions of the Audit and Safeguarding Committee as set out in paragraph 3.4 to the submitted report; (ii) the establishment and functions of the Audit and Risk Management Committee as set out in paragraph 3.5 to the submitted report; (iii) the addition to the functions of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee as set out in paragraph 3.6 to the submitted report; (iv) the amendment to the terms of reference of the Charitable Trustee Committee as set out in paragraph 3.7 to the submitted report; (v) the disestablishment and re-allocation of functions of the Health and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee as set out at paragraph 3.8 to the submitted report; (vi) the addition of functions to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as set out at paragraph 3.9 to the submitted report; (vii) the establishment and functions of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee as set out in paragraph 3.10 to the submitted report; (viii) the establishment and functions of the Employment and Equalities Committee following a review of the terms of reference of the Employment Committee, now disestablished, as set out in paragraph 3.11 to the submitted report; and as presented within Appendices 1 and 2 to the submitted report; (2) Council confirms, as necessary, the establishment of the Joint Committee for Strategic Procurement as set out at paragraph 3.17 and Appendix 2 to the submitted report; (3) Council confirms the revised Terms of Reference and the renaming of the Greater Manchester Joint Health Scrutiny Panel to the Greater Manchester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, as set out at paragraph 3.19 and Appendix 3 to the report, and approves the Greater Manchester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee for the purposes of the Healthier Together consultation;

Page 11 (4) the appointment of Committees, Sub-Committees and Joint Committees for 2013/14, including Chairs, Vice-Chairs and substitute members where appropriate, be as follows –

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors Clegg and Holly Labour Group (9): Councillors Bethell, Boriss, Susan Emmott, Linden, O’Neill, O’Rourke, Rashid, Martin Rodgers, Zaheer Non-Elected Voting Members (voting rights in relation to education decisions only): Church Representatives Dr Cosgrove, Rev Dr Mwailu and Rev M Wall; Parent Governor Representatives (Two vacancies)

Chair – Councillor Holly Vice Chair – Councillor Linden

Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors Darnbrough and Stott Labour Group (9): Councillors Emsley, Greenall, Hartley, Nickson, Robinson, Martin Rodgers, Zaheer, Zaman and one Labour member to be confirmed

Chair – Councillor Robinson Vice Chair – Councillor Stott

Audit and Risk Management Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors James Gartside and Jane Gartside Labour Group (9) Councillors Butterworth, Dutton, Susan Emmott, Heakin, O’Rourke, Rashid and one Labour member to be confirmed Chair – Councillor O’Rourke Vice Chair – Councillor Butterworth

Licensing and Regulatory Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors Stott and Sullivan Labour Group (8) Councillors Shakil Ahmed, Bell, Surinder Biant, Susan Emmott, Hartley, O’Neill, Sheerin and West

Chair – Councillor Susan Emmott Vice Chair – Councillor Bell

Licensing Sub-Committee

Comprises three Members from the full membership of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee to be appointed on the basis as detailed in the Political Balance report at Item 12. Chair to be appointed at the meeting of the Sub- Committee

Employment Committee

Conservative Group (1) Councillor Clegg Labour Group (6) Councillors Greenall, Linden, Murphy, O’Neill, Robinson and West

Page 12

Chair – Councillor Murphy Vice Chair – Councillor Greenall

Charitable Trustee Committee

Conservative Group (1) Councillor Neilson Labour Group (4) Councillors Cecile Biant, Brett, O’Neill and Joinson

Chair and Vice Chair to be appointed at the first meeting of the Committee

Standards Committee

Conservative Group (1) Councillor Winkler Labour Group (6) Councillors Daalat Ali, Beswick, Surinder Biant, Emsley, Joinson and Murphy Independent Persons (non-voting): Mr. A Underdown and Ms. A Taylor

Chair and Vice Chair to be elected members and appointed at the first meeting of the Committee

Appeals Committee

A Panel comprising three Members of Council on the basis as detailed on the Political Balance Report and who have undertaken appropriate training. Chair to be appointed at the meeting. (Grading Appeal Committees shall not include Members of the Employment Committee)

Disputes Committee

A Panel comprising seven Members of Council who have received the appropriate training (political balance to apply)

Grievance Appeal Committee

A Panel comprising three Members of Council who have received the appropriate training (political balance to apply) and three Trade Union representatives.

Health and Wellbeing Board

• Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Public Health • Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Children, Schools and Families • Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Adult Care • Leader of the Conservative Group# • Chief Executive • the Director of Adult Social Services for the local authority* • the Director of Children's Services for the local authority* • the Director of Public Health for the local authority* • a representative of the local Healthwatch organisation for the Borough • a representative of each relevant Clinical Commissioning Group • such other persons, or representatives of such other persons, as the Board or the local authority after consulting the Board thinks appropriate.

Page 13

Statutory requirement – at least one elected member; the Directors of Adult Social Services, Children's Services and Public Health for the local authority; at least one representative of the Clinical Commissioning Group (currently four positions held by Dr Chris Duffy; Dr Musharaff Hussain, Lesley Mort and Dr Richard Verity; representative of Healthwatch (currently Vicki Devonport); and (for certain business) representative of Public Health England (currently Rob Bellingham)

SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS 2014/15

Conservative Group

Overview & Scrutiny Committee (2) – Councillors Dearnley and Neilson Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (2) – Councillors Jane Gartside and Sullivan Licensing & Regulatory Committee (2) – Councillors James Gartside and Winkler Employment Committee (1) – Councillor Stott Charitable Trustee Committee (1) – Councillor Clegg

Labour Group

Overview & Scrutiny Committee (3) Councillors Blundell, Danczuk and Wardle, Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (3) Councillors Hartley, Linden and McCarthy Licensing & Regulatory Committee (3) Councillors Butterworth, Godson and Linden Employment Committee (3) Councillors Beswick, Brett and Farnell Charitable Trustee Committee (3) Councillors Nickson and Sheerin

Lead Member for the Armed Forces, Armed Forces Community Covenant

Councillor McCarthy

Joint Scrutiny Committee for Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust

Councillors Iftikhar Ahmed, Surinder Biant and Councillor Darnbrough (substitute – Councillor Rodgers)

Joint Scrutiny Committee for Pennine Care (Mental Health) Trust

Councillors Martin Rodgers, Robinson and Councillor Jane Gartside

Joint Committee for Strategic Procurement - Councillor Brett

Greater Manchester Combined Authority - Leader of the Council (Substitute – Councillor Williams)

AGMA Executive Board * - Leader of the Council (Two substitutes (in order) – Councillors Williams and Brett)

Police and Crime Panel - Leader of the Council

Page 14 Police and Crime Steering Group - Portfolio Holder with responsibility for crime and disorder issues - Councillor Daalat Ali

Transport for Greater Manchester Committee - Councillors Philip Burke, Shakil Ahmed and Duckworth

Greater Manchester Health Scrutiny Committee - Councillor Robinson, substitute Councillor Stott

Interim Greater Manchester Health and Wellbeing Board - Nomination only - Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Health, Councillor Cecile Biant

Planning and Housing - Nomination only - Councillor Beswick

GMCA/AGMA Scrutiny Pool - Councillors Godson, Linden and Holly

GMCA/AGMA Audit Committee - Nomination only – Councillor O’Rourke

AGMA Statutory Functions Committee - Councillor Daalat Ali (Substitute – Councillor Williams)

NW European Programmes Local Management Committee - Nomination only – Leader or Deputy Leader

NW Regional Flood and Coastal Committee - Nomination only – Portfolio Holder with responsibility for flood risk - Councillor Beswick

GM Pensions Fund Management Panel - Councillor Brett

AGMA Asylum Seekers Executive Board - Nomination only - Councillor Hussain

(5) Council delegates to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the relevant Group Leader, the power to make any amendments or additions in relation to the above appointments,

APPOINTMENT TO OTHER COUNCIL BODIES 2014/15 14 The Deputy Chief Executive invited consideration of appointments to a number of Council bodies.

DECIDED – That (1) appointments be made to various Council bodies as follows:-

Joint Consultative Committee Conservative Group (1): Councillor Clegg Labour Group (6): Councillors Brett, Greenall, Linden, Murphy, Sheerin, West

Central Health, Safety & Welfare Committee Conservative Group (1): Councillor Clegg Labour Group (4): Councillors Cecile Biant, Emsley, Murphy, O’Neill

Voluntary Sector Partnership • Party Leaders: Councillors Farnell and Dearnley • Members: Councillors Neil Emmott and Conservative Member to be confirmed

Page 15 • Substitutes: Councillors Heakin and Conservative Member to be confirmed

Corporate Parenting Board Specified membership • Portfolio Holder for Children Schools and Families (Chair) • Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Adults • Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Housing • One Member from each of the opposition group o Conservative Group: Councillor Sullivan Non-elected membership o Senior officers from across Council Services o Senior officers from across non-Council services o Involvement of Young People o Children’s Rights Officer representing younger children in care (via Listen Up/Children in Care Group)

Borough Regeneration Steering Group Conservative Group (2): Councillors Dearnley and Winkler Labour Group (9): Councillors Blundell, Butterworth, Dutton, Farnell, Linden, O’Rourke, West, Williams, Zaheer

Democratic Structure Member Working Group and Member Training and Development Steering Group Conservative Group (1): Councillor James Gartside Labour Group (6): Councillors Daalat Ali, Brett, Neil Emmott, Farnell, Mir, O’Rourke

Social Services Complaints Review Panel: Cabinet Members with responsibility for Health and Social Care and for Children, Schools and Families, as appropriate, (or their nominees)

Adoption Panel Councillor Sullivan

Fostering Panel Councillor Greenall

(2) Council delegates to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the relevant Group Leader, the power to make any amendments or additions in relation to the above appointments.

APPOINTMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES TO SERVE ON GREATER MANCHESTER JOINT AUTHORITIES 2014/15 15 The Deputy Chief Executive sought appointment of members to serve on the Greater Manchester Joint Authorities.

DECIDED – That (1) the appointments to the Greater Manchester Joint Authorities 2012/13 be as follows – o Fire and Rescue Authority: Councillors O’Neill and Mir o Waste Disposal and Regulation Authority: Councillors Zaman and Linden the first named member to each Authority being nominated to answer questions at Council;

Page 16 (2) Council delegates to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the relevant Group Leader, the power to make any amendments or additions in relation to the above appointments.

APPOINTMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES TO SERVE ON OUTSIDE BODIES 16 The Deputy Chief Executive sought appointment of representatives to serve on Boards, partner organisations, management committees, and other external bodies for 2014/15.

DECIDED – That (1) Council delegates to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the relevant Group Leader, the power to make any amendments or additions in relation to appointments; (2) the following appointments be made:-

Local Government Association General Assembly: (4) Councillors Brett, Farnell, Williams and Conservative Member to be confirmed

LGA Urban Commission: (2) * Councillors Farnell and Dearnley

LGA Rural Commission: (1) Councillor Williams

Denehurst Park (Rochdale) Ltd: (2)* Councillors Brett and O’Neill

Manchester Airport Group: (1) Councillor Farnell (substitute – Councillor Williams)

Rochdale Development Agency: (2) * Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to be Directors of the Company

Healey Dell Joint Management Committee: (3) Councillors Heakin, Neilson and O’Neill

Manchester Area Pollution Advisory Council: (2) Councillors Linden and Dutton

East Lancashire Railway Trust: (3) Councillors Sheerin (two further appointments to be made by Heywood Township Committee)

GMPTA Ring & Ride Steering Group: (1) Councillor Robinson

Rochdale Town Centre Management Company: (3) Councillors Farnell and Dearnley and the Chair of Rochdale Township Committee

Heritage Trust for the North West: (1) Councillor West

Groundwork Trust for Rochdale and Oldham: (2) Councillors Rodgers and Stott

Rochdale Canal Trust: (2) * Councillor Brett and Chief Executive (plus substitutes Councillor Nickson and Director for Economy & Environment)

Rochdale Shopmobility Executive Committee: (2) Councillors Brett and Darnbrough

North West Regional Association of Education Authorities: Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children Schools and Families.

Page 17

University of Salford Court: (1) Councillor Martin

DVAW Inter-Agency Working Party: (1) Councillor Beswick

North West Local Authorities Employers Organisation: (2) Chair and Vice- Chair of Employment Committee.

Rochdale Community Legal Service Partnership): (2) Councillors Beswick and one nomination from Conservative Group

Reserve Forces and Cadets Association (1) Councillor McCarthy

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Board of Directors (2) * Councillors Blundell and Farnell

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Board Representative Committee (2) – Councillor Susan Emmott and Sultan Ali

Board of the Leisure Trust (Link4Life) (3) - Councillors Emsley, Sheerin and Holly

Rochdale Chamber of Commerce Local Council: (1) Councillor Williams

Rochdale Borough Multi-Agency Racial Harassment Forum: (1) Councillor Zaman

The Joint Committee of England and Wales for the Civil Enforcement of Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside (formerly the National Parking Service Adjudication Service – Joint Committee): (1) Councillor Cecile Biant

Unique Enterprise Centre: (1) Leader of the Council

Member Champion for Regulatory Services: (1) Councillor Cecile Biant

Pennines Prospects Board: (1) Councillor Hussain

Partnerships -

Local Public Service Board – Leader of the Council

Economic Partnership – Leader of the Council

Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership – relevant Portfolio Holder, assistant to the Cabinet Member and opposition Portfolio Holders to serve on the Partnership

Children & Young People’s Partnership - Relevant Portfolio Holder, assistant to the Cabinet Member and opposition Portfolio Holders to serve on the Partnership

Rochdale Housing Initiative - Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing

Page 18 CALENDAR OF MEETINGS 2014/15 17 The Deputy Chief Executive sought the agreement of the Council to a revised calendar of meetings for 2014/15 taking account of changes to the decision making arrangements agreed by the Council.

DECIDED – That the revised calendar of meetings 2014/15 be agreed.

COUNCIL CONSTITUTION 18 The Deputy Chief Executive asked the Council to consider re-affirming the Council Constitution, including arrangements for the discharge and delegation of non-executive functions and the Schemes of Delegation for Officers, Township Committees and Development Control as adopted by the Council on 25 th July 2001 and as amended subsequently by the Council.

DECIDED – That (1) the Council re-affirms the Council Constitution, including joint arrangements and arrangements for the discharge and delegation of non- executive functions and the Schemes of Delegation for Officers, Township Committees and Development Control as adopted by the Council on 25 th July 2001 and as amended subsequently. (2) the Council notes the earlier determination by the Leader of the Council of executive arrangements, including joint arrangements, included in the Council Constitution and Schemes of Delegation as adopted by the Council on 25 th July 2001 and as amended subsequently. (3) it be noted that the Deputy Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer is authorised to make consequential amendments to the Constitution arising from the proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Council.

RECRUITMENT OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE/HEAD OF PAID SERVICE 19 The Acting Chief Executive declared an interest in this item and left the Chamber for consideration of the item.

A report was presented seeking approval from the Council to the appointment of a Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service in accordance with the requirements of Section 4 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

DECIDED – That (1) approval be given to fill the position of Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service as detailed within the submitted report and to advertise the position externally within the appropriate media; (2) the Appointment Committee be delegated authority to finalise and agree all details of the recruitment and selection process and to undertake the recruitment in accordance with Parts 3 and 4I of the Council’s Constitution and to make recommendation of the selected candidate to Council; (3) the post be remunerated in accordance with the Council’s Pay Policy Statement as approved by the Council at the meeting held on 27th February 2014 and as detailed within paragraph 3.7 of the submitted report; (4) the overall timescales for the process, as proposed within paragraph 3.13 of the submitted report, be noted; (5) Council approves the proposed appointment in respect of the statutory position of Monitoring Officer as detailed within paragraph 3.14 of the submitted report; (6) the engagement of the North West Employers Organisation (NWEO) to provide professional assistance in the recruitment process to the Appointment Committee be agreed, the terms of the engagement, noting the financial implications, and the involvement of any other facilitators to be delegated to the Head of Human Resources in consultation with the Leader of

Page 19 the Council, the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Finance and the Director of Finance; (7) the Head of Human Resources be granted delegated authority to resolve the details of the appointment process and conclude the appointment as necessary, ensuring that this is implemented in accordance with the decisions of the Council and of the Appointment Committee, and with the Council’s Constitution; (8) the Acting Chief Executive, in consultation with the Group Leaders, be authorised to make and confirm the appointment of Officers to Boards, Directorships etc as may be required during the interim period.

STANDARDS ANNUAL REPORT 20 The Council considered a report from the Standards Committee updating on matters considered by the Monitoring Officer in the period since April 2013 and reporting on a decision of the Standards Sub-Committee at a meeting held on 12 th August 2013, as required by that Sub-Committee within its determination.

DECIDED – That the report be noted.

Page 20 Agenda Item 9

Subject : Establishment of a New Political Group Status: For Publication on the Council Report to: Council Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Report of: Acting Chief Executive Author : Mark Hardman

Author Email: [email protected] Tel: Tel: 01706924704

Comments from Statutory Officers: Key Decision: Not applicable

1 Purpose of Report

1.1 To report on the provisions of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 as they relate to the establishment of political groups on the Council.

2 Recommendations

2.1 Council note the establishment of a new political group on the Council, Rochdale First Group and the appointment of Councillor Shefali Farooq Ahmed as Leader of that Group;

Reason for recommendation

2. The establishment of political groups on the Council is covered by statutory rules, and these rules extend to the appointment of Committees and Sub-Committees; a statutory review of political proportionality on such bodies has therefore been triggered.

3 Background

3.1 Establishment of a new Political Group on the Council Following receipt of a notice by the Acting Chief Executive on 16 th June 2014 providing details as required by s8 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 (the Regulations), the Rochdale First Group became a constituted political group on the Council with effect from that date. The Leader of the Group was specified as Councillor Shefali Farooq Ahmed.

3.2 As a consequence, the Council’s political balance became Labour 46; Conservative 11; Rochdale First 2; Liberal Democrat Group 1. In accordance with the s17 of the Regulations the Council is now required to review the allocations of seats on Committees required to be appointed on the basis of political balance; this review is undertaken in a further report on the agenda for this meeting of the Council.

Page 21 Alternatives considered

None, the report presents a statutory position.

4 Financial Implications

4.1 Not applicable

5 Legal Implications

5.1 The report addresses the requirements of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 as they relate to the establishment of political groups on the Council.

6 Personnel Implications

6.1 Not applicable

7 Corporate Priorities

7.1 Not applicable

8. Risk Assessment Implications

8.1 None identified.

9. Equalities Impacts

9.1 Workforce Equality Impacts Assessment

There are no workforce equality issues arising from this report.

9.2 Equality/Community Impact Assessments

There are no equality/community issues arising from this report.

There are no background papers to this report.

Page 22 Agenda Item 10

Subject: Review of Political Balance Status: For Publication

Report to : Council Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Report of: Monitoring Officer Author : Mark Hardman

Author Email: [email protected] Tel: Tel: 01706924704

Comments from Statutory Yes Officers: Key Decision: Not applicable

1 Purpose of Report

1.1 To report on the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 as they relate to the composition of Committees and Sub-Committees and presenting a review of the political balance requirements for the Municipal Year 2014/15 in accordance with political balance requirements.

2 Recommendations

2.1 The revised political balance allocation for 2014/15, based on the Committee arrangements agreed by the Council at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014 and as considered by the Leader of the Council within consultations undertaken by the Acting Chief Executive with the Leader of the Council, as appended to this report, be agreed;

2.14 The arrangements for Committees and Sub-Committees with a membership of three, such as Licensing Sub-Committees, Appeals Committees etc, be appointed on the basis of two members from the Labour Group and one further member from other eligible members of the Council or as may be determined by the Acting Chief Executive in exceptional circumstances looking to achieve political balance over time.

Reason for recommendation

2.1 The Council is statutorily obliged to reconsider its political balance arrangements following the establishment of a new Group on the Council.

3 Background

3.1 With the establishment of a new political group on the Council, the Council’s political balance became Labour 46; Conservative 11; Rochdale First 2; Liberal Democrat Group 1. In accordance with s15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and Regulation 17 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 the Council is now required to review the allocations of seats to political groups. These provisions do not apply to Township Committees and Sub-Committees whose

Page 23 membership is based on electoral Wards, or to Licensing Sub-Committees where there is no political balance requirement.

3.2 Determination of the allocation of seats to different political groups in respect of those Committees and Sub-Committees required to appointed on the basis of political balance is to give effect, so far as reasonably practicable, to the following statutory principles as provided at s15(5) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990: (a) All the seats are not allocated to the same political group; (b) The majority of the seats go to the political group with a majority on the full Council; (c) Subject to the above two principles, that the number of seats on the ordinary Committees of the Authority allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the proportion on the full Council; (d) Subject to the above three principles, that the number of seats on each ordinary Committee of the Authority allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the proportion on the full Council.

3.3 The appendix to this report sets out the proportional calculations for politically balanced Committees of the Council based on the Committee arrangements agreed by the Council at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014. As noted in a previous report, for the purposes of these calculations a political group is deemed to exist when it is constituted in accordance with s8 of the Regulations and comprises no fewer than two members.

3.4 The calculations presented in the appendix • assume the Council retains the Committee arrangements agreed in June 2014; • works to an objective considered by the Acting Chief Executive with the Leader of the Council, that no Councillor appointed by the Council at the Annual Meeting would be obliged to give up any seat on any Committee; and considers appointment to the Standards Committee on a strict political balance basis.

3.5 The calculations within the appendix indicate that adjustments to memberships would be required for the memberships of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Employment and Equalities Committee; the Appointments Committee, the Disciplinary Committee the Disputes Committee and the Standards Committee.

3.6 The appendix further reflects that the Leader of the Council has indicated to the Acting Chief Executive that, from the above list, the Labour Group would take places on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Appointments Committee, the Disciplinary Committee and the Standards Committee, meaning that seats on the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Employment and Equalities Committee and the Disputes Committee would be taken by the Rochdale First Group.

3.7 In addition, the Leader of the Council has asked that consideration be given to the allocation of a Committee position to the Liberal Democrat member, Councillor Peter Rush. While the Council is not obliged in law to consider sole members for appointment to politically balanced bodies (as two members are required for such purpose), the Council may without dissent agree to make such an appointment. A sole member, if the political balance equation was applied, would be eligible for 1.37 (ie 1) seat. The Leader of the Council has proposed that this position be as an additional member to serve on the Licensing and Regulatory Committee. The appendix has been compiled on this basis.

Page 24 3.8 Committees with a membership of 3

Council at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014 determined that Committees and Sub-Committees with a membership of 3, such as Licensing Sub-Committees, Appeals Committees etc, be appointed on the basis of 2 members from the controlling group and 1 from the Conservative group. Previous practice has been to permit appointment on the basis of 1-1-1 (or as may be determined by the Deputy Chief Executive in exceptional circumstances), looking to achieve political balance over time.

Political balance requirements for such bodies for 2014/15 are Labour 2 (2.4), Conservative 1 (.54), Rochdale First 0(.1), Liberal Democrat (further to the consideration in paragraph 3.7 in respect of Licensing Sub-Committees of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee) 0 (.05). It should be noted that for certain bodies (such as Licensing Sub-Committees) strict political balance is not a statutory requirement and that in other circumstances (such as personnel appeals) the issues are such that it is in the interests of the authority to expedite hearings. It is therefore recommended to the Council that the arrangement for the Acting Chief Executive to vary appointments, if required, be continued.

Alternatives considered

None, the Council’s current Committee arrangements have been used as the basis for the statutory considerations.

4 Financial Implications

4.1 There are no financial implications arising from this report.

5 Legal Implications

5.1 The Council is required by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 to effect political balance requirements in the appointment of Committees and Sub-Committees identified within the appendix to this report. Proposed allocations have been identified and may be adopted provided no member votes against the allocation. If a member does so, or votes specifically against the proposal regarding the Liberal Democrat member, further to s17(1)(b) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the Liberal Democrat member would not be eligible for a seat.

6 Personnel Implications

6.1 Not applicable

7 Corporate Priorities

7.1 Not applicable

8. Risk Assessment Implications

8.1 The Council’s decision making arrangement could be subject to challenge if the statutory requirement to consider political balance requirements are not adhered to

Page 25

9. Equalities Impacts

9.1 Workforce Equality Impacts Assessment

There are no workforce equality issues arising from this report.

9.2 Equality/Community Impact Assessments

There are no equality/community issues arising from this report.

There are no background papers to this report.

Page 26 Appendix 1 Committee Number Lab Seats Con Seats RF Seats Total Allocated Seats

Overview and Scrutiny * 11 8.43 8+1 2.02 2 .37 0 11 Health Overview and Scrutiny * 12 9.2 9 2.02 2 .4 +1 12 Audit and Risk Management 9 6.9 7 1.62 2 .3 0 9 Licensing & Regulatory 10 7.67 8 1.8 2 .33 0 10 Licensing and Regulatory 5 3 2 5 Substitute members Employment and Equalities * 8 6.13 6 1.26 1 .27 +1 8 Appointment * 7 5.37 5+1 1.26 1 .23 0 7 Disciplinary * 7 5.37 5+1 1.26 1 .23 0 7 Disputes * 8 6.13 6 1.26 1 .27 +1 8 Charitable Trustee 5 4 4 .9 1 .17 0 5

Allocation 82 64 15 3 82 Overall Entitlement 62.87 15.03 2.73

Page 27 Page Political Balance LD 1; Lab 46; Cons 11; RF 2

Statutory principles - (a) A political group must comprise a minimum of two members (b) All the seats are not allocated to the same political group; (c) The majority of the seats go to the political group with a majority on the full Council; (d) Subject to the above two principles, that the number of seats on the total of all the ordinary Committees of the Authority allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the proportion on the full Council; (e) Subject to the above three principles, that the number of seats on each ordinary Committee of the Authority allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the proportion on the full Council.

Vacancies would exist on six Committees indicated *. Labour Group and Rochdale First Group are each entitled to three additional seats each. The Leader of the Labour Group has indicated that his Group would take places on Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Appointments Committee and Disciplinary Committee. Seats on Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Employment and Equalities Committee and Disputes Committee thereby fall to the Rochdale First Group. These seats are indicated as “+1” in the table above.

Reserve/substitute arrangement for the Licensing and Regulatory Committee ONLY – 3 Lab; Cons 2 – the overall allocation of 15 places made on a politically balanced basis, subject to requirement of Council Procedure Rule 4.4 (Number of Substitute Members) whereby the Council may appoint the same number of named substitute members in respect of each political Group as that group holds on that Committee…up to a maximum of three”. The Labour Group only being eligible to appoint three substitute members, the Conservative Group may appoint two substitutes. The full membership of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee – comprising Committee member and substitutes – are eligible to serve on the Licensing Sub-Committee panels. Agenda Item 11

Subject: Appointment to Committees and Status: For Publication other Bodies 2104/15 Report to : Council Date: 23 rd July 2014

Report of: Acting Chief Executive Author : Mark Hardman

Author Email: [email protected] Tel: Tel: 01706924704

Comments fro m Statutory Yes Officers: Key Decision: Not applicable

1 Purpose of Report

1.1 To note the confirmed appointments to Committees, Sub-Committees, Joint Committees, other Council bodies and outside bodies 2014/15 following the exercise of delegated powers agreed by the Council at the Annual Meeting held on 4th June 2014 and to consider revised appointments as indicated by the report on political balance arrangements considered elsewhere on the agenda for this meeting of the Council

2 Recommendati ons

2.1 The Council is invited to determine revised appointments to Committees arising from the review of political balance and the Council/Leader of the Council as appropriate consider any other further revised appointments, as indicated in paragraph 3 to this report.

2.2 The Council is asked to note the appended confirmed Appointments to Committees, Sub-Committees and Joint Committees 2014/15, other Council bodies and outside bodies, subject to amendments agreed under paragraph 2.1 above.

Reason for recommendation

The Council is obliged to review its political balance arrangements in accordance with the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and related Regulations. The Council is asked also to note the confirmed membership of the various bodies indicated.

3 Background

3.1 Council Committees, Sub-Committees and Joint Committees

The Council, at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014, agreed the appointments to Committees, Sub-Committees and Joint Committees for the 204/15 Municipal Year, subject to a delegation to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Group Leaders, to make any additions or amendments required. Attached as appendix 1 to this report is the confirmed list of appointments arising.

Page 28 3.2 A separate report appears elsewhere on this agenda indicating how the establishment of a new political group on the Council has, when applying the Regulations under the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 and considering proposals regarding the treatment of various Committees, affected the political balance of various Committees and Sub-Committees as had been agreed by the Council at the Annual Meeting.

3.3 The Council has a duty under s15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to allocate seats on the indicated Committees on a politically balanced basis. As indicated in the separate report the net result of the calculation and assumed acceptance of proposals within that report and reflected in the report’s appendix , is such that all Committees subject to political balance would remain with their current membership other than – (i) the following Committees to which the Rochdale First Group should be invited to nominate members:- o Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee o Employment and Equalities Committee o Disputes Committee (ii) the allocation of a seat on the Licensing and Regulatory Committee to Councillor Rush; and (iii) the reduction in the number of Labour Group substitute members on Licensing and Regulatory Committee from three to two.

3.4 Other Council Bodies

The Council, at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014, agreed the appointments to a number of other Council bodies. Attached as appendix 2 to this report is the confirmed list of appointments arising. There is no particular requirement for these bodies to be appointed on a politically balanced basis though the Council has done so previously in respect of several bodies.

3.5 Outside Bodies

The Council, at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014 agreed the appointments to a number of outside bodies. Since that meeting Officers have been advised that Appointments to several bodies are no longer required and these have been removed from Appendix 3 to this report which is the confirmed list of appointments arising.

Alternatives considered

None, the Council is obliged to apply the political balance arrangements for Committee appointments as specified in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 on the establishment of a new political group on the Council as indicated within the previous report on the agenda.

4 Financial Implications

4.1 There are no financial implications arising from this report.

5 Legal Implications

5.1 The report outlines the requirements for the application of the political balance rules in line with the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

6 Personnel Implications

6.1 Not applicable

Page 29

7 Corporate Priorities

7.1 Not applicable

8. Risk Assessment Implications

8.1 The Council’s decision making arrangement could be subject to challenge if the statutory requirement to consider and implement political balance requirements are not adhered to.

9. Equalities Impacts

9.1 Workforce Equality Impacts Assessment

There are no workforce equality issues arising from this report.

9.2 Equality/Community Impact Assessments

There are no equality/community issues arising from this report.

There are no background papers to this report

Page 30 APPENDIX 1

Appointments to Committees, Sub-Committees and Joint Committees 2014/15

Confirmed appointments further to Minute 13(4) of the meeting of the Annual Meeting of the Council, 4 th June 2014 and further consideration of political balance arrangements.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Chair – Councillor Holly Vice Chair – Councillor Linden

Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors Darnbrough and Stott Labour Group (9): Councillors Sultan Ali, Emsley, Greenall, Hartley, Nickson, Robinson, Martin Rodgers, Zaheer, Zaman and one Labour member to be confirmed Rochdale First Group (1): To be appointed Chair – Councillor Robinson Vice Chair – Councillor Stott

Audit and Risk Management Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors James Gartside and Jane Gartside Labour Group (7) Councillors Butterworth, Dutton, Susan Emmott, Heakin, Joinson, O’Rourke, Rashid Chair – Councillor O’Rourke Vice Chair – Councillor Butterworth

Licensing and Regulatory Committee

Conservative Group (2) Councillors Stott and Sullivan Labour Group (8) Councillors Shakil Ahmed, Bell, Surinder Biant, Susan Emmott, Hartley, O’Neill, Sheerin and West Liberal Democrat: Councillor Rush

Chair – Councillor Susan Emmott Vice Chair – Councillor Bell

Licensing Sub-Committee

Page 31 Employment Committee

Conservative Group (1) Councillor Clegg Labour Group (6) Councillors Bethell, Linden, Murphy, O’Neill, Robinson and West Rochdale First Group (1) To be appointed

Chair – Councillor Murphy Vice Chair – Councillor Bethell

Charitable Trustee Committee

Conservative Group (1) Councillor Neilson Labour Group (4) Councillors O’Neill, Joinson, Nickson and Sheerin

Chair and Vice Chair to be appointed at the first meeting of the Committee

Standards Committee

Chair and Vice Chair to be elected members and appointed at the first meeting of the Committee

Appeals Committee

Appointments Committee Disciplinary Committee

Committees comprise seven members of Council on a politically balanced basis appointed as required as outlined within Part 3 to the Council’s Constitution.

Disputes Committee

A Panel comprising seven Members of Council who have received the appropriate training (political balance to apply)

Grievance Appeal Committee

A Panel comprising three Members of Council who have received the appropriate training (political balance to apply) and three Trade Union representatives.

Health and Wellbeing Board

• Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Public Health • Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Children, Schools and Families • Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Adult Care

Page 32 • Leader of the Conservative Group# • Chief Executive • the Director of Adult Social Services for the local authority* • the Director of Children's Services for the local authority* • the Director of Public Health for the local authority* • a representative of the local Healthwatch organisation for the Borough • a representative of each relevant Clinical Commissioning Group • such other persons, or representatives of such other persons, as the Board or the local authority after consulting the Board thinks appropriate.

SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS 2014/15

Conservative Group

Labour Group

Lead Member for the Armed Forces, Armed Forces Community Covenant

Councillor McCarthy

Joint Scrutiny Committee for Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust

Councillors Joinson, Robinson and Councillor Darnbrough (substitute – Councillor Rodgers)

Joint Scrutiny Committee for Pennine Care (Mental Health) Trust

Councillors Martin Rodgers, Robinson and Councillor Jane Gartside

Joint Committee for Strategic Procurement - Councillor Brett

Greater Manchester Combined Authority - Leader of the Council (Substitute – Councillor Williams)

Page 33 AGMA Executive Board * - Leader of the Council (Two substitutes (in order) – Councillors Williams and Brett)

Police and Crime Panel - Leader of the Council

Police and Crime Steering Group - Portfolio Holder with responsibility for crime and disorder issues - Councillor Daalat Ali

Transport for Greater Manchester Committee - Councillors Philip Burke, Shakil Ahmed and Duckworth

Greater Manchester Health Scrutiny Committee - Councillor Robinson, substitute Councillor Stott

Interim Greater Manchester Health and Wellbeing Board - Nomination only - Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Health, Councillor Cecile Biant

Planning and Housing - Nomination only - Councillor Beswick

GMCA/AGMA Scrutiny Pool - Councillors Godson, Linden and Holly

GMCA/AGMA Audit Committee - Nomination only – Councillor Linden

AGMA Statutory Functions Committee - Councillor Daalat Ali (Substitute – Councillor Williams)

NW European Programmes Local Management Committee - Nomination only – Leader or Deputy Leader

NW Regional Flood and Coastal Committee - Nomination only – Portfolio Holder with responsibility for flood risk - Councillor Beswick

GM Pensions Fund Management Panel - Councillor Brett

AGMA Asylum Seekers Executive Board - Nomination only - Councillor Hussain

Page 34 APPENDIX 2

Appointments to other Council Bodies 2014/15

Confirmed appointments further to Minute 11(4) of the meeting of the Annual Meeting of the Council, 4 th June 2014

Joint Consultative Committee Conservative Group (1): Councillor Clegg Labour Group (6): Councillors Brett, Bethell, Linden, Murphy, Sheerin, West

Central Health, Safety & Welfare Committee Conservative Group (1): Councillor Clegg Labour Group (4): Councillors Cecile Biant, Emsley, Murphy, O’Neill

Voluntary Sector Partnership • Party Leaders: Councillors Farnell and Dearnley • Members: Councillors Neil Emmott and Stott • Substitutes: Councillors Heakin and Neilson

Social Services Complaints Review Panel: Cabinet Members with responsibility for Health and Social Care and for Children, Schools and Families, as appropriate, (or their nominees)

Adoption Panel Councillor Sullivan

Fostering Panel Councillor Greenall

Page 35 APPENDIX 3

Appointments to Outside Bodies 2014/15

Confirmed appointments further to Minute 16(1) of the meeting of the Annual Meeting of the Council, 4 th June 2014 and further consideration of political balance arrangements.

Local Government Association General Assembly: (4) Councillors Brett, Farnell, Williams and Dearnley

Denehurst Park (Rochdale) Ltd: (2) Councillors Brett and O’Neill

Manchester Airport Group: (1) Councillor Farnell (substitute – Councillor Williams)

Rochdale Development Agency: (2) Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to be Directors of the Company

Healey Dell Joint Management Committee: (3) Councillors Heakin, Neilson and O’Neill

Manchester Area Pollution Advisory Council: (2) Councillors Linden and Dutton

East Lancashire Railway Trust: (3) Councillors Sheerin (two further appointments to be made by Heywood Township Committee)

GMPTA Ring & Ride Steering Group: (1) Councillor Robinson

Rochdale Town Centre Management Company: (3) Councillors Farnell and Dearnley and the Chair of Rochdale Township Committee

Heritage Trust for the North West: (1) Councillor West

Groundwork Trust for Rochdale and Oldham: (2) Councillors Rodgers and Stott

Rochdale Canal Trust: (2) Councillor Brett and Chief Executive (plus substitutes Councillor Nickson and Director for Economy & Environment)

Rochdale Shopmobility Executive Committee: (2) Councillors Brett and Darnbrough

North West Regional Association of Education Authorities: Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children Schools and Families.

University of Salford Court: (1) Councillor Martin

DVAW Inter-Agency Working Party: (1) Councillor Beswick

North West Local Authorities Employers Organisation: (2) Chair and Vice-Chair of Employment Committee.

Rochdale Community Legal Service Partnership): (2) Councillors Beswick and one nomination from Conservative Group

Page 36 Reserve Forces and Cadets Association (1) Councillor McCarthy

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Board of Directors (2) Councillors Blundell and Farnell

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Board Representative Committee (2) – Councillor Susan Emmott and Sultan Ali

Board of the Leisure Trust (Link4Life) (3) - Councillors Emsley, Sheerin and Holly

Rochdale Chamber of Commerce Local Council: (1) Councillor Williams

Rochdale Borough Multi-Agency Racial Harassment Forum: (1) Councillor Zaman

Member Champion for Regulatory Services: (1) Councillor Cecile Biant

Pennines Prospects Board: (1) Councillor Hussain

Partnerships -

Local Public Service Board – Leader of the Council

Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership – relevant Portfolio Holder, assistant to the Cabinet Member and opposition Portfolio Holders to serve on the Partnership

Children & Young People’s Partnership - Relevant Portfolio Holder, assistant to the Cabinet Member and opposition Portfolio Holders to serve on the Partnership

Rochdale Strategic Housing Partnership - Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing

Page 37 Agenda Item 12

Subject: Development Consent Order Status: For Publication Application - delegation arrangement Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2014 Report to: Council

Report of: Acting Chief Executive Author : Mark Hardman

Author Email: [email protected] Tel: Tel: 01706924704

Comments from Statutory Yes Officers: Key Decision: Not applicable

1 Purpose of Report

1.1 To seek the agreement of the Council for the delegation of responses to statutory consultation in respect of Development Consultation Order applications made under s42 of the Planning Act 2008 to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee.

2 Recommendations

2.1 That the Licensing and Regulatory Committee be given delegated authority to respond to statutory consultations in respect of Development Consultation Order applications made under s42 of the Planning Act 2008, with Officers being authorised to take any decisions of a technical and administrative nature as may be required in order to support a full and robust response from the Council in respect of such consultations.

Reason for recommendation

There is no current provision for responses to be made in response to consultations under s42 of the Planning Act 2008 where the Council is a statutory consultee. The Licensing and Regulatory Committee at their meeting on 7 th July 2014 have recommended that that Committee be delegated such authority.

3 Background

3.1 Members may be aware that the Council is in receipt of a statutory consultation arising from Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) proposals to expand the Scout Moor wind farm, the process by which the Development Consent Order application will be submitted to the National Infrastructure Directorate to be determined by the Secretary of State. Within the process the Council does not make the decision, but is a statutory consultee.

3.2 Members of the Township Planning Sub-Committees and the Licensing and Regulatory Committee have considered a report presenting the technical background to the application and the consultation and decision making processes involved. In consideration it had been noted that the Council’s current Planning Scheme of

Page 38 Delegation has no provision for delegated powers to allow a response on behalf of the Council to such proposals. In considering the report at their meeting held on 7 th July 2014 the Licensing and Regulatory Committee resolved to recommend to the Council that the Committee be recognised as the appropriate body to respond to such consultation and be delegated the necessary authority to do so. The Committee also agreed to authorise Officers to take decisions of a technical and administrative nature as may be required in order to support a full and robust response from the Council.

3.3 The Committee, in acknowledgement of the short timescales involved, also agreed that relevant Licensing and Regulatory Committee meetings considering this matter would be open to all Members of the Council to attend, so that they may express their views on the consultation through the Chair, should the delegated power to respond be approved by the Council.

Alternatives considered

None, the recommendation of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee makes provision for response to a statutory consultation exercise.

4 Financial Implications

4.1 The financial implications arising from the consideration of the application and related matters were fully considered in the reports to the Township Planning Sub-Committees and the Licensing and Regulatory Committee. Insofar as this report considers procedural matters only, there are no financial implications arising from this report.

5 Legal Implications

5.1 The legal implications arising from the technical background to the application and the consultation and decision making processes involved were considered fully within the report submitted to the Township Planning Sub-Committees and the Licensing and Regulatory Committee. Insofar as this report is concerned, these comments confirmed the position of the Council as consultee, the lack of provision in the Planning Scheme of Delegation, the need for significant delegation to Officers to undertake administrative and technical tasks, and consideration of decision making arrangements.

6 Personnel Implications

6.1 The personnel implications arising from the consideration of the application and related matters were fully considered in the reports to the Township Planning Sub-Committees and the Licensing and Regulatory Committee. Insofar as this report considers procedural matters only, there are no personnel implications arising from this report.

7 Corporate Priorities

7.1 Not applicable

8. Risk Assessment Implications

8.1 There are no significant risk assessment implications arising from this report.

Page 39

9. Equalities Impacts

9.1 Workforce Equality Impacts Assessment

There are no workforce equality issues arising from this report.

9.2 Equality/Community Impact Assessments

There are no equality/community issues arising from this report.

Background Pa pers Document Place of Inspection

Page 40 Agenda Item 13

Subject: James Handley Bequest Status: For Publication

Report to : Council Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Rep ort of: Monitoring Officer Author : Mark Hardman

Author Email: [email protected] Tel: Tel: 01706924704

Comments from Statutory Yes Officers: Key Decision: Not applicable

1 Purpose of Report

1.1 For the purpose of clarification by updating the terminology used in the Governing Document of the James Handley Bequest, removing any question that the Council might be fettered in its appointment of the Charitable Trustee Committee and the avoidance of any potential future doubt as to the ability of the Council to act, the Council exercise the statutory power of amendment contained within Section 280 of the Charities Act 2011 to alter the administrative powers in the governing document of the James Handley Bequest.

2 Recommendations

2.1 That the Council, in exercise of powers under s80 of the Charities Act 2011, amend the Governing Document of the James Handley Bequest by the rewording of the provision such that “the residue of the Estate is given to the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Rochdale for the benefit of the Art Gallery” to read as “the residue of the Estate is given to the Council of the Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council for the benefit of the Art Gallery”

2.2 The Charity Commission be advised accordingly.

Reason for recommendation

The recommendation would update the terminology used within the Governing Document, remove any question that the Council might be fettered in its appointment of the Charitable Trustee Committee, and avoid any future doubt as to the ability of the Council to act as Trustee.

3 Background

3.1 Council will recall that following the advice of the Charity Commission the terms of reference of the Charitable Trustee Committee were extended by the Council at the Annual Meeting held on 4 th June 2014 to include reference to all those Trusts or charitable bodies where the Council was identified as the sole Trustee. The report submitted to the Annual Meeting noted that the interpretation of certain terminology

Page 41 within the governing document of the James Handley Bequest was under consideration by Officers in consultation with the Charity Commission at that time.

3.2 Since the Annual meeting, confirmation has been received from the Charity Commission such that Charity trustees do have a statutory power of amendment, irrespective of whether it is stated within a charity’s governing documents, as contained within s80 of the Charities Act 2011. This enables trustees of unincorporated charities to amend any provisions of the trust or charity that relate to their own powers to carry out the purposes of the charity or regulating the charity’s internal procedures without referral to the Charity Commission or any other organisation; this includes the power to alter the administrative powers in their governing document.

3.3 The governing document of the James Handley Bequest which the Council holds states that the “residue of the Estate is given to the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Rochdale for the benefit of the Art Gallery”. The Charity Commission indicate that these persons appear to be the charity trustees as defined in the Charities Act as the persons having the general control and management of the administration of a charity. Since the Bequest was made, the offices held by elected representatives and the terminology used have changed. The Annual Meeting of the Council delegated the discharge of the functions of the James Handley Bequest to the Charity Trustee Committee. Notwithstanding the outdated terminology, there was a concern that the wording of the Bequest could be taken as requiring the Mayor to always be a member of the Committee.

3.4 In order to update the terminology used within the Governing Document, to remove any question that the Council might be fettered in its appointment of the Charitable Trustee Committee by always needing to appoint the Mayor, and for the avoidance of any future doubt as to the ability of the Council to act as Trustee, the Council is recommended to amend the terms of the Bequest, insofar as the Bequest is operating as the Governing Document, such that the “residue of the estate is given to the Council of the Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council for the benefit of the Art Gallery”. If adopted, the ‘modern’ Council will become identified as Trustee responsible for the administration of the Bequest and any potential doubt as to the ability to act removed. The delegation to the Charitable Trustee Committee, agreed at the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 4 th June 2014, will therefore be able to be enacted without doubt.

Alternatives considered

To leave the Bequest, when considered as a Governing Document, in its current form leaves potential uncertainties due to changes in the nature of elected representation and terminology. As such, the status quo option has not been recommended.

4 Financial Implications

4.1 None, this report considers procedural matters only.

5 Legal Implications

5.1 The report recommends the use of powers available under the Charities Act 2011 as advised by the Charity Commission.

Page 42

6 Personnel Implications

6.1 Not applicable.

7 Corporate Priorities

7.1 Not applicable.

8. Risk Assessment Implications

8.1 None.

9. Equalities Impacts

9.1 Workforce Equality Impacts Assessment

There are no workforce equality issues arising from this report.

9.2 Equality/Community Impact Assessments

There are no equality/community issues arising from this report.

There are no background documents to this report.

Page 43 Agenda Item 14a

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

LEADER OF THE COUNCIL/CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL/CABINET MEMBER FOR REGENERATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGIC PROJECTS TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Leader of the Council and Regeneration, Communications and Strategic Projects Portfolio

The Budget

There are huge challenges ahead, with the council needing to make £51m savings over two years, with £37.5m being required in 2015/16 and a further £13.5m in 2016/17. I have set out five priorities in dealing with the budget:

1. Protect essential front line services as far possible. 2. Cuts start at the top and not the bottom. 3. Freeze the Council Tax and keep it as low as possible. 4. Eliminate waste and unnecessary spending. 5. Listen carefully to the public we serve and to make sure their priorities are our priorities.

Our priorities for the coming year should include focusing on the environment, both the street scene to make sure the borough looks a clean and inviting place to live, work an visit – as well as vastly improving on our recycling rates. We also want to carry on with the regeneration of Rochdale Town Centre and, of course, continue the work Children’s Services have done to improve child protection.

The Statutory Accounts for 2013/14 are being audited by the Council’s external auditors for accuracy and standards, alongside assessments for financial resilience and value for money. The council spent within budget in 2013/14 and will carry forward £800,000 into general balances in 2014/15.

Regeneration and Economic Affairs

The town centre demolition continues, as the diggers moved in to start the deconstruction of the old black box. Both television and radio reported on this as we marked the end of an era for this iconic – or some would say controversial - building.

Rochdale railway station is on track to benefit from a re-opened subway which is expected to be open by Christmas. Work on the project, which will extend the station’s current subway to Miall Street, is expected to begin in autumn.

Work on a new entrance and two new retail units in the Wheatsheaf Centre is well underway. A more inviting Wheatsheaf Centre will increase visitor numbers to our town centre and create a vital link between the Town Centre East scheme and Yorkshire Street and the Exchange shopping centre.

The River Street redevelopment is also underway, with two new loading bays and a new taxi rank set to open close to the new bus station by the end of September.

Youth unemployment is falling across Rochdale borough according to recently released government figures. In May this year, there were 890 fewer 18-24-year-olds claiming jobseekers allowance than this time last year, a drop from 2070 to 1,180. Younger people have also proved a success, with the number of 16-18 year-olds who joined an Page 44 apprenticeship scheme growing by 15 per cent, the highest increase in Greater Manchester.

The borough has been marking National Independent retailers’ month this month. The event encourages everybody to shop small and local to support the many successful independent shops in our borough.

The Department for Transport has confirmed that Rochdale’s share of the £200m pothole fund they have set aside for English councils will be £424,873. The pothole repair fund will complement the existing highways investment programme, which saw the council commit to spending £10m on the borough’s roads between 2013 and 2015. Work to fix the potholes is expected to start straight away and will continue thought the summer, with the priority areas being fixed by October this year.

Construction on the North West’s first Smart Motorway will soon begin by the Highways Agency. The Manchester Smart Motorway scheme is designed to alleviate congestion by using smart technology to manage traffic and help make journeys more reliable. The scheme will use variable speeds, traffic detection loops, overhead signs and CCTV to tackle congestion in the areas, as well as creating additional capacity between M62 junctions 18 & 20 by turning the hard shoulder into a permanent running lane. This will link in with the construction of a new link road at junction 19 as part of a raft of initiatives to improve congestion and improve key points in the road network. The scheme will also unlock employment, retail and residential growth in the area known as the South Heywood Economic Corridor.

Library Service

Rochdale Borough Libraries asked residents to nominate their favourite book of the last 40 years to mark the 40th Anniversary of Rochdale borough. The results being announced at the Literature and Ideas Festival.

Breakfast TV presenter Bill Turnbull will be one of the headline speakers at this year’s Literature and Ideas Festival in October. Also confirmed are singer/songwriter Lucy Spraggan, comedian Dave Spikey, author Chrissie Manby, poet Ian McMillan and writer Jackie Kay.

Customer Services The council has introduced two more cheaper to call 0300 numbers, as it continues to phase out all 0845 and 0844 numbers, making it more affordable to contact the council using a mobile phone. The new number for Adult Care covers enquiries related to learning disabilities, older people, adult safeguarding, physical disabilities and vulnerable adults. The new emergency number for contacting the council out of hours including evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays is 0300 303 8875. The new numbers cost the same to call as geographic numbers starting 01 or 02. Calls to 0300 numbers are often included as part of inclusive minutes, discount schemes or bundled packages for mobile phone contracts in the same way as geographic calls, so will be free in many cases. So far 15 of the most commonly dialled 0845 numbers have changed, with the final phases to be completed over the next few months.

Electoral Services

The Council is working hard to ensure individual voter registration will not mean local residents lose their entitlement to vote when it is introduce by the government. A number of initiatives are being introduced, including encouraging people to register online. Residents will be able to register to vote in just three minutes, by simply providing their name, address, date of birth and national insurance number into the new Individual Electoral Page 45 Registration (IER) system.

Kingsway Business Park

Following public consultation events in February 2014, an outline planning application was submitted for a revised master plan for Kingsway Business Park. This retains the fundamental principle of promoting employment generating uses and allows for a higher level of development, in response to recent market trends, and to enable Kingsway to continue to compete with other business parks in the North West.

A separate planning consent was granted for a new 210,000 sq ft light industrial/ warehouse development on Kingsway (Plot H) and with a view to securing an investor to construct this facility on a speculative basis. Wilson Bowden, the developer for Kingsway, is pursuing discussions with potential investors and are confident of a positive response because of Kingsway’s reputation and the lack of units of this size in the regional market.

JD Sports have submitted a planning application for internal restructuring of their building to create a further 100,000 sq ft of warehouse floorspace, further consolidating their presence on Kingsway and offering the prospect of more local jobs.

Planning permission has recently been granted for a wind turbine at the edge of Kingsway Business Park, between Broadshaw Farm and the M62 adding to Kingsway’s credentials as an environmentally sustainable business park. The wind turbine is expected to be operational later in 2014/15.

In terms of new developments on site, the Hornet pub/restaurant (Greene King) opened in March 2014 and is operating very successfully. The Council’s Employment Links service managed to secure employment for 15 staff from the Work Programme (where residents have been out of work for over 6 months) out of the 40 staff employed on site (not all full time).

Adjacent to this the David Wilson Homes residential development continues to achieve good sales rates, with 74 houses either occupied or under construction resulting in Section 106 and New Homes Bonus income to the Council.

Further investment interest is in the negotiation stage, including a light industrial operator at 10-15,000 sq ft and a showroom and workshop for a major commercial vehicle manufacturer. Wilson Bowden are also gauging interest for small units of around 5,000 sq feet which may result in a further speculative development

Marketing of the Business Park will shortly be receiving a boost with the production of an iBrochure to send out to agents and interested parties. This will have details of the plots available and other information such as accessibility and transport, sustainability and demographics. A new agent, Colliers, has been appointed by Wilson Bowden, alongside existing agents JLL and P3. A programme of signage improvements will shortly be implemented across Kingsway, which will introduce a coherent, updated, appearance to the site signs on the Park.

The Asda facility, which when completed was the most sustainable distribution centre in Walmart’s portfolio, won the Council’s Sustainable Building Design Award earlier in the year.

The 2014 Rochdale Kingsway Run is due to take place in Sunday 21 st September, and positive promotion of this event will enable it to continue to build on the well received 2013 event.

Patronage figures for Metrolink continue to show large numbers of people using the Page 46 Kingsway stop for both business and pleasure trips – currently this is over 1900 per month. The Metrolink is very important in providing public access to Kingsway and the up to 7,000 jobs that it will eventually accommodate.

The latest figures for the Kingsway Link bus service show a large increase in passenger trips to over 1300 in March 2014, which is a significant increase. The route has now been extended to include Shaw, alongside Sholver and Royton, after requests by Oldham Council. Additional ticketing options have also been agreed, including a flat fare of £1 each way to/from the Metrolink stop and use of cross ticketing for passengers using heavy rail and bus services in Greater Manchester. TfGM have now agreed to make the Middleton to Kingsway service a permanent service and there are currently over 400 trips to Kingsway from Middleton each month.

Rochdale Town Centre

Town Centre East (Genr8) – The Development Agreement between Council and the development partner (Genr8) was signed in September 2013. The vast majority of the site has been assembled and demolitions and site clearance is well underway. Genr8 are continuin g to seek to secure key retail & leisure occupiers to anchor the new development. They will then be in a position to progress scheme design and work towards the submission of a planning application later in 2014 or in early 2015.

Wheatsheaf Centre entrance – The contractor has been appointed and construction work recently started on site. The new lift and escalators are due to be installed and operational by the end of November 2014, with full completion of the new entrance by January 2015. The works will create a new entrance and two small retail units on the Baillie Street frontage.

Demolitions – The demolition programme began in March 2014 and is well advanced. The multi-story car park/bus station has been demolished and the former Municipal Office building is scaffolded and is now being dismantled floor by floor. The demolitions are due to complete in October 2014. The demolition of the Broadwater Centre and St Andrews Church is also well advanced and due to complete towards the end of July 2014.

Use of cleared sites – upon completion of demolition works, the site of the multi-story car park/bus station and the Broadwater Centre/St Andrews Church will be laid out as temporary car parks, until the new retail and leisure development starts on site. The two car parks are expected to accommodate around 300 vehicles.

Metrolink 3b – The town centre tram stop opened in March 2014. The fully accessible trams run every 12 minutes.

Rochdale Town Hall - The roof repairs to the eastern part of the building are now complete. Planning for the next phase of the works including further roof works, replacement of heating plant and electrical works is underway along with improvements to support core business functions. The Feasibility Study to consider options for the future use of the building is complete. The options set out in the Feasibility Study and other recommendations will shortly be considered by the Council as the basis for consultations with the public later in the year.

Highways & traffic – a number of highway improvement schemes to support the on-going regeneration of the town centre are being implemented on a phased basis. • New pedestrian crossing on Smith Street outside the Transport Interchange • Completion of the bus gateway at the eastern end of Smith Street • Milton Street changed to two-way traffic to improve access to the car parks • New turnaround cul-de-sac, loading bays and taxi rank on River Street Page 47

Medium Term Action Plan - The Action Plan guiding the physical development activity and improvements in Rochdale town centre over the next 3 to 5 years was endorsed by Cabinet and Rochdale Township Committee in 2013. The action plan is being updated to reflect progress being made on physical projects in the town centre. These initiatives reflect our on-going commitment to regenerating our main town centre through a comprehensive package of improvements to the heritage, cultural, leisure and shopping offer.

The Council and RDA are working with landowners and developers to further improve the borough’s current employment offer. The regeneration of Stakehill Industrial Estate is a recent and growing success story.

Stakehill

Commercial Estates Group are continuing to make progress with securing lettings – recent agreement with tenants are nearing completion for 5 different units ranging in size from 5,000 sq ft to 40,000 sq ft. The total floor space under negotiation is 82,000 sq ft. Job figures will be collected as companies move in.

CEG are now proactively marketing the unit currently occupied by Wincanton (170,00 sq ft) which will become vacant in September 2014. This includes undertaking improvements to the appearance of the unit. Refurbishment works have also been recently completed on Unit 65, at a total cost of approximately £250,000.

The highway re-surfacing and street lighting works are now completed and bring recent public sector investment in the Estate to approximately £125,000. The next phase of investment will be in landscaping improvements to increase the overall attractiveness to potential investors, as well as improving security levels.

RDA is working with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Rochdale MBC to develop travel plans for existing occupiers, to maximise the catchment for recruitment and to ensure that local residents are able to access new job opportunities. This service will also be offered to potential businesses who are considering relocation into Stakehill.

Middleton Members have approved the Gating Order which will allow for the construction of a new security gatehouse at the entrance to the estate which will operate on a dawn-to– dusk basis, in direct response to occupiers concerns about night-time security. This will be progressed in the next 6 months and will be subject to discussion at the next Stakehill Business Group meeting (currently targeted for September 2014).

Future Plans

Rochdale Council and its partners are continuing to pursue new business opportunities that will bring new jobs to the borough, taking advantage of the major investments in the public transport network that have now largely been completed. Also we continue to work closely with the rest of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to examine the scope for further investment in infrastructure provision in future years and associated development opportunities.

Civic Pride

Tens of thousands of people visited Rochdale borough to take in the spectacle of the Tour de France, the world’s largest free spectator sport, as it passed for 1km through Blackstone Edge above Littleborough. Proving that anything Yorkshire can do, Greater Manchester and Lancashire can do even better, it brought a huge economic boost to the area.

Page 48

Plans are well under way to build a statue to mark Rochdale’s singing heroine Dame Gracie Fields in The Butts. Along with the refurbishment of the existing memorial at Dame Gracie’s birthplace at Molesworth Street, the addition of eight blue plaques marking key locations in her life will form a Gracie heritage trail in honour of the performer who rose from humble roots in Rochdale to become the highest paid actress in the world in the 1930s.

Councillor Richard Farnell Leader of the Council/ Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Communications and Strategic Projects

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Leader of the Council/ Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Communications and Strategic Projects

Page 49 Agenda Item 14b

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR FINANCE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Finance Portfolio

I am pleased to present my first report to Council as Portfolio Holder for Finance, covering;

a) Finance b) Revenues and Benefits c) Welfare Reform

a) Finance As a Council we are currently dealing with the financial affairs of the Council over three financial years.

i) 2013/14 We have recently completed the Statutory Accounts for 2013/14 and these are currently being audited by the Council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton. In considering the accounts Grant Thornton will consider both the accuracy and standards of the accounts alongside making an assessment regarding financial resilience and value for money.

I can report that the Council spent within budget in 2013/14 and will carry forward £800,000 into general balances in 2014/15.

Savings proposals from both the 2013/14 and 2012/13 financial year budget processes were delivered in 2013/14 – of the £ 15.7m to be achieved £15.1m have been achieved representing 95.5% delivered in year. In the main those that have not been delivered in 2013/14 will be delivered in 2014/15.

ii) 2014/15 The budget for 2014/15 was approved by Council in February 2014 Based on current information we are projecting that Services will ‘overspend’ by around £1m, this is mainly due to the position on the Waste Levy and loss of income around Facilities Management services. The Council has made provision for budget pressures within the 2014/15 budget setting process.

Improving recycling is a key priority for the borough both from an environmental position and financial – increases in recycling will impact on the charges the Council has to pay to the Waste Disposal Authority. I encourage you all to spread the news re recycling – ensuring that as a Borough we maximise the amount of recycling we do and that we recycle correctly – i.e. the right rubbish in the right bins -this is a priority !

Good financial management has allowed us to identify potential pressures at an early stage and I will be working with the Finance Team and Directors to ensure the budget at 31 st March 2015 is not in an overspend position. I will report the updated position in my next Council report.

iii) 2015/16 & 2016/17 We are currently working on the strategy to close the financial gap over the period 2015/16 and 2016/17. Based on current assumptions this gap is estimated to be around £51m, with £37.5m being required in 2015/16 and a Page 50 further £13.5m in 2016/17.

We WILL freeze Council Tax in 2015/16 and will look to protect, as far as is possible, front line services.

The Council has already made £107m of ongoing savings, required as a consequence of the reductions in funding and increases in demand for services, mainly social services. Achieving £51m on top of this will be a significant challenge and will require some difficult decisions.

Cabinet members are currently working with Officers to develop proposals to meet the £51m gap, these will be considered for consultation, which will commence in September 2014. b) Revenues & Benefits The Revenues & Benefits Service are engaged in a number of crucial areas of work on behalf of the Council these being:

i) Billing of council tax and business rates ii) Collection of council tax and business rates iii) Processing of benefit claims for Adult Care Services, Blue Badges and Housing Benefit iv) Processing of council tax support v) Tackling fraud vi) Processing of invoices

i) Council tax bills and business rates bills were issued for 2014/15 in a timely manner with all appropriate discounts and exemptions applied.

I have recently announced that we are currently undertaking review of Single Person Discounts to ensure that only those entitled to receive the discount, receive it. I will report back to Council on the outcome of this review

ii) In 2013/14 collection rates were as follows (2012/13 figures in (brackets)):

In year GM Average Metropolitan 2013/14 % Borough % Average % Council Tax 93.0 94.7 95.4 (95.2) (95.6) (96.2) Business Rates 97.3 95.9 96.9 (96.6) (95.5) (96.7)

As can be seen from the above the Collection Rates on In year Business Rates has improved at a greater rate than those for both GM and national metropolitan boroughs which is great news for Rochdale Borough.

Council tax collection whilst down on 2012/13 now takes into account the impact of the Local Council Tax Scheme, where 13,000 claimants of council tax discount will be paying council tax for the first time. Levels of collection were expected to reduce and comparisons across boroughs is now not as appropriate due to the fact that Council Tax Schemes are locally determined and will impact on Council Tax Payers in different ways.

Page 51 The above table show the position in respect of Council Tax and Business Rates billed in year, in respect of previous years arrears the position is as follows;

Arrears Collected £m Council Tax 2.642 Business Rates 1.311

Collection of Council Tax and Business Rate debt is crucial to enable the Council to have the resource to fund essential services to residents. I will be working with officers to review the arrears and the approach to collection / enforcement in order to improve collection taking into account the difference between those who can’t pay and those who won’t pay. I will report on the impact of the changes within future Council reports. iii) The Council currently processes housing benefit on behalf of Central Government in line with a national scheme.

A key issue in relation to processing benefits is to ensure that they are done in a timely manner and are accurate. I can report that currently there are no claims which have been received but not worked on for more than 6 weeks however we are working to reduce this back down to no more than 2 weeks, I will report at Council how we have improved the position. This does not however mean that claims are “completed” within this timeframe as there are numerous cases where the Council is waiting for relevant documentation from claimants. In these cases claims cannot be progressed until all documentation is received.

There are currently just 16 outstanding claims for blue badges which are now being processed iv) The Council operates a Local Council Tax Support Scheme, claims are assessed alongside housing benefit claims and timescales for completion are consistent.

The Council is currently reviewing the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2015/16 in light of information on collection and results of national reviews. Changes will be considered over the Summer ready for consultation in the Winter and approval by the end of January 2015. v) The Council takes tackling of fraud very seriously and through the work of the small Fraud Team has recovered £ 512,000 in 2013/14.

We have recently met with representatives of the national Fraud Initiative and explained to them our approach to fraud across a number of areas, including housing benefit, blue badge, single person discount etc. They have acknowledged the work we do and have commented that It is very evident that staff are dedicated in their determination to tackle fraud and that it is good to see that the local investigation of National Fraud Initiative and other fraud leads is in safe hands!!

The Revenues and Benefits world is one that most Members will be familiar with through their interaction with residents. We are currently developing a ‘master class’ in relation to Revenues & Benefits to assist you as new or existing Members to respond to queries you are faced with. I encourage you all Page 52 to take up the invitation to attend the sessions which will be held in August / September.

3. Welfare Reform The Council has been responding to the introduction of the various changes around Welfare Reform. Key areas that have been addressed include:

• Consideration of operation of a Local Discretionary Crisis Fund • Development of Local Council Tax Support Scheme • Preparation for Universal Credit

With significant changes to Welfare Reform it has been important to ensure that communications with residents are effective and to this end we have developed our award winning website to include information of Welfare Reform in an accessible manner. We have also worked with Partners and Agencies to explain the changes, ensuring they are equipped to respond to queries from residents.

The Local Discretionary Crisis Fund has been developed through 2013/14 and this continues into 2014/15, this has been an excellent example of how the democratic processes have helped shape and change Policy through both scrutiny and consideration of data.

Universal Credit (UC) is due to be rolled out in Rochdale Borough in September 2014, with new single claimants and couples being the first affected. Whist this will initially be a relatively low number of claimants the impact may be significant for those groups and we are also preparing for the roll out to other Groups.

Key areas of work have been around IT support for claimants and budgeting support. We have mapped, developed and publicised what is on offer across the Borough. The website has been updated and we again have worked with a significant number of Agencies and Partners to publicise what is on offer.

UC can only be claimed on line and will be paid in most cases monthly, in arrears therefore it is crucial that claimants have the necessary skills and support to operative under UC.

As you can see there is a lot happening in the Finance Portfolio.

Cabinet Member for Finance (Rochdale Borough Council)

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Finance Portfolio

Page 53 Agenda Item 14c

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR ADULT SOCIAL CARE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Madam Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Adult Care Portfolio.

My arrival with Adult Social Care coincided with National Carers Week. In Rochdale there were several excellent events to celebrate carers week and recognise the huge contribution carers make to our borough. This included a performance by the Carers Choir at 1 Riverside; which I hope many of you enjoyed. The Carers Choir launched their new CD which sold out within the hour! The week itself was very successful with 40 new carers registering with the Carers Resource.

I am spending my first weeks getting to know Adult Social Care and receiving briefings on the major issues that affect the service. As colleagues are aware the new Better Care Fund has been set up to encourage more integration between Adult Social Care and NHS Partners. The government has very recently issued new guidance about this and local plans must achieve a reduction in the number of people who have unnecessary emergency admissions to hospital. I am working closely with officers to agree how our services at Tudor Court, Springhill and STARS can contribute to this as part of a new partnership with NHS colleagues. All Better Care Fund plans are being reviewed at a national level and we look forward to receiving our local feedback soon.

In my first few weeks I have taken time to review the overall performance of Adult Care. I am pleased to report that in most areas the service met the objectives and performance has improved significantly in the number of people who are able to take their personal adult care budget as a direct payment. Every year there is a national survey of user experience of Adult Social Care. We are expecting the results for 2013/14 by the end of July and I will report these in my next report.

I am a member of the Rochdale Safeguarding Adults Board. Part of the role of Adult Social Workers is to ensure that the interests of people who do not have the mental capacity to make their own decisions are protected. A recent high court judgement means that more people need to have assessments to ensure that they are not being unlawfully deprived of their liberty. This has led to a big increase in this work for Adult Care, with referrals for these specialist assessment increasing by over 50% between April and June 2014. I am supporting the service to ensure resources are in place to meet this demand.

The Safeguarding Adults Board is working towards developing its new statutory function as part of the Care Act which comes into force in April 2015. The Care Act brings major changes for Adult Social Care with a range of new duties and legislation. I have asked officers to hold briefing events for elected members about the Care Act. These will take place at various times in July and August so please attend one.

Councillor Iftikar Ahmed Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care

Thank you Madam Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Adult Social Care Portfolio.

Page 54 Agenda Item 14d

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND REGULATION TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Public Health and Regulation Portfolio.

PUBLIC HEALTH

Premature Mortality

At my first meeting of the Health and Well-being Board in June I was appointed as Chair for 2014/5. Dr Chris Duffy from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was confirmed as Vice Chair. We had a presentation from Professor Chris Bentley who we had brought in to advise on how we could reduce the high level of early deaths (under 75 years) within the Borough. Although we have made significant gains, the Borough is still 140 th out of 150 authorities in England in terms of premature mortality. Similar rankings apply to the four main causes of death which are cardiovascular disease, cancer, liver disease and respiratory disease. Smoking is still the main root cause of premature deaths. Our work needs to move faster and address local inequalities. There is a direct correlation between socio-economic deprivation and poor health, and some neighbourhoods in the Rochdale Borough are in the top 3% in England for deprivation. Even when ranked with similar areas in England, Rochdale does not fare well, despite being nationally recognised for some important initiatives. It has been calculated that we could save more than 100 additional lives per year. We will do this by concentrating additional effort to reach a number of groups including men in very disadvantaged areas, people with mental health issues and those with learning disabilities. I have also made it known that I want us to focus on bridging the gap between those identified as being at risk of premature mortality, and their completion of the treatment or acting on advice. We shall set out goals at the next Board meeting, and work on this closely with the CCG.

Ongoing initiatives

We have continued our important work to promote mental wellbeing and prevent suicides . By close working with the coroner, we now have better information and intelligence on suicide, and are now leading the way with our initiatives. We have been working with children and young people across the Borough to promote the ‘Five ways to wellbeing’ through a theatre production called ‘The Little Things’, which they developed to raise awareness of positive mental health and wellbeing. The ‘Books on prescription’ scheme was launched earlier this year and to date 1037 packs have been distributed, with 339 books being issued. Our work to promote healthy lifestyles has continued to develop. A report issued by Public Health England shows a marked improvement made by local sexual health providers in the testing and diagnosing of chlamydia amongst our 16-24 year olds. The figures place Rochdale MBC above the England and North of England averages for this work. I am pleased to report that Rochdale Council’s Public Health Service is now an accredited location for people undertaking specialist public health training. Registrars train for 5 years undertaking a Masters in Public Health and then the Faculty of Public Health exams whilst working in approved placements for 2 years.

‘Healthier Together’

Healthier Together is a major review of health and care in Greater Manchester. It covers the future development of primary care, integrated health and social care, and of hospital care across Greater Manchester. The review has been led by the NHS with close involvement of all councils which are partners to the proposals. The consultation period is 8 July to the end of September. Information can be obtained from https://healthiertogethergm.nhs.uk . I would encourage Members to view this and respond to the consultation, as constituents will be asking questions. A public listening event will be held in Rochdale on 13 August. There will be a presentation and Page 55 consultation with Members in September. There will also be events to discuss transport issues which will be hosted by GMCVO. I shall inform you of the details for these events as soon as possible.

Finances

The ring-fenced Public Health Grant for this year is £14,777,000. An investment strategy is being reviewed, and the grant will be spent in accordance with the conditions. We know that the grant will be given next year, but have not yet received notification of the amount or if any premium will be attached relating the amount to performance.

The Big Life Group

On 1 st April 2014 the new integrated health improvement service commenced. The contract for this service was awarded to The Big Life Group. I shall circulate further information about this service to Members in due course.

PUBLIC PROTECTION

Licensing Activity on Child Sexual Exploitation

In early April 2014, the Licensing Section arranged for a briefing / training session on Child Sexual Exploitation to be given to all licensed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers in the Borough. The training took place over 4 sessions and a total of around 1600 drivers attended the sessions, which were generally well-received and felt to be positive by those in attendance. It is understood to be the first time that a Licensing Authority has undertaken to provide training of this nature on such a scale. It is proposed to provide a similar session to owners of local take-aways, off-licences, shisha bars and ice cream parlours. This session is scheduled to take place in early September 2014.

Support for Major Sporting Events

The Licensing Section has worked hard to support a number of national sporting events in recent weeks; for instance, officers have worked with local landlords to ensure the safety of customers who chose to watch the World Cup in local public houses. They have liaised with Greater Manchester Police to provide information and guidance to local publicans, and have patrolled licensed premises in the late evening to ensure that legislation was being complied with. This work has been a success, with non-compliance kept to a minimum, although enforcement action has been taken on a limited number of occasions when necessary. In addition, officers have worked hard to support traders in the Pennines area with regard to the Tour de France.

Test Purchasing – Alcohol

The Public Protection Section continues to place a great emphasis on its test purchasing activities, intended to prevent the sale of age-restricted products to minors. In June a total of 19 test purchases were made to volunteers aged below 18. Of these, only 2 resulted in illegal sales. The Section will be pursuing the matter formally with the sellers concerned. The next survey will take place in July and will relate to the sale of tobacco to minors.

Operation Henry

Public Protection staffs are keen to take enforcement action against the growing problem of illicit tobacco, which both impacts on the health of residents and deprives the government of duties owed. On 29 May 2014, officers teamed up with trained sniffer dogs to carry out a series of raids on premises across the Borough. These raids resulted in the seizure of almost 40,000 illicit cigarettes and nearly 9kg of hand-rolling tobacco. These items were well-concealed on the premises and would not have been discovered without the dogs’ assistance. The raids attracted a good deal of positive media coverage and it is hoped to repeat them at some stage in the future.

Page 56 PLANNING

Planning – Development Management

Members will be aware from Planning Committee reports of recent planning reforms which place poor performing Planning authorities into special measures for their performance against nationally prescribed targets for the determination of major planning applications and appeals. The effect of any ‘Special Measures’ designation would allow a developer to bypass the Council and obtain a planning permission from the Planning Inspectorate. The Council would also lose decision making powers and fee income but would be required to administer the planning application. These measures came into force on 1 st October 2013. Performance is monitored quarterly to cover performance for the preceding two year period ending each quarter.

I can inform the Council our performance in determining planning applications over the two year period ending June 2014 means that we will not face such penalties and we will continue to receive, determine and shape the outcome of major planning applications within our Borough. The Service continues to monitor performance against national and local targets closely. Any performance issues will be reported to Members.

As a sign of increased economic activity within our Borough, it is noted the Council has received approximately 10% more planning applications in the first six months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Planning application fee income for the three months ending June 2014 is approaching £400,000 which is a record for this first quarter period of the municipal year. This income uplift will continue with some significant planning applications expected to be submitted within the Borough in the next few months. These will also offer an opportunity to secure significant planning gain through Section 106 contributions and additional revenue to the Council through the New Homes Bonus.

The Planning service will continue to take a proactive and flexible approach in seeking to maximise any community benefits from major development and investment in terms of open spaces, highways improvements, education and public realm contributions. The Service is also exploring other external opportunities for infrastructure investment to bring forward sites for additional housing and revenue through the New Homes Bonus.

Wind Farm Proposals

Many Members will be aware from various Committee reports and consultation exercises carried out by the developers that proposals are being put forward for two major wind farm developments in the Borough at Scout Moor and Rooley Moor. The schemes are being brought forward separately and independently by two different developers, Peel Energy and Coronation Power.

Scout Moor Peel Energy is seeking to expand the existing wind farm at Scout Moor. The preliminary environmental information, released at the end of June in conjunction with the ‘Stage 2 consultation’ (Stage 1 having been carried out in 2011), shows a scheme for a further 26 turbines. This would be achieved by infilling between the existing turbines and expanding to the north and east. The majority of the turbines would be within the administrative boundaries of Rossendale with only three currently proposed to be sited within Rochdale. The Stage 2 consultation by Peel remains underway throughout July with various exhibitions having been held around the Borough by the developer and comments welcome from the public and individual Members at any time.

As the project would generate more than 50MW of electricity per annum it falls into one of the defined categories of ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects’. The Council will therefore not be the determining authority; rather the decision will be made by the Secretary of State following advice given by the National Infrastructure Directorate (NID). This type of application is known as a Development Consent Order (DCO) rather than a planning application. No application fee is payable to the Local Planning Authority for its participation in the process. However, participation can be and usually is significant. At the current time a number of Council officers are working on a response to the Stage 2 consultation and reports will be presented to Members in early August. Joint working is taking place with Rossendale Borough Council and Lancashire County Council. Further work on the project in respect of the Stage 3 consultation, a Local Impact Report and the Examination will take place throughout 2014 and into 2015. Members’ views will be sought throughout the process.

Page 57 Rooley Moor Coronation Power is proposing to develop an adjacent wind farm at Rooley Moor. This land previously formed part of the Scout Moor expansion proposals but is now being brought forward independently. These proposals, for a total of twelve turbines, with access taken from Rooley Moor Road, will be submitted as a planning application to the Council, who would be the determining authority. Ten of the proposed turbines would be within the administrative boundary of Rochdale and the remaining two would be within Rossendale Borough. Planning applications would need to be made to both Rochdale and Rossendale Councils. This application is expected during July and will be widely publicised by the Council for public comment and statutory consultee views. This planning application will come before the Licensing and Regulatory Committee for decision following the views of relevant Township Planning Sub Committees.

Boroughwide Planning Injunction

Many of you will be aware from issues within your own Wards or through Planning Committees that the Council secured a Borough wide planning injunction in March 2013 against Mr Peter Cordwell for persistent breaches of planning control on several sites across the Borough. These included non-compliance with the terms of planning permissions, or Enforcement Notices issued by the Council and appeal decisions of the Planning Inspectorate.

The injunction granted in March 2013 prevented any further development requiring planning permission to be undertaken by Mr Cordwell on any site within the Borough without the benefit of a planning permission.

Further planning breaches of the Court order took place on several sites across the Borough resulting in the Council applying to the Court for contempt of the original Court decision. In a lengthy judgement, the Judge found Mr Cordwell guilty on three counts for breaching the injunction, namely the construction of a barn at Collop Gate Farm, Manchester Road, Heywood; the deposit and storage of materials at that site and the construction of a new building at New Gap Farm, Manchester Road, Heywood; the latter was admitted by Mr Cordwell.

The Judge considered the breaches to be so severe that a fine was insufficient and would not reflect the seriousness of the matter. Mr Cordwell was sentenced to 4 months in prison, suspended for a period of 2 years with an addition that should any further breach of the Court order occur within the Borough that this prison sentence would be acted upon. In a later hearing the period for compliance with the original injunction has been extended by a further 15 months until May 2016 to reflect the suspended sentence imposed by the Judge.

The Judge also awarded that the Council’s reasonable costs be reimbursed on this matter. These will be in the region of £15,000 – £20,000 to date.

During his judgement the Judge praised Council officers for their evidence and professionalism in presenting evidence during the Court proceedings and for the clarity of our case.

Core Strategy

My predecessor on the Planning Portfolio reported on the initial conclusions of the Planning Inspector appointed to review the ‘soundness’ of the Council’s Core Strategy document which will guide development in the borough over the next 15 years. The Planning Inspector requested an update of the Council’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment be undertaken in order to provide sufficient evidence for the Inspector that the Borough will meet its housing needs through the proposed policies set out in the Core Strategy.

Following approval by Cabinet on the 3 rd February, a suspension of the Examination of the Core Strategy was formally requested through the Planning Inspectorate which agreed that the examination can be suspended to undertake this work. This has enabled the Council to update its Strategic Housing Market Assessment. A draft of this document is completed and consultation is expected to take place with key stakeholders during August 2014. Based on the outcome of any consultation responses, and in light of any Inspector advice, it may be necessary to undertake a further round of consultation on the updated SHMAA before the reopening of the Examination by the Planning Inspector. In light of this process, it is anticipated the Examination into the Core Strategy would not be reconvened until October 2014. The timescales for this will however be determined by the Planning Inspector. Page 58

The issue of housing supply is the only issue that has been highlighted by the Planning Inspector. The Council considers that its approach to the delivery of new housing is positive as demonstrated by the number of new homes completed on sustainable sites in the Borough in recent years. Over 90% of housing has been completed on brownfield sites in recent years.

Littleborough Neighbourhood Plan

In 2013 the formation of a Littleborough Neighbourhood Plan area and Neighbourhood Forum was approved by the Council. Work can now commence on the production of a Littleborough Neighbourhood Plan following the provisions and requirements of the Localism Act. This plan will be developed by the community, led by the forum and with support from Council officers and staff from Planning Aid. The key element of the neighbourhood plan is that it gives local people the chance to shape the place around them subject to that plan being consistent with our local planning policies and national planning guidance. It is hoped to produce a Draft Neighbourhood Plan for consultation later in 2014. In order to assist the forum in starting work on the plan a training event has taken place to discuss what the plan should cover and how best to engage the community as a whole. This is the only request the Council has received under the Localism Act from a community group seeking to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan.

Flood and Water Management Strategy

The Flood Risk Management Strategy was approved in February ahead of the requirement to have a strategy in place by April 2014. The strategy sets out the Council’s new statutory role as a Lead Local Flood Authority and identifies opportunities to work with the Environment Agency and United Utilities to deliver improved flood risk management and promote sustainable drainage in parts of the borough where there are particular risks such as Heywood, Littleborough and central Rochdale. There is a particular focus on increasing public awareness and preparedness in respect of flood risks and in seeking to reduce risk from water bodies and surface water where there is significant risk to residential property, critical infrastructure and economic activity in line with national flood risk management objectives and policy.

Working with the National Flood Forum, the Council is also supporting the delivery of the Defra funded Rochdale Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder in Heywood and in Wardleworth. This involves the hosting of an Officer from the Flood Forum within the Planning service. The project seeks to raise awareness of flood risk with local residents and businesses and to increase community level resilience to flood risk through helping local people to work more closely with flood risk management agencies (in particular the Council, Environment Agency, United Utilities and emergency services) and to increase their own flood risk preparedness. The project runs until March 2015.

Edgar Wood and Middleton Townscape Heritage Initiative

Private grant projects are being developed with owners for a number of Edgar Wood properties in Middleton with grant offers expected to be made in Autumn and work starting on site in Spring 2015. Officers are working with the Heritage Trust for the North West to develop proposals for the future reuse and conservation of the Edgar Wood designed Long Street Methodist Church (Grade II*), which is the largest proposed grant from the THI. The THI has worked with volunteers to deliver a programme of ‘Enlightenment Middleton’ themed events including the production of a Sam Bamford Trail, Guided Walks and Botanical Walks. September 2014 will be the 4 th Golden Cluster Month with 4 of Middleton’s architectural gems open to the public on Tuesday and Friday afternoons in addition to the Heritage Open Days weekend. The THI in partnership with the Middleton Town Team are arranging ‘A Grand Day Out’ on Saturday 13 th September as part of the month’s events. Family focused activities will be taking place across the town centre.

Heritage at Risk

The Conservation and Design Team continue their survey of the Borough’s heritage assets. The Conservation Area at Risk survey was submitted to English Heritage with four conservation areas identified as ‘at risk;’ Rochdale Town Centre, Middleton Town Centre, Wardle (new addition for 2014) and Castleton (South) Conservation Areas. The survey will be finalised and published by Page 59 English Heritage in Autumn 2014.

BUILDING CONTROL

Dangerous and Dilapidated Buildings (and buildings left open to unauthorised access)

There have been 30 dangerous buildings reported to Building Control in the last quarter.

The service is finalising terms to re-start the out-of-hours service for Building Control to offer a 24 hours-a-day, 365 days a year response to dangerous buildings – it is likely that this service should be in place during July 2014

The ‘making-safe’ of a recent dangerous building at the former Wilds store at the junction of Milnrow Road and Oldham Road was co-ordinated by Building Control and a building control officer was in attendance for 12 continuous hours to ensure public safety was maintained.

Turner Brothers’ site, Rooley Moor Road – update

Following the most recent fire at the former Turner Brothers site, on Thursday 30th January 2014, Building Control, together with Public Protection and the Service Director, has been involved in several discussions and meetings with interested parties, including owner’s representatives, local action groups, other Council services and their partners, and Councillors. The service also represented the Council at local area forum (Spotland and Falinge), at the recent Township meeting and at the TBA Working Party.

Building Control called a meeting with the HSE in May to discuss the ongoing asbestos removal and demolition operations being undertaken at the site, with the main demolition contractors, asbestos removal company and other associated relevant parties also in attendance. One of the main outcomes was for all parties to understand that it is the HSE which is the lead enforcement authority on this site with regards to the asbestos removal – and not the Council. The demolition of the fire- damaged building is now nearing completion. The service is assisting its colleagues in Public Protection in finalising (and financing) proposed background air-monitoring of the site.

Building Control has assessed its enforcement options regarding the site, and has forwarded these scenarios to the Council’s legal team for further advice from Counsel – for which we still await a response.

Building Regulation Applications

The service continues to grow its base of partner agents (architects) who use Rochdale Building Control Service for all of their (local and national) building regulation applications, including those outside the borough. The service has won notable contracts: • To refurbish multiple sites across the Hopwood Hall college campus network. • To construct new social housing developments for Rochdale Borough Wide Housing • A new factory extension for Land Rover in Birmingham • Internal fit-out of the NHS clinic at Nye Bevan House • Re-configuration of the Wheatsheaf shopping centre

The service is used for approximately 85% of all building regulation related work in the borough, reflecting the hard work the officers make in harnessing strong working relationships with local and national clients and is testament to the high regard to service quality demonstrated by its officers and management.

A scheme to improve collaborative and cross boundary working between local authority building control services in Greater Manchester is also under review which will further assist the service to consolidate its customer base and potentially increase its income.

Demolitions

The service received 6 applications to demolish buildings in the borough in the last quarter.

Page 60 Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) Advisory Board: (SAB)

DEFRA are potentially to unveil a scheme in the near future which will build-in flood risk management design at the planning stage, for most new building developments. The proposals are as yet to be finalised but Building Control has been in discussion with Development Management (planning) with a view to becoming part of the SAB inspection team, to offer practical and technical advice on the installation of sustainable drainage schemes on behalf of the Council

Safety At Sports Grounds Enforcement

Meetings of the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) are undertaken and chaired by Building Control as the safety enforcement authority for the stadium. Post-season inspection will be completed in early July. Structural monitoring equipment will be installed by Building Control to assess potential issues with stadium construction/cracking. Next full meeting of SAG in mid-July.

Recruitment

The service is in the process of recruiting a new: • Building Control officer post • Technical administration support officer post Posts to be filled July 2014

CORONERS SERVICE

Members will be aware that we host the Coroners service for Rochdale, Oldham and Bury Councils and that we have a statutory duty to provide the back office functions, staff and premises for this important independent judicial role. Pressures on the service have increased from new legislation, case law and performance standards dictated by the national Chief Coroner who oversees performance on behalf of Government.

Our customer and corporate services directorate have completed a fundamental transformation review of the service and we have a programme of efficiency work streams ongoing. Once completed later this year we believe we will have the most modern and efficient support service possible for the Coroner and this work is attracting considerable interest from other coronial districts that are facing similar pressures. We have been in close communication with our Partner authorities during this process who are satisfied that we are transforming this service with a comprehensive systematic approach.

REGISTRARS SERVICE

The Registrars Service, based at the Town Hall, has commenced the registration of births at Heywood Library and Langley Children’s Centre/Library. We are also planning to register births at Kirkholt Children’s Centre based at Sandbrook Park. This new initiative provides the children’s centre early access to families to promote their services. Additionally all the children registered are provided with a library card to access library facilities. Customer satisfaction feedback has been very high. The registrations are conducted on behalf of Oldham and Manchester where registration would normally take place therefore families have local access, less travel and better early years intervention. The service has been so popular we are looking to extend the number of appointments available.

Councillor Cecile Biant Portfolio Holder for Public Health and Regulation

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matters relating to the Portfolio

Page 61 Agenda Item 14e

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR COMMUNITY, CULTURE AND TOURISM TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Community, Culture and Tourism Portfolio.

SAFER COMMUNITIES Increasing Confidence & Satisfaction

Last year saw increases in the percentage of people feeling safe both during the day and at night hitting our annual targets.

Work undertaken within the 1 st quarter of 2014/15 is listed below and we have launched the following:

• Safe4Summer campaign which is a partnership-based summer campaign aimed at keeping people of all ages safe and addressing community concerns about youth-related crime and anti-social behaviour.

• @saferrochdale twitter feed – helps us to communicate crime prevention advice, increase awareness of the partnership’s activities and provide reassurance.

• Marketing – specific ASBO leaflets have been produced to reassure the community that action has been taken to address anti-social behaviour.

• Days of Action – Days of action have been held in Milnrow, Spotland and Fallinge. The Days involve physical multi-agency interaction with members of the community and opportunities for them to share their concerns.

• Connecting Communities brand – The development and impending publication of a new Connecting Communities brand will encourage communities to interact and serve one another during the process of community event planning.

Reducing Crime

We ended the year having seen an increase rather than a decrease in the overall volume of crime. While an upturn is concerning, it is typical of the cross-Greater Manchester picture, with the majority of Boroughs seeing increases in crime

• We saw a welcome reduction in violent crimes in quarter 4

• Our collective efforts to tackle and prevent burglary continued to deliver results, with a further fall in Q4 enabling us to meet our year-end target

• The Q4 figure for shoplifting was the lowest in 2013-14, a reflection of efforts to work with retailers to tackle the issue and to step up action against persistent offenders.

• Hard work on increasing solved rates has been reflected in excellent figures in respect of violent crime and hate crime, our performance on hate crime being the Page 62 best in GM.

• The Partnership Enforcement Team is now established at Rochdale Police Station, with Council and Police staff working closely together to proactively share information and to formulate and implement disruption plans to tackle those engaged in serious and organised crime in the Borough. An excellent example of partnership working was Operation Rakanda which took out a number of those responsible for supplying and dealing in drugs in the Spotland and Falinge area.

• In early April, we launched our updated Domestic Abuse Strategy, in the presence of the Police and Crime Commissioner and our guest speaker and domestic abuse survivor, Rowetta. Partners are working on a wide range of actions contained in the action plan that underpins the Strategy.

Preventing the Harm Caused by Drugs & Alcohol

The focus during this first quarter has been on implementing the new treatment system following the remodelling and tendering of the entire treatment system last autumn.

• Renaissance (RMBC first point of contact for drugs and alcohol issues), has seen an increase of more than 100% - seeing 175 new referrals in May alone. The specialist Mental Health Nurse based with the team has also assessed more than 50 patients.

• The new fully integrated Drug and Alcohol Treatment Service has rebranded as ‘Pathways’ and is being delivered in venues across the Townships (including in GP surgeries).

• High Level has fully implemented the Recovery and Reintegration Service, supporting individuals to sustain recovery from addictions. Using additional funding they are well underway with the refurbishment of the Hub at Champness Hall, a launch event opening the Café and Play Area is on 18 th July.

• Early Break continue to provide substance misuse services for young people and are continuing to develop services to tackle changing trends and different communities as well as delivering the award winning ‘Holding Families’ support.

• As part of the Transforming Justice agenda, Problem Solving Courts became operational in Bury/Rochdale Magistrates Court on 1 st April 2014 and Intensive Community Orders are being delivered, with 4 orders issued in June.

Preventing & Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

• In 2013/14 we achieved our target of reducing the reports of both anti-social behaviour and criminal damage in the borough putting us 2 nd ranking in Greater Manchester.

• We have continued to address anti-social issues through the referral of cases to the Case Intervention Group for multi-agency early intervention and support. This 1 st quarter has seen 17 referrals. Along with this we have consulted on the progression of 2 anti-social behaviour orders and 1 drink banning order in the 1 st quarter through the Threshold Panel.

• We have completed 3 Restorative Justice Conferences via the volunteer neighbourhood resolution panels where agreements have been reached with the victim and perpetrator.

Page 63

• Work is being undertaken locally and linked with Greater Manchester authorities to ensure the successful implementation of the new ASB tools and powers in October 2014.

Prevent Offending by Children and Young People

• Youth Crime statistics continue to be low across the borough. The Youth Offending Team currently has 177 cases, the lowest for some time.

• The Youth Service has undertaken week end detached and outreach work across the Borough. Friday night diversionary health and fitness sessions remain popular, with attendance reaching 150 young people in some locations.

Reduce Adult Reoffending

• Performance ended the year on target for the majority of indicators, with just a couple of indicators slipping during the latter part of the year.

• Members will be aware of the transitional arrangements Probation staff are undergoing at the moment, with the split of functions between the National Probation Service and the Community Rehabilitation Company. Once management arrangements have settled down, the Performance Board will liaise with key executives with regard to the make-up of the performance reporting arrangements for 2014/15 and beyond.

Developing Community Cohesion

• The Cohesion Hub have delivered three hate crime training sessions to allow reporting from third party reporting centres. Future training is planned as we continue to raise awareness of hate/mate crime and support those who have been subjected to it.

• The Cohesion Hub continues to promote events and celebrations that promote equality and understanding. This has included a St Georges Day flag raising and the raising of the rainbow flag in recognition of International Day Against Homophobia.

• KYP organised the Rochdale borough diversity awards again this year which provided a showcase for the excellent work being undertaken by individuals, organisations and employers towards supporting and promoting equality, diversity and cohesion within the borough. A special award was given to the Cohesion Hub to recognise the important part they played working alongside the community during the CSE grooming trials and the funeral of Fusilier Lee Rigby

Equalities

• Good progress is being made to plan and deliver an Equalities Listening Event in the Autumn (25 September at Middleton Arena). The purpose of this event is to engage with all our communities and members of all the protected groups to identify any action which can be taken to make services appropriate and sensitive to the needs of all our communities.

Emergency Planning & Business Continuity

• The Emergency Planning on-call Forward Incident Officers have responded to 6

Page 64 incidents in the 1 st quarter co-ordinating the local authority response.

• The Council’s Emergency Response and Recovery Plan is being refreshed to reflect Member changes. A Reception Centre Plan has been completed and training undertaken with the relevant officers. A Greater Manchester Flood Plan has also been developed and is under consultation. In addition a Corporate Business Continuity Plan has been developed along with a Business Continuity policy.

Events Management

• To date 80 applications have been received through the Council’s new Event Application process. A review of the process has taken place and, working with the Web Team, the website and application form have been revised to ensure continuous improvement and ease of customer use. The response from Organisers to the new structured process has been positive and the Council has been working hard to support them with providing the necessary information needed to meet legislative requirements.

• Planning for the Tour de France is almost complete and the necessary resources have been identified and put in place to deliver the event on the day. We have also been supporting organisers of events that are taking place over the weekend of 4 th / 6th July within Hare Hill Park in Littleborough.

• Work is also ongoing for The Feel Good Festival, The Rochdale Wedding Show and WWI Centenary Commemorations.

Tourism

• The Visit Rochdale Website has played a vital role in communicating information about the Tour de France event. In addition to providing information on places to stay and eat, the website has provided information on all the additional travel arrangements for the day. Pocket sized visitor guides for all four townships have just been printed and will be available on the website too. The Visitor Guides will be placed in libraries, sport centres and other public buildings as well as hotels and other overnight accommodation.

ROCHDALE BOROUGHWIDE CULTURAL TRUST, LINK4LIFE

Link4Life service achievements summary: April - June 2014

There have been a number of key achievements in Link4Life during the first quarter of 2014/15. These are summarised below:

Corporate Update There have been a number of developments in relation to the corporate and governance position of the Trust. A summary of these include: • Board Recruitment & Development – The 5 new Board Trustees commenced in the New Year, and will be joined the recently confirmed Local Authority Trustees (Cllrs Holly, Sheering and Emsley) to provide the ongoing strategic leadership to the work of the Trust; • Governance Review & Action Plan – An independent review of the Trust has taken place, work is now underway to deliver against the actions raised to ensure that the Trust continues to be governed effectively; • Review of the Partnership Agreement & Memorandum and Articles of Association – Work continues on refreshing and updating these documents to ensure Page 65 that they are up to date and meet the Trust and Council’s requirements; • Permanent Chief Executive – Phase 1 of recruitment did not secure the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive. The L4L Board will consider how they want to proceed at their meeting on the 17 July 2014.

Sport and Leisure Service • Systems Update - The major project this period in the Sport and Leisure service was the upgrade of the management system in May to enable sites to improve further the data that Link4Life capture for each visit. The use of technology across the sites is increasing in importance. In this period, 25,633 bookings have been made online for fitness classes and sports bookings across our sites. This represents a 14% increase against the same period last year. Of all the fitness classes available across our sites 66.8% are booked online.

• Marland Golf - The new golf season commenced in April and Marland Golf Course has seen a welcome increase in members from last year to 209 member’s from 181 previously. This success has been as a result of a revised pricing structure and ongoing investment in course improvements.

• Middleton Arena - A new Monday movie night has been launched following the installation of a state of the art HD Cinema Quality projector and screen in the Auditorium. The site will be showing regular movies each Monday along with children’s movies in the school holidays and will provide Middleton with its very own community cinema.

Arts & Heritage Service • Two new exhibitions opened : Yan Preston: He – River Together and BUREAU: In Conversation. Chinese born Yan Preston presented film and photography works made in China from her ongoing project exploring the Yangtze River.

• Gallery One - Featured ‘Landscapes of the Mind’ by the Art & Soul, an art and support group for independent adults in the Rochdale Borough, who have experienced mental health issues.

• Re-launch of ‘Baby Play Baby Do’ : creative and sensory play sessions in the Art Gallery for babies 0-2 and their parents on the last Tuesday of each month.

• New Schools Programme for the academic year 2014-2015 - This reflects the changes to the National Curriculum and has been distributed to all schools in the Borough.

• The Preview magazine - Published in June and compiled by the Arts & Heritage Visitor Information Service, this features what to see and do in Rochdale Borough throughout the summer was. Neighbourhood & Communities Service • Skills4Sport and Leisure Programme presentation event on the 8th May 2014 - 55 participants and invited guests attended this awards event. Of the 27 individuals who completed the programme in full, 5 have subsequently secured employment within Link4Life.

• 10 new Activ8te ME sessions - These have been added to the programme this period (Nordic Walking, T’ai Chi, Badminton Kingsway, Boxer Circuit at Bowlee, T’ai Chi at Burnside and Demesne, Zumba Gold at Demesne, Zumba at Wardle and Rounders taster session and Sure Start event) attracting 120 new people to the programme

Page 66 • And finally, a major success story is in relation to local boy Daniel Wain, who has Cerebral Palsy and is a power chair user. Daniel was selected to compete in the Great Britain Boccia Championships where he won a bronze medal. This is a fantastic achievement for Daniel who started playing boccia in school at age 12yrs. His involvement with the sport came through his PE teacher and also the school-based Playground2Podium programme for disabled pupils. Since then he has played with his local club – Rochdale Boccias, competing in the North West league and taking lead as team captain. Daniel is a fantastic role model and has recently been invited to attend a Regional Talent Assessment day from Boccia England which aims to identify potential athletes for the 2020 Paralympic Games. Daniel has also been nominated for the Rochdale Sports Awards this September.

Councillor Daalat Ali Portfolio Holder for Community, Culture and Tourism

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Community, Culture and Tourism Portfolio

Page 67 Agenda Item 14f

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR CORPORATE SERVICES & NEIGHBOURHOODS COUNCILLOR NEIL EMMOTT TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Madam Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments relating to the Corporate Services & Neighbourhoods Portfolio.

ASSISTANT CABINET MEMBER – Councillor Heakin

I would like to thank Councillor Kieran Heakin for his support during the first cycle of council business for this municipal year. Councillor Heakin has attended many meetings with me in respect of this very diverse portfolio and fully supported me in my role.

VOLUNTARY SECTOR

1. I attended the Voluntary Sector Assembly and the Voluntary Sector Partnership in June. I also attended the latest Community Base Network. Members of the Community Base Network are pleased that there will be no funding cuts to community centres next year as recently announced by The Leader. Furthermore, I was pleased to announce that the proposals contained in the recent ‘Pulse Report’, which many community members were concerned about, will not be carried forward. 2. I was pleased to learn that a number of community organisations are assisting residents with appeals in relation to welfare benefit problems and I have requested that the council works more closely with these organisations to assist them, and ensure that residents are supported in the appeal and tribunal processes. 3. Councillor Heakin, Sheila Downey and I met with Rochdale CVS recently and I am pleased to report that we have arranged for CVS to provide increased support for the voluntary and community sector in the coming 6 months. This was welcomed by members of the Voluntary Sector partnership. This will be to help the voluntary and community sector in Rochdale to become more sustainable and to build capacity in the sector.

TOWNSHIPS

< The first round of Township Committees for 2014/15 has taken place and all sub- committees are now confirmed. < Township Officers have coordinated Armed Forces Flag Raising Ceremonies throughout the Borough, and these took place on 23rd June. Credit must go to Councillor McCarthy for the sterling work he continues to do as lead member for the armed forces. < Township Funds have now been confirmed for the coming financial year and officers are working with Members to identify and progress the priorities in the Township Plans. < The first round of thematic partnership meetings and area forums is complete and a number of consultations have taken place. < We are looking at our Township structure and Customer service delivery. It is my intention to re-examine devolving more services to townships. I recently noticed that there were no details of township offices on the council website. This has now been rectified and all details for township offices are included on the website.

Page 68 ELECTIONS

I met recently with staff in the elections office to discuss the challenges of Individual Electoral Registration and more combined elections. All these place increased pressures and workload on the elections office. Our democracy is the most precious thing we have and therefore I will be supporting the elections office as strongly as possible in future.

Combined local and European Parliamentary elections were held on 22 May. The organisation was well executed and turnout on polling day increased from 31.4% in 2012 to 34.02% this year.

Individual Elector Registration (IER) went live on 10 June. On 30 June, the electoral register data will be sent to the DWP for cross-checking. Once the data is returned, each elector will have a red, amber or green rating – indicating no match at all, partial match and complete match respectively. ‘Green’ matches will receive a letter stating that they will be put on the new electoral register and do not need to take any further action. ‘Amber’ matches will be dealt with initially in the office where checks will be made with other data sources owned by the council to see if they can be confirmed and be made ‘green’. If not, they will be dealt with as a ‘red’ match and will be sent an individual invitation to register and asked to provide additional personal data for verification with the DWP (date of birth and National Insurance number). These will be chased until a response is obtained. Forms will also be delivered to known empty properties for details in case any residents move in and care/nursing homes will be visited for the details of all residents.

The Electoral Commission is running a publicity campaign from 3 July until 8 August and there is also an internal communications plan to support this and other local schemes. We will try to increase registrations with under-represented groups – BME, 18-24 year olds, residents of social housing – promote the benefits of registering to vote and the voting process especially with the Parliamentary election coming up next year.

The team is working hard on the implementation of this project with other departments with the capture and registration of new electors and investigating the possibility of automated cross-checking with other council data-sets. AGMA authorities also continue to work collaboratively with this project (advertising, communications, procurement, canvass process, payments etc). Members training for IER was held on 3 June and was well attended and well received.

LEGAL SERVICES

Rochdale was one of the first councils to identify and properly issue a case in the Court of Protection following the landmark ruling in the Cheshire West case which has changed the way deprivation of liberty is defined and has significant implications for all councils. The Council obtained an anti-social behaviour order against an adult whose behaviour had been causing harassment, alarm and distress and recently prosecuted a businessman for unlawfully depositing commercial waste on land in Middleton, in the absence of any environmental permit or authorisation permitting the waste deposit. The Council is involved in a project advising and drafting data sharing agreements that will lead the Council in the decisions that it makes with other partners and agencies when working together to share information in order to deliver upon the Council’s priorities and underpins the principles of Public Service Reform. This will hopefully achieve a more effective delivery of services Stockport, Trafford and Rochdale Councils sealed an Inter Authority Agreement on 2 nd July to establish a joint committee to deliver a strategic procurement service for the three Councils. The joint service should deliver substantial savings to all three councils.

Page 69 The ongoing Constitutional review continues to progress with the objective to ensure that the Constitution is up to date and in line with legislation. Licensing and Regulatory Committee has delegated authority to approve and adopt the updated constitution. Prior to submission of the updated Constitution to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, Party Leaders will be consulted; the views of the Democratic Structures Member Working Group sought and the Chair of the Audit and Safeguarding Committee consulted.

GOVERNANCE & COMMITTEE SERVICES

As of May 2014 the way Officers write and submit reports to Committees changed to using a dedicated workflow designed within Governance & Committee Services, Modern.Gov. All Officers submitting report to Committees will have to use the new system which will be accessed via the intranet and ensures all statutory requirements are completed and the reports signed off before they are published on agendas. 250 Officers have been trained on the system which has been designed to make the whole process more efficient, to improve the way the Council carries out its decision making and to deliver further efficiencies including automation of process, reduction in paper copies, better use of staff time and resources and ease of consultation with Officers across Services.

COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

1. New Intranet and MySite progress: The new Intranet is now live and opens as the main home page. Over the next few months all data from existing intranets will go into the single new intranet. MySite is now used extensively around the council for organisational information about staff. We are working with HR to link the corporate induction into MySite to the policies and procedures in the Policy Centre.

2. New Councillors ICT attended the induction event for new councillors; this was very successful with all members issued with their chosen equipment, with a support pack and made aware of access to Personal Desktop Services (VIP) to ensure they have support.

3. ICT and Frontline A recent review of the functionality of the Child Care case management system (ICS) has resulted in the recording process being streamlined, ensuring that whilst statutory recording requirements are still being met Practitioners are afforded more time to work with children and families. Adult Care has been provided with a number of laptops to enable mobile working and will shortly undertake a pilot to enable practitioners to complete an assessment of need electronically.

4. Connected Council Programme: We are changing the way in residents engage with and access council services through a programme called Connected Council. A review of the media, news and Customer information parts of RMBC web offering is in progress. Working with the digital Steering Group with colleagues from Communications and Customers teams to plan the solution for the Council. 5. Public Services Reform (PSR) – Data Sharing Project As part of the Public Services Reform (PSR) Programme and the Connected Council Programme (CCP) an audit was initiated in January 2014 to collate and maintain two central inventories:

< All known Datasets containing citizen / people information < All known Data Sharing Agreements, Legal Acts, Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) and Protocols that underpin the use and sharing of the

Page 70 declared in line with the DPA and known agreed purposes

Dataset and Data sharing agreements that are in the process of being reviewed amended/ updated include: Making a difference in Kirkholt, Multi-Agency Screening Service, Crime and Disorder Partnership, Prison Library Data Sharing Agreement and Adult Safeguarding

LIBRARIES, CUSTOMER SERVICES, CONTACT CENTRE

Libraries are being used across the borough to support customers in the following priority areas: Health and Wellbeing; skills, jobs and business support; literacy; digital inclusion; early years and stronger families and older people.

To celebrate Adult Learners Week in June, the library service launched a new project with Hopwood Hall College Community Learning. Free taster sessions were run in one library in each Township on subjects such as Digital Photography, “Get Creative” and Managing your Money. The taster sessions will be repeated in July and free longer courses running from September. This is the first time libraries have been used by Hopwood Hall College as a venue for community learning.

Rochdale Library service has received £9,000 funding from the Arts Council for an exciting local project to commemorate World War 1. The project will be completed in early August. Children from 2 high schools have met with a local veteran – Harry Mills – in Rochdale Central Library, to discuss his experiences, and to listen to war poems. The thoughts of the group were then turned into a poem by the Children’s Librarian, Ray Stearn. A local street artist, Liam Dean, is turning these words and poems into street art. The work will be shown at Rochdale Central Library and other locations in the borough. The production of the work will be filmed. The final art work and story of the project will be curated online as part of the digital war memorial with other projects from around the country in August.

Rochdale Library Service manages the delivery of the Bookstart initiative. Introducing young families to books and reading and increasing the communication and language of young children from 0-3. Sessions are held in 7 libraries, and within early years settings in the more deprived areas of the borough. We celebrated National Bookstart Week in June with special ‘superhero’ Bookstart Bear Clubs. Rochdale is considered nationally as a model of excellence for Bookstart. As a result two members of staff were invited and attended a Parliamentary Reception to celebrate Bookstart on July 15 th .

Smallbridge Library, Wardle Library and Littleborough Library all gained Township funding to run very successful Tour De France themed events.

The successful author Robert Williams held a captivating book reading and discussion at Middleton Library on Saturday June 21 st .

Children’s Book Week was used to highlight the excellent work for children and families in the borough’s libraries and encourage increased membership. Babies whose births are registered at the Town Hall, Heywood Library or Langley Children’s Centre/Library now get a library card and 25 private nurseries across the borough now also enrol children in the library. Weekly Bookstart Bear Club sessions are held at six libraries throughout the year and, from 19 th July, the Summer Reading Challenge, which this year has the theme “Mythical Maze”, will be available for 4-11 year olds in all our libraries. There will also be a launch event with children’s performance poet, Ian Bland, in each of the townships.

Rochdale Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has the Council funded contract for provision of Welfare, Debt and Housing advice until March 2015. The CAB deals with about 50% more

Page 71 clients monthly than before July 2013. Face to face appointments are delivered at No 1 Riverside, Middleton Library and Heywood Library. We closely monitor the CAB contract to ensure advice is given effectively to residents and that the service continually improves.

HR & PAYROLL

1. The HR Senior Team continues to support the Leadership Team on the delivery of the key strategic objectives in line with the Corporate Plan.

2. The data on health related absences for 2013/14 have been collated and reported to the Leadership Team and Overview & Scrutiny Committee. The information shows a significant improvement in attendance which is good news for the Council.

3. The Pay and Grading review for non-teaching staff in schools is ongoing and the HR Service is working closely with the Schools Service to provide the professional knowledge and expertise at the evaluation and appeal stages.

4. The HR Service is continuing to implement the 2014 Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and is supporting partner organisations with changes to payroll to ensure that this ran smoothly from 1 April 2014

TRANSFORMATION & INNOVATION

1. Corporate Planning Process The revised Corporate Planning process is bedding in and this is the first month where reports are being prepared for discussion at Leadership Team prior to presentation by Directors at O&S. Officers would like observations from Leadership and Members as to their views of the new process so that they can continue to streamline and improve. The Transformation Lead (Performance and Projects) attended O&S 3 rd July to provide a presentation and overview of the new Performance Management process.

2. Website The council continues to be recognised for its website. It is important that functionality is a priority before form and the council web team always reviews changes from the customer perspective. With the current changes to the ICT platform, officers will be ensuring that the service does not degrade with the changes and we continue to improve.

Councillor Neil Emmott Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services & Neighbourhoods

Thank you Madam Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Corporate Services & Neighbourhoods Portfolio

Page 72 Agenda Item 14g

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR CHILDREN’S, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Children’s, Schools and Families Portfolio.

Transformation of Children’s Social Care

The implementation of the re-modelled Children’s Social Care service was completed as planned on 31st March 2014. The Children’s Social Care transformation programme board continues to meet to ensure relevant work-streams continue to make required progress. The focus of this next phase is to move to a state of ‘business as usual’ through a stable and confident workforce, practice improvement, leadership and management and culture change.

The Workforce/Organisational Development strategy is a key driver for the successful transformation of the service. Sessions led by Heads of Services and Senior Managers within Children’s Social Care Service have been scheduled throughout the year and are based on the following framework;

• Management Development Programme

• Managers Briefing Sessions

• Practice Forums/Functional group sessions

• Children’s Social Care good practice sessions.

• Service-wide staff communication & engagement with staff

The rolling programme of recruitment and new appointments continues within the Children’s Social Care Service (CSC). The majority of supervisory and management posts have been recruited to and a permanent leadership team is now in place. The majority of Practice Managers will be in post by September 2014. The number of agency social work staff is reducing; collectively this progress is expected to enable the service continue to make the required improvements.

Adoption Scorecard

The time taken for the Local Authority to match and place children with their proposed adopters is a feature of the Council’s Improvement Notice issued by the Secretary of State in 2012 and revised in April this year (2014). Work has continued to improve performance and timeliness in this area as it is also important to deliver improved outcomes for children cared for by the Local Authority.

Progress made in the last 12 months is as follows;

• 88 children as at 23/6/14 are subject to Placement Orders (orders that are granted Page 73 by the court which allow children to be placed for adoption)

• 40 of those children are now placed with their adopters and awaiting an Adoption Order to be applied for and/or granted by the court. A further 41 children are potentially linked to prospective adopters who have been identified but work is at an earlier stage.

• 7 children are not yet linked to potential adopters – this is because their care plan of ‘adoption’ has only recently been approved.

The council has made good progress in identifying and placing a higher number of children with adopters but has yet to demonstrate sufficient timeliness in identifying and placing looked after children for adoption. This needs to be seen in the context that some of the children who have waited for a long time are now placed with adopters.

MASS (MULTI-AGENCY SCREENING SERVICE)

The Multi-Agency Screening Service (MASS) was developed to provide the highest level of knowledge and analysis of all known intelligence and information across the safeguarding partnership to ensure all safeguarding activity and intervention is timely, proportionate and necessary.

The MASS became operational on the 4th February 2014 and has now been functioning for almost six months. The aim is to provide a more consistent, timely and unified multi- agency response to individual situations relating to welfare and safeguarding concerns to children and young people, through better information sharing between agencies so that decision making can be informed, timely and appropriate.

Since the implementation of the MASS performance data and feedback from partners has been positive. This is reflected in 100% of feedback being given to referrers and 97% of decisions being taken within 24 hours of contact being made with Children’s Social Care (previously recorded to be 84%). The significant improvement in performance and feedback indicate we have a strong platform on which to build.

The next steps for the MASS are as follows;

• Commissioning specification/Joint commissioning to ensure the MASS is sustainable in the longer term; to include a performance/assurance framework. This is due to be completed in August 2014.

• Delivery of a best practice Domestic Abuse triage system. This commenced on 30 th June 2014.

• Strengthening links and resources provided/delivered by partners within the MASS; which is an ongoing arrangement.

• Strengthen strategic and operational links with arrangements for children who go missing from home, care and education.

Rochdale Diversity Awards

The service was very fortunate to pick up two awards at this year’s Diversity Awards. The Youth Service won the award for Leisure in recognition of work the service had done in supporting young people in the borough of Rochdale to organise and deliver community Page 74 cohesion events such as Fuse your Park fun days, Middleton’s Got Talent, Drama Productions, Community Festival Events, Community Garden Projects, Young Carers Groups and Disability Supported Projects.

The second award for Diversity in Apprenticeships was won by the Raising Participation Age and Skills Team. The team were nominated for their work in supporting and increasing Apprenticeship numbers in a climate of financial cutbacks and also because of the diversity of the successful Apprentices. Last year 30 young people started Apprenticeships within RMBC and so far this year 16 have started the programme. 25% of all successful candidates this year have come from a BME background. The programme is developing to include Higher Apprenticeships at Degree level and also to provide opportunities for our Looked After Children.

Engagement of Young People

An engagement strategy is now in place with an associated action plan which is being managed through a multi-agency group. As part of the strategy a mapping exercise was completed which evidenced some excellent engagement across the partnership. This exercise will be repeated in September to measure further progress.

The Youth Service have organised Township based Question Time events for young people. Two have taken place to date, in the Pennines and in Rochdale and were supported by local members, lead member, police and senior officers of the council.

Key issues discussed at the Pennine event were: • Poor transport links in the Pennines

• Cost of football provision for local young people

• Why young people are judged by their appearance

• Relationships between young people and police

• Poor lighting and surface area at Milnrow Skate Park

Key issues discussed at the Rochdale event were:

• How further cuts might impact on services for young people

• What can be done to make sure young people don’t miss out when it comes to their health

• Regeneration plans for the Town Centre

• Cost of transport too high for young people to afford

• What can be done to create more and varied apprenticeships and real job opportunities

• What can be done to tackle issues around drugs

The next Question Time is due to take place in Heywood in September with Middleton taking place at the end of the year.

Community Cohesion Schools event

Page 75 On the 23rd June, councillors, Senior LA Officers and the Police came together with children from Hamer, Marland Hill Primary schools and Rochdale Sixth Form College to listen to some excellent presentations from the groups of pupils about three things they wished to change in Rochdale borough in order to make it a safer, better and cohesive place for young people. Many ideas were shared around policing and crime in the town, increasing communication between pupils and the local authority via the School council and Youth Parliament as well as some great ideas about how young people could access more heritage and leisure based activities. It was wonderful to see so many young people with civic pride and passion for Rochdale Borough and we hope to continue this dialogue again in the future.

Key Stage 2 results

The service is just receiving Key Stage 2 results for children in year 6, who are due to leave primary school this month. The data received to date indicates that performance has improved and Rochdale results exceed the national average across the board. This is a great achievement for our schools and a very positive reflection of the hard work of children, teachers and other staff involved.

Admissions

Additional School Places:

For the 3 admission years 2014-2016, the Local Authority has planned to provide additional reception class places at 11 primary schools across the Borough. Additional accommodation is to be provided at 9 of those schools. For 7 schools the additional accommodation is expected to be completed on time. For 2 of the schools there are short delays in the programme.

The Authority has started to publicly consult on the need for extra secondary school places needed between 2015 and 2019. Elected members will be consulted through the Township Committee meetings in July. Proposals are being put forward at Township level to ensure there are enough places overall as the larger primary school cohorts progress through the school system.

Current Primary Admissions for September 2014

Currently 2881 children have been offered a reception Class place, this is an increase of 192 children compared to the National Offer date in April. There are 3062 Reception class places available across the Borough for Reception in September.

There are still late applications and changes of choice to process, but overall there will be enough school places for those who require them.

Schools

Ofsted inspections

We have had 10 Ofsted inspections since April 2014, 1 Secondary and 9 Primary. Of these inspections only two schools have dropped from Good to Requires Improvement (RI), three schools have improved from RI or satisfactory to good. Of the five schools that have retained the grade they had at last inspection two have maintained a Good Page 76 judgement and three remain RI. Consequently our total percentage of good and outstanding schools has again increased slightly to 86%. This represents an increase of 11% compared to the last academic year.

Councillor Donna Martin Portfolio Holder for Children’s, Schools and Families

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Children’s Schools and Families Portfolio

Page 77 Agenda Item 14h

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENT TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Housing and Environment Portfolio.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Grass Cutting

The Service has 55 staff cutting the grass - 26 staff work within Townships on highway verges and town centres; 6 staff maintain the RBH estates and 23 staff look after parks, sports pitches (including 27 Bowling Greens) and public open spaces.

Usually these 55 staff are supplemented by approximately 18 seasonal agency workers, but when we realised that we were falling behind, we drafted in another 12 agency staff.

In real terms, we have cut more grass than we had by this time last year.

We manage 352 hectares of grass - equivalent to the area covered by 320 Football Pitches (if we visit all these areas every 4 weeks, then roughly each operative looks after 4 football pitches)

The unseasonably warm and wet winter, followed by ideal growing conditions from March onwards has led to an extraordinary good season for grass growing. Without the improved systems and rounds we implemented this year, the situation would have been much worse.

We have been commended in our setting aside wildflower meadows throughout the borough by the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit, with a total of 12.9 hectares set aside at present.

Waste Collection and Recycling

Waste services have done well this quarter and May has seen a significant reduction (29%) in reported missed bins by residents. New procedures have also ensured that regular missed collections are now dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Like all councils, RMBC is facing increasing financial pressure alongside needing to consider the requirement to meet future legislation and targets. Last year, Rochdale only managed to achieve an overall recycling rate of just over 35%; which is significantly lower than the English and the Greater Manchester average of 43%. This figure also leaves us some way off the 2020 European Waste Framework Directive target of 50% recycling rates.

Last year saw Rochdale’s recycling rates performing worse than all of the other 9 partner councils that make up the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. High recycling performing Authorities were Stockport and Trafford who managed to achieve targets of 64% and 52% respectively whilst other neighbouring authorities such as Bury achieved 45%, Oldham slightly more than Rochdale on 37%. This means that Rochdale were approximately 8% lower last year than this average and this is something we are determined to address going forward.

Our main aim in this area for the remainder of the year and going forward is to significantly improve our recycling rates. We have ambitious plans involving a number of high profile education and awareness campaigns. And a new dedicated recycling team who will help us to achieve significant improvements in our recycling rates.

A report will also be presented to Members in the near future, which outlines a number of options for developing our waste collection service. These options have been based around models that aim to

1 Page 78 increase recycling rates whilst improving the efficiency of the waste collection service. The options won’t be easy and if we are to perform in line with our partners across Greater Manchester in our recycling, we will need to make some difficult decisions and implement the preferred option as soon as practicably possible.

Hollingworth Lake

Hollingworth Lake Visitors Centre and area has recently received an inspection from Visit England.

The feedback from Visit England also highlighted that, Trip Advisor have awarded Hollingworth Lake a Certificate of Excellence for 2014.

This independent feedback is a testimony to the joint working that we are starting to see in the area and I hope members will join me in congratulating those such as the friends groups who are helping to achieve this success and I would encourage everyone to keep up the good work.

Environmental Enforcement

Corporate Enforcement Officers undertook a number of successful high visibility dog foul patrols throughout the borough during April and May 2014. 16 organised patrols have taken place, although Enforcement Officers undertake weekly patrols for their own dedicated areas.

In response to Customer requests, some of these directed patrols were undertaken over a period of time in Hare Hill Park, Littleborough; Queen’s Park, Heywood; Balderstone Park, Rochdale; and Alkrington, Middleton. Our officers spoke to dog walkers and provided educational advice and provided free dog bags as well as handing out fixed penalty notices to offenders identified at the time.

Early indications show that a reduction in dog fouling in these areas is noticeable and complaints reduced by 15% on last year. Further directed patrols will be carried out on a regular basis over the coming year alongside related high-profile campaigns.

Continuing this theme of success, our Enforcement actions have led to a 49% increase in the number of prosecutions and cautions issued to fly-tipping offenders compared to the same period in 2013.

Floral displays

I hope members will enjoy the floral displays around the borough especially the floral themes to celebrate the WWI centenary and the Tour De France. The WWI carpet bedding displays which have been funded by Township are particularly special.

The service have sown a large number of poppy seed around the borough, this has been with the help and enthusiasm of local schools that have joined to celebrate the anniversary .

HIGHWAYS, PROPERTY AND FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Street Lighting Programme

The street lighting replacement programme is nearing the third year of a five year programme. To date 13,516 existing street lights and illuminated signs have been removed and 13,742 new energy efficient street lights and signs have been installed and commissioned.

There are three phases to the programme and each phase covers all wards:

• Concrete columns in phase one • Metal columns in phase two • Phase three will be a mop up of any not complete

2 Page 79 Potholes

A successful bid was submitted for additional funding to deal with potholes. We have been awarded just over £400K and this funding must be spent this financial year.

The programme has not yet been set, but engagement with the Townships will take place in July to determine priority. We are in the process of re-letting the patching contract (due to the previous contractor going in to liquidation). Once the new contract is in place and the programme agreed, the work will commence.

The split will be:

Rochdale Town Hall

The Town Hall has been presented with the certificate of excellence from Trip Advisor for continued excellent service provided to visitors to the Town Hall.

Town Hall restructure is completed and working well, efficiencies identified with cross-working with N1R staff have been achieved and going well without the need to reduce or increase staff. Reducing the opening and closing time along with a Christmas break has again improved efficiencies and not to mention reduce in energy consumption.

STRATEGIC HOUSING

Affordable Housing

A total of 194 affordable homes were delivered across the borough in 2013/14 through the Affordable Homes Programme, Help to Buy Initiative and Section 106 agreements.

Registered Providers partners are currently developing 135 new affordable homes for rent on the following sites:

Boundary Street, Rochdale, Lower Falinge Rochdale Inglis Street, Littleborough Helvellyn Drive, Middleton Stanycliffe Lane, Middleton

The homes on the above sites, which includes a 43 unit extra care scheme in Littleborough, will be completed during 2014/15

Homelessness Services

In common with most statutory and mandatory services across the Council, demand for assistance has remained significantly high throughout the preceding 12 months. Although we have been able to achieve outstanding outcomes in preventing homelessness – we recorded 1515 households as being supported to prevent homelessness in year 2013/14 - there continues to be an upward trend in the number of priority households that we record. This is a reflection of the challenges that some households face in resolving their housing issues.

The impact of the broader Welfare Reform has steadily impacted upon demands on Homelessness services and in the last 12 months we have recorded an increase in the number of households making enquiries and seeking assistance.

3 Page 80 Register Provider Investment 2013/14

In addition to the significant spend on the provision of new homes in the borough the Council’s seven partner registered providers made/secured investment of over £35 million on

- Improvements to properties - Works to improve the energy efficiency of homes - Environmental Improvements - Grounds Maintenance - Supporting Communities

Universal Credit Implementation

Universal Credit will be implemented in September 2014. To date we have undertaken the following preparations;

• Key strategic and operational groups established. • Awareness raising with Council SMT groups, Bursars group, and CCG localities. • Mapping of existing IT access and support. • Review of budgeting support services. • Identification of potentially vulnerable Adult Services clients. • Social Landlords group established. • Budgeting support frontline workers session delivered. • Expansion of the Money Advice Services sessions in the Borough.

The next stages will include; • Agreeing the Delivery Partnership Agreement with DWP, including negotiation and agreement of funding required. • Establishing process for the delivery of Personal Budgeting Support. • Training (varying levels for different groups) • Frontline workers Universal Credit briefing. • Production of key communications materials. • Establishing processes for the collection of management information, managing workflow with DWP etc.

Discretionary Crisis Fund

The Discretionary Crisis Fund Scheme was implemented 1st April 2013, after funding and responsibility transferred from the Department of Work and Pensions to local authorities. The fund supports residents in a number of crisis situations, including supporting those residents who are resettling after leaving institutional / residential care with essential furniture and white goods and those residents who need help with emergency household energy provision.

The scheme has been managed throughout the year and has helped 1288 vulnerable residents in 2013/14, awarding 5,959 individual items. The scheme continues in 2014/15 and is on target to help more vulnerable residents.

Partner Agencies and Homelessness

Much of what the service is able to achieve with households is through partnerships and the services commissioned from the voluntary sector. All our voluntary sector partners have exceeded the targets that we agreed last year in prevention and assisting people at risk of sleeping rough. This year all the partners have committed to achieving equally as demanding outcomes despite the agreed reductions of between 12.5% and 50% for some of the m. By working in partnership agencies have been successful in attracting additional funding to support some of the innovative schemes that have been operating this year including the Bond Boards Bare Essentials scheme that supports people getting back into employment funded by Santander; and the Step Up scheme developed by Petrus and the Bond Board to assist ex- rough sleepers into Private rented properties funded through Govts Homelessness Innovations Fund.

Going forward, assisting and supporting our partner agencies to access alternative sources of funding and investment from outside of the Borough will be a key action.

4 Page 81 Transfer to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

The Councils Homelessness services have now transferred to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing and this will create the opportunity to enhance the Housing Options approach that we have promoted. This will be a further contribution to enabling the Council to achieve the primary aims of the Homelessness Strategy. It is also another step along the way of bringing services together.

Rogue Landlords

Operation Maverick has been running since mid-January this year. This is a government funded project working in partnership with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service & Greater Manchester Police to tackle Rogue landlords operating under the radar. In the first three months the team carried out 147 raids (multi –agency un-announced premises visits) which resulted in the serving of 10 Prohibition Orders, 53 Enforcement Notices, 10 Immigration arrests, 13 un-licensed House in Multiple Occupation and 18 Fraud referrals . This extra work to target our worst properties, often housing the most vulnerable, is funded until March 2015.

Empty Properties

The Council’s partnership working with Groundwork Oldham Rochdale in bringing empty properties back into use through a training scheme for the unemployed was awarded ‘Best Local Authority / Community Housing Organisation Partnership 2014’ at the recent national Empty Homes Network national awards ceremony.

The empty property team have continued their early success in bringing empty properties back into use (3rd highest award of New Homes Bonus in Greater Manchester last year), with both voluntary and regulatory solutions being used to reduce the problems caused by empty properties and increase the housing supply within the borough, they have an active workload of over 600 cases being dealt with at any one time. The team have served 47 empty dwelling management order intention notices, which have resulted in 11 properties back in use, 14 more where work is underway and 3 cases where the council has taken control of the property. One property has been subjected to an ‘enforced sale’, recovering £13,887 owed to the council, 14 owners paid up before the sale was enforced, recovering £92,514 and a further 9 cases are pending.

Energy Efficiency

The Council, working in partnership with Groundwork Oldham Rochdale and Energywise (a community interest company formed by Kashmir Youth Project (KYP)), has continued to attract grants from the main energy suppliers to install energy efficiency measures in both private and social homes, reducing fuel poverty through enabling more 500 households over the last 15 months to reduce their fuel bills and thereby increase their disposable income.

Private sector properties on Oldham Road, Pilling Street and Rodney Street, Rochdale, have benefitted from external wall insulation and more will follow in the coming months in townships across the borough. Ward councillors will be provided with information about activity in their area and will be invited to attend the public meetings. The target for this year is to install energy efficiency measures in a further 500 properties.

In 2013/14 there was over £475,000 ECO funding across the borough, bringing the total to over £1.5 over the 3 years from 2011. The average household savings of those benefitting from the scheme has been £175 per year in perpetuity and as fuel prices rise so will their savings. A further aim of the current programme is to increase the savings made by individual households by maximising the energy efficiency measures installed in each property and providing information and training on changing households’ energy use behaviour.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick Portfolio Holder for Housing and Environment

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Portfolio

5 Page 82 Agenda Item 14i

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR BUSINESS, SKILLS, EMPLOYMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Business, Skills, Employment and Public Service Reform Portfolio.

Business

Business Support and Investment A range of support continues to be offered to local businesses to contribute to their growth and job retention and creation in the borough. Rochdale remains one of the most proactive boroughs in the whole of the NW in terms of engaging with local, growing companies and inward investors and then organising the bespoke assistance they need. Business Growth Advisor The Council continues to co-fund a Business Growth Advisor with the Business Growth Hub, and this contract has now been extended into next year. The post enables us to offer a bespoke service to local businesses with growth potential, ensuring they receive the most appropriate and timely advice from the wider network of support services. Current businesses being supported include a textile business developing new fire proof material; businesses bring manufacturing back to the UK and business moving from small scale production to semi-mass production. Funding bids to support these companies have been made to the Greater Manchester Alliance Textile project and to the Chemical Fund. Enquiries The level of enquiries handled by RDA increased towards the end of 2013/14. This trend has continued to grow and in the first 2 months some 34 enquiries have been received, with 23 of these being sourced from outside the borough. Many of these are projecting jobs growth, with the potential for around 40 new jobs, in addition to those safeguarded by the move. We are continuing to work with several businesses that made contact with RDA in the last financial year, recognising that it can take several months for a for a project to come to fruition given the complexities of the process. We continue to work with Wilson Bowden and the managing agents for Kingsway on the pipeline of enquiries for this major site. The Kingsway Team are currently in active negotiations with 1 business looking to move onto the Business Park (this would be a new business to the borough) and on progressing plans with investors for a major speculative building on Kingsway (Plot H) that would be attractive to logistics or manufacturing firms. Super-fast broadband Recognising that having access to good IT infrastructure and capacity is crucial to many businesses and without it, growth potential is hindered, we continue to support the Greater Manchester ‘Get Digital Faster’ programme, working with Tag and BT to deliver superfast broadband to areas currently not serviced. The council is investing in upgrading cabinets that BT would not otherwise upgrade. The Rochdale cabinets are in the latter stages of the programme and will be delivered in 2015/16. A Digital Growth advisor has been employed by the Greater Manchester Growth hub to work with locally businesses to help them make the most of digital technology and has engaged with over 40 Rochdale businesses. The 4 th Annual Business Awards were launched with over 60 guests attending a lunch at Riverside Restaurant at Hopwood Hall College to identify sponsors for the various awards. Page 83 The event will take place on 7 th November in the Great Hall and is fully funded by the private sector. Nationally, July is Independent Retailers month and this highlights the important role smaller, local, independent retailer’s play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole. I would urge all members and the public to support our local independent retailers in this month in particular but then to continue all year round. The Council are assisting the Middleton Town Team in forming a Co-operative Community Interest Company to continue activity supporting businesses in Middleton Town Centre and enabling the new organisation to access funding that they would otherwise not be able to. The second Teenage market has been held in Middleton, organised by the Town Team and is growing with each event. Businesses in the Pennines have been helped to make the most of the Tour de France visiting the borough. A briefing by the council, our business advice service - Blue Orchid and the president of the Rochdale Chamber of Commerce, Delphinus Greenhalgh, who grew up in France with the Tour de France, helped local businesses realise the potential to their businesses of the influx of visitors and the opportunity to present very positive experiences of the borough. In June, the regular Business Breakfast was held in Castleton. Businesses heard about the importance of training their workforce and heard first-hand the impact training had made to a Middleton employer that had seen great direct benefits from investing in their workforce with the help of local training providers. Businesses were also invited to the Evening with Simon Weston OBE . To hear about the significant benefits of employing veterans from the Armed Forces. The skills and work ethic that are developed whilst in the services are easily transferable and are very valuable to businesses. Several businesses agreed to sign the Armed Forces Community Covenant to directly support veterans and reservists with a range of support and flexibilities that fit in with their business models. Blue Orchid’s business growth and start up programme for 2014/15, part funded by the Council has been agreed and has flexibility so they can work with established small businesses as well as new businesses. The work should generate 30 new business starts in the borough and Blue orchid will also support around 80 existing small businesses to help them to grow. Employment and Skills Youth unemployment figures have greatly improved in the last 12 months. In May this year, there were 890 fewer 18-24- year-olds claiming jobseekers allowance than this time last year, a drop from 2070 to 1,180. More than half of the young people who have recently found jobs were also classed as long-term unemployed, having been out of work for six months or more. Younger people have also proved a success, with the number of 16-18 year-olds who joined an apprenticeship scheme to growing by 15 per cent. The council hosted an apprenticeship open evening in the Great Hall in the town hall on Wednesday 2 July which was open to all 16-24 year-old residents not in full-time education to explore apprenticeship opportunities in the borough. The opportunities are offered at Intermediate, Advanced and Higher (degree) levels and cover more than 170 industries and 1,500 job roles nationally.

Community Champions, the trained group of 450 volunteers who support local people with issues such as literacy, IT skills, debt and money management, and a specific project to work with parents to improve the home learning environment, called Early Words Together, which is part of a national pilot funded by the National Literacy Trust. Referrals to Page 84 Community Champions come from a wide range of organisations such as the Job centre, Psychological Therapy Service, Adult Care, Citizen’s Advice and Children’s Centres.

Rochdale Borough’s Community Champions have been involved in a community research project, provided through Edge Hill University. In addition to the important volunteer work they do, supporting people from our borough with issues such as literacy, mental health, learning to use a computer and managing their money, they have been researching the things that affect people in the borough and the booklet contains some really interesting insights into some of the issues included in our work on Public Service Reform. Their work is being published in a booklet by Edge Hill University and will be launched on 17th July.

The work that champions do here in Rochdale borough often gets recognised nationally. Recently one of the people supported by a Rochdale Champion, “Lilly” (not her real name) spoke, via an audio recording, to a Roundtable in Whitehall at the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills. Lilly described how some very practical support from a champion actually made a real difference to her thinking about life and changed her opinion on her future prospects and aspirations, so much so that she’s now motivated to take action, despite the many difficulties and barriers she’s faced, to get back into education and eventually to go to university. The event organisers wrote to us last week to say “It was obvious from delegates’ reactions at the time that… Lilly made a big impression on everyone, and the feedback forms all rated it highly. Please pass on thanks to Lilly too, for her brave and moving contribution. “

Skills levels data is not yet available (next release due in November) but we have had a continuing rise across all measures and are continuing to narrow the gap which existed in 2009 between Rochdale and other GM authorities; The borough’s comparative position in Greater Manchester, is improving and the number of people with no qualifications has lowered significantly.

The Economic Affairs Team manages the Talk English Project and was the recipient of the Rochdale Cohesion Award at the Annual Diversity Awards held recently at KYP. The Talk English Project supports businesses and organisations in encouraging those with little or no spoken English to improve their language skills. This is a significant step in improving their employability.

PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM Public Service Reform. Is about changing the way public services work so they help people to become more independent are connect to jobs and growth and help service providers to better manage demand. Some issues of note include : • Transforming Justice - Intensive Community Orders (ICO) went live across all seven new districts on the 2nd June. Rochdale has 4 recommendations of ICOs going to Court. The Rochdale ICO Project commenced on 1st June 2014. It is intended to co-locate the service with RBH in St Albans House. In the interim period delivery will be from the Probation Office Drake Street, Rochdale, (other additional venues may need to be utilised in short term). The volume of cases will build slowly and the anticipated volume of cases for Rochdale is approximately 67 over the course of 12 months. A bespoke model for women offenders will be developed later in the year. • PSR “Working Well” programme is aimed at people who have been consistently out of work and previously on the Work Programme Leavers. Although we are talking Page 85 about small numbers Rochdale has the second highest number of clients on the programme (34) and the highest number of completed attachments (completed assessments) (9 – this process does take a few weeks to complete). Our work has been recognised by the cabinet through a visit to Manchester earlier in the month. • Early Years - Inevitably the context within which we are rolling out the Early Years New Delivery Model has changed over the past 18 months as a consequence of national, GM wide and local changes and this has resulted in change to the intended 8 stage model of assessment with a new focus on focus on new births 0- 1yrs . The early adopter in Sand brook set up to test the 8 stage model of care commenced April 2014 but has been delayed awaiting consent to share data. • DCLG -Transformation Challenge Award: as part of GM the Council is a partner in two expressions of interest - for IT infrastructure development across the 10 Boroughs and support to increase the pace and impact of the work around complex dependant families. The council has submitted an expression of interest around the development of a multi-agency recruitment hub creating a model that translates public sector vacancies into local jobs. We will know the outcome by the end of July. • Health & Social Care - Healthier Together Consultation programme is an important consultation opportunity which was launched on 8th July in the borough and is about service redesign across greater Manchester, encompasses primary and community care, acute services and other elements of social care. • The Economic Affairs team has led on the development and delivery of the pre-pilot for Public Service Reform training for front line workers, entitled “Making the Difference”. The programme, which has been developed across public service agencies such as voluntary and community sector, DWP and health services is currently being tested with a small group of front line workers from programmes such as Stronger Families, Working Well (Employment and Support Allowance claimants), Targeted Youth Support and the voluntary sector. It brings new ways of working with those who need a high level of support offering practical ways to integrate positive outcomes for employment, literacy and mental health into the offer provided by the front line workers, helping people with very complex and high cost dependency.

Councillor Peter Williams Portfolio Holder for Business, Skills, Employment and Public Service Reform

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Business, Skills, Employment and Public Service Reform Portfolio

Page 86 Agenda Item 14j

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CHAIR OF THE HEYWOOD TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY 23rd July 2014

Thank you Madam Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to Heywood Township.

1940’s Event

This year’s Heywood 1940's Event on Saturday the 28th June 2014 was again a massive success with record crowds in attendance throughout the entire day, despite inclement weather, the Town was thriving, vibrant and busy all day and evening. The Event date was chosen to coincide with and support Armed Forces Day and it worked superbly, with a large Veterans Parade through the packed Town Centre. Educational work was carried out through the event. Funds were raised to for many charities through their stalls. Local businesses benefited. The 1940’s Factor singing contest was a great success again and the Big Band night was another sell out. Visitors and exhibitors travelled from far and wide there was a lot of praise for our Town for its friendly atmosphere and the way local businesses had made the effort to join in, many re-enactors said it was the best 1940’s themed event they had been to in the Country.

Memorial Gardens

The four hand carved stone flags to enhance The Cenotaph have now been fully sculpted by a local sculptor and are ready to be painted in The Union Flag, Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Colours which when complete will be attached to the existing Cenotaph. Environmental Management will be making further improvements in The Gardens by replacing two grassed areas with flagging, installing lighting, metal planters to match the existing furniture and two information boards.

Help The Heroes

The Kings Hotel hosted a very well attended fund raising event graced by Ian Rigby, father of deceased Fusilier Lee Rigby, and unveiled a signed Help The Heroes shirt which is now proudly on show for all to see.

Saint Lukes defibrillator

A Township funded defibrillator has now been installed at the side of Saint Lukes Church.

Page 87 Police and Community Safety

A good quarter across the Township, with some good reductions in crime and Anti- Social Behaviour, particularly in Hopwood Hall and West Heywood Wards, and some improved perception and satisfaction figures. Criminal damage and arson are down across all three Wards Several presentations have been given at local care homes, morning and luncheon clubs, giving personal safety advice, home security tips and security devices. Several safe plate events have been held at various locations in Heywood. The 40 th birthday of GMP was successfully celebrated with a family fun day in the Civic Centre which was well attended. Several road safety events at primary schools in Heywood have taken place in partnership with the largest distributors based in Heywood, the event looked at the safety of children, trucks and Heavy Goods Vehicles and was very educational to both children and teachers. Close work with GMP has taken place to provide vulnerable adults in the community with security surveys when they have been a victim of crime. Regular case work has continued to tackle all aspects of anti-social behaviour both with privately owned property and properties within the private rented sector.

Cllr Ray Dutton Chair of Heywood Township

Thank you Madam Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Heywood Township Committee.

Page 88 ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCILAgenda Item 14k

TOWNSHIP CHAIR’S REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP CHAIR TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Middleton Township.

We have held the following Township Committees, sub-committees and working parties in the last cycle:

1. Township Committee Middleton Township Committee took place on Thursday 12 th June 2014, and was held at the Old Grammar School, one of Middleton’s many historic buildings.

The meeting was attended by around 12 members of the public, and firstly the PACT meeting took place, where a number of questions were put before the Police Inspector. This was followed by the Open Forum where the following questions were raised:

• The likelihood of development of land between Middleton and Heywood by a housing developer • Concerns about parking and anti-social behaviour on Sovereign Gate estate • A request for a traffic survey on Manchester New Road was made • Request for parking enforcement in North Ward and concerns about new road markings in the Town Centre causing congestion • Safety concerns about the pavements, which are to be done as part of the HIP, were also raised • An embankment on Millfold Road which needs repair • Brookside Community Centre repairs

The Committee approved minutes from previous meetings of Township Committee, Middleton Planning Committee, and Middleton Devolved Funding and Services Sub Committee. Reports submitted included approval of Delegation arrangements, Appointments to committees for 2014/15,a review of Township Funds for 2013/14 and arrangements for 2014/15,a report on the Street Services Clean & Green funding for 2014/15, Residents Parking Schemes in North Ward, East Ward and West Ward, and School Governing Body Vacancies.

A second Middleton Township Committee will take place on Thursday 17 th July 2014.

2. Township Sub-Committees and Working Parties The cycle of sub-committees commences this quarter, and some of the issues raised are detailed below:

Culture, Leisure and Tourism The Middleton Culture, Leisure, Tourism Community Cohesion and Health & Wellbeing Working Party will not meet until the end of July 2104.

Regeneration The Middleton Regeneration Group will not meet until Mid-July 2104.

Planning A meeting of the Middleton Planning Committee took place on 25 th June 2014 and considered two items which have been overturned by the Planning Inspector.

Environment Forum The forum met on 25 th June 2014 and received updates from a number of ‘Friends of Groups’, Environmental Management and relevant sub-groups.

Devolved Funding and Services Page 89 The group met on 2nd July 2014, and the Committee considered requests from:

• Middleton Roundtable for the Annual Middfest Event, which takes place every year in July • Canal & River Trust for the Rochdale Canal Festival • Community Safety for the Equalities Listening Event 2014 • The removal of waiting restrictions on Tintern Road, outside the old Alderman Kay School • Fencing on Rochdale Road, Church Street and Cheapside to assist with a proposed Alley gating Scheme • Middleton Town Team for funding towards ‘Middleton’s Grand Day Out’, an event which will take place to support and compliment the annual Heritage Open Days • A number of requests for parking restrictions throughout Middleton • A youth service request for funding towards Music and Fun day Event at Limefields Park • The upgrade of CCTV at Middleton Library • Funding for a number of Community Safety Initiatives • The installation of a power supply at a local Allotment facility

Members approved in total £31,023 of Middleton Township Funds, although some of these are subject to terms and conditions being met.

Armed Forces Flag Raising Middleton hosted its second Flag Raising ceremony in support of Armed Forces Week. The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress attended as well as the Chair of Middleton Township and representatives from Middleton Royal British Legion with attendance from three local schools. The service was conducted with help from Reverend Marcia Wall.

Mayday 2014 Monday 5 th May saw a large number of people from Middleton and further afield attend the annual Mayday celebrations in Middleton, which as always was organised by Middleton Roundtable with support from Middleton Township Committee and Officers. The event was a lovely day, and the weather was warm and sunny and was enjoyed by old and young alike.

Thank you Mr Mayor. I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matters relating to the Middleton Township Committee.

Councillor June West Chair, Middleton Township Committee

Page 90 Agenda Item 14l

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CHAIR OF THE PENNINES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY 23rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Pennines Township.

Highways The Highways Service continues to deliver schemes that will improve traffic flow through the Pennines villages. The road safety scheme in Littleborough Centre is complete along with resurfacing works in connection with the Tour De France due on the 6 th July. New schemes to be undertaken within the next 6 months are resurfacing of Albert Royds Street roundabout and Elizabethan way Cycle scheme and signalisation.

Community Safety With the summer months and lighter evenings now upon us traditionally there is always a rise in complaints regarding football in the street, BBQ’s and other outside events such as garden parties that we have been busy dealing with within Community Safety. It is important that these issues are dealt with effectively to ensure that neighbour disputes do not arise and that solutions are found that meet tolerance levels of both parties.

We have been dealing with on-going issues at Smallbridge Library where a small group of youths continue to disrupt the library and harass the staff. Working with the library management we are changing the door access system that will allow staff to regulate who enters the library at certain times of the day.

The summer months also see a rise in shed and garage break in’s with thieves attracted to high value items such as lawnmowers, strimmers and such like. We are busy getting the message across not to leave out buildings insecure especially whilst working in the garden as most of this crime type is of an opportunist nature.

The summer months also see a rise in anti-social behaviour particularly in public space such as parks and town centres. We are currently working with Greater Manchester Police to tackle the “hot spot” areas particularly at weekends seizing alcohol off underage drinkers and then establishing where the alcohol was purchased. This information is then passed onto the licencing officers for them to carry out further investigations.

Our routine case work regarding problematic tenants in the private rented sector is, as usual always ongoing working with landlords and property management companies dealing with all manner of issues ranging from anti-social behaviour to neighbour disputes and domestic violence.

Youth Service The Youth Service in the Pennines has been busy hosting a number of events. On Thursday 20 th March we held our first Question Time Event at Milnrow Youth Centre. This event was well attended by Councillors, Council Officers and partner agencies including the Police and NHS. It was a great opportunity to open dialogue between guests and young people about some of the issues that are of concern for local young people and to explore ways of working together to resolve these issues.

On Saturday 14 th June Smallbridge Youth Group hosted the first Tour de Pennines which began at Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre and finished at Watergrove Reservoir following a 13km cycle ride which was challenging but very enjoyable according to the 8 teams from across the borough that participated in the event. Page 91

Continuing with the celebrations for the Tour de France we organised a Family Fun Day in Hare Hill Park on Saturday 28 th June. Despite the poor weather we still managed to attract a large crowd who participated in the various activities that were on offer. The theme that was chosen for this quarter was ‘Active Lifestyles’ and the young people that we have worked with have been involved in lots of sporting activities including football and in particular cycling. All our groups helped to organise the Fun Day in Hare Hill Park and young people decorated material to highlight the importance of health and fitness and the material from the groups was used to make some bunting that was placed around the bandstand in Hare Hill Park for the event.

Our groups continue to meet in Smallbridge Library, Wardle Library, Littleborough Sports Centre and Milnrow Youth Centre and we are looking to do some work in Littleborough Library. We also have the Mobile Youth Bus in the Pennines twice a week and our detached team continue to work in the ‘hot spot’ areas.

Libraries Libraries are being used across the Pennines township as venues, particularly to support customers in the following priority areas: Health and Wellbeing; skills, jobs and business support; reading and literacy; digital inclusion; early years and stronger families; the elderly.

Every library in the township offers free Internet access and Smallbridge, Milnrow and Littleborough offer Wi-fi to customers. The library service has developed an innovative initiative with the Department for Work and Pensions, jointly running monthly sessions in Smallbridge library for jobseekers – improving their IT skills and employability, and helping them with the UniversalJobMatch site.

To celebrate Adult Learners Week in June, the library service launched a new project with Hopwood Hall College Community Learning. Free taster “Get Creative” taster sessions were run in Littleborough, the taster sessions were repeated in July and free longer courses will run in September. This is the first time libraries have been used by Hopwood Hall College as a venue for community learning.

Rochdale Literature Festival will run again in October 2014. The inaugural festival in 2013 saw over 4700 people attending events. Over 98% of people surveyed said they would return in 2014. Confirmed acts include singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan, renowned poet Jackie Kay, poet and broadcaster Ian Macmillan, BBC Breakfast presenter and bee-keeper Bill Turnbull with many more exciting acts to be confirmed.

Community News

Wardle and Smallbridge Community Centre The centre has seen a lot of changes recently, there is now a new management committee in place who are working hard to utilise the building for the benefit of the community. Township funds were used to purchase goods for the kitchen which is now fully equipped.

Armed Forces Week The Township are proud to support the Armed Forces Community, we held ceremonies to mark the start of Armed Forces week by raising the Armed Forces flag in Milnrow and in Littleborough. Both flags were raised on newly installed flag poles that the Township has funded.

Pennines in Bloom Pennines Township has continued to fund the project this year. This year’s entry is in progress and details are being finalised, judging day is on August 5 th , the results won’t be known until later in the year. Page 92

Milnrow and Newhey Carnival 2014 Hundreds of people lined the streets as the carnival procession, led by Milnrow Brass Band and the Mayor of Rochdale, paraded through the streets from Newhey to Milnrow. Each year the community comes together to support this event, they are also encouraged to participate in the event organisation. The Carnival, now in its 46 th year, had a host of activities on offer in Milnrow Memorial Park including a funfair, a dj performing live music, and various stalls.

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Pennines Township Committee.

Councillor Aftab Hussain Chair, Pennine Township Committee

Page 93 Agenda Item 14m

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

TOWNSHIP CHAIR REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CHAIR OF THE ROCHDALE TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd July 2014

Thank you, Mr Mayor, for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on matters relating to the Rochdale Township Committee.

This is my first report as Rochdale Township Chair after being re-elected by members. I look forward to the next 12 months and I am committed to supporting the development and promotion of Rochdale Township.

Metrolink The Rochdale town centre tram stop opened in March 2014. The fully accessible trams run along the Oldham-Rochdale line every 12 minutes. There has been a steady increase in passenger numbers over the past few months.

Kingsway Business Park The Hungry Horse pub/restaurant continues to be very busy with local residents and employees from the business park using the facilities on a regular basis

Staff numbers at JD Sports have increased over the past few months with more local residents securing work there. This is reflected in the increased use of the Kingsway Link bus service and the latest Metrolink figures for the Kingsway Business Park tram stop, which peaked at over 7,000 tickets to or from the stop in May.

The 3 rd annual Kingsway run will take place on Sunday 21 st September 2014. Entries are now open and there will be the 10k, 5k and children’s race as was the case last year. There will be a team entry for local businesses and schools. Promotional leaflets will be printed in the next few weeks.

The Kingsway Business Park revised Masterplan was submitted as part of a new Outline Planning Application in April and will be determined by the planning committees in July.

Enquiries have been steady over the last few months with the partnership dealing with a number of companies looking to invest in Kingsway, which are at various stages in the negotiations. Announcements will be made should any of these progress to contracts.

Wilson Bowden secured planning consent for a 210,000ft2 speculative industrial unit for Plot H on Kingsway and are in the process of securing finance for this. Work should commence at the end of September on this building.

Town Centre East The Development Agreement between Council and the development partner (Genr8) was signed in September 2013. The vast majority of the site has been assembled and demolitions and site clearance is well underway. Genr8 are continuing to seek to secure key retail & leisure occupiers to anchor the new development. They will then be in a position to progress scheme design and work towards the submission of a planning application later in 2014 or in early 2015.

1 Page 94 The demolition programme began in March 2014 and is well advanced. The multi- story car park/bus station has been demolished and the former Municipal Office building is scaffolded and is now being dismantled floor by floor. The demolitions are due to complete in October 2014. The demolition of the Broadwater Centre and St Andrews Church is also well advanced and due to complete towards the end of July 2014.

Upon completion of demolition works, the site of the multi-story car park/bus station and the Broadwater Centre/St Andrews Church will be laid out as temporary car parks, until the new retail and leisure development starts on site. The two car parks are expected to accommodate around 300 vehicles. A number of highway improvement schemes to support the on-going regeneration of the town centre are being implemented on a phased basis including a new pedestrian crossing on Smith Street, Milton Street changed to two-way traffic to improve access to the temporary car parks, and a new turnaround area, loading bays and taxi rank on River Street.

Wheatsheaf Centre Entrance The contractor has been appointed and construction work recently started on site. The new lift and escalators are due to be installed by November 2014, with full completion of the new entrance by January 2015. The works will create a new entrance and retail units on the Baillie Street frontage.

Rochdale Town Hall The roof repairs to the eastern part of the building are now complete. Planning for the next phase of the works including further roof works, replacement of heating plant and electrical works is underway along with improvements to support core business functions. The Feasibility Study to consider options for the future use of the building is complete. The options set out in the Feasibility Study and other recommendations will shortly be considered by the Council as the basis for consultations with the public later in the year.

Street Lighting PFI The street lighting replacement programme is nearing the third year of a five year programme. To date 13,516 existing street lights and illuminated signs have been removed and 13,742 new energy efficient street lights and signs have been installed and commissioned.

Street lighting faults are being repaired in an average time of 3 working days. This excludes faults associated with supply failures, which are referred to Electricity North West for repair.

Community Safety Community Safety have been busy commissioning the new Rochdale Township Community Safety CCTV van. The van is fitted with the latest technology regarding mobile CCTV equipment and will be used to tackle all aspects of crime and disorder within the Township from anti-social behaviour to serious organised crime.

Community News Once again, the Township saw the raising of the Armed Forces Day Flag to support Armed Forces week. School children, veterans, councillors and the community came out in force to support the event. During the Armed Forces week, we were honoured to welcome Simon Weston OBE who was the guest speaker at a recent business event at Rochdale Town Hall; 300 guests comprising businesses, veterans, cadets and community representatives attended. The event was held to encourage businesses in the Borough to sign up to the Corporate Covenant - a voluntary pledge from organisations who wish to demonstrate their support for the Armed Forces community.

2 Page 95 Highways The Department for Transport has now confirmed Rochdale Borough’s share of the £200m pot-hole fund set aside for English councils. The pot-hole repair fund will complement the existing Highways Investment Programme which is ongoing. I met with the Highways Maintenance Team to agree the process for allocation of these funds, the meeting was very positive and I will personally be working with Officers to ensure that the funds are allocated effectively. My congratulations to those Officers that submitted an excellent bid for these funds, which has resulted in the Borough of Rochdale receiving the third highest allocation in Greater Manchester.

Environmental issues Myself and other Members attended a briefing by the Portfolio Holder at Green Lane. We also took part in a tour of Rochdale Township when we were able to highlight the areas where Members felt that environmental issues needed to be addressed, which I feel was very beneficial. I also had the pleasure of attending the unveiling of the impressive WW1 commemorative flower bed which is situated directly in front of Sir John Bright’s statue on Broadfield Park. The Clean and Green Priority Group will continue to meet during 2014/15; the first meeting will focus on updates from Environmental Management Street Services and the Green Infrastructure Plan.

Involving communities The Communities & Engagement Priority Group will also continue throughout 2014/15 and will look to develop projects. Members will be provided with an overview of the schemes supported by the group in 2013/14.

Area Forums Most of the first round of forums for the current year has now taken place. Issues raised so far include:

Bamford and Oakenrod Forum The main topic of discussion during the last meeting was highways issues, particularly around traffic management in the ward. At the last Action and Resource Committee, funding was awarded to carry out an investigation and pedestrian/vehicle survey to determine if Norden Road (outside Bamford Chapel) meets the criteria for the introduction of a pedestrian crossing point.

Central Rochdale Forum Residents were informed of the Defra Pathfinder Scheme which is a project to help people in flood prone areas to become more prepared for flooding. Environmental Issues were again the main cause for concern together with regeneration of properties.

Spotland & Falinge Forum An update was provided on revealing the River Roch. Details of the main elements of the project were given, and the forum was informed that the project should lead to the development of an attractive wildlife corridor and creation of a sustainable habitat, along with public realm improvements. The forum also raised and discussed local issues.

Milkstone & Deeplish Forum Alley Gating, anti-social behaviour and parking were the main issues for concern. Crime figures for the area have reduced. Residents were encouraged to report incidents to GMP. A neighbourhood Watch Scheme for the area is being looked into.

3 Page 96 Norden F orum The forum is actively seeking a response from Redrow to ensure the preservation of Black Pits Chimney. A further presentation was provided by Peel Energy who informed the forum of the proposed expansion to the wind farm at Scout Moor. There was a split in opinions, residents were encouraged to attend consultation events to register their views.

Castleton The forum was provided with an overview of the Empty Properties Strategy. Residents were encouraged to report any concerns about empty properties to the council. Other items discussed included the condition of Rochdale Canal and tow paths and new development sites in the ward.

Healey Forum . An update on the TBA site was provided to the forum by the Environmental Protection officer. This was the main topic of discussion on the night.

Kingsway Forum Discussions were had around an ongoing issue of anti-social behaviour on the canal. The police aim to work with the councils licensing team to address some of the problems raised at the forum. Highways and Metrolink issues were also discussed. A representative from Metrolink is being invited to attend the next forum.

Sparth Forum A short presentation was provided by the Sparth Youth Group who along with members of the Play Scheme Project has been involved in a ‘Recycle Project’. This project has been supported by Coop Pioneers, Sparth Community Centre and RBC Youth Services. Using old bicycle parts the group have been creating a large art piece which has been centred on Tour de France. The forum also discussed issues around fly-tipping, parking problems and the theft of cellar grates.

Balderstone and Kirkholt Forum Two presentations were provided by Street Pastors and from a member of the steering group for the Kirkholt Million project. Both presentations were informative and demonstrated good community engagement. The forum also discussed different ways of engaging the community and increasing the attendance at the area forums. As a trial the area forum will be called the Balderstone and Kirkholt Community Meeting.

I thank all Members and officers for their continuing support.

Councillor Sultan Ali July 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor. I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matters relating to the Rochdale Township Committee.

4 Page 97 Agenda Item 14n

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CHAIR OF THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

This report covers the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 3rd July 2014.

3rd July 2014

Discretionary Crisis Fund The Committee received an update on the Discretionary Crisis Fund. Throughout 2013/14 the Committee was consulted on a number of proposed and actual policy changes to the Scheme and were consulted on a revised Scheme. The revised Scheme became operational with effect from 1 st April 2014, and the Committee was advised of the applications that had been received since that date. The Committee determined that it would receive quarterly updates on the Scheme throughout 2014/15.

Insurance Claims Analysis Report The Committee scrutinised a report that analysed insurance claims, against the Council, that had been received, in respect of incidents since 1 st June 2012. The report highlighted the need for the Council to ensure value for money and quality with regard to its claiming handling service, and this report demonstrated that this was happening. The Committee requested that they receive an annual update, in future, on insurance claims against the Council.

Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership (RSCP) The Committee scrutinised a report detailing the RSCP’s performance in the 4 th Quarter of 2103/14. Members welcomed the opportunity to scrutinise the Partnership after an absence of a year when the reports were submitted to the former Health and Partnerships Scrutiny Committee. The Committee scrutinised the police’s performance across the Borough, noting improved performances with regard to reduced numbers of drug related offences and instances of anti-social behaviour bur expressed concern at rising levels of shoplifting offences, mainly against stores outside of town centres, and vehicle crime, especially theft from vehicles. With regard to the police’s communications of their activities it was noted, with some concerns, that the police appeared to be publicising their activities in the local media, without prior reference to the Borough’s elected Members, and asked for such information to be made available to all elected Members.

Inspired Spaces The Committee scrutinised a report detailing the performance of Inspired Spaces in the 4 th Quarter of 2103/2014. The report focused upon a successful careers fair that had been held recently and ongoing construction works, with particular reference to works at St. Cuthbert’s School, Rochdale.

Corporate Health Staffing Indicators The Committee scrutinised a report that provided Members with a summary of service performance against the Corporate Health Indicators for the fourth quarter and year end for 2013/2014.

The Committee agreed that future reports are to exclude data that directly relates to Link4Life and to other partner organisations, as these can be dealt with separately, via their own reporting mechanisms to the Committee. Members also sought clarification of Page 98 any effect that the recent industrial action would have on the narrative of this report. Members also requested that future reports include details of the gender balance and age profiles of the Council’s workforce.

Corporate Complaints and Social Care Complaints : The Committee scrutinised a report that provided Members with details of complaints received by Services during the fourth Quarter of 2013/2014 (January to March), and in doing so referred to the number of complaints recorded in the report and sought clarification as to whether this was an accurate reflection of the total number of complaints received across the Council. The Committee, as with the previous item, agreed that future reports are to exclude data that directly relates to Link4Life.

AGMA Scrutiny Pool The Committee received minutes of three meetings of the AGMA Scrutiny Pool, held 14 th February, 11 th April and 13 th June 2014. The minutes generated widespread discussion and Members were both surprised and concerned at the volume and significance of matters that were being discussed and determined at AGMA bodies, which will have significant impacts on the delivery of services in the Borough. Throughout 2014/15 the Committee will continue to receive and scrutinise minutes of the AGMA Scrutiny Pool and to hold to account the Council’s representatives on these bodies.

Roles and Functions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: The Committee received a report that outlined the roles and responsibilities of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. With effect from the Annual Council meeting, on 4 th June 2014, the Committee has assumed the responsibility for the scrutiny of Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership, Link4Life, Rochdale Development Agency, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing and the Borough’s Safeguarding Boards (in respect of Children and Adults).

Other Issues

Work Programme Planning Session On 26th June 2014 the Committee held an informal session at which we discussed our Work Programme for the 2014/2015 Municipal Year. The Committee decided that wherever possible Cabinet Members and Directors attend meetings of the Committee to present reports that affect their Portfolio and Service area. The Committee also discussed inviting the Council’s appointed representatives to Association of Greater Manchester Authorities bodies to explain what is happening and how the Borough will be affected by any proposals/developments. The Committee also considered holding special “one-off” sessions at which Members can have informal, off the record discussions with Directors and/or Portfolio Holders about issues that affect the Authority, which Members are concerned about. Finally the Committee considered making more use of the Call-in function, during 2014/2015, as a means of holding the Cabinet to account. It was noted that in the last two Municipal years only two items of business were called-in, and these related to Township decisions rather than Cabinet determinations.

This is my first report of this Municipal Council Year and I would like to formally welcome the new Members of the Committee who have already made a valuable contribution to the Committee’s work.

Councillor Mike Holly - Chair, Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Page 99 Agenda Item 15a

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GREATER MANCHESTER WASTE DISPOSAL AUTHORITY. TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Madam Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the first meeting and AGM held on Monday 7 th July 2014.

After 13 years of holding the post of chair, Councillor Neil Swannick has stepped down and Councillor Cath Piddington (Tameside) was unanimously appointed the first female chair of the waste authority. Cath has served on the authority since 1995 and I wish her well in her new role.

The AGM appointed chairs and vice chairs to its three main committees, Councillor Zaman will represent RMBC on recycling and waste management operations committee and I am our representative on performance, policy and resources committee and the audit committee.

This is only a brief note due to the date the report had to be finished and a more detailed report on the work plans and issues will be in the next report.

I am happy to state at the meeting on Monday it was announced that Recycle for Greater Manchester had won a national recycling award for the pilot communications campaign which was delivered in partnership with Rochdale Council. This I am sure members will remember was the “Wrong stuff, Wrong Bin” pilot scheme in the Newbold area. Congratulations to all involved and it was a pleasant surprise at the meeting to see Rochdale Borough seen nationally in a positive way.

Councillor Terry Linden

Member of the GMWDA.

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Outside Body Page 100

Page 101 Agenda Item 15b

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GREATER MANCHESTER FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority.

Quarter 1 Update 1 st April to 30 th June 2014 Rochdale Borough

This quarter has seen good progress against targets. This again has been against the backdrop of continued industrial unrest which has not been resolved.

Rochdale Fire Station is now at 25-27 Halifax Road, Hamer, Rochdale as from the 8 th January 2014 and we have two fire appliances with the addition of the new Incident Command Vehicle being operated from the station covering the risks for the whole of GMFRS. Training has been on-going for the ER personnel on the new Vector Command software to ensure that they can operate the Command Vehicle effectively.

Since the Data Sharing Protocol was signed between GMFRS and Rochdale Borough- wide Housing, work has progressed to ensure that the data shared is secure and accurate. The data has been collated and shared and all persons in the RB Housing premises are listed and any visits reported against this list by RBH staff, Home improvements Agency and GMRS personnel.

Fire Related Activity

Accidental Dwelling Fires- 37 (18% reduction from Q1 2013/2014)

Out of these, 9 were cooking related.

27 of these incidents occurred in the night time hours and 10 during day time.

20 of the incidents were located in housing of single occupancy with 10 being adults (18 to 64 years) and 5 elderly persons. Of all the incidents we attended in dwellings, full Home Safety Checks were offered and delivered to the occupiers.

Accidental secondary Fires- 20 ( 29% reduction from Q1 2013/2014)

These were generally refuse and grassland fires with the 20 incidents being in the garden of the occupier of the properties or scrubland.

Deliberate Primary fires- 35 (31% reduction from Q1 2013/2014)

35 were deliberate Primary fires broken down into:

• 8 dwellings • 3 private garages (non-residential) • 3 outdoor structures- sheds etc. Page 102 • 4 Other non-residential buildings • 17 road vehicles

Deliberate Secondary Fires- 134 (57% reduction from Q1 2013/2014)

These fires were broken down into rubbish/refuse, skips and wheelie bins across the Borough.

Road Traffic Collisions – 16 (1% reduction from Q1 2013/2014)

Of the 16 RTC’s attended over the quarter, 3 were in Balderstone and Kirkholt and 3 were in Kingsway. The remainder were within individual wards. Only 2 of these incidents did not require fire service intervention (Extraction).

Fire Prevention Activities

APR MAY JUN Q1 HSC'S /PAIROF COMPLETED 48 62 39 149 HSC'S /PAIROF RE VISIT 7 13 9 29 APH POST INCIDENT TALKS 2 15 17 DELIBERATE FIRES INTERVENTIONS 2 2 4 8 MULTI AGENCY DAYS 2 65 67 BME TALKS / EVENTS 12 225 4499 4736 BME POST INCIDENT 0 SEASONAL CAMPAIGNS 0 6 65 71 SAFE 4 SCHOOL TALKS (PUPILS) 150 35 1350 1535 DAYS/WEEKS OF ACTION 1 1 2 RJ INTERACTIONS 0 0 FIRE SMART CASES 2 3 5 10 DRUG/ ALCOHOL 1 1 2 PRISON ME NO WAY 0 0 FOREST BANK PROJECT 0 1 1 C & D INTERVENTIONS 4 2 6 VOLUNTEER HOURS ROCHDALE 190 WORK STREAMS 39 FUTURE PLANNED EVENTS 1 FIRE SAFETY TALKS 9 32 90 131 MEETINGS 2 1 180 183 ROAD SAFETY/DRIVING SIMULATOR 650 30 680 HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE TALKS / EVENTS 110 335 445

Total Number Persons Reached 8076

Page 103 Volunteers

We have utilised a total of 23 volunteers. The details are as follows;

• Number of Volunteering Hours – 190

• Cycle Patrols – 20 hours

• Number of events – 143

This is made up from the volunteers undertaking;

• Cycle Patrols, • HSC with the Crew, • PAIROF’s with the CSA’s • Community events- Mega Mela

(Due to the sale of the old Rochdale station falling through, any volunteering hours we counted from the Fire Service museum are not included until this issue is resolved.)

Fire Protection

April 2014 activity

Fire Protection teams continue to support the Borough for activities in Post fire, targeted inspections and partnership working. The teams are now co-locating for two days per week within the Police HQ in Rochdale with the regulatory enforcement teams from the Local Authority and the Police. This is being replicated across the area, in Oldham and Bury.

By integrating the teams, we can ensure that we support businesses in a more informed and targeted manner, inspecting high risk premises.

Pennine Care Foundation trust

Rochdale Fire Protection Officers continue to drive forward the partnership agreement which is having a positive effect on Unwanted Fire Signals across the borough.

Enforcement Forum Update

The Borough Commander continues to see a clear development for the forum to include work to further support collaborative working. He has tasked SM Mark Murphy, the Fire Protection Manager to chair the forum going forward to monitor the co-location working practices and set clear objectives for the Fire &Rescue Service teams.

Sprinkler Success.

Rochdale Borough Wide Housing – Fire Service Partnership .

A sprinkler pilot has been progressed in one of Rochdale Borough-wide Housing (RBH) Homes. This initiative includes training RBH staff to design and install so that they can deliver a very cost effective product.

Page 104 Visit to the New Rochdale Fire Station

Member Visit to the New Rochdale Fire Station – 25 July 2014

On behalf of the Chairman of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority, Councillor David Acton, I would like to invite all Rochdale Members to attend a visit along with the Fire Authority Members to the New Rochdale Fire Station, Halifax Road, Rochdale, OL12 9BD on Friday 25 July from 10.00am till approx. 12.30pm followed by buffet lunch.

The visit will enable Members to have a tour of the new station, view the facilities available at the site and the work which is undertaken in the local community.

It would be appreciated if Members could confirm their attendance to ensure that all the necessary arrangements can be made.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact Donna Parker, Democratic Services Manager on Tel: 0161 608 4087 or email: [email protected]

Councillor Shaun O’Neill Councillor Amna Mir

Members of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Grater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority.

Page 105 Agenda Item 15c

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF TRANSPORT FOR GREATER MANCHESTER OUTSIDE BODY TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to Transport for Greater Manchester.

Local Sustainable Transport Fund Update Rochdale Cycle Hub, a secure cycle parking facility with space for 42 bicycles accessed only by membership smartcard, has been completed and is fully operational.

The Travel Choices Team continues to work across Greater Manchester and aim to concentrate efforts in several areas within Rochdale this year.

Priority Bus Corridor Rochdale Road between Manchester and Middleton will benefit from bus priority and cycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Work is underway on the route, including carrying out utility diversion, kerbing, footway and carriageway works along the route, including work from Victoria Avenue to Middleton which is currently underway.

Rochdale Metrolink line The Rochdale Town Centre Metrolink line is now operational and provides service linking Rochdale Town Centre, via Oldham Town Centre, and Manchester City Centre.

From Monday 24 February, Victoria tram stop closed temporarily, to allow single line working at Victoria. The single line working is to facilitate a brand new station at Victoria including a new layout of the Metrolink stop.

Reopening of Victoria from single track to twin track working is scheduled to be completed in winter. This will enable the connectivity with a gateway to the City Centre, and a radically improved station for passenger use.

Local Link On 11 July 2014, TfGM released a statement regarding changes to Local Link services in Rochdale:

“New operators will be taking over the Middleton/Firwood Park and Heywood services, while the Rochdale Shopping service will be covered by Ring & Ride and the Deeplish service will form part of the Kingsway Local Link service”

The changes put in place will ensure that passengers are still able to make the same journeys.

Rail TransPennine Express Rail Franchise and Northern Rail Franchise consultation Rail Executive (part of the Department for Transport) and Rail North (representing all the local transport authorities in the North of England) are now consulting on what is to be included in the next TransPennine Express and Northern rail franchises. Closing on 18 August 2014, the chosen consultation format provides a single consultation exercise covering both franchises because of the similar geographical areas which they serve.

Page 106 The consultation explores a number of issues on which views are welcome, as follows: whether and to what extent the Rail Executive might: • reduce Northern services with relatively few passengers; • increase fares in places where they are below average; and • reduce the hours during which ticket offices are open and staffed.

The options above have been identified in order to pay for improvements such as: • more frequent trains; • higher quality trains in the northern franchise; • better customer service; and • more diverse range of ways to buy rail tickets.

It is proposed that each Greater Manchester District responds separately to the consultation should they wish to. However, each GM District is also encouraged to contribute towards a joint response, that will be submitted on behalf of TfGM and GMCA that will be aligned to the key principles shared by the North of England LTAs, which form the basis of Rail North’s aims and objectives, and will include any shared Greater Manchester views, including views highlighted during the District briefing sessions on 8 July.

Growth and Reform Plan Following the announcement of the GM Growth Deal on 7 July 2014, GM has been awarded LGF funding for all the remaining major transport schemes that were priorities through the GM.

Local Transport Body process and an initial sum for minor works in 2015/16 and 2016/17. Subject to GMCA approval, there will be a 12 week public consultation on the broad programme starting at the end of July. This will include the South Heywood Junction 19 scheme, for which funding was secured in 2013 through the Local Transport Body process.

Councillor Phil Burke and Councillor Shakil Ahmed

Members of the TFGM Outside Body

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Outside Body

Page 107 Agenda Item 15d

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ARMED FORCES OUTSIDE BODY TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 23 rd JULY 2014

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Armed Forces are as follows:-

AGMA CO-ORDINATION

RMBC Acting Chief Executive Linda Fisher continues to lead on Armed Forces across all ten Local Authorities in Greater Manchester.

ARMED FORCES WEEK

Armed Forces Week was held between Monday 23 rd June and Saturday 28 th June (Armed Forces Day). A number of events took places across the Borough. Flag raising ceremonies were held at Rochdale Town Hall, Memorial Gardens Middleton, Heywood Memorial Gardens, Littleborough War Memorial and Milnrow War Memorial.

Armed Forces event… School children also got involved by dressing up in camouflage for SAFFA – the national Armed Forces charity.

CORPORATE COVENANT

In January 2014 RRG Toyota became the first business organisation in Rochdale to sign the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant. The company under the Covenant provides a free vehicle wash and vacuum service for all Armed Forces personnel and veterans, together with special car deals. Toyota has recently provided work experience to a former Armed Forces member and will guarantee an interview to those with a military background who meet the person specification for a wide range of jobs in their latest recruitment.

On the evening of 24th June the Council hosted a special business special event at Rochdale Town Hall. Simon Weston OBE was the guest speaker at the event, aimed at encouraging other business leaders across the borough to sign up to our Corporate Covenant. Attendees included myself, Mayor Carol Wardle, Our Acting Chief Executive Linda Fisher, Vice Lord- Lieutenant of Greater Manchester and Brigadier Coles from 42 Brigade Preston Barracks. A number of our Elected Members also attended and supported the event as well as a host of local businesses. The event was hugely successful and attracted lots of incredibly positive press and feedback

MEDIA COVERAGE

We enjoyed extensive local coverage of our activities leading up to Armed Forces Day, including our Flag raising ceremonies. Our evening with Simon Weston was featured twice on BBC Radio Manchester, on the ITV Granada News website and the North West Reserve Forces Cadets Association website and on Forces TV. Our pioneering work in Support of the Armed Forces continues to make the national press, including the June 2014 Issue of ‘Veterans World’ magazine. We will be featured in the next issue of ‘The Volunteer’ Magazine. Our Joel Halliwell V.C street naming was broadcast on BBC Northwest Tonight, Granada Reports, BBC Radio Manchester and Revolution Radio. It was also featured in the Manchester Evening News.

Page 108 ACHIEVEMENTS

DEDICATED CONTACT

The dedicated Armed Forces contact and telephone number has directly assisted a number of veterans in housing, adaptations, school places, furniture, white goods and financially. Recently we were able to support a veteran who was at risk of becoming homeless. Working with RBH we were able to arrange alternative accommodation and he has since been re-housed.

DEDICATED TAILORED ARMED FORCES WEB PAGES

The website has received over 31,000 page views to the armed forces web pages between 1 April 2013 and 6 July 2014. The site has received positive feedback from the MOD, and proved to be very successful with members of the Armed Forces

Here are some of our successes.

• The website was classed as ‘outstanding in nearly every respect’ by an IT professional body. • Achieved the Website Crystal Mark for Plain English • Our web team have been contacted by other authorities to share website best practice. • Our Armed Forces website has been held up as best practice by the Ministry of Defence for all other local authorities. Lieutenant Colonel Rich Jordan, The Military Liaison Officer for Greater Manchester, said, "The difference they are trying to make both locally, regionally and nationally is significant and on behalf of the Armed Forces Community in Rochdale I thank them for the superb work they are doing”. •The positive work on the website has been recognised by the Royal British Legion.

GUARANTEED INTERVIEW SCHEME

We continue to encourage and support serving and ex-serving forces personnel as they re-adjust back into civilian life. We are currently looking at additional support to encourage further development eg. assistance with CV writing

FREE USE OF LEISURE FACILITIES

In partnership with Link4Life (L4L), who manage our leisure and cultural facilities on behalf of the Council, we are continuing to offer serving armed forces personnel free use of its fitness facilities and swimming pools for a further twelve months to the end of 2014. Thanks to the success of the pilot scheme that came to an end in December 2013, it was decided to extend this offer to include Veterans in the community who are out of work.

Since June 2013, we have received over 4000 visits with 88% of military personnel using the Gym facilities and 12% using the swimming facilities, In June alone 433 military personnel have taken up the offer,

STREET RENAMING / NAMING

In May 2014 Lance Corporal Joel Halliwell V.C (Middleton’s only Victoria Cross recipient) was recognised in the town by re-naming a street in his honour. L/Cpl Halliwell VC’s family unveiled the street sign on (the now former) Corporation Street, which now will be known forever as L.Cpl. Joel Halliwell V.C. Way.

On 24th August 2014 there will be a street re-naming in Heywood in honour of former Grenadier Guard Pte Palmer VC. The Grenadier Regimental Band will take pride of place leading the parade.

BOOKS ON PRESCRIPTION FOR ARMED FORCES UPDATE

The council’s successful funding bid was for 2 elements:

• £5k Books on Prescription • £10k Local History / Education initiative.

Page 109

Since the Books on Prescription Launch in February which was attended by 70 delegates, some with an Armed Forces (ex AF) remit, we have included details of the scheme in the Armed Forces Newsletter

The Armed Forces Team are to arrange a presentation of the Books on Prescription scheme at the next Armed Forces Covenant Group meeting.

There will also be regular Twitter updates on the scheme.

We have been working with Veterans in the Community and they are now a prescriber of Books on Prescription.

World War One Commemorations.

Broadfield Park.

Commemorative flower plaque.

A spectacular flowerbed measuring12m by 6m has been installed below the John Bright Statue in Broadfield Park, visible from Manchester Road. The flower sculpture is made up of over 400 plants and will provide a poignant and simple reminder of the anniversary of the Great War.

LIGHTS OUT

The Borough is fully committed to the LIGHTS OUT initiative to be held on 4th August 2014. There will be reflection ceremonies and candlelit services taking place throughout the Borough. We are aiming to include all of our Public buildings and are hoping to be one of the projects ‘featured authorities’ .

Poppy seed planting throughout the borough has taken place; all schools have received a ‘poppy pack’ which they planted in and around their areas. Photographs of the various poppy seed planting are being compiled by Media for release this week.

The Corps of Drums will have a dedicated stand at the Feel Good Festival.

Heywood will host a parade in September 2014 to mark the 70th anniversary of Arnhem.

On 1st November 2014 Rochdale Town Hall will host a Festival of Remembrance concert, in conjunction with The Royal British Legion

We’re asking residents, businesses and local groups for any plans they have in 2014 and beyond for marking the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Along with our partners we are planning a series of events - details are available on the council’s armed forces webpages http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/armed_forces_personnel/centenary_anniversary/first_world_war_events.aspx

We are also helping groups and communities mark the centenary by exploring, conserving and sharing the heritage of the First World War.

HELPING VETERANS OBTAIN MEDALS

Rochdale Council are working closely with veterans to support them in completing and submitting application forms to obtain medals rightly owed to them. Rochdale council have now successfully supported seven veterans in obtaining medals.

Councillor Alan McCarthy Portfolio Holder for Armed Forces

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Armed Forces

Page 110

Page 111