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Friday 25 June 2010

Fishing Competition

Just a quick note to say that Cheshire Police will be running the fishing competition again this year. Entries are free for under 17 year olds, and the competition runs from August 9th to the 16th.

More more info or an application pack call 01244 614 446.

Thursday 17 June 2010

Support our local soldiers

As you will no doubt be aware, the "Cheshires" (1st Battalion Mercian's) are presently serving a six month tour of the Helmand Province. Many of the Battilion's soliders hail from Macclesfield and the surrounding areas.

Whilst the inhospitable environs of Helmand may seem a long way away, it is possible for us to support our local soldiers from the relative comfort of Macclesfield.

A group of parents from Broken Cross school, lead by Nicky Flintham, are collecting everyday items to send to the troops on Helmand and they need the help of the residents of Macclesfield.

The idea is to prepare jiffy bags, up to a weight of 2kg with items to be sent to our soldiers. People can either donate individual items, or put bags together themselves. The Cheshire soldiers really appreciate the gifts that are sent.

Popular items to fill the Jiffy bags include:

● Book/magazine/puzzle book
● Pens/pencils
● Playing cards
● Toothpaste/toothbrush
● Shampoo
● Roll-on deodorant
● Vaseline
● Soap/wet wipes
● Disposable razors
● Tampons/sanitary towels and tissues (for women’s bags)
● Sachet of drinking chocolate
● Super noodles/cuppa soups
● Packets of mints or chewing gum
● Boiled or jelly sweets or Lucozade tablets
● Salted peanuts
● Small ring-pull tins of food (eg. tuna, fruit)
● Powdered milk

Donations need to be made by 5th July, and can be dropped off at Broken Cross Primary school (community room), Parkett Heyes Rd, SK11 8UD. For more details contact the school on 01625 383 029.

Alternatively - drop me a line if you've got any queries:
council@darrylbeckford.co.uk
01625 421903
and I'll help you out.

Thursday 10 June 2010

How to get a good deal

Perhaps I've missed something here.

At the last council meeting we had to decide how much we thought we could afford to pay for the new contract to deal with our waste. This will be taking over from our landfill sites, and will probably be a company running an energy from waste plant. We're about to enter the last phase of the tendering process, and the council have to decide how much we think we can pay. If the tenders come in over this figure, the matter will have to be referred back to the council.

All good so far.

This subject was discussed in secret, as a "part 2" item of the agenda. This means that the public and press cannot be present. Fair enough I thought - why would be want the people bidding to know how much we could afford. It would rather give the game away.

Then I got up the next day to find out that council have sent out a press release to the papers with the figure we agreed in it. This has now been published in most titles. Therefore the bidders will know what we are expecting to pay them.

I can't imagine either of the tenders will come in much below that figure, do you?

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Have your say...

From Thursday an exhibition is taking place in the Grosvenor Centre for a few days to allow you to have your say on the future of Macclesfield.

I'm going to explain this from the start, because it's prone to confusion.

Cheshire East are carrying out a economic planning exercise for Macclesfield which they are calling the "Masterplan". Many people I speak to, upon hearing about this process, confuse it with the town centre development. Which is understandable, because the town centre development could be one of the small elements within the masterplan. However it's larger than that - and it seeks to decide what we should be doing with other areas of land which could be used for commercial or residential development, such as Lyme Green/Danes Moss, or perhaps areas close to the canal.

This consultation will allow you to feed your views into this. And your views are crucially important. Many of us disagreed with the previous plan for the town centre redevelopment because it didn't deliver what we thought Macclesfield needed. Now is our chance to establish what Macclesfield actually does need, and therefore will set the foundations for schemes to come, such as the Town Centre redevelopment.

A few of us Councillors have fought very hard for this - and specifically to make sure that nothing progresses on the town centre redevelopment until this piece of work is done. We didn't think it was right that such a major part of Macclesfield could be changed without fully understanding the background behind it all.

I know there will be frustration from people who think we've done this already, or that we just need to get on and get something built in the town centre. But I disagree with that. I think we need to ensure we're doing the right thing in the first place, rather than rushing off with some half baked plan.

So, if you've got a view then get down to the Grosvenor Centre:
Thursday 10th June, 10.30am to 5.30 pm
Friday 11th June, 10.30am to 5.30pm
Saturday 12th June, 10.30am to 5.30pm
or alternatively to the Football Club:
Monday 15th June, 3pm to 8pm.
Make sure your voice is heard.

For more info: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/maccregen