South Lakes MP Tim Farron has welcomed Gordon Brown to the Lake District for his summer holiday but has urged the Prime Minister to take notice of the decline in services that has accompanied years of neglect to rural Britain.
Pennines Township, Rochdale Hornets Rugby League Club and local MP Paul Rowen have come together to donate £800 to pupils at Hollingworth Business and Enterprise College. The money will be put towards a trip to Wembley after the school's year 7 girl's rugby league team recently reached the national final of the prestigious Carnegie Champion Schools competition.
Rochdale MP Paul Rowen has claimed that the decision to increase waste charges across Greater Manchester is a disgrace. Paul was commenting after it was confirmed that waste charges for small businesses are going up. In a letter to businesses, staff at tips said, "From June 1st 2009 a change will be introduced at this and all our facilities at which trade waste is accepted. This will mean that you will be charged a minimum price for half a tonne of waste even if your load weighs less."
Rochdale MP Paul Rowen is celebrating after forcing the Government into a U-turn over forcing passport checks when travelling to and from Ireland. Paul Rowen, a Lib Dem Shadow Work and Pension's Minister, whose family hail from Limerick said, "This poorly thought Government initiative would have had such a detrimental affect on travel and tourism to and from Ireland. I know many elderly people without a passport who have visited their homesteads because of the 'Common Travel Area' rule that allowed them to just bring photo ID. This scheme was simply an illogical Government response to a problem that does not really exist. It would have cost the taxpayer at least £2.5 million a year for staff and close to a £50 million in tourism.
Running a Council during these economic times is certainly a challenge. Since taking control of Rochdale Council for the first time ever in 2006, we have striven at all times to keep Council Tax as low as possible whilst delivering the best possible services. Keeping control of our budget has been a challenge especially when needs-met departments like Adult Care see a huge increase in costs. Despite these challenges, we have delivered the lowest Council Tax increase for over a decade and are fighting the credit crunch head on.
Friday's editorial opinion on Friday put forward the argument that Trident was needed to provide Britain with a nuclear shield.
