Salford Star - with attitude & love xxx

SALFORD COUNCIL MUST SIGN ETHICAL CARE CHARTER TO PROTECT VULNERABLE

added 31 March 2015

Star date: 31st March 2014

WHY ISN'T SALFORD AN ETHICAL CARE COUNCIL?

Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart, makes a big deal about this being a Living Wage City and protecting the vulnerable, yet Salford City Council still hasn't signed the Ethical Care Charter which puts an end to the practice of fifteen minute visits for the sick and elderly, and ensures that care workers are paid a living wage.

As Salford privatises the last remnants of its adult services, the Charter guarantees ethical care for all citizens. Lancashire, Reading and Camden are amongst those who have become ethical care councils. Why not Salford?

SALFORD PENSIONERS IN LINE FOR ALMOST £500,000 CUTS

added 31 March 2015

Star date: 30th March 2015

SALFORD ELDERLY PEOPLE GET HAMMERED BY HUGE CUTS

Did someone say something about protecting pensioners? In two days time, Salford Council is set to push through £495,000 of cuts to supporting older people in sheltered housing schemes run by the likes of City West, Anchor, Irwell Valley and Great Places.

From April, some elderly tenants will be charged up to £25 a month extra, while others will lose support services as wardens are 'rationalised'...

HUNDREDS CALL FOR GREATER MANCHESTER DEVOLUTION REFERENDUM AT PROTEST RALLY

added 30 March 2015

Star date: 29th March 2015

GREATER MANCHESTER PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT BEGINS WITH PUBLIC RALLY IN PICCADILLY GARDENS

"We don't think the correct level of consultation on this issue is for ten men to sit around a table with a Tory Chancellor..." Annette Wright MTUC

Referendum Man was here; so was a Mayoral gimp on a lead held by axe wielding Chancellor George Osborne...and hundreds of campaigners calling for a proper public discussion and vote on the devolution of health, social care and public service budgets to Greater Manchester.

Trade unions and NHS defence campaigns came together as Penny Hicks, from the People's Assembly told the crowd... "In this city of the suffragettes isn't it ironic that we're here demanding a vote for such a basic change that's happening?"

SALFORD GIRL LOOKS TO TAKE MISS MANCHESTER CROWN

added 29 March 2015

Star date: 28th March 2015

CAN SALFORD TAKE MANCHESTER?

"It would be fab if a Salford girl won!" Sara

As Manchester continues its takeover of Salford, a Salford girl is aiming to turn the tide and take the title of Miss Manchester.

17 year old Sara Humphreys, a Disney Princess impersonator from Walkden, says that the competition is more than a pageant and involves raising money for good causes. But to win that Manchester title she needs Salford people's help.

SALFORD COUNCIL TO WAIVE ANOTHER £1.6MILLION IN PLANNING FEES

added 28 March 2015

Star date: 27th March 2015

DEVELOPERS IN ORDSALL AND WALKDEN TO BE LET OFF WITH £1.68MILLION AND PROVISION OF OVER 100 AFFORDABLE HOUSES

In the latest round of planning giveaways, Salford Council is set to waive obligations for the provision of 111 affordable houses and £1.68million in planning fees for developers building over five hundred flats and houses in Ordsall and Walkden.

If councillors accept Council officer recommendations, Countryside Properties will avoid over £450,000 in fees for its Walkden development, while Villafont Ltd and Simandhar Swami LLP will avoid a cool £1.2million in fees for building eight blocks of flats and shops, up to fifteen storeys high, by the riverside in Ordsall.

SALFORD COUNCIL PAYING OVER £200,000 FOR GREENGATE SQUARE FOUNTAINS MANAGEMENT

added 27 March 2015

Star date: 26th March 2015

CASH-STRAPPED COUNCIL PAYS OVER £4,000 A WEEK FOR FOUNTAINS MANAGEMENT

As more cuts to the city's vulnerable people begin to bite, over the last twelve months Salford City Council has paid out £219,065 to a company called Capital Properties to manage Greengate Square and its fountains. This works out at over £4,000 a week.

The fountains and the Greengate Square public space originally cost £13million of public money.

PRIVATISATION OF SALFORD COUNCIL ADULT SOCIAL CARE

added 26 March 2015

Star date: 26th March 2015

ELDERLY AND DISABLED PUT OUT TO MARKET IN MUTUAL MAYHEM

This week, Salford Council confirmed the hiving off of £10.5million worth of adult social care services to a new `mutual', to be called Aspire. Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart, has called the move `radical' – but a 24 page Council report on the privatisation shows the success of the mutual relies on making profits, or a `surplus', by flogging services to other councils and grabbing 10% of the `market'. There are no immediate savings to the Council.

The report also boasts that Salford has the `second lowest proportion of Council budget allocated to Adult Social Care in the North West region'. What's going on?

OVER 10 PER CENT OF SALFORD CLAIMANTS SANCTIONED

added 26 March 2015

Star date: 25th March 2015

SALFORD 11TH WORST AREA IN UK FOR BENEFIT SANCTIONS

10.7% of Job Seekers Allowance claimants in Salford have received sanctions according to a new report by Sheffield Hallam University and Crisis. Salford is now the 11th worst area in the country for sanctions.

The report states that, since the ConDem Government came to power, "the sanctions rate has increased dramatically", leading to food poverty, survival crime, family/relationship tensions, mental and physical health problems, fuel poverty, debt and possible homelessness.

PUBLIC PROTEST AGAINST NHS DEVOLUTION TO GREATER MANCHESTER

added 25 March 2015

Star date: 23rd March 2015

`DEVOLUTION BY CONSENT – NOT BY DIKTAT!'

Public Protest
Sunday 29th March 10:30am
Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

"You will just have to...trust the City Mayor to act on your behalf and in your interests..." Salford City Mayor

Last week, Salford City Council endorsed the Memorandum of Understanding which will lead to the full devolution of £6billion funding to Greater Manchester for health and social care. This despite a whole array of unanswered questions, as health campaigns urge a referendum and democratic agreement, rather than imposition from above. A Public Protest is to be held this coming Sunday.

SALFORD GREEN PARTY LAUNCHES GENERAL ELECTION BID

added 23 March 2015

SALFORD GREENS URGE PEOPLE TO CHECK OUT THEIR POLICIES

The Salford Green Party is standing candidates in all three of the city's constituencies at the General Election this year. Praised for their climate change and anti-fracking campaigns, the candidates - who all live in Salford - are urging people to check out their full range of anti-poverty and pro-democracy policies.

Incredibly, the Vote For Policies website has the Greens leading Labour in Blackley and Broughton, while membership has increased sixfold.

LAYNIE PIERCE FUNDRAISER SHOWS SALFORD SPIRIT

added 22 March 2015

LOWER KERSAL BLUES BROTHERS NIGHT HUGE SUCCESS

A Blues Brothers Ball at Lower Kersal Social Club last night was the first fundraiser to kick off a whole series of events to raise money for a really popular Salford lady, Laynie Pierce, who is currently battling cancer.

The night, attended by over four hundred people, also raised money for Macmillan Cancer Support, with lots of items donated by sports people and celebs, including Bez who attended the Ball.

SEARCH SALFORD PUBLIC MEETING TO FIGHT CUTS FOR DISABLED AND VULNERABLE

added 22 March 2015

PARENTS AND CARERS OF SALFORD'S VULNERABLE URGED TO ATTEND MEEETING

SEARCH Salford Meeting
Tuesday 24th March 7:30pm
White Swan, Swinton

The S.E.A.R.C.H. Salford Community Committee, which aims to take a stand against the lack of support for some of the most vulnerable people in the city, is holding its monthly meeting on Tuesday night at the White Swan in Swinton. Parents and carers are urged to attend to share their stories of cutbacks.

COFFEE4CRAIG SALFORD HOMELESS GROUP `OVERWHELMED’ BY SUPPORT

added 22 March 2015

SALFORD POET, WRITER, BANDS AND ARTISTS BACK COFFEE4CRAIG

"I just felt this connection and thought `Right what can I do?'" JB Barrington

Coffee4Craig, the Salford group set up just over a year ago to help the homeless and those in poverty, has declared itself `overwhelmed' by the support it's receiving from local people.

Yesterday, poet JB Barrington handed over 10% of the ticket sales from his sold out show at the Salford Arts Theatre, half a dozen woollen hats knitted by artist Mary Lorraine Mchugh were also donated, while writer Simon Williams gave all proceeds from the first week's sales of his new book to the cause – and there's Black Grape still to come!

BLACK GRAPE RE-FORM FOR COFFEE4CRAIG AND REALITY PARTY

added 22 March 2015

Star date: 21st March 2015

KERMIT, SHAUN AND BEZ PARTY FOR HOMELESS AND BEZ SALFORD MP BID

Black Grape
Saturday 11th April
Old Granada Studios £25

"It's an awesome cause..." Kermit

Twenty years after the release of the first Black Grape album the posse of Shaun Ryder, Bez and Kermit are back together for a reunion gig to raise money for ace homeless helpers Coffee4Craig and for the We Are The Reality Party's bid to get Bez elected as Salford MP.

Here Black Grape's Kermit tells the Salford Star why the band has reunited for Salford causes...

STEPHEN BROADHURST SALFORD PICTURE EXHIBITION AT THE CORNERSTONE

added 21 March 2015

Star date: 21st March 2015

BROADY DEPICTS SALFORD FROM ALBERT FINNEY'S SHOP TO THE LANGWORTHY HOTEL

An exhibition of over seventy pictures by artist Stephen Broadhurst – or `Broady' – depicts old Salford in all its glory, from the Chinese Steps in Brindle Heath, to the Clock School in Whit Lane, Sutton Flats and loads more, including a whole series of Shelagh Delaney related portraits.

The pencil drawings are all for sale at affordable prices ranging from £25 to £40 and are on currently on show upstairs at The Cornerstone in Langworthy.

SALFORD LIBRARIES HOLD FREE COMPUTER SKILLS WORKSHOPS FOR WOMEN

added 21 March 2015

Star date: 21st March 2015

DIGITAL SKILLS WORKSHOPS AT WALKDEN, ECCLES AND SWINTON LIBRARIES

Four two day computer and digital skills workshops for unemployed women begin on Tuesday 24th March and continue at various libraries across Salford until 20th May.

The free courses, run by MadLab, cover everything from basic computer skills, to the use of social media, website building and computer programming. The courses are designed to help women build up their digital skills to get back into work.

CASH STRAPPED SALFORD COUNCIL GETS MORE FAT CATS

added 21 March 2015

Star date: 20th March 2015

MORE FAT CATS TO HELP SPEED UP THE CUTS!

To help with what Salford Council calls its `ambitious transformation programme' – ie privatisation, outsourcing and cuts – two new Fat Cat posts with salaries over £100,000 are being created.

The Council's Chief Financial Officer will be `re-graded' to Director of Finance and Corporate Business, with a whopping £12,000 a year rise, and another Council employee will also be promoted to the temporary post of Director of Service Reform and Development, to `drive modernisation'. Two other new posts, with salaries up to £82,000 are also being created.

SALFORD BUSINESSES UNDER THREAT FROM SALFORD CITY COUNCIL

added 20 March 2015

Star date: 19th March 2015

SWINTON HAIRDRESSERS UNDER THREAT FROM SALFORD COUNCIL – AS MAYOR PRAISES SALFORD'S `SECOND TO NONE' HELP FOR BUSINESS

At yesterday's meeting of Salford Council, Mayor Ian Stewart lauded the `Salford way' of helping businesses like the mighty Legal and General, which has just invested £250million in Media City. He added that the Council's help for business was `second to none'...

...Yet right outside the Civic Centre where Stewart was speaking, two small business hairdressers, Jayne Lang and Perri Gola, are threatened with closure as the Council has refused them permits to park outside their own workplaces on Partington Lane. The businesses have been established in Salford for over thirty years.

ON BUDGET DAY HUGE WEALTH GAP IGNORED BY PRESS, STATES REAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

added 19 March 2015

Star date: 18th March 2015

6 OUT OF 7 PEOPLE IN BRITAIN DON'T FEEL ECONOMIC RECOVERY

As ConDem Government Chancellor George Osborne delivers the last budget before the General Election, the Real Media campaign today highlights the growing inequality in Britain which, it states, should be on top of the news agendas.

On the third day of Real Media's Anti-Daily Mail Week, the uncritical press is blamed for allowing the wealth gap to grow. Here in Salford, cuts and austerity have been devastating...

REAL MEDIA CALLS FOR PRESS TO COVER BARTON MOSS CONTAMINATION STORY

added 18 March 2015

Star date: 17th March 2015

SALFORD ANTI-FRACKING STORY AT CENTRE OF ANTI-DAILY MAIL WEEK

Real Media's Anti-Daily Mail Week continues with today's focus on how billionaires `use the media to suppress climate change and push fracking for their own financial gain'. One issue highlighted is the lack of reporting on how contamination has been found at the IGas exploratory drilling site at Barton Moss, Salford.

Meanwhile, students from the University of Salford are taking part in Frackademics Day, which aims to expose professors who are supporting the fracking industry.

SALFORD SHOCKING VOTER DROP OUT IS WORST IN GREATER MANCHESTER

added 17 March 2015

Star date: 17th March 2015

6% DROP IN SALFORD'S REGISTERED VOTERS AS POLITICIANS TURN RESIDENTS OFF – AND THE SALFORD STAR IS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, ONCE AGAIN

Salford has the worst drop out in Greater Manchester of residents registered to vote in the local and national elections this year, a Council report has revealed. Up until December 2014 there's was a 6% fall in registrations compared to a 2% fall nationally.

A Government report on Voter Engagement in the UK blames the apathy on politicians, while Salford Council has received almost £50,000 of Government money for `maximising registration work'. Every single media in Salford is being engaged by the Council, including paid ads in so-called `community magazines', except the Salford Star. Which calls into question the political use of public funds…

BRUTALISED BARTON MOSS ANTI-FRACKING MUM DETERMINED TO GET GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE CASE TO COURT

added 17 March 2015

Star date: 16th March 2015

VANDA DETERMINED TO CLEAR NAME AND GET GMP TO EXPLAIN BRUTAL ACTIONS

Today at Manchester Magistrates' Court, Vanda Gillett, the mother brutally arrested by Greater Manchester Police at Barton Moss a year ago, dramatically attempted to change her plea to `not guilty' on one of the charges.

The Crown Prosecution Service had indicated that it would drop two charges of obstructing and assaulting police officers, and would accept a guilty plea to assaulting a detention officer. But Vanda is determined to clear her name and get the GMP into court to explain its actions. The case was adjourned until 6th May.

SALFORD COUNCIL LEGAL MESS OVER CUTS TO DISABLED CHILDREN’S SERVICES

added 16 March 2015

Star date: 16th March 2015

LEGAL ADVICE WARNS THERE'S BEEN NO CONSULTATION ON CUTS BEFORE DECISION WAS MADE

"It would appear there has not been consultation on the proposal to reduce expenditure..." Salford Council legal advice

Tomorrow, Salford Council's Procurement Board meets to decide new, massively reduced contracts for Barnado's short break care for disabled children and the DISC family intervention programme. The cuts total over £85,000 but legal advice taken by the Council warns that the decision to axe budgets was made before there was any consultation.

SALFORD LADS CLUB HANDED OVER TO THE HOMELESS BY MAYOR SIMON WILLIAMS

added 16 March 2015

Star date: 15th March 2015

13 ASSISTANT MAYORS SACKED FOR CORRUPTION AS SALFORD LAD SORTS IT OUT

Salford Lads Club given to the homeless...Mayor and his 13 Assistants guilty of corruption...Class of '92 buy Salford Stadium – and Salford MP found dead with two whores. No, it's not April Fools' Day. These are just some of the headlines from the new short story by Salford writer Simon Williams.

Hidden Depths: Salford Born and Bread (pun intended), is a non-stop hilarious, political roller coaster of a Salford tale, now available on Kindle with all profits going to the ace Coffee4Craig which helps the homeless. It's the most must-read book in Salford this year.

Full review and interview here...

added 15 March 2015

ANTI DAILY MAIL WEEK IN SALFORD AND THE UK

Star date: 15th March 2015

WEEK OF ACTION AGAINST CORPORATE MEDIA

Starting from Monday and all this week, there's loads of actions directed against the Daily Mail, the Murdoch media empire and other corporate media for their biased news coverage.

20,000 copies of a spoof Daily Mail, attacking the poisonous paper and containing some much improved alternative stories, are to be distributed around London and Manchester. The Anti-Daily Mail week is the brainchild of the Real Media campaign, backed by the Salford Star.

SALFORD COMMUNITY ENERGY PROJECT

added 15 March 2015

Star date: 15th March 2015

POWER TO THE PEOPLE?

Open Meeting
Tuesday 17th March 7pm-9pm
Hamilton Davies House, Cadishead

Moss Community Energy, based in Irlam and Cadishead, aims to manage a community owned renewable energy project where the surplus goes back into the community to benefit all. The group is holding its first public meeting this Tuesday in Cadishead but it's open to anyone from around Salford.

EDWARD II DO REGGAE VERSIONS OF DIRTY OLD TOWN AND KERSAL MOOR DEMO SONG

added 15 March 2015

Star date: 14th March 2015

TRAD SALFORD SONGS GET ROOTS MAKEOVER

A new project by well established roots band Edward II sees two traditional Salford songs get a top reggae makeover as the first in a line of local historical ballads that are being re-wazzed for the 21st Century.

Ewan MacColl's Dirty Old Town and the Chartists' 1838 Kersal Moor demo song have been released by Edward II, while the band plays live at Band On The Wall on April 23rd.

NO AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON SEEDLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL SALFORD SITE

added 14 March 2015

Star date: 12th March 2015

NO AFFORDABLE HOUSING, 100 TREES DEMOLISHED AND OVER £300,000 PLANNING FEES WAIVED AT COUNTRYSIDE PROPERTIES' SEEDLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL SITE

Countryside Properties is set to avoid £318,664 in planning fees, including payments towards education places, while providing no affordable housing and demolishing one hundred trees at the site of the former Seedley Primary School site on Liverpool Street.

Countryside's proposals for sixty houses go to Salford Council's planning panel next week with a recommendation by planning officers to approve the plans and payment avoidance.

DESPITE RESIDENTS’ ANGER PEEL HOLDINGS PORT SALFORD WAREHOUSE RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL BY COUNCIL

added 12 March 2015

Star date: 12th March 2015

SALFORD COUNCIL PLANNING OFFICERS RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF CONTROVERSIAL PORT SALFORD PLANS

Peel Holdings' proposal to change planning permission to build a massive warehouse before road and rail infrastructure is in place, as promised, is set to go to Salford Council's planning panel next week.

Despite four local councillors objecting, plus overwhelming resident anger, the Council's planning officers are recommending approval of the plans

SALFORD UNISON PASSES MOTION ON `TERRIBLE RISKS’ OF GREATER MANCHESTER HEALTH DEVOLUTION

added 12 March 2015

Star date: 11th March 2015

SALFORD COUNCIL SET TO BE ENDORSE NHS DEVOLUTION WITH NO RISK ASSESSMENT AS SALFORD UNISON EXPRESSES `STRONG CONCERNS'

Public sector trade union, Salford City UNISON, yesterday passed a motion expressing `strong concerns' over plans to devolve health and social care budgets to Greater Manchester, calling them `a grave threat to the rights of unions' with `less democratic oversight and greater bureaucracy'.

The motion also warns of the `terrible risks that Greater Manchester politicians appear willing to ignore'. The report on NHS devolution, which goes to Salford Council's full meeting next week to be endorsed, contains no Risk Assessment.

Full details here...

added 11 March 2015

SALFORD COUNCIL LEGAL DUTY TO DISABLED CHILDREN BREACHED

Star date: 10th March 2015

SALFORD COUNCIL FAILS TO KEEP REGISTER OF DISABLED CHILDREN IN CITY

Salford City Council is currently breaching its legal duty to keep a single register of disabled children in the city. The admission comes within a report to Salford's Health and Wellbeing Board which states "accurate records are not held by the Children With Disabilities Team".

Meanwhile, Salford has been asked to sign up to the Disabled Children's Charter - which contains seven commitments to improve the lives of disabled children and their parents - three times and has still not signed it.

GREATER MANCHESTER DEVOLUTION WILL DESTROY NHS, STATE HEALTH CAMPAIGN GROUPS

added 10 March 2015

Star date: 9th March 2015

GREATER MANCHESTER TRADE UNIONS CALL FOR `OBSTRUCTION' OF HEALTH DEVOLUTION UNTIL PROPER DEBATE

`the break up...and further privatisation of the NHS is what it's all about.." GMATUC

The Greater Manchester Associations of Trade Union Councils (GMATUC) has called for people to "slow down, hinder, obstruct and/or in any other way prevent" the devolution of the NHS to Greater Manchester without proper consultation and public debate – and has also called a "mass NHS Emergency protest rally" in Manchester on 29th March.

Meanwhile, former surgeon Anna Athow states "This plan is about destroying our NHS services and imposing NCMs [New Care Models], as attractive investments for multinational corporations..."

MIKE SWEENEY TO PLAY MAD MANC CABARET

added 09 March 2015

Star date: 8th March 2015

SWEENEY, DENISE JOHNSON, MC TUNES PLAY MAD MANC CABARET

Mad Manc Cabaret
Friday 13th March 8:30pm
The Dancehouse, Manchester £15

Terry Christian's Mad Manc Cabaret is going to have to change its name shortly, with so many Salford acts taking over his popular night. This month it's Mike Sweeney doing a semi acoustic solo set of Salford Jets classics and more, joining top ACR and ex-Primal Scream singer Denise Johnson, MC Tunes, Little Sparrow and Marvin Cheeseman to name but a few...

Full details click here...

added 08 March 2015

SALFORD GROUPS SUPPORT CRISIS IN MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE CONFERENCE

Star date: 8th March 2015

SOCIAL CARE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE DEVASTATION

Crisis in Mental Health and Social Care Conference
Saturday 14th March 11am-3pm
Manchester Methodist Hall

Mental health beds axed, budgets cut, people forced off benefits or sanctioned... Social care privatised, care packages cut and visits down to 15 minutes and less. All these issues and more are to be discussed at the North West Mental Health and Social Care Conference next week, followed by workshops in how to fight the cuts.

SALFORD TENANTS INVITED TO THREE DAY RENT CRISIS EVENT

added 08 March 2015

Star date: 8th March 2015

ARE YOU LIVING IN RUBBISH RENTED HOUSING?

Generation Rent/Langdale Gallery
Monday 16th – Wednesday 18th March
Islington Mill 1pm onwards free

The Langdale Gallery is a tenant led campaign, born from the rotten living conditions that people have to endure in the rented sector. For three days, March 16th-18th, there's a huge event at Islington Mill where tenants can raise housing issues, meet legal experts and get involved in a bit of community art. The Generation Rent event also promises Renters Bingo, campaign training, Q and A sessions, films and music...

EDL OUTNUMBERED THREE TO ONE IN MANCHESTER AS `IRRESPONSIBLE’ CITY LEADERS SLATED

added 08 March 2015

Star date: 7th March 2015

IN THE MIDST OF MASSIVE CUTS, EDL GIVEN FREE BUSES AS COUNCIL LEADERS SLATED

Today's counter demonstration in Manchester saw over seven hundred people take to the streets to tell the English Defence League (EDL) that its two hundred supporters weren't welcome in the city.

Meanwhile, civic leaders who called for people to `ignore' the EDL were constantly slated by speakers at the anti-racist rally, while Manchester Council and Greater Manchester Police leaders were also criticised for laying on free buses for the EDL and `deterring young people from travelling into the city centre' to oppose the EDL.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IN SALFORD

added 07 March 2015

ANTI-CAPITALISM AND FASHION

Stitched Up Book Launch and Talk
Saturday 7th March 2pm
Working Class Movement Library

To celebrate International Women's Day, tomorrow, the Working Class Movement Library on The Crescent is holding a talk by the infinitely interesting Tansy Hoskins about her new book Stitched Up, which unzips the sexy fashion industry into its horrid exploitative parts.

RALLY AND MARCH AGAINST EDL IN MANCHESTER

added 06 March 2015

PEACEFUL RALLY AND MARCH TO SHOW ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE NOT WELCOME

Celebration of Multicultural Manchester
Rally and March
Saturday 7th March12noon
Piccadilly Gardens

As the English Defence League is bussed in for its static gathering on Saturday, hundreds of people are expected to stage a peaceful rally and march to celebrate multiculturalism in Manchester.

"We owe it to those who gave their lives against the fascists of the last century to be vigilant now and speak out wherever and whenever we see, hear or witness racism" says Julie Ward North West MEP "The EDL do not speak our language."

MASSIVE CONTAMINATION AROUND BARTON MOSS IGAS SITE JUDGE HEARS

added 06 March 2015

COURT HEARS OF TOXIC CONTAMINATION AROUND IGAS SALFORD SITE

At Manchester Magistrates Court today, a District Judge heard expert evidence of contamination around the IGas exploratory drilling site in Barton Moss. Initial findings showed dangerously high levels of toxic PAHs and the hearing concerned the need for the experts to get new samples for further analysis. IGas and Peel Holdings have so far refused access to the site.

Today was a preparatory hearing in relation to defendants who face 51 charges connected to the anti-fracking protests at Barton Moss last year.

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER STEPS IN TO MONITOR SALFORD COUNCIL’S ABYSMAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION RECORD

added 06 March 2015

SALFORD COUNCIL TOLD TO `GET ITS HOUSE IN ORDER' OVER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION DELAYS

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has told Salford Council to `get its house in order' after discovering that it failed to respond to over 35% of Freedom of Information requests within the legal limit of twenty days.

"Public authorities must respect people's rights of access to information" says Director of Freedom of Information, Graham Smith, adding that Salford City Council, along with two other councils, had now been added to the ICO's monitoring list.

SALFORD COUNCIL SPENDS £32 PER VIEWER ON ITS COUNCIL MEETINGS

added 06 March 2015

Star date: 5th March 2015

THE MOST EXPENSIVE POLITICS SHOW IN TOWN

In the midst of some of the most horrendous cuts in living memory, Salford Council has been criticised for spending almost £10,000 on elaborate screenings of the meetings that were voting in favour of those cuts.

Now, new Freedom of Information statistics show than the Council was spending an average of £32.52 on each viewer, as councillors' grandstanding speeches proved a huge turn-off for residents.

SALFORD CITY COUNCIL ACCOUNTABILITY DEFICIT SCANDAL

added 05 March 2015

Star date: 4th March 2015

ALMOST NO PUBLIC SCRUTINY OF SALFORD COUNCIL FOR THREE MONTHS!

Salford Council and City Mayor Ian Stewart have not been held accountable in public for their actions and policies for over three months, apart from one meeting about budget cuts.

In January the Council voted to cut the number of its scrutiny committees to five but since then only one of those committees, which are supposed to hold the Mayor and Council to account, has met with the public informed.

SALFORD COUNCIL FORCED TO REVEAL MAYOR DETAILS AFTER INFORMATION COMMISSIONER GETS INVOLVED

added 04 March 2015

Star date: 3rd March 2015

SALFORD RESIDENT NINE MONTH BATTLE TO GET INFO ON MAYOR

Following a Salford Star article a year ago about Mayor Ian Stewart's camper van being parked on Council property, Salford resident, Anthony Dowd, submitted a Freedom of Information request to try and get some truth. Salford Council judged his request `vexatious', then refused to answer it until the Freedom of Information Commissioner became involved.

Now Anthony has set up a Salford Council Freedom of Information Facebook group so other residents can share their experiences of fobbed off requests.

SALFORD COUNCIL TO LOSE ANOTHER £1MILLION DEVELOPER FEES AT BLACK FRIARS PUB

added 03 March 2015

Star date: 2nd March 2015

PETER DONE COMPANY TO AVOID £1.2MILLION PLANNING FEES – AND WON'T EVEN PAY FOR A BUS STOP

A company part owned by Fred Done's brother, Peter, has a planning application going to Salford Council this week, to put up two horrendous blocks of apartments by the Black Friars pub in Trinity. Done's company, FICM, should be paying over £1.2million in planning fees plus providing 76 affordable properties but is set to avoid the payments due to `viability' issues.

Transport for Greater Manchester requested that the developer should at least provide two new bus stops on Blackfriars Road – but Done's company, apparently, can't even afford that. The Done brothers' wealth is estimated at around £700million.

SALFORD TRAINEE SOCIAL WORKERS TO MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH COMMUNITY

added 02 March 2015

Star date: 1st March 2015

SALFORD SOCIAL WORK NETWORK LAUNCHES

SSWN Launch
Friday 6th March 2pm
University of Salford

Launching this Friday, Salford Social Work Network, or SSWN, is a radical student led collective that aims to join the community in fighting social injustice to make change and to find new approaches to social work.

On Friday, anyone from the community is welcome to attend the launch, as well as any students working in the field. There's lots of presentations explaining more about it all.

GREATER MANCHESTER HEADS FOR LONDON CLIMATE CHANGE MARCH

added 01 March 2015

Star date: 1st March 2015

SALFORD ANTI FRACKING GROUPS SUPPORT CLIMATE CHANGE MARCH

"This isn't politics, this is survival"

Next Saturday, 7th March, tens of thousands of people are expected to converge on London for the national Climate Change march – organised as a mass wake-up call before the General Election.

The march is backed by Frack Free groups in Salford, and there are still places on coaches going from Manchester.

HAPPY MONDAZE PLAY SALFORD KINGS ARMS

added 01 March 2015

Star date: 1st March 2015

THE WORLD'S ONLY HAPPY MONDAYS TRIBUTE BAND PLAY SALFORD

Happy Mondaze
Saturday 21st March 8pm
The Kings Arms £6

While Bez is off standing for the We Are The Reality Party at the General Election, Happy Mondaze, the world's only Happy Mondays tribute band, will be performing over an hour of the Salford band's classics at the Kings Arms on Saturday 21st March. Mad or what?