BANNER PROTEST AGAINST 884,000 GALLONS OF RADIOACTIVE FRACKING WATER DUMPED IN SHIP CANAL

As part of a day of action by environment group Reclaim The Power, today a huge banner was unfurled and hung from the footbridge at MediaCityUK which stated `884,000 Gallons of Radioactive Fracking Water Dumped Here'.

The toxic water had been pumped into the Manchester Ship Canal by United Utilities and originally came from the Cuadrilla fracking site in Fylde. Cuadrilla's HQ in Blackpool and the IGas HQ in London were also occupied today as part of a national day of action against fracking in the UK.

AMMIES GO ALL MANCHESTER UNITED

Salford City 4 Scarborough Athletic 1

In the end Salford City ran out easy winners over Scarborough in the first game since the Class of '92 took over the Evo-Stik First Division One North club. But it's what's happening off the pitch that's setting fans and ex-fans talking…

…The change to Manchester United colours, the absence of any reference to Salford on the shirts and the motives for rocketing the team up the leagues…

As Broughton's Star Inn approaches its fifth anniversary, this week Kris Hopkins, Minister for Pubs, dropped in for a pint declaring "I'm privileged to come here".

The Star, on Back Hope Street, was the first co-operatively owned urban pub in the country and members met Hopkins to discuss the challenges and successes of a community run boozer.

Festival In The Park
Sunday 24th August noon-5pm
Mandley Park, Higher Broughton

Live bands and acts, including belly dancing from Zahara, the urban gypsies, and the sounds of UB40 from Homegrown, plus sports, stalls and a fairground with all rides only 50p make up a packed day of activities at a special Festival In The Park next Sunday afternoon in Higher Broughton.

REGGAE LAMA AT DELI LAMA

Reggae Lama
Monday 25th August 3pm-late
Deli Lama

Deli Lama Café in Bexley Square is celebrating getting its alcohol licence and two years of serving up top food and drink, music and theatre nights, art exhibitions and markets with a Reggae Lama event on August Bank Holiday Monday.

All afternoon and evening DJ Michael Holland will be pumping out old school and classic reggae, to accompany classic Caribbean food.

CASH STRAPPED COUNCIL STADIUM LOANS NOW TOP £1MILLION

Salford Council has agreed another £275,000 loan to its joint venture AJ Bell Stadium, home of Salford Red Devils and Sale Sharks. This comes on top of a £205,000 loan earlier this year and £600,000 worth of loans last year.

The £1million worth of loans to keep the Stadium afloat are in addition to a £22million loan when it was built with partner Peel Holdings.

FAT CAT REVOLVING DOOR ADVICE COST COUNCIL £6000

Cash-strapped Salford Council paid £6,109 to a consultant to advise on senior management changes during the period when Chief Executive Barbara Spicer left her post and Jim Taylor arrived in the similar role as Head of Paid Services.

Spicer got a £93,000 pay off, while her deputy, Strategic Director Martin Vickers, also left and walked almost straight into a job at Salford City Reds with a £78,817 pay-off from the Council. The Salford Star understands that an auditor's report on the Vickers affair will be published shortly.

POLICE CALLED TO MAYOR'S HOUSE AS CAMPAIGNERS MAKE A STAND AGAINST `MOST OUTRAGEOUS CUT OF ALL'

"If my son had to get a bus, he'd probably end up under it!" mother of disabled adult

Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart, got a taste of what it's like to have no transport early this morning, as campaigners against cuts to transport for people with disabilities took the fight to his own front door, blockading the pavement outside his house.

"In a long line of cuts that the Council have made, this is the worst one, it's the most outrageous thing that they've done so far and it's wrecking the lives of families" said Paul Gerrard from Salford Against the Cuts.

OVER 60 COUNCILS SUPPORT ROBIN HOOD TAX – BUT NOT SALFORD!

Over sixty councils in the UK are backing the call for a Robin Hood Tax, including Manchester, Liverpool and even Nottinghamshire – but Salford still hasn't signed up.

The tiny 0.05% tax on big banker financial transactions would bring in £20billion to stop local council cuts and much more. Salfordian Sir Ben Kingsley has starred in a short film promoting the Tax. He knows how to stop Salford Council cuts – but does our Mayor and his fellow councillors?

AMAZING GESTURE FOR CHRISTIE CHARITIES

16 year old Kaisha Fletcher yesterday had all her hair shaved off to raise much needed funds for The Christie, as promised to her brother Brendan who tragically died of cancer four years ago.

The head shave, performed by Lisa Bryan who herself has terminal cancer, was the moving centrepiece of a Brendan's Day community event at the Beacon Centre in Charlestown with bands, singers, dancers and stalls which also raised money for the Teenage Cancer Trust unit based at The Christie.

WELFARE BUDGETS WILL BE CUT TO PAY FOR ONE NORTH PLAN

As the media, local politicians and business leaders cheered George Osborne's backing of the £15billion One North plan this week, most failed to mention the Chancellor's statement that it will come at a price – cuts to welfare budgets.

This has already been happening in Salford, which aims to benefit from the One North scheme – with funding for bridges, fountains and other prestige projects found at the expense of cuts to transport for disabled people and more.

POLICE COMMISIONER TONY LLOYD AGAIN UNDER FIRE FOR WEAK RESPONSE TO `BRUTAL POLICING' AT BARTON MOSS

"There are citizens in our county who…now find it impossible to trust any man or woman wearing the GMP badge" GMATUC

The Greater Manchester Association of Trade Councils (GMATUC) has written to Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester Crime and Police Commissioner, slating the GMP and expressing no confidence in its riot wing Tactical Aid Unit (TAU), during the Barton Moss anti-fracking protests in Salford. 

Calling on Lloyd to be more independent of the Chief Constable and to start prioritising human rights in the region, the withering GMATUC letter expresses disquiet over `horrendous' policing at Barton Moss, adding concerns about legitimate protest being "criminalised in an attempt to silence dissent".

NEW LAWS ALLOW FILMING OF COUNCIL MEETINGS

New press freedoms to film, record and photograph council meetings have been introduced today, after Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, signed a Parliamentary order allowing press and public to film and digitally report from all public meetings of local government bodies.

The Salford Star intends to begin a new YouTube video channel called Salford Council Inaction.

HIGH LEVEL COLLLUSION BETWEEN SALFORD COUNCIL, IGAS, GMP AND PEEL HOLDINGS DURING ANTI-FRACKING PROTESTS

A `Memorandum of Understanding' obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows the high level of collusion between Salford Council, IGas, Greater Manchester Police, Peel Holdings and other organisations during the anti-fracking protests at Barton Moss – sharing intelligence, communications and branding.

The Memorandum also set out the level of force that the police were expected to use, which has led solicitor Simon Pook to question "the violent actions of Greater Manchester Police at Barton Moss".

STOCK TRANSFER COSTS ALMOST ENOUGH TO CLEAR SALFORD BACKLOG OF NON-DECENT HOMES

In a few weeks, Salix Homes tenants will be asked to vote on the transfer of their homes from ownership by Salford Council to ownership by Salix. As revealed by Salford Star last year, the cost of the pre-ballot stage, including marketing and consultants was over £1million.

Now the Star can reveal that the total cost for the transfer set-up is £3.24million – enough to almost wipe out the backlog of non-decent homes in the city.

A Salford Star Exclusive

IF TENANTS VOTE `YES' FOR SALIX, SOCIAL HOUSING COULD BECOME GHETTOES FOR THE POOR

In the midst of the cuts, Salford Council is currently spending £1million on consultants and costs associated with the ballot to transfer council houses over to Salix Homes. The £1million includes ten of thousands of pounds for bombarding Salix tenants with propaganda, urging them to vote `Yes'...

…However, what is not mentioned anywhere in the Salix publicity is two little paragraphs hidden away in the company's official Business Case. It's about possibly thousands of tenants losing their homes, as social housing in the city could become ghettoes for the poor...

WW1 APPS, TWEETS, EXHIBITIONS, TALKS AND ART

Salford is currently under a bombardment of World War One commemorative events and exhibitions, ranging from smart phone apps to today's tweeting poppies, to talks, events and art exhibitions.

From the anti-war movement to the barbaric front line, from the military hospital on Langworthy Road to the allotments at Ordsall Hall, Salford's part in WW1 is being uncovered and displayed in all sorts of ways.

SALFORD LABOUR PARTY MP CANDIDATE CROWNED

After a controversial selection process, Rebecca Long-Bailey was yesterday crowned as Labour Party candidate for the next General Election, standing in the almost safe Salford and Eccles seat to replace the `retiring' Hazel Blears.

The Salford Star understands that Long-Bailey - backed by Mayor Ian Stewart - was elected with less than two hundred votes. The bitter campaign to virtually become Salford's next MP saw solicitors letters flying around the Labour Party and the resignation of the Council's spin doctor Matt Finnegan.

SCHOOLS, COUNCIL OFFICES, LIBRARIES AND MORE SET TO SHUT IN 20% PAY CUT DISPUTE

Public sector unions, UNISON, GMB and Unite, have announced that over one million of their members are to take a further one day's strike action on Tuesday 14th October, in an escalation of their dispute over pay.

On 10th July thousands of public sector workers in Salford took industrial action as part of a national strike. Since 2010 pay in the public sector has been cut by 20% in real terms. As Unite's National Officer says "We need Fair Pay not Poverty Pay."