City of Salford Conservatives wish every local resident in Salford a very merry Christmas, with best wishes for a successful and enjoyable New Year!
Archive for December, 2009
Local residents and passengers in Walkden and Swinton are celebrating after the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority voted to restore Sunday services along the Walkden line.
A generation-long gap without Sunday services for the local communities along the Walkden line will end when the new service commences in May. The trains will initially run for a one-year period, with a review to see whether the service offers value-for-money.
Cllr Iain Lindley, Conservative Councillor for Walkden South, and the Prospective Conservative MP for Worsley & Eccles South, has been supporting the campaign to introduce Sunday services. He attended today’s meeting and said afterwards:
“This is terrific news for passengers and commuters, and I’m really pleased that the Transport Authority have agreed to support this service. I’m thrilled in particular for the Friends of Walkden Station who have campaigned tirelessly for Sunday services – it simply wouldn’t have happened without them. I hope that local residents make use of the new service and that it becomes a permanent fixture”
Under new Conservative plans, far-reaching new powers could be given to people in Salford to protect community assets from closure or demolition and take over the running of public buildings and community assets.
Matthew Sephton, Prospective Conservative MP for Salford & Eccles, has given his backing to the new ‘Community Right to Buy’ which would allow not-for-profit community groups across Salford to take over the running of struggling local facilities, from post offices to pubs to parks. Local landmarks like the Langworthy Hotel, threatened with demolition by Salford’s Labour Council, could be saved and reclaimed for community use under the proposals.
Under the Conservative proposals:
- Community groups, such as schools, churches or voluntary groups, will be able to bid to take over the running of publicly owned community assets, if they can manage them more efficiently and effectively than the state.
- When state-owned community asset faces closure or being sold, voluntary groups will have a right of first refusal to buy that asset for a fair price and maintain it for community use. The new rights to community ownership will cover assets owned by central government and quangos, not just town halls.
- The radical ‘Community Right to Buy’ will also allow community groups a first refusal to take over and run vital commercially-owned community assets when they shut down – for example, those post offices, pubs and shops whose continued survival is of genuine importance to the local community.
Matthew said:
“Under Labour, local neighbourhoods in Salford and across the country have lost too many essential local services and facilities. Gordon Brown’s Government has closed post offices across Salford and driven local pubs into the ground. People feel powerless to stop their communities losing access to vital services and facilities. I’m delighted that a future Conservative Government would give local residents the power to save local buildings like the Langworthy Hotel and closure-threatened Post Offices”
Local Conservatives in Salford have selected Matthew Sephton as their Prospective MP for the new Salford & Eccles constituency. Matthew will stand at the General Election against sitting Labour MP Hazel Blears.
Matthew is an experienced community campaigner who lives in the City Centre, having spent all of his life in the North West. He works as a teacher at a Primary School in Stockport.
Matthew said:
“It is a great honour to be selected as the Prospective Conservative MP for Salford & Eccles. Local residents across the City of Salford have been let down badly and taken for granted by Labour. Local people deserve an MP who will work with them and listen to their concerns, and I look forward to meeting as many local people as possible over the coming months. Only the Conservatives can provide a fresh start and the change that local people in Salford, Swinton and Eccles need and deserve”.
Picture: Cllr Iain Lindley congratulates Matthew Sephton on his selection.
