My update is spread over a couple of weeks this time, mainly because a lot of last week was spent in catch up meetings at the Town Hall.  I did, however, have an opportunity to get on the doorsteps in Stretford and Flixton where I discussed several topics, ranging from weed spraying and potholes to local government procurement processes!

Last Friday I travelled over to Droylsden for a Greater Manchester Combined Authority meeting.  I presented an update on the Integrated Water Management plan which sparked a discussion regarding the New Year flooding incidents.  I mentioned our local incidents in Timperley, Flixton, Stretford and on the Cheshire border at the Bridgewater Canal.  Many other local leaders contributed to the discussion around the need to learn lessons and improve cross-agency responses.

I also made a contribution to the School Travel Strategy item, where I referenced the excellent work youth ambassadors at Stretford High School are leading on, and Victoria Park Junior School in Stretford- where governors are supporting children and families with safer ways of getting to school, including the use of our cycles lanes.  I also mentioned the partnership work taking place between Seymour Park School and UA92 where they transformed their School Street into a Play Street.  You can review the strategy here and watch the full meeting here.

Much of this week has also been taken up with meetings at the Town Hall, covering matters such as Adult Services, Finance and Active Travel.  However, I did also manage a few trips to Sale too.  On Monday I attended a Volunteer Fair at Sale Library, and I was really pleased to see how many voluntary and community sector organisations participated, including HomeStart where I am a trustee.  I was even more pleased to hear about the huge number of people who had visited the fair and registered an interest with stalls there.  Our Library Service is such an important universal service.  Time and time again the Library teams organise some brilliant events across the Borough, for which I am very appreciative.

I was back at our council offices in Sale Waterside on Wednesday, where I met teams from our Exchequer Services, Audit, STAR Procurement and Access Trafford.  Each team are based on the same floor and it was good to hear about how they often work together.  One of the things that struck me the most was the length of service many of the officers had worked for Trafford Council.  That long service is so valuable- it brings with it experience and an ability to train and support newer members of the team.  It was lovely to meet some apprentices and hear from people who started in that role and are still with us many years later.

I was back at Sale West Community Centre on Thursday where I was there to greet our GM Mayor Andy Burnham who was on a Live Well Bus Tour.  Live Well is a GM initiative supported by the ten local councils.  It brings together health, wellbeing, advice, support and employment opportunities.  The Sale West Advice Hub is a prime example of GM Live Well and it was great to join friends from Our Sale West and our MP Connor Rand to showcase what is being achieved at the Hub.

One of the biggest local news stories of the week was a £2.5bn investment in our public transport network and transport infrastructure across Greater Manchester.  It is a significant investment which will enable Metrolink expansion, bring commuter train lines into the Bee Network, support active travel routes and deliver a zero-emission public transport network.  This was very welcome news from the Government, and I attended the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s speech in Rochdale where she confirmed the scale of the investment.  A good, expansive and reliable public transport network in Greater Manchester benefits us all and I know this is an opportunity for us to support improvements in our local bus network in particular.  You can access more information here.

On Friday I received an exciting update on an initiative at Move Urmston where there are proposals to harness energy emitted from a data centre to heat the leisure centre’s swimming pool.  This is a very new concept for us in Greater Manchester, will have a positive impact on Move Urmston’s energy bills as well as providing one solution to the enormous amount of waste heat generated by data centres.  I’ll be returning to this initiative in the future, in the meantime you can read more about it here.

Finally, I ended the week by attending a briefing from the Chief Constable regarding GMP and neighbourhood policing before heading back out on the doorstep on the Stretford/Urmston border of the ward I represent.