UPDATE: NO SWIMMING POOL CLOSURES IN TAMESIDE - 1,710 SIGNATURES SO FAR!!

The support received so far has been absolutely amazing! 

1,710 people have now signed the petition "NO SWIMMING POOL CLOSURES IN TAMESIDE" - and that is in just over one week!

Right from the start, the petition has generated much discussion concerning the proposed closure of the three swimming pools at Ashton, Denton & Dukinfield. 

There has been over 500 comments and testimonials given by members of the public via facebook and change.org; with the overwhelming majority of them not only showing that they are against these proposed cuts, but also sharing their own experiences and highlighting the many benefits that these pools have brought and continue to bring to our community!

Many of you who have signed the petition have been emailing and sharing links to your families and friends - and thank you all for doing so.

On the 23rd & 24th December, Tameside Radio broadcast news of the petition to its listeners across Greater Manchester. I myself was interviewed by Tameside Radio about the petition, in which I stated that all three pools must continue to remain open!

This fight is not over! 

Please continue to share the link to the petition to any friends, family and work colleagues who may not as yet have signed it.

https://www.change.org/p/executive-cabinet-tameside-metropolitan-borough-council-andrew-gwynne-mp-shadow-health-minister-no-swimming-pool-closures-in-tameside

Many thanks

Carl Simmons

WHY CLOSING 3 SWIMMING POOLS AND BUILDING ONLY 1 TO REPLACE THEM JUST DOESN'T ADD UP!

WHY CLOSING 3 SWIMMING POOLS AND BUILDING ONLY 1 TO REPLACE THEM JUST DOESN'T ADD UP!

All schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2.

In particular, pupils should be taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres; use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke] and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

Below is the list of all Primary Schools in Ashton, Audenshaw, Dukinfield and Denton. Remember. Each school has more than one class of pupils.

Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton West End Primary School & Early Years Centre; Broadoak Primary School; Canon Burrows Church of England Primary School; Canon Johnson Church of England Primary School; Holden Clough Community Primary School; Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School; Hurst Knoll Primary & Nursery School; Inspire Academy; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary School, Parochial Church of England Primary School; Rosehill Methodist Community Primary School; St Christopher's Roman Catholic Primary & Nursery School; St James' Church of England Primary School; St Peter's Church of England Primary School; The Heys Primary School; Waterloo Primary School

Audenshaw

Aldwyn Primary School; Audenshaw Primary; Poplar Street Primary School; St Anne's Roman Catholic Primary & Nursery School; St Stephen's Church of England Primary School

Denton

Corrie Primary and Nursery School; Dane Bank Primary and Nursery School; Greswell Primary and Nursery School; Linden Road Primary School and Hearing Impaired Base; Manor Green Primary & Nursery School; Russell Scott Primary School; St Anne's Primary School; St John Fisher Roman Catholic Primary School; St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary & Nursery School, Denton; Denton West End Primary School

Dukinfield

Broadbent Fold Primary School and Nursery; Ravensfield Primary School; Lyndhurst Community Primary School; St John's Church of England Primary School; St Mary's Catholic School, Dukinfield; Yew Tree Community Primary School

This, of course, does not include all the Little Ducklings and toddler groups within the areas currently served by the Ashton, Dukinfield & Denton pools - as well as all the swimming clubs who will soon all have to use a single pool.

If all three swimming pools in Ashton, Dukinfield and Denton close and one state of the art swimming pool is built in Tameside to replace them, then how will Tameside Council accomodate all these schools and clubs with the necessary swimming lessons?

Please sign my petition: NO SWIMMING POOL CLOSURES IN TAMESIDE.

See link: https://www.change.org/p/executive-cabinet-tameside-metropo…

Carl Simmons

Denton South Independent

23rd December 2015

DENTON POOL PROPOSED CLOSURE

As stated on 17th December 2015, on Tameside Council website "Tameside Council is proposing to close the 3 centres at Ashton, Denton, and Dukinfield". 

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/tbc/TamesideLeisureEstateReview

Tameside Council are seeking the views of local residents and is running a consultation which will run for an 8 week period ending on 11th February 2016.

Volunteer Teacher Trevor from Hyde Seals Swimming Club will fight to keep our pool open! "People, children and pensioners of Denton will go with out a pool, and due to over demand of lessons at one pool, children in schools will suffer".

Here is the consultation online.
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/leisureestate

Carl Simmons "As a Health Mentor in the NHS whose role is to encourage young people be taking up on exercise, I am appalled that the Tameside Council should be even considering closing down these facilities across the borough, especially with the growing levels of obesity and ill health that currently exist in Tameside. I would therefore like to urge everyone to please make your views known by filling the consultation found on this link".

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/leisureestate

Report from Trevor Byrne and Carl Simmons

STAGECOACH MANCHESTER - DELAYS AND COSTS TO THE CUSTOMERS.

According to the Stagecoach Manchester Website, only 1 customer out of every 26,193 passengers complained about the bus services between May 2014 and April 2015. Its website states that, during this period, their buses were punctual for 98.7% of the time and that the public found them to be 99.5% reliable.

Many people who have had to wait for anything up to 30 minutes in the morning for an overdue 206 bus to Hyde, would no doubt, have been inclined to disagree with these findings of Stagecoach Manchester.

Is there such a thing as a reliable bus timetable? I've frequently had to wait for a long overdue 347 bus before 3 eventually come along at the same time.

However, it is now reported that Stagecoach is only achieving just 75 per cent on many routes - and 50% on some. The company actually had 200 official complaints about punctuality in October alone - compared with just 100 in October in October 2014.

The Managing Director has issued an apology in the local press for the delays - and warned that the cost to the firm in over-time, rescheduling, extra buses and petrol - £6.75m this year - may even have to be passed on to the customer.

Stagecoach should also consider giving an apology to the many people who wait patiently at Hyde Bus Station, only to experience the frustration of some buses - such as the 6:16 pm 204 bus from Hyde - not even turning up at all!

I have written to the Head Office of Stagecoach Manchester regarding the service currently being provided by the 204/206 bus through Haughton Green, to state that, in my opinion, this situation is quite simply not good enough.

Anyone wanting to make their concerns known to Stagecoach Manchester can telephone 0161 273 3377 between the hours of 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday or write to Stagecoach Manchester Head Office, Hyde Road, Manchester, M12 6JS.


Carl Simmons
Denton South Independent
Sunday 20th December 2015

AN EXERCISE IN DEMOCRACY!

AN EXERCISE IN DEMOCRACY

Recently speaking out against current Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn; the former MP, one-time Foreign Secretary and previous leadership contender David Miliband, stated that: "Given the collapse of the Lib Dems, the stakes are now very high indeed, not just for Labour but for the country. Get it wrong, and Britain could become a multi-party democracy with only one party - the Conservatives - that can win parliamentary majorities. A one governing party state." 

WHICH WOULD BE JUST LIKE OUR VERY OWN LOCAL LABOUR DOMINATED TAMESIDE COUNCIL!

What David Miliband didn't point out however, is that a proper system of Proportional Representation would easily prevent the one governing party state he so fears. It is very interesting however, to see the Alternative Vote system being used to elect the new Labour leader - even though, during the 2011 Referendum, Labour was officially against using the Alternative Vote system for electing MP's!

Meanwhile, it is reported that shadow cabinet members Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt are already in the process of establishing a group entitled Labour for the Common Good to provide a "space for the parliamentary party to promote moderate ideas". This is gathering support from across the centre and right of the party amongst those MPs who fear disaster at the next General Election (i.e. the loss of their own parliamentary seats) if Mr Corbyn were to be their leader.

Which means, of course, that if Mr Corbyn does win the ballot to become Labour's new leader on 12th September; there will be many within the Labour Party establishment ALREADY ACTIVELY CAMPAIGNING behind the scenes to get rid of him!

And if the political establishment of just one of the political parties are prepared to work behind the scenes to get rid of a democratically elected Mr Corbyn - then how far would the political establishment of BOTH the main political parties be prepared to go if the people of this country were to democratically vote to withdraw from the European Union in that forthcoming referendum?

Carl Simmons

Denton South Independent

Saturday 22nd August 2015 

FREE SWIMMING IN SOME POOLS AT CERTAIN TIMES IN TAMESIDE

The news that, for two weeks commencing on Monday 17th August 2015, Tameside Council and Active Tameside will be to providing 500 free swimming places for local residents under 16 is a very welcome development.

It is unfortunate however, that unlike Manchester, where the free swimming being given to under 17s includes access to all public swimming sessions; Tameside is not extending the same offer, which is restricted to only certain times at daily alternating pools.

I do fully appreciate the great opportunities already being offered by Active Tameside through, for example, the Active Tameside Learn to Swim programme and the Active Junior membership for young people in residential care. However the fact that a number of Tameside schools have purchased 6 month Active Junior membership still leaves many young people unable to access such opportunities - including a large number from low-income families!

Would it be possible for Tameside Council and Active Tameside to ensure that, in future, each young person living in Tameside can be offered free access - Active Junior membership - to all public swimming sessions at every Tameside pool throughout every school holiday period? Would it also be possible to extend this to all students in sixth form education too and to include the other sporting activities as well?

Carl Simmons

11th August

2015

A PETITION TO AMEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 FOR METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTIONS

A PETITION TO AMEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 FOR METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTIONS

When I vote at a polling station, I would like to think that my vote would make a difference.

In every national election, the voters can change the party in Government. However, in the local Metropolitan Borough Councils, only 1/3 of the councillors are ever up for re-election in any one year. Tameside has 57 councillors in total and in any one year only 19 of those councillors face re-election.

When any one party has a huge number of councillors (52 Labour and 5 Tories in Tameside), it creates a huge problem in local democracy. This means that if, in any local election, every single person in Tameside was unhappy with the council and wanted to change the party in control by, for example, voting for the Green Party or UKIP, they could not do it! 

Even if they lost every one of there 19 councillors, Labour would still have 33 out of 57 and would still be in control - it would take at least 2 elections to put another party in power. Not being able to change who runs the council in a single election is undemocratic and that is why I want all councillors to be up for re-election at the same time.

Also having one election every four years for all the councillors would be much cheaper than having an election every year for only 1/3 of them. Finally, if the party in power on a local council knew that they could lose control in a single election, then they will take much more notice of the views of local residents!

I have just created an on-line petition calling upon the UK Parliament to: "Amend the Local Government Act 1972 for Metropolitan Borough Council Elections” so that voters will be able to change the party in control of their council in a single election.

Click this link to find out more & to sign the petition and, if you could, Please also share it with others:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104553

Carl Simmons

Denton South Independent

Thursday 23rd July, 2015