As you can imagine, much of my week has been spent focussed on the budget for the next financial year, including an executive meeting on Wednesday evening where we presented our draft budget proposals. You can watch a recording of our meeting here. There was a lot to discuss, including the immediate financial challenge we’re facing as well as allowing time to describe the services we provide as a council. The draft budget will now undergo a scrutiny process before the final budget is presented to a council meeting in early March. We’ll be working on our final plans over the next few weeks, which will involve ongoing discussions with the government. I made my last update into a bit of an explainer so please do take the time to look at it if you can.
Outside of financial matters, I have had the opportunity to see some of the Borough at its best since the start of the year. Last week I joined our Digital Inclusion Officer at Blessed Thomas Holford School in Altrincham. We were there to drop off refurbished laptops, which will then be used by children currently facing digital exclusion. The devices were previously owned by the Christie Hospital as part of our Trafford Tech4All initiative and their refurbishment not only supports digital inclusion but also reduces electronic waste.
One of the main budget pressures faced by councils across the country relates to temporary accommodation. An insufficient housing supply is one of the factors that has caused growth in numbers living in temporary accommodation. It’s important to remember that behind every statistic there is a person, and last Friday I was delighted to meet a resident who had moved out of temporary accommodation and into a new home. The Southway Housing Trust scheme near Old Trafford tram stop has already transformed the lives of some people who had been experiencing the insecurities of living in temporary accommodation. It was great to celebrate the scheme last week and meet some of the new residents.
I’m also very proud of the parks we have in Trafford and last Saturday afternoon I attended the Trafford Friends of Parks and Gardens AGM and Conference. Groups from across the Borough came together- it was an informative afternoon and seeing each group receive some recognition and thanks from the Mayor was also a highlight.
Towards the end of this month, we have the launch of the Old Trafford Regeneration Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC)- one of the most significant projects Trafford has embarked on. This week I had the opportunity to meet the MDC’s Project Director, Karen Hirst, where we discussed how best this regeneration project can support existing residents and businesses in Trafford. I really look forward to working with Karen.
I also attended an event at the Town Hall organised by Resolve Poverty- it was an opportunity to explore initiatives that help reduce poverty and its causes as we refresh the council’s Poverty Strategy. Thank you to Graham Whitham and his team at Resolve Poverty for facilitating an incredibly valuable session.
How people access help is important- and on Thursday morning I had the opportunity to hear from someone who described their lived experience and barriers they’ve faced when trying to navigate council services. This person provided a lot of very helpful suggestions, from training to appropriate technology, and this is something I’m now following up with our officers at the council.
Finally, definite highlight of my week was attending the launch of our Cosgrove Hall Films Exhibition Archive at Sale Library. It’s brilliant to see a collection of childhood favourites, including Postman Pat, on permanent display in our Borough. It was thanks to an intervention by Trafford Council colleagues that many precious Cosgrove Hall items were saved. It’s well worth a trip to Sale to see them proudly on display, and to enjoy our recently refurbished library too.