Manchester Promise - Education, Children & Young People

Manchester Labour passionately believes that education is the route to fulfilling the potential of all our young people. Year on year standards are improving and through the most ambitious school building programme certainly since the second world war we are ensuring our children are taught in the best environment possible. Pupil numbers are growing and we have taken urgent action to increase the number of places available. SureStart is one of Labour's biggest successes and have spread all over the city to give our youngest children and their families the best start in life. We want our young people to be confident about their future which is why we have been working with our sixth forms, the Manchester College, our Universities, employers and other agencies to ensure that every student leaving school can go into high quality training or education or into a job with training that gives recognised qualifications. we are rapidly increasing the number of apprenticeships available. We are also concerned with what young people do in their leisure time which is why we have reorganised our services to young people with the aim of providing every young person with the offer of at least five hours a week high quality sport, leisure or cultural activity.

* We promise to protect, extend and run more services from our SureStart Centres

* We promise to continue improving our schools until every child has an outstanding education available locally

* We promise to continue investing in our schools until every school is new or totally modernised

* We promise to ensure every young person leaving school has a place in training or education or a job with training

* We promise that every young person will have a minimum offer of sports,arts or other leisure activity

* We promise to work with parents/carers so that our children attend school everyday to make the most of their opportunities

Manchester Promise - Crime

For more than a decade Manchester Labour has worked successfully with our communities and the police to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour, and to build pride and respect in ourselves, each other, and our neighbourhoods. We have used every power made available to us, lobbied successfully for more, and are seen nationally as a beacon because of our approach.

But there is still much to do.

At the heart of our approach are Neighbourhood partnerships and Neighbourhood Policing, the Respect and Pride agenda, bringing the Council, the police, and other agencies together with communities to improve every neighbourhood in the city.

* We promise we will continue to make use of all legal powers available to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour

* We promise to continue the work with the police to tackle serious crime, gang crime, and guns and knives on our streets

* We promise to campaign for more beat bobbies in Manchester

* We promise to take positive action to tackle drugs and alcohol, including against badly managed off-licenses

* We promise we will work with and support all our communities to build Pride and Respect

* We promise to campaign to strengthen the laws on firearms, fireworks, support for witnesses,sale of alcohol,off-road bikes, and hate crime

Sun shines on Longsight Market Labour Stall

Sir Gerald Kaufman, Aftab Ahmed, Rabnawaz Akbar and Longsight Councillors Abid Chohan and Luthfur Rahman and I (Suzanne Richards) spent a very sunny afternoon on Longsight Market on Saturday meeting with local voters.

In many ways Longsight Market is the centre of our community and the warm welcome we received from shoppers and market stall holders alike was great.

Manchester people aren’t fooled by the Tories empty promises and the Liberal Democrats style over substance. They know that it is Manchester Labour who has delivered for them and it is Manchester Labour who will continue to deliver for them.

Alley Gating - Problem solved or another created?

One of the many issues I have been dealing with when talking to local people is alley gating.

Alley gating is popular with many residents. Gates can help improve security for householders, preventing easy access for burglars to the backs of properties. Gates can also stop people from dumping rubbish in our alleyways.

I am also aware that in some areas where there are a lot of privately rented houses landlords do not always pass on the keys which means residents don’thave access to the alleyways and leave their bins out on the street, which can have a negative impact on the local area.

In the Northmoor Road area I met with Community Guardian Liz, who has one of the cleanest and best kept alley ways I have seen. How has she achieved this? By working together with her neighbours, asking them to help out and making sure they all have keys and take their bins to the back of their properties once they have been emptied.

More and more Longsight residents are asking for gates at the back of their properties because they realise the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Alley gates are successful when local residents work together and take pride in their street, like the street that Liz lives in. They can be a beacon to other streets in the area and part of the process of raising standards and working together as a community to make us all Proud of Longsight.

Manchester Promise - Jobs

Labour nationally are showing that in Brown, Darling and Mandelson, we have the right team to tackle the global downturn. The UK economy is now growing in line with the Chancellor’s predictions, outpacing our international competitors, and producing the biggest increase in employment for 12 years.

Manchester Labour, working with our many partners, has also ensured that our city has survived the worst ravages of the recession in far better shape than other UK cities.

But damage has been done. People have lost jobs. And even before the recession, too many Manchester people weren’t in work when they could and should have been.

Manchester Labour will do everything it can to make sure Manchester is working. Already we are well on the way to a thousand unemployed residents being employed through the Future Jobs Fund. We have supported hundreds of long-term unemployed families into work. The Council now has over 500 apprentices, but we will do more.

* We promise to continue bringing new investment, new jobs to the city. Green investment for sustainable jobs!

* We promise to prioritise Manchester residents for all entry-level jobs at the City Council.

* We promise to continue putting apprenticeships and the skills pledge at the heart of the Council’s employment practice.

* We promise to give unemployed Manchester residents the skills and support they need to get back into work.

Manchester Labour Manifesto

Manchester Labour has chosen a new and unique was to publicise our manifesto this year. We will be publishing a promise a day via Twitter.


Our first three promise have already been published:

Manchester Labour has kept Council Tax increases at or below the rate of inflation for more than a decade so that now the average Council Tax bill is one of the lowest in the Country.

This year we have frozen the Council's own Council Tax demand - a 0% increase, but unlike other Councils we will not be cutting services nor, especially important as we come out of a recession, making any compulsory redundancies.

Financially the next few years will be tough, but building on our track record:

• we promise to keep future Council Tax increases at or below inflation

• We promise to maintain and improve the frontline services our residents tell us are important to them

• we promise to work with our staff to keep people in work delivering vital services for Manchester people

To follow Manchester Labour on twitter follow @ManchesterRose

Recycling: Food Waste Trial

A massive 70% of you said you wanted to recycle foodwaste when surveyed. As a result Longsight is now the first area in Manchester to trial foodwaste recycling.

New GP Surgery Opening Soon

Our new GP Centre on Stockport Rd will be opening soon. New services will be available including vaccinations and imunisations, cervical screening, maternity services and minor surgery.

Fun times for Crowcroft Park

£41,000 of new play equipment has been installed in our Green Flag Crowcroft Park. Well done Friends of Crowcroft Park for all their hard work!

Building Schools For the Future

St Peter’s RC High School is the first secondary school in Manchester to be ranked as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. This year the school will receive an additional £4million through the Labour Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, providing 8 new classrooms, a new courtyard and a lift to help disabled pupils access the 1st and 2nd floors.

Representing Hope Not Hate

Signing the Hope Not Hate election pledge.

Suzanne Richards Labour Candidate for Longsight said "I am proud to have been selected to stand for election in one of the City's most diverse and multi-cultural wards. We gain strength through our diversity in Longsight and the BNP with their message of hate and division are not welcome here."