There’s Allsorts To Do This Spring

There’s Allsorts To Do This Spring

Great news for families… there’s a whole range of exciting activities going on in venues and parks near you for kids and young people this May holiday.

Most activities are FREE.

For the full list of activities, dates and venues go to:

www.manchester.gov.uk/allsortstodo

Longsight Litter Pickers!

Over 30 young people from Manchester Sports Academy, local councillors and staff from Inspired Sisters were joined by Manchester's Executive Member for the Environment Councillor Nigel Murphy on Saturday for a Litter pick around Hamilton Road.

Whilst the local Councillors and Football team cleared the streets of litter Inspired Sisters went door to door to raise awareness of next weeks Longsight Neighbourhood Festival.

Councillors involved were Abid Chohan, Luthfur Rahman, Suzanne Richards, Rabnawaz Akbar, Rosa Battle and Nigel Murphy.

Local Labour Councillor Suzanne Richards said: "One of the main concerns reported to us by local residents in Longsight is litter and fly tipping. Saturday's litter pick was about showing that we must all take responsibility for our local area and work together to make longsight a cleaner and greener place to live. In just a couple of hours we removed over 10 black bags worth of rubbish from streets."

If you would like to help organise a litter pick in your local area then please get in touch with either Suzanne, Luthfur or Abid.

Longsight Neighbourhood Festival

Charities boost from student recycling campaign

Charities are to benefit from a huge campaign encouraging students to recycle and reuse their property as they leave their homes this summer.

And students taking part in the scheme, affecting around 7,000 properties as well as those living in halls of residence across south Manchester, will be eligible to win tempting prizes.

Manchester City Council is working with the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University to organise the scheme in a bid to end problems caused by piles of rubbish being left outside as houses are vacated.

Students in Victoria Park area will be given bags into which they should place old clothes, sheets and shoes, as well as reusable materials, and leave outside their homes.

These materials will go to charities such as Oxfam, the Mustard Tree or the Fallowfield-based Wesley Community Furniture Project.

Students who leave materials outside for collection can text 'zero waste' with their name and address to 86099 or e-mail recycling@manchester.gov.uk and be entered into a draw to win prizes including tickets for end of term party Pangea or a year-long Stagecoach bus pass.

The campaign follows a scheme introduced last year, in which extra collections were organised for student halls of residents, and vanloads of duvets were donated to dogs' homes across the region.

Longsight Labour Councillor, Suzanne Richards said: "At lot of work has been done in the area to engage with students. It’s important that we work closely with both universities to make sure recycling is made even easier for students.”

"Manchester has the biggest student population in Europe and we're very lucky to have them here, but we also need to make sure our permanent residents face as little disruption as possible when thousands of students leave their homes at the end of the summer term"

Longsight Sunflower kids give it a grow

Green-fingered youngsters from St Richards and Stanley Grove Schools are being invited to grow the city’s largest sunflower as part of a scheme to help them understand the environmental benefits of using compost.

The keen junior gardeners will plant the sunflowers and tend to them over an eight-week period to see who can grow the tallest plant, and the winning youngster's school will receive prizes such as money to spend on new equipment.

The contest - to be run across 25 primary schools - has been organised by Manchester City Council's recycling team as part of a scheme to educate pupils about the environmental benefits of using compost.

Around 30 per cent of people use compost at home, and composting for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to the amount a kettle produces in a year, or a washing machine produces in three months.

Longsight Councillor Suzanne Richards said: "We are already ahead of the game in Longsight as the city’s pilot for the new food recycling scheme. Composting is a fantastic way to look after the environment and we hope that through schemes like this, youngsters will appreciate its benefits, and in turn encourage their parents to give it a go."

Anyone with outside space at home can create free compost by reusing their food waste at home. Residents can visit www.greatermanchester.getcomposting.com for handy tips on how to get the most out of their compost and enrich their garden.

Parents invited to free nappy trial

New parents are being invited to take advantage of a scheme introducing them to reusable nappies.

Manchester City Council has been working with Cotton Tails, a company that provides reusable cotton nappies in an effort to reduce the number of disposable nappies being sent to landfill sites, since 2004.

Parents who take up the free month's trial are lent a collection container and biodegradable liners, while freshly washed nappies are delivered to their door every week.

Longsight Councillor Suzanne Richards said: "I hope that parents from the Longsight area will take part in the scheme. The feedback from parents who have taken part so far is that real nappies are kinder to their babies and we're inviting parents to see for themselves how easy the scheme is to use."

The trial is available to all Manchester residents, but there are a limited number of places, and parents must pay a returnable deposit of £30.

For more information or to apply for the trial visit www.manchester.gov.uk/realnappies or call 0161 954 9000.

New Surgery Times

Longsight Labour Councillors have agreed their new surgery times for the year ahead:

1st and 3rd Saturday of the month @ Longsight Library 11am - 12noon

2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month @ Longsight Library 6pm - 7pm

1st and 3rd Thursday of the month @ Northmoor Road Community Centre 5pm - 6pm

We look forward to meeting you there!

Thank You

Suzanne Richards was elected to represent Longsight Ward on Friday 7th May.

Councillor Suzanne Richards said: "We fought a positive campaign on a record of Labour delivery in Longsight. The people of Longsight have put their trust in me. I promise to work with them and Manchester Labour Council to ensure we continue to deliver real change in Longsight. I know there is still work to do and I am looking forward to getting on with the job."

Photo: Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Councillor Abid Chohan, Councillor Nilofar Sidiqqi, Councillor Mike Amesbury, Councillor Mary Watson, Councillor Suzanne Richards, Councillor Julie Reid

Manchester Promise - Environment

The past twelve months have seen enormous progress to a greener,cleaner Manchester. A Climate Change Action plan that commits the city to a 41% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a plan only possible because of Manchester labour's willingness to work with the whole range of stakeholders, environmental activists,academics, the private sector, communities, on this vital issue.

We now recycle more and more materials, the most recent addition being food waste, with collections arranged in ways to suit our residents.

we are building the first new Council Housing in the city for over twenty years, designed to the highest environmental standards, and it looks good too.

Money was made available immediately to tackle the damage done to our roads by the severe winter.

We yet again increased the number of Green Flag parks, with more than any other local authority area in the country.

We have taken more action to tackle fly-tipping, graffitti, and are working hard to keep our streets clean. Manchester Labour will build on this.

* We promise to do our utmost to reduce the City Council's CO2 emissions by 10% in 2010

* We promise to increas recycling and reduce waste,maintain weekly refuse collections & keep free bulky waste collections

* We promise to invest to eliminate potholes and improve our roads and pavements

* We promise that all Council & Housing Association homes will meet the decent homes standard by 2012

* We promise to continue taking tough action to tackle bad private landlords

* We promise to maintain the appearance of our streets & public spaces to the highest standards