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SALFORD CITY COUNCIL PUTS STREET CLEANING BEFORE DISABLED CHILDREN
 

Star date: 23rd February 2017

£300,000 EXTRA FOR STREET CLEANING - £300,000 CUT FOR DISABLED CHILDREN

Yesterday, Salford City Council rubber stamped £15.8million of cuts, including the closure of Salford's only residential home for disabled children, The Grange, to save £300,000. At the same time, Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett also announced an extra £300,000 "to keep the streets clean".

The Mayor added: "It's times like these that a local authority really reveals its priorities...."

Full details here...


Amidst protests outside the Civic Centre yesterday, Salford City Council rubber stamped £15.8million of cuts which included the closure of Salford's only residential home for disabled children, The Grange, to save £300,000.

Outside the Civic Centre, the Mayor and a few of his Cabinet spoke to parents and trade unionists and promised to re-visit two of the proposed cuts to The Grange and Regulatory Services after speaking to parents and union representatives (see previous Salford Star article - click here).

The unions pointed out to the Mayor that a promised visit from a chief officer to staff at The Grange to hear their alternative to closure never happened. Neither had anyone from the Council spoken to the Social Work Disability Team who know what the needs of children with disabilities in the city actually are.

The Salford Star understands that they would oppose the closure as they work with families constantly on the brink of needing accommodation such as The Grange. There are two children possibly in need of The Grange at the moment, despite the Council argument that the home is currently operating under capacity.

Meanwhile, there are council residential homes operating under capacity for children without disabilities which, rightly, are being kept open. The Council argument for keeping them open is that it needs to move children back into the city from outside the area.

As the unions pointed out, there is thus one policy for children without disabilities, to move them into Salford, and another for disabled children to be put in placements outside the city. Effectively this means that every child with a disability will no longer be allowed to live in Salford.

As this anomaly was being discussed, in an effort to spin good news, the Mayor released a statement saying that he'd arranged a £3million fund 'to tackle poverty', which included £300,000 "to keep the streets clean".

While everyone wants clean streets, the contrast between finding £300,000 for this while cutting £300,000 for the most vulnerable children in the city is stark..."It's times like these that a local authority really reveals its priorities..." said the Mayor, with no irony.

"The anti-poverty funds announced today prove our commitment to supporting the most vulnerable of our city's residents" he added "and our determination to create a better and fairer Salford for everyone."

£2million of the £3milion fund also included a 'capital programme to build new low-cost, affordable homes for rent in the city'. This, one could presume, is taken from Section 106 money to come from the vast amount of development in the city. The Salford Star has pointed out repeatedly that over one thousand affordable houses have been lost to the city already thanks to developers avoiding their commitments. In the scheme of the lost money, £2million is peanuts.

Other measures include £170,000 for the Salford Credit Union, £300,000 extra for the Salford Discretionary Support Scheme; £70,000 for the welfare rights and debt advice service in Salford; £10,000 for Salford Women's Aid to help those fleeing domestic abuse and domestic violence; £33,000 for the Warm Homes Initiative and £240,000 for youth services.

The Salford star will be looking into these figures in more depth over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we'll leave readers to make their own minds up about the ethics of £300,000 extra to clean streets, and a £300,000 cut for The Grange's vulnerable children...


Photo by Steven Speed

John wrote
at 13:12:31 on 05 March 2017
I think the real perpetrator here has gone unnoticed. Not a mention in the article or the comments on how the tories have cut 40% of the budget. No council is perfect but they will become worse under this government. I do feel sorry for the local authority people shout and scream as the streets are dirty then they spend money on street cleaning and people shout and scream at them then. GET RID OF THE TORIES!
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JTR wrote
at 07:38:56 on 02 March 2017
I think that it's about time that the people of Salford were issued with regular Salford Council spend/cut lists. I want to see how our 'champions' are spending the money entrusted to them. There is so much wrong with how our city is run that I can't begin here as I'm not sure when I would stop. Robbing Peter to Paul is not how this should be dealt with.
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Em3 wrote
at 12:31:38 on 25 February 2017
agree with Arnold. When people are 'consulted with' often we don't fully understand that if we moan about one thing, the strange council people think we don't care about anything else - so they cut money from Domestic Abuse and Rape services + Children's services thinking we'll be pleased. No idea about real life unless they have a disabled child or get raped!! The idea of real consultation is also about genuine empathy and understanding. It's not a quick or simple process. Get yourselves sorted you lot!!!
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Diane Lesley reilly wrote
at 12:21:35 on 24 February 2017
No matter how much money is plowed into keeping the streets clean it will make no difference, its the residents of Salford that need to change and have pride in where they live. Put the money where it can be seen doing good. Salford council hounded my family for extra money for our fathers Residential Care at the same time that they loaned Salford Rugby Club £250000. Get your priorities right Councilors.
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Reg Howard wrote
at 12:21:31 on 24 February 2017
"priorities" this really shows what they are as far as this council are concerned, yes we all want clean streets, but, at what cost?.our disabled kids deserve better than this,is it part of the councils plan to send children with disabilities out of the city, thus putting more strain on the parents of these children, whose lives are made difficult enough,whilst allowing developers to get away with paying their dues, money which would pay for the Grange many times over.Oh silly me, we are talking about those uncaring, egotists who run this city,I only wish that we could rid ourselves of the whole bunch of them, wake up you people of Salford and vote them out.
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Arnold Rimmer wrote
at 12:19:57 on 24 February 2017
I'm pretty sure the extra street cleaning money and lower children's money is partially due to the survey filled out online and at that civic centre garden party thing last year by numerous residents that put street cleanliness as a top priority for spending. So didn't we get what we wanted? Can't pay for everything.
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