Council putting Chorlton to the back of queue

This article was printed on Page 2 of Today's Manchester Evening News. It highlights Manchester City Council's new policy of cleaning streets, cleaning graffiti etc. based on an area's level of deprivation. Because the Council see Chorlton as being "rich" we are being deprived of the service other Mancunians are receiving and we are paying for! This is on top of the Council giving Chorlton the lowest road repair budget in the whole City.

 For every £1 Labour Town Hall Bosses are willing to spend on road repairs in Chorlton, they are spending £3 in wards such as Harpurhey and Crumpsall. They have achieved this by imposing ‘budget caps’ on the repair funds for certain wards – regardless of the condition of the roads within. When faced with similar road repair needs in different parts of the city, the Labour Executive have decided to allocate road repair funds in a way that clearly ignores the actual need for repair of the roads in question. Whilst Council Leader Sir Richard Leese’s ward of Crumpsall enjoyed an allocation of over £100,000 more than the city-wide average (meaning all recommended repairs will be completed this year); Chorlton had just four roads or pavements resurfaced this year.

Our Labour-dominated Council have drawn up a system that discriminates against those living in the M21 postcode area, and treats us as little more than a permanent source of ‘bail-out’ money to subsidize the Council’s vanity projects in other parts of the city. The people of Chorlton have always paid their fair share towards the running of our city, and have some of the lowest Council Tax arrears to prove it, while the Council ignores £43 million in uncollected Council Tax across Manchester.

There are many Chorlton residents who are far from ‘high earners’ and this new system treats them unfairly. It is spiteful, divisive and ill-thought out. The Council needs to go back to a system based on need not deprivation.