COUNCIL leader Roy Oldham has pledged that council tax bills will be lowered if the borough keeps up its recycling efforts.
In his annual state of the area address, he said: "[Recycling and managed collections] will save energy and reduce our carbon footprint and it will allow the community to enjoy the savings, both financially in lower council tax bills and in deciding how the Community Chest will be spent."
He delivered his annual state of the area address on Tuesday night, highlighting the council’s successes over the past year using the theme of ‘life in your street’. This was designed to encourage people to feel the benefit of the council’s actions at the most local of levels.
As in previous years the speech drew inspiration from five issues residents tell the council are important to them: safe streets, clean streets, attractive streets, prosperous streets and learning streets, with the biggest emphasis being on the environment.
Councillor Oldham said that not only could council taxes be lowered, but added that the council’s efforts were already helping tax payers to save millions of pounds each year.
"By increasing recycling we will avoid the taxes levied upon councils who continue to send waste to landfill," he said.
"If we did nothing and did not recycle, then our payment could be around £19m each year within two years. In other words every tonne of waste recycled saved £98 per tonne."
He highlighted the borough’s other green efforts, such as the £15,000 annual saving through the installation of ‘intelligent’ street lighting.
There was also praise for the borough’s many awards including the green flags for several parks and the silver gilt award in the Britain in Bloom competition.
In other areas, Councillor Oldham spoke of his plans to celebrate the area’s heritage.
"There are further plans for a statue of local sporting hero Eric Evans, who played for the Aldwinians and went on to captain his country on no less than 13 occasions," he said.
"In addition, a series of scuptures will depict the historical connections of place names in Tameside and draw a link to our town crests and their association with certain animals."
Praise was also given to crime reduction. Tameside’s overall crime figures dropped by 27 per cent — six percent higher than the national target— and there were 5,000 fewer victims of crime over four years resulting in savings of £750,000.
The speech was the eighth annual address of its kind by Councillor Oldham. In previous years he has attracted criticism from the council's Conservatives who have accused him of using the occasion as a ‘political platform on which to grandstand’.
You can read the full State of the Area address by clicking on the 'Related link' on the right of this page (PDF file - you may need Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to access it. Go to www.adobe.com to download it) .
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J.Hall, Tameside (19/11/2008 at 15:05)
To believe this person is to drain out your brain,because this person unless its his favourite haunts has been perfectly happy to wreck environments for years.
Because of his Planning Application acceptances by Development Speculators and Land Pirates.Tameside has the most increased traffic in the UK according to Government reports,although he will blame the M60 out of denial.
Tameside has one of the worst Air Pollution levels in the entire region and he has stuck two fingers up to that deplorable fact,so to cover his back he places the Tameside Air Pollution Real Time Monitoring Site away "awayfrom roads and industry" as TMBC reports, down Two Trees Lane to disguise reality,whilst in area`s of Denton and Audenshaw with its 47,000 inhabitants at least 25% of TMBC Electorate get toxins stuffed into their lungs courtesy of R.Oldham because of his failures to address the situation for years.
Near where he lives he sticks an air pollution monitor within 8 feet of vehicle exhausts on Mottram Moor to ensure he gets a reading,but denies others where they get 240,000 vehicles daily from having Real Time Pollution so as to hide what they ingest.
Because I know more than him relating to Traffic and Air Pollution in Tameside I have challenged him over 10 years on many occasions to a public open forum debate to prove his complicity in stuffing toxins into the lungs of Children,Babies,the Elderley and Adults,but he refuses and dives into his Ashton bunker so that he isnt
exposed.
So Roy whatever you do dont lecture people on the their environment because the Carbon footprint in Tameside is probably the worst in the North West and still increasing.
Having read you rhetoric for years Roy, Environment to you means dog muck,grass cuttings,and bin collections,
and hanging baskets,
without any references to ingested Toxins which kill and cause serious diseases for many hundreds of thousands,but why should you ?,you live in an open aspect rural area,so please dont bull----us with your State of OUR AREA address.
Tameside Eye - http://tameside-eye.blogspot.com/ (19/11/2008 at 17:28)
You forgot to to mention what Roy said about recycling:
"Forget saving the planet, it saves money"
There you have it. All this Wizard of Oz "greenwash" rubbish (no pun intended) which is pushing recycling propaganda on residents is a complete waste of tax payers money.
Remember over 40% of the borough voted in Labour this year to allow them to continue their promise of a 10% council tax increase over the next 3 years. Shocking!
Robb (MART - www.tamesidemart.co.uk), Audenshaw (20/11/2008 at 09:27)
There should also be provisions to collect and recycle cardboard. I phoned the council helpline to enquire about these materials and was told they "think" they can be taken to the tip for recycling. Not only would we have to deliver our own cardboard and other plastics to be recycled, there is no clear advice about it!
tbag, usa (27/11/2008 at 04:26)
Mr Oldam prove to us all that global warming is actually occuring. Or is the earth ging through just another cycle of warming and cooling.. Oh you say the glaciers are melting.. well evidence shows the glaciers in alaska for example have grown. not shrunk. global warming is forwarded by scientist yet debunked by many others. Yet those who debunk it have funding cut becasue its not what governments want to hear. Why ..becasue they cant charge green taxes. Its a massive fraud!!!