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Job losses after Syke fund blow
Alice McKeegan25/ 3/2008
WORKERS at Syke Community Base are devastated after discovering they will be made redundant at the end of the month.
Ten part-time staff won’t have their contracts renewed after the centre failed to secure the £60,000 needed to cover its costs.
The centre will remain open on a voluntary basis, but vital services, including provisions for children and young people, will be lost.
The popular Golden Girls and Guys group, as well as Walk and Talk, will continue.
The chairwoman and former Rochdale woman of the year, Sheila Acton, said: "The centre will close on 31 March, but will reopen again on 7 April on a voluntary basis. All the staff will be redundant.
"We’ve made such a difference and everyone will be devastated. We will not be able to continue services for children and youths so they will lose out.
"We’re much more than just a community centre. We have been instrumental in starting projects throughout the area.
"We will be working to attract other funding streams when we reopen. If we do, we will recruit staff. If we can continue any groups with volunteers, we will do."
The decision comes despite the announcement that the centre has been shortlisted for a royal award.
The base has reached the third stage of the prestigious Queen’s Jubilee Award and the winner will be announced in June. Mrs Acton thanked the community and staff for their support since it was revealed just before Christmas that its £60,000-a-year government grant would be cut at the end of April.
She added: "We thank the community and the staff. They’ve worked with us and the council has supported us through this. The council will continue to help us find other sources of funding.
"We hope that the area forum will be able to continue but the Township manager said that it wouldn’t be able to continue in its current form. It would have to cover the Healey ward and wouldn’t have the same local impact as it currently does. It would be difficult and we would meet less frequently."
Following a campaign, the centre, which attracts hundreds of people to the Fieldhouse Industrial Estate every week, was offered a lifeline from the council which agreed to find £20,000 at its cabinet meeting earlier this year.
An additional £19,000 was also secured but this left a £21,000 shortfall.
The difficult decision to close the base in its current form was taken by the Syke Area Strategic Partnership Board at a meeting on Wednesday.
Syke had been been hailed as a shining example to other centres, particularly over its efforts to curb youth nuisance.
Speaking at the recent Syke Area Forum, a resident said: "I can’t understand why this is happening.
"People come here from the cradle to the grave and yet they don’t want to keep us going.
"It’s very upsetting."
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Last week I received two mailings from Rochdale Council. The first was my Council Tax bill- up yet again. The second was a glossy brochure called “Local Matters”. Whilst I am no fan of junk mail and advertising drivel, what particularly irritates me about “Local Matters” is that my council tax pays for this propaganda.
I use the term propaganda carefully after reading through the slick stories of “exciting times” for Rochdale, welcomed by Roger Ellis, our very highly paid Chief Executive and director of Rochdale Development Agency.
When I want news about my town I read the Rochdale Observer newspaper and go online. Independent news organisations have at least some semblance of editorial control. Unfortunately regarding our council, we live in a world of news management and manipulation driven by Public Relations consultants who waste our money on propaganda.
Mr Ellis, how much is spent each year by Rochdale Council and its partner agencies on media promotion? One figure suggested was over £2 million. I suspect that even this ridiculous amount doesn’t tell the full story.
The real danger with Rochdale Council media manipulation is that precious money and resources are wasted on twisting ‘bad news’ by presenting ‘good news’ rather than investing in the problems that deserve some common sense action.
Instead we get propaganda. Lame stories about the white elephant £350million Kingsway site whilst hundreds of real jobs are lost throughout Rochdale. The £250 million “Retail Revolution” for yet more unwanted shops in the town centre. Another insult to council taxpayers was the utter tripe about community cohesion and the “Pride Partnership” whilst old folk are evicted from their bungalows. I don’t know how much is wasted by the council and RDA but a mere fraction would protect the excellent work of real community groups such as the Syke Base.
Reading “Local Matters” on the same week as getting my Council Tax Bill makes me feel like I’ve just received a glossy postcard from the same gang who mugged my family for almost £2000.
Rochdale people have just about had enough of this mis-management by senior, and often unaccountable, Rochdale Council officers
28/03/2008 at 16:52