News

Catley Lane Head – Spring Clean

Our Forum Trustee, Nick Green, is leading our ambitious plan for a Spring Clean.

The basic idea is to get volunteers together in the morning or afternoon on Saturday 22 April 2017 to improve the visual approach to Catley Lane Head village by litter picking and pruning overgrown bushes.

http://mif.co.uk/mif17-events/cotton-panic/

Simon Danczuk backs RMNF’s proposal for a decommissioning bond for Scout Moor Wind Farm

See ROCHDALE ONLINE for the full article

 

Our Neighbourhood Plan

Thanks to Cecile, John, Roy and Alan who have formed our Neighbourhood Plan Group. They have started to work on a proposal and will share information with you as soon as they are able.

You are welcome to attend the next meeting at 10:30 am Wednesday 15^th February 2017, just email Alan (info@RMNF.org.uk) and he will let you have the details. We appreciate not everyone who wants to be involved will be able to make a morning meeting, but we will endeavour to accommodate everyone who wants to be involved – your views are VERY important to this process.

A progress review meeting with the Council is planed for Thursday 23^rd February 2017 and we will let you know the outcome shortly after.

Defibrillator – Update

After much debate RMNF Trustees decided not to adopt the phone box in Catley Lane Head.

Our forum would have had to take on the costs and responsibility for insurance, maintenance and repair (which would have to be in accordance to industry guidelines), and we would NOT have got title to the land beneath the phone box.

We would also have required volunteers to look after the cleanliness of the phone box and to undertake the governance requirements for any installed equipment (the defibrillator).

The main reason the phone box was identified to house a defibrillator, was the provision of an unmetered power supply, required to keep the defibrillator charged and warm. The contract to adopt the phone box did not guarantee a supply of electricity in perpetuity and in the event of the supply being withdrawn or a breakdown, a separate power supply would need to have been arranged. This could take up to £1800 to effect and would have bankrupted our forum.

Vandalism was another issue we considered. The cabinet for the proposed defibrillator was not lockable and the cost of any damage, decommissioning of the phone box, disconnecting the power supply, etc. would have had to be covered by the forum.

There is, however, still an opportunity to apply for a defibrillator if someone is willing to provide a location (outside wall of a house) and a free supply of electricity. Please email: info@RMNF.org.uk if you are willing to do this and we will put you in touch with the appropriate people.

Decommissioning Bond

Various organisations have been asked to raise the issue of a decommissioning bond for the Scout Moor Wind Farm Expansion Ltd (SMWFEL) application. If the Secretary of State (SoS) is minded to approve this application, then the basic idea of a bond is to ensure there is sufficient money available at the end the wind farms life, to ensure the site can be returned to its ‘pre’ wind farm condition. Currently there is no requirement for onshore wind farm developers to put a bond in place and we are asking for the SoS to consider putting a condition in place requiring a bond that tracks inflation and can not disappear when the wind farm becomes redundant. This issue is bigger than just SMWFEL and perhaps a decommissioning bond should be a requirement for all future developments of this type.

If a decommissioning bond is something you agree with, you can help to make a difference by raising this issue with your MP and local Councillors.

What a truly remarkable year!

Who could have thought that such a small group of people could have achieved so much. The year seems to have passed so quickly but here are a few of our highlights.

• February – RMNF granted charitable status. First neighbourhood forum to achieve this in its own right.
• March – We attained designated status with Rochdale Council.
• April – Bank account opened. Another door opened to help the Forum make a difference.
• May – Members of the Forum supported the Whitworth Skyline Walk, which passed through our Forum area.
• June and July – A busy time planning our launch event and an approach from the BBC to be a part of their Black History of Britain series.
• August – Started with a village clean up, grass cutting, hedge trimming and litter picking from the Moor.
  • 14^th August – The big one. Our launch event – what a brilliant day. Great to see all the planning come together with the whole community getting involved with the BBC filming and featuring the Cotton Famine Road in their series ‘A Black History of Britain’.
• September – Two of the Forum Trustees went on a Trustee Training course. As a result of this training our structure was slightly modified and two more Trustees were sought.
• October – AGM time and two more Trustees appointed. Several forum members attended the Scout Moor Windfarm Extension Public Inquiry at Bacup and presented their views for consideration. The decision of the Secretary of State is expected early 2017.
• November – The Cotton Famine Road features in episode 3 of the BBC2 series ‘Black and British – A Forgotten History’. Rochdale people can be proud of the story, which explained the history of the Cotton Famine Road and its links to the abolition of slavery. There were some fantastic shots of our area, the Cotton Famine Road and our launch event. Credit goes to the Forum members who were involved in the programme too. Very positive publicity for Rochdale. During this month our Forum also took up membership of the Open Spaces Society.
• December – Our very first RMNF calendar is produced. Well done to Liz Rutherford and Bill Taylor for creating the calendar which shows off our area in a very positive way and puts a few bob into the bank account as well! This all helps to fund other activities that cannot be covered by grants etc.

In addition to the above throughout the year there have been many meetings, support given to other Forums, loads of paperwork, radio interviews and TV appearances. Our website has been revamped and we now have Facebook and Twitter on board.

Already for 2017 we have a very healthy ‘to do’ list of ideas to discuss.

This includes:

• Do we buy the disused telephone box in Lanehead for £1 and house a defibrillator in it?
• Promote improved signage for Catley Lane Head that will request careful and considerate driving.
• Quiet lane status.
• Riding facilities for the disabled.
• A display to promote the positives of our area.
• A follow up community event in August 2017 following the success of our launch event this year.

Thanks are due to several organisations that have helped us get this far:

• Groundwork and Rochdale Council for the grants they have provided to help our Forum. We have an excellent and improving relationship with Rochdale Council who appears to respect our desire to tackle some of the issues in our area.
• Greater Manchester Police who are funding the signage for Catley Lane Head.

The big one for 2017.

The big one for 2017 is to produce a Neighbourhood Plan for our area that will reflect the views of the people who either live, work or regularly pursue leisure activities (walking, horse riding, cycling, fishing, ornithology etc.) in our area. The basic idea is to set a vision and define a policy for our area for the next 20 years. This is no easy task!

The driving force behind us getting this far is our Secretary, Alan Rawsterne. He took early retirement this year and thought that creating RMNF would be a good, constructive and positive way to improve our area and to occupy some of his spare time. He now says he had more spare time at work! Keep up the impetus please Al, and thanks.

This is your Forum, where your membership and ideas can clearly be seen to be making a difference. Please encourage others to join and keep those ideas flowing. We can’t promise to do everything but will do our best to do what we can.

Thank you and well done to everyone who has helped get the Forum this far.

Finally, may I take this opportunity, on behalf of myself and the Trustees of RMNF, to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Andy Meek
RMNF Chair