News

Spring Clean – Update

Catley Lane Head Spring Clean – Saturday 22nd April 2017

Thanks to Nick & Margaret Green for organising a fantastic day and thanks to everyone involved! We couldn’t have done it without you, the help and support of Rochdale Council and those people who loaned the digger and dump truck.

We bagged approximately one and a half tons of rubbish and filled the dump truck three times with soil and leaf mould from the side of the road, each load was about three tons in weight!

Please let us know if you’d like to do something similar in other parts of our area.

Related Images

 

David Olusoga – Honorary President

Honorary President of Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum

David Olusoga, the historian and broadcaster who put the Cotton Famine Road on the map in BBC2’s Black and British: A Forgotten History, has agreed to be the Honorary President of Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum.

I’m sure you will agree this is fantastic news. Having David associated with our forum will help us to build on his good work by protecting and sharing the history and recreational value of our area.

See a related article on Rochdale On Line

Spring Clean – 22 April 2017

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.

In an attempt to improve both appearance & road safety we hope to secure the use of a mini-digger & dumper to clear the channel lines of the rural section of Rooley Moor Road & reinstate the road back to its original width.

We are very keen to involve the Council Environmental Services and have requested a road sweeper & gully sucker from them in addition to seeing if they will organise a collection of the rubbish we will bag.

To make our task easier, Councillor Cecile Biant has offered us the use of litter picking equipment and the provision of rubbish bags.

I’m sure you will all agree this is a great opportunity and will set the scene for our next community event in August.

Please let us know if you’d like to be involved and your preferred time (morning, afternoon or both) – email: info@rmnf.org.uk

We also welcome donations of any spare plants you may have for planting in the verges.

Planting the Seeds of Success

RMNF Supports Purple4Polio

Members of Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum are always keen to see our area looking its best.

On Saturday 11th March 2017 a group of forum members took advantage of the early morning sun and supported the Rotary’s latest campaign, Purple4Polio, which is designed to unite communities to engage in activities as part of the final push to eradicate polio for good. For more information see: http://www.rotarygbi.org/what-we-do/purple4polio/

Well, it certainly engaged the Catley Lane Head community who thought it would be a great idea to plant crocuses and brighten up the area around the BBC Plaque, commemorating the Rochdale Millworkers during the Cotton Famine, and the entrance to the village.

Facebook users can see a video of the team at work.

We are all looking forward to seeing the results of our labour when the crocuses to flower.

RMNF Neighbourhood Plan

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 15th 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 23rd February 2017 and we will let you know the outcome shortly after.

Catley Lane Head Phone Box & Defibrillator – Update

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.

Wind Farm Decommissioning Bond

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.