The Boxfit fitness activity at the Littlecoates Community Centre on Tuesday evenings has proved to  be a hit with the area’s young people.

There is room for a few more a few more budding boxers, but be quick as it will be full before long!  Anyone who would like to join in should turn up on the night, or ring Michelle 0n 07799543250 if you would like to find out more.

      Come Along and Ask the Big Question in the Yarborough Ward!

On Friday 19th Tony Hunter, the new Chief Executive of NELC will be in the Yarborough Ward to meet local residents.  He will be on the bus when it visits Somerfields in Cambridge Road, along with your Ward Councillors Les Bonner and Mary Little.  They will be there from 9.00am to 1.00pm., so if there is anything you would like to ask any of us, or if you would just like a chat then come along and meet us.

 

The bus will also be at Morrisons from 6.00 to 9.00pm where Tony Hunter and I shall be there to meet you.

 

On Saturday 20th September, weather permitting, I shall be in the car park at Lidl in Cromwell Road from 9.00 – 1100am along with representatives of the Police, where we will be holding a joint surgery, and from roughly 1100am – 1.00pm we shall be at the Spar shop car park in Yarborough Road. 

 

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible so that you can let me know how we can make a difference where you live.

A Grimsby shop owner was found selling chicken breasts which were  a week out of date.  The owner of Gilbey Wines and Stores was in court for a second time having committed a similar offence two years ago. The owner was ordered to pay fines and costs of nearly £4,000 at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court. The owner of Gilbey Wines and Stores, in Gilbey Road, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £836 costs and a £15 victim surcharge after a prosecution by North East Lincolnshire Council’s trading standards team.The limited company which trades as Gilbey Wines and Stores was also held liable and fined £1,000 plus £836.68 costs and a surcharge – making a total of £3,703.Trading standards officials warned other food retailers that they will repeat the action if necessary.Trading standards manager Andy Foster said: “The high fine imposed reflects the seriousness of this offence and the fact that Mr Thillainathan was also prosecuted for the same offence back in 2006.” “A use-by date is applied to highly perishable foods in order to protect consumers from eating food that may be dangerous to health. Trading standards takes a dim view of any business that jeopardises the health of consumers. The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 outlined the offence of “selling or exposing for sale” products beyond their use by date, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000. Coun Steve Beasant, portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “This business was given every opportunity to work with the trading standards team but has failed to address the problem.  “Most food businesses co-operate with trading standards officers following inspections to ensure that acceptable standards are maintained for the public. “Prosecution is the last option for dealing with serious and persistent offenders and this case demonstrates that the council is prepared to take such action to safeguard public health”

The First Responder vehicle which was out of action after its catalytic converter was stolen is back in service again, but this time it has an added protective cage.

Members of the First Responder team, who give first aid to casualties while they wait for an ambulance to arrive, discovered that the part had been stolen on Monday, with a replacement costing £790. To deter theives from stealing the converter again, a steel cage has been fitted around the underside of the vehicle. The work was done free by Tony Booth, owner of Tony’s Autos on Armstrong Street, Grimsby.  He said: “It takes about a minute and a half to remove a catalytic converter. This safety cage should stop people getting to it.”Mr Booth said a spate of 4x4s had been targeted recently, but he was appalled to hear that the First Responder had also lost parts to thieves.He said: “It’s a disgrace. There are some people who will do anything for money, but you’re talking about people’s lives. These people are here to help the community. It’s just not on.”

The first phase of a £5-million refurbishment to Grimsby’s Accident and Emergency department is now complete.From Monday patients will be able to make use of the brand new facilities as part of a improvements to Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital’s emergency care centre. The new centre has ten treatment rooms filled with the latest equipment and it will soon be the host foradditional  primary care services as part of an integrated model for the department.

The latest refurbishments are the first of three phases in the development, which will see a new reception area, major injuries section, and a resuscitation room completed by April 2009.

the Hazel Coley, assistant director of services development and modernisation for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust, said: “There is still work going on and there will still be some disruption for which we would apologise to the patients.“But I’m sure once we are at the end of the scheme they will see that it’s been worthwhile.”

Planning permission has been granted for a new hotel and retail outlet in the town centre.   Work is expected to start on the project as soon as possible. The new development will be situated on the site of the old Burton’s garage, close to the railway station.  The seven-storey building will feature an 80-room hotel and a two-storey car park with 38 spaces.  There are also plans to have a bar and restaurant on the top floors. As the artist’s impression shows, the building will have a row of shops at ground level (450 square metres) with hotel rooms facing the front and rear.  There will also be 1,297 square metres of office space and a car park at the side of the building with access from Duchess Street.   

    He can’t read the papers or watch the news very often, but Alistair Darling, the Chancellor has finally found out what everyone else already knows!  

This morning’s Times reports that he gives the Government’s latest and gravest assessment yet of the economy, coming after a warning from a Bank of England policymaker that two million people could be unemployed by Christmas, Mr Darling admitted that he had no idea how serious the credit crunch would become.

The Chancellor said that Mr Brown and the Cabinet are partly to blame for Labour’s woes because they have patently failed to explain the party’s central mission to the country. The Chancellor says that the economic troubles faced by Britain and the rest of the world “are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years”.

He added: “I think it’s going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought. We’ve got our work cut out. This coming 12 months will be the most difficult 12 months the Labour Party has had in a generation. We’ve got to rediscover that zeal which won three elections, and that is a huge problem for us at the moment. People are p***ed off with us. ”

You can read the complete article from the Times at:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4636607.ece

Hot on the heels of the recent shambles ,caused by the SATS test marking,  another American company has been awarded a £150 million contract to help with the 2011 census. 

Despite fears over US intelligence gaining access to the census data, Lockheed Martin have been awarded Britain’s 2011 census contract.

The contract awarded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), will mean that Lockheed Martin will provide services including a customer contact centre, questionnaire printing and data capture and processing. It is valued at around £150million, which is approximately one third budget for the census.

Controversy surrounds the decision as any US-based company is subject to the US Patriot Act, which allows the US government to gain access to any data that is held by the company.

Campaigners have warned this could give the US government access to data on the UK’s entire population.

  It is unlikely that Mr Darling would ever admit that Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrat party was responsible, but it is noticeable that, a few days ago, Mr Cable publicly supported the mortgage rescue scheme suggested by the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML).

 Mr Cable understands the situation of homeowners who are struggling to keep up the repayments on their borrowings.

Mr Darling has not yet succeeed in convincing us of his caring credentials.

Under the CML’s proposals, a local authority or housing association would be able to acquire a share in the property of a person who has built up arrears in their mortgage repayments, giving that individual the opportunity to repay his mortgage arrears and to repair his  relationship with with his lender.

Similar arrangements are provided by some private sector “sale-and-leaseback” schemes but, in some of those cases, the homeowner can still lose his property. The activities of a few companies in this unregulated industry threaten to become  a future financial scandal – another reason why Mr Darling may be persuaded that the public sector needs to intervene. He cannot survive a part in yet another embarrassing disaster.

Outstanding Safer Community Awards draw closer

TIME is running out to nominate your community champions in a special “OSCA” ceremony.

Safer Communities will be holding another Outstanding Safer Community Awards (OSCAs) on Tuesday December 2 at Grimsby Town Hall. But the closing date for nominations is Friday, September 19, so if a member of your organisation deserves praise for their stellar work in the community – this is your chance to provide it.

The OSCAs is a prestigious occasion that aims to recognise, give honour and praise to those individuals, groups and organisations that work hard to make North East Lincolnshire a better and safer place to live.

As many of you know, this isn’t an easy task, but the event highlight’s a myriad of groups and individuals that rally are making a huge contribution to community safety.

The awards night was last held in November 2006 and was a great success.  It really illustrated just how much good work is going on in the local community.  The Grimsby Town Hall was packed to the rafters with people doing their bit for Community Safety.  It was fantastic to hear so many positive initiatives all geared towards making the area a better place to live and work.

Our host for the evening will be local star of stage and screen, Julie Peasgood.  This will be the third time Julie has hosted the awards and she is looking forward to see what has been happening within North East Lincolnshire. 

There are ten categories to nominate for and they are:

• Working with Young People
• Community Safety Initiative Involving Young People
• Private Sector Community Safety Scheme
• Public Sector Community Safety Scheme
• Community led Community Safety Scheme
• Working with Difficult to Engage Groups
• Encouraging Engagement and Community Participation
• Standing up against Anti-Social Behaviour
• Award to an Individual who has contributed to Community safety in North East Lincolnshire

nomination forms should be sent to:

http://www.safelinks.info/documents/SaferCommunitiesOSCASnewsletter.pdf