A planned all day budget meeting (2011/12 not next year's) earlier this week got in the way of one event that I really would have liked to have got to not least because it was just down the road from home.
Thought I should do a short piece on an event that has been taking place in Manchester over the last couple of days not least because it is unlikely to happen again in the foreseeable future if ever.
Scrutiny week this week. Quite often I'm not called to give evidence or answer questions at all but this week I've been summoned to both the Economy, Employment, and Skills Overview and Scrutiny Committee which met yesterday, and Resources and Governance this morning.
Occasionally contributors to this blog have suggested that the Council and/or myself are immune to criticism and are not sufficiently self-critical. It's an argument that's a bit difficult to sustain given what is published here.
I've a feeling this might turn up on the site dated 29th January because of the time it is being written. It's actually the 28th but it's been a busy day following a busy day yesterday and I just haven't had time to write until now (20:24 if anybody is interested).
In this case two new faces and a couple of people who have been around the Crumpsall patch for a couple of months now. I and my co-Councillors Pritchard and Keegan have met both on our own on a number of occasions but today and yesterday we had the opportunity to reinforce collectively what we see as the priorities for the area.
Back on my bike this week for the first time since Christmas and a frighteningly close view of the cracks and holes that have appeared in the road surface along my normal route as a result of frost damage. Our Highways people are out inspecting the whole road network and will be putting a remediation plan together but an early estimate is that the extra repair work will cost at least £650,000.
First call and principle task this morning entails only a short journey down to Blackley Village to the Council's offices in Hexagon Tower. I'm there to meet officers from our Regeneration division and one of our key partners Barbara Forshaw, Vice-Principal of the Manchester College. Together we are interviewing to select a team to do a " refresh " of the North Manchester Statregic Regeneration Framework.
In London yesterday for the first meeting of the Funding the Frontline Task Force which I've been asked to co-chair by Secretary of State for Communities and Local government, John Denham. An interesting group of people including the only person who is a Chief Executive of both a local authority and an NHS Primary Care Trust, and the only person who is Chief Executive of two local authorities of different political persuasion.
There is more to do than worry about the weather. This lunchtime I meet with my colleagues Councillors Jon-Leigh Pritchard and Con Keegan and our ward co-ordinator to discuss the items we want to discuss at ward co-ordination and decide that we want to concentrate on housing and the impact of the recession at our next meeting in a couple of weeks.
The blog of the leader of Manchester City Council, Councillor Richard Leese.