I was delighted this weekend to have the opportunity to visit the Manchester Pride festival this weekend – it was great to see a good presence from Salford.

It’s great to see so many people – gay and straight, male and female – enjoy themselves over the Pride weekend. I’ve never actually visited Pride before and as a straight man I felt completely welcome.

I know that all the main Parties here in Salford agree that we need to make sure that our City is a friendly, open and tolerant place to live where everyone regardless of their background can reach their full potential. I think that we are well on the way to that.

This Saturday, as part of the Salford Garden Party, I will be taking part in the “Big Ask” panel debate. The debate starts at 2.45pm in one of the marquees outside the Civic Centre in Swinton and there will be panellists from all four political groups represented on Salford City Council.

The questions will be a mix of pre-submitted questions and contributions from the floor. You can submit your questions online here - it would be great to see a big turnout so I hope to see you there!

Network Rail are currently consulting on their investment plans for railway stations across the country. Our local stations are all in need of significant investment, and I’d encourage all local rail commuters to complete the short Network Rail “Action Stations” survey to make sure that their views are heard!

Click here to take the “Action Stations” survey!

The Council’s draft Core Strategy is now out for consultation – the consultation runs until the middle of January and you can find more information on the Council website.

The Core Strategy is the central Development Plan Document (DPD) in the Local Development Framework. The Core Strategy is a strategic level document which will provide the spatial planning vision and strategy that will shape the future of Salford.

The Core Strategy will:

set out the long-term spatial vision for the city (up to 2027), and the overall strategy for delivering that vision

• identify the overall level of different types of development (including housing, employment, and retail) that is envisaged in the city during that period, and the general geographic distribution of that development
• identify the main improvements in infrastructure that are required to support that scale and distribution of development
  define the city’s hierarchy of town and neighbourhood centres
• set out the strategic spatial policies for the city
• include a Key Diagram; illustrating its main provisions, and a number of strategic site allocations
• identify the links with, and support the delivery of, other key strategies and plans, including the Sustainable Community Strategy

The Council is running a number of consultation events across the City. You can find the full list on the link above, but these are the events in the Worsley area that local residents in Walkden South might find most convenient to attend:

• Standfield Centre, Boothstown, Friday 20th November, 1.30pm-4pm
• Netto, Little Hulton, Saturday 21st November, 9.30am-12.30pm
• Worsley Village Library, Saturday 28th November, 10am-12.30pm
• Walkden Gateway Centre, Wednesday 2nd December, 2pm-7pm
• Little Hulton Library, Friday 4th December, 2pm-5pm

In addition the Core Strategy will be discussed at the Walkden & Little Hulton Community Committee meeting on Monday 30th November. This month’s meeting is held at James Brindley Primary School and starts at 6pm.

Remembrance Sunday is Sunday 8th November, and as usual there will be a parade and service followed by the wreath laying at the Cenotaph in Parr Fold Park.

The parade sets off at 9.30am from the Royal British Legion HQ, Wilfred Road, Walkden, with a service in St. Paul’s Church, Manchester Road at 10.00am followed by wreath laying at the Cenotaph in Parr Fold Park at 11.00am.

The Council has secured funding to create or improve 11 new play spaces for children aged 8-13 across the City of Salford, and they are asking local people about the sort of facilities that they’d like, and where they’d like to put them.

You can respond to the consultation on the Council website - if you’d like further information, contact contact Barry Glasspell, Salford’s Play and Out of School Activities Co-ordinator on 0161 778 0313.

There are a number of events across the City during the consultation – visit the website link above to find out when they are coming to your area!