Manchester council

Thursday is Election Day – vote for Aftab RAZAQ

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Tomorrow – Thursday 5 May – is local election day across Manchester and much of the country. The Labour candidate in Whalley Range ward is Aftab Razaq – a vote for Aftab is a vote for a strong Labour council in Manchester standing up to the Conservative government in Westminster. Remember:

  • Polling stations are open from 7am in the morning until 10pm at night
  • You don’t need your polling card or any ID in order to vote – just go to your polling station and give your name and address
  • If you don’t know your polling station, visit manchester.gov.uk/pollingstations
  • If you’re a postal voter and you haven’t returned your postal vote yet, you can complete it now and take it to any polling station in Manchester on election day before 10pm

Deadline coming soon for postal vote applications

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The local elections in Manchester (including Whalley Range ward) are on Thursday 5 May this year. If you may be busy on that day and unable to get to your polling station in person to cast your vote, you can apply to vote by post instead – but the application must be submitted before the deadline of 5pm on Tuesday 19 April.

All the information about how to apply, and links to download the form you need, can be found on the Manchester City Council website here.

Improving safety and reducing pollution outside schools

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Aftab joins volunteers at the recent temporary closure on Springbridge Rd

At their full meeting earlier today, Manchester City councillors discussed and agreed a range of measures to do more to enable children (and their parents) to walk or cycle safely to and from school, reducing car usage together with the problems of parking, pollution and accidental danger which come with the ‘school run’.

Whalley Range Labour councillor Aftab Razaq spoke at the meeting. He noted the contribution of local schools and volunteers, including the Whalley Range WalkRide and Climate Action groups, in organising temporary street closures outside several Whalley Range schools in recent weeks. “When the roads are closed to non-essential traffic, even just for one day, it allows parents and pupils to see for themselves all the potential benefits of fewer cars” he says.

You can watch Aftab’s speech in Council here.

Manchester’s budget consultation closing tomorrow

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Manchester City Council is asking all city residents to help ensure that the Council’s priorities still reflect those of Manchester’s people.

Whalley Range Labour councillor Aftab Razaq says “We won’t need to make savings beyond efficiencies already identified but the decisions we make now will affect our budgets in the future. We’re also having to consider raising our element of Council Tax.”

Have your say on the options before the Council decides in March. The consultation closes tomorrow Tuesday 8 February at 5pm. For more information about the consultation and to take part, please visit the Council website here.

Whalley Range councillor wins national climate award

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Angeliki at the award ceremony on Wednesday night

On December 1, at the national Councillor Awards in London hosted by the LGIU and CCLA Good Investment, Whalley Range Labour councillor Angeliki Stogia won the Environment and Sustainability Pioneer award.

Working as Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Planning and Transport between 2017-21, Angeliki oversaw the implementation of ambitious programmes across the city aimed at cutting emissions and encouraging more people to use low-carbon modes of transport. In July 2019 the Council declared a climate emergency, setting a goal for the city to be zero carbon by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the Government’s own target of 2050. A key pillar of this aim was the launch of the City Centre Transport Strategy, which outlined the Council’s ambition that, by 2040, 90% of journeys to the city centre during the morning peak will be done by walking, cycling or public transport.

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