What with moving the blog from its old home at Blogger (where you can still access the archive) and The Guardian article I've been a little distracted from reporting on what I've been up to locally.

This week I've had a fair bit of case work from constituents wanting help to sort out local problems. This has ranged from fairly serious stuff such as a lady living on the Westwoods who wants a barrier at the top of her street to stop stolen cars (we've already put some up but not enough) and a man complaing about dog shit to a group of neighbours wanting a playground removed because of problems with vandals etc.

I'm really pushing on getting this playground issue on the Laurels in Middleton sorted out. It has been going on since about March. Basically Ben Bailey, a private housebuilder has failed to look after a playground it built on the estate. As a result the council refuses to take it over (which is what normally happens) until it is put right. I'm going to get this sorted because developers shouldn't be allowed to get away with just walking away and leaving other people to sort out their problems.