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Departs February 5th,8th&17th AtMajestic’sOwnTemplestoweHotel “Torquay’sNo.1 Entertainment Hotel” FantasticNightlyEntertainment 3Nights-Only BY ALEX CAMPBELL THESENTINEL Thursday January 19, 2012 jumped above 8,000 since April. In Newcastle, the claimant count rose from 2,290 in November to 2,366 last month, while in the Staffordshire Moorlands it increased from 1,306 to 1,324. But in Crewe and Nantwich, the number of people claiming ONLY INSIDE TOMORROW’S HolidayIncludesTRANSCRIPT
SEN-eO1-S2 [P] THE SENTINEL Thursday January 19, 2012 5NEWS
In briefSNEYD GREEN: Police areappealing for witnessesfollowing the theft of an 18ftt r a i l e r.The Tilton drop trailer, whichhad no wheels, was stolenfrom outside a property inSneyd Street, Sneyd Green,between 10am and 3.30pm lastFriday. It is blue and valued atabout £500. It is believedthieves may have used theirown spare wheels to removethe twin axle trailer,registration number R878 JDF.Anyone with information isasked to call PC Les Bertoloneon 101 quoting incidentnumber 450 of January 13.
NEWCASTLE: A warrant hasbeen issued for ChristopherSteele after the 32-year-old, ofWoodberry Avenue,Newcastle, failed to turn up atNorth StaffordshireMa gistrates’ Cour t.He has previously pleadedguilty to possessing cocaine,possessing cannabis andfailing to remain for an initialassessment following a drugtest. Steele will be remandedin custody when arrested.
HANLEY: Wayne Clarke, aged40, of Matthews Walk, Hanley,has denied going equipped fortheft with a glass cutter,gloves, a towel and a minitorch at Northwood onOctober 20. NorthStaffordshire Magistratesadjourned the case for a trialon March 24. He wasunconditionally bailed.
HANLEY: Mark Stokes, aged39, of Eaton Street, Hanley, ischarged with a burglary at ahouse in Harley Street,Hanley, on December 12 inwhich two phones, a cameraand a pair of boots, togetherworth £450, were taken.North StaffordshireMagistrates have now senthim to Stoke-on-Trent CrownCourt to appear there onJanuary 23. He wasunconditionally bailed.
CLAYTON: The case of CraigNeed, aged 29, of SevernDrive, Clayton, has beenadjourned. The defendant haspreviously pleaded guilty totwo charges of theft andfailing to answer bail.He will be sentenced at NorthStaffordshire Magistrates’Court on January 31.
Boyfriend hitpartner ‘to stopher shoplifting’A THIRTY-SEVEN-YEAR-OLDman who slapped his partneroutside a supermarket hashad a suspended sentenceorder extended.
Richard Ollerhead s l ap p e dJoanna Ochwat at Asda,Tunstall, on May 24.
Prosecutor Steve Knowlestold North Staffordshiremagistrates he also k i cke dand punched his victim. Andon August 7 he was involvedin an incident with a securityguard at Lidl, Tunstall.
Ollerhead, of Hodnet Grove,Hanley, pleaded guilty tousing threatening abusivewords or behaviour on May24. He denied a similar chargein relation to the August 7incident but was convictedafter a trial.
Peter Howland, mitigating,said in the May incidentOllerhead was restricting hispartner from shoplifting.
He said in the Augustincident a security guard hadallegedly recognisedOllerhead from the Lidl storein Newcastle where hebelieved he had handed him abanning order. But Ollerheadsaid he had never been inLidl, Newcastle, and was notissued with a banning order.
Ollerhead was sentenced toa 12-week prison sentence,suspended for 28 days, forbreaching the previoussuspended sentence order. Hewas also made the subject ofan 18-month community orderwith 18 months’ supervisionand a six-month alcoholtreatment requirement. Hemust also pay £385 costs.
Review of M6noise levelsNOISE problems on part ofthe M6 are to be investigated.
The Government reviewwill look at noise levels fromthe road surface betweenjunctions 14 and 13 atStaf ford.
Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroyhad called for action during aWestminster Hall debate.
Mr Lefroy said: “T heresurfacing of the M6 betweenjunctions 12 and 13 hasgreatly improved the lives ofpeople in the area who wereplagued by noise from the oldsurface. Can improving soundinsulation between junctions13 and 14 now be looked at forthe benefit of residents wholive near the motorway?”
Roads Minister MikePenning responded: “I willlook specifically at junctions13 and 14.”
... by 0.01%, or 7p a year if you’re in a Band A home
gOONLY INSIDETOMORROW’S
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City council setto cut rise in tax...BY ALEX [email protected]
CITY council leaders arepoised to slash a controversialcouncil tax hike – by 0.01 percent to avoid Governmenti n t e r ve n t i o n .
The authority wants to snuba Government cash incentiveto freeze rates for another yearby increasing bills by 3.5 percent, or £26.68, for Band A prop-er ties.
But it is now consideringmaking the increase 3.49 percent.
If the new idea is adopted,residents in Band A homes willsave 7p a year less than firstintended.
Campaigners today calledthe move “p at ro n i s i n g ” and“an insult”.
The council task group,which recommended the 3.5per cent rise, said it wanted toavoid any lingering threat ofGovernment intervention.
It follows an announce-ment by CommunitiesSecretary Eric Picklesthat councils will beforced to hold a referen-dum if they impose“e xc e s s ive ” increases ofmore than 3.5 per cent.
Councillor Andy Lilley,pictured, chairman ofthe task group, said:“Our understand-ing at this stage isthat we would be
OK at 3.5 per cent, but it wouldbe better to come in under-neath if we do increase counciltax.
“The recommended rise isbeing amended to 3.49 percent.”
Jim Gibson, chairman of theChell Heath residents’ associ-ation, said: “It is patronising.John van de Laarschot needs torealise people, including hisown staff, are losing theirj o b s.
“The price of everything isgoing up. I don’t know wherethey think the money will keepcoming from.”
The council said it needs toincrease tax to fund its “i nve s tto save” strate g y.
Cuts of £24 million areplanned for 2012/13, but £5 mil-lion could be reinvested toboost the local economy.
The Government’s tax freezeincentive would provide about£2 million, equivalent to a 2.5
per cent increase.But unlike last year’s
incentive, the cash isonly guaranteed forone year. That meansthe council would notbe compensated forthe knock-on loss ofincome in future
ye a r s.Increasing tax by 3.5
per cent this year willraise £800,000 morethan the Govern-ment’s offer would
provide, but it would meanfuture annual percentageincreases would raise muchmore because the startingpoint is higher.
Councillor Sarah Hill, cab-inet member for finance, saidmany residents had struggledto understand the authority’sthinking.
She said: “When I speak topeople, their automatic reac-tion is that they don’t want topay any more at all. It’s com-plex and difficult to explain.”
Rent for council tenants isalso set to rise by 6.91 per cent,based on a Government for-mula, which will see the aver-age weekly rent bill rise from£60.65 to £64.84; an extra £218 ina year.
Councillor Dave Conway,leader of the opposition CityIndependents, said: “It is aninsult. People won’t be fooledby it. Everything is going upexcept the family budget.”
Robert Oxley, campaignmanager at the TaxPayers’Alliance, added: “The hollowgesture of reducing a plannedcouncil tax rise by 0.01 per centis nearly as insulting to res-idents as the original rise.”
Tax is to be frozen byStaffordshire County Councilfor another two years, andNewcastle Borough Councilplans to freeze it in 2012/11.
What do you think of theproposed cut? Email us [email protected]
Number of job seekers hits new highTHE number of people claim-ing Jobseeker’s Allowance(JSA) in Stoke-on-Trent hasrisen above 8,000 for the firsttime in eight months.
Latest Government figuresshow 8,059 residents wereclaiming JSA in December, upfrom 7,890 the month before,the first time the figure has
jumped above 8,000 sinceAp r i l .
In Newcastle, the claimantcount rose from 2,290 inNovember to 2,366 last month,while in the StaffordshireMoorlands it increased from1,306 to 1,324.
But in Crewe and Nantwich,the number of people claiming
JSA fell slightly from 2,583 to2,532, and in Congleton it wasalso down from 1,317 to 1,290.
Nationally the claimantcount increased by 1,200 to 1.6million. Total unemploymentreached a 17-year high in thethree months to November,jumping by 118,000 to 2.68 mil-lion.
ON THE ROPES:Firefighters swappedladders for ropes as part ofa “sponsored drop”.The charity abseil tookplace at the fire tower atStaffordshire Fire andRescue’s headquarters inPirehill, Stone.Members of the public alsotook part in the event,which was held to raisemoney for the Fire FightersCharity.Chief fire officer PeterDartford said: “The charityis close to the hearts ofmany of the staff here, anumber of whom havebenefited from the servicesthey provide.”The charity provides supportto thousands of firefighters,but has to meet £9 millionrunning costs.Firefighter Mick Williamstests out the ropeswatched by, from left,Angela Leigh, StephanieGriffiths, Gary Fox, EmmaEvans and Peter Dartford.Picture: Steve Bould
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