LAKE CENTRES FACING CRISIS DUE TO FOOT AND MOUTH
The foot and mouth outbreak is costing Wigan Council a staggering £5,000 a week, a new report has revealed.
Two Metro-owned outdoor activity centres have been severely hit by the epidemic, forcing one to shut and the other to operate a rduced service.
Council chiefs say they could lose an extra £90,000 if the crisis continues until August. And fears are growing that figure will escalate if the epidemic goes on longer.
The two centres, Hinning House in Duddon Valley (pictured right) which has closed, and Low Bank Ground (pictured left), in Coniston, offer a variety of outdoor activities to Wigan's primary and secondary schools, including sailing, rock climbing and walking. They are also used by private corporations during the school holidays.
Director of Education Bob Clarke said, "The Lake district is one of the areas severely affected by foot and mouth disease, and as a result, visits to the centres have been affected."The effects of the foot and mouth epidemic is unpredictable and although some savings on running costs will be achieved, the fixed costs associated with running the centres will remain.
"The ability of the outdoor education centres and the department to mitigate the financial loss will be dependant on how long it is before a normal service can be resumed."
The impact of foot and mouth has already reduced the centers chances of reaching their annual income target of £310,000.
And if the epidemic continues for a longer period education bosses say there will be a 'significant ' financial loss.
SCHAAP MURDER TRIAL DATE SET
A date has been set for the trial of banker Andrew Schaap, who has been charged with murdering his wife.
The 44 year-old, who appeared at Manchester Crown Court
last week, has pleaded not guilty to the killing of Julie Schaap at their home earlier this year.
Mrs Schaap, 42, was found bludgeoned to death in the hallway of the house on Rowton Rise, Standish, on the evening
of Monday February 5th this year. A murder investigation was immediately launched with local and national media appeals for help made by detectives.
Forensic experts spent several weeks at the house examining it
minutely for clues, divers searched the River Douglas and road blocks were set up by police outside the house to question motorists and pedestrians.
Mrs Schaap, a bereavement counsellor who also worked for the DSS
in Ashton-in-Makerfield had been at an aerobics class at Park Hall, Charnock Richard, on the night of her death before returning home.
It was her husband who raised the alarm and called the police.
He was arrested
three weeks after the killing, was quizzed by detectives and charged with her murder.
An inquest at around the same time as the arrest heard that the mother of two had died as a result of injuries to her head and neck.
The body had been identified at the Royal Bolton Hospital by the couple's 18 year-old daughter, Nicola.
The hearing was adjourned pending further reports and investigations.,br>Mr Schaap is due to stand trial on August 13th
and the trial is expected to last three or four days. He was once again remanded in custody.
POPSTARS GET A TASTE FOR WIGAN PIES!
Chart-topping Hear'Say star Kym Marsh was back home in Wigan this week, and immediately tucked into a meat and potato pie!
The 25 year-old Ashton singer and her bandmates, Noel,Myleene, Danny and Suzanne, appeared at local radio station Wish FM as part of a promotional tour for their new single, 'The Way to Your Love.'
And while back in her home town, mum of two Kym took the opportunity to deny claims she is suffering from the slimming disease bulimia.
She told the Wigan Evening Post, "It's so good to be back in Wigan. Things have been very hectic but I'm still the same down to earth person-if I changed my kids wouldn't know who I was."
PLANS TO CREATE A SPECIALIST MARKET
An unbeatable part of any holiday in France or Italy is a trip to the local market bursting with fragrant produce.
Who can resist the
blood-red gloriously misshapen peppers of Provence, the weird twisted mushrooms and salamis as wide as water butts in Bologna?
Now Wigan is about to capture some of this continental magic with proposals for it's own farmer's market
The monthly event will be a welcome boost for crisis-hit agriculture and could well become another attraction for Wigan in it's own right.
The council is proposing to set aside Wigan outdoor market on the first Tuesday of each month
for the project which could attract support for up to 15 stalls from local growers and producers.
To qualify to sell at a farmer's market food stuffs must be grown, reared, caught, brewed or pickled, smoked and processed within 30
miles of the town centre.
It will also provide an outlet for specialist cheese or regional delicacies producers are unable (or unwilling) to attempt to mass produce the minimum quantities required by supermarkets.
The news comes
after it was revealed that fears over the foot and mouth epidemic and it's effect on discouraging visitors to council attractions has already cost the Metro £10,000- and counting .
Metro cultural service panel members will be told
that the market plan has come about after director of cultural services Rodney Hill consulted local producers.
Wigan's branch of the National Market Trader's Federation are also said to be keen to see the farmer's market established
because they see it as a bid to attract shoppers out of supermarkets.
Mr Hill said, "Farmer's markets enable local producers to sell their good directly to consumers which promote dialogue and understanding between producer and consumer.
"They also enable high quality produce to be affordable while also generating a fair income for producers, reconnecting consumers with the farming community that surrounds and serves them."
Farmers markets are also popular among the
growing green awareness movement because they promote a more sustainable society by reducing "food miles" while assisting in the sale and marketing of food produced to high environmental and welfare standards.
The move is an about
face by councillors who approved a policy in 1987 specifically forbidding the sale of food stuffs on the outdoor market, in a move to support traders who had taken tenancies on the then newly built Wigan Indoor Market Hall.
This policy
will have to be amended if if the farmers market is to take place, although council chiefs believe that the majority of produce on sale will not be in direct competition with exixsting market hall traders.
Farmers will be charged £15
rather than the existing daily tariff of £22.30.
MAN SHOT TWICE THROUGH HEAD IN GANGLAND KILLING
A murder investigation has been launched after a man was shot in the head during a gangland execution in Wigan.
Two gunmen are thought to have stormed into a first floor flat on Whitledge Road, in Bryn, at around 3.12am on Friday (25th) morning.
They shot Billy Webb (pictured) twice in the head, before shooting Helen Watkinson in the arm. She was today said to be in a comfortable condition in Wigan Infirmary.
More than 20 police cars- including armed officers - were called to the scene after receiving a 999 call.
No one has been arrested. A police spokesman said, "We are treating the death as suspicious."
Bolton-born Webb, 42, who's real name is William Craig, was due to go before a court in five months time to face charges of conspiring to supply drugs.
CID officers, forensic experts and uniformed officers spent all yesterday examining the scene.
The flat- which backs on to Bryn railway station- and nearby roads and footpaths were cordoned off, as police combed the streets and undergrowth for clues.
Neighbours say they heard three gun shots followed by a loud scream.
A girl, thought to be victim Helen Watkinson, was later seen running up the street shouting "Call the police, I've been shot."
Angela Hall, 48, who has lived on Whitledge Road for 13 years said, "The ambulance came, but it stayed well back. The police arrived soon after. I had never seen so many in my life, they filled the street. Some of them were armed."
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