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SOSCA Vision unveiled
The ‘vision meeting’ held last month to outline SOSCA’s detailed proposals for
‘Swinton Park’ was well received by residents and we now have the mandate to
start talks with the various parties. For those people that could not get to the
meeting we have printed the detailed vision below. Please have a
look and don’t be afraid to make your comments known to us.

New Slogan- 'SWINTON PARK ALL 30 HECTARES'
In view of the Public Inquiry inspector’s decision that houses and a road should not be built on the site, SOSCA decided that it needs a new slogan, as our old one ‘No Roads, No houses, No deals’, is now redundant. We believe the new slogan says exactly what we want and what we are fighting for now. The parkland on our doorstep must be given the title it deserves and we want every single hectare to be retained as open space. We believe that the council’s recent survey of openspace confirms our need for the land. Please see your Road Rep for a laminated poster as pictured right and pop it in your window so people will know you support the idea too.

Mobile-Telephone Mast on the East Lancs Road
Enquiries have revealed that the income from telephone masts is substantial. An opening offer from Orange to one landowner was Ł4,000 per year for twenty five years with periodic reviews built into the contract. This was renegotiated to Ł10,000 per year for five years after which it was to be reviewed. We can suggest many local projects that need funding so the question now is how much income is being generated by this mast and why are we not seeing the benefit from it ?

Rat Run
Has anyone noticed the speed of traffic using Thorn Road as a ‘Rat Run’ between Folly Lane and the East Lancashire Road in the rush hour? Some one will be hurt eventually; it is just a matter of time. Would it not be sensible to do something now? Why not impose a speed limit of 20mph that motorists could not ignore. They may at least feel a little guiltier and slow down !

Volunteer
The year of 2005 was the year of the volunteer and SOSCA committee would like to thank our army of volunteers who deliver our newsletters and leaflets. Volunteers provide the link between what the committee is doing and keeping the public informed. Some people say ‘I would not work for nothing’ but little would be achieved without volunteers. SOSCA, as a community association functions entirely on a voluntary basis, no one gets paid. So the committee would like to put that appreciation on record. Thank you to all our delivery volunteers and Road reps.

Annual General Meeting.
The AGM this year was held at The United Reform Church on Worsley Road in November. The chairman reported the successes and activities of the association over the last year and the challenges we were to face next year. The Treasurer reported an up to date balance of our financial situation. The officers and committee were re elected for 2006. They are:-

      Barry Wilde           Chairman        60, Thorn Road    281 7948
      Liz James                Secretary       68, Thorn Road   727 8951
      Tish Wilkins           Treasurer       42, Thorn Road   794 0370
      Robert Balham          Committee        8, Chiltern Drive 794 2529
      Andy Connelly         Committee    78 Thorn Road   950 7301
      Julian Goodman             Webmaster   70, Bradford Road 788 9520
      Elizabeth Planella           Committee     40, Westgate Drive 281 1293
      Gordon Purcell              Committee     84, Campbell Road 728 1432
Graham Wilkins           Committee     42,Thorn Road   794 0370
Helen Neaves-Wilde     Committee   60, Thorn Road   281 7948

Anyone who has an interest in helping in any way please let it be known to a
committee member, we are always in need of people to keep fit by delivering
SOSCA News.`
SOSCA’s draft vision for Swinton Park.

The first stage of our consultation process was to hold a ‘vision meeting’ where we explained our initial ideas with coloured maps and a display board. Before this meeting we visited many existing country parks and mapped out the details for the proposed country park that we have named Swinton Park. In the October issue of SOSCA News we promised we would listen to your views and we did this at the meeting. The responses were useful and confirmed that our ideas were on the right lines. We now wish to extend the consultation process and are giving you the opportunity to have your say through SOSCA News. Simply complete the ‘Over to You’ form on the next page or alternatively email views to the secretary's email address link on the next page.