Utkinton and Cotebrook Community Website

Utkinton Parish Council has a vacancy for a new Parish Clerk. Full details of the position are in the attached document and the closing date for applications is Monday 27th September 2010.

Vacancy for Parish Clerk

To be held at the Winsford Lifestyle Centre on Thursday 21st October 2010. See details in the document section of this website

The Rural Services Network provides stories and items on any matter or issue with a rural aspect to it.

Click on the link to visit their website

Website: www.rsnonline.org.uk

UTKINTON PARISH COUNCIL

Are you interested in the future of your local community of Cotebrook and Utkinton?

If so, we'd love to hear from you. Utkinton Parish Council, which covers the 2 villages, has a vacancy for someone to join the council.

Please see the attached document for details of how to apply, and help us Make A Difference.

Parish Council Vacancy

Be careful if you receive a call from a 'representative' of BT, informing you that they are going to disconnect you because of an unpaid bill and demanding immediate payment of £31.00, or it would be £118.00 to re-connect at a later date.

The caller might offer to

demonstrate that he's from BT by suggesting you hang up & then try

phoning someone and claiming he would disconnect your phone to prevent you doing so.

If you try this the phone will be completely dead until they phone again.

What they do to cut off the line is very simple. The caller stays on the line with the mute

button on and you can't dial out - but he can hear you trying. (This is because the person who initiates a call is the one who terminates it). When you stop trying he hangs up and then immediately calls back. You could easily be convinced that it really is BT!

Please pass this warning on to as many people as possible.

Would you like to volunteer and lead a weekly running group in your local area?

I am trying to collate a list of interested parties who would be keen to become a volunteer run leader in their local area within Cheshire West and Chester. Revalue your health charity, which is partly run by a Run England representive want to increase participation in running and promote voluntary participation, by recruiting and training volunteer run leaders. It basically entails completing a run in england leader course (£90) which will be fully paid for by the charity and the individuals registration fee of (£20) by the re-value your health group. So there would be no cost to the individual themselves, only their time in leading weekly sessions and reporting back to the re-value group with attendance figures etc....

Once you are qualified as a run leader the agreement is that you must set up a re-value running group in your local area on a voluntary basis with the support of CWAC Sport Development team and Alison Lysons Area Development Officer for Run In England.

Once the group is set up, runners who want to join the group will be charged £2 per session to attend the group and the leader will lead the session on a voluntary basis. The leader will be responsible for taking the money in and sending it on to the re-value group. This money will either be reinvested in further training for other individuals associated with that particular running group or used to pay membership fee's so in essence the group can be self sustainable. This way both leaders and members of the group will not be charged any membership fee as this will be paid by the re-value group.

Revalue have the money to set up a maximum of 5 groups in Cheshire West and Chester area I already have two potentially three interested parties. There is already 2 groups established in the area of Ellesmere Port and one in Delamere Forest but these operate slightly differently. Hope this all makes sense.

Any queries let me know, please inform any interested parties to send their name and contact details to me and then I can try and sort out getting them on a course.

Thank you

Emma Brown

Sports Development Officer (Community)

Cheshire West and Chester Council

Tel: 01606 288559 (ext 88559)

Email: emma.brown@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Location: Culture & Recreation, Wyvern House, The Drumber, Winsford, CW71AH

Visit: cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Trading Standards would like residents to be on their guard following a report of a Council Tax Rebate scam.

A resident received a telephone call allegedly from the Borough Council advising her that she had been wrongly banded for Council Tax and was due a substantial rebate. The caller confirmed the residents correct personal details including date of birth, and then requested bank details in order for the rebate to be paid. Fortunately the resident felt uncomfortable with the request and the call was terminated.

No council would ever contact a resident in this manner on such issues. Generally when refunding an overpaid amount, if details are already held then refunds will be paid automatically into the bank. If not, then a straightforward cheque refund will be issued in the post.

Further reports have emerged from around the country that there are a number of variations on the scam. Home owners are being contacted over the telephone or on the doorstep and told they had paid either too much or too little council tax. On each occasion bank details are requested.

Please remain vigilant and pass this message on to family members, friends and neighbours.

For general consumer information contact Trading Standards on 08454 04 05 06 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

Cheshire West and Chester LINk have commissioned a research project into the potential need for accompanied transport to health appointments in a range of settings e.g. GP surgeries, hospitals etc in the area. Accompanied transport basically means door to door transport with someone to assist at the health premises if needed and is aimed at people who are unable to use public transport and do not have access to their own transport for whatever reason.

The research is aimed at assessing the need for this type of transport for older people, people with physical disabilities, people with learning difficulties and disabilities, and families with children with disabilities.

Strategic Partnerships Consultancy has been commissioned to carry out this research and would appreciate your time in filling out the questionnaire.

To access the survey online go to the link shown.

Or if you would like to receive a paper postal survey please contact Cathy Boyd (Strategic Partnerships Consultancy Ltd) on 0788 151 0304, or via email on info@sp-consultants.co.uk

Thank you

Website: www.surveymonkey.com/s/accompaniedtransport

Trading Standards has received a number of complaints from consumers who have been pursued by debt collectors for debts that they do not owe. Please be aware that anyone seeking to recover a debt from you must be able to prove that you actually owe it.

If you are contacted by telephone do not engage in conversation with the caller and please DO NOT give out any personal details.

Should you receive any demand for payment of a debt which you do not believe you owe, do not just pay it, write to the debt collector asking for proof.

National Debtline can provide a sample letter to assist you, please phone their helpline on freephone 0808 808 4000 or access the letter online at www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

The Citizens Advice Bureau is an independent service that provides free, confidential and impartial advice. Should you need any general advice or something of a more specialist nature you can also visit www.adviceguide.org.uk for on line help.

If you require general consumer advice please contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06

TO CONTACT THE POLICE CALL 0845 458 0000

IF YOU WISH TO PASS INFORMATION VIA AN INDEPENDENT ANONYMOUS SOURCE YOU CAN

CALL CRIME STOPPERS ON 0800 555 111, OR E MAIL www.crimestoppers-uk.org