16 THE SENTINEL Thursday October 6, 2011 SEN-eO1-S2 [P]NEWS

Extra chanceto start collegeYOUNG people are beinggiven an extra chance to signup for further education andtraining courses this term.

Stoke-on-Trent College willbe launching a new round ofcourses on Monday and stillhas limited places available.

They cover a range of topicsas well as skills related todifferent trades.

The aim is to help peoplewho missed out on signing upfor programmes last monthand who have yet to decide ontheir next steps after leavings ch o o l .

Courses range from gasfitting through to youth workp r a c t i c e.

The college is also offeringstudy opportunities for peopleinterested in becomingholiday or resort reps, or whoare keen on careers as airlinecabin crew.

College principal SarahRobinson said: “We know thatmany young people who leftschool in early summer willstill not have planned theirpaths through to futurec a re e r s.

“Making the right choicescan be tough.

“We are offering Octoberstarts to give those who mayhave chosen an option whichthey are unsure about, or havesimply left the decision to thelast minute, a way forward.”

For more information, ringStoke-on-Trent College on01782 208208.

RIGHTCHOICES:Stoke-on-TrentCollegeprincipalSarahRobinson.

Support for bigcoffee morningto raise fundsLORD Mayor Terry Follows isbacking a nationwide bigcoffee morning to help raisefunds for cancer support.

Stoke-on-T rent’s first citizenwill team up with Sainsbury’sand Macmillan CancerSupport to promote theirevent and raise money forsupport services for peoplesuffering with the disease.

Macmillan CancerSuppor t’s annual event wantspeople across the UK to holdcoffee mornings on aparticular day to raise fundsfor cancer support.

The World’s Biggest CoffeeMorning is Macmillan’sbiggest fundraising event.

Last year 43,000 peoplesigned up across the UK tohold a coffee morning, raisingmore than £8 million.

Mr Follows, said:“Macmillan is a charity whichis close to my heart and onewhich does so much good forso many people duringincredibly tough periods oftheir lives.

“I wanted to offer mysupport to this event andhopefully we can raise asubstantial amount of moneyin the continued fight againstthis awful disease.”

The coffee morning willtake place between 10.30amand 11.30am tomorrow atS a i n s bu r y ’s in London Road,S t o ke.

Donations can be made onar rival.

BACKING:Lord MayorTerryFollows.

Former cadets invited to reunionFORMER members of a youth organisation havebeen invited to a reunion to celebrate its 70tha n n ive r s a r y.

The 435 Newcastle Squadron of the Air Train-ing Corps is holding the reunion at the sametime as its annual prize-giving ceremony.

Cadets will receive presentations for theirachievements throughout the year and a special

award will be given to a member who competedthe Nijmegen march, which covers 100 miles infour days in the Netherlands.

The event takes place at the TA Centre, Liv-erpool Road, Cross Heath, on November 11, from7.30pm.

Tickets cost £3.50 which includes a buffet. Fordetails, call Glyn Bennett on 01782 636751.

Council tax to rise ifincentive is rejected

Authority fears it can’t afford postponing increase

BY ALEX CAMPBELLalex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk

A GOVERNMENT cash incent-

ive to freeze council tax acrossEngland could be rejected byStoke-on-Trent City Council.

Most councils are expected

not to increase tax next year, inline with plans outlined at theConservative party conferencein Manchester on Monday.

But Labour-controlled Stoke-on-Trent City Council has con-firmed it will consider reject-ing a tax freeze because of thelong-term cost implications.

If the council agrees to freezerates, which it did last year, theGovernment will provide agrant of about £2 million tocover the cost.

It would be equivalent to anincrease of about 2.5 per cent.

But because the grantwould not increase thecouncil tax base from whichfuture annualincreases aremade, the councilwould fall behindthe expected levelof tax income.

It would eitherlead to huge tax hikes in futureyears or – more likely – thecouncil would simply beunable to ever recoup the fund-ing.

Councillor Paul Shotton, theauthority’s deputy leader, saidthe council will be left up to £8million out of pocket if thefreeze incentives continueuntil the end of the compre-hensive spending review in2014/15.

He said: “Every time youdefer an increase in the rates ithas a knock-on impact.

“It is made worse because thecity has an extremely low tax

base. We’re one of the cheapestin the UK for council tax.

“No political decision hasbeen made but we will discusswhat our best option is.”

Peter Bates, the council’sassistant director of financialservices, said: “There is reasonto be nervous because it is inev-itable that at some point thegrant will fall away and thecouncil could be in difficultieswhen it does.

“We are at a huge disadvant-age because our tax base is soheavily skewed in the wrong

d i re c t i o n .“We ’ve got the lowestcouncil tax by far inStaf fordshire.”

Christine Platt,chairman of Blur-ton Residents’

Association, said: “Itis such a low income

area, I don’t see howanyone can afford to pay

a council tax increase.“There has been such a big

rise in the cost of gas, elec-tricity and even prices at thesuper market.”

Tory-run StaffordshireCounty Council became thefirst in the country to confirma council tax freeze for 2012-13on Monday.

It also pledged to freeze taxbills for 2013-14, regardless ofGovernment incentives.

Do you think council taxshould be frozen? Email us atletters@thesentinel.co.uk

AT PLAY: Children wore blindfolds andplayed games with a ringing football aspart of a lesson on disabled sport.The event at St Mary’s Catholic PrimarySchool, in Newcastle, was part of anational drive to promote disabled sports

ahead of the Paralympic Games next year.Acting headteacher Julia Ellerton said:“It’s really important for the children totry out these different kinds of sportsahead of the Paralympics.“It shows them how people with these

problems overcome them to play sports.”Children at the school will get a chanceto try out a range of disabled sports overthe coming months. Sainsbury’s hasfunded the equipment as part of achallenge to get one million children

involved in disabled sports before London2012. Pictured, from left, are JamesPeacock, Sharon Fieldhouse, fromSainsbury’s, Matthew Oxley, Tilli Smith,Nathan Heath and Robyn O‘Leary.

Picture: Steve Bould

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