Chill-Out Group plan mass ‘sleep-out’ at Rochdale Town Hall as protest at emergency bed cuts.
Protest set for May 29th to coincide with council cabinet meeting.
Rochdale, May 1st 2012: The Chill-Out Group held their first meeting tonight at which they vowed to oppose the cuts by the Labour-led council which will see emergency bed provision for the homeless cut from about 500 beds to about 160. The cuts will also see the introduction of a “Dial-a-Bed” policy for those seeking emergency accommodation.
• At the meeting, Co-Organiser Pete Hinchliffe, a Labour Party member for many years cut up his party card in protest and said, “Since these savage and cruel cuts, I can no longer carry this card with a clear conscience.”
• The council plan to replace the service with a helpline number and keep the situation ‘under review’ but Chill-Out believes that these measures are ineffectual. Pete went on to say, “Emergency beds are often accessed by people with mental issues and are destitute. A helpline will in no way meet their needs and many will find it impossible to access.. As for ‘keeping it under review’, this means nothing and is a slap in the face for those in the most dire need.”
• The Chill-Out Group is apolitical but has attracted support from politicians of all parties, including Labour plus others including clerics, workers with homeless charities, concerned members of the public and medical staff.
• Pete, a retired nurse and former trade union convenor in the NHS said, “This is a personal embarrassment to me as it was actually the Labour Group that drove through this heartless policy. They really are attacking our most needy and vulnerable citizens.”
• Chill-Out have also attracted wide interest through blog and twitter activity.
• The Twitter account can be found at @Chil1Out
• The Blog is at http://chilloutrmbc.blogspot.co.uk
• The Chill-Out Group is hoping to attract as much publicity as it can for the event.
• The Salvation Army Band has been asked to play suitable music to lull the protesters to sleep on May 29th and an operatic singer has agreed to perform suitable nocturnal pieces.
• The event is designed to be peaceful and good-humoured with the intention of getting sanity to prevail and the policy reversed.
• The group is also asking for an emergency meeting with the council’s new CEO to discuss the issue ‘as a matter of urgency’.
Additional information
1. A homeless man died in Heywood, Rochdale just before Christmas when temperatures plummeted.
2. In last week’s elections, Labour won 17 out of 20 contested seats massively increasing their control of the council.
3. Jim Taylor started work as RMBC’s new CEO two weeks ago.
4. He replaces Roger Ellis who retired early.
ENDIT
Email friendsofchillout at gmail dot com
or tweet us for contact details and photographs.
No comments:
Post a Comment