reserves by Alex Campbell

NEWS

SEN-eO1-S2 [SF]

In brief

Workers may call off strike

Man faces 31 porn charges A MAN has appeared in court charged with 31 allegations involving making and possession indecent photographs and moving images of a child and inciting a young girl to expose herself. John Paul Jobson, aged 35, of Clough Hall Road, Kidsgrove, faces 18 allegations under the Protection of Children Act concerning making indecent photographs and moving images of children covering a period from 2002 to April 2011. There are a further 12 matters of possessing indecent still and moving images of children between the same dates under the Criminal Justice Act and one offence that between August 26, 2010 and April 20, 2011 intentionally incited a girl under the age of 12 to expose herself. Jurisdiction was declined by North Staffordshire Magistrates court and committal to Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court will take place on September 16. Until then he was granted conditional bail.

MEIR: A 30-year-old woman with mental health problems has admitted assaulting a custody officer. The incident happened at the Northern Area Custody Facility in Etruria and Nichola Pawlowski also admitted resisting a police officer in the execution of his duty. Pawlowski, formerly from Hanley, and now living at Blairwood Place, Meir, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. All the offences had happened on July 18 this year. The defendant failed to answer to her bail on August 2 and an offence of theft of a mobile phone on August 1. North Staffordshire Magistrates adjourned sentence on her for reports until August 26 and she was conditionally bailed.

JOIN THE FUN: Families have helped raise hundreds of pounds at a pub event. The fun day at the Oak Tree, in London Road, Oakhill, yesterday featured a bouncy castle and face-painting in the day, and a live band, disco,

auction and raffle in the evening. Money raised will be split between the Douglas Macmillan Hospice in Blurton and the Alzheimer’s Society. Landlady Kirsty Wooliscroft said: “Michelle, our manager’s

daughter, organised the event in the evening after her uncle died of cancer. With the kids being on holiday I thought we could raise even more money by holding an event during the day as well. “It was a really great day. It’s

COBRIDGE: A 52-year-old man has appeared at North Staffordshire Magistrates Court charged with possession of class A drugs with intent to supply. Javed Mirza, of Elm Street, Cobridge, is accused that on August 3 this year at Cobridge, he had in his possession 73.7 grams of crack cocaine with intent to supply. The alleged street value of the drug was £7,370 and Mirza has entered a not guilty plea to the charge. The magistrates declined jurisdiction in the matter and Mirza will be committed for trial to Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on September 16. He was conditionally bailed.

a really close community here so everyone came and supported the event.” Pictured is Jack Wooliscroft, aged 10, at the fun day. Inset: Alisha Wooliscroft, aged four, left, and Holly Ball, aged five. Pictures: Shaun Smith

Council bosses squirrel away an extra £500,000

Council now has £5.8m in reserve BY ALEX CAMPBELL alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk

FINANCE chiefs at a council making cuts of £36 million have topped up the authority’s back-up cash reserves by £500,000. Stoke-on-Trent City Council now has £5.8 million in general reserves that are not earmarked for any specific projects. Campaigners fighting to protect services have spoken of their frustration that millions of pounds is being stored with no investment plan at a time when services and hundreds of jobs face the axe. But Kieran Clarke, the authority’s former cabinet member for finance, believes the council’s general reserves are still below recommended levels. Campaigner Anthony Withers, of South Bank, Meir, is one of the parents attempting to force a judicial review into cuts of £2.25 million to children’s centres. He said: “It is extremely frustrating. I have asked the council about reserve funding and their answer is that they can’t use it for things like children’s centres. “The amount in reserve funding has gone up which makes us wonder how they afforded it and why it couldn’t have been used to protect the city’s children.” Ted Owen, a former trustee at axed

Burslem tourist attraction Ceramica, said: “Reserves should not be increasing at a time when services that have benefited the people of the city are being lost. “There is a lot of money sat in pots. I know that cuts have to be made, but the council has made some bad decisions.” The majority of the council’s £58 million reserves are earmarked for specific purposes, including paying for planned capital investments. General reserves dwindled to £4.7 million in 2010 but have been boosted by several contributions; climbing to £5.2 million at the end of the financial year and now to more than £5.8 million. A total of £33 million is being held to cover future costs of school PFI projects. Ex-councillor Mr Clarke said: “The reserve is not at the level it should be. “I think the Audit Commission would like it to be between £10 million and £12 million. “If something very serious happened that money would disappear very quickly. “It isn’t just the public that complain about reserves, it’s the Government as well. But if you spend money from the reserves as revenue, it won’t be there the year after and you’ll have the same big hole that you started with.

“Officers have to be prudent and sensible. They don’t want to put too much into reserves as it is embarrassing, but they don’t want to be left exposed. It’s a balancing act.” The council is making cuts of £36 million this year and has shed 800 jobs. It will have to find an extra £20 million in savings next year. Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance, said: “Every council across the country holds money in their general reserve for unforeseen circumstances. “As of March 31, 2011, Stoke-on-Trent City Council held £5.8 million in unallocated reserves. “This represents 1.3 per cent of the total general fund revenue expenditure for the year which is towards the bottom of the desirable level for the size and complexity of the authority.” It comes as Communities Secretary Eric Pickles ordered every council to publish a list of the land and buildings they own. He said most taxpayers were not aware of the “sheer scale and scope” of the number of assets owned by the public sector.

What do you think? Email us at letters@ thesentinel.co.uk

being, with new stock lines being added.” The stores earmarked for closure will shut next week with the loss of 1,061 jobs. TJ Hughes was founded in Liverpool in 1912 by Thomas Hughes. Earlier this week, 442 jobs were saved after administrators reached an agreement to sell four branches

to a housewares company. Lewis’s Home Retail has acquired TJ Hughes’ flagship store in Liverpool plus branches in Eastbourne, Glasgow and Sheffield. The firm’s store in Hanley opened in September 2009 after bosses invested £1 million in refitting the site, which had previously been home to Woolworths.

BUY 1 GET 1

more than 100 people, was not among them. Joint administrator Tom Jack said: “We continue in negotiations with a number of interested parties for a large number of the remaining stores in the group’s portfolio, and we are keen to stress that those stores unaffected by these closures will continue to trade for the time

LEEK: A trial was fixed at North Staffordshire Magistrates Court for Lucy Quayle. The 31-year-old, of Moorland Road, Leek, has pleaded not guilty to possession of methadone at Etruria on August 3 this year. She will next appear before the courts at Newcastle Magistrates Court on September 19.

100 jobs saved as city store not named on closure hit-list JOBS could still be saved at discount department store chain TJ Hughes shop in Hanley after it was given a stay of execution. The business collapsed in June and administrator Ernst & Young has now announced the closure of 22 stores. But the Hanley branch in Upper Market Square, which employs

NEWCASTLE: A Lithuanian national has been jailed for shoplifting at a time when he was subject to a suspended sentence for theft. Linas Stasuilis, aged 25, admitted stealing seven bottles of whisky from Sainsbury’s, Newcastle, on August 4 this year. He also pleaded guilty to another offence of having an article in connection with theft, namely a foil-lined rucksack. Stasiulis, of Craddock Street, Wolverhampton, also admitted being in breach of a suspended sentence order imposed on him for theft. He was sent to prison for a total of 61 days by North Staffordshire Magistrates.

AN AMBULANCE dispute could be called off next week after staff claimed their bosses had been “starved” by the NHS of money to settled their claim. A minority of workers with private company E-Zec has been working to rule for weeks and walked out for two hours earlier last month. The staff who ferry “highdependency” patients around the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS) say they receive an average of £1,500-a-year less than colleagues doing the same jobs. But their leaders have now been told there is no cash to pay them as hospital officials have ordered E-Zec to make “significant” savings on the contract. Unison health union regional secretary Ray Salmon said: “If the hospital had told us this last year we would not have gone into dispute. “We traditionally have a good relationship with UHNS so I am very disappointed they have not been straight by keeping this from us.” Around 10 of the 46 paramedics and drivers based at a depot in Newstead, Blurton are still taking action. E-Zec has run the contract for four years but Mr Salmon said as a result of the savings forced on the company, it had been starved of the cash and a “show of hands” was set to be held to see how the action should proceed. UHNS has declined to comment saying it is matter between E-Zec and its staff.

THE SENTINEL Saturday August 6, 2011

FREE ON ALL HOT DRINKS

WITH THIS VOUCHER Freshly Brewed Coffee, Latte, Cappuccinos And Teas Only one voucher per purchase Cannot be used in conjunction with other offers