Episode 14 Call the Council

From waste and recycling

to pest control and Trading Standards,

the taxes that we pay to our local councils

are used to provide many of our most essential services.

I like people who are keen to recycle.

In this series we follow the frontline staff

working behind the walls of Tameside Town Hall in Greater Manchester.

Like council offices across the country,

these local heroes are waging war on those blighting our communities.

Oy, oy, oy! Excuse me, love, you can't do that!

They're protecting us from hidden dangers.

The business owner has got a duty to make sure that he's

protecting his business

and the people that are coming in to buy food from his business.

Making sure our cash is spent on those who need it most.

I'm at a loose end. I do not know where to turn.

And responding to their residents when they call the council.

Coming up, council officers are shocked by a takeaway

flouting food hygiene regulations.

-You need to get a disinfectant.

-Never heard of it.

-Come on.

-No, I've never heard of it. Disinfectant, what's one of them?

'That's possibly the worst example I've come across in my 20 years

'nearly of being an environmental health officer.'

Go above and beyond the call of duty to help a young entrepreneur make

-his sweet dreams a reality.

-Everyone is buzzing about it at the minute.

It just seems to be taking off really well

and everyone in the local community has been supporting it.

And burn the midnight oil and rubber

to help local teens turn their lives around.

The nation's local councils provide us with services that play a crucial

role in keeping our communities clean, safe and us free from harm.

Almost two million unsung heroes work for our 433 local authorities.

Amongst their ranks, are Enforcement Officers working on behalf

of residents in the Greater Manchester Borough of Tameside.

Street lighting? Yes, of course. One moment, thank you.

When people call the council here,

officers like Monica Gartside are on hand to help out.

The council has a very important job to do

because it's all about protecting the public health.

My role within the council is to do the job as efficiently as I can

without it costing a lot of money to the taxpayer.

Monica and her Environmental Health colleagues nationwide

are responsible for keeping us free from illness by inspecting

and rating the hygiene regimes of all food businesses.

The frequency of inspection and ratings given are determined

by stringent guidelines laid down by the Food Standards Agency

and the level of concern a business might cause the council.

Inspections of the worst offending outlets take place at least

every six months and others every 18.

The most hygienic will be rated as a five. The least just one.

Over the past five years, after a series of calls to the council,

Monica's been inspecting a takeaway that had been home to rats.

There's still quite a lot of waste on the ground

and there's a lot of rat droppings in here.

Monica discovered that the takeaway and its new management team

were also battling with a blocked sewage outlet.

It's not your fault.

We'll deal with the outside

but you need to just make sure there's no smell coming from inside.

That's OK with me.

But it's not just the problems outside that have

been concerning Monica.

Tonight she's making another inspection.

Two months ago, she discovered that hygiene levels were falling short

and demanded that the management put things right.

I gave Mr Saghir a list of things to do really for tonight.

Mainly they involve cleaning and disinfection of the business

and also one member of his staff

should have been on a food hygiene training course by now

and the others should hopefully be booked on hygiene training courses.

I hope he's done it all, but if he hasn't, I'll need to

look at taking further action against the food business operator.

If the work hasn't been done, Monica could be forced to

close the business until it comes up to scratch.

As soon as she's over the threshold Monica spots one of the most

dangerous breaches of food hygiene regulations.

My main concern at the moment is that, um...

Obviously, this is raw chicken

and it can contain a lot of bugs

that cause food poisoning.

So what do you use this side for,

this particular part of the sink?

Er, this one just for washing up.

What do you normally wash up in here?

What kind of things would you wash up?

Just like a couple of trays

and maybe the pizza cutter.

The worry I have now is, um, because they are draining there,

that sink now at the moment will have

raw chicken juice bits in the bottom.

Yeah. It's not much water that's gone through there.

Yeah, you don't need much really.

-You wouldn't need a lot.

-Yeah.

The other thing is, the sink, at the moment,

doesn't look very clean to me.

That looks cleaner than my house, kitchen anyway.

Mr Saghir's reaction is not what Monica expected.

It's a serious concern.

One of the biggest challenges is that anybody can start a food business

without any qualifications, without knowing a lot about food

or food hygiene.

Catering seems to be one of those areas where anyone can have a go.

But Monica must be confident that all staff are following

strict hygiene regulations, laid down by the Food Standards Agency

at every step of the cooking process.

So by the time it gets in here,

what you don't want is for that chicken to get recontaminated again,

so that's why I'm worried about the washing up.

Hidden under the stairs, Monica is shown another workspace.

-Just very small, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is small, yeah.

Needs to be a bit cleaner, really.

I'm also... I don't know.

Is that paint going to come off?

Cos this is so close to the breading area, you need to make sure you don't

get any paint bits or old crumbling plaster getting into the flour.

Food-borne germs that cause illness like diarrhoea and salmonella

are easily spread if high standards of hygiene are not maintained.

How do you think you'll ever clean that area?

You really need to keep that clean.

How come you've got all that grease there? Is that dropping down?

Yeah, it's probably from the tray, yeah.

But here, even the basic hygiene practices

are not being observed properly.

I think this would need to be a lot cleaner than it is.

It should be squeaky clean really.

As the inspection moves upstairs,

Monica spots a solution that

could remove the potential for cross-contamination.

-Would you consider putting a sink up here?

-Not at the moment.

Why's that?

Can't afford it.

I think since you've been inside, not even one phone rung.

That shows how quiet it is. No customers coming inside.

Whether a business is making money or not,

it has to comply with the law.

On her last inspection, Monica demanded that the staff attend

hygiene courses to help them understand the law

and learn how to prepare and cook food safely.

So none of you have gone on a food hygiene training course yet,

but you're planning to go, three of you?

But Monica's not letting them get away with it.

So the three of you are going to go on

a food hygiene training course in December, yeah.

I will send you details.

Back downstairs, Monica makes her final demands.

I'm going to have to serve some improvement notices.

-You need to do more cleaning and disinfection...

-Hmm.

..and something has to be done with this.

If you get one food poisoning outbreak...

..that's it really. It's too risky.

If I were you, I'd be very concerned about this.

I don't know... I think a sink upstairs...

The cost of that versus how much it could cost you if you have a problem,

if you have some kind of contamination problem,

is going to be very small.

It's been a difficult inspection for this dogged local council hero.

I'm frustrated. I'm very... I'm just, I am very frustrated at the moment.

But what I need to do now is use the powers

we have effectively to make improvements.

If they don't do what is asked of them, we would look to take

further legal action against the food business operator.

Coming up, despite the threat of legal action,

staff at the takeaway continue to baffle a battle-weary Monica.

-You need to get a disinfectant. Have you...

-Never heard of it.

-Come on.

-No, I've never heard of it. Disinfectant? What's one of them?

Our local councils are currently being given greater freedom

to respond to the specific needs of their area.

They don't just inspect our restaurants or empty our bins,

but also strive to support the local economy.

The UK's high streets are facing a serious challenge

from out of town shopping centres and online retail,

with 50,000 shops currently standing empty.

In response, central government has set out a billion pound package

of measures to support the UK's high streets.

Included in this is the creation of 330 Town Teams.

Us residents and local business owners can apply to join MPs

and council officers like Alison Lloyd-Walsh on these Town Teams

to work together for the greater good of the high street.

Town Teams were initially brought together by the council

but it's very much about businesses, the community,

faith groups all coming together to discuss

and decide the best way forward for their individual town centres.

Today Alison's putting on a brave face, a fancy dress costume,

and fighting the elements.

If we put any more balloons on this, it might fly off.

She's helped organize an event to showcase local businesses

and retailers, giving them a helping hand in challenging times.

Hello. How are you?

Businesses can't survive without the community of Denton, so what we're

trying to do is a series of events to get people used to coming back

into the town centre to use the local shops and to support new businesses.

So, for the Town Team, it's a mix of business and community.

Hurricane!

One young entrepreneur hoping to drum up business today

is 21-year-old Sam Ward.

-And, look, the sun's come out.

-Finally.

The sun shines on the righteous.

Normally Sam sells his traditional sweets from a stall

at the local market.

Got your Sherbet Fountains, your Dip Dabs,

all the classics that everyone knows about. Obviously the Mega Lollies.

Everyone remembers Mega Lollies. Coltsfoot Rock.

That's one that no-one seems to be able to get hold of anymore

and that's pretty much what we're trying to go for now.

We're just trying to keep everything traditional

and bring back all those memories.

But Sam's got big plans for his market stall.

Hopefully, the next step will be to get some form of shop or

premises where we can take this and bring the experience indoors,

so we can trade all year round.

Have you had them before? They're well nice.

Against the backdrop of high overheads and business rates,

new enterprises like Sam's struggle to grow.

But thanks to Alison and the Town Team,

Sam's been given the go ahead to build and install a pop-up shop.

One of the great things about a pop-up shop or temporary shop,

whatever you want to call it, is it helps people like Sam

move from a market stall into a more permanent home without having

to take on all the complications or financial risk of leasing a shop.

Alison's helped introduce Sam to Bill Jennings,

an architect and chair of the local Town Team.

Bill's offered to lend Sam a plot of land on which he can

install his temporary shop.

He doesn't pay any business rates.

He doesn't pay me any rent because, to me,

it's just an empty piece of land for the time being.

In five year's time, if he's moved on and got a bigger proper shop,

that's fantastic.

I'm hoping it sets him up in business and maybe it'll become a franchise

and you'll see his little sweet shops popping up all over

the country eventually.

Working hard and largely unseen,

councils and Town Teams across the country have information

about pop-up spaces like Sam's available to anyone who calls.

There's no shop there at the minute,

but it's literally going to be like that.

It's like someone's going to wave their wand

and one's going to appear overnight.

It's going to be really good.

Still to come, Sam's shop pops up on the high street

but can Bill and Alison help his sweet dreams become a reality?

This is the first step of an entrepreneurial millionaire

hopefully.

It's not just aspiring entrepreneurs

that our local councils reach out to.

The country's 433 local authorities are here to help us all,

but make a special effort to seek out and help those most in need.

In Tameside, one local council hero is going above and beyond the

call of duty and giving all he can back to the community he serves.

The Council's chief mechanic Dave Allott dedicates his spare time

to helping local children,

some of whom have been dealt a rough hand by life.

By the end of tonight, I want them two wings on, fitted, secured down,

headlights all wired up and working, yeah? Let's go.

Some of these teens are referred to the council by the police

and social services.

Others join because they simply love cars.

For three years, selfless Dave's been spending Thursday nights

giving something back to his community.

The project is designed for young adults

who have had difficult upbringings

for all sorts of different reasons.

We've had two or three of them who have been really down and worn,

as far down as you can go really.

OK, are you ready?

Watch your faces cos you might just get a bit of a dribble.

-It's running up your sleeve.

-Thanks very much for that(!)

The scheme is designed to give teenagers a chance

to work as a team, gain valuable experience and self-esteem

by building a kit car.

First time! First time!

The project is self-sustaining because once the car's constructed

they sell it back to car Manufacturers, Caterham,

who then provide them with another kit

for the next group of youngsters.

I never cease to be amazed about just how well they do.

Considering they're amateurs, stuff like that, it's really, really good.

Each group has six months to build the car and, over the years,

Dave's really made a difference to these teenagers' lives.

Head first. Under you go.

'We've had three who have gone through college

'and trained up as mechanics.'

We've got one now who's a full-time mechanic, so, yeah,

it's done really, really well.

OK, you take over.

If this project wasn't here, I probably wouldn't be in college.

I'd probably still be looking for a college application.

-That's one side done.

-I quite enjoyed it recently.

A reason to get out of the house. This is the only thing I can do.

-Get out of the house. It's more better.

-Side lights?

-Yeah.

-Headlights?

-Yeah.

-And main beam?

-Yeah.

Yeah, the wiring in there is absolutely spot on.

Ha ha!

Well done, that man!

Makes me feel extremely proud how the kids work.

I would say some of the kids have had problems.

If I ask them to do something, there's no arguing,

there's no quarrels, they just set about and do it.

They're brilliant.

-Is that it?

-Well done.

HORN BLARES

Still to come, heroic Dave takes more time out to treat the teens

to an afternoon of handbrake turns and burning rubber.

Across town, Enforcement Officer Monica's resuming her heroic battle

to protect the public from food poisoning.

Monica's issued staff at this takeaway with legal notices

demanding that they prevent cross-contamination by installing

a sink upstairs, do more cleaning

and that staff go on a food hygiene training course.

I'd be very concerned about this.

If you get one food poisoning outbreak...

..that's it really.

But three months have passed

and so far none of the staff have been on a course.

How's the training situation going?

I have booked it. I emailed it today.

What time?

Roughly about... half two and then I woke up.

A sink has been installed upstairs,

but it doesn't look like it's being used as requested,

so Monica challenges yet another member of staff.

Now, you know when the sink went in upstairs,

the idea was to move all the washing-up upstairs

-and just use this for raw chicken only, nothing else?

-Yeah.

So I'm wondering what you use that board for.

A chopping board.

-Yeah, and obviously you've got all your knives here.

-Yeah.

So where are they getting washed up?

-Where you washing this?

-I washed that down there.

Should I wash it upstairs next time?

Everything. Wash everything upstairs. Just...

I washed the chopping board there. I'm not going to lie to you.

I know. You see, I don't want you to do that,

because there's going to be raw chicken juice

all over this area every single day,

and the idea of putting the sink upstairs

is to separate out raw and cooked.

I'll wash it next time upstairs.

Just start doing it.

Yeah, you tell him everything needs to go upstairs.

I know, but I've told him before.

Back upstairs, there's even more evidence

that staff haven't heeded Monica's advice or warnings.

Why do you still have this stuff in here?

-Why can't you just...

-Throw it?

-Yeah.

-What is it for? What is the point?

-It is only a blanket.

Yes, but why do you have pillows and blankets and duvets? What is this?

I don't know. This has been here for many years.

I know, but it doesn't matter what happened years ago.

We don't use that side. You want me to throw that?

I want you to do that now, please.

I don't want to walk away from here again

and not know that's gone in the bin. Just throw it out, please.

I can't just keep telling you what to do.

That's the whole point of you going on the training course,

so you know what to do, and all of this stuff is just...

-It is just rubbish.

-It is rubbish, exactly.

There is evidence of practice of risk of cross contamination

and just not very proactive attitude.

Cleaning is an issue.

I need to check disinfection, but I have a feeling there isn't any...

disinfectant on the premises... either, so...

Anyway, the story goes on, basically.

I'm going to go downstairs now and check a few more things.

It is just a nightmare.

Monica's job to protect the public from illness is rarely easy,

but staff at this takeaway

are making it even more difficult than normal.

-You need to get a disinfectant. Have you...

-Never heard of it.

-Come on!

I've never heard of it. Disinfectant? What's one of them?

-You are not serious.

-I am being serious.

-Um...a disinfectant...

-I'll write it down for you. You have to get one.

-I know how to spell it.

It is not that. It is just I will write down a bit about it.

You have to get disinfectant.

I can't believe you don't have one. I can't believe it.

That is possibly the worst example I have ever

come across in my 20 years of being an environmental health officer,

that somebody wasn't clear on what a disinfectant was.

Right through the regulations, it talks about having to make

sure that certain surfaces and certain equipment are cleaned

and disinfected, any equipment that comes in touch with food needs

to be disinfected with a disinfectant.

So it is one of the fundamentals.

This is one of the toughest jobs Monica has ever had to tackle.

-Are you happy, Monica? Are you happy?

-No, not really.

-Tell me what's the problem.

-I'm not going to talk about it now. Yeah?

OK?

-That's it.

-All right. OK. No problem.

-All right.

After hours battling on behalf of her residents

in a bid to protect them and precious council resources,

Monica has no other option but to resort to the law.

If found guilty of failing to comply with food hygiene regulations,

the management could face a fine of up to £20,000.

I found it difficult to know what to do with these guys.

I would say it is definitely the most frustrating case

I have ever had to deal with.

One member of staff at the takeaway Monica inspected

has now attended and passed a hygiene training course.

The manager was legally cautioned,

but says he will now be doing all he can

to comply with food safety regulations.

Local councils the length and breadth of the country

strive to provide us with the best service they can throughout our lives.

But even in death, our councils try to take responsibility for us.

Mike Gurney, head of Bereavement Services in Tameside,

is charged with adapting and improving the council's cemeteries

in response to its residents' ever-changing needs.

It's surprising how this has been filled up quite quickly, really.

2003 we started burying in here, and it is nearly full,

so that is why I am looking at extending the cemetery.

Despite having no legal duty to provide burial space,

most local councils in the UK

maintain and manage cemeteries for their residents.

There are around 4,000 council-run cemeteries in the UK.

Tameside has eight.

Mike wants to make sure each one

provides a safe, warm place for reflection,

even if it means making changes.

This place used to be the gravediggers' mess room,

believe it or not.

We saw the potential of doing something with it for families,

so we moved the gravediggers out into a mobile unit

and we've transformed this into a Memorial Lodge.

This is the book of remembrance where the pages are turned every day,

and this used to be kept up at the chapel, and what I hated

was families coming to funerals

were disturbed by families visiting the book, and families visiting the book,

when they wanted peace and quiet, they were disturbed by funerals.

Families can come in here and pay their respects in a nice dry area.

People can put cards in here for their loved ones.

When it is Mother's Day and Father's Day we put extra stands in.

It is just a nice, peaceful room.

Everybody has a lot of connection with the council

and sometimes they don't realise how much they use the council,

because a lot goes on behind the scenes

the public aren't aware of

and don't realise some of the services we do deliver.

Bereavement services are constantly evolving.

More than 70% of us are now choosing cremations

instead of traditional burials.

To meet the demand of cremations,

as they took off in the '60s and '70s,

this chapel was converted into a crematorium chapel, and this is where

we carry out about 2,000 funerals a year, in this one building.

We can do up to about 14, 15 funerals a day.

Behind the facade of this 19th-century chapel

hides a 21st-century approach to cremations.

Each cremator has its own computer.

It tells us the temperatures, any emissions coming out.

This one tells me at the moment that this body has been in the cremator

for 1.5 hours, which is about the average time for a cremation, really.

The larger the person - this sounds a bit bizarre,

but the larger the person, the quicker the cremation process is,

because there is more fat on the body to help cremation along.

And Mike's crematorium is evolving,

even responding to modern environmental demands.

One of the things we did when we were at the forefront of this

was heat our chapel from the excess heat that the cremators make.

82 per cent of the population we asked agreed with it, and we now

heat the chapel from the excess energy coming from the cremators.

And it is not like some people think.

We don't have an electronic board saying,

"today your heat is provided by Elsie Jones" - it is not like that.

It is just the excess energy

that is being used to heat the chapel.

After being removed from the chambers,

the cremated ashes are put into the cremulator,

a machine filled with ball bearings that crush them into a fine powder.

Any metal that's found in there is taken out with a magnet,

and this is obviously a hip joint, a metal hip joint that was

in somebody that had to be removed following the cremation process.

I'm not too sure what that is.

It is a metal reward of some description that

was in somebody's leg, I presume, and again, there's various...

that looks like... I think that was a kneecap,

somebody's kneecap, and various metal pins.

These sort of things have to be taken out.

Our code of practice states that any metal

we find has to be buried in the grounds of the cemetery,

so every month,

we empty all the metal into an area of the cemetery that can't be

used for burials, because that is where the metal is kept and recorded.

And after several hours,

the cremated remains are stored, awaiting collection.

These are the cremated remains that are left afterwards.

Just a bag of remains, really.

That is where everybody ends up at the end of the day.

Mike's mission to keep the council's cemeteries up to date

and provide an efficient, cost-effective service

for his residents allows him and his team to carry out

some extremely sensitive services in the right way.

Coming up, Mike leads a cremation ceremony that,

despite happening monthly, never gets easier.

It's quite a sad sight to see so many babies together in the chapel.

There's 22 today.

The nation's local councils are on the hunt

for ways to help our communities prosper

and champion individuals who want to contribute to the cause.

One plucky resident getting a helping hand from his council

is market-stall sweet seller Sam Ward.

His dream is to have a permanent roof over his business's head.

Well, hopefully, the next step

will be to get some form of shop or premises,

that we can take this and bring the experience indoors.

Council officer Alison Lloyd-Walsh

is helping Sam find a way to do this.

Sam's doing something fairly unique and new for us, which is

the concept of this pop-up shop, which is

a semi-permanent structure which allows Sam to make the transition

from having a market stall to something a bit more permanent.

Alison's introduced Sam to a local businessman

who's helping him fund and build a temporary or pop-up shop.

Today's she checking its progress and is greeted by Sam and his dad.

Hello, how are you?

Nice to see you again.

-At least the weather's nice this time. You OK?

-Hiya.

-Hi, Alison.

All right?

Once built, the shop will be delivered to an area of unused land

on the high street.

It's a great example of councils working hand in hand with business

to rejuvenate our town centres.

I didn't actually think it were this big. It looks great.

When you think of a pop-up shop,

you tend to think of a little gazebo or a tent or something

similar to your market stall, but this is far more substantial.

It looks great.

It's going to be so unique and there's going to be

nothing around there in the area without going into the city centre.

I think that's everyone's going to be crowding in, basically.

Just to get a glimpse of what's being sold.

In three weeks, Sam's shop hits the high street,

but will its arrival make or break this plucky entrepreneur?

I tell you what, mate, you're the centre of attention today.

-Everybody wants to know what's happening.

-Big news today.

Back at the council garage,

another council worker is going above and beyond the call of duty

and giving something back to his community.

OK, are you ready?

Watch your faces, cos you might just get a bit of a dribble.

-It's running up my sleeve!

-Thanks very much for that!

Dave Allott's mission is to help teenagers turn their lives around

and give others hands-on mechanical experience.

I never cease to be amazed how well they do.

Considering they are all amateurs and stuff like that, it's really good.

Today, Dave's taking the group out of the garage

for a very special surprise.

Right, we're going down to the Birmingham auto show,

and it's guests of Caterham.

The kids know we're going on a day out, but they're not quite

sure where we're going to and what they're going to do.

Birmingham NEC

is home to the Autosport International Racing Car Show,

a heaven for any aspiring mechanic.

We'll get two, shall we? One each.

Dave's making time to motivate the teenagers

and potentially provide some inspiration

for life beyond the garage.

Ours has got four litre suspension on the back, hasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Drive shafts. This one's not.

They also get to see what their finished car will look like.

That's what we build.

We're building the Caterham kit cars.

It's absolutely fantastic. It gives them something to aim for,

it gives them a different direction.

You see what the other side is,

and it's worked absolute wonders for the kids.

-Are they OK?

-Nah, it's totally rubbish!

Seeing the cars built isn't the only surprise in store for the group.

Dave has organised a chance for them to experience the car on the track.

There's actually a surprise for you.

The whole crew gets to sample the potential

of the car they're building.

-Enjoy that?

-That was brilliant, that.

-Good?

-Yeah!

Wow, it was well windy, that!

Oh, brilliant. It was good.

It's good to get in with someone that can drive that good, as well.

Dave's all right, but...that was a bit better.

I want another go!

Shall we see if I can get in it?

Loads of room.

Even Dave gets his reward for the work he's put in.

Fantastic.

This, today, has been absolutely magnificent for them.

You get big smiles on their faces,

it's been brilliant for them, absolutely.

Absolutely fantastic.

Inspired by their day out, the team head back to base

ready to put the finishing touches to their own kit car.

Back on the streets,

another council initiative designed to inspire progress

is moving into position.

The arrival of Sam's sweet shop is a big moment for him,

his proud dad and the future of this high street.

Tell you what, mate - the centre of attention, today.

Everybody wants to know what's happening.

Big news for Denton, today.

That's it.

Summat exciting happens, and you're behind it all.

This is the first step of an entrepreneurial millionaire,

hopefully.

It's starting to...

It's starting to come together.

Get this in line now and we're sorted.

What are you like at the front?

Yeah.

Four weeks later,

with shelves stocked,

the pop up shop is finally open for business.

Cherry.

Got some lollies down there. Different coloured lollies.

We tried really hard to create that buzz, and the rumours going,

and Chinese whispers back and forth, so people come in and say,

"Oh, no way, is it a sweet shop?

"We thought it was going to be another takeaway."

The kids had come out of school and they just flooded in.

Everyone's just buzzing about it at the minute,

and it just seems to be taking off really well,

and everyone in the local community's been supporting it

and coming in and telling all their friends,

so it's been really, really good.

Time for Council Officer Alison Lloyd-Walsh to check Sam's progress.

Shop! Hello, how are you?

-Wow, it looks really good.

-It's getting there now, isn't it?

-Yeah, how's it going?

-It's brilliant, really good.

So, is it the kids who are the main source of your income?

Surprisingly not.

We've had so many adults come in

saying, "Oh, no, we've not seen all this for ages!"

So we've had the kids coming in, the adults coming in,

the grandparents coming in - so it's just been amazing.

But Sam's next customer is his most important.

Alison helped persuade local businessman Bill Jennings

to help Sam build his shop and let him trade, rent free, for a year.

So, Bill, what do you think of Sam's sweet emporium?

It's fantastic.

I've not seen it finished yet - I've seen it being built,

we've been behind the scenes doing it -

I've not been in and bought any sweets yet.

That's why I'm here today.

What's really good for us -

it's actually slap bang in the middle of Denton town centre.

Oh, yeah. It's a prime, prime site.

This site - Subway were chasing me for it,

and I think it was Domino's pizza chasing me for it,

because it's a prime corner leading to Morrison's.

-High footfall.

-Yeah.

-Sam's got it instead.

-Yeah!

-Go for it, Sam!

-For sweets.

Everyone's gotta try one of these at the same time.

Right, thank you.

Bill's generosity is great news for Sam and the high street.

As a thank you, Sam dishes out the sweets.

Ooh...

Everything... Everything we've done for you,

-and you pay us back Like this?

-Thanks for that.

But the experience shouldn't leave a sour taste in Alison's mouth.

It's the start of a really successful story, this.

And what it will do is hopefully bring brand-new business into Denton,

carry on this tradition.

And when Sam's got his sweet empire,

I'm sure he'll want to then help new businesses

in the way that Bill's helped him.

The heroic work of this council officer

has brought businesses together and helped the local economy flourish.

Across the Borough, council engineer Dave Allott

and the teenagers he's helping

are coming to the end of their six month mechanical labour of love.

That's what we build.

We're building the Caterham kit cars.

After an inspiring day on the race track,

Dave wants to be sure that as the project nears its end,

the crew have remembered what they've learnt.

-Rear differential.

-Rear differential...

What's the thing we're here to put on?

That's it.

You do sort of get attached to them,

because you see them week in, week out,

and they do confide in you in some things.

You do know what a lot of them have been through -

and for some of them,

this is like their biggest achievements they've ever done.

If I didn't feel for it then I wouldn't do it.

Fiona Walker also works for the council

and shares Dave's dedication to answering a call

above and beyond her normal duties.

This is a fantastic part.

It's the conclusion of - oh, 30 weeks' worth of work.

When it comes down off the stands it's just extraordinary.

And they can look at they can look at it now

and say, "Yeah, I put that on,"

and, "That engine runs because I did this."

It's just absolutely amazing.

After six months' work, it's the moment of truth.

It's the biggest day, really. It's the biggest day.

It's actually getting the car onto the ground for the first time,

and the kit's all virtually complete now, it's just the final checks.

So, yeah, just get it down on the ground, see if it starts,

and we drive it out.

Fingers crossed. Are we ready?

ENGINE STARTS

Woo-hoo!

-First time!

-First time, up and running.

Thanks for that. Oh, yeah.

Well done.

You've done this.

This is an incredible achievement for the teenagers,

and finally the kit car is ready to hit the road.

The kids have built it.

In fact, to watch them watch it drive out the doors, it's superb.

None of this could have been achieved without the heroic efforts

of Dave, and his dedication to those who needed his help.

Council workers like Dave and head of bereavement services Mike Gurney

are constantly striving to make our communities grow

and support us residents throughout our lives.

But when they're cut tragically short,

officers like Mike respond

to give grieving families the right time and space

to reflect on their loss.

This area, here, is what we call our Baby Garden.

This has purely been separated, and these graves are individual graves.

Years ago, babies used to be all buried in one grave.

And one of the first things I did was create this Baby Garden, if you like.

Because I thought it was important

that families had their own individual graves.

We're just trying to improve all the time on things for families,

cos it must be horrendous having to come here and visit.

Every month, Mike and staff at the crematorium,

with permission from bereaved parents, hold a special service

to pay respect to aborted or miscarried babies.

In the past, hospitals were responsible for them,

but Mike has decided that he and his team will take the time

to give them a proper service, free of charge,

before they're cremated.

It's quite a sad sight

to see so many babies together in the chapel, you know?

I mean, there's 22 today.

Last month there was 56.

But we can't change that, can we?

You know, we've got to do things in the right way.

As the loss is often a result of a tragic event,

some parents choose not to attend.

Whilst there's nobody here today at the service,

staff pay their respects.

There is a memorial service held once a year in one of the local churches

where parents can go and have a service to remember their lost one.

So that's something we support with the local churches as well.

It's not nice, but that's what me job is,

and that's what we're here to do.

To do it right and to do it respectfully.

You know, we always spend a few minutes in there

just to pay our respects to a life that could have been, I suppose,

and unfortunately we've got a busy day ahead now,

and you have to push these things to the back of your head

and get on with it.

Unsung sensitive and respectful roles like this,

carried out behind the scenes by caring council officers like Mike,

demonstrate the pride and dedication they have

to the communities they serve, even at the most difficult times.

It's been a challenging but successful shift

for these dedicated local council officers

and their heroic colleagues across the country.

They've laid down the law

to a takeaway with a poor hygiene record...

I'm just going to have to serve some approval notices.

You need to do more cleaning and disinfection.

-Mm-hm.

-And...something has to be done with this.

..helped a young entrepreneur put a roof over his head...

It just seems to be taking off really well,

and everyone in the local community's been telling all their friends,

so it's been really, really good.

..and helped troubled local teenagers build new dreams.

ENGINE STARTS

Woo-hoo!

-First time!

-First time, up and running.

But most importantly they've worked tirelessly

to help their residents when they...

-PHONE RINGS

-..called the Council.

What we've tried very hard to do in the council

is make sure we give our residents value for money.

We're far more inclusive now,

and it's far more, "Us",

rather than, "The council and everybody else".