Last nigt was the meeting of Bury Council’s Executive Committee. The Executive consists of the eight “Portfolio holders” from the leading group on the Council, together with the Leaders of the two Opposition Partys (myself and the Leader of the Labour Group).
The meeting considered the following issues:
- Bury Youth Justice Plan 2007-2008. This plan sets out how the Council is going to work with its partner agencies around the issues of young people and justice. The plan was agreed.
- Achieving the targets in the “Local Area Agreement”. This was a first report setting out how the targets that the Council has taken on with its partner agencies are being met. There are a few issues (particularly around nursery places in Bury East), but largely its very “early days” in the four-year timescale of the project.
- IT Policy. I welcomed the change in the IT policy to include “green issues” as a driver for impoementing IT changes. We shouldn’t just be seeing IT as a means of saving money - its also a way of saving the environment when used correctly. I asked Officers to report back to me on the takeup of online services such as online voter registration.
- Tree Policy. The Executive agreed a new policy towards tree maintenace. The policy is based on a very small budget and I fear that many residents will be disappointed that trees that they consider a problem will not get the attention they need. I asked about the long term policies around tree planting. In the days when Prestwich had its own Borough Council there was a pro-active policy of planting trees. Some of these are now too large, but surely the council should be continuing this policy today? Officers reassured me that the council has a “1 for 1″ tree planing policy - e.g. if any tree has to be taken down another is planted either in the same area or somewhere more suitable.
The next meeting of the Executive Committee is on Wednesday 7 November 2007, 6.00pm at Bury Town Hall. All council meetings are open to members of the public.
Committee Papers for the meeting can be downloaded here.
