Last night was the Full Council meeting of Bury Council, this is one of the six meetings in the year where all 51 councillors meet to consider important business.

Two issues dominated the meeting:

Questions at Council Meetings
The Conservative Group took control of Bury Council at the elections in May. They proposed a number of changes to the way questions can be allowed at Council meetings. We agreed with some of the things that they have been suggesting - in particular the fact that ordinary councillors will now be able to ask questions and address the Executive Committee on issues that affect their local ward.

However there was one issue that we fundamentally disagreed with what the Conservatives were proposing, the right of members of the public to ask questions at Full Council meetings. Bury has for many years one of the most forward thinking councils in the county on this issue, and any member of the public can come along to a meeting and ask a question for the first half an hour. The Conservatives wanted to do away with this, so that the public could only ask a question in writing submitted “4 clear days” before (that is almost a week before) the meeting, and then not be allowed to ask a follow on question.

I proposed an amendment on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group to keep the current situation. For me, local councils are here to serve local people, and we should not be afraid of giving people the right to address our meetings. The amendment was defeated by the Conservative Group - Labour supported our amendment. A very sad day for democracy in Bury.

Post Office Closures
The second major issue was that of Post Office Closures. Currently the Government is proposing to close five post offices in Bury and the Liberal Democrat Group proposed a motion condemning the move and calling on our two Labour MPs to stand up for the local area. My colleagues Richard Baum and Wilf Davison spoke well in the debate (you can read Richard’s splendid speech http://richardbaum.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/06/26/save-bury-post-offices-speech/!). Impressively Wilf had been to visit all five of the post offices in question in preparing his speech - but in a number couldn’t get to speak to the postmistresses there because of the long lines of customers waiting to be served! The motion was carried unanimously.

Questions
We also get the chance to ask questions to the Council Leadership.

I asked two:
- I asked about the “outer ring” for congestion charging, currently planned to be the M60. Although I’m opposed to the scheme as it stands, I am concerned that Bury needs to make very strong representations about the outer ring as it affects our local area. I particularly raised the issue of Simister village in our ward (as there is only one way in and out of Simister it would seem ridiculous to have to pay to leave your own house!), and whether a solution could be found to not charge local journeys between Whitefield and Prestwich which go nowhere near Manchester city center.

- I also asked what the Council’s policy was on cleaning up graffiti, in particular following the recent spates there have been in parts of Prestwich. I was told that there is a review of the policy (at present only offensive (e.g racist) graffiti on council property is removed immediately. It clearly needs reforming - as we know all to well in Prestwich the current policy isn’t working.

Most of my Lib Dem colleagues also asked questions. In a response to Mary D’Albert’s question on the condition of roads we were told that 18 miles of minor roads in the Borough are deemed in need of repair (despite the fact that the budget for road repairs in Prestwich this year only pays for one road!). Andrew Garner sought assurances that the poor state of finish at the Sheepfoot Lane/Bury Old Road junction would be rectified (apparently it will in the next four weeks). Other colleagues asked a range of questions which I’m sure they will report on themselves.

The papers for the meeting are available on the Council’s website here. Any questions please ask. Regrettably for the people of Bury that was the last time you’ll be allowed to come along and ask a question.

Tim