I have the following letter published in this week’s Bury Times and Prestwich & Whitefield Guide.  

BURY’S decision to say no’ to the proposed congestion charge is a much needed ‘nail in the coffin’ for the proposal to make us pay to make local journeys, but it should not be the end to the discussion on public transport. To make local people pay a charge to drive between Whitefield and Prestwich is quite clearly wrong, and another example of this government trying to impose unpopular measures on the people of Greater Manchester.

But the need for improved public transport has not gone away. For the sake of our environment, and the sake of future jobs and wellbeing we need to tackle the polluting traffic problems of our major roads and motorways. advertisement Other cities are having major public transport schemes funding by other means . . . so why not Greater Manchester? Other solutions are available like using private investment.

Some much needed solutions, like safer Metrolink stations or school transport schemes shouldn’t cost the earth.

The debate on congestion charging was distracting us from the real issue of how we find the means to improve our public transport.

Coun Tim Pickstone Leader, Bury Liberal Democrats

Congratulations from the Lib Dem team in Bury to the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats - Nick Clegg MP.

Nick will make an excellent Party Leader, he has an excellent track record on standing up on issues that matter. We look forward to working with him.

Nick Clegg has set out his priorities in a message to Bury residents:

“I am greatly honoured to have been chosen by my fellow party members to be the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Throughout Bury, Liberal Democrats are already working hard to reach out to local people and listen to their concerns. In my leadership I will be taking that  spirit nationwide, moving beyond Party Politics and making liberalism connect with the millions of people who share our values.

Labour and the Conservatives have failed Britain’s families. I will lead my party to change politics, and change Britain, for the better. Only the Liberal Democrats are committed to giving the people of Bury a greater say in the decisions that affect our lives, by shifting power away from Westminster and back to local communities.

I will fight for a fair deal for Britain’s families, campaign tirelessly to cut crime and improve our NHS so it delivers the care people need.”

Nick Clegg is going to be a great leader. Labour and the Conservatives share so many policies, the time has come for a politician who will speak up for people and local communities.

Tim

A consultation event for the proposed Heaton Park Schoo/Polefield Recreation Zone on Cuckoo Lane is proposed to take place on:

3.30PM ONWARDS WEDNESDAY 23 JANUARY at Heaton Park County Primary.

The event is a “drop in” where members of the public can find out more, and comment on the proposals.

More details to follow.

Tim

The Labour Party in Bury have finally shown their “true colours” when they refused to oppose the proposed Manchester “Congestion Charge” scheme and refused calls for a Greater Manchester referendum on the charge. Labour councillors unanimously refused to support a Lib Dem proposal which set down clearly that Bury was opposed to the Charge and called for the people of Greater Manchester to be consulted through a referendum vote on the issue.

Everyone knows that we need to do something about the lack of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Manchester area, but forcing people to pay an extra £5 a day (at todays prices!) to get the investment we need is ridiculous. For Holyrood Ward where we live its particularly mad - our ward straddles one of the charge points - local people would have to pay to make local journeys to school, the shops or local amenities - without going anywhere near Manchester city centre.

My colleague Cllr Richard Baum made an excellent speech outlining our proposals. When I came to ’second’ the proposals I just highlighted a couple of points. I gave the Council two examples where major public transport investment was happening, that somehow didn’t need a Charge to pay for it (Crossrail in London and the Edinburgh Tram System). I also noted how the decision that Bury would make tonight might actually shape the future by enabling the people of Greater Manchester to have their say in a public referendum.

We had hoped for all-Party support, but Labour tried to subtlety change the proposal to say that the Charge was acceptable if it was agreed locally (by the Greater Manchester councils - most of which are run by their Labour Party friends!). None of us were so easily fooled.

Despite Labour opposition, the Lib Dem proposals were agreed by the Council. Bury now has a clear position that, we need public transport investment, that the Congestion Charge is wrong, and that the people of Greater Manchester need to have their say in a public referendum. Its also clear that Labour couldn’t support this simple position.

You can read our proposal, that’s now Council policy here - Lib Dem TIF Amendment (PDF)

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any more information on this important subject.

Tim

Last night was the regular meeting of the “Full Council” in Bury. It was a packed agenda with a number of important topics. Please see the separate posting about the debate on Congestion Charging.

As usual my colleagues in the Liberal Democrat group asked some very probing and important questions to the Council Leadership. These included questions on the value for money and effectiveness of CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) systems, progress towards the Children’s Centre outreach service in Rainsough and highlighting the amount of money the council loses through the 1400+ empty homes in the borough.

My colleague Cllr Ann Garner asked an excellent question about the junction at “Hilton Lane ends” on Bury New Road. Many residents, including children from at least three schools are having to maneuver this complex junction which just seems to have been made worse by the “SCOOT” traffic management system. Cllr Andrew Garner asked a question about the lack of a permanent dining room at Prestwich Arts College. My understanding is that PAC is the only high school in the borough without a permanent dining room. The Executive Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Diana Ashworth had recently visited the school at lunchtime and said “that the conditions the pupils have to endure at lunchtime are simply not acceptable in this day and age”. Thankfully she promised to do something about it!

Apart from the major debate on Congestion Charging the Council approved a number of core policy documents including a new “Sustainable Communities Plan”, but only after it had been amended by councillors to make it more “green”.

We also voted on a motion to overturn the decision of the Executive Committee to proceed with building Radcliffe Riverside School at a 600 capacity with room for further expansion if demand exists in the future. Regrettably as the Council meeting had reached its maxiumum 3 hour time limit, the debate didn’t receive the time it deserved which is a shame as its an important issue. For the reasons that we’ve previously stated we voted against the motion - we want a first class school in Radcliffe, but at present there is only the demand for a 600 capacity school.

You can view the full agenda for the meeting, together with all the papers and motions here. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any more details on any items.

Tim

Last night was the meeting of Bury Council’s Executive Committee. As one of two Opposition Group Leaders on the Council I sit on the Committee alongside the portfolio holiding members from the largest Group.

It was a very long and full agenda, with a number of important issues. The full agenda, together with all the papers for the meeting can be viewed here.

Important issues included:

- policies around anti-social behaviour - the authority has now agreed a set of policies and procedures around dealing with anti-social behaviour which is welcome. On a minor point, I asked about how the alley-gating policy would be developed which I was assured would be part of the budget process for next year.

- policies for looked after children - the council agreed new policies to ensure that we best meet the particular needs of children who are in the care of the local authority - again a welcome move.

However dominating the whole meeting was the important decision about the future of the proposed new high school on the site of the East Lancashire Paper Mill in Radcliffe. Originally the school had been proposed as a 900 capacity school, however in recent years there has been a significant drop in pupil demand at the school, so the proposal from the Conservative administration was to build a 600 capacity school, with the capicity to extent this to 900 at a later date if demand rose.

The view of the Liberal Democrat Group has been consistent throughout these discussions. We desparately want the school to be built - firstly because every town in Bury deserves a good high school or schools and to not have a high school in Radcliffe would clearly be wrong. Secondly, because the new school is at the heart of an important regeneration initiative - ”Regenerating Radcliffe” which is vital for the future development and prosperity of Radcliffe.

On that basis I supported the proposal to build the school, at 600 places, but sought assurances from the Conservative administration that the school could be expanded as demand grows, as I hope that it will.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want more information on this or any other issue.

Tim  

Last night was one of the meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership. This brings together your councillors, partner agencies like the police, NHS and fire service and a wide range of community representatives. At the meeting was actually agreed to co-opt four new community reps - Churches Together in Prestwich, the Prestwich Clough Centenery Group, the Prestwich Business Group and the Simister Village Community Association.

The two main issues that the Partnership are currently working on dominated the meeting. On developing communities - where we are looking at working to improve some of the areas of our community that perhaps need input most, we heard about some excellent schemes where partner agencies are working together to develop youth and community facilities in both the Rainsough and Polefield areas of Prestwich. I welcomed the plans for Polefield, but insisted that if we are to have new play facilities in the area then we need to work very closely with residents who surround any new facility to ensure that we’re not causing a nuisance.

On the town centre we heard about the final stages of the plan to appoint a professional firm to help us develop a planning strategy for the town (or village!) centre of Prestwich. A company has now been appointed and will start the important work of finding out what local people want over the coming year.
I raised two points - firstly that ALL of Prestwich needs to be involved in the consultation - not just the 4000 or so houses near the village! - and secondly that we should ensure that the brief for the development plan has a sustainable and “green” village centre at its heart.

Highfield Road dominated the public open forum - with some real concerns about employee parking (M&S, Croma etc) disrupting residents parking. Its a major issue that we’ll need to take up as a work out a future design for the town centre - but hopefully something can be done in the meantime to make life easier for the Highfield Road residents.

The next meeting of the Area Partnership is on Tuesday 15 January 2008 at St Monica’s High School. Formal meeting 6.30pm, Open Forum 7.30pm.

Tim

There are two important meetings next week which might be of interest to people.

On Tuesday 27 November 2007 its the meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership. This is the grouping that brings together the 9 Prestwich Councillors, with reps from partner organisations like the Police, NHS, etc - plus community reps from community groups, business, charities etc.

The meeting this time is at Sedgley Park Primary on Kings Road/Bishops Road Prestwich. There is a “business meeting” 6.30-7.30, and then from 7.30-8.30 its open forum with a chance to have your say on any issue in Prestwich.

 On Wednesday its the meeting of the Council’s Executive Committee. Its a really long agenda, but probably the key decision of the evening is going to be around the proposed new Radcliffe Riverside secondary school.

You can see all the papers for the meeting here. If you have any comments or ideas about what I should be saying at the meeting please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

thanks

Tim

Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone has uncovered a story concerning Overseas Aid. International development has always been a really important issue for me, and I’ve always supported the principle that we should be contributing more to alleviate poorer parts of the world. London Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone has revealed that Labour have secretly removed £1 billion from the overseas aid budget! Here’s the story, taken from Lynne’s “blog” at www.lynnefeatherstone.org Labour secretly axes £1 billion from overseas aid budget

“Well, well - will Labour never learn? They’ve axed around £1 billion from the UK aid budget (official development assistance) - and then tried to keep it secret. So here’s the story in black and white. Two pieces of jargon first: “Official development assistance” is what people normally think of as the UK’s overseas aid budget, whilst Gross National Income is a measure of the country’s total wealth. And on to the evidence. Exhibit A, from the Treasury’s own website: the 2004 Spending Review which stated: “Total UK official development assistance (ODA) … will have risen from 0.26 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) in 1997 to 0.47 per cent in 2007-08.” Exhibit B, also from the Treasury’s own website: the 2007 Pre-Budget Report which boasted of: “an increase in overseas aid as a share of national income from 0.37 per cent in 2007-08 to 0.56 per cent in 2010-11.” So, having promised in 2004 that aid levels would be at 0.47% in 2007-8, they’ve now cut that figure to 0.37% - which is equal to around £1 billion. As it was an international development debate in Parliament today, I raised the issue of this missing £1 billion which would have gone to help the poorest in the world. And what did Douglas Alexander have to say? Well, nothing much. He just dodged the issue of spending levels here in 2007-8. Not impressed! If you’re going to cut a billion like that Mr Alexander - at least have the guts to admit it and defend it in public rather than dodging around and talking about other spending levels in other years.

Plans to move forward on development of the Prestwich Heys Football Club on Sandgate Road have been approved.

As a ward Councillor I was at a site visit with many local residents who raised many important concerns about the proposal. My councillor colleague Cllr Vic D’Albert represented residents at the meeting later that evening.

Here’s Vic’s report from the meeting:

“Bury Council’s Planning Control Committee last night approved controversial plans to re-develope the Sandgate Road Football Ground. The plans for new buildings, fencing, extended car park and floodlighting were passed by 6 votes to 3 and followed a visit to the site by the Committee earlier in the day. Ward Councillor Vic D’Albert commenting on the decision said, “I am pleased for the club but very dissapointed for residents, some of whom are very distressed about this result. I think the club has to learn lessons about working with their neighbours and would reiterate my belief that this successful club is fast out growing their Sandgate Road home and in considering future developments start to look at a more suitable location.

Earlier Vic addressed the committee and said:

 “First of all I would like to say that I am not opposed to Prestwich Heys and I hope that they continue to thrive and prosper both on and off the pitch.However just I am not opposed to The Heys, I also feel that the applications before the Committee tonight should be divorced from any emotions about enabling the club to develop and ultimately to compete in higher leagues.Just as the committee would approach the request for development of a residential property would not take into consideration the growth of the family living there the committee I feel should not be looking to accommodate the growth of Prestwich Heys. That issue should not be a contributing factor.The key issue generating most opposition to this application is with regard to the proposal for a set of 6 floodlights on 15 meter stanchions….15 meters is about 50 feet. When I tell you that an ordinary residential property is about 30 feet – I think it puts this issue into perspective.  Those affected have a right to live their own lives free from pollution of whatever kind. Without having their homes and gardens illuminated at inappropriate times and disturbing their lifestyles. I believe these proposals are a step too far. When Heys relocated to Sandgate road in 1991 this was a football pitch and St.Josephs Avenue was already built and occupied – they have developed into a reasonably successful club and now have a football ground. I would argue that the plans before you tonight for fencing extended car park provision and floodlighting take the club a step nearer having a football stadium and therefore these plans amount to an over-development of the site.I think its time the club were more open in sharing its visions with the local community and also considered its long term future.I feel the time is fast approaching when Heys should consider as part of those ambitions finding a more suitable location to enable them to grow and achieve at a greater level.One thing is sure and that its not for the local community to accept Heys development at cost to their own quality of life. Its not for St.Josephs Avenueto accomadate the ambitions of Prestwich Heys – especially as they were there firstIt could be argued tonight that rejection of these plans would make Prestwich Heys a victim of their own success. That may or may not be the case. In any event what is clear to me is that the residents living adjacent to this ground should not be the victims of their success. I therefore, with much regret , but as a matter of fairness, request that these applications are rejected.”

A site visit by the Council’s Planning Committee is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, 20 November 2007, to consider the planning application made by the club.

The Committee will be at the Club at 3.50pm on Tuesday where they will look at the proposals for improved car parking, fencing and floodlights prior to a decision being made on the appliation at the Planning Meeting that evening at 7.00pm.

I am planning to be at the site visit, to brief members of the Planning Committe of the concerns that many residents have raised concerns over the proposals.

Tim

Residents, shopkeepers and visitors will be glad to know that work on the “Retreat” water feature in Prestwich Village centre nears completion.

The replacement granite wall is currently being constructed (See Picture) and final completion is expected early in December.

Last night was one of the regular meetings of the Council’s Executive Committee. As a Leader of one of the opposition parties I sit on the Committee, even through the vast majority of members are from the group currently in administration of Bury, the Conservatives.

It was a very short agenda, and in fact the most pressing issue was a presentation before the meeting from the owners of the Millgate Centre in Bury who are looking at ways to develop the centre. Firm proposals are on their way in the coming couple of months, so more information to follow.

There were three issues on the formal agenda of the Committee:

- Neiborhood Renwal Strategy - the Committee agreed to recommend this major strategy to the full council meeting in December

- Bury Values Prospectus - this was a draft set of “values” for Bury and hopefully its partner agencies. All very “good word”, and I asked how the report would be put into practice rather than just “sitting on a shelf” at the town hall!

- Sustainable Commities Strategy - again this strategy, which will develop into strategies for each of Bury’s “Areas” (e.g. Prestwich) is recommended for approval at the next meeting of the full Council. There was some concern from both Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors that the strategy hadn’t been considered fully by the Scrutiny process, we agreed that the Economy, Environment and Transport strutiny would consider the report before it was approved by Council.

You can see copies of the papers for the meeting here

The next meeting of the Committee is on the 28th November 2008 - papers are on the Council’s website from about 8 days before.

Tim

Most people spend Halloween making or eating pumpkins, or dodging “trick or treaters”, but not so for the 51 councillors of Bury! Wednesday night was one of our five-times-a year “full council” meetings which normally go on right up to the close of business at 10.00pm.

Members of the Liberal Democrat Group of Councillors try to make full use of the meeting - its one of our only opportunity to question the Leadership of the Council and raise important issues.

Between us the Lib Dem councillors asked no less than eight written questions to the Executive Committee. These ranged from recycling, to road safety education, homelessness and the SCOOT traffic management system. On the latter my colleague Donal O’Hanlon asked how the expensive SCOOT management system had completely failed to work when a single lorry had broken down in Whitefield on Wednesday night in October - the whole of northern Greater Manchester was a gridlock for hours!

I asked two questions:
- one on the delays to Radcliffe Riverside High School. I asked what the scope of the involvement of the District Auditor in the proposed purchase of the land that the school is proposd to be built on. I asked the Executive Member for Children’s services if she could assure me that the Council will move on as soon as practical with a permanent solution for Radliffe schoolchildren. I know from our experiences in Prestwich how damaging protracted uncertainty can be to children’s educition.

- one on the absence of an “alleygating” policy for the Council. I was assured that a policy is on its way this municipal year (ie before next May) and that pilot areas are going to be identified for intial work. I asked if the Council would take up a proactive policy of supporting groups of local residents who wanted to pay for alleygating themselves - Michelle Wiseman, the Conservative Executive member responsible, said she would.

There was also two policy debates at full Council.

One, proposed by the Labour Group, congratulated the Government on the free bus travel for elderly people. We supported this, but added our own amendment to call for free bus travel to be rolled out to all school chidlren and young people. My Lib Dem colleague Cllr Richard Baum spoke exellently on the subject (you can even read his speech here!) and in the end both the other parties supported us.

Next it was the turn of the Lib Dem group motion - Vic D’Albert proposed our motion which called for a halt to the Government’s Post Office closure programme. At present around one fifth of all post offices are scheduled for closure next year - that’s around another six in Bury on top of the 19 that have closed in recent years. Our proposal was supported by both other parties, but in reality the fight begins now to save our local post offices.

On Thursday I represented the Liberal Democrat Group at the “Corporate Joint Consultative Committee” (JCC). This is a body which brings together the Trades Union represenatives of the staff who work for Bury MBC, with elected Councillors. Councillors are the legal “empoyers” of the many people who work for the Authority, so its an important opportunity to meet with their representatives.

Its the first year I’ve been on the JCC, so this was my first meeting.

The meeting looked at a new set of guidelines for disciplinary procedures, as well as receiving updates from Officers on the council budget, “single status” (a pay and job review process) and the potential outsourcing of “back office” functions to private companies.

The main disucssion was around the future of the JCC. There is a feeling by some people that the structures need modernising, the Unions however feel very strongly that the JCC provides the only opportunity they have to discuss directly with Councillors - their employers - and it should be kept. A small working group has been set up to look at this in more detail. Personally - and I will be asking fellow councillors and colleagues for their views - I feel that it is important for the staff representatives to meet from time to time with Councillors. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it??

tim

Last night was the termly meeting of Prestwich Arts College Governors. This is one of two local schools that I represent you as a Local Education Authority Governor.

It was a very good meeting, and the mood of the school certainly seems very good after the difficult times it went through two years ago when it was threatened by closure.

 We looked in depth at an analysis of exam results from summer 2007. In general the schools key results were up 1% on last year, 46% of children achieved the most commonly used indicator - five A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Maths. The school has plans in place for getting this level up again this year. It was particularly good to see that the “gender gap” between boys and girls fell with boys only being 11% behind girls, compared to 17% last year. Poor performance of boys has been something the school has been concerned about for a few years and it is great that things are moving in the right direction.

 There is a concern about the lack of support that Bury Council is able to provide to the growing number of non-English speaking children who are coming to the school. Prestwich has a growing Polish and East European community, many of whose children attend Prestwich Arts - but in all 27 different languages are spoken by children at the school. Obviously help is needed to get children up to speed on English, and I’ll be supporting the school taking this issue up with the Authority.

Prestwich Arts College was almost full at last year’s intake, a really positive sign when some other schools in the Borough are having problems. The school’s website has recently had a makeover and is now packed with information about the school.

 Tim

Bury Council is proposing to implement some parking restrictions on the junction of Heaton Street and Heywood Road.

Apparently there have been a number of accidents here, probably associated with the shops across the road. The draft scheme, which is for double yellow lines around the junction can be downloaded here. If you have any queries or comments please do not hesitate to contact me.

Last night was the meeting of Prestwich’s “Local Area Partnership”. It was only the second meeting of the Partnership in its new form, and it was good to see a wide range of partner organisations round the table. This included health (Bury PCT), police, fire service, schools, the youth forum, Prestwich Council of Churches as well as your local councillors.

The meeting discussed Alleygating (gating or partial gating of back alleys and ginnells). Bury Council is currently drafting a new policy on alleygating and we all urged the Council Officers to get on with drafting the policy. I asked if the council could be more supportive to small groups of local residents who are keen to estabish an alleygating scheme for their houses by ”clubbing together” to raise the money.

 We also received a report on street cleaning. At present Prestwich is cleaned on a six week rota, which obvoiously means that some areas can look messy again before their turn comes round again. We agreed to have a discussion with the cleansing team to see if some busy areas (e.g. the precinct) need cleaning more often. I asked about the review of street litter bins - I know that this has been an issue for some residents who live near Heaton Park. Some new bins are on their way, but the Council is limited by its small budget for this area.

The Area Partnership agreed its largest grant ever (£10,000) to support the refurbishment of the Rainsough Community Centre for young people - a very welcome move. The other half of the “community development money” that’s been given to Prestwich has been earmarked for the Polefield area. We’re going to agree how to spend this money at the next meeting - hopefully on activities for young people.

 The next meeting of Prestwich L.A.P. is on Tuesday 27 November 2007 at Sedgley Park Primary School (Kings Road). (Business meeting 6.30pm, public forum 7.30pm.)

 Tim 

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.  

On Tuesday I attended the Governors for St Margaret’s CoE Primary School on Heywood Road. St Margaret’s is one of the two schools in the ward which I serve as a Local Education Authority (LEA) Governor.

At the meeting the Head Teacher reported on the outstanding Diocesan Inspection report that the school received from the Church of England inspectors. The report gave the school an “outstanding” mark which is excellent.

It was also great to see some excellent results at the end of the summer term in 2007. In Key Stage 1 (infants) 100% of children reached Level 2 or more in Speaking/Listening, Writing, Maths and Science. 91% reached 2 or mrore in Reading. Many more children reached the higher level 3- 40% in Reading, Maths and Science.

 At Key Stage 2 (juniors), the school had the third highest results in the whole of Bury - the best the school has ever done! 100% of children achieved level 4 or more in English and Science, and 91% in Maths. Many children reached the higer Level 5 (71% in English!). Well done to all the children and teachers involved in such excellent results.

It was also good to hear that the school’s spanish teaching project is moving further forward. A Foreign Language Assistant has been made available for two sesions each week from Chile to help the children with their Spanish language.

Bury Council has given the financial go-ahead for not one, but two Children’s Centres in Prestwich.

At it’s Executive Committee on 12 September at which I represent the Liberal Democrat Group, the Council agreed just under £500,000 for a second children’s centre to be located at Butterstyle Primary School. Go ahead has already been given earlier in the year for a Children’s Centre at Sedgley Park Primary on Kings Road.

The Butterstyle scheme still has to seek approval from the Planning Committee for the physical aspects of the project. At the Executive Committee I said the money for the Children’s Centre was brilliant news, but that we need to make sure that that local residents are happy with the plans and that we address some of the congestion issues in the area. I know that my colleages Donal O’Hanlon and Richard Baum who are councillors for that part of Prestwich have been working hard on this issue.

The two children’s centres have been placed in areas which have most need for them according to information from census and other data that the Council collects. Hopefully the Government will be announcing more money for children’s centres in the future. Clearly its a very long way down to either Butterstyle or Kings Road from the North of Prestwich, so we’ll be arguing that a next centre should be at this end of the area.

The Bury Manchester Metrolink line is back up and running again after a summer long closure during which we’ve been dependent on bus replacement services.

I haven’t had chance to go on the tram since the upgrade yet, but work seems impressive! On Heaton Street where I live many of us have the tramline at the back of our houses, and its a significant difference in the noise made by the trams. The track prior to work was laid on wooded sleepers and (apparently) dated back to the days of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway before 1914!

I know that in some parts of Prestwich - particularly nearer to the Village where the line is more elevated that my area - residents have had enormous problems over noise. Hopefully this will mean a smoother and quieter time for passengers and residents alike!

At the last full meeting of Bury Council I submitted a written question on the safety of the tram network at night. The tram is an excellent service for all of us, but I’m worried that many people are frightened of using the serivce in the evening - especially in the darker months. I’ve asked Cllr Andrew Garner, who is Bury’s spokesperson on the Passenger Transport Authority to take this up for me.

At the meeting of Bury Council’s Executive Committee on 12 September I raised the issue of how children and young people are to be involved in the decision making of the new Children’s Trust which comes into being on 1 October 2007.

The new Trust will help bring together the services provided by different agecies - e.g. council services, local health services etc - to provide a better service to children, young people and their families.

I asked the Council to look to see how better ways could be found for children and young people to have better ways to have a say about services provided for them than exist today. At present Bury has a Youth Cabinet, and each area is meant to have a Youth Forum. Personally I feel that we could do more to make sure that young people and children have a say in the local area.

In March 2007 the Liberal Democrat team on Bury Council successfully proposed a budgetary amendment which extended the “Blue Bin” recycling scheme to every house in the Borough.

The success of the scheme was confirmed in a response to a question I raised at the Full Council meeting last night. 1,020 Tonnes of recyclables were collected in July 2007 - the first month after the Blue-Bin roll-out up from 767 Tonnes in July 2006 - a massive 33% increase!

Its excellent to see such a great response from the public to the recycling initiative. The Lib Dem’s are already asking when the scheme can be made fortnightly for everyone. My colleague Cllr Richard Baum also asked for a report on the small number of households who’ve not yet received their bins (mostly farms, but a few areas with restricted lorry access). I’ll let you know this information when its received.

Bury’s local hospital has been let down by the Labour Health Secreary’s decision to go ahead with the closure of Fairfield’s maternity and inpatient children’s services claim the local Liberal Democrats.

The decision of Health Secretary Alan Johnson and the Independent Review Panel to uphold the recommendations of the Greater Manchester review of maternity and children’s services will mean the loss of services at Bury’s Fairfield Hospital. The Panel recommends that the NHS looks into a midwife led maternity unit at Fairfield, but there are no promises.

Cllr Vic D’Albert, the local Lib Dem’s spokesperson on health said: “This is terrible news for the people of Bury. We’ve all been terribly let down by the Labour Health Secretary. Bury needs and dererves high quality maternity and children’s services, the Government’s decision is a terrible blow to Bury.

“To get a midwife-led maternity unit would be a help, but nothing is confirmed, and nothing is promised. How can we trust a Government that does this to our local hospital?”

“Earlier this week Conservative Leader David Cameron forgot Bury when he presented a list of hospitals his party planned to save from cuts. In the same week Labour’s Health Secretary has gone one further and closed our vital services”.

Conservative Leader David Cameron has ignored Bury by leaving out Fairfield Hospital from his campaign to save 29 local hospitals across the country.

Only last year the Tory Leader visited Bury’s Fairfield Hospital, which is currently awaiting the decision of Labours Health Secretary on the future of its maternity service.

Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Bury South Vic D’Albert said:

“It just shows we can’t trust the Conservatives on Health”. They voted against the current investment in health in Parliament, and believe in unlimited private sector involvement in health”

Local Lib Dems have been campaigning alongside others concerned about proposals to re-configure local hospital services, insisting that full maternity services and Accident and Emergency should remain at Fairfield.

“To forget to include Fairfield Hospital says a lot about Conservative priorities, if they really care about our vital hospital services local Conservatives will apologise to the people of Bury”.

“Many local people have been deeply worried about the potential of losing maternity and children’s services at Fairfield, David Cameron has just ignored us all. ”

Residents who live alongside the Metrolink line need to be aware that the contractors currently working on renewing the track have informed the Council that some limited work may be needed during the night. Your local councillors have protested against this proposal, and we have received assurances that no heavy cutting or noisy work will take place, and that work will only take place if the recent wet weather continues and work cannot be completed during the day.

 Please contact me or one of your other councillors if work is disturbing you during the night and we will report this immediately to the relevant authorities.

Tim

Last night Bury Council met in its first “Emergency Full Council” meetings for many years - certainly as long as I’ve been a Councillor. The Council was called by the Labour group on basis of ideas floated by the Conservative Administration on Bury Council to reduce the capacity of the soon to be built new Radcliffe Riverside School from 900 children to 600.

Liberal Democrats believe that full consultation with parents and the community must take place before any decision was made. Whist we wern’t able to support the Labour Party in suggesting that a decision for a 900 capacity school had to be made last night, I did propose an amendment on behalf of the Lib Dem Group guaranteeing that Radcliffe Riverside does get built, and that work starts straight away for the planned 2009 opening. Thankfully the Lib Dem proposal received support from all parties.

In Prestwich many of us have painful memories of the discussions when one of our local schools was threatened with closure a year ago (Prestwich Arts College on Heys Road). We said then that there should be a place in a Prestwich high school for every Prestwich child that wanted one, the same must be said for Radcliffe.

Tim

Liberal Democrats called for a £3bn investment in public transport in Greater Manchester at the July meeting of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA). The Lib Dem proposals also called for control of the bus network to be seized back from private hands and into the control of GMPTA again for the first time in over 20 years. But Lib Dem GMPTA members were furious that discussions on congestion charging were prevented when the meeting was rescheduled to take place after a decision on road charging had been made elsewhere.

Cllr Andrew Garner (Liberal Deomcrat member for Sedgley ward), one of two Bury Lib Dems who are members of the GMPTA, said “The issue of congestion charging and whether to back the controversial Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bid was made by the Leaders of Greater Manchester Authorities on Friday morning. The GMPTA was supposed to meet on Thursday, but this meeting was re-scheduled until Friday afternoon, depriving us of a say. But whilst Bury’s Conservative led Council gave the green light to backing the bid, we used our influence on the GMPTA to press for real improvements to public transport.”

Liberal Democrats proposed important amendments to a Labour-backed motion calling on the GMPTA to support the public transport proposals put forward in the TIF bid. The Lib Dems demanded that a specific figure of £3bn be agreed as the minimum investment needed in the transport network. Cllr Garner said “We want world class public transport. Anything less than £3bn just won’t be enough, and yet the government have been strangely vague on the total that we’ll be eligible for. We need absolute certainty, and if the figure ends up less than £3bn, then the TIF bid is dead in the water as far as I am concerned.” Lib Dems also called for re-regulation of the bus network. Cllr Garner said “Whilst our buses are improving, they need to be better. They need to serve our vulnerable communities more, and put service before profits.”

The Lib Dem amendments were passed unanimously by the GMPTA. Cllr Garner stated that “although the GMPTA was deprived of an opportunity to debate the TIF bid ahead of a decision, we made the best of a bad situation by putting important safeguards in place for local people. “