On Wednesday afternoon I attended a drop-in consultation session at Heaton Park County Primary school on Cuckoo Lane.

There are proposals to create some children’s play areas along the front of the school (on the Cuckoo Lane side) and we wanted to make sure that local residents had the chance to let us know what they thought.

An earlier proposal for a “ball zone” for older children has already been dropped as being too much for the area.

There were a number of very valid concerns raised about the proposals:
- that the facilities would attract unwelcome groups of young people to the area
- concerns about parking and traffic
- concerns that the facilities would make trespassing on the fields behind the school worse not better.

Some people welcomed the plans, particularly as it would be a good facility for the local school (who would have use in the day).

Council Officers are going to analyse the responses and will be getting back to local councillors on the results.

Wednesday night was the regular meeting of Bury Council’s Executive Committee which I sit on as one of the two Opposition Group Leaders.

This week saw a very short agenda:
Anti-Social Behavioral Policy for use by 6 Town Housing
This saw the adaptation of Bury’s existing anti-social behavior policy, for use by “6 Town Housing” (the agency that looks after the borough’s council housing). I know 6 Town Housing already have a very active anti-social behavior unit, and I’m sure this extended policy will help them in their work.

Establishment of a Home Improvement Agency
By accepting this report the council established a “Home Improvement Agency” service to carry out all adaptations and work to houses for people in need (e.g. adaptations for disabled people, and the elderly etc). Currently work for council houses is carried out by a different agency for people in private homes.

Secondly, the report agreed to appoint 6 Town Housing as the agency to undertake this service. This does seem sensible, as they know the area well and are already doing much of the work. Assurances were sought that this represented best value for money and also on the quality assurances in the contract.

Customer Relations Management
The Executive Committee received an update on the implementation of the customer relations management system and how this is progressing. I raised a concern about whether the design of the system was too “telephone orientated”, given the amount of services in general that people now access online. I also asked about the reduction in paper useage by the authority as a result of “paperless office” initiatives.

Any questions please don’t hesitate to ask!

Tim

Last night was the regular meeting of the “Local Area Partnership” in Prestwich. This is the body that brings together your local councillors, together with partner agencies (health, police, schools, voluntary sector etc) and community reps.

We received an update on some of the important work that the Partnership is involved in to improve our local community:

Cllr Donal O’Hanlonreported on the work of the Town Centre Working Group. This group is looking at how we develop the Prestwich town (or “village”) centre. The Council is paying for a study to be undertaken over the coming nine months which will hopefully ensure we have a clear plan for a better village centre.

I clarified that traffic would be considered in the study as well as redevelopment (yes!), and also that we find ways to consult with everyone who lives in Prestwich, not just those in the Village area.

Cllr Ann Garner reported on the important work around Developing Communities. Prestwich has been given some money to improve the community in the some of areas of Prestwich that perhaps need money most (Rainsough and Polefield have been identified first off). Improved community facilities, and hopefully a children’s centre outreach are planned for Rainsough, and we’re looking at more facilities for young people in Polefield.

Two main issues were raised by members of the public. The first was around the Whittaker Lane shopping area, although just outside our ward, the facilities on Whittaker Lane (apparently the oldest shopping area in Prestwich!) are used by many of us. Shopkeepers are concerned about parking and the lack of parking in the area and we agreed to take the issue forward.

A large number of residents from Beeston Grovecame to voice their concerns about the possible siting of a young people’s recreational facility on the Heaton Park Primary School site on Cuckoo Lane. I have an enormous amount of sympathy for the residents who back onto the site. Next week there is a consultation “drop in” at the school (Wednesday 3.30-6.30pm) where local residents will be able to see the plans and chat to council officers and councillors (I’ll be there in the afternoon!). I really hope we can find a solution - there aren’t any play or recreation facilities between Bailey Street and Simister - leaving a massive gap right in the heart of our area - but clearly it will only happen if its what the local community want.

Please get in touch if you need to know more or have any views.

Tim

Today’s announcement by Gordon Brown’s Labour Party to build a new generation of Nuclear Power stations is fundamentally wrong and dangerous.

Greenpeace sums up the case against Nuclear power simply:

• Even if Britain built ten new reactors, nuclear power can only deliver a 4 per cent cut in carbon emissions some time after 2025. Even the Government admits this (Sustainable Development Commission figure). It’s too little too late at too high a price.

• Most of the gas we use is for heating and hot water and for industrial purposes. Nuclear power cannot replace that energy. And it’s a similar case for oil as it’s virtually all used for transport - nuclear power can’t take its place.

• The real solutions to the energy gap and climate change are available now. Energy efficiency, cleaner use of fossil fuels, renewables and state of the art decentralised power stations like they have in Scandinavia. Together they have the potential to deliver reliable low carbon energy quicker and cheaper. They are also safe and globally applicable, unlike nuclear. But these technologies will be strangled if cash and political energy get thrust at nuclear power.

Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson, Professor Steve Webb MP set out the Party’s opposition:

“This is a flawed decision based on a sham consultation. There is a real risk that focusing on new nuclear plants will undermine attempts to find a cleaner, greener, more sustainable and secure solution. We should be concentrating our efforts on renewables and greater energy conservation.

“Ministers should also be promoting and supporting carbon capture and storage as a safe, secure and flexible way of plugging the energy gap.”

Last night was the meetings of Bury Council’s Executive Committee. This is the meeting that brings together the eight portfolio members from the ruling Conservative Party, together with the two opposition party leaders including me from the Lib Dems.

The main issues of interest were:

Choice Based Letting

The Council agreed to extend “Choice based lettings” from 50% of its “council house” stock to 100%. We very much welcome this move to allow greater choice for tenants of the council (6 Town Housing).

Partnership with the PCT

The Committee received a paper outlining how it is going to work more closely with the local health authority Bury Primary Care Trust (PCT). Again this report was very welcome as it formalises better joint working between two key local providers of services. The report also noted the appointment of a joint Director of Public Health between the Council and the PCT which is a brilliant move.

Review of Local Area Partnerships

A review was announced of the six “Local Area Partnerships” which took over from “Area Boards” this May. I made it clear that it was perhaps too soon to have a full review of the system as we’ve only been going for nine months, and sought assurances that any changes would be incremental. Certainly in Prestwich we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved through people working together in the Prestwich Local Area Partnership, and it would wrong to lose that so soon.

Local Area Agreement Performance Targets

This was the regular quarterly report on how the Council is achieving on its targets under the “Local Area Agreement”. I asked two specific issues - one relating to the availability of childcare places in our ward (Holyrood) which were reporting a 20% decrease, and one on the seeming reduction in achievement at GCSEs for looked after children (children in the care of the local authority). Both questions are getting a fuller written response from the Executive Director responsible.

Mayor 2008-2009

We agreed to nominate the Conservative Councillor from Moorside Ward, Cllr Peter Ashworth as Mayor for the year starting in may 2008. I’m sure Peter will make an excellent Mayor and we wish him well in his term as Mayor.

Grants to Voluntary Organisations

We reviewed the grants that are given to voluntary organisations (charities) in Bury and reviewed the current partnership that Bury has with the Greater Manchester Community Foundation to help give the grants fairly. This item (and the next) were in the “private” part of the meeting - so I can’t report on them(!) - but I did ask why they were confidential given that it was grants using public money. I was assured that the grants would be announced to the public after the meeting.

Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information on any of these items.

Tim 

National Grid plan to run cables through a disused rail tunnel that crosses the Peak District National Park. If they go ahead, the tunnel could no longer be used as a railway, despite there having been several
proposals in the last 10 years to do just that (Central Railways, Arriva, and Translink–all rejected by the Government!) That would be a big mistake.

MPs and local people are trying to persuade the government to intervene, to protect the route so that it could, in future, be re-opened and provide much-needed passenger and rail-freight services connecting the east and west sides of the Pennines.

See recent article in the Guardian

Please act quickly as the National Grid work is scheduled to start in January 2008.

We need MPs across the country to sign Early Day Motion (EDM) 459 calling on the Government to intervene and help safeguard the Woodhead Tunnel for future rail use.

Campaign for Better Transport have set up an easy e-action form on their website. To write/send an e-mail to your MP asking them to sign EDM 459:
http://www.advocacyonline.net/eactivist/srv/render?NdsTID&view=GB,en,2581,15223,-1,n,n,n

Plus, there’s a petition online calling for the railway to be reopened:

Visit the Save Woodhead Tunnel website.

Happy New Year to all! Here’s to a succesful and peaceful 2008.

Here’s Nick Clegg’s New Year message: