Last night was the last “Full Council’ of Bury MBC for the current Municipal Year. Full Council is the only meeting that brings together all 51 councillors across the borough.

The last meeting of the municipal year has the bad habit of descending into a pre-election slanging match between the Labour and Conservative Party’s, with the Lib Dem’s trying to stay focussed on important issues that are affecting real people!

This being said, and aside from the slanging match, there were a number of important decisions approved by the Council:

- We agreed the draft questions that will be put to the vote on the “Mayoral Referendum” that Bury has been forced to have on 3 July 2008. For the next month people will be able to say whether the proposed question (either that we have the democratic system we have now, or one where an Election Mayor has al the powers for her/himself!) are the right ones, before these are finally agreed next month.

- We agreed the “Bury Plan” for 2008-2009 - this is the planning document that brings together all the partners in ‘Team Bury’ (the Council, NHS, police, fire, business, voluntary sector etc).

- We agreed that all Councillors will undertake CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) checks. This is to ensure compliance with vulnerable children and corporate parenting legislation, and is I suppose understandable. I voted in favour, because Government tells us we “have to”, but personally I believe there are severe quesions to be asked about the CRB system, and how useful it is in what it is meant to do (protecting vulnerable children and adults).

There were also some interesting questions asked from members of the Liberal Democrat group, including two from me.

My first question asked the Council Leadership if they would consider doing what Essex County Council is doing, which is looking as keeping open some of the post offices the Government is closing by using them for council services as well as postal ones. The reply was excellent, as apparently early thought is being given to how council offices could be used to alleviate the problems caused by closed post offices. I then asked if the Council would join me in condemning our two local Labour MPs for voting FOR post office closures (nine will close in Bury, to be determined) - there was embarrassed silence from Labour councillors!

My second question related to the excellent progress that is being made looking at the future of Prestwich Village area with the “URBED” study which has been commissioned by the Council after lobbying from the Lib Dem team in Prestwich. I sought assurances from the Council Leadership that a presentation on the findings of the study are made to the full Executive Committee of the Council. I know its just about Prestwich, but I think that its important that the Council pays as much attention to our part of the borough, as it does to Bury Town Centre!

My Lib Dem colleagues asked some good questions to: Vic D’Albert asked about the continuing absence of an Alley Gating Policy (as a follow up to the same question from me last October!), Richard Baum asked whether plans for Butterstlye Children’s Centre are on track (which they are); Ann Garner asked about extra refuse collection provision for the Jewish Community just before Passover next month (which there will be); Donal O’Hanlon asked about letter notices in Prestwich and Steve Wright asked why the Conservatives hadn’t fulfilled their manifesto pledge from last year to undertake a Climage Change study on all Council buildings!

Any questions, please ask. The papers for the meeting can be downloaded here.

Tim

Its five years since the start of our involvment with the war in Iraq.

Nick Harvey MP - the Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Minister marks the occasion with this video.

Britain only invaded Iraq because MPs voted for it. Asked on 18th March 2003 to support Tony Blair’s motion for military action against Iraq, Labour and Conservative MPs lined up to vote “aye”.

Both the Conservative and Labour frontbenches in the House of Commons supported the war. The Conservatives even argued that the Government wasn’t being tough enough.

Five years on, over 170 British servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. British taxpayers have poured £6.5 billion into the conflict, and the Conservatives are trying to rewrite history by now calling for an inquiry.

Why not visit the special website  -  it’s time to hold the politicians who took us to war to account!

Police in Whitefield and Prestwich are urging residents to be extra careful after a number of burglaries recently.

People calling at houses have pretended to be from the council and then stolen money from elderly residents.

Gaynor Mason, crime reduction advisor for Bury police said: “We would urge anyone who does have callers at the door to ask for identification. All official workers do carry identification and are pleased to show it. If you are still unsure then ring the company by looking up the number in the phone book. Any legitimate caller would be happy to wait while their credentials are being checked.

“People may feel embarrassed that they have become a victim of this type of crime but it’s important these crimes are reported, so we can investigate and catch the perpetrators.

If anyone knows the identity of the offender they should contact the priority crime unit at Bury on 0161 856 8179 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Bury MBC Service Managers and Managers within partner agencies are requested to ensure that staff, who may have a need to call on residents in the borough, carry suitable identification at all times.

Liberal  Democrats in Bury have accused Ivan Lewis MP and David Chaytor MP of failing to support local services after they voted to support the Government’s massive post office closure programme.

The Government has ordered that one in five branches be closed. Opposition MPs tried to stop the closure programme on 19th March when a motion was proposed in the House of Commons demanding the Government halt their plans to make 2500 branches shut up shop.

But enough Labour MPs rallied around the Government’s closure plans to reject the motion and ensure the closure programme can continue unhindered. Two of those voting to close post offices were Bury’s MP.

Disappointed local Liberal Democrat campaigners are calling on Ivan Lewis and David Chaytor to explain why s/he voted to close post offices.
“Our MPs have let down people in Bury by voting to allow the closures to continue,” said Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Vic D’Albert. “In May the announcement will be made as to which branches here will be put forward for closure. This was an opportunity for Ivan Lewis and David Chayor to make a stand on behalf of residents. I am disappointed they have backed the Government rather than local people.

“The loss of post offices will hit communities hard in Bury. They are vital assets for many local people and closing them will cause many difficulties for older people and others with mobility problems, in particular.
“Despite the decision of our MPs to help the Government press ahead with closure, Liberal Democrats are continuing to fight the demolition of the post office network.”

Last night was the last meeting of the Council’s Executive Committee for the year. The Executive brings together the eight “portfolio holders” on the Council, together with the two leaders of opposition parties, including me from the Lib Dems. The meeting had an increadably long agenda - 31 items! - so I’ll only report on the most interesting here. The full agenda, together with all the papers can be found here.

Annual Audit and Inspection Letter
We received our annual report from the Audit Commission on well Bury is performing. The headline is that Bury has moved from being a 3* authority, to only 2*. Obviously this is regrettable, the tipping point apparently was a move down in ratings for adult care services.

Phase III Children’s Centres
We received a report on the implementation of Phase III of the Children’s Centre programme. The good news here is that it looks likely that Holyrood Ward (where we live) is going to see a Centre in this final phase (though this hasn’t been confirmed yet). Holyrood Ward was identified as one of two areas where a new centre might be appropriate (the other being Stand/Outwood), though this will be confirmed in a later report.

Learning Review in Primary and Secondary Schools
We received a fairly vague report about the reviews of learning in both primary and secondary schools. I made the point that it was a concern that the report on the review was lacking in susbstance. Reviewing schools can be a hugely contraversial issue (as we learned a few years ago in Prestwich), and its important that the review gets off on the right footing.

Millgate Shopping Centre Design Framework
We received an excellent presentation on the future planning and design framework for the Millage Centre in Bury Town Centre. With the development of the new “rock triange” area (with its new Debenhams and M&S) there is a concern that we need to improve the Millage Centre, and there are a number of excellent ideas to imporve the facilities and public spaces in the area. Hopefully the owners of the centre will bring forward definite plans to make this happen.

Local Area Partnerships Review
We received the conclusions of the review of Local Area Partnerships. The recommendations are “interim”, which is good as they don’t really say anything much! Hopefully the final stages of the review, in Autumn 2008 will come up with better ways of how LAPs can be used to make sure that local people have a real say in local services. I confirmed that the (in my view) ridiculous idea of renaming the Local Area Partnerships as “Team Prestwich” (etc) has been dropped - which it has (for now).

Compulsory Purchase of the Radcliffe Riverside School site
The Executive Committee took the decision, which I fully support, to proceed with the compulsory purchase of the Radcliffe Riverside School site. The delays of proceeding with this much needed new high school for Radcliffe seem to have been endless this year, and anything that gets building work on the school going is to be welcomed. Hopefully the Order will get the owners of the land talking and wont need to be used in the end.

Obviously there was lots more discussed at the meeting, but these were the hightlights. If you have any questions on these or the other items don’t hesitate to ask!

thanks
Tim

Two new planning applications have been received which are within Holyrood Ward of Prestwich as detailed below:-

Application number: 49594         Type of application: Full         Date Registered: 07/03/2008Applicant: Mrs Saeeda Hussain
Location: 57 KENILWORTH AVENUE, WHITEFIELD, M45 6TR                                   Proposal: CONSERVATORY TO THE REAR OF THE PROPERTY.

Application number: 49638         Type of application: Full         Date Registered: 06/03/2008 Applicant: Mrs Yvonne Thompson
Location: 25 SUNNINGDALE DRIVE, PRESTWICH, M25 1JX
Proposal: TWO STOREY EXTENSION AT REARShould you require further details please contact the case officer: John Hodkinson on: 0161 253 5432 or access the Council’s E-planning pages at www.bury.gov.uk. Please don’t hesitate to contact your local councillors if you require advice about the process or commenting on applications.

Two new planning applications have been received which are within Holyrood Ward of Prestwich as detailed below:-

1.Application number: 49633         Type of application: Full         Date Registered: 06/03/2008

Applicant: Mr J Ormerod
Location: 124 SIMISTER LANE, SIMISTER, PRESTWICH, M25 2SB
Proposal: CONSERVATORY AT REAR

2.Application number: 49550                        
Type of application: Full
Date Registered: 06/03/2008

Applicant: Mr L Riley
Location: 273 HEYWOOD OLD ROAD, Middleton, M24 4QQProposal: SINGLE STOREY LOUNGE/KITCHEN/DOUBLE GARAGE EXTENSIONS AT REAR; NEW DRIVEWAY INCLUDING PILLARED WALL/FENCE TO REPLACE EXISTING FENCING 

Should you require further details please contact the case officer: John Hodkinson on: 0161 253 5432 or access the Councils E-planning web pages at www.bury.gov.uk. 

For further advice or if you wish to raise issues, please don’t hesitate to contact your local councilors.

Many residents will be aware about the discussions that have been taking place around the development of play facilities in the area of the Holyrood Ward to the East of Bury Old Road (Polefield, Parenthorn, Cuckoo Lane areas etc). At present there are no play facilities at all anywhere between the younger children play area on Bailey Street (near Heaton Park Metrolink) and Simister.

Many residents have raised this as a concern with their local councillors and we have been campaigning for the money to change this. This money has now been made available.

Original Plan

The origional plan (which is now not proposed) was to construct three play areas on the grounds of Heaton Park County Primary School on Cuckoo Lane (one for Under 5s, one for slightly older children, and a “ball zone” for teenagers).

We have held extensive consultations with residents who live nearby to the school, and also with parents and children at the school. It very quickly became clear that there were major security problems around the back of the school playing fields which is causing nuisance to local residents. Understandably, local people were concerned that the plans would make the issue worse, not better!

We have listened to these concerns and the plans have now been changed:

Current Proposals

The current proposal is in three parts:

Firstly, we propose to invest money (both money from the Local Area Partnership and the School will invest some money) to make the fencing around the school and the school playing fields more secure to reduce trespassing and nuisance to local residents. In addition a CCTV camera will be installed to monitor the area.

Seondly, we propose to build only one play area on the School site - this will be a play area for small children (under 5’s) and will only be locked after around 6.30pm by the School Caretaker. This will also be monitored by the CCTV scheme to make sure that the area isn’t abused.

 Play area plan - click to see larger image

Thirdly, we propose to build a “ball zone” for older children on the grounds of Parenthorn High School further up Heywood Road. Plans for this are at an early stage.

The Local Area Partnership has agreed all the necessary funding for these three schemes, but at the request of your local Councillors this funding has been agreed subject to further consultation with local residents and the two schools concerned. We want to make sure that the schemes are exactly right for the area and will only proceed when local people, including local children and young people are happy with the proposals.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need to know more.

Tim, Vic and Wilf

Tuesday night was the regular meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership. This is the meeting that brings together your local councillors, key partners like the police, fire and NHS and appointed community representatives. The meeting, which took place in Sedgley Park School on King’s Road, was also very well attended by members of the public.

A number of important issues were considered:

Grants

The Local Area Partnership is given some relatively small amounts of money to grant to local groups and projects. As this was the last meeting of the year a large number of grants were considered by the meeting which I’ve listed in a separate posting below. The variety of the bids and projects was really impressive this year - its excellent that the Area Partnership can support so many excellent community initiatives.

Three of the largest grants across the whole of Prestwich were for our area (Holyrood Ward), all relating to addressing the issue of lack of play facilities (see separate posting).

Updates from Partner Organisations

The Partnership received updates from partner organisations like the Police, Fire and NHS. The new Divisional Commander of Bury was also present at the meeting, as were representatives of the local Magistrates.

Issues from Members of the Public

An “open forum” is provided for members of the public to raise issues of concern. There was significant discussion about the major nuisance caused by illegal use of quadbikes - not just in streets but also in the Prestwich Forest Park area. The Partnership and the Police agreed to take these matters forward. Some money is remaining in the budget for this year we agreed that we would look to see if a project on this issue was possible.

It was good to hear some good news from residents of Highfield Road, who continue to suffer from non-residents parking in this narrow street. Further meetings are being held, but some of the simple measures (like moving a sign and talking to business owners) have been having some effect.

Prestwich Village Strategy

The main item at the Area Partnership was a presentation from the planning consultants that the Council have appointed to look at the future of the Prestwich Village area. Your local Lib Dem Councillors have been campaigning for years to this work to happen and its great that it has finally started.

The planners (the company is called “URBED”) gave a fascinating presentation about Prestwich Village, the problems it faces and also the many good things we have in our favour. The area was compared to other simiar “villages in the city” that are a similar distance to Manchester City Centre (Sale, Chorlton, Didsbury) and the company have been looking at how they have dealt with similar issues.

There are some excellent ideas being brought forward which are exciting and challenging.

URBED are holding a number of events over the coming months and a major consultation over the coming months. You can find out more about about the URBED study at their special website . A special consultation workshop - open to all - is on 13 March 2008 - check the website for more details.

Please get in touch if you need to know more about any of the above.

Tim