Planning Applications for Holyrood Ward received in February 2009. For more information on each case please click here. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.

Application Number: 51040
Registration Date: 26/02/2009
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 5 NURSERY ROAD, PRESTWICH, MANCHESTER, M25 3EW
Proposal: FIRST AND SECOND FLOOR SIDE EXTENSION AND SINGLE STOREY REAR EXTENSION (AMENDED APPLICATION 50827)
Case Officer: Amanda Uhunmwagho
Decision: Approve with Conditions
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 51021
Registration Date: 23/02/2009
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 19 ST MARGARETS CLOSE, PRESTWICH, M25 2LY
Proposal: TWO STOREY/SINGLE STOREY EXTENSION AT SIDE; FRONT PORCH
Case Officer: Amanda Uhunmwagho
Decision: Approve with Conditions
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 50933
Registration Date: 06/02/2009
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 14 DROUGHTS LANE, SIMISTER, PRESTWICH, M25 2ST
Proposal: CONSERVATORY AT REAR
Case Officer: Jane Langan
Decision: Approve with Conditions
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

The people of Bury are to face a staggering 4.79% Council Tax rise from April this year, under budget plans agreed last night by Bury’s Conservative-run Council.

The headlines were:
- massive 4.79% increase in Council Tax from 1 April 2009
- Cuts and savings, already announced, which include turning 40% street lights off during the night
- a welcome increase in funding in some areas, in particular much needed funds for disabled services and for child protection
- virtually no new schemes (the Council is to take on 2 apprentices as its contribution to the economic downturn (yes I did say 2!), and some toilets in Radcliffe and Bury town centre are to get a makeover……… (wowee)

When Councillors arrived at the Town Hall last night, we were again welcomed by young people (and youth workers) protesting against the proposed restructure of the Youth Service. Liberal Democrats will always support reviewing any service, to see if we are doing it right, but we don’t want to see a reduction in the money that is spent on young people’s services. The young people, who had tabled seven written questions in advance to the Full Council, very probably went home disappointed as the Conservative’s proposals went through.

The special Budget Council meeting went on for hours, and it was nearly 10.00pm when the Liberal Democrat Group got to propose its amendment to the Budget. Prior to that we had to listen to a series of blatant party political attacks - from both Labour and the Conservatives. I was driven to reminding the Council that this isn’t some sort of “circus act”, but a serious meeting where we’re setting the budget for a £1 million-a-day organisation.

The Liberal Democrats proposed EXTRA spending where it matters to people most:
Firstly, we proposed that a special “Credit Crunch Advice Fund” be established (initially for just one year) to provide a much needed boost for advice services to people and small businesses in Bury that are struggling because of the Credit Crunch. Thousands of people are being affected by unemployment, debt, housing problems and rising bills and our advice services just cannot cope. We proposed a £300,000 fund, for the first year, to give these advice services the boost they need.

Secondly, we proposed a massive 33% increase in the budget for street and pavement repairs (£300,000 a year). All of us know what a terrible state some of our roads are in. Each year the Local Area Partnerships (like Prestwich) are given £150,000 for local street repairs - but its not even enough for ONE ROAD! We feel something has to be done.

Thirdly, whilst welcoming the review in the youth service, we wanted a guarantee that any savings are RINGFENCED for the youth service. Great that we could do things for less money, but lets spend any savings on young people!

Our finance spokesperson Richard Baum seconded our amendment, which was then defeated by 25 votes to 24 (Labour councillors supported our amendment.)

So that’s it for our 2009-2008 budget - with the worst recession of our lifetimes, the people of Bury get one of the highest Council Tax rises in recent years……….

The detailed papers are here. Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!.

tim

Bury Council are putting together proposals which would see Radcliffe born director Danny Boyle, Bury based band Elbow and Paralympian Zoë Robinson are given the Freedom of the Borough to congratulate them on their individual successes over the past civic year.

Guy Garvey, Mark Potter, Craig Potter, Richard Jupp and Pete Turner from, the Mercury Award and Brit Award winning band Elbow, formed at Bury College in the mid 1990s and all have roots in the town. Zoe Robinson, lives in the north of the borough and attends Boccia training sessions at Bury’ Castle Leisure Centre on a regular basis. Oscar winning film director, Danny Boyle grew up in Radcliffe and his family still live in the town.

Borough Councils can admit to be Honorary Freemen of the Borough, persons of distinction and those who have rendered eminent services to the Borough. This is carried out at a specially convened meeting of the full Council, were the Freeman are presented with the honour.

The Freedom is the highest tribute that a Borough can bestow and although in modern times it is an honour only and does not confer any legal rights, Honorary Freemen are invariably invited to take part in all important ceremonial occasions in the Borough. The proposals are currently being drawn up so that they can be put before a special meeting of Bury Council for approval.

On Thursday 5 March young people across Bury will be taking part in an election for the Bury Member and 2 Deputies of the United Kingdom Youth Parliament. This year there are 14 candidates from across the borough.

Last year 7,500 young people voted in the election and we are hoping to improve on this figure this year. The count will take place on Friday 6th March from 1pm in the Council Chamber and the result will be announced by the Returning Officer at 5pm.

Congratulations to our local group Elbow for picking up an award of the “Brits” music awards last night for “Best British Group”. The group, who are all from the Bury/Whitefield/Prestwich areas and met in 1990 at Bury College faced competition from major “names” like Take That, Girls Aloud and Coldplay to win the award this year.

Here are Elbow performing earlier this year at the Mercury Music Awards:

Embarrasingly, I’m friends with one of their mothers, which makes me feel really old.

Incidently, Scouting for Girls were robbed for best “British Breakthrough Act”. in my personal opinion!

Tim

Last night was the special “Budget” Executive Committee meeting of Bury Council. This is where the Council’s Executive Committee agrees a framework for the budget, to propose to the Budget Council meeting next week. As an opposition Group Leader I atttend the Executive Committee as a observer member (with no vote) as an opposition party leader.

Normally budget executive is a “non-event”, as the real discussion and decisions take place a week later at the Budget Council. However last night’s meeting was dominated by the issue of the proposed review and management cuts to the Youth Service in Bury.

The Conservative-run Council are proposing the undertake a review of the Youth Service over the next year, with a view that it may be more appropriate for the service to be provided by one or more voluntary sector agencies, paid by the Council, rather than the Council undertaking the work itself. More worrying (to me) is that it seems to have “pre-judged” that review by already proposing the remove £200,000 from the Youth Service budget from 2010-2011 (the year after next).

Outside the Town Hall was a reasonably sized demonstration of young people from across Bury who use the youth service - together with a few (Lib Dem and Labour) councilliors and a number of other (older) adults. As Leader of our Group I was asked to address the young people, as did my colleague Cllr Vic D’Albert. A large number of young people also attended the Executive Committee where they asked questions about the proposed savings.

The Liberal Democrat Group is always happy for services that the Council runs to be reviewed, and to consider whether alternative providers - particularly charities and community groups - would be better at doing something than the Council doing it itself. So we would welcome a review, but would want that review to start with what young people want (trying to get the views of all young people, not just those that are currently using youth services).

Where we would differ with the Conservative group is we would not have “pre-judge” the review by making the £200,000 cut from 2010-2011 already in this year’s budget. It may be that management or administrative savings could be made, but in our view these should be ploughed straight back into better services for young people. We would also want so see a more “joined up” approach for young people’s serivces. The Council, the NHS, the police, schools/colleges, community groups and specialist agencies together spend a lot of money on services for young people - how much more could be achieved if they all worked together better?

The budget being proposed to the Council next week is available to look at here together with the other papers for the meeting last night. The “headlines” will no doubt change next week at full Council - but what is currently proposed is:
- that we “assume” a Council Tax rise (just the Bury council element) of 4.45% (this might change next week)
- that £1.9 million is available for new priorities (to be identified next week)
- that around £4.5 million has to be saved from the budgets for the Council to balance next year.

The proposed savings are outlined in the report, and I’ve already reported on some of the interesting ones. Some of the largest savings are around “procurement savings” - a bit vague but basically about getting the same stuff for cheaper.

I asked about two of the more controversial schemes - both of which relate to the year after next (2010-2011) (turning off some street lights and the young service savings) - I wondered if this was the best way to make major policy shifts for the Council (through a budget process) without giving them proper consideration. I’m not sure the Council Leader understood my question - but I was told that this was the way the Conservative administration would be doing things!

More to follow next week!
Tim

This weeks meetings have mostly been School Governor’s meetings at the two local schools in our area that I serve as a Governor.

Tuesday was the regular Governor’s meeting of St Margaret’s CoE Primary on Heywood Road. The school is a very popular and successful primary school, and there always seems to be something new happening at the school.

Staff at the school have been developing a new mission statement for the school: “Aim high, never give up, and enjoy growing and learning together”, and we learnt how the school was looking at ways to ensure that all subjects taught had a ‘lead teacher’ and also that different subjects had development attention over a period of time.

We discussed a couple of issues that are currently being worked on. Vandalism has been a problem at the school, which has particularly affected some of the outdoor facilities that staff and children have been developing. The school is hoping to use some of the money that it has been allocated by the Council to construct a security fence around the site which will hopefully alleviate the situation. Another issue that is of concern is the traffic build up caused by the shiccane on Heywood Road. With the high number of parents driving children to school at both St Margaret’s and Parenthorn, the shiccane can cause a dangerous level of congestion in the morning. I agreed to look at this issue with traffic engineers.

Last night was the regular meeting of Prestwich Art’s College Governing Body. This is one of the two local schools in our ward that I serve as a School Governor.

It was a very upbeat meeting, with some very good news for the school - more to follow when its properly announced! Other points raised at the meeting inclued:

- PAC have now signed the lease on a new minibus which will be very useful for taking children to sports and other events, and will also be of use for local primary schools. Part of the money for the minibus has come from local businesses, from the parents, treachers and friends association and also from a grant from the Local Area Partnership.
- First preference applications for PAC are up again this year, by roughly 25%. The adminission number for September 2010 is going to be 172 children.
- We also looked at the issue of foreign language support for children from central and eastern Europe. Polish is now the third largest linguistic group in the School, but the language support that is available (from Bury) is insufficient. We agreed that we needed to take this up with the Authority.
- We received an update on the school’s excellent assertive mentoring programme for 15-16 year olds which is helping children achieve through their GCSEs
- Finally, Governors looked at how we are best going to provide support to the school outside meetings. All of us have been allocated a faculty or a year group to take “an interest in”, mine is Modern Foreign Languages (!), so I’ll be arranging to meet up with the head of that faculty over the coming months.

Any questions, please ask!
tim

Local Councillors have reacted with anger after another spate of graffiti in Prestwich, and are calling on the Council to take immediate action to clean up the mess.

Cllr Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Holyrood ward and Chair of Prestwich Local Area Partnership said “I am disgusted that vandals continue to bring misery to local people by daubing our streets with graffiti. And I am equally angry with the Council’s woefully inadequate response. This has been going on for too long now, and it’s about time action was taken. The Local Area Partnership and the Police are already using very tight resources to try to manage this problem, but the Council need to take action now to help us and clean up the streets”

Liberal Democrats at Bury Town Hall have been campaigning for action for months. At a Council meeting in February they staged a demonstration displaying photographs of graffiti which has blighted Prestwich for months. The Council have offered graffiti kits for residents and businesses, but have so far directed no extra resource to clear up a problem which is getting worse.

Lib Dem spokesperson for Environmental Service Cllr Ann Garner said “The graffiti is on everything from streets signs to walls, and from utility buildings to business property. Graffiti kits are not a suitable solution except in limited circumstances. The Council have the power to insist that utility companies clean up graffiti on their property, and need to direct real efforts into cleaning it from their own property. I am proud of what Prestwich has to offer, and it is being ruined by graffiti which goes uncleaned for months.”

Cllr D’Albert concluded “We need to work together on this. Prestwich Councillors are doing their bit by leading the community fight. The Police did their bit by catching offenders, and we are supporting them to try to catch the latest offenders. But the Council are letting us down. They need to take action to clean up Prestwich now. “

The future of the threatened Post Office network could now be decided by a national consultation launched last month by MPs.

I am urging all local residents to offer their ideas for developing Post Office businesses so they are secure for the future.

The Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Committee’s Post Office Consultation can provide a blueprint to save the entire Post Office network, and it is vital that local people get involved in putting ideas forward. Their online forum gives them a chance to hear from as wide a cross-section of public opinion as possible.

The parliamentary inquiry started in December, with the online forum opening in January. The Liberal Democrats, both locally and nationally, have campaigned strongly against Post Office closures , as well as backing the fight to keep the Post Office Card Account (POCA).

The Post Office Network had a reprieve in December when the government bowed to pressure from the Lib Dems and other groups to retain the Post Office Card Account, but it’s only a short term solution.

The Post Office still needs to be made viable if we are to avoid seeing more closures, and the best way of doing that is to provide more government services through the Post Office.

I strongly urge as many people as possible to take part in this consultation. The BERR Committee’s report will carry a lot of weight, and could provide a blueprint for the future of the Post Office network. It is vital that local people make their voices heard.

The online forum can be found at: http://forums.parliament.uk/post-office-future/index.php?index,1

Really good campaign from the NHS about awareness about Strokes. I would really encourage people to look at this - some simple signs we can all be aware of that could save lives.

The NHS Website is here

The Department for International Development, has produced this report of its work to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Inevitably the economic circumstances at the time of the next general election will play a large part in determining how, over what timescale, and at what cost, our commitment to giving every child the best chance in life will be delivered.

Nonetheless, in the midst of the most severe economic crisis for half a century, we need to demonstrate that ambitious policies for our children’s futures can be afforded. Further tax rises or borrowing are simply not credible sources of finance for current spending. Only with reallocation of funds from lower priority government spending can we be certain we can meet these costs.

Over the last 6 months, the Liberal Democrats have been carrying out a thorough and painstaking review of all central government spending. We have identified items of current expenditure that we believe are wasteful, wrong, unnecessary, or of low priority that in total would provide £20 billion to be reallocated to Liberal Democrat priorities. Those priorities will be spelled out in our manifesto.

We will release the full details of our spending review in the run up to the general election; the partial list in this paper, however, comprises the first part of that review. We are publishing this list in order to underline the importance that we attach to investing in the future of Britain’s children.

It will also serve to demonstrate that our purpose in identifying these savings is to reallocate funds to other priorities. Gordon Brown’s continued allegations that we would cut net spending overall by £20 billion are totally untrue.

Taken together, the cost of these proposals would amount to £6.6bn by year three of a Liberal Democrat Government (the point at which we would hope to bring in 20 hours free childcare for all children 18 months and over). The savings identified to meet potential costs on this scale would direct an additional £4.6bn into education spending from savings in other departments, with just over £2bn of current education departmental spending also redirected to Liberal Democrat education priorities. Full details of the proposed policies in these areas will be released in the coming weeks and debated at our Spring Conference in Harrogate in March.

Take a look at this page on the Liberal Democrat website.

Please find below a flyer for the details of the regular Community Playworker Sessions and for the February Half Term activities being run by Bury Play Network. Please pass on to families/community groups you work with, or pass on to your own children to come along!

If you have any queries please contact the Children’s and Young People’s Information Service on 0800 731 4611.
More information from Hannah Burbedge, Play Strategy Implementation Officer, h.burbedge@bury.gov.uk

One of Bury’s Youth MP’s, and a local resident of our area, Catherine Rawsthorne, was short listed for two prizes at the Youth Parliament Awards which took place on 28 January at the Palace of Westminster. There are over 500 Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) across the country and the annual Youth Parliament Awards have been set up to recognise their hard work and commitment to this voluntary role.

Twelve young people from across the country were short listed to be considered for the awards, including Bury’s MYP Catherine Rawsthorne.

Catherine, who attends Holy Cross College, was the only young person to be short listed for two awards:
- The Campaigner’s Award -for all her work on a campaign to lower the cost of public transport for young people; and
- The Andrew Rowe Award - for exceptional commitment to Youth Parliament over and above the expected duties of an MYP.

Catherine’s term of office in Bury is due to end in March but she has been elected by MYPs from across the North West to represent the region at a national level so her commitment to voicing the views of young people is set to continue.

Catherine has also been an active member of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership representing young people over the last year, so its great to see her recognized in this way nationally.

PROPOSALS from the Liberal Democrats for big improvements to schools and teaching will see around £11 million of extra cash for schools in Bury to boost the education and life chances of thousands of children say local party members.

The plans were launched by Party Leader Nick Clegg and Shadow Secretary of State for Schools, David Laws MP. They call for raising standards in all local schools; closing the gap between children from rich and poor families and ending the era of Government meddling in education.

Speaking about the proposals to a meeting of members and residents, Councillor Tim Pickstone, who leads the Lib Dems in Bury said:

“There are a number of radical ideas to ensure all young people get the best start in life. The extra cash will make a real difference in our local schools.

“I am particularly pleased that funding is proposed to cut infant class sizes to private school levels of 15.

“We will also introduce a £2.5bn Pupil Premium, to ensure that extra funding goes to the pupils with the highest needs, whichever school they are in. And some of that extra money will pay for after school and Saturday classes, and extended school days.

“We will also get central government off the back of schools, teachers and pupils. The days of ministers in Whitehall stifling schools and interfering with everything that happens in the classroom must end.

“Schools here in Bury need to be freed to teach children rather than spend their time obeying ministerial orders and trying to achieve government targets.

“The schools proposals put forward by the Liberal Democrats will go a long way to ensuring that the many thousands of local children who go to local schools have at least as good a start in life as the small number who are educated privately.”

The proposals will be debated at the party’s spring conference in Harrogate in March.

Liberal Democrats on Bury Council are “ashamed” of the treatment of Council staff in the recent Pay and Grading review, according to Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone.

Cllr Pickstone, speaking at the meeting of Bury Council on February 4th, said “In all honesty, I was ashamed of the review. I was ashamed that that staff were sent letters saying that their salary would drop - only to be sent new letters a couple of months later saying that the rates would fall even more, and ashamed that staff were sent dismissal letters giving over the Christmas holidays, and then saw them withdrawn because of a lack of consultation.”

The Liberal Democrats supported a motion of no confidence in the Conservative Leader of the Council, Cllr Bob Bibby. But Cllr Pickstone said “It is true that the Conservatives run the Council and must take much of the blame for this calamity, but there has been a breakdown in relations between the Council and its staff representatives, and in my view the Labour Party must also take their share of blame because they were in control of the Council when this started.

Liberal Democrat spokesman for Resource and Performance, Cllr Richard Baum said “The Council has not been at its best whilst the Conservatives have been running this process. The Tories made a mockery of the scrutiny process by bending the rules around how decisions are overseen by the Council, and have consistently refused offers of help from other parties to try and work this out.”

Last night we never got round to the questions we’d asked of the Council - so here are some of the written answers!

Cllr Richard Baum asked about the Air Quality monitoring station on Bury New Road
Q Prestwich has the worst air quality in the Borough. One of the two air quality measuring devices in Prestwich (the one on the corner of Bury New Road and Butterstile Lane) has been broken almost continually since its installation eight years ago and has only been able to provide one full year’s data in all that time. Why has this been allowed to happen and what is the Leader going to do about it.

A The air monitoring facilities were originally funded by grants for DEFRA. They specified the design and monitoring equipment that the stations were to hold.

This small unit houses two analysers within a cabinet which also includes air conditioning and computer equipment to gather data. It is quite a complicated system within a small space which has led to a series of design and technical malfunctions.

In order to get meaningful results, the unit needs to measure pollution for at least 75% of the year. We worked closely with DEFRA, the software suppliers and designers to resolve the problems over this time but without success. However, DEFRA have now provided further grant funding which will see the installation of a more reliable long term monitoring facility on that site.

This Council is currently leading a collaborative procurement exercise to purchase a joint service and maintenance contract for the air quality monitoring stations at Bury, Tameside, Trafford and Salford. It is expected this arrangement will provide a more efficient support service for the monitoring stations in the long term.

I asked a question about the runours of Hard Shoulder Running on the M60
Q Would the Leader like to comment on the reports of proposals for “Hard Shoulder Running” on the M60 as it passes through the Borough? Will the Council consider the environmental consequences of such a scheme to people who live nearby to the Motorway, and enter into a dialogue with the Highways Agency to ensure that the interests of local people are heard on this issue?

A The Environmental Impacts of Active Traffic Management which includes “Hard Shoulder Running” can be quite complex. The system tends to improve traffic flows with controlled speeds which can reduce emissions and noise levels. However this may be accompanied by an increase in numbers of vehicles which could produce a negative impact. In June 2008 The Highways Agency produced a report on the first 12 months of a similar scheme on the M42 to the south east of Birmingham. This report concluded that there was a minor improvement in noise levels and there was no evidence that the scheme lead to an increase in emissions of the main pollutants.

Having said that we will maintain a dialogue with the Highways Agency to establish their exact proposals and to ascertain the likely environmental impacts on local residents. Through this dialogue we will do all we can to ensure that the interests of local residents are looked after.

Andrew Garner asked a question about the cost of the TIF Referendum
Q Following on from the verbal question asked by Cllr Pickstone at the last meeting of the Council, what was the total amount spent by the Greater Manchester Authorities and/or Passenger Transport Authority on the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bid, TIF referendum and TIF “Yes Campaign”? What is Bury’s “share” of this cost?

A The amount spent on the TIF Bid by Greater Manchester authorities was nil, at it was funded by the Government.

The overall costs for Greater Manchester - for communications, the count and declaration; and for the office of the Returning Officer, were five hundred and twenty one thousand, six hundred and ninety nine pounds (£521,699).

This was apportioned to each Council on the basis of electorate. Therefore for this Council, with an electorate of 140,441, the total was one hundred and sixty eight thousand, eight hundred and fifty pounds 72 pence (£168,850.72)
(The actual costs incurred were broadly in line with previous estimates).

No public funding was used for the “Yes Campaign.”

Donal O’Hanlon asked a question about the regeneration of Prestwich
Q Given the delay to the adoption of the regeneration strategy for Prestwich, can the Leader confirm that he & his party will ensure all haste is made by the Council and the consultants it employs, to review the retail capacity study and the process of revision (if necessary) to the strategy?

A. Thank You for your question Cllr O’Hanlon. It is in everyone’s interest that URBED complete the revision of the retail capacity study to progress Prestwich’s much needed regeneration.

I can confirm that it is the intention of this administration to ensure everything is in hand to facilitate the review the retail capacity study and subsequent revisions to the Strategy should they be necessary.
To this end :-
Drivers Jonas Consultants were appointed on the 23 January to carry out the retail review.

They have undertaken to have the Draft of the retail review ready for our consideration by the end of February 2009.

URBED were also retained on 23 January to produce an update of the Baseline Report for the Prestwich Strategy to incorporate considerations which follow on from the Drivers Jonas retail review. The URBED work is expected to be completed by mid March.

Both the Drivers Jonas retail review and the Urbed Baseline report will need to be assessed and a report prepared for Management Board and the Executive.

Officers are aiming to produce a report in the new municipal year.

Last night was the regular “Full Council” meeting of Bury Council. This is where all 51 Councillors (and a very small number of members of the public!) come together for a full meeting.

Last night was not the best meeting I’ve experienced as a Councillor. I can only hope that the democratic process in the Council gets better, but I do fear that it is going to get worse first!

Questions to the Leader
Questions to the Leader of the Council were a bit of a farce. Sixteen Questions had been submitted, but this time all of Labour’s questions were above us on the order paper, and the answers went on for hours so only four questions were answered in time time allowed. We will receive written answers to our questions which I’ll post here when they’re received.

Oral questions are allowed to the Leader, but only if its something that has been discussed by the Executive Committee since the last meeting of the Council. We’ve been caught out by that in the recent past (its a new rule!), but when a Conservative Councillor asked a question on an issue that hadn’t been discussed by the Executive, he got an answer - seems to be one rule for some and one for the others… I asked a question about whether Local Area Managers were going to be moved around the borough, and whether Local Area Partnership Chair had been consulted on this. I suspect there is more to come on this.

Councillor Donal O’Hanlon asked a question about Prestwich Arts College and its Dining Room - he was assured that officers of the Council were working with the school to look at this. PAC is the only secondary school in the borough not to have a dedicated dining room and it is long overdue.

Pay and Grading Review / Vote of No-Confidence in the Leader
Labour had submitted a “motion of no confidence” in the Leader of the Council, Councillor Bob Bibby, because of the way that the Pay and Grading Review had been undertaken.

The Liberal Democrat Group considered this carefully. This style of individual attacks is not how we wish to conduct ourselves, but we did feel that something had to be said about the way that the pay and grading review had been undertaken.

I made clear our views in a speech on behalf of the group. I said that we should judge ourselves on what a local resident would think about the process. In all honesty, if a local person stopped me in the street and asked what I though of Bury Council’s pay and grading review I would have to say I was ashamed of it.
- ashamed that there has been a breakdown in relations between the Council and its staff representatives - in my view the Labour Party must also take their share of blame here.
- ashamed that staff were sent letters saying that their salary would drop - only to be sent new letters a couple of months later saying that the rates would fall even more!
- ashamed that the process of Scrutinising the decisions had been made a mockery by a decision of the COuncil being published late in the evening, and then called in by the rulling Conservative group that same evening!
- and finally ashamed that staff were sent (what are effectively dismissal letters giving notice of a change of pay) over the Christmas holidays, and then withdrawn because of a lack of consultation.

My colleague Richard Baum also highlighted a range of failings in his speech to Council in this speech.

In the end the Vote of Confidence in the Leader was defeated by 26 votes to 25.

Not the best evening ever, and then I find out that while we were there - Everton had beaten Liverpool - which made it even worse!

Tim

A shocking dossier from the Liberal Democrats has revealed just some of the ways our taxes are being wasted on extravagant and incompetent projects.

Despite the hardship many local families and residents face, Labour found £130 million to refurbish the Ministry of Justice’s office, £29 million to build accommodation for asylum seekers which was never built, £7 million for chauffeur-driven cars for ministers in just one year - and £50,000 for a party to which only 20 guests were invited!

A massive £13 billion has also been spent on an NHS records system which doesn’t work.

How our money is wasted

* £13 billion on an NHS record system that is a complete failure
* £130 million on refurbishing Ministry of Justice offices
* £81 million on a Department of Transport economy drive that was supposed to save £57 million
* £29 million on accommodation for asylum seekers that was never built
* £265.8 million the amount the government spent on advertising, marketing and public relations in 2007/8, an increase of £197.2 million since 1997-98
* £200 million wasted over the past five years on IT projects that were never completed
* £7 million on chauffeur driven cars for ministers in one year
* £28.78 million in rent for unoccupied houses for soldiers and their families
* £330 million overspent by government departments on their premises
* £4.2 million by the Government’s Qualifications & Curriculum Authority on hotel rooms in an 18 month period
* £50,000 on a party to which only 20 guests were invited
* £2,000 each on image and public speaking training for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham

People who live in the Polefield area are to a meeting of the Polefield Community Group Meeting on Tuesday 24th Feb 09 6.30-7.30pm at Heaton Park Primary School.

The Agenda
Housing related Issues
Antisocial Behaviour issues
Talk to your local Councillor
Have a chat with your local PCSO’s / Police officer
Vote in the committee so we can continue the good work
Give ideas on how we can improve the environment.
What funding should we apply for next? Help us to decide.

For more information please contact Claire Delaney from 6 Town Housing on 0161 686 8000

10 February 2009 is “Safer Internet Day”. Bury Safe (the partnership between the Council and the Police) are circulating information to parents who might be concerned about their children’s internet use.

Please find below a link to the Think U Know campaign website, which contains useful information for parents and want some hints and tips on how to ensure that their children are safely using their computers. The website is part of the CEOP’s ( Child Sexual Exploitation and Online Protection ).
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/

Only two schools in Bury have confirmed that they are closed today, 3 February 2009, due to the adverse weather conditions:

- Fairfield Community Primary School, Rochdale Old Road, Bury, BL9 7SD
- Mersey Drive Community Primary School, Mersey Drive, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 8LN

Bury Council are currently only reporting two school closures today (Monday 2 February). I will update this if things change:

Wesley Methodist Primary School, Forth Road, Radcliffe, Manchester
Heaton Park Primary, Cuckoo Lane, Whitefield

Please take very special care driving and walking today - it is treacherous out there.

(The M62 just past Simister Island on the edge of Prestwich. This image is courtesy of the BBC, and is Crown Copyright. The lane nearest the camera is Eastbound, towards Leeds - Prestwich in the background).
LIVE motorway cameras at BBC Manchester here.

The Council’s Environment Executive Member (Dorothy Gunther), issued the following statement at noon today:
“I write to update you on the present situation with regards to gritting procedures during the ongoing adverse weather conditions.

The gritter’s were deployed at 21:00hrs on Sunday 1/2/09 and worked continuously until 06:25 this morning. 137 tonnes of rock salt was spread across the borough highways.

Two gritter’s were deployed again at 07:00hrs covering the North and the South of the borough and are still out at the moment. We are going to utilise two drivers’ from the highways dept to join up with existing drivers to cover as many side streets as possible so it aids refuse collection tomorrow. Once achieved we will be continuing from South to North and fully operational tonight again at 18:00hrs.”

Over the weekend there’s been discussion amongst Liberal Democrat colleagues about our MPs voting records, as recorded on the excellent website They Work for You. My colleage Richard Baum reports more on this.

According to the report on our local Bury South MP Ivan Lewis, our representative’s voting record includes the following “highlights” (or is it lowlights?):

Voted strongly against a transparent Parliament.
Voted strongly for introducing ID cards.
Voted very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals.
Voted strongly for introducing student top-up fees.
Voted very strongly for Labour’s anti-terrorism laws.
Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war.
Voted very strongly for replacing Trident.
Voted moderately for equal gay rights.
(I’ve included the latter, as really it should have been “strongly for”)