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 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

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.

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