Manchester City Council passed the controversial plans for artificial soccer pitches, tennis courts, car parking and a club house which would take up the entire St Margaret’s corner of Heaton Park earlier this year. This was despite more than 10,000 people raising objections in some way to the plans, with letters, petitions and the “Save Heaton Park” Facebook group. Following the decision the campaigners have taken legal advice about the decision, and have asked the Government Office for the North West through Ivan Lewis MP to refer the decision to the Secretary of State for reconsideration.

Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Tim Pickstone, who worked with the campaigners said: “It’s a terrible shame but this really does seem like it’s the last attempt to save the park. Hopefully the powers that be will see sense. There is clearly so much wrong with this decision. How any elected official can ignore so much local opposition continues to amaze me”.

“The campaign group want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has been so supportive. The level of support for the campaign has been absolutely brilliant. We will keep people informed on how the referral to the Secretary of State goes.”

… is how everyone involved in the Campaign feels after Manchester Council’s Planning Committee has today voted , about 9 votes to 5 votes to APPROVE the Commercial Soccer Centre in Heaton Park.

An impressive crowd of protestors made it to Manchester Town Hall on a Thursday afternoon and the public areas were packed with protestors.

Councillors first voted on a request made by local Prestwich Councillor Tim Pickstone for a site visit (so that the Councillors would consider this at their next meeting after visiting the area) but this was voted down about 9 votes to 5.

Then the campaign got a make its case when local resident Paul Toner spoke against the plans, together with statements from local Councillors Tim Pickstone, Wilf Davison and spokesperson for Ivan Lewis MP. A spokesperson for Goals Soccer Centres spoke in favour of the proposals.

There was controversy when it came to light that a response from the Garden Historical Society AGAINST the plans had not been included in the paperwork for the meeting. The GHS are a statutory consultee on this issue and they raised serious concerns about the impact of the centre on the historical character of the park, and on how it would impact on the entrance way.

A proposal to defer the decision to allow more time to consider this late objection was defeated 9 votes to 5. (Getting a pattern here?)

There was some debate by Councillors, but most remained silent.

Finally the proposal was approved by 9 votes to 5. Planning is a non-Party Political issue, but by chance……, all the Labour Councillors voted in favour, all the Liberal Democrat councillors voted against.

So, after all the hard work of the Campaign the proposal has been accepted. Everyone involved is gutted and devastated by the decision.

On Thursday, 11 February 2010, the Planning Committee of Manchester City Council, will consider the planning application from Goals Soocer Centres UK for a commercial 5-a-side soccer centre at the At Margaret’s side of Heaton Park.

Remember that these revised plans include a massive 2.4m perimeter fence around the site, as well as further fenced off car-park, going up towards the reservoir. You can view all the plans at Manchester Council’s Website.

This could well be our LAST CHANCE to save Heaton Park - this is the third time that Goals have submitted their plan, but the first that its actually made it to the agenda for a committee meeting. The recommendation from the Planning Officers is to “Approve” the report.

We’ve had a terrific response to the campaign so far: hundreds of people have sent in objection letters and emails; signed the petitions and written to the press. Thank you for everything that people have done so far.

We still need help to stop this application:

If you are available on THURSDAY afternoon, join us outside Manchester Town Hall (Albert Square side) at 1.30pm. We’ll be going into the Committee meeting (this starts at 2.00pm) together where we’ll be allowed one person to speak on our behalf. Its important that as many people as possible come along and show the strength of feeling against the proposal.

Its not too late to apply pressure to your elected representatives - MPs and Councillors. If you live in Manchester please email your councillor telling them how strongly you oppose the application and ask them to represent you. You can automatically email all your councillors by entering your postcode at this website.

If you live in either Bury South or Manchester Blakeley Parliamenary constituencies why not email your MP telling them how strongly you feel?

Bury South - Ivan Lewis MP (Labour): ivanlewis@burysouth.fsnet.co.uk

Manchester Blakely - Graham Stringer MP (Labour): Link to email

Carry on keeping up the pressure:
- tell your friends
- if you’re on facebook copy this message to your friends
- if you use twitter - tweet about this!
- use any opportunity in the press, or in internet discussion sites to object to the proposals.

Follow these links to the Planning Committee agenda and the actual report.

Agendaf

Report

Keep up the campaign!

The campaign to save Heaton Park from a commercial soccer centre made it to the BBC Manchester website today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8492770.stm

Heaton Park residents oppose sports centre plans

People living around one of Europe’s largest municipal parks are opposing plans to create a new sports centre.
Goals Soccer Centres wants to build 13 five-a-side pitches, changing rooms, and tennis and netball courts in the north-west corner of Heaton Park.
But opponents said the security fencing would create a “caged stockade”, out of keeping with the green space.
Manchester City Council, which owns the park, said the plans were compatible with the ethos of the park.

Wilf Davison, who represents Prestwich residents for neighbouring Bury Council, said: “What they are proposing is a caged stockade.”
“We believe it is going to create major parking problems, major congestion in the entrance area which is St Margaret’s Road.

“We think the visual appearance is awful… it will be visually intrusive for the local community. Their outlook - for the people who live opposite - will be appalling.”

The 640-acre park in north Manchester, about four miles from the city centre, provides about a quarter of the city’s green space.
Councillor Mike Amesbury, executive member for culture and leisure at Manchester City Council, said the facility would improve the park.
Despite some opposition, he said many Manchester residents had been campaigning for the facilities since the mid-1990s.
“There are going to be differences of opinion but this is going to be great for park users,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.
Goals Soccer Centres has submitted two previous applications for football facilities at the site, which were withdrawn.

The latest will be considered by the city council’s planning committee on 11 February.

Apparently Cllr Amesbury said:
“There are going to be differences of opinion but this is going to be great for park users”

Get a grip - a large piece of open parkland is going to be turned into caged football pitches, which will cost around £45 an hour to hire. Explain to me how that’s “great for park users”???

Due to the huge public outcry Goals Soccer Centres have failed to present their plans to Manchester City Council Planning Committee for a second time.

They are trying everything they can to get these plans approved. It’s up to us to stop them.
They have tried and failed in other parks. We must fight them every inch of the way.

Goals have been stopped before

Regents Park - REJECTED
Mordern Park -REJECTED

Lets stop them in Heaton Park and make it three nil for all those people who love open
parkland.

We urge you to object to this new planning application
The new planning application from Goals includes raising the level of the pitches by
80 centimeters which is almost a metre higher than they were originally planned. Making this blot on the landscape even more obvious.

Additionally security fencing is also planned. This physical and visual barrier will effectively cut off this area of parkland and thereby detract from the special character of this area of the park.

You need to send your objections to Manchester City Council by 3rd February 2010 If you have already sent in an objection during the last consultation period you will still need to send in another objection.

A - Sign the Online Petition HERE

If you’ve already signed - find TWO friends to sign! - Ask them to join the “Save Heaton Park” Facebook Group.

Here’s the link to the petition to send to a friend in an email.
http://www.saveheatonpark.org.uk/?page_id=2

B - Download and email / send in an objection letter.

Download the letter here - you can amend this letter to include your own words and objectsion.

Email your objection to r.griffin@manchester.gov.uk

C - Write your own Objection Letter

Quoting Application No: 090370/FO/2009/N1

and send to:

Peter Babb
Head of Planning
Manchester City Council
P.O. Box 463
Town Hall Extension
Manchester
M60 3NY

D - Attend the Save Heaton Park Meeting
Find out what has been happening with the campaign.

Monday 25 January 2010
7.00pm Church House (St Margaret’s Road, Opposite the Church), Prestwich.

Thank you for all your support so far!

Goals Soccer Centres UK have re-submitted the planning applicaiton for the commercial soccer centre in Heaton Park for a THIRD time. Previously the application was to have been considered at the December meeting of Manchester Council’s Planning Committee, but this was withdrawn at the last minute.

Now the application is back AND IT GETS WORSE!.

- The site will be largely enclosed by a 2 metre high security fence around the perimiter of the soccer centre (this is shown on the plans below)

- A whole new section of the Park is to be enclosed by a securty fence - this is the car park to the left of the St Margaret’s Road entrance, right up to the Reservoir.

The new 2 metre high security fence will run down the park road along side the proposed development stopping at new gate that will be locked at night shutting the road. The fence will then run along the side of the existing car park up to the boundary with the reservoir effectively sealing off the rest of the park in the evening.

- Becuase of underground services, the artificial football pitches in the plan have been RAISED ABOVE GROUND LEVEL by almost 1 metre.

Download this full site plan here. (Remember this plan is only the soccer pitches area, and doesn’t include the extra fenced car park area the other side of the St Margaret’s Road gate.)

You can read the whole application at Manchester Council’s website here

Information from Bury Council

Now that waste collections have started again, the council is aiming to reach all households on their usual collection day.

If the weather continues to improve, the council intends to collect grey bins, blue bins and green bags next week.

Brown bin collections are still suspended so that we can put extra effort into clearing the backlog of other waste.

The message on Bury Council’s switchboard informs residents that:

- The Council is focussing on the collection of Grey Bins for the time being, to get rid of any backlog.
- Please leave your Grey Bin out on the normal day - we’re being allowed to put out TWO EXTRA BAGS as well as a full bin.

- If you’re due for a blue bin collection this week this will probably not take place as the teams will be focussing on the grey bins - but please put your bin out if your are due a collection, in case it is possible to empty them.

- There are no Brown Bin or paper collections at the moment, to allow for the teams to concentrate on Grey Bins.

tim

The road down to the Edenfield Unit of Prestwich Hospital - obviously cleared by the hospital because the services down there don’t have the option of closing….

By comparison, Highfield Road - a road to a local School - 5 minutes later.

Bury Council has issued the following statement:

Disruption to rubbish and recycling collections
Please be aware that due to continued severe weather conditions rubbish and recycling collections are being disrupted again this week.
Waste and recycling collections are currently suspended

Reluctantly, due to the continuing bad weather we have been forced to take the decision to suspend rubbish and recycling collections. This decision was taken after consulting the latest advice from the Met Office about weather conditions over the next few days. The depth of snow still on the ground, predicted heavy frosts and the very slow thaw of the snow and ice to date means that conditions will remain difficult for crews and vehicles to operate safely.

The collection service is currently suspended up to and including Friday 8 January. The situation will be reviewed again at the start of next week. We understand any frustration that residents may have, but the weather has left us with no choice. We will resume collections and start to clear the backlog as soon as the conditions allow. Please note that when we do resume collections we will collect from households due a collection on that day.

Brown bin collections will continue to be suspended until we have managed to clear the backlog of grey bin, blue bin and green bag collections. By temporarily suspending brown bin collections we will be able to put extra effort into collecting other types of waste.

Reduce, re-use, recycle
Please do everything you can to help get through this difficult period by reducing and recycling as much waste as you can. Plastic bottles, metal cans, glass bottles and jars can all go in the blue recycling bin - don’t forget to squash bottles and cans so that they take up less space. Paper, cardboard boxes and packaging can be recycled in the green recycling bag. If cardboard won’t fit in the green bag, it should be flattened and put out in a neat pile under or alongside the green bag. Plastic carrier bags can be used instead or as well as the green bag.

There are also recycling centres at the Longfield, on Upper Wilton Street, Park View Primary and the “tip” down Clifton Road.

Refuse collections for today, (Wednesday 6 January 2010), have been cancelled due to the weather.

This is the statement from the Council:

The refuse collection has been suspended for today as it would be hazardous for vehicles to enter some untreated side roads due to the continued freezing conditions. Residents who should have had their refuse collected today are advised to log on to the council website at www.bury.gov.uk to find out more information about alternate arrangements. All staff which should have been working on refuse collections have been diverted to supporting the teams who are out gritting and snow clearing.

In addition we can confirm that all council admin buildings will be open today for business.

The Council’s Adult Care Services Department has issued the following statement:

Bury Council’s Adult Care Services have put plans in place to help and support clients during the extremely cold weather.
Home Care Services across the borough will go ahead across the borough and clients will be updated by telephone if there are any delays to reaching them. Community Meals will be provided through a range of methods. Individuals with Disabilities, who receive care in their own home, will continue to do so and in some cases staff have stayed overnight with clients to ensure they receive the appropriate help and support this morning.
Day Care Services are closed as we do not want elderly or vulnerable clients endangering themselves as they travel to or from these services. Clients who are in need of additional support will be provided with this at home. All clients have been contacted to inform them that Day Care Services are cancelled today.
People who live in sheltered housing schemes will be contacted by community support staff, additional support will be made available if needed.
There is a Duty Service for Mental Health Services operated by Bury Council and AMP cover in operation at Inwood House and Lord Street.
The Procurement Team is operational and they will respond effectively with the private providers and deal with any matters arising
A council spokesperson said: “Being a good neighbour and checking on an elderly or vulnerable friend, relative or neighbour to see if they are all right and have everything they need is of great support to them during this cold winter period. However, if a local resident is concerned about the well being of a vulnerable person they can contact 0161 253 7190.”

Bury Council have announced that all refuse collections in Bury have been cancelled today due to the bad weather conditions.

I will update this post when I have more information about what this means for people’s rubbish.

The Chief Executive of Bury Council has issued the following statement:

Owing to the continuing severe weather conditions the council is only able to run very limited services today. The refuse collection service has been suspended. People wishing to contact the council should only do so if it is an emergency.

Due to a national shortage of grit the council has to prioritise the roads which are treated. In order to keep traffic flowing through the borough, main arterial routes and bus routes are the only roads which can be treated with current resources.

The following statement has been issued by Bury Council today (Tuesday 22 December 2009).

Due to the atrocious weather conditions, the waste and recycling collections have had to be suspended for the remainder of today (Tuesday). A decision on collections for Wednesday and Thursday will be made on the morning.

Reluctantly, we have been forced to take this decision to protect the health and welfare of our collection teams, who are finding it impossible to navigate through some of the borough’s streets.

We understand any frustration that residents may have, but the weather has left us with no choice. We will endeavour to clear the backlog as soon as the conditions allow.

Our gritting teams, however, will continue to grit the roads.

In the meantime residents are asked to reduce and recycle their waste as much as they possibly can. Plastic bottles, metal cans, glass bottles and jars can all go in the blue recycling bin. Paper, cardboard boxes and packaging can be recycled in the green recycling bag. If cardboard won’t fit in the green bag, it should be flattened and left in a neat pile under the green bag. Plastic carrier bags can be used instead of the green bag. For details of household waste recycling centres and local recycling centres go to www.bury.gov.uk/recyclingcentres

Also, again due to the worsening weather conditions, Bury Council has decided to close adminstrative buildings with effect from 1pm today (Tuesday Dec 22). This includes Bury town hall, council offices, leisure centres, and libraries, which will re-open on Tuesday, December 29.

Staff affected have been asked to take work home this afternoon and tomorrow.

Staff supplying emergency services will be working as normal.

Following public consultation, the traffic safety scheme outside of Prestwich Arts College is to go ahead.

The scheme provides for a short stretch of 20mph ourside the school, including a “raised table”.

More information here

A surprisingly quiet M62 looking back towards Simister at 7.15 this morning.

Please take extreme care travelling this morning - last night there was still snow on minor roads, and also many ‘distributary’ roads (e.g. Heywood Road, Whittaker Lane) - this looks to have frozen solid, so TAKE CARE.

Many people have contacted me over the weekend about gritting with the situation being bad everywhere, but particularly acute in the north of the Borough (north of Bury town centre).

We did receive an informal update yesterday explaining that the teams had been out almost permanently gritting around the Borough, but clearly people have still has significant problems. I have already asked for one this morning which I will post here when I get it.

Bin collections that people would normally have had on Tuesday which are meant to be happening today may well be affected. I have put my bin out as normal, but as soon as I have more information I will let people know.

Bury College have cancelled all interviews for new students today, saying:
“For pupils attending for interview on Monday 21st December 2009. Due to the poor weather and road conditions, all interviews for year 11 pupils are cancelled on Monday 21st December 2009. Please be reassured you will be contacted early in the New Year to arrange an alternative appointment for you.”

UPDATE AT 12.30 pm - MONDAY

Update from Bury Council:

Gritters were out all weekend and 535 tonnes of salt were spread on Sat and Sun alone.
Today all Street Cleaning staff are employed on gritting duties including in town centres and refilling of grit bins.
All 5 gritting vehicles are also out at the moment.

Refuse/recycling collections were severely disrupted on Friday in the Ramsbottom/Tottington area due to snow and ice. We have vehicles in the area today mopping up missed grey bins as best they can, but if anything conditions will be worse than they were on Friday.Brown bin collections are effectively suspended today with contents of bins frozen solid in any case.

This morning it was debatable as to whether the service should have been suspended or not on grounds of H&S. A decision was taken not to suspend the service, however all collection crews went out late and combined with the road conditions it will inevitably mean that not all of today’s work will be completed.

The message to all callers is that we are doing our very best to get all collections made before Christmas in very difficult circumstances.

Update sent to Councillors from Bury Council:

“All gritters were called out last night at 8.45pm and they did a full grit of the borough.

It was snowing fitfully throughout the night and a decision was taken to do another grit in the north of the borough, which was completed in the early hours of this morning.

5 gritters are out and about at the moment across the borough, but they are particularly focusing on the north where conditions are worst.

All Street Cleaning teams are spreading grit by hand in town centres and other areas with a high footfall. Grit bins are being replenished too.

In total 108 tonnes of grit have been taken out by the gritters last night and today.”

Until very recently I didn’t know that the St Margaret’s Road corner of Heaton Park was used as a camp during the First World War.

This postcard was sent from the camp to Katie from Jack. It seemed that Katie was too busy to write back…..

The campaign to stop an 8-acre private soccer centre being built in Heaton Park is in its final stages ahead of a decision by Manchester Council on December 17th. Campaigners to save the park have been encouraged by a wave of rejections for similar schemes in parks in London.

Campaigners in Morden Park found out this week that their campaign to stop their park being turned into a commercial soccer centre had been a success. Find our more from their website here.

Regents Park, as well as parks in Morden and Wandsworth in the capital, have all been threatened with “Goals” soccer centres similar to the one proposed for Heaton park. In each case the applications have been rejected after public pressure.

Campaigners in Morden produced this stunning video to support their cause:

It is brilliant Ithat communities in London have come together to save parkland, and that local Councils have listened to what people want. I appeal to Manchester City Council to do the same.

We have always said that this is a good facility, but in completely the wrong place. We are all for better sports facilities, but this is an 8 acre concrete site with a big car park, charging people a lot of money and open until 11pm. This isn’t something that should be built on green land inside a quiet public park.

Manchester Council will hear the application on December 17th. In the meantime I urge as many local people as possible to visit the website at www.saveheatonpark.org.uk and learn more about how to stop this development from threatening our park.

Bury Council is gearing up to introduce new borough-wide rubbish and recycling collection routes as from Tuesday 24 November.

The new routes are part of a plan to reduce carbon emissions by cutting down on fuel usage, make better use of the collection vehicles and extend recycling opportunities into rural areas. This is the first major change to collection routes for eight years and the first since kerb side recycling was introduced. As a result 20,000 households out of nearly 82,000 are to be given new rubbish and recycling collection days.

Read the rest of this entry.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with some of the team from Greater Manchester Probation Service’s “Community Payback” scheme who have been working on the “Prestwich Big Clean”.

The scheme, where offenders undertake supervised community work as part of a sentence from the courts, has provided 30 days of graffiti cleaning to Prestwich over the last couple of months.

The team’s last day was yesterday where then ended up cleaning around the end of Holyrood Road and Bury Old Road in our area (particularly there was some terrible graffiti near to the “Holyrood Nursery” on Bury Old Road), before going down to the Rainsough area and the Rainsough Community Centre.

It was great to meet with the probation team, the supervisor and to thank the men who’d been working on the scheme for their hard work. The team told me that they’d had some really positive feedback from local people over the last couple of months.

Unfortunately more graffiti has appearded since the big clean started, and unfortunately more probably will. The Local Area Partnership has engaged the team to come back around 3 days a month to help keep up the graffiti cleaning and undertake some other community work.

Goals Soccer Centres have re-submitted their plans for a commercial soccer centre in the St Margaret’s Road area of Heaton Park this week.

These plans will now be subject to public consultation, with an expected date at Manchester Council’s Planning Committee on 17 December 2009.

The plans have been resubmitted despite significant opposition from local residents, heritage watchdogs and many users of the park.

The new plans see a slightly reduced scheme of THIRTEEN soccer pitches, SIX tennis courts and a climbing wall area. There are 40 car parking spaces and Club House.

Over the next week we’ll be giving you more information on how to campaign against the proposals - this will be our last chance to SAVE HEATON PARK!

More information on the planning application here (Manchester City Council). (Search under Higher Blackley Ward.)

Download the plans here and here.

The Guardian, it’s feature on “where to live” last Saturday (31 October 2009) featured our lovely Borough in “Let’s move to Bury”.

“It’s smaller, more manageable and all-round nicer than its fellow edge-of-Manchester neighbours Rochdale, Oldham and Bolton. Studded with villagey spots such as Summerseat, its Victorian villas and semis are also way cheaper than those just south in Manc, whose bright lights are just a 20-minute ride away.” …. says the Guardian.

Local resident (and by chance Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate): Richard Baum comments on Guardian online: “Absolutely ideal in terms of geography – you can be in the Peaks or the Lakes in an hour, the Yorkshire Moors in 20 minutes.”

The Campaign has recently made it to the national satirical magazine “Private Eye“.

(just click on the cutting to view in a larger size).

The LovePrestwich Big Clean will officially end next week – but the campaign to clean up the town still goes on.

The Community Payback team will hit the town centre on November 3 and 4 for a final go, then head to the Holyrood Road/Heys Road/Bury Old Road Area to tackle graffiti on shops, businesses, backs of shops, and the side of houses.

Councillor Vic D’Albert, chair of Prestwich Local Area Partnership, said: “If this Community Payback team were playing in the Premiership or Champions League, they’d be champions. Their team work is fantastic, their commitment without doubt and the difference they have made to Prestwich is phenomenal.

“The work doesn’t stop here - we hope to continue to work with Community Payback, subject to funding, for three days a month to clean off graffiti and much more.

“We certainly want to expand the idea, and arrange community clean-up weekends of action whereby, if people volunteer, we will provide skips and litter picks to tidy the streets. This team is a winning team and I hope it is here to stay.”

Graffiti and No Graffiti outside M&S earlier this month.

These pictures, taken by a local resident early this morning, show digging works in the top corner of Heaton Park (the St Margaret’s corner). According to the Heaton Park Wardens some sort of work around the proposed Soccer Centre - funny I thought we lived in a democracy, and no decision has been made yet?

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats has launched this message for anyone who’s ever voted for the Green Party, or is thinking about doing so at the next general election. He’s asking you to lend your vote to the Liberal Democrats in 2010, to stop climate change.

Nick says: “This election is our best chance – it’s probably our last chance – to get a government that acts to cut carbon emissions and protect our planet for our children. This is not a time for people who care about the environment to quarrel between ourselves. This is a time for unity.

I understand completely why people are drawn to the Green Party. Lots of people tell me they know the Greens can’t win, but they want to send a message that the environment matters. I understand that.

But the time for sending messages is over. Climate scientists tell us the next government will be the last one that can stop dangerous climate change. So it’s time for action. Only a party that has real power and influence at the heart of government will be able to make it happen.

There has been too much hot air from Labour and the Conservatives. If either of them is given a free rein in the next Parliament, they will fall short of what’s needed. They will kow-tow to business interests and political pressure. We cannot afford to let that happen.

That’s where the Liberal Democrats come in. We can make the difference.

Already, there are 150 Liberal Democrats MPs and peers in Parliament. Our votes in Parliament got a “feed in tariff” put into law to encourage renewable energy. Our votes forced the government to commit to smart meters in every household. Our votes forced companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions. We are a force for real green change, not just green words.

Just imagine what we could achieve in the next Parliament, with your help. We will demand 10% cuts in emissions in 2010, like the brilliant 10-10 campaign is fighting for. We will demand a real commitment to renewable energy. We will demand Britain be set on course to a zero carbon future. And if – with your help – our voice is strong enough, we will succeed.

Many people vote for the Green Party for good reasons. But time is running out, and a vote for a party that probably won’t win a single MP is a wasted vote. The best bet for all environmentalists is to unite under the banner of the only green party that’s actually got power in Parliament. With your support, the Liberal Democrats will be bigger and stronger than ever, and we will force through the change you want - the change our planet needs.

The clock is ticking. Climate change is worsening. We have one planet, and no second chances. So let us have one voice, too. Lend your vote to the Liberal Democrats, and stop climate change before it is too late.”

Nick Clegg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats

How & Why We Can Do This

Many thanks to Sean for this map which shows just how much of Heaton Park is already taken up for other activities, rather than ‘open parkland’. The areas in use include car parks, gold courses, animal grazing and football pitches.

Campaigner fighting to save the St Margaret’s corner of Heaton Park from being turned into a commercial soccer centre are worried that less and less of the Park is being left as open parkland.

More information www.saveheatonpark.org.uk

Lib Dems in Bury have revealed how that Conservative-run Bury Council is set to take 75 years to repairs roads that need repairing at its current rate of expenditure - so we’ll be done by 2084!

In last night’s Full Council meeting, I asked the Council how many roads fail the Best Value Intervention level where repairs are needed - “BVPI224b”. This is the criteria which currently generates a report for each Local Area Partnership in Bury from which we can “choose” an average of ONE road a year to be repaired.

Amazingly, the answer was 426 roads with secitons below the Best Value Intervention Level - at current rates of around one per area in Bury (six for the whole of Bury) - thats 75 years before our streets get fixed!

The streets which failed the intervention level test included such famous streets as Gigg Lane and The Rock in Bury - streets in our area included Fairfax Road, Heys Road and Cuckoo Lane.

Last year the Liberal Democrat group proposed a massive 50% increase in the road repair budget - but we were voted down by Conservative councillors.

Road safety measures are proposed at the junction of Bury Old Road and Heywood Road in Prestwich.

Bury Council has included this junction of the A665 in its annual programme of Local Safety Scheme works for 2009/2010. These are designed specifically to reduce the number of road accident casualties and to improve road safety.

Within a recent 36-month period there have been five personal injury collisions reported at this junction which have resulted in six casualties. Two of the collisions resulted in injuries to pedestrians, and one collision involved injuries to a cyclist.

The council proposes to add a push-button pedestrian crossing, or “green man” facility, to the existing traffic lights at the junction. It also proposes to widen the pedestrian island north of the junction, with association carriageway realignments. Additional lining, surfacing and signing measures are also included.

The letter to local residents is here, the plans are here.

It is anticipated that work will start in autumn 2009.

Further information: Les Watts, principal engineer, on 0161 253 5782.

Local residents campaigning against the proposed commerical soccer centre at the St Margaret’s corner of Heaton Park are hoping that the parks hertigate could save the day for this beautiful area of open parkland.

Consultation on the Goals Soccer Centre application closed in July, but campaigners have been informed that English Heritage - the Government’s formal heritage “watchdog” have raised several serious concerns about the development. Heaton Park is a Grade II parkland, and Heaton Hall itself is a Grade I listed building. Campaigners understnad that English Heritage have raised concerns about the size of the development (the number of football pitches and tennis courts), the car park (that there shoudn’t be one) and the amount of fencing in the scheme which detracts from the open nature of the park.

At the same time campaigners have found out that the Heritage Lottery Fund, who have funded millions of pounds of improvements in Heaton Park in recent years were not consulted on the proposed development, and only found out after the consultation deadline after a resident tipped them off!

Requests for a copy of the English Heritage objection have been denied by Manchester Council.

Its brilliant that these important heritage agencies have been brought into the discussion on the Soccer Centre. Heaton Park is a historic piece of parkland thats been used as a park for over 100 years. The proposed development is only metres away from a beatiful historic house.

These heritage concerns raise serious questions about the proposed development. “Bury Council has already raised concerns that there is not enough parking in the scheme. If English Heritage say there shouldn’t be a car park where does this leave the local residents?

Manchester Council must see sense now?

A month-long Big Clean of graffiti and garbage starts in Prestwich on August 3.

A hit squad from Community Payback will be removing graffiti, cleaning alleyways and “grot spots”, litter picking and carrying out community projects.

This pilot project by the BurySafe partnership will start in Prestwich Village and then move to each ward in the town.

And organisers want local people to report problems now so that they can be dealt with.

Carran O’Grady, Local Area Partnership manager, said: “Over the last month the police, councillors and volunteers have been filling in Grot Spot sheets telling us where the graffiti and other grot is – we have had more than 100 graffiti reports alone.

“Community Payback are here for 30 days only, so if you don’t report it, it won’t get done.”

Community Payback officer Craig Sykes said: “We’re glad to be involved directly with what Prestwich residents want, where offenders can be seen putting something back into the community.

“We have had the pleasure of improving St Mary’s graveyard over a number of years which is a real local treasure and our work has made a big difference.

“We have a job sheet for the town centre and every ward has had forms on site for people to fill in if residents and businesses want graffiti removing when they see what we are doing. I hope that Prestwich residents and businesses will see what a difference Community Payback can make.”

Graffiti can be reported to Carran O’Grady at c.o’grady@bury.gov.uk or via any Prestwich councillor’s blog page, and forms are available at Prestwich library.

For further information contact Carran O’Grady on 0161 253 7245.

Prestwich Local Area Partnership have launched this “Be Active in Prestwich” pocket sized map.

The map shows promotes walking, cylcing and jogging in Prestwich, with suggested cycling routes from Rhodes to the bottom of the Clough, public footpaths, ideas for health walks and heritage walks.

The map can be picked up from the Library, or you can download a copy here.

No time to wait to object to object to Goals Soccer Centre’s planning applicaiton to Manchester Council. Send in your responses by 20 July 2009. See this guide or download our leaflet now.

Here’s a video of the “rally” of local residents last Sunday.

and, so we don’t forget what a Goals Soccer Centre looks like - here’s footage of their existing Centre at Raynes Lane in London…

Here’s how to object.

Many thanks to local resident Guy Dickinson for this information

Lodging a planning application objection will take you 2 minutes.

You must lodge an objection by 20th July - go and do it right now!

1) Go to this page (it redirects to the Mancs Council planning site) - http://tinyurl.com/leuakn

2) Fill in your details and then carefully select the various options:

3) COMMENTATOR TYPE: Neighbour (obviously if you live near the park, you’re a neighbour)

4) REASONS:

(hold down the ctrl key to select multiple reasons.) I chose:
Ecology
Light
Loss of trees
Noise or Disturbance
Parking
Traffic
Visual Amenity

5) MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE OPTION “Inform the Authority that you object to the Planning Application.”

6) COMMENTS:

As I understand it, planning decisions apply more weight to objections/concerns over traffic and pollution, parking and environmental concerns. Your objection is likely to carry less weight if you simply object on grounds of aesthetic or tradition.

As an example of what can be written see this site, which you may wish to use as a template.

Hundreds of local people staged a “Save Heaton Park” rally on Sunday in protest at plans to create a large commercial sports centre on part of the park.

Over 150 local residents were joined by six local Councillors to make clear their opposition to the proposed Goals Soccer Centre which is planned to be built near the St Margaret’s Road entrance to Heaton Park. The message was clear: Save Heaton Park!

Cllr Tim Pickstone, the Liberal Democrat Councillor for Holyrood ward, addressed the crowd. He said “More sports facilities are great, but this is in completely the wrong place. The park has been here for the people of north Manchester and Prestwich for over 100 years. It’s open parkland where people can play football, have a picnic, walk the dog or play in the sun. All of this will be lost forever if it is a £40 an hour soccer centre.”

St Margaret’s Road resident Paul Toner, who helped organise Sunday’s rally, said “None of us are opposed to sports facilities, but the impact of this development on the local area would be terrible - parking, traffic, illuminated pitches.”

The scheme will be decided on by Manchester City Council, who own Heaton Park despite it being bordered by Bury land on three sides. Local residents were urged to send in letters and emails of objection to Manchester City Council before the deadline for comment on 20th July.

A full copy of the plans is available here (note this is quite a large file).

Campaigners are being asked to join a new Facebook Group to show their support.

The following statement was released from the Prestwich’s local Lib Dem Councillors last week:

Lib Dem Oasis Verdict: Room for Improvements, not 200,000 fans

Local Lib Dem Councillors have praised clean-up staff following recent Oasis concerts in Heaton Park, but voiced concerns that not enough was done to protect local people during the recent events. The concerts, which saw
210,000 people enjoy music in the park over three nights, generated controversy over noise, but passed largely without major trouble.

Commenting on the concerts, Cllr Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat member for Holyrood and Parliamentary candidate for Bury South said “What’s clear is that over 200,000 people came to Prestwich and had a great time. But there
were lots of problems for the people that live here, and we need to get the balance right. Before Manchester City Council think about having more concerts here, they need to think about Prestwich residents.”

Read the rest of this entry.

Our campaign to stop the proposed “Sports Zone” in Heaton Park has reached the letters page of the Manchester Evening News.

Thursday, 07 May 2009

Kick sport zone into touch
COUNCILLOR Mike Amesbury (Postbag, April 30) accuses Bury Lib Dems of ‘carping from the sidelines’ in our campaign to save Heaton Park from Manchester council’s plans for a private sport zone in the

This isn't the sidelines Mike, it's Prestwich. You might have heard of us? We're your neighbours.

We think your aims of providing better sport facilities are brilliant. We only wish our own council (Bury) would do the same. But it's a brilliant idea in the WRONG PLACE.

Why are you proposing to turn a beautiful piece of parkland, open to all, into a commercially run sport zone that people will have to pay to use in the peak times? Have you thought about the impact the Sport Zone (14 soccer pitches) is going to have on the small residental streets of Prestwich just outside that part of the park?

Please carry on with your plans for better sport facilities, but surely there is a way of doing this that doesn't take away from Europe's best municipal park.
Coun Tim Pickstone, Lib Dem Councillor, Holyrood Ward, Prestwich

The letter was in response to this letter from Cllr Mike Amesbury
Read the rest of this entry.

A local resident has passed us this comment from Angela Epstein writing in the Evening News - its a couple of weeks ago on 16 April.

“Where is the sence in carving up this unique piece of open parkland when there must be vast tracts of derelict wasteland that could easily be used for the proposed sports project? And wouldn’t many inner city sites and children from deprived areas benefit in particular from the addition of a supervised and subsidised sports complex close to their homes?”

Read the whole article here.

Local residents packed into St.Margarets Church House in Prestwich last night (Monday 26 April 2009) to let local councillors know their views on the proposed development by Manchester City Council of a commercially operated sports zone at the St.Margarets corner of the park.

Over 80 residents attended the meeting which I chaired and assisted by Cllr Vic D’Albert. Sedgley Lib Dem councillors Andrew Garner and Ann Garner were also present as was the Vicar of St.Margarets, The Reverend Debbie Plummer.

We outlined the proposals that have led to the meeting and that as councillors we needed to know the views of constituents.

The vast majority of residents were opposed to the proposals although there were some strong supporters in favour of the proposals.

The main reasons for opposition cited by residents were:

The impact on local traffic - especially on St.Margarets Road
The impact on parking in the area - with the fear that many visitors will try and park in side streets.
Increased traffic late into the evening
Noise and light pollution (floodlights) in the evening from the sports zone activities
Loss of historic public open parkland

Cllr Vic D’Albert told the meeting, “What I struggle with on this issue is that when the park was first being proposed for refurbishment and regeneration years ago the Councils consultants told us that he aim was to restore the park to its original splendour, to restore the “vistas” of the original park. I fail to see how a sports zone fits in with those plans. Its a difficult issue, on the one hand we desperately need 21st century sports facilities in this area, but we also want to retain our park. On the balance I think its wrong - it boils down to location, location, location.”

Voluteers were sought at the close of the meeting to collect signatures for the campaign against the plans and also to form a small action group to lead the campaign.

Remember you can sign the petition online here

PUBLIC MEETING
In case you haven’t seen a local leaflets or posters, just to confirm that there will be a public meeting about the proposals and the campaign tonight, April 27th at Church House, St.Margarets Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 (opposite St.Margarets Church). From 7pm.

Hope to see you there - there will be a further update following tonights meeting.

About 10 days ago I reported two serious “pot holes” on our local roads - on Fairfax Road, and the at the entrance to Prestwich Arts College on Heywood Road.

They’ve been fixed!, which is very efficient of the Council so thank you. Please let me know if there are any serious pot holes near you that need similar attention!

tim

Prestwich is part of the ‘LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE’ campaign in Greater Manchester launched this week. The aim is to raise awareness about the need for us all to reduce the amount of food waste we throw away.

Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family £420 a year and has serious environmental implications too.
The launch will see posters, leaflets and flyers being distributed across the Borough. There are also radio adverts planned to go out across the local radio stations in the northwest, as well as banners on bus shelters, on buses, and billboards.

More information is available from the Love Food Hate Waste Website here.

In response to anger, shock and dismay from many local residents your Holyrood Councillors (myself, Cllr Vic D’Albert and Cllr Wilf Davison) have organised a Public Meeting.
The meeting will be on monday, April 27th from 7.00pm at Church House on St.Margarets Church opposite the Church.

We want to take the opportunity to hear your views, update you on what we’ve done so far , what we’re planning and to share any further information we have.
We will have posters, leaflets and petitions available. See you there.