I’ve been away for a week, hence the absence of posts on this site!

Lots to catch up on.

tim

Not that I need reminding, but this recent survey of 250 Conservative Candidates in target parliamentary seats has just confirmed why a David Cameron Government is just the wrong answer for this Country.

Bizarrely Conservatives put the Environment (reducing Britain’s Carbon Footprint); affordable housing, and better transport BELOW “victory in Afghanistan”, “cutting red tape for small businesses” and “reducing welfare benefits”.

We have been informed of the death of Mrs Vera B Dickinson. Mrs Dickinson was a Member of the former Prestwich Borough Council and served as Mayor of Prestwich during the Municipal Year 1953/54.

The Funeral will be held at St Margaret’s Parish Church, Prestwich on Friday 8 January 2010 at 1.15 pm. The Funeral Directors are Lilleywhites of Prestwich. The Union Flag will be flown from the Council’s Official Flag Pole (corner of St Mary’s Road/Rectory Lane) until the funeral.

Please find below information from Digital UK regarding the Digital Switchover:

There is less than a month to go until switchover takes place in the Granada TV region and we’re now entering the final wave of our communications to ensure viewers know when switchover is happening and what to do.

Read the rest of this entry.

COULD YOU VOLUNTEER TO BECOME AN APPROPRIATE ADULT ?

When a young person, aged between 10 and 17, is arrested an ‘Appropriate Adult’ must be present throughout the process at the Police Station.

In the majority of cases this will be the young person’s parent or guardian but on occasion the parent or guardian may be unable or unwilling to attend the police station. In these situations the police would contact a Volunteer Appropriate Adult.

Read the rest of this entry.

Tory-run councils have been advised to delay major commercial and housing developments until the Conservatives get into power. (Source - www.planningresource.co.uk

Shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman has apparently written to Conservative local authorities to set out more clearly the practicalities of her party’s intention to scrap regional planning structure and to give local councils more freedom to break regional guidelines like “greenbelt”.

We will be asking Conservative-run Bury Council that this instruction from Party HQ won’t be affecting the redevelopment of Prestwich village centre….

Information below on an display on the work of Manchester’s Quakers on Refugees during September at Central Manchester Friends Meeting House. This is in connection with the Anne Frank Exhibition at Manchester Cathedral.

At today’s meeting of Greater Manchester’s Independent Transport Authority (ITA) (formerly the GMPTA), Manchester Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Whitmore was elected as its first ever Lib Dem Chair.

Keith said “I am honoured that colleagues have put their faith in me. I will work across the political groups to campaign and lobby for a better deal for Greater Manchester, and a better Transport system across Greater Manchester.

This is a big day for Keith and the Lib Dems across Greater Manchester. He has been a Levenshulme Councillor for 30 years, and a member of the PTA/ITA for 20 years. No-one I know has more knowledge of transport issues, or is more committed to improving Public Transport across Greater Manchester.

As part of Bike Week 2009, Love Your Bike.org are encouraging Bury council and businesses, schools and people in Bury to take the CycleGM Commuter Challenge.

Many people think that doing regular exercise is time consuming and expensive, but it does not have to be. Staff can incorporate exercise into their routines by cycling for 15-30 minutes (2 - 5 miles) to and
from work every day instead of taking the car. Over 50% of the car journeys in Greater Manchester are less than 5 miles.

The commuter challenge is simple, all people have to do is cycle to and from their place of work/study at least once during Bike Week (13th – 21st June).

People can take part in the Commuter Challenge on an individual basis. To enter, just visit this website during Bike Week and fill out the online entry form.

Or they can register as a business, organisation, school or college and challenge their staff or students to take part as a team. There are three £100 prizes for the company, organisation or education
facility who collectively cycle the most miles during Bike Week.

Cycling to work makes sense. Here are six good reasons to take part and try something different
* A chance to win £100 in the prize draq
* Lose pounds: 30 minutes of cycling 5 times a week will burn off the equivalent of 11 kg of fat per year
* be fitter and feel younger… well, regular cyclists do enjoy a level of fitness equivalent to someone ten years younger
* Get there quicker - beat the traffic congestion queues.
* reduce your risk of heart attack. Physical activity reduces the risk of developing major chronic diseases (e.g. coronary heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes) by up to 50%, and the risk of premature death by about 20-30%
* Reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution

Cycling is a fantastic way for people to improve their health, whatever their current condition. They will soon notice the difference.

Please encourage people to take the Greater Manchester Commuter Challenge. See this website for more details.

Many residents have expressed concern over the Oasis concerts which are taking place in Heaton Park on Thursday 4th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June 2009. (There is no concert on the Friday).

As your councillors we have raised a great number of concerns to the event organisers and to Bury Council which is part of the event management group.

Whilst I’m sure we all wish the concerts to be a great success, we do have to live here as well! The Local Area Partnership in Prestwich has had two presentations on the plans, and what measures have been put in place to manage traffic, parking, litter, noise and local residents needs.

The event organisers have prepared this set of Answers to “Frequently asked Questions” to help local residents plan for the event.

Please get in touch if there are other issues you wish us to raise in advance of the event.

Sgt Ian Campbell from the Prestwich Police Team has produced this spring message for local residents, together with contact details of all my Prestwich Neighbourhood Police Team.

Download the report here.

Sgt Campbell reminds us that as we approach the nicer weather please take time to keep your property secure. Don’t leave doors and windows open, this just invites burglaries. It is fact that reported burglaries increase during the nicer weather due to home owners own insecurities during the summer.

Thousands of people in Bury will be taken out of income tax altogether by new tax proposals launched by the Liberal Democrats. And thousands more will see their income tax bill slashed by £700 a year.

The plans were launched by Party Leader Nick Clegg on 20th April who said that they would boost family budgets battered by rising food, power and transport prices. The plans call for the personal tax allowance to be raised to £10,000

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Bury South said, “Thousands of families on low income in Bury will benefit from this tax cut. They will be lifted out of income tax altogether.

“People earning over £10,000 will pay £700 less income tax a year, paid for by ending the loopholes and tax avoidance schemes used by the wealthy and big corporations.

Richard Baum, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Bury North added, “Ordinary people are struggling because of the recession. Now is the time to make a far reaching and permanent change to the tax system that benefits those on low and middle incomes. Liberal Democrats want to see more money left in the pockets of ordinary people rather than taken away by the Government.

“Here in Bury Liberal Democrats will be going into the general election committed to a lasting income tax cut.”

The view from the stands on Saturday, on a mobile phone camara!

Bury Council is the sponsor of Bury Football Club, and occasionally as one of the Group Leeaders,  I’m lucky enough to go to a match on behalf of the Council.

Last Saturday was the Council’s “sponsors match”, and the team put on a great performance - winning 3 - 0 against Macclesfield and one step closer to moving up to the First Division (fingers crossed). The Bury Times match report is here.

The campaign to save Heaton Park from the “Sport Zone” proposals has been making the press this week.

Here’s the piece in the Advertiser.

And here’s the piece in the Prestwich & Whitefield Guide.

Prestwich Festival will take place for the first time in 2009. It is intended to be an annual four week calendar of events running from 17 May to 21 June. The festival will provide the opportunity to showcase as many events as possible during a four week period and will build on its success year on year, similar to existing events like Prestwich Clough and Prestwich Carnvial.

Click here for an first look at the packed events listing.

I spent Thursday afternoon with senior officers and councillors from Bury Council and with the local police looking at, and hopefully finding solutions to, the problems we currently have with graffiti in Prestwich.

Councillor Dorothy Gunther, the Council’s Executive Member for Environment, kindly accepted an invitation from me to see the problem we have in Prestwich. She was accompanied by Graham Atkinson, the Council’s Director of Environment and Development Services, and senior officers from parks, highways, environmental protection and Carran the Prestwich Area Manager. We were joined by two important officers from the Prestwich Police team.

The Problem
I don’t think any of us in Prestwich are suggesting that this is the worst place in the world for graffiti! - it isn’t. But what none of us want to happen is a situation where graffiti is somehow considered “normal” or “acceptable” in this area. We have all chosen to live in Prestwich, one of the reasons is that it is a pleasant place to live. Graffiti has the potential to spoil this. I was also clear that different parts of the area have been affected worst. There are some areas where every single spare bit of space is covered in graffiti, and others where there seems to be very little.

As an example we took the team from the Council to look round the longfield shopping area - which has lots of examples of graffiti on shops, the library, on bins and phone boxes. We took them up Butterstile Lane which is a good example of Council signs being covered in graffiti (the above BT box in the photo is just off Butterstile Lane), and also graffiti in sight of the CCTV camera by the shops up there; we then took the into the Clough to look at the very significant graffiti at the entrances to the parkland.

The Solution?
What we know IS working is the local police - already a number of culprits have been caught and brought to justice.
But the main message I wanted to give to the Officers from the Council, is that whatever we have in place now from the Council ISN’T WORKING!

We had a lot of good ideas at the meeting that took place afterwards about how the Council can look at how it currently does things around graffiti to sort the problem out. I am hoping that these plans will take shape it the next week or two, and I’ll be able to report on them fully here then.

tim

Greater Manchester’s £640m Revolutionary Recycling Deal Signed Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) today announced that it has signed a 25 year Private Finance Initiative waste and recycling contract with Viridor Laing (Greater Manchester) Limited.

Today’s deal will trigger a £640 million construction programme, creating a network of state-of-the-art recycling facilities over the next 5 years - my understanding is that this will mean that 75% of the counties waste will not go to landfill. The full press release can be downloaded below:

greater-manchesters-640m-revolutionary-recycling-deal-signed.pdf

Bury Council have informed us that collections of rubbish and recycling will be made as normal on Good Friday. Cardboard packaging from Easter eggs and other products can be recycled at the kerbside in the green bag or plastic carrier bags. The council’s helpline will be closed on both Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Prestwich Councillors Andrew Garner, Ann Garner and Tim Pickstone - Richard Baum was taking the picture…

A (very) early start this morning for some of your local Councillors as we went to help the Liberal Democrats in the Moston area of Manchester who have a local council by-election today. The Liberal Democrat candidate who is campaigning to take a seat from Labour is Tim Hartley.

In a small piece of history, I think this is the first every local by-election to be fought on a Maunday Thursday. The law recently changed to allow by-elections to take place today.

Bury Liberal Democrats have accused Labour of playing with our children’s future after a stormy debate at the meeting of Bury Council on April 1st. The Liberal Democrats defeated a Labour motion to Council which would have halted plans to relocate the Derby High School to a newly built school in Radcliffe. The relocation is crucial to over £80m of government funding as part of a “Building Schools for the Future” programme which will see new and refurbished schools all over the borough.

Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

The production team from ITV1’s highly popular cookery programme, ‘Britain’s Best Dish’ will be visiting Bury’s World Famous Market on Friday, 18 April 2009, between 09.00am and 4.30pm.

The Market is asking people who feel they are a budding amateur chef, or a top notch cook and can cook an original, mouth-watering starter, main course or pudding which you believe is a recipe for success, to come down to Bury Market and audition for a place in this knock-out competition.

The television talent show for Britain’s best amateur chefs has a top prize of £10,000, so if you think you know your onions take a trip to Bury’s multi award winning market for your chance to win this great prize.

The Leader of the Labour Group in Bury, Cllr Wayne Campbell, announced his resignation from the Council last night - to take effect in a weeks time. Wayne has been a Councillor for Radcliffe West (and before Radcliffe Central) ward for almost 25 years, and was Leader of the Council up until two years ago. He has been appointed as Head of Repairs and Maintenance for Bury’s “arms length” housing organization, Six Town Housing. His current job is working for Ivan Lewis MP.

Councillors from all sides paid tribute to Cllr Campbell at last night’s full Council. On behalf of the Liberal Democrat group I particularly remarked on his very genuine commitment to both the town he has represented and the Party he’s represented. 25 years service on the Council is a great achievement and service to the local community, and we wish him the very best in this new chapter in his life.

A by-election will take place in the Radcliffe West ward for Bury Council shortly.

tim

I’ve been away for week, but now back and catching up with a huge pile of correspondence and emails.

Loads seems to have happened in a few days - more to follow when I’ve got through it all!
Loads of comments on Heaton Park here.

Tim

The following press release was issues by my fellow councillor in Holyrood Ward, Vic D’Albert.

Bury Liberal Democrats are calling for a commitment from Bury Council to clamp down on graffiti across the borough.

The Lib Dems have launched a “6 to fix graffiti” campaign and are challenging the Conservative-run Council to take a zero-tolerance approach to the problem.

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Bury South commented, “Bury Council has failed to tackle the problem of graffiti. We have to show our support for local people who are the victims of this crime, and our commitment to our community which shouldn’t have to put up with vandalism like this.”

“Despite graffiti being an issue for several months now, all the Tories at the Town Hall have done so far is issue Area Partnerships a few graffiti cleaning kits. While that’s a start it’s a wholly inadequate response to the problem. They are telling us we should clean the mess ourselves, but it’s the Council that should be tackling the problem. The Conservatives running Bury Council talk about writing a policy, but it’s taking months and it’s not getting rid of any graffiti.”

“It’s time Bury Conservatives showed some leadership on this issue and worked alongside local police, residents groups and others to tackle the problem head on. It’s spoiling our town”

Lib Dems have identified 6 points they would like to see developed to fix the problem of graffiti.

1. Local people – encouraged to challenge graffiti, report graffiti
2. Bury Council – to commit to clean up graffiti quickly
3. Local Businesses – pledge to clean up graffiti on their property
4. Police – to catch the offenders and punish them including getting them to clean their own mess up
5. Schools & Youth Service– to educate and challenge pupil perceptions and opinions
6. Utitility Companies – to work with Bury Council and commit to cleaning sites swiftly.

“We believe we have been patient with Bury Council, but now we need action not more warm words from Bury Conservatives. Let’s see some commitment to our communities, A coordinated effort and zero tolerance.”

(The following press release was from our prospective Parliamentary Candidate (and fellow Prestwich Councillor!) Richard Baum.

Bury Liberal Democrats say that new unemployment figures for Bury point to a jobs crisis for the borough. The figures, released today by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) reveal that there are 60% more local people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance than a year ago.

Commenting on the figures, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Bury North Cllr Richard Baum said “These figures are a shocking display of how Labour’s mishandling of the economy is having a real impact on local people. There are now thousands more people out of work and claiming benefits in Bury than a year ago. This is terrible news for them, for our borough, and for the local economy. And the figures may not tell the whole truth. When people stop spending their redundancy pay, or come back to Job Seekers Allowance from other benefits, the true scale of the problem could be much worse”

There is particularly bad news for the long term unemployed and for jobless young people. There are nearly one third more long term unemployed claimants in Bury than a year ago, and the numbers of young people out of work in the borough has risen by 48%. Cllr Baum continued “Labour claim to be tackling the economic crisis. But tell that to the people of Bury desperately struggling to get out of long term unemployment, and tell that to the young people leaving college and joining the dole queues.”

Job Centres in Bury have reported steep falls in vacancies. Cllr Baum said “There are 66% fewer vacancies in Bury’s job centres compared to just a month ago. These figures are the worst for any borough in Greater Manchester, and reveal the level of this crisis. The Labour government are doing nothing to tackle this crisis. Gordon Brown is off trying to save the world, but people in Bury need jobs now, and there aren’t any. The government are letting the people of Bury down.”

The figures quoted can be found in the February 2009 Unemployment Monitor report, published by AGMA and the Commission for Economic Development, Employment and Skills. The report is available online here.

The Manchester rock band “Oasis” will be performing in Heaton Park on Thursday 4th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June 2009 in probably the largest events the park has seen since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Local residents are understandably very concerned about the impact of the concert on our local area. Your local councillors have already been involved in advanced planning for the event, which will look at all the local issues - buses, traffic, schools, noise, crime, litter etc. We want the events to be a success, but Prestwich people need to live with it too!

The following letter is being delivered to local residents shortly (from Manchester City Council), it is advertising two surgeries which will take place:

Tuesday, 5th May from15:00-19:00hrs at Heaton Park Bowls Complex (St Margaret’s Rd entrance)
Wednesday, 6th May from 15:00-19:00hrs at Parkside Training Centre (Sheepfoot Lane)

Dear Local Resident,

Read the rest of this entry.

Manchester City Council are considering plans to cut two holes in the Heaton Park Wall opposite St Monica’s RC High School on Bury Old Road.

We’re assuming that the two new double gates that are proposed would be in place in time for the Oasis Concert, but the application seems to imply that the gates would be permanent.

I know that my colleagues who are Councillors for the Sedgley Ward of Prestwich (Ann Garner, Andrew Garner and Steve Wright) have already been asking Bury Council about its views on the issue and suggesting that the Council should be raising serious concerns with Manchester about the impact the proposals have on Prestwich, the School and on traffic.

You can view the full Planning Application on Manchester Council’s Website here.

Bury’s young people have been voting for a representative and deputies to the “Youth Parliament”. Record numbers of young people aged 11 to 18 – some 7,869 – cast their vote on March 5.

With 1,887 votes, the winner was Umar Mukhtar (aged 17), of Holy Cross College. He defeated 12 rivals to become Bury’s Member of Youth Parliament (MYP), taking over from Catherine Rawsthorne who steps down after two years. Elected as his two deputies are Andrew Gregoriou (aged 16) of Castlebrook High School, and Ruth Hatton (aged 17) of Holy Cross College.

Bury is entitled to one Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) and two deputies, who represent the views of Bury young people at UKYP meetings. UKYP comprises elected representatives from every local authority in the country. Members of UKYP campaign to make positive changes for other young people across the country. Bury’s representatives will debate with young people locally, at North West regional meetings, and nationally at the UKYP annual sitting.

The Liberal Democrats have published their Freedom Bill, detailing how the party plans to roll back the authoritarian laws passed by both Labour and Conservative governments which have undermined civil liberties.

Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords protest the restrictions on demonstrating outside Parliament during the passage of the Serious and Organised Crime Act.

The legislation is the first time a major political party has collated all of the laws which have undermined civil liberties into one Bill, so that they can be easily repealed. By axing expensive and ineffective measures that hinder and keep tabs on innocent people, the Bill will help switch efforts to catching the guilty instead.

The 20 measures contained in the draft legislation will:
- Abolish the veto in the Freedom of Information Act that allows ministers to keep information secret
- Scrap the expensive mandatory ID card scheme
- Remove all innocent people from the DNA database, except for those tried for a violent or sexual offence
- Stop councils and others snooping by restricting the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to serious and terrorist offences
- Regulate CCTV to protect privacy following a Royal Commission on the use of cameras

You can view the bill in detail, comment on the draft and sign up to back the campaign at http://freedom.libdems.org.uk

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

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

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.

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.”

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/

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.”

Information about a “Celebrate Fairtrade” event at Bury Parish Church on Saturday February 21st 2009, 10.30am - 1.00pm - well worth our support.

The Diocese of Manchester is in the forefront of the promotion locally of Fair Trade as an honourable social justice movement and proven method of helping marginalised farmers and producers in the developing world move from vulnerability towards security and economic self-sufficiency.

In 2007, Fair trade certified sales amounted to approximately £2.3 billion worldwide, almost half as much again as in 2006! In June 2008, it was estimated that over 7.5 million disadvantaged producers and their families were benefiting from fair trade funded infrastructure, technical assistance and community development projects.*

To celebrate these achievements and to create additional local impetus, prior to the commencement of ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ 2009 an event that is taking place in Bury Parish Church on Saturday 21st February, between 10.30am and 1.00pm. This ‘Celebration of Fairtrade’ will include a range of presentations, demonstrations and displays; tastings of Fairtrade products, (including Oromia Coffee from Ethiopia), Fairtrade refreshments and a short thanksgiving.

The BBC and Sky refused to show the DEC Gaza appeal, Nick Clegg today made the decision to show the video on www.NickClegg.com, his Facebook profile and the Liberal Democrats are also showing the video on the party site www.LibDems.org.uk.

The Disaster Appeals Committee, which brings together 13 of the UKs biggest international aid charities, is calling for donations to support its work with the victims of the war in Gaza. This is the appeal which the BBC is refusing to broadcast. Personally I will always condemn violence, but people who have lost their homes and loved ones as a result of violence need our help and support.

Donate online to the DEC’s Gaza Crisis now
Thousands of people are struggling to survive with many having lost their homes and most down to their last supplies of food and only limited amounts of fresh drinking water.
Electricity - supplies to Gaza are erratic at best with 75% of the area cut off completely. There is a significant public health risk arising out of the almost collapse of Gaza’s water and sewage system, the running of which is dependent on electricity.
Water - Around 500,000 people are without running water with 37% of Gaza’s water wells not working effectively and fuel reserves depleted due to restrictions on access and damage to pipes.
At least 412 Children have been killed and 1,855 injured, 60% of the population is living in poverty
1.1 million people are dependent upon aid to survive.

On his first anniversary as leader, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will today set out plans to put Britain on a Green Road out of the Recession, creating jobs and leaving a legacy that will save energy, put money back into people’s pockets and fight climate change.

The plans will cost £12.5bn, which would be paid for by scrapping the proposed VAT cut. The vast majority of that money will be spent immediately, making a real impact on the economy and people’s lives right away.

Green Road out of the Recession proposals include:
· A five-year programme to insulate every school and hospital, with 20% completed in the first year
· Funding insulation and energy efficiency for a million homes, with a £1,000 subsidy for a million more
· Building 40,000 extra zero-carbon social houses
· Buying 700 new train carriages
· Reopening old railway lines and stations, opening new ones, electrifying the Great Western and Midland mainlines and beginning the Liverpool light rail network
· Installing energy and money saving smart meters in every home within five years

Sally Pickup, from Holyrood Nursery in Prestwich, brought home the ‘Chef of the Year’ award at the prestigious Nursery Management Today Nursery Awards 2008.

Konnie Huq presented the award to Sally Pickup at the awards ceremony which took place at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in London on 28 November.

Sally has been tempting toddlers’ taste buds for fifteen years; she has worked as a qualified chef at the nursery since it opened in April 1993. Her winning menu of ‘cous cous and roasted vegetables with tomato and herb sauce, followed by oaty apple crumble and custard’ was taken straight from the weekly menu.

Holyrood Nursery look after 85 children aged from three months to five years and are funded by the Nursery Education Fund, which offers free childcare for three and four years olds.

Friday 5th December is Carers Rights Day, this years theme is about “making the most of your money”. An event will be held at the Carers Centre, Victoria Buildings, 9 Silver St, Bury from 10.30 to 15.30 ( lunch provided )

Planned items are;

10.30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. - Talk on Energy Efficiency This will be repeated 13.15 p.m. to 13.45 p.m.
11.30 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. - Protect your money from bogus callers (A Halliwell Group Theatre presentation) This will be repeated 14.30 p.m. to 15.00 p.m.

12.30p.m. to 13.15 p.m. - Cooking on a budget (selection of dishes which can be sampled on the day) Another demonstration will take place 13.45 p.m. to 14.30 p.m.

There will be a variety of stands with information relevant to carers and also a Raffle (win afternoon tea at Slatterys, a floral arrangement, whisky or Xmas cake) plus a tombola. All proceeds from the day will benefit the Carers Centre Crisis Fund. So why not come and enjoy yourself, pick up some valuable information and also contribute to helping others at the same time.

The following information has been released today from Bury Council.

Bury Council has being working hard over the last 24 hours to provide help and support to vulnerable residents and ensure that local residents stay safe whilst the weather remains icy, snowy and cold.

Information provided by the Met Office to Bury Council indicates that conditions are set to get worse over night with heavy snow fall is predicted. The council will continue to monitor developments and plans are being altered as necessary as the day progresses.

Parents concerned about school closures tomorrow should listen for announcements on local radio, or check the Council’s website.

Residents are also being advised during the bad weather to help and support elderly or vulnerable friends, neighbours or relatives.

The information below provides an update on the work front line staff have been undertaking over the last twenty four hours to ensure that service disruption remains at a minimal level.

Throughout today Street Care teams are focusing on gritting activities.. Gritters were sent out last night to grit roads across the borough and work continues today to ensure that main roads are gritted. The council is also trying to grit as many residential streets as possible using both vehicles and hand gritting teams, in particular to help refuse and recycling collection vehicles access these areas and ensure that waste in residents’ bins is collected as scheduled..

Every effort is being made to replenish grit bins throughout the borough and in addition we are dropping-off piles of grit at the roadside for people to help themselves to, particularly in the north of the borough.

Yesterday approximately half of the scheduled rubbish and recycling collections were able to take place despite the difficult conditions. Conditions today are treacherous in parts but all the crews left the depot this morning at the normal time to try and complete what they can of today’s scheduled collections. It is important that residents leave their bins out for collection throughout the day as there may be some delays to the service.

Collection crews are maintaining a record of streets not serviced and plans are being put into place for extra rubbish and recycling collections to take place on Saturday to clear the backlog.

Residents whose rubbish and recycling has not been collected as scheduled are advised as follows:

For brown bin collections residents are asked to return their bin to their property and put it out at their next scheduled brown bin collection day. As garden waste is at a minimum at this time of year it is anticipated that this will not cause too many problems.
For blue bins, grey bins and paper bag collections the council is hoping to return on Saturday morning to the locations where bins/bags should have been collected on earlier in the week. Missed bins/bags must be put out for collection by 7am and these must be accessible to the collection crews. Residents are asked, therefore, not to park vehicles where they may cause an obstruction. Any residents that consider they have sufficient capacity in their bins to wait until their next scheduled collection day are advised to return their bins and/or bags to their property until then.

Alternatively, residents can take recyclables and paper/card to their local recycling centre. For more information about the location of these sites please log on to www.bury.gov.uk/recyclingcentres. Space can also be conserved in blue bins by squashing plastic bottles and drinks cans.

Residents need to be aware that these arrangements are dependent on suitable weather conditions and, therefore may be subject to change.

Ballot papers will be arriving this week in the Greater Manchester wide referendum on the TIF Bid and Congestion Charging.

Liberal Democrats in Prestwich and across Bury have been campaigning for a “no” vote in the referendum. All of us are part of the “Stop the Charge Coalition”. Find out more about how the charge will affect you, and download more information, leaflets and resources here.

Bury Council has given go ahead to issue £50 Fixed Penalty Fines to litter louts

Prestwich Anti-Litter Campaign is raising the stakes to tackle litter louts throughout Prestwich and now has Environmental Wardens employed to issue fixed penalty notices in our hotspots.

Prestwich Anti-Litter group has spent the past six months raising awareness of fixed penalties for fly tipping, promoting the work of Bury Council’s street care teams and improved it, installed more bins where needed, worked to encourage schools, residents and businesses to sign up to the Bury Street Care Pledge, leafleted all local businesses about their Duty of Care to legally dispose of their business waste.

Now it’s time to take action to those people who think throwing litter anywhere is ok. The Council has contracted NCP Services Ltd Environmental wardens working throughout Prestwich so don’t be mistaken that it’s only a parking fine that you can get now. Environmental Wardens will be patrolling reported hotspots in Prestwich to catch the culprits and are authorised to issues £50 Fixed Penalty Notice Fines at anyone age 10 and over.

If you know a litter hotspot in Prestwich and when it is littered please contact 0161 253 5353 and the matter will be investigated.

Cllr Vic D’Albert said “We are particularly pleased that Prestwich Anti-Litter Campaign so far has made a positive difference to the area. There are still a number of litter hotspots to tackle and the only way to do this is enforcement. We hope that the patrol of Environmental Wardens make people take responsibility themselves to discards rubbish more responsibility themselves. We are all responsible for keeping Prestwich clean” Executive Member for the Environment Cllr Dorothy Gunther is pleased to support this project and is working towards further initiatives to improve local environmental quality

Prestwich Anti-Litter Group will make every effort to let residents, schools and business know about the Environmental Patrols.

For further information contact Carran O’Grady, Prestwich Local Area Partnership Manager. Tel: 253 7245 c.o’grady@bury.gov.uk

Details of the postal ballot on the Greater Manchester Congestion Charge have been announced.

24 November - Ballot packs will start arriving on door steps
28 November - Individuals should have received ballot packs - if you haven’t you need to contact the Council.

11 December - last day of voting. If individuals have not posted back their ballot papers they will be able to drop them off at key points around the borough

12 December - Count at Manchester Central (GMEX) and results

Prestwich Advertiser reported on our campaign to get the Council to tackle Graffiti in our area. Still waiting for a response from the Council itself!

Bury Council is looking for nominations for Bury’s Music Achiever of the year award 2008.
Do you know an individual musician, group, choir or band that are…
Inspirational?
Contributing to the community?
Achieving great things?
Then nominate them for Bury’s Music Achiever of the Year 2008 Award!

Anyone can nominate an individual, group, choir, band of any age for this Award. The nominee must reside or attend music training/ practice in Bury. There is no limit to the number of separate nominations that can be made by one individual or organisation. For more information and a nomination form simply email Farrell Renowden.

Deadline for application: 31st December 2008.

Please forward this to anyone you think maybe interested in this opportunity.

In the press last week as new studies show that 1 in 3 would have to pay the proposed Greater Manchester Congestion Charge.

The Christmas Tress lights in Prestwich Village Centre will be turned on 1 December just before 6pm by Paralympic Gold Medal Winner Zoe Robinson and the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Peter Ashworth.

The event will take place at the Longfield Centre between 4pm and 6pm. The event will be hosted by DJ Dave K and there will be music from Besses of the Barn Brass Band, Kylie tribute act Natalie McGrath and Middleton Pop star Academy of Performing Arts. There will also be hot food and refreshments on sale and a Children’s Fairground.

Father Christmas will also make a very special appearance and children will be able to receive a Christmas gift from him. For further information about the event please contact 07875 596713.

With Greater Manchester’s transport referendum three weeks away, a new survey reveals one in three Bury households would pay the congestion charge regularly.

Details of the congestion charge element of the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bid were explained to 500 Bury residents, they were then asked whether their household expected to pay regularly, 33% said yes.
The results directly challenge repeated advertising claims that nine out of ten people won’t pay the charge.

The survey was carried out for the Stop the Charge coalition of MPs, council leaders and 260 businesses by independent polling company Populus.
Bury Lib Dem Leader Councillor Tim Pickstone is a part of the Stop the Charge coalition”This survey makes it absolutely clear one in three households will be hit by the congestion charge. It is common sense that many will pay twice, if more than one person drives at peak times. One in 10 Greater Manchester residents will also pay the full charge of £1,200 a year.

“Hard working families will have to find up to £1,200 a year, that’s 8% of average take home pay for people in Great Manchester. Even paying £3 to cross the outer ring will be £700 a year, equating to 5% of the average salary - this would require a huge pay rise just to break even. This will also clearly have a strong knock on effect for our whole economy, leaving a lot less money in people’s pockets.

“Liberal Democrats in Bury are steadfastly committed to improvements to public transport and to tackling environmental damage. But this charge of working families is simply not a fair way to achive what needs to be done. I urge everyone to vote no in the referendum.”

Monday night was the Annual General Meeting of Bury Liberal Democrats, and also our candidate selection for the Bury North Constituency for the next General Election. Members considered the success of the party at a local level in the last year, and elected new Officers for 2009.

In 2008 I’ve been chair of the Local Party, a great job, but one that I was very happy to pass on to our new chair for 2009 Nissa Finney. I’m sure Nissa and new team of officers will do an excellent job taking the local party forward in the coming year.

Bury Lib Dem’s new Chair Nissa Finney congratulating our new Parliamenary Candidate for Bury North Richard Baum

We also held the “hustings” to select a Parliamentary Candidate for Bury North Constituency. Local Councillor Richard Baum as the was unanimously voted in by members. Richard is 27 and a mental health services manager is a life-long Bury resident and has been a Councillor for St Mary’s ward in the Borough since May 2007. I’m sure he will be an excellent standard bearer for the Lib Dems in Bury North next time - you can read about what he says about his selection here.

Last night, while most people were either enoying or avoiding the fireworks, Bury’s 51 Councillors were at the regular meeting of the Full Council.

 Under new rules introduced by Bury’s Conservative administration, we have limited opportunity to ask questions nowardays - must 30 minutes answers to written questions, and 20 minutes for oral questions on the night. Nevertheless the Liberal Democrat Group made good use of the question time to raise a number of important issues. These included:

Mary D’Albert asked whether council vehicles will have to pay the congestion charge - the answer is they will - which presumably will have to be passed back onto us the people as higher council tax?? Richard Baum asked about effects of the recent economic crisis on the assets of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. Steve Wright asked about whether the council would  consider a Borough-wide launch of the “authorised” pupil absence policy. Donal O’Hanlon asked about the apparent bias in funding new projects away from the south of the Borough.

My ward colleage Cllr Vic D’Albert asked what had happened to the Council’s alley gating policy which is being repeated promised but never delivered. He told the Council about the problems around the ginnell going up to Danesay near Polefield in our area and the number of incidents that have been reported to the police over recent years. Astonishingly the Council could only promise that a new policy would happen “sometime” in 2009.

I’ve been concerned about the number of accidents outside our local schools. I know in recent years there have been bad incidents involving children outside both the high schools in our ward (Prestwich High and Parrenthorn). I asked a question about what proportion of schools have 20mph speed zones, and how many incidents there had been. I was quite shocked by the answer:
- only 16 schools in Bury are on 20mph zones, 75 are not. 
- there have been 105 collisions outside Bury schools in the last five years, 144 casualties (1 fatality, 14 serious).
- 11 collisions in the last five years involving school children. 
I asked that Council to look into following the example of other councils of having school traffic safety zones about all our schools. The current situation is clearly unacceptable.

Motions 
Two motions were agreed by the Council. One proposed by both Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors called on the Government to review its policy of not allowing blind people to claim higher rate disability living allowance.

The Liberal Democrat group also raised the important issue of the Credit Crunch, and called for the Council to take some positive steps to tackle the issue in Bury. This included:

- work to ensure that there is adequate debt and money advice in the borough
- use communication tools like “our voice” to let people know where they can access money advice
- pay small businesses within 10 days of invoice
- work with partners to ensure support and advice to local small businesses.

We’re glad the other parties joined us in calling for this action on a local level. People are going to need extra help in the coming years, and its good that Bury can do its bit.

The papers for the meeting are here. Any questions please ask.

Tim

Digital UK has announced the date for switchover to digital television for north-west England. Three million homes across the north-west will start switching to digital on 4 November 2009 when analogue signals are turned off at the Winter Hill transmitter group.

After switchover, around 20 of the most-watched Freeview channels will be available via an aerial to virtually all households in the area; some households will receive 48 channels.1

Latest research indicates nine out of ten people served by the Winter Hill transmitter group are now aware of digital switchover and 91% have already converted their main TV set. Other findings from the Digital UK/Ofcom Tracker Survey (to June 2008) revealed:

- More than half of homes (57%) in the area have already converted all their sets to digital
- 82% recognise the ‘digital tick’ logo
- Nine out of ten viewers are personally comfortable with switchover

There’s more information on the switchover, together with advice on what help might be available here

Late last year Bury Council commissioned the consultants URBED and AGDR to draw up a vision, and strategy for the centre of Prestwich. This was after many years of campaigning by your local Prestwich Liberal Democrat Focus Team to get Bury to take our town centre seriously.

Local people are now being asked to have our say on the proposals in the consultation period which is 13 October - 24 November 2008. Every household in Prestwich is being sent a consultation newsletter which includes a survey to send in your views. The newsletter is here, the full report is here.

The vision for Prestwich is that it becomes a sustainable “urban village” inlcuding:
- a community hub
- a lively high street
- a gateway to parkland
- a place to live
- a place to work

You can visit the special consultation website at www.bury.gov.uk/prestwich regeneration or email your views to prestwichregeneration@bury.gov.uk.

Please let us, your local Councillors what you think so we can best represent your views.

A special meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership will take place on 16 October where the new plans for the regeneration of Prestwich town centre we be formally launched.

The council has teamed up with urban designers, URBED, and regeneration specialists, AGD, to prepare the ‘Love Prestwich Village: Town Centre Development Strategy’.

The strategy describes how Prestwich can be transformed into a thriving ‘village in the city’. It considers how a new primary care centre, a new library and a refurbished Longfield Suite could combine to create a community hub at the heart of the village.

As well as the Big Talk at the Local Area Partnership meeting these plans will be subject to a six week consultation, which begins on 29 September.

The meeting will take place at the Longfield Civic Suite, starting at 7pm. The exhibition outlining the proposals for the regeneration of Prestwich will be on view from 6pm. For further information about the Prestwich Local Area Partnership meeting please contact Carran O’Grady on 0161 253 7245.

Councillor Vic D’ Albert, Chair of Prestwich Local Area Partnership, said, “The plans provide a vision for the regeneration of Prestwich over the next ten to fifteen years. I hope as many people as possible will come along to the Big Talk event to let us know what they think, view the plans and learn more about the consultation process”.

One of the things I do outside being a Councillor is to serve as a Trustee of Manchester Pride. As part of this role I had the honour on Sunday of meeting Prossy Kakooza, and introducing her on stage in Manchester.

Prossy is a 26-year-old woman seeking asylum in the UK. She fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation. Manchester’s Metropolitan Community Church is currently working with Prossy in her campaign to stay in this country.

This video story tells more about the campaign and what we can do to help.

Prestwich today is making national press (or at leas the Daily Telegraph online!), with the story of Bury Council threatening to fine local residents who don’t clean up graffiti on their property.

Click here to read the story.

Local residents have been angered by the recent rise in graffiti that has affected parts of our local area. Many areas are affected, but particularly the Heaton Park and village centre areas.

Local Councillor Tim Pickstone has asked the Council to review its policy on cleaning up graffiti. “The amount of graffiti that we’re experiencing around here is terrible and spoiling what should be an attractive area . Clearly the current council policy isn’t working - something has to be done.” A two page list of graffiti sites has been submitted.

Your local Councillors have been working with schools, the Police and to identify who is responsible for the graffit and to clean it up. Prestwich Local Area Partnerhsip has also invested in some “Graffiiti Cleaning Kits” which are available to local people.

Some local people have been angered by letters sent out by the Council “demanding” that they clean up graffiti on their own properties. Cllr Vic D’Albert has asked the Council to change this policy, as it is causing upset for residents who are not responsible for the problem.
To report graffiti in your area:

Bury Council: 0161 253 5353

If graffiti is on a phone box or switching box
BT 0800 661 610

If graffiti is on a post box
Royal Mail 08457 740 740

Let your councillors know if you don’t get a satisfactory response!

There is a national strike of many local government staff today and tomorrow which will have a significant effect on local services in Bury.

Services
The Council offices based at Whittaker Street in Radcliffe dealing with Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Accounts and Housing and Council Tax Benefits will be closed to personal callers. It is anticipated that normal service will be resumed on Friday 18 July

The council is advising residents who should have had refuse collected on 16 and 17 July are still advised to put their bins and bags out as normal as collection rounds will continue where possible.

Additionally, a leaflet will be delivered to affected households prior to 16 July advising them what to do if their collection does not take place.

The council plans to open administrative buildings, such as the Town Hall, despite some members of staff being on strike. Most libraries, cash collection offices and council information points are likely to be affected.

SCHOOLS:
The following schools in Prestwich will be fully closed tomorrow and Thursday due to strike action unless otherwise stated:

Heaton Park Primary School.
Park View Primary School.
Sedgely Park Community Primary School

Across Bury, the following High Schools are closed:

Bury C of E High School
Castlebrook High School.
The Derby High School - closed, but school trips going ahead.
Elms Bank Specialist Arts College.
Parrenthorn High School
The Ark
Radcliffe Riverside School
Woodhey High School.
Tottington High School.

Broad Oak High School will be closed on 16 July, but open on 17 July as a large number of pupils will be on school trips.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg MP on our opposition to the Government’s ID Card Scheme

Prestwich Local Area Partnership, which brings together your local Liberal Democrat Councillors together with local partners and community reps, have agreed a number of grants for local projects and groups:

Agreed so far are:
£2,000 - Anti-Graffiti Kits to tackle the current spate of graffiti.
£2,143 - A Clean up and hanging basket project for the “Bent Hill” estate area
£2,000 - to fund the Prestwich Anti-Litter Campaign for one year
£3, 642 - to fund the “Health Kick” programme of health awareness programme for men in the Rainsough Area
£2,400 - to fund the summer scheme of activities for Young People in the Carr Clough area

We’ve also provisionally agreed to fund:
£1,000 towards the family health, skateboard and BMX summer festival in St Mary’s Park organised by Prestwich and Whitefield Methodists

Young people are being encouraged to sign up to a two week action packed calendar of sports, dance, arts, street wise or wild card events as part of the Bury and Rochdale Active Generation Scheme (BRAG).

The program, which is now in it’s eighth year, is aimed at young people aged between 11 and 15 years old, takes place between 28 July and 8 August at several venues across Bury. The two week programme costs just £9 and five sign up sessions are taking place across the borough to encourage young people to take part. Participants will receive a BRAG pass, details of the activities taking place and a free bus pass. Youngsters will receive a sticker after completing each different activity and this will allow them to compete for a Golden Ticket for the bonus week events taking place between 11 and 15 August.

The program is designed to encourage young people to be organised and plan their own schedule to ensure they get to the different activities on time. For further information about BRAG you can contact Adam Greenhalgh on 0161 253 6660 or information is available on the Bury Council Website.

The sign up session for our local area will take place at the following times and venues:
22 July, 4pm - 6pm; Shuttle Centre, Albert Road, Whitefield, M45 6NH
23 July, 12pm - 2pm; Pheonix Centre, St Mary’s Park, St Mary’s Road, Prestwich, M25 1GG

The people of Bury voted “No” to an elected Mayor yesterday, rejecting the proposals by a 60:40 margin.

The final result was 15,425 votes “No” and 10,338, with a turnout of 18%. Interestingly where we live in Holyrood Ward had the highest turnout of voters anywhere in the south of the Borough, at over 20%.

Lib Dems in Bury campaigned hard for a “No” vote in the referendum, and it is very good news for democracy that that the idea of an elected Mayor has been rejected by local people. A Mayor would have been an expensive and democratically disastrous move for Bury.

Tim

Today polling stations are open in the referendum to decide whether Bury should have an elected Mayor.
People should vote at their normal polling stations (that we used for the elections in May). The polling stations are open from 7.00am - 10.00pm. You do not need your polling card to vote.
If you have a postal vote which hasn’t yet been returned, you can fill this in in the normal way and take it round to your local polling station.

The local Liberal Democrats are urging everyone to vote NO in the election because we believe this to be an undemocratic waste of public money. Lots of people have questions about this important issue, the local Lib Dems have produced this factsheet
to answer some of your questions.

There is a special offer at our local Parenthorn Sports Centre (at Parenthorn School).

All throughout July and August you can book an Astro-Turf Football Pitch for just £15 per hour. (The usual price is £25) Monday - Thursday 6-10 and Friday 6-9pm.
FOR MORE INFOMATION PLEASE RING 0161 253 5434 (AFTER 5:30PM)
EMAIL: parrenthorn.sports@bury.gov.uk

I have a letter in the Bury Times and Prestwich and Whitefield Guide.

Elected Mayor would be the Wrong Decision

There are many reasons why I will be voting NO to an Elected Mayor for Bury in the referendum next Thursday. Not least is the fact that this extra position is likely to cost an extra £1 million in its first year - a complete waste of public money that we believe would be better spent on improved local services. The salary for an elected mayor alone is likely to be more than is spent on street repairs in a whole year in one of Bury’s local towns.

But for me the most important reason is about democracy. Liberal Democrats believe that local people should be at the heart of making decisions about our communities and about our local services. For us, this means that where decisions are taken should be made more local,
and involve more people. This doesn’t just mean that more decisions should be taken in Ramsbottom, or Prestwich or Bury town itself, but that local people are involved in making decisions about their local schools, health services and the streets and estates we live on.

If we were to choose to have an elected mayor in Bury, all the Executive Powers of the Council would be in the hands of one person, sat at the Town Hall, and this person would only be accountable to the people when they come up to election after four years.

To have an elected mayor in Bury would not only be an expensive waste of money, but a dangerous move away from the local democracy we should be fighting for.

Cllr Tim Pickstone
Leader, Bury Liberal Democrats

On July 3rd, the people of Bury will be asked to vote in a referendum. You should have already received your polling cards and people who have a postal vote should have received their ballot papers in the last few days. Everyone will have their chance to say whether or not you want the way the Council is run to change, so that it is led by an elected Mayor.

Lots of people have questions about this important issue, the local Lib Dems have produced this factsheet
to answer some of your questions.

One of the things I do apart from being a Councillor is serve on the Board of our local hospital Trust Pennine Acute, one of my roles there is to serve on the charitable (”endowment”) funds committee.

Pennine Acute’s Charity has today launched a “60 for 60 campaign” to raise money and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS. Business leaders, community organisations and schools from across the north east of Greater Manchester are being invited to put on their thinking hats to raise 60p, £6 or £60 for four local hospitals as part of the NHS 60th anniversary celebrations.

A ‘60 for 60’ fundraising campaign is being launched by the Pennine Acute Hospitals Charity, which raises funds for North Manchester General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and the acute services at Birch Hill Hospital.

Jan Bolton, fundraising manager, said: “We’d like people – or the organisations which they are part of – to raise either 60p, £6 (which is 10p a total of 60 times over) or £60 for our charity. Those funds can be earmarked for specific hospitals in the Trust, and we promise that all donations will all help make a difference whatever the total is! If any big company has 60 employees who want to raise £60 each then obviously that’s very welcome too! And anyone working for a big business should remember to ask if their employers do match-funding, as it is now part of many corporate and social responsibility policies.

“The NHS anniversary is on 5 July, but people shouldn’t feel tied to that date in any way. Fundraising donations for the campaign are welcome either before or after that – we’ll be marking the anniversary with our “60 for 60” campaign all through the year until December 2008.

Donations to The Pennine Acute Hospitals Charity and other related charities can also be received at any of the hospitals’ cashiers’ office or online at www.pat.nhs.uk and click on the fundraising icon. More information on 60 for 60 or fundraising/donations in general is available from Jan Bolton, Charitable Fundraising Manager on 0161 908 4497 or email jan.bolton@pat.nhs.uk

Pennine Acute Hospitals charity raises money for a variety of charitable causes in the four hospitals including better patient and staff facilities and medical research.

Tim

The Annual General Meeting of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority has elected Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Shannon of Manchester City Council, as the new leader of the Authority.

The Fire Authority has been controlled by Labour since 1974. Councillor Shannon will be joined two Conservative Vice and Deputy chairs, including Bury’s own Cllr Jack Walton.

Authority Chairman Councillor Shannon said: “I look forward to working with all elected members on the Authority to make further improvements to our Fire and Rescue Service. The tragic events in Bolton earlier this week bring home to Councillors on the Authority the dangers faced by our firefighters every day. We will continue to ensure that our Fire and Rescue Service remains at the forefront of protecting our community.”

An exhibition of photography students’ work will be launched at Prestwich Library and Adult Learning Centre on 4 July at 6:30pm.

The exhibit includes work produced by adult learners who have completed the ‘Using Your Digital Camera Effectively’ course.This is a three term course run by Bury Adult Learning Centre and allows students to learn more about the art of digital photography. Photography on display includes landscapes, buildings, birds and flowers.

The exhibition will close at Prestwich Library at the end of July but can still be viewed at the Bury Adult Learning Centre after this date. There will be a preview for invited guests on the 3rd July where Diana Sorrigan, Head of Libraries & Adult Learning will open the exhibition at 6.30 pm.

Greater Manchester transport planners have announced the likely position of the “Inner Ring” for the proposed Greater Manchester Congestion Charge.

The basic site of the inner charging ring runs along Queens Road to the north and Alan Turing Way to the east, while the west boundary will run along Trafford Road and Fredrick Road. The southern boundary would run along either Wilbraham Road or Hathersage Road and Moss Lane. Alternative options for the final boundaries of the inner ring will be subject to a public consultation.

There are presently no suggestions to change the “outer ring”, which most affects our area. At present it is suggested that this follows the route of the M60. Many local residents, and your local Liberal Democrat Councillors have grave concerns as this would cut though the natural links that exist between Prestwich and Whitefield. Many local people cross the M60 to make local journeys to schools, shops, work and leisure facilities without going anywhere near Manchester city centre.

PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR POST OFFICES - SAY NO TO CLOSURE

Under proposals submitted by The Post Office and supported by the Labour Government, a further 5 Post Offices are being proposed for closure in the Bury area.

They are at Limefield on Walmersley Road, Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, Elton, Greenmount and Rochdale Road.

We believe these are much valued community facilities that are depended upon by many in our communities, especially the elderly.The Post Office is now consulting on their proposals. Please sign and encourage friends to sign. The more support we can get the more likely we can make The Post Office listen to local people.

Sign the petition here

Bury’s Police division has just announced that it has been successful in securing eight extra police officers for what it calls “priority areas”.

One of those extra constables will be for our area and will focus on the areas around Polefield and Prestwich Arts College. Apparently it will take sometime for the extra officers to arrive, but still good news for our area.

Tim

As from Monday 23 June Bury council will be introducing charges for the collection of bulky household items.
The charges will be as follows.
. £10 for up to three items;
. £20 for four to six items;
. £30 for 7 to nine items.
However, an exemption can be requested by residents in receipt of Council Tax benefit for one free collection per year.
Payments will need to be made in full in advance of the arranged collection.

Residents that want to arrange a bulky items collection can do so by telephoning the Council’s Customer Contact Team on 0161 253 5353 or more information is available online at www.bury.gov.uk/bulkyitems.

In the wake of the announcement that dozens of post offices in and around Greater Manchester, 11 across the Stockport Borough, are scheduled for closure, Liberal Democrats from across the area have launched a petition to ‘Save our Post Offices’.

Cheadle Constituency Mark Hunter MP, Hazel Grove Constituency MP Andrew Stunell, Manchester Withington MP John Leech and Rochdale MP Paul Rowen, along with Lib Dem Councillors and activists launched the petition today in central Manchester by holding a demonstration to oppose the plans and asking local residents to sign up in support of the protest.

Speaking after the launch Mr Hunter said: “It’s not too late for action on this issue. I hope local people will speak out and sign our petition to save their local post office. Many are under threat now and many more will surely follow if the Government gets is way.

“Post Offices are a vital part of the community; they often help to keep local other shops afloat and are relied on by a very wide variety of people particularly the elderly and young mums. It seems to me that Labour is fast becoming a Government that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. The Liberal Democrats are committed to the future of the Post Office and we will keep up our campaign to show the Government that local people want to keep their Post Offices open.”

Mr Stunell added: “We lost a lot of Post Offices in this area when the Conservatives were last in Government, and now we are faced with a Labour Government that does not understand how strongly people feel about their local Post Office.

In fact the situation could soon get even worse - the Post Office Card Account that many pensioners rely on for drawing their pensions and benefits is being reviewed and if that work is lost by Royal Mail than even more Post Offices will surely be closed in the future.

The Liberal Democrats have a viable plan to prevent further closures and help to sustain the network; a plan that wouldn’t cost the earth that would invest in our local Post Office network not chop it up. Post Offices should be local and should be supporting our communities and we will continue to fight with our local community to save them.”

Manchester based regeneration experts ‘URBED’ are seeking the views of local people on their initial options for a regeneration strategy that is looking to reshape the face, and the fortunes of Prestwich.

Having conducted an appraisal of the area, the masterplanning options are now available to view in Prestwich Library and at the Longfield Centre for a three week period between 19th May and 6th June 2008. The library is open from 9am to 7.30 Mondays and Thursdays, 9am to 5pm Tuesdays and Fridays , 9am to 1pm Wednesdays and Saturdays and 10am to 2pm on Sundays.

For those unable to attend the consultation, the documents are available to view online by visiting Urbed’s website on http://www.urbed.coop/ . There are three documents available online which (links below) including the “Options Report” which looks at a number of options for areas in Prestwich for development, including; The Longfield Centre, The Health Centre, Metrolink Station, Tesco’s, a Techno Park and Prestwich Hospital among others.

URBED will use feedback from the options to help produce a final masterplan and development strategy for further consultation later on in the year that addresses the concerns of the community and local business community, as well as the development aspirations of developers.

Prestwich Option 1 - using an expanded Tescos to anchor the centre

Prestwich Option 2 - Anchoring the centre in the south

Prestwich Baseline Report
Draft Baseline Report May 2008

Prestwich Consultation Report
Report of proceedings of the Prestwich Roundtable Workshop in the Longfield Suite 13th March 2008

Prestwich Options Report
Options Report for Prestwich May 2008

Prestwich Masterplanning Options

I’ve been away on holiday for a week, so apologies if I’ve been away when people phone/email.

I was in the Spanish city of Valencia - this is it’s “town hall square” (the Town Hall is on the left). More pictures here

Liberal Democrats now hold all 9 council seats in Prestwich!
Here’s our new team of Councillors in St Mary’s Ward - Donal O’Hanlon, Mary D’Albert and Richard Baum…… Labour MP Ivan Lewis sneaks past behind.

Lib Dem Councillors elected last night Mary D’Albert, Vic D’Albert and Ann Garner with some of their group colleagues Steve Wright, Wilf Davison and Donal O’Hanlon.

More photos here

Liberal Democrats have continued to move forward on Bury Council making another gain from Labour and holding off a challenges from the Conservatives. This is the fifth election in a row in Bury where we have made gains.

Full results to follow, but in our key wards in Prestwich the results were as follows:

Holyrood
Vic D’Albert (Lib Dem) 1632
Labour 669
Conservative 852

St Mary’s
Mary D’Albert (Lib Dem) 1308
Labour 1013
Conservatives 692

Sedgley
Ann Garner (Lib Dem) 1488
Labour 906
Conservatives 1238

Across Prestwich the share of the vote was:
Liberal Democrats - 45%
Labour 26%
Conservatives 28%

The Liberal Democrats now have ALL NINE councillors in Prestwich. We’ll be doing our best all year round to stand up for the local community.

Across the motorway Lib Dem candidate Julie Baum put in a stunning performance to move into second place with a 50% increase in the Lib Dem vote.
Besses
Julie Baum (Lib Dem) 614
Labour 1084
Conservatives 584
Others 354

Well done to all our candidates, but particularly to re-elected Councillors Vic D’Albert and Ann Garner, and to new Councillor Mary D’Albert.
A huge thank you to the whole Lib Dem campaign team for a stunning result. Full results to follow.

Please don’t forget to vote in the important local elections on Thursday 1 May 2008. These elections will decide who will represent you at the Council for the next four years.

Vic D’Albert, our hard working local councillor for the last 17 years is the Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate on Thursday.

Important Information
- Polling Stations are open from 7.00am - 10.00pm
- You don’t need your polling card to vote
- If you have a postal ballot, but have not yet sent it in, you can complete it as normal and take the completed envelope to your local polling station on the day.

Polling Stations in Holyrood
Baguley Crescent and Bow Lea - Mobile Van at Baguley Crescent
Simister - Lady Wilton Hall
Polefield, Parenthorn and St Margarets areas - St Margarets CE Centre on St Margarets Road
Heaton Park Area - Heaton Park Social Club, Bury Old Road
Northern area - Nursery Road, Glebelands Road, Langley etc - Prestwich Arts College, Heys Road
“Kirkhams” area (M45 postcodes) - Heaton Park School on Cuckoo Lane

If you need any more information, or need a lift to the polling station call our helpline on 0161 798 0117

Thank you!

Election statement to readers of the Bury Times:

Liberal Democrats across Bury have had a brilliant response from local residents. People are telling us that they are fed up of Labour closing post offices, taxing poorer people and watching the economy slide. People are uncertain what the Conservatives stand for, and haven’t noticed any improvement since they took over last year.

Liberal Democrats in Bury have three clear priorities:

We want safe, thriving communities across Bury. People must feel safe in their own streets and communities. This isn’t just about tackling crime, it’s about stronger, united communities. That’s why we’re opposing Post Office closures and why we secured massively increased funding for children in the Council budget. It’s also why we have always opposed the unfair and divisive congestion charge.

We want Bury to be the greenest Metropolitan Borough in Britain. Last year Lib Dems secured blue recycling bins for every house, and this year more money for parks and cleaning. We cherish Bury’s beautiful environment. We will work hard to protect it.

We believe in giving power to local people, not keeping it at the Town Hall. This means that decisions should be made locally in the six towns that make up Bury. It means local people making decisions at the most local level about the services that effect communities.

On May 1st we have a choice - A return to the 21 years of neglect under Labour’s rule in Bury, uncertainty under the Tories, or a clear vision for a better Bury from your local Liberal Democrats.

Vic D’Albert - Liberal Democrat Focus Team
A record of ACTION
Vic stands up for our local area all year round at the Town Hall. Vic and the team succesfully campaigned to save our local High School, and are now campainging to save our post offices.

Putting our area FIRST

Local Lib Dems are working hard to turn back years of Labour neglect of Prestwich - new play facilities, new children’s centres, traffic calming measures and more.
Vic and local Lib Dems have secured money for a top-level review of Prestwich “Village Centre” giving local people the chance to have our say on its future.

Safe and GREEN 
Lib Dems secured Blue Bins for every household and have now secured more money for parks and clearing litter. We’ve succesfully stopped cuts in youth service provision.

Gordon Brown’s Labour Candidate
Going Going GONE

Labour tried to close our local School Prestwich Arts College. Labour are now pushing ahead with plans to close 2,500 post offices - that’s NINE in Bury - but they won’t tell us which ones till after the election!

Crunch and SQUEEZE
Labour have abolished the 10p income tax rate and from this month poorer local people will be WORSE off than before. Homeowners and families are worried about how Gordon Brown is running the economy and the ‘credit crunch’.

£5 a DAY 
Labour councillors across Greater Manchester seem intent to press ahead with the Congestion Charge scheme which will mean we have to pay to drive over the Motorway, It’s the only place outside London where Labour want to charge!

Your Vote Counts

 • Polling stations are open 7.00am to 10.00pm

• You don’t need your polling card to vote

• If you have a POSTAL VOTE, but haven’t sent it in yet, you can still take your envelope down to your local polling station on the day.

• If you need a lift to the polling station, if you want to help Vic win, or need any other information - call Vic on 0161 773 9905 - email vic@burylibdems.net

Two Horse Race!

Remember the Conservatives came a poor third in Holyrood ward last time. The Conservatives have NO COUNCILLORS anywhere in Prestwich. A vote for the Conservatives only risks letting Labour back in by the back door.

It’s been a busy year for your three Lib Dem FOCUS Team Councillors:

Save our Post Offices
The Labour Government is proposing to close 2,500 post offices - that means NINE in Bury alone. Disgracefully, they’ve put off telling us which ones will close until after the local elections!. Your local councillors are campaigning to save our much needed local post offices like the post office at St Margarets.

Play Facilities
After years of campaigning, new children’s play facilities have been installed at Bailey Street after a design competition in a local school. Funding has been secured and plans are now in their final stages to improve security at Heaton Park school, and build a new Under 5’s play area.  Funding is also secured for “ball zone” for older children near Parrenthorn school.

Budget Success
In the recent Council Budget discussions the Lib Dem team of Councillors from Prestwich successfully secured a boost areas like Prestwich with more money for parks, more money for street cleaning and litter enforcement and stopped “cuts” to youth services  and services for vulnerable children. We refused to support a disgraceful Labour proposal that would have meant cutting £1 million off  much needed help for vulnerable adults with disabilities and children in need.

Bury in the Balance
After the elections last year - no one Party has  “control” of Bury Council. Your local Lib Dem Councillors refused to enter into a coalition with either of the other parties - we vote on  a case by case basis in the best interests of the people we represent.  Proud of Prestwich
After 21 years of neglect while the Labour Party ran Bury,  your local Lib Dems have secured investment to plan for the future of our Prestwich “Village Centre”. We want to see a village that we can all be proud of and are asking local people to “have their say”.

Keeping in Touch
We’ve kept in touch with local people ALL YEAR ROUND with our popular “FOCUS” newsletters - delivered free of charge to every house in Holyrood. You can new keep up with our work “online” as each of your local councillors has a regularly updated councillor’s website.

No Charge
Your local Councillors have consistently opposed the proposal to introduce a “Congestion Charge” proposed by the Labour led Greater Manchester authorities. We support the need to tackle climate change - but to charge local people for driving between Whitefield and Prestwich is the wrong answer.  People are rightly concerned what this would do to our area.

Local Champions
Your local Lib Dem Councillors have stood up for our local area all year round:
• supported local people opposing planning applications on Sandgate Road and the Polefield Shops
• Worked with the Police to tackle youth nuisance and crime
• Worked with local community groups such as the Simister Village Community Association and Polefiel’s TRA.

 Liberal Democrats have selected popular local Councillor Vic D’Albert to fight Holyrood Ward in the local elections on 1 May 2008. 

Well known local man Vic D’Albert has represented the Holyrood Ward on Bury Council for the last 17 years.  During that time Vic has worked tirelessly for our local area, campaigning for safer streets, better services and a greener community.

Commenting on his selection, Vic said: “It’s always been an honour to represent this area. Together with my wife Mary, I’ve lived in Prestwich now for 25 years and I know how important this area is.”

“Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with many local residents, and to help many people with local issues and concerns.”

“Thank you for all your continuing support.”

 Local Election FACT FILE

• “Holyrood Ward” is one of three election wards in the Prestwich area. It includes the northern parts of Prestwich, together with the “Kirkhams” area of Whitefield south of the Motorway, together with the distinct communities of Simister, and Rhodes and Bowlee on the Rochdale border.

• You have three Liberal Democrat councillors - Vic D’Albert, Wilf Davison and Tim Pickstone.

• Local Elections take place across Bury on Thursday 1 May 2008. If you have a postal vote, this will be sent to you about 10 days before.

• Vic D’Albert has been a hardworking local councillor for this area for the last 17 years.

• Vic is the local candidate - he has lived in the area with his family for 25 years.

• Vic is the successful Chair of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership, leading improvements in the local area such as the Village Centre and new play areas.

• Elections in Prestwich are always a close run contest between the local Lib Dems and the Bury Labour Party. The Conservatives have no Councillors in Prestwich and cannot win here.

Published by Andrew Garner in Promotion of Vic D’Albert - both at 82 Glebelands Road M25

Liberal Democrats have announced a full team of candidates to contest the elections for Bury Council on Thursday 1 May 2008. One third of the seats on the Council are up for election, with one councillor to be elected in each of the 17 wards.

Two Councillors are seeking re-election - Vic D’Albert in Holyrood and Ann Garner in Sedgley.

Liberal Democrat candidates are:
Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor
Ramsbottom - Janet Turner
Tottington - David Foss
North Manor - Ewan Arthur
Bury West
Elton - Robert Sloss
Church - Tamsin Thomson
Bury East
Moorside - Nissa Finney
East - Emma Davison
Redvales - Paul Jenkins
Radcliffe
Radcliffe North - Lynne Molloy
Radcliffe West - Joanne O’Hanlon
Radcliffe East - Mike Halsall
Whitefield and Unsworth
Unsworth - Theo Tzymcyca
Besses - Julie Baum
Pilkington Park - Wayne Burrows
Prestwich
Holyrood - Vic D’Albert
St Mary’s - Mary D’Albert
Sedgley - Ann Garner

The Lib Dems have claimed to be the “practical” party of local government at the launch of their campaign for council elections in England and Wales. Leader Nick Clegg said the party’s record was a “success story - quality services, and value for money”.

Speaking at the campaign launch in Sheffield, he accused Labour of failing on crime and the Tories of having “no stomach” for addressing green issues.

The party currently controls 29 local authorities across Britain, and is defending 700 Council seats on May 1st. We also hope to make other gains in Bury, including of course in St Mary’s.

Today, Nick Clegg said the party had come up with local solutions to problems including housing, crime and the environment.

“The Liberal Democrat record in local government is a success story - quality services, and value for money. And we are ready to apply the lessons that we have learned to councils throughout this country. “ He said: “We don’t promise to fix or solve every problem, but we do promise to give people a say, to give them the opportunity to fix things for themselves.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Original Plan

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

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

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

Current Proposals

The current proposal is in three parts:

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

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

 Play area plan - click to see larger image

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

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

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

Tim, Vic and Wilf

Prestwich Local Area Partnership has announced a package of grants to support a number of local initiatives. The grants were agreecd at the Area Partnership meeting on 4 March 2008.

The Area Partnership can allocate them to local groups throughout the year. Already this year for instance, we have allocated £10,000 to the Rainsough community centre, with more to follow for Children’s Centre outreach both there and in Carr Clough.

Last night the following awards were made:

- Prestwich Carnival were awarded £2,125, which will ensure the continuation of this excellent community-wide event for the next two years. This money was awarded from the Kickstart Community Initiative fund, which is to benefit the entire community.

- The Prestwich Clough Centenary group also received £2,125 so that the Clough Day which has taken place for the last two years can continue for the next two as well. This too is a wonderful Prestwich event, and we are proud to provide the money to keep it going. This money also came from the Kickstart Community Initiative fund.

- £1,500 was given for the provision of a sensory garden for disabled children at Butterstile. This money came from the Kickstart fund, which is for small projects.

- Heaton Park School applied for money for fencing around the school, which will be an asset to the local community and which we were happy to provide £5,000 towards. This grant was made from the Cleaner, Greener, Safer capital fund, which is for capital schemes benefitting the local environment.

- The Cleaner, Greener, Safer capital fund was also the source of money for the Downham Tenants and Residents Association, for whom the LAP has given £500 towards the cost of creating a “wildlife corner” for communal use on land that is currently an eyesore.

- And the Cleaner, Greener, Safer capital fund has been made available for refurbishment of the Parksway ginnel in Sedgley ward, where £1,000 will be used for essential security work.

- A ball zone will be created at Parrenthorn school, with £5,000 coming from the Community Development fund for projects in the community.

- In addition, a further £5,000 has been made available from this fund for a new under 5’s play area in Polefield.

Altogether last night there was over £22,000 of money invested by the LAP into much needed community projects. This is a massive investment, and we have secured major projects like the carnival and much-needed play facilities, as well as smaller things like the Downham wildlife corner.

Holyrood Ward in particular will benefit from the major investment in play facilities which is very welcome. All in all a very good night for Prestwich.

Lib Dem’s Secure More Money for Children and Young People, and more money for Parks and Cleaner Streets 

Liberal Democrat Councillors saved services for young people and vulnerable children and secured extra expenditure on much needed environmental services such as parks, cleaner streets and environmental enforcement in Bury Council’s budget for next year.

The Lib Dem proposals, which were agreed and have become part of the budget:

- saved advice services for children and money for youth services across Bury

- saved services for disabled children, the “young carers” service and provision for children who are at risk

- secured new money for our parks and environmental services

- secured new money for a cleaner environment such as street cleaning and enforcement such as dog fouling and fly-tipping

 Cllr Tim Pickstone, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said:

 “This is a difficult budget again for Bury. We all need to be clear on why these difficult savings once again have to be made. The blame is quite clearly with the Labour Government who, despite many years of pressure, continue to effectively give Bury a “poor deal”.

“Services to young people are already stretched  -  A vibrant youth support service is essential to ensure educational staying on rates and engagement in training or employment, with the subsequent positive impact on reducing anti-social behaviour”

“We are not prepared to put up with an unsafe reduction in support for vulnerable children, and to not see advances in supporting the environment in this borough.”

Cllr Richard Baum, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Resources said

“The people of this Borough want cleaner streets, green space and safe places for their families. And the Liberal Democrat group will ensure that as much as possible is done to give them what they want. Our proposals tonight are to invest in parks in this Borough to ensure that every community has a well-managed place of peace and greenery to enjoy.

Attacking the Labour Party Proposal to cut vital services for a zero Council Tax rise Cllr Pickstone said:

“This proposal is madness. We would all like to have a zero council tax rise, but the Labour Party are proposing to scrap £700,000 on much needed services for disabled people, are proposing to scrap services for young people and vulnerable children, and proposing to run Bury Council into the ground by running reserves down to a dangerous level. This is a disgrace - I am shocked that that Labour Party will stoop so low in a pathetic attempt to gain votes.

“There are two opposition parties in Bury. One, the Lib Dems, have achieved over £1/3 million of expenditure on young people, children and the environment, while Labour have achieved nothing but a cheap gimmick at the expense of vulnerable people.” 

Last night was “Budget Council” for Bury MBC. This is probably the most important meeting each year for a local Council as it is when Councillors set the full budget for the following year.

In a shapshot, here’s what has been agreed:

- a Council Tax rise of 3.4% from 1st April. This is a significantly lower rise than in recent years - which is good.

- A discount for the over 65s of 3.4% off their council tax.

- The ability for people to pay their council tax in 12 installments, not 10 as is the case now.

- More money to pay for pressures on services for disabled people, more money (thanks to the Lib Dems!) for environmental issues like parks, street cleaning and environmental enforcement.

- A “capital programme” over the next three years which includes building the new High School at Radcliffe Riverside, as well as plans to develop Phillips Park Hall in Prestwich.

It was a very difficult year (again) for Bury setting its budget. The amount of money that the Government gives us was yet again less than our neighbours in the rest of Greater Manchester. Its been calculated that since Labour came into Government Bury is 15% worse off than before - and that was from a low starting point. This means that a number of “savings” (cuts) have had to be made - totalling around £5 million.

What did the Liberal Democrats do?

The Liberal Democrats proposed an amendment to the Budget which proposed to reallocate just over £1/3 million of different expenditure than what was being proposed by the Conservative Party administration that runs Bury.

£250,000 to maintain services in a number of important areas for young people and children. This included
- saving proposed cuts to the youth service and schools advice services. We believe that services for young people are an essential, not just for their own sake, but also because they help tackle issues like anti-social behaviour.

- saving proposed cuts to services to vulnerable children including: disabled children, the whole young carers service, the whole service to support parents with mental health needs, and vulnerable children at risk.

£100,000 of new expenditure for our parks, streets and environment

- we proposed £50,000 on environmental issues to help deal with issues such as Street Cleaning and maintaining the “Green Flag” status of our parks. We’ve been promised a Saturday clean of town centre areas which should be excellent

- we proposed £50,000 on environmental enforcement which will tackle issues such as fly-tipping, dog fouling and stray dogs (dog warden service).

The Liberal Democrat Group amendment was accepted (not, it should be noted with any support from the Labour Party…) and became part of the agreed budget.

What did the other Parties do.

I am not easily shocked in politics, but last night the Labour Party amazed me. They proposed different budget which can only be described as “mad”.

The proposed to make wholesale cuts to make way of a cheap “gimmick” of a zero rise in Council tax. No rise in Council tax would be brilliant, but I was amazed about what they were prepared to sacrifice to come up with this cheap gimmick.

Labour proposed to:

- ignore the needs of disabled people in Bury by removing £700,000 of much needed expenditure for people with learning and physical disabilities. This is a disgrace. They should be ashamed of suggesting that disabled people don’t need services from the Council.

- ignore the needs of children and young people by cutting £350,000 of services for young people and vulnerable children. Mostly this was exactly the same list of services saved by the Liberal Democrats. Labour proposed to cut youth services, cut ALL services to young carers, cut services for disabled children and, most worryingly, cut services for vulnerable children at risk. This is a disgrace.

- put the future finances of the council at risk by spending all the “reserves” down to the bare minimum (reserves are needed to cope for emergencies such as spending on flooding, unexpected demand etc) AND ignoring the long standing “equal pay” issue to address women employees who have been paid less than men doing the same job.

I was shocked by how low the Labour Party could stoop. The socialist “founding fathers” of the Labour Party will be turning in their grave to watch their Party abandon people in need.

And the Conservatives…

In the end it was the proposals of the Conservative Party, with the addition of the new expenditure proposed by the Liberal Democrats that won the day which are outlined about.

We didn’t feel able to support all the proposals of the Conservatives - particularly some of the savings around the environment and social services, so abstained on the final vote.

The papers for the Budget are available on the Council’s website here. You can read the speech of the Lib Dem Resources Spokesperson Cllr Richard Baum here. If you have any questions, or comments, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Tim

Liberal Democrats have revealed shocking plans from the Labour Government to close local post offices.

The Government has announced that another 2,500 post offices are to close in a devastating blow that will mean that another six post offices are set to be closed in Bury alone. This is in adidtion to the 19 post offices that have already closed in Bury since 1999 under the Labour Government.

What’s more - the Lib Dems have revealed that the Government and Post Office are deliberately putting back the closures until after the council elections in May 2008! (see letter from the Post Office below).

Local Lib Dem Councillor Vic D’Albert and his Lib Dem colleagues led the defence of our local post offices when they got Bury Council to agree a policy in favour of saving our post offices late last year.
Vic D’Albert said: “Post Offices are at the heart of our local community and provide many vital services. In recent years we’ve already lost two post offices in Prestwich (on Whittaker Lane and down near Danesway in Sedgley) - surely they can’t expect us to close more!”

Local Lib Dems demand:
• Halt the Post Office branch closure programme;
• Stop removing Government business from Post Offices;
• Find additional Government functions could be carried out through Post Offices;

Take Action today!
We need to take action to ensure we don’t lose our vital local post offices in Prestwich.

Join Vic and the local Lib Dems in saving our local post offcices by returning our “Save Our Post Offices” petition currently being distributed throughout Holyrood Ward.

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

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

See recent article in the Guardian

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

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

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

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

Visit the Save Woodhead Tunnel website.

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

Here’s Nick Clegg’s New Year message:

Congratulations from the Lib Dem team in Bury to the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats - Nick Clegg MP.

Nick will make an excellent Party Leader, he has an excellent track record on standing up on issues that matter. We look forward to working with him.

Nick Clegg has set out his priorities in a message to Bury residents:

“I am greatly honoured to have been chosen by my fellow party members to be the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Throughout Bury, Liberal Democrats are already working hard to reach out to local people and listen to their concerns. In my leadership I will be taking that  spirit nationwide, moving beyond Party Politics and making liberalism connect with the millions of people who share our values.

Labour and the Conservatives have failed Britain’s families. I will lead my party to change politics, and change Britain, for the better. Only the Liberal Democrats are committed to giving the people of Bury a greater say in the decisions that affect our lives, by shifting power away from Westminster and back to local communities.

I will fight for a fair deal for Britain’s families, campaign tirelessly to cut crime and improve our NHS so it delivers the care people need.”

Nick Clegg is going to be a great leader. Labour and the Conservatives share so many policies, the time has come for a politician who will speak up for people and local communities.

Tim

The Bury Manchester Metrolink line is back up and running again after a summer long closure during which we’ve been dependent on bus replacement services.

I haven’t had chance to go on the tram since the upgrade yet, but work seems impressive! On Heaton Street where I live many of us have the tramline at the back of our houses, and its a significant difference in the noise made by the trams. The track prior to work was laid on wooded sleepers and (apparently) dated back to the days of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway before 1914!

I know that in some parts of Prestwich - particularly nearer to the Village where the line is more elevated that my area - residents have had enormous problems over noise. Hopefully this will mean a smoother and quieter time for passengers and residents alike!

At the last full meeting of Bury Council I submitted a written question on the safety of the tram network at night. The tram is an excellent service for all of us, but I’m worried that many people are frightened of using the serivce in the evening - especially in the darker months. I’ve asked Cllr Andrew Garner, who is Bury’s spokesperson on the Passenger Transport Authority to take this up for me.

Residents who live alongside the Metrolink line need to be aware that the contractors currently working on renewing the track have informed the Council that some limited work may be needed during the night. Your local councillors have protested against this proposal, and we have received assurances that no heavy cutting or noisy work will take place, and that work will only take place if the recent wet weather continues and work cannot be completed during the day.

 Please contact me or one of your other councillors if work is disturbing you during the night and we will report this immediately to the relevant authorities.

Tim

The proposal to introduce a congestion charge for Manchester raises too many questions for local people and should be opposed - say local Lib Dems.

Liberal Democrats in Prestwich have raised concerns about the proposals to charge local people up to £5 a day for driving into into Manchester with toll points at the M60 and the “intermediate ring road”.

 • Charging people to cross the M60  will divide the local communities of Prestwich and Whitefield. Why should we pay to make a local journey to schools, shops or health facilities that doesn’t go anywhere near Manchester!  Either all roads will have charges or terrible “rat runs” will be created. What happens to Simister village just outside the M60?
• The scheme just isn’t Green. It does nothing to tackle the big source of air pollution in Prestwich/Whitefield, the M60.

• For an extra tax of up to £1,300 per person a year what do we get? A few more trams and a few school buses? Using the tram costs more than the proposed charge!

Lib Dem leader Cllr Tim Pickstone said: 
“Everyone knows we need to work hard for the environment and to reduce congestion, but this scheme just seems so wrong for our local area. We cannot support a scheme that divides our local community and does nothing to solve the major environmental questions that face us today.

Tell us what you think. Sign our online petition at www.prestwichsaysno.com