The BurySafe Partnership, in particular the Police and Trading Standards, would like your help generally in preventing doorstep crime (bogus officials and/or rogue traders).

Across the borough in the last few days, we have had several doorstep crime incidents; the tactic or modus operandi has been as follows;

Water Board Officials - Elderly people have been targeted by individuals posing as bogus officials from the Water Board (actually United Utilities) and in some cases they have displayed fake identification cards. House holders are often distracted when asked to check water pressure or taps and other accomplices enter the property and acquire items or cash.

Security Intercom or Equipment - In this case two individuals, a male and female, were purporting to be working for a company in Blackpool who were doing work for Six Town Housing.

If you have any elderly or vulnerable relatives, or know any one who may be the potential victim of doorstep crime, please try to discourage them from buying goods and services on their door step. Encourage them not to open doors to strangers cold calling. If they have any concerns about their water or other services they should contact their service provider direct. Please also encourage residents to use their door chains and/or not to be afraid to refuse entry. If they are unsure do not open the door. If in doubt keep them out.

Stickers can be made available for any one who would like them which state no cold calling. If anyone wants to report a door step crime incident, please contact the police on the numbers below. Your Homewatch Coordinator may also be able to assist.

For further information or advice in the first instance contact The Police Crime Reduction Adviser on 0161-856-8046. Alternatively make contact with Trading Standards Tel 0161-253-5566 .

If a Crime is in progress contact the Police on 999 or 872 5050. Try to record as much information as possible.

Thursday night was the regular meeting of Prestwich’s Local Area Partnership. This brings together your nine local Liberal Democrat councillors, together with representatives of community groups, and partner agencies.

It was a busy meeting,with the highlights as follows:

Skateboarding, BMX and Inline Skaters in Prestwich

A group of young people who’ve been working up proposals for a “skate park” for Prestwich gave a presentation. The group have made great progress in developing the case for a facility, and gone as far as identifying potential locations, costs and design styles. The Area Partnership was very supportive of the proposals and offered to work further with the stakeboarders to develop the initiative.

Children’s Centres and Extended Services Update
Davina Hanley from Children’s Services in Bury gave an update on the progress towards the two children’s centres that are currently being completed in Prestwich (Sedgley Park Primary and Butterstile Primary) and on the range of services that are going to be available from these centres.

Bury PCT - World Class Commissioning

Andrew Rogers, from Bury PCT (Primary Care Trust) gave a presentation on what’s called “World Class Commissioning”. This is where the local NHS identifies core priorities and then ensures that local services are best matched to meet these local health priorities. The seven priorities for Bury were identified as:
Coronary Heart Disease
Stroke
Cancer
Respitatory
Obecity
Alcohol
Mental Health
The PCT wanted to consult with local people before a draft plan is published in the next few weeks.

Prestwich Anti-Litter Campaign
Area Manager Carran O’Grady and PC Andy Wright from the local Police Service gave a presentation on how the authorities are working together to tackle graffiti in the local area. This included working with offenders to clean graffiti off, distribution of graffiti cleaning kits and, in one case, working with a professional graffiti artist to improve a back ginnell. It was really encouraging to see so much being done to tackle the issue.

Phillips Park Restoration
Chris Wilkinson from Bury Council gave a presentation on the bids to restore and improve Phillips Park in Prestwich. A further bid is currently being prepared to the Heritage Lottery Fund following some discussions with the Board on the park’s suitability for funding. The park contains some of the most historial remains in the whole of Bury. We raised a number of concerns about access to the park from Prestwich which were taken on board.

Any questions or more information please ask.

thanks
tim

Planning applcations received for Holyrood Ward in September 2008
For more information click here

Application Number: 50508
Registration Date: 19/09/2008
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 81 CUCKOO LANE, WHITEFIELD, M45 6WD
Proposal: TWO STOREY EXTENSION AT SIDE
Case Officer: Amanda Uhunmwagho
Decision: This case has not yet been decided
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 50461
Registration Date: 18/09/2008
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 4 GLEBELANDS ROAD, PRESTWICH, M25 1NE
Proposal: SINGLE STOREY EXTENSION AT REAR
Case Officer: Tom Beirne
Decision: This case has not yet been decided
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 50346
Registration Date: 15/09/2008
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 33 GLEBELANDS ROAD, PRESTWICH, M25 1WE
Proposal: RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT - 14 APARTMENTS WITH 14 CAR PARKING SPACES AND LANDSCAPING
Case Officer: Helen Longworth
Decision: This case has not yet been decided
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 50484
Registration Date: 10/09/2008
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 6 THE HEYS, PRESTWICH, M25 1BZ
Proposal: SINGLE STOREY EXTENSION TO REAR
Case Officer: Amanda Uhunmwagho
Decision: This case has not yet been decided
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 50464
Registration Date: 04/09/2008
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: BROOKVALE, SIMISTER LANE, SIMISTER, PRESTWICH, M25 2SF
Proposal: PROPOSED CLASSROOM BLOCK
Case Officer: Jennie Townsend
Decision: This case has not yet been decided
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

Application Number: 50434
Registration Date: 02/09/2008
Ward Name: Prestwich - Holyrood
Location: 13 OLDFIELD ROAD, PRESTWICH, M25 2GG
Proposal: TWO STOREY EXTENSION AT SIDE
Case Officer: Jane Langan
Decision: This case has not yet been decided
Appeal Received Date: This case has no appeals against it

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”.

Prestwich Local Area Partnership is making available Graffiti Cleaning Kits for local businesses that have been affected by the current spate of graffiti in our community. This leaflet is available from our Area Manager Carran O’Grady - contact her at C.O’Grady@bury.gov.uk

The next meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership is at 6.30pm on Thur 2 October 2008 at Sedgley Park School, Kings Road, Prestwich. This is the group that brings together your local Councillors and partners from the police, NHS, voluntary sector and community groups. Members of the public are very welcome to attend.

One of the items for discussion is skateboarding: Prestwich Skateboards and BMX group have set themselves up to campaign for support for a Skateboard and BMX site somewhere in Prestwich. The group made up mainly of teenagers are asking Prestwich LAP to listen to their plans and support them where possible. Chair of Prestwich Local Area Partnership Vic D’Albert said “I went to presentation given by the group recently and I was so impressed with what young people want to do for themselves that I invited them to come along to promote themselves to Prestwich I make a promise not to skate round this issue but offer whatever help we can.”

Other things coming out at Prestwich LAP will be and update on Children’s Services, Youth Services, Health Engagement Strategy etc. and a brand new update on how we are tackling hot spots in Prestwich. And finally hot of the press find out the latest about Prestwich Regeneration Plans and the consultation plans and the big launch in October.

There will also be a special meeting of the Prestwich LAP at 7.00pm Thu 16th October at The Longfield Suite. Please mark your diaries now. This will be to look at the consultation plans for the future of Prestwich Village.

The Forestry Commission is finding out what local people think about the LIVIA Community Woodland in Prestwich. This is a new series of parkland areas in the Irwelll Valley. They are holding a community consultation on Saturday 27th of September to discuss the LIVIA project with local residents and community organisations. The event will be from 1-5pm at The Phoenix Centre St. Mary’s Park, St. Mary’s Rd, Prestwich M25 1GG.

There will be a light lunch, a site visit, afternoon tea and a lively discussion. For more information please call Paul or Charlotte at Pathways on 0161 273 8235.

With Bonfire night approaching, the police, fire, transport, youth and local authority services are each considering how they can ensure that Bonfire night is as safe and enjoyable as possible for everyone.

In order to ensure effective patrolling of the Borough during the Bonfire period, the team at “Bury Safe” (Police, Council etc) hope to put together a comprehensive list of organized events across the Borough, so that resources can be used efficiently.

If you are involved with organising a council run or private Bonfire or firework event or know of any in the immediate vicinity, please send in the details to: k.griffiths@bury.gov.uk. They need to know information including start and finish times, what’s happening (fireworks, bonfire etc) and the expected number of attendees.

Many thanks for your assistance

The Bury Safe Team

Last night was the regular meeting of the Executive Committee. This is the Committee that brings together all nine of the Executive members from the ruling (Conservative) group. Myself and the leader of the Labour group attend as observers.

TIF Bid Referendum
The main item was probably the agreement to proceed with a referendum on the TIF (Transport Innovation Fund) Bid for Greater Manchester (the congestion charge). The ten authorities of Greater Manchester have agreed to hold a referendum across the county. This will be by postal ballot, of everyone on the electoral register. Ballot papers must be returned by 11 December 2008.

All ten authorities have agreed to be bound by the result in their borough - ie if voters in Bury vote “no”, then that is how Bury will vote when it comes to the decision. Decisions in Greater Manchester have to be made with the agreement of at least seven of the ten authorities, so if seven boroughs vote in favour, then its happening.

I clarified that the other nine leaders had all given the same undertaken that our Council Leader had - to be bound by the results of the referendum - apparently they have. I also asked about the money being spent (taxpayers money) on “promoting” the scheme. Apparently around £3 million will be spent by AGMA or the Passenger Transport Authority to promote the scheme. I’m not sure if this is “fair” democracy at its best, but I’m sure the voters will make an intelligent decision.

Pimhole Renwal Area
We also agreed to extend the work on the Pimhole Renewal Area in East Bury for a further five years to 2013. The renewal area project has been improving the area with a mixture of environmental, housing and business improvements.

Corporate Financial Report
The Executive Committee received a report on the Council’s finances. Basically there is an overspend in Adult Services, but this is largely offset by underspends in other areas and through a good performance on the Council’s financial management (e.g. borrowing and investment). I asked about the continuing delays to schemes in the capital programme as some schemes seem to continue to slip into future years. Of particular concern here is the Radcliffe Riverside school project.

Copies of all papers are http://burydem.bury.gov.uk/aksbury/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=102&cmte=CAB&grpid=public&arc=71. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any queries.

Tim