RE-THINK URGED FOR WHITEFIELD HEALTH FACILITIES

February 9th, 2010 by vicdalbert
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Bury South Lib Dem candidate, Vic D’Albert has called on Bury Primary Care Trust to reconsider their proposals for new health facilities.

It was recently confirmed by the PCT that following rejection of a previous planning application for the uplands health centre near Whitefield Town Hall, that they now plan to relocate most of their plans to premises in the Radcliffe area.

Vic D’Albert commented, “This is a dreadful decision by the PCT that will significantly disadvantage many people in the Whitefield area and will do nothing to help deprived communities in Whitefield. I would urge them to reconsider for the sake of all concerned.

“There has to be a middle way here that provides a planning application in this conservation area that is acceptable to the local authority and enables the PCT to bring first class modern medical and health support services to local residents.”

REFORM IS THE KEY

February 8th, 2010 by vicdalbert
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I have to say I find todays rantings by David Cameron regarding the 3 MP’s charged with theft over their expense claims more than a little distasteful.

He is so determined to make political capital out of anything and everything he is in danger of ignoring natural justice.

Perhaps someone should remind him that we still have trial by jury in this country and as I understand it you are also innocent until proved guilty.

However, do I appreciate much of todays furore is over the MP’s claim that they will seek Parliamentary privilege and claim immunity from prosecution. Clearly that would be a nonsense and if they themselves are so convinced that they are innocent of the charges then they should be prepared to submit to the scrutiny of trial rather than searching for a way of avoiding trial which will only serve to further discredit MP’s and reopen the wound that is MP’s expenses.

As for David Cameron when he acknowledges that there is more to this than MP’s behaving badly and that the whole system is discredited and rotten and that we need root and branch reform, then I’ll take his comments on this issue more seriously.

We get the Government we deserve, and much less than half the population voted for this Government using a system that does not fairly represent the consensus within constituencies  and renders the election in many of the constituences pointless.

Reform is the key word and it’s about a lot more than expense claims.

CRIME DOWN 15% - BUT KEEP THOSE SHEDS AND GARAGES LOCKED!

February 8th, 2010 by vicdalbert
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gmp.jpgThe latest Homewatch newsletter from Greater Manchester Police brings good news, highlighting a 15% fall in crime.

The bad news is the spate of shed and garage break-ins over the past fortnight. 4 Sheds and 2 garages in Prestwich alone. There has also been the usual spate of thefts from cars. So keep those shed/garages locked and secure and don’t leave items on display in your car. Remember thieves don’t know that the box on your back seat is empty until they have smashed your window to get at it!

The latest newsletter can be viewed and downloaded here: homewatchnewsletter20jan202010.pdf

PARKING CHARGES WILL DAMAGE PRESTWICH

February 6th, 2010 by vicdalbert
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Hot on the heals of their meddling with the Prestwich area partnership and threats to Prestwich’s Longfield Suite community Centre, Bury Conservatives are now planning to introduce parking charges at the Fairfax Road car park.

The proposal has been introduced into their proposed council budget for 2010/11 and is budgeted to provide income of £35,000.

But the proposal is yet another example of Bury riding rough shod over Prestwich the town and its residents, no proper consultation, no consideration of the local situation and not even the courtesy of a an email to local councillors.

What’s more it cements the growing opinion that Bury’s Conservative administration doesn’t give a jot about the opinion of local townships like Prestwich and will do what it wants irrespective of local opinion.

But even worse, this proposal is either utterly negligent of plain spiteful. With the recovery of Prestwich Town centre in the balance, with some new businesses, some still struggling businesses and regeneration/development of the precinct not even started the conservatives have either not thought about the damage that parking charges could do to a fragile local economy (negligent) or it is a determined strategy to undermine recovery of the Prestwich economy because of its Lib Dem led local Area Partnership.

Time will tell whether it’s negligence or spite. What is certain is that this proposal will damage local businesses and the prospect for local recovery. I can assure readers that Lib Dem councillors will fight it all the way

LIB DEMS LAUNCH GENERAL ELECTION PLANS ON POLICING

February 5th, 2010 by vicdalbert
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Liberal Democrats in Bury South today set out their General Election plans to put more police on the beat.

The extra officers for Bury will be funded by the savings from scrapping ID cards, and are part of the Liberal Democrats’ Safer Streets – More and Better Police manifesto commitment.

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, Vic D’Albert said: “People in Bury South are often telling me how they feel unsafe. “Expensive ID cards aren’t going to change that, but an extra officer walking down Bury New Road or Dumers Lane or more police in Radcliffe on Friday night will.

“The Liberal Democrats are committed to more police, and this is the only way to create safer streets.”  

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: “The Liberal Democrats are the only party that wants to cut crime by putting more police on the street. “When only one in a hundred crimes ends up with a conviction in court, it is time for things to change.

“Labour and the Conservatives may talk tough but they are unwilling to make the crucial decisions to cut crime.”

You can download our Policing manifesto committment here: safer_streets_-_more_and_better_police.pdf

Police, Council Pay, Civic Venues and a lot of salt and grit

February 4th, 2010 by vicdalbert
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Last nights Full meeting of Bury Council which brings all 51 councillors together in the ritual mud slinging contest was mercifully low on mud hurling for once.

SUPPORTING FAIR FUNDING FOR GMP 

As mentioned previously the Lib Dem Group proposed a motion in support of Greater Manchester Police. We are concerned that financial pressures may lead to 100 or more front line Police officers being lost, with all the consequences for crime fighting that would have. We reiterated our support for GMP and called on the Government to provide greater financial support by releasing funds originally granted (by a funding formula) but not paid over to GMP.

Sadly both the Tories and Labour refused to support the motion, Labour put a “spoiling” amendment that basically wiped out our motion, however as it basically also provided support for the Police, albeit Bury rather than greater Manchester, and sadly lacked any figures, we nevertheless were able to support it.

COUNCIL PAY

Thas was followed by a Labour motion on Council pay. Basically the motion called for a renegotiation of the nationally agreed pay award for local Government employees. It has been agreed that due to the impact of the recession and ultimately the poor state of public finances that local authorities could not afford to offer a pay increase this year.

Shamefully Labour wanted to ignore the financial situation and commit the authority to paying an increase. It was estimated that the increase would cost the authority £2.8m , equivalent to a 4% council tax increase. Everyone wants to pay (and for that matter receive) pay rises, but in a climate where there are going to be cuts this year and probably even bigger cuts in the next few years a pay freeze this year is prudent. Labours motion was nothing short of irresponsible and blatant posturing to voters.

My Lib Dem colleague and Group leader, Cllr Tim Pickstone moved an amendment recognising the plight of lower paid staff and asking that the council consider doing what they can to help them, after all its the lowest paid that suffer most in a recession.

Sadly once again Labour and the Tories voted against our amendment.  Lib Dems and the Tories voted against Labours motion.

After those two motions you certainly got the feeling that battle lines are being drawn for the local elections and general election which will probably take place on May 6th

Read the rest of this entry.

TIME FOR FAIR FUNDING FOR OUR POLICE

February 3rd, 2010 by vicdalbert
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Bury Town Hall

SPEECH TO FULL MEETING OF BURY COUNCIL TONIGHT

Mr Mayor,The Liberal Democrat Group put this motion before Council tonight in an attempt to raise an issue in the borough that could ultimately have serious consequences for safety and crime detection in the area and therefore ultimately undermine the Bury Safe partnership. Greater Manchester Police are either heading for or in a crisis depending on your stand point. 

They are currently heading towards a £5m overspend on their current £560m budget and are in the middle of a radical shake up.Just before Christmas Chief Constable Peter Fahy and his deputy Simon Byrne imposed a 90 day action plan to improve performance. This includes:

  • Getting more officers on the beat
  • Cutting beaurocracy
  • Targeting the worst performing divisions

Failure to succeed in improving GMP performance could lead to Home Office intervention.The affects of the budget overspend could lead to 450 jobs going, potentially 300 officers, although this is hoped to be mitigated by investment in new improved IT systems which is hoped will free up 200 officers from paperwork for frontline services.In addition 2 police stations (neither in Bury) are scheduled to be closed. On top of that there is real fear that GMP could even face a grant reduction which if not compensated by s significantly improved precept, and I doubt it would be, could lead to a £30m plus shortfall – the real disaster scenario. 

So what it will mean if these cuts are implemented is that in absolute terms there will be 100 less police officers and about 150 other positions in addition to two stations closing. Part of the problem faced by GMP is that have struggled to control spending on devolved division budgets. In addition they are now operating under a 3 year precept agreement which whilst it does carry significant benefits for financial management and accountability aligned to targets and performance management, significantly the big big downside is the difficulty in absorbing the financial implications of responding to high profile investigations and unforcasted events. 

Now before you think I’m knocking GMP let me be absolutely clear –  I am not. What I am outlining here is a situation identified and being responded to by Peter Fahy and GMP themselves.  

But whilst GMP are addressing these issues as best they can and with a determination to not only bring their spending under control but to use the opportunity to introduce improvements, they are being hampered, I believe unfairly, by the financial funding formula applied by the Home office.  Read the rest of this entry.

TORIES IN TURMOIL OVER CUTS

February 3rd, 2010 by vicdalbert
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Yesterday George Osborne - the man who would be Chancellor of the Exchequer (despite no actual expertise in finance, not to mention Treasury finances), stood up in the British Museum and when he spoke the Tory manifesto pledges on the economy and budget deficit etc started to unravel before our very eyes. 

You may recall that the Conservatives had pledged massive cuts in their first 50 days of Government. For this they were roundly attacked because of the damage such mid-year cut backs would have on the finances of many public sector and voluntary organisations. 

Now they say they are not going to be nearly so brutal after all. But most worrying of all, they have decided that they are not going to tell us anything about the cuts. Yesterday George Osborne was repeatedly asked about the cuts - where, when, how much. Repeatedly he refused to answer.

It is frankly not credible to stand up and make vague and veiled promises about how they would handle the economy and budget deficit and then refuse to go into any detail. He might as well of stood up and said “Just trust me, I’m a Conservative politician”. It would be as detailed as the spinned double-talk of a speech yesterday and would have saved him and the media a lot of time.

The Tories are now in turmoil over the economy. They wanted to act tough with cuts and appear strong in their handling of the economy, prepared to take the tough decisions etc, But for whatever reason they are now recoiling from that position. There policy seems to vary depending on which Tory is speaking!

Only the Liberal Democrats have a coherent economic policy that is both credible from a treasury/economy point of view and importantly is designed to protect key public services.

The Liberal Democrats want to split up the banks so that taxpayers no longer have to underwrite reckless risk taking.

We will create a fairer tax system with an income tax cut which will make work pay for those on low incomes.

Through targeted cuts in spending we will be honest about how to reduce the deficit. And by setting up an infrastructure bank we will ensure that public infrastructure projects get the private funding they need to revolutionise our economy.  Now that is how you usher in an economy that is fit for the challenges ahead.

LIB DEMS ANNOUNCE FUNDING BOOST FOR BURY SCHOOLS

February 2nd, 2010 by vicdalbert
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The Liberal Democrats have announced a major funding commitment to boost education in Bury. 

Nick Clegg has this week set out the Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment for a Pupil Premium that would invest around £11m of extra cash in Bury schools, raising the funding for disadvantaged pupils to private school levels. 

The money will be invested through the Pupil Premium pledge, part of a £2.5bn manifesto spending commitment. 

Vic D’Albert PPC for Bury South said: 

“It’s nothing short of a scandal that children in Bury continue to lose out under Labour. Some of the schools here receive significantly less money than the national average and something must be done. 

“Under our plans, Bury schools would get a further £10.78 m which they could use to cut class sizes and provide more individual support.” 

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:  

“With this unfairness in funding it’s no surprise there is such a gap in achievement between children from the poorest backgrounds and those families who are better off. 

“Only when we get education funding back on track will be able to give all our children the fair start they deserve.”

February Diary Dates

February 1st, 2010 by vicdalbert
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diary.JPG

1st - Bury Liberal Democrats Meeting - 7.30pm Prestwich Liberal Club, all members welcome. 

2nd - Save the Longfield Suite Campaign Meeting, 6.30pm Church Inn.

3rd - Full Council, Meeting of all 51 Bury Councillors, 7.00pm Town Hall Bury.

8th - Heaton Park Primary School Governors Meeting, 6pm

10th - Bury Looked After Children Awards, 5pm Bury FC

11th - Standards Committee, 6pm Town Hall, Bury

17th - Polefield Fun day and community clean up, from 12 noon.

22nd - Lib Dem Council Group meeting

24th - Special 2010/11 Council Budget Setting meeting

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