Liberal Democrats in Bury have welcomed the launch of the Liberal Democrats’ vision for Britain by Party Leader Nick Clegg MP. Called ‘Make it Happen’, the paper will be debated at the party’s conference in Bournemouth in September. In ‘Make it Happen’ the Liberal Democrats say: 

       ·         They will cut taxes for ordinary families

• If your local hospital can’t see you on time, they will pay for treatment elsewhere

• They will switch taxes from people to pollution - so it pays to go green

• To improve standards in education, they will fund extra help for those who need it most

• They will put Britain at the heart of Europe to make us a force for good in the world

• They will stop ID cards so we can keep control of our privacy

• They will change the voting system so everyone’s voice counts

• They will bring communities together with local people in charge

       ·         They will give communities a say in how offenders pay for their crimes 

Vic D’Albert, Bury South Parliamentary spokesperson said, “I am delighted to be able to back ‘Make it Happen’. It sets out how the Liberal Democrats will run Britain. “No resident of Bury has escaped the rising cost of food and fuel. The credit crunch is biting hard and local people are feeling the pinch. “Nick Clegg has set out how we can help ordinary people through cutting taxes on those on low and middle incomes. Thousands of people in Bury will benefit from this.  “We are taking the plans in ‘Make it Happen’ to the people of Bury during the summer to get their response.  And in September, we will be heading to the Liberal Democrats’ conference where we are looking forward to taking part in the debate.

” ‘Make it Happen’ is available at: http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/Make%20it%20Happen.pdf 

The Liberal Democrats have outlined radical plans to tackle youth crime.
The dual approach aims to stop young people committing crimes in the first place by enabling them to play a full role in society through increased training and volunteering, as well as stopping criminal behaviour early by making young offenders face up to their crimes.

The main proposals :

· The creation of a Youth Volunteer Force, to engage with young people, involve them in community projects and give them skills to benefit them in later life
· Establish Community Justice Panels across the country, where offenders admit their guilt to the community and agree on a Positive Behaviour Order as a course of action
· Create a dedicated PCSO youth officer within every Safer Neighbourhood Team to identify and work with teenagers most at risk of offending
· 10,000 more police on the streets by scrapping the ID cards scheme
· Intelligence-led stop and search and ‘hot spot policing’ targeted at gun and knife crime
· Restorative justice programs to be run in every community, specifically targeted at early intervention with widespread use in schools and care homes
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Affairs Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“This Government has spent 10 years trying to sound tough while failing to cut youth crime.
“In fact, ministers have embarked on the mass criminalisation of a generation of young people. By dragging more and more young people through the criminal justice system, they have reduced the fear of a criminal record and contributed to the problem.
Instead of shock tactics to grab headlines, we need practical measures that are proven to work.
“Only the Liberal Democrats propose a dual approach to stop kids from getting involved in crime in the first place, and measures to make them face up to the consequences of their actions if they do.”

Bury South Parliamentary spokesperson,Vic D’Albert commented, “I think we all recognise that this problem bears all the hallmarks of getting out of hand. Partially due to the fashion amongst some young people to be seen carrying knives. But gimmicks and off-the-cuff policy announcements will not help. We need a considered response that aims to send the right signals to anyone that thinks its cool to carry knives and at the same time seeks to address the underlying long term issues associated with (especially) youth problems in our communities. These proposals are balanced and tough and would at least start to tackle the issue on both fronts.

“In addition I reiterate previous comments about kitchen knives. Most stabbings are committed with kitchen knives. Knives that don’t actually need a shart pointed end! If the design of kitchen knives was addressed then that would reduce the availability of some of our most dangerous knives and perhaps make it easier to regulate or even ban many of the others.”

Yesterday some hanging baskets put around the Longfield precinct water feature were dragged down and destroyed by mindless vandals. People who may well live in Prestwich, certainly visit Prestwich, use Prestwich facilities but patently don’t give a damn about Prestwich.

These hanging baskets were requested by Prestwich Area Partnership following consultation with residents who wanted to see the area brightened up, made more attractive to visit and rest near the fountain. It took months to get then ordered and installed and in a few minutes some idiot destroys them.

This follows a spate of graffiti breaking out across Prestwich. But one thing is sure those that love Prestwich must not allow these mindless vandals to win. We must replace the baskets, we must remove the graffiti and we must pursue these vandals and they must be made to pay. Justic must be done.

Someone knows who did this, someone must have seen something - it was in broad daylight! I appeal to you to please come forward and contact the Police. Do it because you care about Prestwich.  

Last night was the regular meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership, this brings together your nine local Liberal Democrat Councillors together with representatives of partner agencies like the Police and NHS, and community group representatives.

The main issues that came up were:

Area Manager’s Report
Included in the report of the Area Manager was news of Prestwich’s bid to the £1 million that Bury has been awarded for play facilities. These are:
- Ballzone at St Josephs Playing Field
- Improvements to the Kersal Road playside
- Natural play area behind the existing childrens play area on Kings Road.

My colleague, Cllr Tim Pickstone asked about promised consultation on closing the cash office at Prestwich Library - apparently this will be coming back to a meeting in the Autumn.
There we also numerous mentions of graffitti in the area and I voiced my concern about an appalling letter council officers are sending out that threatens the victims with court action unless they clean up the mess! (see earlier story). It was requested that the numbers that people can ring are widely published, but that we monitor the effectiveness of some of these agencies in clearing up graffiti.

Youth Manager Update
We received an update from James Perkins - Prestwich’s Youth Manager on some of the excellent activities that are planned over the summer months for young people in Prestwich. The local Youth Action Group has also got off the ground again and I asked James to help make sure that there was a good “two-way” communication between young people and the area partnership.
We also heard about an excellent “Health Kick” scheme (part funded by the Area Partnership to raise health issues in the Rainsough Area. Its targetted at 16-25 and over 50 men, and involves football sessions leading into health awareness and promotion sessions.

Funding Bids
The Partnership agreed a number of funding bids for local projects -see seperate article.
Prestwich Heritage Society asked for some money to help with the heritage exhibition at Prestwich Library, we said we would consider in detail before the end of August.

Open Forum
Open Forum is the part of the agenda (45 minutes) set aside to hear issues and concerns from local residents in Prestwich. These included:
- concerns on fencing on Ludlow Avenue
- concerns about youth nuisance on Ogden Street
- concerns about the closing time noise of a local pub
- good news about the recently funded Simister Wetland site
- discussion about the opening times of Prestwich Police Station

Prestwich Community Plan
Richard Baum, who chairs the Developing Communities Group, presented the proposed Prestwich Community Plan for 2008-2011. The plan was agreed,(see seperate article).

The next meeting of the Area Partnership is on Thursday 4 September 2008. This will be a special meeting to discuss the URBED proposals for Prestiwich Village Centre. 6.30pm at the Longfield Centre and will be preceded by an exhibition of the proposals in August and a summary leaflet identifying key proposals to be circulated throughout Prestwich.

Any questions just drop me a line!

Prestwich Local Area Partnership, which brings together your nine Liberal Democrat Councillors, together with representatives of partner bodies and community groups, have agreed a “Prestwich Community Plan” for 2008-2011. The plan sets out what the Partnership aims to achieve over the next three years to make Prestwich a better place to live and work.

There are three overall themes, and within this ten priority areas:

GREEN PRESTWICH
1 - Improve Parks and Leisure Facilities (play areas, parks, green spaces - including the Phillips Park development)
2 - Achieve a reduction in car useage in Prestwich (walk to school, community bus routes, cycle routes etc)
3 - Reduce air pollution in Prestwich (particularly addressing the M60)
4 - Improve the Prestwich environment by reducing litter and graffiti

THRIVING PRESTWICH
5 - Vision for the Redevelopment of Prestwich Village Centre (the URBED study)
6 - Support local Prestwich businesses
7 - Create better facilities for the most deprived areas of Prestwich

STRONG PRESTWICH
8 - Make Prestwich Healthier (working with the local PCT and others)
9 - Make Prestwich Safe (working with the Police and others to reduce crime and the fear of crime)
10 - Create a Prestwich for people of all ages (focus on young people and older people, and a sense of community pride).

The plan sets out an exciting vision for how we want Prestwich to develop over the coming years, people’s views and ideas are much appreciated.

You can download the full plan here: Prestwich Community Plan 2008-2011

A leading local Liberal Democrat has called on the Government to start tackling knife crime head on, by first dealing with knives in the home. 

In response to health service research that has identified that most knives used as weapons are kitchen knives, Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesperson for Bury South is calling on the Government to press for changes to kitchen knife design. 

Vic D’Albert said, “Most kitchen knives have a sharp pointed end which is rarely if ever needed. Most kitchen knives are needed for chopping and cutting and we just don’t need a pointed end for stabbing! Even my bread knife has a pointed end – god only knows what that is needed for. “Health research has proven that many of these knives end up being used as weapons. If the Government is serious about reducing knife crime then every avenue has to be investigated.  

“Clearly it is a traditional that knives have a pointed end, even when not required. In my mind it is blindingly obvious that at a stroke we could make the home safer and cut the number of dangerous knives in the public domain by designing out the problem. Its time manufacturers responded and the Government needs to make sure that they do”. 

Last night I attended a meeting of local residents,Police and Council reps to discuss the possibility of setting up a Homewatch for this area.
The issue of petty crime, nuisance and anti social behaviour in the area came to the fore at the recent meeting to consult on proposals for play areas at Heaton Park School. As a result the Area Partnership working with local councillors and local police/community support decided it would be an opportunity to explore the possibility of establishing a Homewatch in the area.
I am pleased to report about a dozen local residents turned up and expressed varied levels of support and committment to the proposal. As a result further publicity and local contact will be made and a date for an inaugural meeting is being looked at. So Watch this space.

If you would be interested in joining or becoming involved in Homewatch in any capacity please get in touch.