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.

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.

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.”

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

Bury Council has finally launched their formal consultation on the future of the Longfield Suite, Radcliffe Civic Suite and other threatened Bury Community centres.

Now is the time to act, whether you have signed the petition or not, if you care about the future of our local community centres then it is crucial that you complete a consultation form.

Forms are being circulated and are available in Council buildings and the Civic suites themselves. The consultation can also be completed online here .

Don’t forget to let Bury Council know what you think, don’t forget to tell all you contacts about the consultation.

Don’t leave the future of our community centres to someone else, act now!   

The Chilcot Enquiry into the Iraq War yesterday was astonishing for an incredible insight into how we were manipulated by Blair and Bush into deciding the war was legal when our own Attorney General felt it wasn’t.

When our Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith was opposed to the Iraq war or at least felt it was illegal, he went or was he pushed over the atlantic to visit Condoleeza Rice et al. Incredibly he then returns to the UK suitably reassured that the war would indeed be legal.

Now forgive me for pointing out the startlingly obvious but as the US were a tad keen on invading Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein, were they likely to say anything other than the war would be legal? I think not. It was hardly a neutral second opinion.

What it amounted to was ”we’ve got a problem with our top legal guy who isn’t so sure the war would be legal, you need to work on him”. They did, he advised that he’d changed his mind, we invaded.Incredible and appalling.

In a separate development the Enquiry has voiced concerns over the Governments reluctance to declassify certain information. We need this information in the public domain, the Chilcott enquiry needs it to be able to properly question witnesses ie Blair tomorrow.

A failure to do so will leave too many questions unanswered, we need transparency and openness if the enquiry is to succeed and satisfy the publics demands.

Tonight I attended Bury Councils Holocaust Memorial Service at Radcliffe Civic Suite. 65 years to the day that Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated.

As ever it was a moving service, a wonderfully poignant, moving and thought provoking collection of readings, music and dance, including the words of holocaust victims. My congratulations to the organisers.

This years event was titled “A legacy of hope” with much of the words and music aimed at learning from the horrors of the past and in ensuring we do not forget the atrocities of the Nazis and others, we can leave a legacy of hope that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.

As ever the event was attended by representatives of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths, and all 3 political parties on Bury Council, led by the Mayor of Bury. Due to Cllr Pickstone recovering from a minor operation I was delighted to have been able to represent the Liberal Democrats at the event.

If there is one single area where Labour has persistently failed many people in this country it would be in its attempts to reduce poverty and the poverty gap in Britain. And within that their pledge to eradicate Child poverty is the most miserable failure of all. 

A report by the National Equality Panel published today has stated that the gap between rich and poor in Britain is now wider than 40 years ago.

The Panel found that “Deep-seated and systemic differences” remain between men and women and minority groups in pay and employment.

This is despite this Labour Government throwing millions of pounds of taxpayers money at the issue and numerous initiatives.

The trouble is they have done just that - thrown millions of pounds at the problem, almost scatter cushion like, without going to the fundamental issues that drive poverty and curse many born into poverty. And coupled with new labours conservative approach to personal taxation, especially in their first Blair Parliament from ‘97, they have undermined their own ambitions to deal with poverty.

It’s probably their biggest failure and worst legacy to many over the course of a generation, who despite promises now bear the brutal scars of poverty and all that flows from it.

Last nights public meeting received an update from Save Heaton Park Campaigners on progress and latest developments in the campaign.

It’s now expected to be likely that the application will go before Manchester City Councils Planning Committee in March.

The packed St.Margarets Church House, saw a video presentation featuring another  Goals soccer centre and more  details about the planns submitted were provided.

What is clear now both from the plans submitted and comments from some Manchester Labour Councillors is that this is not just about whether commercial sports ventures are appropriate in this or any other park, but whether it is right to develop our green open spaces at all - as a matter of principle.

If this proposal gets the go ahead then it could open the flood gates to commercial development of our parks like never before. It’s similar to the sale of school playing fields in the 70’s and 80’s which is now recognised as having a devastating affect on sports development in Britain - especially team sports.

This now is a line in the sand, I wonder how many other commercial organisations are watching and waiting for the Goals soccer application?

In 10 years time - how much more of Heaton park will have been developed as a result? How many other parks will have faced development?

It’s not about being a killjoy - it’s about acting responsibly for future generations, as guardians for our green legacy. Something Manchester City Council was supposed to be. Something I still hope they will be.

I read with incredulity this weekend that according to Cllr Bibby, leader of Bury Council, that the only reason Bury Tories didn’t carry out proposals to make the Longfield Centre and other Civic venues more successful back in 2007 was because there was a “hung council” and they couldn’t get anything done!!!!

Lets be clear here for the sake of clarity, transparency and a bit of honesty - The Lib Dem group held the balance of power in 2007 and on no occasion did we hold up any plans for improving the lot of our civic suites, on no occasion did we block any plans for improving the civic suites.

Once again we find that when the leader of the council is caught out, found out or simply wrong, he finds someone else to blame and decides to go for distorting the facts rather than a straight answer.

Of course the real reason that proposals from the Best Value Review of Civic Suites in Bury were not carried out is because we now know that they had alternative ideas. It is likely that those alternative ideas were formulated out of that review. When the review didn’t say what they wanted to hear they merely shelved it.

Once again what is patently clear is that you really can’t trust the Conservatives, and certainly not with our public services and certainly not our valuable community centres!

Perhaps Cllr Bibby will have the common decency to admit that nobody but his Conservative Group blocked the implementation of proposals for the civic suites, I won’t hold my breath.

Prestwich Area Partnership met last night and in so doing we welcomed the new Partnership manager - Rose De’, who has replaced Carran O’Grady.

Some readers will recall that virtually everyone from all sides of the political spectrum and none were opposed to this move by Bury Council. But a couple of officers along with the Councils Tory leadership thought it was a good idea and the majority view was therefore ignored, leaving us with a shameful decision that has undoubtedly damaged the Area Partnerships in Bury.

After welcoming Rose I paid tribute to Carran’s work over the past 8 years and then proposed the following motion which was passed overwhelmingly:

“Prestwich Area Partnership deplores the recent unwarranted interference in the management of Prestwich Area Partnership and believe the unnecessary rotation of Area Partnership Managers at this time will undermine the effectiveness of the Partnership at a crucial time.We insist that any future changes be introduced only after full and proper consultation with the Area Partnership.”

I hope that this motion now draws a line under this shambolic mishandling of area partnership affairs. I have to confess though that I am now highly sceptical of this Tory administrations committments to the Local Area Partnerships innitiative.

That was followed by a statement on gritting services during the recent heavy snow fall and cold snap. This was delivered by Guy Berry, the Councils management board representative on the Prestwich Area Partnership. I had requested someone from Highways, preferably actually involved in the Gritting service - this request was denied by Bury Council. In any case the report was useful, confirming as it did the streets that are scheduled for gritting and outlining the policy and how it was compromised by the excessive snow, excessive cold and shortage of grit/salt.

Later in the meeting we received an enlightening report from Rev. Steven Williams, Priest in charge at St.Gabriels, Bishops Road about the work of Churches Together in Prestwich. We also had a crime update from Inspector Ryecroft who highlighted an incrfease in anti-social behaviour in the area.

Finally we approved grants to the Clough Centenary Committee, the Creative Living Centre and Polefield Tenants & Residents Association.

All in all an excellent meeting, albeit poorly attended by the public. Next meeting 6.30, March 18th, Church Lane Community Centre.

The latest Homewatch Newsletter from Greater Manchester Police features an article promoting a national database called immobilise.com, which enables people to register their valuables in case of theft - making it easier to identify who owns them if they are subsequently recovered as well.

In addition it carries the latest news on any local criminal activities such as the location of the 11 thefts from vehicles in the last week! Plus some very useful contact information.

Don’t forget there are Police surgeries held on the 2nd and 4th tuesday of each month at the Childrens centre at Sedgley Park School, Bishops Road between 4pm and 6pm.

Meanwhile you can view or download the newsletter here: homewatchnewsletter20jan2020.pdf

Commenting on the launch of the Conservatives’ crime section of their draft manifesto, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: 

“The Tories love to tell you they are the party of law and order, when in fact they are the party of crime.“Their disgraceful record in Government speaks for itself – crime nearly doubled, violent crime nearly tripled and robbery quadrupled.  

“A vote for the Tories is a vote for more crime; a vote for more tried and tested policies which don’t work.  

“The Tories cannot be trusted – one of their policies is to reduce one of the few remaining protections from the surveillance state.” 

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South added.“The Conservatives’ crime policies are masked by a total disregard for the causes of crime and an insatiable determination to undermine Police resources. There policies are tough on paper, but don’t add up in the real world. As with their other “policies” pronouncements they are all spin and no substance.” 

At last nights meeting of Polefield Tenants and Residents Association we had the usual collection of council officers, Police, residents and me!

As is usually the case the business was upbeat with plenty of positive developments.

Key business was the planning of the estates next fun day for the young people on the estate. This has now been arranged for the week of half term on wednesday, February 17th from 12 noon and will cover activities on the patch of land at the junction of Polefield Circle/Polefield Hall Rd and also on St.Josephs fields at the rear of Prestwich Heys.

On the morning of the 17th skips a couple of skips are to be delivered to the estate and volunteers are needed to help clean up the estate.

But it’s not just about young people.The Association has learned that an application for some funds to provide some “winter warmer” kits to elderly on the estate has been successful. As a result elderly residents will be receiving a bag of goodies to help them keep safe and warm this winter. These should be distributed in early February.

The Conservatives recent announcement of tax breaks for married couples if they win the General Election may sound appealing but it is little more than another Tory tax bribe. 

Even if we put aside the big big question about how they would pay for such an expensive bribe whilst arguing the need for public service cuts everywhere because the country’s “bankrupt” , it just boils down to being blatantly unfair to millions - many of the poorest in society - and just a little patronising. 

Giving tax breaks to married couples where one person can afford to stay at home, but doing nothing for couples who both work is unfair. And penalising a woman whose husband has left her with a tax hike is unfair. 

And even if we look at the social engineering aspect of this - encouraging marriage. Have we forgotten the misery many endured in unhappy marriages in the past when it was the expected social norm. In a 21st century society that now largely respects different types of relationships, Is it not better that people find the kind of relationship that suits them and their family unit rather than encourage marriage irrespective of the consequences. Is not love, mutual respect and support within the unit more important than the type of arrangement? 

This policy ultimately takes money out of the pockets of the poorest families and gives it to rich ones. It would reopen divisions in our society that have taken generations to heal and it would punish single parents. 

The Tories’ first instinct is to help those at the top, Once again they have proven that they can’t be trusted to make this country fairer. 

Lib Dem policy to increase basic tax alowances to £10,000 benefits everyone, but by definition the lowest earners most. But crucially - it’s fair to all.

As the full scale of the horror that is the Haiti earthquake begins to hit home, I would urge everyone to spare whatever they can to back the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Appeal. Every little helps.

You can donate online by going to their web site here .

Due to the huge public outcry Goals Soccer Centres have failed to present their plans to Manchester City Council Planning Committee twice but have now submitted a 3rd set of plans and ethy don’t get any better (see below).

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

Goals have been stopped before

Regents Park - REJECTED
Mordern Park -REJECTED

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

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

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

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

A - Sign the Online Petition HERE

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

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

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

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

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

C - Write your own Objection Letter

Quoting Application No: 090370/FO/2009/N1

and send to:

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

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

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

Thank you for all your support so far!

This sunday the Longfield precinct in Prestwich will be holding another of our now popular farmers markets, with a host of quality produce from across the North West.

The event runs from 9.30 to 3.30 - but be warned stalls have sold out previously so get there early.

As ever there is something for all the family with a free raffle, Childrens ride, Squeaky the clown and a Town crier.

The Liberal Democrats today set out plans to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people who need them and creating 65,000 jobs.

There are over 760,000 empty properties across England which are no longer used as homes but can be brought back into use with some investment. People who own these homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for private use.

Across Bury there is a staggering 1840 empty properties laying idle which could be used to meet local housing needs.

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South commented,

“I welcome this pledge. Empty property is an issue that this Labour Government has clearly failed to address in any adequate manner at all. In one street of Holyrood Ward of Prestwich alone I know of 2 properties that have been left empty, to rot for years.

“This situation cannot be allowed to continue and I am positive this election pledge would have a dramatic in dealing with empty properties across the country.” 

The plans form part of the economic stimulus package outlined as a core principle of the Liberal Democrat election manifesto. In the first year of the new Parliament, the party would redirect over £3.6bn of spending to create jobs and build up Britain’s infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

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

In the latest Homewatch newsletter local Police are urging school children not to flaunt expensive gifts publicly.

Thieves will be on the look out for people with new mobile phones/Ipods etc so make sure you keep them safe and try not to flash them about too much!

The newsletter is packed with other useful information and recent crime statistics you can read it here: homewath-newsletter-january.pdf

Nick Clegg has today written to Gordon Brown urging him to go before the Iraq enquiry before the General Election. Earlier he had raised the issue during Prime Ministers Question Time in the House of Commons.

It is clear from comments made by Alistair Campbell and from questioning by the enquiry itself that it would be more than useful for Gordon Brown to make himself available to answer questions as to his role in the Iraq affair.

In fact it is clear to me that if we are to draw a line under the Iraq war controversy at the next election it is essential that he deals with his now. A failure to do so would lead to speculation that there is indeed something to hide and that the Iraq Enquiry has been politically influenced by showing alleged favouritism to the PM.

The British people need and deserve answers from our PM now, to enable a proper judgement to be made at the next election. They need to know his views and the part he played before a General Election.

So how about it Gordon, transparency and openness or brush it under the carpet till later?

The text of the letter to Gordon Brown from Nick Clegg is below:

Dear Gordon,

I am writing to urge you to indicate immediately to Sir John Chilcot that it is your strong preference to go before the Iraq Inquiry ahead of the General Election.

Following developments yesterday at Alastair Campbell’s hearing, your personal role in the decisions that led to the war in

As I said to you across the floor of the Commons today, people have a right to know the truth about the part you played in this war before they cast their verdict on your Government’s record. I urge you to confirm publicly that should Sir John Chilcot invite you to give evidence to the Inquiry ahead of the election you will agree to do so.

Nick Clegg

Bury Council have arranged a Budget consultation event to be held at the Peel Room, Bury Town Hall on February 2nd, starting at 7pm.

The event will outline the budget position facing the Council , to be finalised by a full meeting of Bury Council on February 24th (7pm).

As part of the exercise officers will outline the options facing the council and provide an opportunity for residents to comment on possible council tax rises, spending priorities and savings options.

Last night I attended Bury’s Environment, Economy & Transport Scrutiny Commission. Unsurprisingly the recent weather and Bury’s handling of the gritting of our roads (or not) dominated much of the meeting.

I raised concerns that the Council appeared to have difficulties trying to cope with bad weather when it was affecting the whole Borough simultaneously and that their gritting strategy seemed to reflect this, this was denied by officers.

I mentioned that we had been informed that due to the weather being so bad in Ramsbottom and surounding area that extra attention had to be given to that area in order to maintain main roads open. I suggested that this seemed to lead to less gritting in certain areas of Prestwich and Whitefield which received unusually large snowfalls. 

I also asked why the Longfield Precinct hadn’t been properly gritted, and officers appeared puzzled and said that it should have been, I have asked for this to be investigated.

Finally following another councillors concerns about keeping schools open, I suggested that Schools in difficult (non-gritting) locations should perhaps be supplied with their own gritting bin to help them keep their areas and frontage clear and safe. This seemed to be taken on board by officers.

With Government instructions to reduce gritting by 40% to conserve salt stocks , we better hope we don’t have any more bad weather for a while - preferably next winter!

Meanwhile Bury Council have recently produced a Gritting policy which explains the hows and why’s of where Bury Grits where it does. It’s currently a draft policy only as it is being consulted on, so if you have any comments to make please let the Council know asap.

You can read the draft policy here: burymbc-draft-gritting-policy.pdf

If you have Prestwich specific issues you want to raise, by all means let your local councillors know, or attend next weeks Prestwich Area Partnership meeting at Sedgley Park School at 6.30pm - the item will be on the agenda. 

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that over 5000 pensioners in Bury South (and 10000 across Bury) could be missing out on crucial cold weather payments.

Overall the party has identified that up to 1.7m pensioners could be missing out on the payments that are triggered by 7 days of sub-zero temperatures, according to analysis of Government figures by the Liberal Democrats.Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, which goes unclaimed by as many as 1.7m pensioners.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, Vic D’Albert said: 
“It is a scandal that in the 21^st century pensioners on the breadline in this country are missing out on these crucial payments, worth an estimated £42.5m.

“The very possibility that over 5000 vulnerable pensioners across Radcliffe, Prestwich and Whitefield could be missing out is nothing short of a disgrace.
 
“With Fuel prices at all time highs, Cold Weather Payments have never been more important for people already struggling on a poverty pension.

“This is yet another example of how Labour has failed pensioners. By creating a complicated system that makes it difficult for them to get the help they desperately need they have let down some of the most vulnerable in society.

“The Government should be making every effort to identify pensioners who are missing out to ensure that they get them this extra cash to help keep them warm and healthy this winter.”

As I drove to work today, passing a billboard with David Cameron staring down at me trying to look all ernest and serious, the election campaign ahead became even clearer to me.

You listen to Cameron and Brown and all you seem to get is a bidding war as to how much they would cut public services in order to deal with the budget deficit. They both pledge to “protect” the NHS. Although it would seem the Tories now don’t mean all the NHS, just certain bits.

It’s as if they are trying to prove they are tougher than each other and in the mad scramble to chop services they are forgetting that we need radical change to improve many of our public services and crucially the great British Public need to know where those cuts will fall. What services will they be left with after the great cull!

That’s why we need the real change only the Lib Dems can offer not the fake change Tories or No change Labour. There has been much damage to many of our services with countless tinkering, interfering and gimmicks over the past 13 years and blatantly we can’t afford a Conservative Government when Labour have left Britain with wider poverty gaps than ever. The Economy is in a delicate position and we need sustainable economic policies not soundbites for the city.

Real change for Britain has never been more needed, Only the Lib Dems can offer the changes we need at a cost that we can afford. It’s about creating a fairer Britain for all.

I know we are obsessed about the weather in this country but really after dominating every news bulletin for the whole week I really don’t think it’s news anymore.

I am sick to the back teeth of turning on the TV to find out what’s happening in the world only to find news anchors telling us how cold it’s been and what chaos it’s causing today. As if that is not bad enough we are then shunted off to a variety of locations around the country which now all include a visit to the salt mines of cheshire, a field somewhere in the home counties and an assortment of stranded/kids having fun/schools closed/stiff upper lip reports. Aaaaaarggh!

Combined with the nightly concerns over whether the grit/salt will last out and (now) whether the gas will last it is starting to get a bit (news) desperate.

To make matters worse the news editors are clearly desperately searching for a new angle or development resulting from the “big freeze” as it has been dubbed. Last night ITV news decided to go with the “As cold as the North Pole” angle with a list of current temperatures in “traditional” cold spots thrown in as proof. The news reader was almost starting to sound proud of our great temperatures as much as to say finally we’re beating the foreigners at the weather! The quality of our weather is obviously something of national pride.

But where next? If we keep going down this route where do we go from here. Here are my top ten potential headlines for the week ahead.

1. Government to consider Igloos to solve housing crisis!
2. White-out Britain heralds new Ice Age. (The Ice age slogan has been much favoured in the past - overdue an outing this time - you heard it here first)
3. Cameron calls on Brown to explain dithering over weather
4. Brown says Cameron doesn’t even have policy on weather
5. Brown/Cameron/Clegg call for weather inquiry
6. Will the milk run out
7. We’ve run out of milk (pics of thirsty babies, pics of cows)
8. Russia holds Britain to ransom over gas supplies - new cold war!
9. Now for the Big Thaw
10. The Big Freeze cost me my job - Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown insists yesterdays leadership “coup” attempt was nothing more than a storm in a tea cup. Well he may well say that publicly but surely he cannot be so thick skinned and out of touch to realise that a letter to all Labour MP’s calling for a leadership election because the party is so divided, so close to a general election can only mean further damage.

The fact of the matter is that as confirmed by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, the Labour party is very much divided and has lost direction. After nearly 13 years in power it’s time to go.  What is uncertain is the motivation for the letter. The authors are not stupid or naive, they will have realised the damage it would do so close to an election and they would surely have known Gordon Brown well enough to know he wasn’t likely to  accept a leadership election any time soon.

Perhaps these old blairite loyalists were in some way keen to exact some kind of revenge for their loss of position under Brown, perhaps they succumbed to the notion that it would somehow benefit the party to.

All it has achieved is once more publicly confirming that the Labour party is divided, that many Labour members do not support Brown and that crucially they feel they will lose the election with Brown at the helm.

Brown may have survived his “storm in a tea cup”, but he is now irrevocably damaged and holed beneath the waterline - taking on water, drifting like a stricken vessel towards the General election. If he survives now and manages to win the election, it won’t be thanks to his leadership or the Labour party, more the effectiveness and trustworthiness of the main opposition parties.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey has today urged as 70 million population cap on immigration urging that the situation is taken more seriously by politicians.

Whilst I am not sure arbitrary caps are necessary what we do need is stronger control and policing of illegal immigration combined with a greater recognition of the impact that large scale immigration can have on an area and the stresses and anxieties that it can cause the local indigenous community. The days of politicians avoiding the issue of immigration like the plague are long gone and with a a forthcoming general election the main parties have to find rational, coherent manifesto points that acknowledge concerns and offer practical solutions.

My own party already supports a strong border police force and believes migrants should be directed to areas of the country where they are most needed and where the communities would have adequate resources to accomodate their arrival. Sensible though this approach is, it doesn’t go quite far enough for me and I would like to see a tougher policy towards trafficking and illegal immigration and across the board the main parties need to start addressing the perceived negative impacts of large scale immigration into areas and start focusing on how communities can be better supported and how large scale immigration into areas can be limited.

Its a difficult issue, especially for liberal thinkers, but its a crucial issue. Why? Because the people are telling us it is, failure to listen now would be further fuel and amunition to the BNP and would lead to further civic unrest in the future. It’s time to listen and to act.

Unable to get to work today I have spent part of the day being mesmerised by the excessive snowfall and part of the day removing christmas decorations and the christmas tree.

However away from the enchanting garden of white I now have I know there is travel bedlam and I would urge everyone who can possibly stay at home to do so.

I would also urge people to call on any frail elderly or vulnerable neighbours you may have, just to check they are Ok for basic provisions and have heating and are generally looking after themselves. Many will be worrying about the cost of the their heating with temperatures set to plummet further tonight, plenty of warm drinks and warm clothes will also ensure they do not run the risk of succumbing to the cold.

Bury Council was forced once more to close non-emergency services early again today due to the weather conditions, meanwhile the NHS are urging people to only contact them in life threatening emergencies. If advice is needed please call NHS direct on 0845 46 47.

Bury Councils emergency out of hours service is also available for emergencies regarding council services on 0161 253 6606.

If at all possible don’t go out. If you have to please check the travel situation and weather forecast before hand.

Plans by Islam4uk to parade symbolic empty coffins through Wootton Bassett should be cancelled.

Whilst I am concious that there have been many deaths amongst muslim insurgents it is important that this nation can show respect and honour our fallen. And the now familiar parade through Wootton Bassett of the repatriated fallen servicemen has become a focal point of that need as a nation.

So I sincerely hope that the leaders of the Islamic group in question re-think these plans and consider other ways of raising awareness of the numbers killed in this conflict. In a war situation many are killed, many are injured and disfigured, including many innocents, most people are very aware of this.

If they go ahead with this planned parade they will be insulting the repatriation of those that gave everything in the service of this nation. Whilst they will undoubtedly get media coverage, I doubt it would be the kind of coverage that would make a positive contribution and it could further damage relations with muslims in Britain.

Make your protests elsewhere and in the meantime join the people of Wootton Bassett in honouring the fallen the next time there is a repatriation procession through the town.

12th - Economy, Environment & Transport Scrutiny, Bury Town Hall, Public welcome

19th - Polefield Tenants & Residents Association

21st - Prestwich Area Partnership

25th - Lib Dem Council Group Meeting

WISHING YOU

PEACE, HEALTH

AND   HAPPINESS

IN 2010

David Cameron’s Christmas message has called on Lib Dems to back the Conservatives as there is between Lib Dems and Tories  ”now a lot less difference than there used to be on how to create a fairer Britain”.

He then goes on to give the game away by saying that a hung parliament would be bad for Britain - despite his apparent belief that there is not much between us and the Tories.

Mr Cameron, not for the first time, is talking double-speak and rather in bad spirit for the season og goodwill trying to put a rather distortive spin on the Lib Dems and the Tories and for that matter the next election. So let me translate this double-speak into plain english.

When Dave says there is “now a lot less difference than there used to be on how to create a fairer Britain”, what he actually means is the Conservative party can’t win the next election outright unless Lib Dem voters drop their principles and vote Tory.

When Dave says a hung parliament would be “bad for Britain”, what he means is that it would be bad for the Conservative Party.

There are many and varied policy differences between the Tories and the Lib Dems and for that matter Labour. The Tory interpretation of the word “fair” would seem pivotal in this argument.

When we talk of fair taxes, we mean for all not just millionaires, when we talk about fair green policies for a sustainable economy we mean polices that will commit to real changes to maximise our contribution to halting climate change - and it doesn’t involve pr visits to the north pole to pose with polar bears. And the Lib Dems want to see a fairer society that recognises the value that we can all contribute to society not just the privilaged few.

If David Cameron really does want a clean fight at the next elect he would do well to start applying a bit more honesty and a lot less spin.

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy

Christmas

p.s. Don’t forget the Bury Council Emergency Out of Hours Phone number is:0161 253 6606

Last night I was privileged to have been able to attend the first Prestwich community carol service. The event was held at St.Mary’s Parish Church in Church Lane and we were delighted to been able to welcome the Mayor of Bury, Cllr Sheila Magnall. Over 300 braved treacherous ice and snow to attend the event, making it a great success.

What was particularly special was that it was a collaboration between local churches and St.Mary’s welcomed Father Allen from Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church, who read from the Gospels. In addition there were many from local community and voluntary organisations as well as many local residents, some of whom hadn’t visited St.Mary’s before.

A collection of carols, familiar and less familiar were sang with accompaniment from the Eccles Singers and Bury Music Service Wind Ensemble. The carols were interspersed with readings telling the story of the coming of Jesus.

Following the carol service refreshments and mince pies were served by local councillors in the newly refurbished Church Lane Community Centre.

All in all a magical festive evening. Special thanks should go to Cllr Mary D’Albert, David Curtis and Carran O’Grady and of course Bryan Hackett, Churches Together, the management and volunteers at Church Lane Community Centre and the Prestwich Area Partnership who sponsored the event.

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

Bury Council has informed local councillors that reluctantly, they have been forced to take this decision to protect the health and welfare of collection teams, who are finding it impossible to navigate through some of the borough’s streets.

The Statement from Bury Council goes on, “We understand any frustration that residents may have, but the weather has left us with no choice. We will endeavour to clear the backlog as soon as the conditions allow.Our gritting teams, however, will continue to grit the roads.”

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

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

Staff supplying emergency services will be working as normal.

Local Councillors have received an update on the Gritting and Refuse collection service as they continue to battle against the snow and ice etc.

The Councils Head of Waste Management has confirmed that Gritters were out all weekend and 535 tonnes of salt were spread on Sat and Sun alone.

Today all Street Cleaning staff are employed on gritting duties including in town centres and refilling of grit bins. All 5 gritting vehicles are also out at the moment (as of 9.30am).

Refuse/recycling collections were severely disrupted on Friday in the Ramsbottom/Tottington area due to snow and ice. The Council have vehicles in the area today mopping up missed grey bins as best they can, but if anything conditions will be worse than they were on Friday.

Brown bin collections are effectively suspended today with contents of bins frozen solid in any case.

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

Councillors have been assured by Bury Council that they are doing their very best to get all collections made before Christmas in very difficult circumstances.

I know colleagues have received a number of phone calls complaining about a lack of gritting in some areas or on some streets and I can assure residents that we will be seeking answers to these queries/complaints in due course.

Desperation amidst the arrival of Obama and other heads of state seemed to galvanise efforts in the final moments of the Copenhagen Climate Summit yesterday but do we have a deal?

Ok agreements were reached which were broadly in line with some hopes, but it is questionable as to whether any of it is legally binding. Targets also are a bit thin on the ground and there would appear to be so much dissagreement outside the US, China and India ie especially South America that you wonder whether this will hold up at all.

We should try and be positive in that reaching a deal of sorts does at least enable the commitment to fund developing countries and enable them to start adapting and making changes and meet their development targets. In addition if China and the US start taking the whole climate  and CO2 emissions thing seriously that will have an impact and will lead to further committments, of that I am sure.

The big question now is that even if countries are bound to these agreements, will they stick to them or will they eventually be watered down? And of course as the deal does not go far enough in any case, is it too little too late?

As Prestwich Town Centre regeneration plans are firmed up over the coming year Bury Council must not lose sight of the fact that one of the strengths of the local economy is the small local independent traders, some of whom have operated from the Longfield Precinct for many years.

I believe it is reasonable to expect Bury Council to place relocation and support packages high on the agenda in negotiations with the landlords/developers, Hollins Murray Group (HMG).

Successful businesses know only too well the benefits of planning ahead, and at present many of the small businesses in the centre of Prestwich feel that they are in a state of limbo, uncertain of when development will take place and what support they will get towards relocation. They need plenty of notice and we need to ensure as much as possible that they don’t suffer too much as a result.

It would be devastating to lose local businesses as a result of regenerating the town centre to make it more attractive for new businesses!

I have already raised this issue with the Council and I will be pursuing the matter in the new year. We’ve got to back our local businesses.

I am growing increasingly concerned that the semi-stalled climate talks in Copenhagen are going to fail to reach much needed major agreements.

Of course it is always difficult to get meaningful agreements out of these Governmental summits, and when they do they are almost always hard fought compromises that are often ignored or watered down further over time.

But I was hoping this time would be different. As the world fast approaches the point of no return regarding climate change and global warming, I had hoped that the growing climate crisis would start to break through national self interest and political posturing.

I had hoped that the rich developed world would recognise their responsibiities to the poor world and future generations and future life itself.

Failure to reach a milestone agreement will be a frankly damnable result that will consign the Copenhagen summit to the history books as the time that the world stood on the brink, looked around, talked about saving life on earth then stepped off the precipice.

For the sake of the planet lets hope there is a breakthrough.

If the last full council was bad tempered, apallingly managed and abused by some councillors, last nights affair  was flat, passionless and sterile.

Following a slap-on-the-wrist letter from the Chief Executive to Councillors asking that they behave better and control themselves we ended up with a non-event that achieved little if anything.

We had (by Government dictat) to approve a “Strong” leadership model constitution, which places more power and discretion in the hands of the leader of the Council who is apppointed for a term of 4 years (from next May).

We had no choice to approve this so it was nodded through. How it is supposed to provide us with a strong leader heaven only knows. Perhaps Cllr Bibby will tear open his shirt to reveal his green hulk like body before charging round the Millgate arresting wrongdoers vigilante fashion!

For me the highlight was a speech by Cllr Roy Walker about the democratic deficit that we now have at local and national level. He cited numerous erosions to our democratic process in a speech that I agreed 100% with and was eloquently delivered.

The Advertiser newspaper was also reporting on last nights non event and by way of novelty they were reporting live via twitter. Our group leader Cllr Tim Pickstone alluded to this new novelty and himself got in on the twittering act.

That was about it. Last time the meeting was a farce, this time it was more like a funeral parlour. I suspect normal service will be resumed in 2010.

In response to the latest consultation with Bury Council about the proposed Goals Games Zone in Heaton Park, Bury Council has maintained their committment to a 10pm curfew on floodlights.

I had attended last nights Planning Committee to see what Bury’s response would be and to press for concerns to be raised about inadequate parking provision in the proposals.

I asked the Committee to maintain its previous position that floodlights should be turned off at 10pm and that extra car parking should be provided. The present provision appears to presume that Five-a-side teams will either arrive on foot or all in the same car, with no other visitors and will all leave just as the next customers arrive!

Although I regret that Bury Planning Committee has not taken a tougher stance in recognition of the noise and light pollution residents will face and additional traffic problems. They are at least maintaining  a consistent approach.

It is understood that Manchester City Council may not consider the application until February and that further public consultation may be required.

SAY NO TO GOALS, SAY YES TO PROTECTING HEATON PARK

 KEEP IT GREEN

Sadly with 3 meeting all scheduled between 5 and 7pm last night I probably didn’t contribute as much as I would like last night, arriving late and leaving early from the first two!

ALLOTMENTS

It has been a grwoing for some time that the Council could with encouraging more “grow your own” veg etc and as part of this there is the feeling that we could do with more allotments in the area. Despite there being 559 at present there is a waiting list of up to 400, some of whome have probably been waiting years.

The big problem is that they generate very little money for the Council, but costs a great deal more and need significant improvements yet. And the Council don’t have the spare resources at present - hardly a priority compared to front line life enhancing services.

Nevertheless with the right political will I am sure more could be done to try and identify further resources internally or externally. After all they improve health, save money and essentially provide for a more sustainable local environment.

The Climate Change Working Group who received a report about the current situation with allotments in the Borough will be looking further at this issue.

PARK & PLAY AREAS

At the latest meeting of Polefield Tenants and Residents Association I was delighted to hear about progress towards creating a park/natural play area on St.Josephs fields near Sandgate Road.

We were presented with draft plans that were pretty exciting and involved altering the layout of the land and re-landscaping to create a more attractive area with shubery and trees and undulating ground, interspersed with wooden play equipment and play area.

These plans followed a consultation exercise with students at Parrenthorn and other local schools. A full public consultation exercise is set to follow in February. However I am convinced that these improvements would provide a nuch better local nature and play facility.

Nearly 40,000 children have been fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol-related offences in the last five years. The number has increased by over a quarter in that period, according to research by the Liberal Democrats. The key points are: 

·         39,714 people aged under 18 were fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol related offences between 2003 and 2007

·         This includes 124 children aged 10 to 12 and 6,111 aged 13 to 15

·         The number of under-18s fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol related offences has increased by 28.4% from 6,764 in 2003 to 8,686 in 2007

·         The number of 13 to 15 year olds being cautioned has increased by 17.4% and the number of 13 to 15 year olds being taken to court has increased by 19.9% in the same period.  

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Bury South said said:“These figures are absolutely shocking. It’s extremely worrying to see how many children are being dragged into the criminal justice system through alcohol abuse. The problem appears to be growing worse by leaps and bounds. 

“There has been a lot of Government talk about the alcohol crisis in this country but these figures show that they are completely failing to tackle this crisis. 

“Unless we change our drinking culture, we will condemn many of these children and adolescents to serious long-term alcohol-related illnesses or a life of crime. We must stamp out the sale of ultra-cheap alcohol being sold at pocket-money prices and improve the education of our children about the dangers of drink.

“The Government must get serious about this escalating problem. They must end the culture of cheap booze imports and show zero tolerance when enforcing a strict policy that those who sell alcohol to under-age children will lose their licence.”

Last night I sat down to watch a couple of my favourite TV programmes. Spooks, A fictional MI5 drama was all about the fact that if the Government couldn’t sieze assets of around £2 bn from an unscrupulous bank, then the country would be bankrupt and unable to pay public sector workers.

This scenario then seemed to morph into the news where I was confronted with Alastair Darling the Chancellor informing the country that we were in a worse mess than he had thought but he had a plan that involved bingo and boilers!

I have to tell you “Spooks” was more believable. Alastair Darling looked like a rejected pilot episode of “Yes Minister”.

I doubt there is anyone left in this country who does not know the nations finances are in a mess, that tough action is needed. Yet we saw a Chancellor trying desperately to offer nuggets of comfort, little tasty morsels to see us through a miserable winter.

He promised to protect Health and Education from cuts and offered increases in some benefits for next year - but what about the following years, after the General Election?

Read the rest of this entry.

The National Autistic Society is running a FREE Information Sharing Drop-In giving you the chance to meet a range of providers who offer support and services to people with autism and their families.

The Information Sharing Drop-In will also offer FREE training sessions on Sensory Issues by the National Autistic Society HELP! Team as well as information on the changes in Social care.

Date: Wednesday 9^th December

Time: 10am – 6.30pm

Location: The MET, Market Street, Bury BL9 0BW

Everyone is welcome! Just come along to have a chat and find out more. For further information, please contact Sara on 07766248915

For further information about Bury Adult Care Services? Then visit: www.bury.gov.uk/adults

Hundreds of local residents and represents of all three main parties on Bury Council turned out at lunchtime today to form a human chain around the Longfield Suite.

The event was billed as an opportunity for residents to show their support for the Longfield Suite and they certainly made it clear that they opposed Bury Councils plans to “reconfigure” the Suite. A move which could see the end of the much prized dance floor.

Vic D’Albert said, “If ever we needed to show that local people care and that local people want Bury Conservatives to change their mind about these plans then today they sent a very clear message to the Council leaders that Prestwich won’t put up with threatened damaging changes to the Longfield Suite.”

“Once more I would say to Cllr Bibby, Leader of the Council, to call a halt to these proposals, confirm that the dance floor will stay and involve local people in improving the Longfield Suite for all.” 

Bury Conservatives conceded defeat again this week in their latest attempt at “cut first consult later”. They agreed not to cut the Councils Youth Services and instead merge it with the connexions service which provides help and support for 13-19 year olds.

OK admittedly not so much defeat as an ignominious retreat, but leaving many unswered questions that could still adversely affect the service.

For those not in the know at the last Council budget the Conservatives voted through a massive cut in finances for the service, then agreed that the issue should be consulted on following protests.

Then recently the Council scrutinised the decision and options and decided that keeping the service was the best option, leaving something like a £200,000 hole in the Council budget hence the merger proposal. Not so much a U-turn as a handbrake spin.

But this isn’t the first time this has happened. Three times this year the Conservatives have made decisions first and wondered about the implications later.

Read the rest of this entry.

I don’t know what planet the RBS Board are on but if they think that they should get their way and pay investment bankers £1.5 Billion in bonuses or resign, frankly they should resign.

This bank is effectively owned by the British Tax payer that has pumped billions into keeping it afloat. There would be no investment bankers at RBS if it wasn’t for taxpayers money, in fact there wouldn’t be a Royal Bank of Scotland.

It’s been a hard year for many. There are many wondering how they will manage this Christmas, whether they can afford presents and all the other goodies - whilst they struggle to afford food and bills. There are many that had decent jobs a year ago and are now unemployed. There are many that owned there own homes that now live with others, rent, or are even homeless or up to their necks in debt.

So perhaps a decent christmas present for the investment staff at RBS would be a nice card from the Chairman and Alastair Darling a thankyou for all their hard work a christmas party and a gentle reminder that they still have a job this year thanks to us all.

There but for the grace of God….

It’s World Aid day -and is it me or has Aids/HIV ceased to be news? Yet millions of the worlds population are HIV positive or living with Aids, from babies to adults, male, female, gay, straight, black, white. Millions are dying or suffering. Across Africa millions are orphaned, homeless or starve as a result.

Aids is the disease that cursed the 1980’s and 90’s and ravaged Africa. And we must not forget the millions worldwide that have circumbed to this terrible wasting disease. We must also not forget the millions neglected of crucial anti-virul drugs in Africa, because it wasn’t either accepted as a problem or the drug companies weren’t prepared to compromise their profits.

So on World Aids Day 2009 remember: 

• 40 million people live with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

• 12 million children have been orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS.

• There were 4.3 million new HIV infections in 2006 and 2.9 million AIDS-related deaths.

Aids is still with us, It is still killing, It still needs fighting as much as ever.

Support Aids/HIV charities:

Terence Higgins Trust www.tht.org.uk 

George House Trust  www.ght.org.uk

As the Fusiliers march through Bury Town Centre, the Government has just announced a further deployment of 500 troops to Afghanistan, presumably as part of a deal with Obama who is expected to announce major troop increases tomorrow.

However after 8 years and thousands of deaths across the spectrum, this surely is the beginning of the end of the Afghanistan war - at least so far as direct western involvement is concerned.

There is much talk of starting to bring troops home by next christmas, so much will hang on the new strategy devised to finish the task. At last we are also seeing greater political pressure being applied to the Pakistani Government and the Afghan Government to take firmer action themselves to ensure that military gains can be sustained by political improvements. A must if the sub-continent isn’t to sink closer to widespread civil war and unrest following troop withdrawals.

So with about 9500 troops and more equipment (at last) we must see through the coming campaign BUT it is important that we learn the lessons of Iraq and start developing the exit strategy now and start planning for the support that the Afghan Government will require after we have gone. Support that enables the Afghans to develop a sustainable economy and maintain security and peaceful coexistence.

We owe it to all who have lost their lives or been seriously injured or disabled to ensure we have that exit strategy and support plan in place. Failure to do so would be a damning indictment of this Government.

Last night I attended the first campaign meeting of the Save Our Suite Campaign group formed to fight Bury Councils proposals that threaten the future of the Longfield Suite.

At last nights meeting we essentially agreed what needs to be done to take the campaign forward and volunteers agreed to carry out certain tasks on behalf of the group.

The first key event is the LINK event to form a humain chain around the Longfield Suite to let Bury Council know exactly how local people feel about the Longfield Suite.

The Link is on sunday, December 6th at 12.30pm.

Now a campaign group has been established further activities are being planned which we hope local people will join in with. It is essential as many local people as possible get involved to fight for our community centre, otherwise Bury Conservatives will damage it forever.

Last night the probable timetable set by Bury Conservatives to decide on the fate of the civic venues was also outlined which takes us up til next March at earliest. The Save Our Suite Campaign group pledged to fight the proposals all the way - Join us and make sure Prestwich keeps its community centre.

Keep an eye on postings here and in the local press. For more information visit the web site at www.saveoursuite.com . Also join the facebook Save the Longfield Suite page and tell everyone you know to back the campaign.

The Conservatives are treading dodgy ground indeed with their claims that the Government is effectively funding Islamic schools connected with extremist organisations.

Childrens education and Islam, never mind extremism, are not the areas to be weighing in with irresponsible unconsidered, not to mention unsubstantiated claims. 

However, whilst I do not support the extremist organisation concerned there are clearly questions that have to be asked. Firstly they claim to be a registered political party. If so the organisation although extremist has the same rights to exist as the BNP - regardless as to whether I loathe their views.

If they are not legitimately registered or indeed if they are to be banned then of course there are procedures and protocols to be followed. And indeed if they have supported the killing of British troops then I would be first in the cue to support a ban.

But where is gets really messy and worrying is the Tories allegations with regard to the funding of schools. Last night claims were made which were then unable to be substantiated then they were withdrawn, and today I woke to find that certain allegations have been reiterated.

The Conservatives really do have to be correct with their facts when it comes to throwing allegations around about extremism especially when it concerns schools and the education of our young people. If there is any substance at all then those facts need to be conveyed to the authorities without the need to wave them like some kind of patriotic flag in the House of Commons. Then on receipt of those facts the Government needs to give assurances that they will be thoroughly and rigorously investigated.

I wonder are we seeing an example of what the Conservatives would be like if they formed the next Government?

Would they ban organisations, withdraw funding, exclude people, on the first whiff of an accusation, before receipt of the facts, before asking the necessary questions.

Jumping on the bandwagon of populism carries risks, even more so when they jump to the tune of the red top tabloids as they appear increasingly prone to do.

Remember we are also dealing with young people and their education.

Estimated winter deaths last winter were the highest for 10 years according to the Office of National statistics - who highlight excessive deaths between December and March as compared to the rest of the year.

The ONS estimate that there were 36,700 extra deaths due to winter last year a staggering increase of 49%

In the North West the picture is even worse with winter deaths estimated at 5000 up from 3210 the previous year. An increase of 56%.

It is an absolute scandal that the frail, the sick and the elderly should be put at risk in this country in this century.

The Government has to be more proactive in seeking out the vulnerable and improving insulation, improving heating provision and ensuring that those concerned can turn on the heating without fear of the cost.

With high energy bills many are petrified of the heating bill and understandably put eating before heating. But if they don’t keep warm enough then illness will follow.

The Government has to do better in tackling fuel poverty and supporting vulnerable people in their homes. Its no use waitingfor this winters deaths figures to be announced next year - the Government needs to take positive action now.

A local business I know has a vacancy for an Office Junior. They thought they would use the Job Centre service to advertise the position and rang up to give them the details.

All was going smoothly until the employer stated that amongst the skills required would be “good basic english and maths skills”.

The person at the Job Centre was unsure about this and so went away to consult with his supervisor. On his return he told the employer that he couldn’t ask for “good basic english” it had to be “good communication skills”. The implication being that it would somehow be offensive or racist to request english skills.

Political correctness gone mad. Personally I have come across (sadly) many white english people that can barely string a sentence together and certainly don’t have the most basic grasp of english and many foreigners and black or asian heritage Brits with excellent english skills.

Perhaps we can look forward to English Language at schools being replaced by “communication skills”. 

It has been reported that Labour’s ID card scheme is now up and running. The Governments newly appointed Independent Identity Commissioner has reported that as of last week there were 538 people on the register. Apparently all but 1 are UK nationals.

Why anyone would want to shell out £30 of hard earned readies to obtain a bit of plastic that tells people who you are and tells the Government a good deal more, is beyond me.

The scheme is being piloted across Greater Manchester at present at is expected to be rolled out across the UK from 2011. Labour currently insists that it will remain voluntary. However I suspect the temptation to make it compulsory will become too great, especially following any kind of security emergency, when they will decide it’s in the public interest etc.

However, it remains and always has been a distraction from real investment in security and defences including more police and intelligence officers and resources - it is a colossal wate of public money that is being spent on gathering yet more information on the citizens of this country in a massive database that will be abused and breached and will not stop terrorism.

I will reiterate hear and now that I will never carry an ID card - In a liberal society freedom doesn’t come wrapped in a piece of plastic - it’s a birthright. 

Oppose it and boycott it - then after the next general election lets scrap it. 

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats reveal that 1.5 million people have been claiming Incapacity Benefit, Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance for more than 5 years. Of these, more than half a million people have been claiming for between 5 and 9 years, while 700,000 have been claiming for over 12 years. 

Commenting, Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, said:  “Under Labour people have become trapped in a system where they have to be out of work for a year before getting extra help to find a job. Under Labour you fend for yourself or fall by the wayside for the first year. This is the way to destroy a person’s confidence not boost their job prospects.

“The situation is even worse for people with health problems who are sent away and abandoned on benefits. People who don’t get help from day one find themselves ignored and forced into debt, with the constant worry making it even harder to get a job, and the far reaching impact for their families.

“Ministers need to change the system so that people get real help from the second they walk into a Jobcentre. They need help immediately and are better equipped to respond to help at an earlier stage. This Government has failed too many people just when they have needed help most. How many more will they fail before making changes that will really count.”

Last night The Save Heaton Park campaign held a public meeting to launch the final push to stop Goals Soccer centres building pay-to-use sports pitches on open grass in a corner of the park near to houses.

Following an update on progress so far to the packed St.Margarets Church Hall in Prestwich, a short video was shown of a Goals centre somewhere else so residents could see what they can expect if these plans get the go-ahead.

GET YOUR OBJECTION IN NOW

The plans are set to go before Manchester City Councils Planning Committee on December 17th. If you objected previously you will need to object again. But please in any case if you value the openness and natural beauty of Heaton Park please please get your objections in now.

COMPETITION

Also a competition has been launched for people to take photos of this corner of the park, draw, paint or write poetry with great prizes worth £200 open to all ages.

Details of the competition, letters and suggested actions are all available on the Save Heaton park web site at www.saveheatonpark.org.uk  

ACT NOW TO STOP THEM BUILDING ON HEATON PARK - DON’T LEAVE THE FUTURE OF HEATON PARK TO SOMEONE ELSE 

So Brown’s Labour Government has outlined it’s so called legislative programme for the rest of this Parliament - all 70 parliamentary days of it.

In essence this Queens Speech was the mother of all Party Political Broadcasts on behalf of the failing Labour Party. And as such was either an abuse of the process or a missed opportunity or both.

While Brown has taken the opportunity to try and highlight areas of division at the next General Election he has completely failed to tackle the unfinished business of electoral and political reform that has dominated the past year and has been left hanging in the corridors of power like a bad odour.

He seems to forget the anger from the expenses scandal and the demands for reform from inside Parliament and out, and the derision and low public confidence and esteem politicians are held in, not to mention the damage to the legitimacy of parliament. Sadly Brown seems to think enough has been done and we can now move on. I think the general public think otherwise.

Under the circumstances I think Nick Clegg was right to call for the Queens Speech to be scrapped to enable reforms to be debated and implemented before the General Election.

Lib Dems believe in order that trust can be restored in politicians and Parliament, reform is now essential and have proposed the following refoms:

1. Recall power for MPs suspended for misconduct – so we never again have to wait months and years to get rid of people who have betrayed the people they represent
2. Code of conduct for candidates in the next election, including declaration of financial interests – so everyone elected can command full public confidence
3. House of Lords reform – so only elected representatives have the power to make our laws
4. Party funding reform in time for this election – so big money and the whiff of corruption it brings are removed from politics for good
5. Fixed term Parliaments – so the voters can never again be toyed with by a Prime Minister planning an election timetable to save his own skin
6. Legislation to establish a 100-person Citizens’ Assembly, on the Canadian model, to agree a new voting system for Parliamentary Elections
7. Changes to House of Commons procedure to reduce executive power – so never again can a government use the power of the whips to ride roughshod over the views of Parliament.

SEVERE FLOODING is expected for the River Irwell at Strongstry and Chatterton. There is extreme danger to life and property.  Act Now!

Areas at risk are those adjacent to the River Irwell through Strongstry and Chatterton. Including North St, Strongstry Bridge, Chatterton Rd. Other areas at risk include Areas in the vicinity of, Bolton Rd North, and Cuba industrial estate.

Flooding of low-lying land and roads is expected for the Upper River Irwell Catchment.

The Upper Irwell catchment includes the Rivers Beal, Roch and Croal, Limey Water and their tributaries. Other locations which may be affected are around Farnworth, Whitefield, Little Lever, Radcliffe, Bury, Heywood, Whitworth and Bacup area.

For up to date flooding information phone the Floodline on 0845 988 1188 .

Be aware.  Be prepared.  Watch out!

It was extremely sad to read in the local paper of the tragic death of Rachel Davies as a result of an air rifle accident. And to read the heartfelt plea from grieving parents Angela and Ricky Davies at the inquest into their daughters death urging people to stop buying these weapons.

Too often we read in national and local news of either tragic accidents or abuse of these weapons by owners. I firmly believe the time has now come for the Government to take a firmer line with these weapons. Whilst there are regulations already it is worrying that air guns and rifles do seem to be readily available and they seem to fall into the wrong hands too easily.

I myself was “shot” at from a bedroom window while visiting an estate in my council area a while ago and whilst I suffered no injuries the incident was alarming, and even now I wonder what damage would have been done if the pellet had hit me in the eye rather than my jacket.

It would seem to me that the regulations are too casual, we need need firm regulations from beginning to end - from importers to shopkeepers to purchasers. Outlets selling these weapons should be strictly licensed and limited.,And there should be strict penalties for improper use of these weapons. Too often people treat them as toys when they are offensive weapons.

How many more tragedies will we have to put up with, how many more parents have to lose their precious daughter? 

The scandal of 180,000. dementia sufferers being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs - leading to behaviour changes in many and even death, is bad enough, but sadly I think the problem is a much wider problem.

We need (as a country - society) to decide how we want to be treated both in old age and when unable to properly look after ourselves such as in this case. We need to once and for all decide how we are going to provide the hidden health service - our carers, with the support and advice they need and deserve.We need to fundamentally address a few issues as a society, we need a national debate on these issues which can ultimately inform Government as to what we should expect.I remember when the elderly were often referred to as Senior Citizens - that phase doesn’t seem to be used often enough these days. But to my mind that’s what they are.

In a week when we have commemorated the passing of a generation that gave so much for our freedom and quality of life, isn’t it time we properly recognised that we owe them a certain quality of life in their final years. And isn’t it time we guaranteed a certain quality of life for severely disabled or those generally in need of constant care?

It’s time this issue was placed firmly on the agenda before it slips beneath the cloud of spending cuts and the un-holy political auction between parties fighting to out-cut each other.

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Prestwich Local Area Partnership Meeting this week, at 6.30pm, Thursday 12th November, Heaton Park Primary School.

Prestwich Local Area Partnership will showcase Prestwich Winter Wonderland which kicks of on Sunday 22 November with a bumper Prestwich Christmas Farmers Market and Christmas Lights Switch On at The Longfield Shopping Centre with not only top Coronation Street Star Katherine Kelly (Becky) to switch on the lights.

There will be lots of family entertainment to enjoy this splendid day with top local entertainment, Dave K, a Town Cryer, Besses o’th Barn Brass Band, Pop Star Academy, Prestwich Arts College Choir, Sweeky the Clown and Santa’s Grottos of course.

Prestwich Library have pulled its own cracker for the visitors at the Farmers Market to drop in with their children to enjoy Carnival of the Animals Story time and mask-making 11am-12 for children under aged 10 and under in Prestwich Children’s Library and a FREE prize draw for a big cuddly blue teddy bear. (Please contact the library to book your place), a chance for children to write your letters to Santa and post them in the post-box at the Santa Grotto,

Local History Displays – with Craig Brisbane, Guitar Class & Art Society Demonstrations and a one off Computer Taster Session – ‘Shop till you Don’t Drop!’ teaching shoppers how to online shop from the comfort of your home 11-1pm. There’s even a chance to pop in and see Prestwich Hospital Exhibition. What a Cracker!

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

As a thank you for putting up with major disruption caused by replacing city centre tracks, upgrading of two of the busiest city centre stops and installation of the first sets of new ticket machines Metrolink passengers are to get two days free travel. 

The free days planned are this coming Saturday and Thursday 19th November.The city centre section was closed in April and services returned on 2 November. 

Vic D’Albert commented, “This is an excellent way of repaying commuters loyalty and recognising the disruption they have faced since April. I hope residents will now flock back to the service and make the most of the free travel by leaving the car at home and taking the tram and perhaps kick starting their festive shopping!”

Major overhauls of the St Peter’s Square and Piccadilly Gardens stops – two of the most heavily used on the network – have been completed.The St Peter’s Square stop has been widened and the platform heights modified to allow level boarding for all passengers.The Piccadilly Gardens stop has also been widened and new canopies have been installed to provide better shelter for even more people. 

New state-of-the-art ticket machines that take bank notes and credit and debit card payments, have also been installed on the two revamped stops. They will be rolled out across the Metrolink network by spring next year.

Passengers who have a season ticket which covers the days valid for free travel can claim a refund by writing to Customer Service Secretary, GMPTE, Freepost MR7 116,Manchester, M1 9QL, by 7 January 2010 with their name, address and telephone number. They will also need to provide a photocopy of their Metrolink Travel Club membership card as well as a photocopy of their season ticket if it is still valid, or the original ticket if it has expired. 

Yesterdays announcement by the Government for proposals that will fast-track a new generation of nuclear power stations is nothing short of a “cop out” according to Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Bury South, Vic D’Albert.

“This Labour Government have gone grey on sustainable energy and renewable power and are now on the verge of a devastating mistake if they plough ahead with plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.It’s nothing short of a cop out” 

“There is a massive cost to the taxpayer involved in building Nuclear plants and they are seemingly determined to build these plants without addressing the issue of lethal toxic waste that will be inherited by future generations.

“And, so determined are they to ride roughshod over local public opinion on this issue that they are even prepared to change Planning Law to make it easier to avoid public opposition.That is a disgraceful way to treat people near these sites, people that may well be worried sick about these proposals.

“By putting all our eggs into this toxic radioactive basket the Government is putting at risk any strategy to develop sustainable energy in the UK . The fact remains nuclear energy even with these new sites would only contribute a fraction of the energy demand when it is available - which won’t be for many years.

“The best way for Britain to reduce emissions and secure its energy supply is through the rapid development of renewable power which is clean, safe, effective and would create huge numbers of jobs.

“With one reckless stroke this Labour Government has endangered the development of renewable energy strategies, undermined energy demands, failed to respond to much needed energy consumption cuts and put at risk future generations who will face the legacy of toxic waste.”

Goals Soccer Centres have re-submitted an amended planning application to Bury Council for consultation following formal submission to Manchester City Council last week. It is expected to be a supplementary item on Bury Councils Planning Committee of NOVEMBER 17th where it will be presented for consultation only.

As reported last week, this application will be decided by Manchester City Council on December 17th.

The details are
Application number: 51957         Type of application: Consultation From Neighbouring Authority         Date Registered: 03/11/2009

Applicant: Goal Soccer Centres plc
Location: AREA ADJACENT TO EXISTING BOWLING PAVILION, HEATON PARK, PRESTWICH, M25 2SW
Proposal: PROPOSED SPORTS DEVELOPMENT COMPRISING OF DETACHED BUILDING TO FORM CHANGING ROOMS WITH ANCILLARY STORE, MULTI USE ROOMS AND CAFE BAR TOGETHER WITH THE FORMATION OF 13 SMALL-SIDED FOOTBALL PITCHES, 6 TENNIS AND NETBALL COURTS, SKATEPARK AND CLIMBING WALL WITH ASSOCIATED PARKING, LANDSCAPING, BOUNDARY TREATMENTS AND ASSOCIATED FLOODLIGHTING (AMENDED PLANS)

Plans will be available to view on the Council’s website within 2 working days from the date of this email. Should you require further details please contact the case officer: Mark Kilby on: 0161 253 7639 or reply by email. For further clarification please don’t hesitate to contact your local councillors.

Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors seem to be in the news today, locally and nationally.

At a national level, Gordon Brown has been attacked for spelling the name of a soldier killed in Afghanistan wrongly in a hand written note to his grieving mother which contained other grammatical errors.

Meanwhile a local Bury Labour Councillor has been accused of being illiterate by a Conservative Councillor for spelling and grammar mistakes on an email circulated to councillors.

Now personally I think that perhaps the biggest accusation that could be levied at Gordon Brown was that he should have paid closer attention to detail. And as such, for such a busy person, perhaps it was questionable as to whether he should have been allowed to pen such an important note in obvious haste.

But lets get something straight, and clearly I am no Brown fan, but there are far more important questions and criticisms to be hurled in the direction of our Prime Minister and his government than the standard of his spelling. It was a bad mistake to miss spell a soldiers name - but it’s not as bad as the poor equipment many soldiers have to put up with or the absence of crucial potentially life saving equipment and body armour.

Then there was the attack on a fellow Bury Councillor. I won’t pretend to know either Councillor personally - politics often gets in the way of developing friendships! But personally I have always had two principles that to me are crucial qualifications to decide if someone is a suitable candidate to be a local councillor. 

Firstly, they understand and can empathise with the people they seek to represent and serve. And secondly, they are prepared to listen and act on the concerns of those people.

It’s simple really - service and action.

I have met many people in the course of my duties as  a councillor that really have been illiterate and most people I meet and know(including myself) make spelling and grammar mistakes. But it does not affect my view of that person. I would not judge that they were unfit to represent people. This is 2009 not 1809.

Do you care for your community? Do you care for the people in your area? Do you want to make your town a better place? Yes? Do have the time and inclination to commit to playing your part in the community and the Town Hall decision making process?       Then that’s good enough for me.

What we don’t need is arrogance, personal insults, disrespectful behaviour and a dismissive approach to members of a different political persuasion coupled with abuse of the democratic process. 

Undoubtedly I have made some grammatical error in this statement, I am sorry if that offends - I was just doing my best.

I was honoured to be able to attend the Prestwich Remembrance service and parade today and to lay a poppy wreath on behalf of the Mayor of Bury.

It is noticeable that more people are attending the cenotaph these days. Clearly with the Afghanistan conflict and more and more touched by the tragedy of loss, that they want to show their respects and their support.

It was particularly poignant today with the terrible loss of 5 young people cut down by an Afghan policeman so uppermost in the minds of many there.

Following the service we learned of a further two soldiers killed today, and our thoughts and prayers must go out to family and friends of those and all those that have been lost over this past tragic month and the past year.

I must add my congratulations and thanks to the members and officers of Prestwich British Legion for once again managing the arrangements and providing a much needed and appreciated tea/biscuits etc afterwards.

Well over 200 local residents packed into the Longfield Suite in Prestwich last night and sent a clear message to Bury Council that they want to keep the Longfield Suite.

At a previous meeting residents had demanded that the Leader of the Council, Cllr Bob Bibby attend to face concerned residents, and he attended for an hour with Mike Kelly, Bury Council’s Deputy Chief Executive.

Following introductions from meeting organiser, Cllr Vic D’Albert and a statement from Cllr Bibby questions were taken from the floor.

Vic D’Albert commented, “I think it’s fair to say Cllr Bibby received a real grilling on proposals for the future of the Longfield Suite as residents demanded explanations and more details about the so-called reconfiguration planned. Sadly Cllr Bibby was generally unable to respond positively to any great satisfaction of those present.”

“What pleased me most about last nights meeting was not just the turnout, which for a miserable bonfire night evening, was excellent, but the broad representation of Prestwich residents that were present.”

“I hope Cllr Bibby has now taken notice of the strength of feeling from local people on this issue and I would urge him to show he has listened by scrapping the “Task & Finish” officer group he has established and to instead work with local people and councillors in an open and transparent way to look at how the Longfield Suite can be improved in every way to become a more sustainable and even more attractive community centre.”  

“It’s a great shame Cllr Bibby had to leave the public meeting to attend a Conservative meeting as many more people had questions to put to the Council leader. However we hope he has listened to those he did hear, and we now expect action. Meanwhile I would just thank all who attended last night and those who have volunteered to help with the campaign - it’s just a shame we needed to do it in the first place.”

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

These plans will now be subject to public consultation, and expected to go before Manchester Council’s Planning Committee on 17 December 2009.

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

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

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

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

Download the plans here and here.

Despite massive opposition and a wide range of concerns that our Heaton Park heritage will be damaged for ever Goals Soccer Centres have only made minor alterations. The key fact remains that if these proposals will go ahead they will be devastating for the St.Margarets area of Prestwich, damaging to the park and do virtually nothing in providing free access to sports facilities for young people in Prestwich.

The Government has just admitted that a massive £3 Billion in benefits were overpaid last year as a result of fraud and error.

It is absolutely staggering to consider that a combination or fraud and errors are seeing such a massive waste in tax payers hard earned money. The Government really does need to get a grip of the situation.

Firstly they need to cut down on official error. It is incredible that officials appear unable to administer a system of their own creation.

Secondly at a time of recession with millions worse off and many in genuine need of support it is crucial the right people get help. At a time when we are all facing the impact of impending spending cuts it’s crucial that money isn’t being poured down the drain due to poor administration. That is obscene.

If they simplified the benefits system it would go a long way to addressing these issues. At present it would appear the officials don’t understand it, claimants can’t get whats due and fraudsters are the key beneficiaries of an over beaurocratic over complex system.

Last night I attended a meeting of the Area Chairs Group - a meeting of the 6 chairs of local area partnerships along with the deputy leader of the Council and 3 council officers.

The meeting came just weeks after Area Partnership Managers were told that in future they will be moved around every 2 years and the Whitefield/Unsworth and Prestwich managers were to be swapped shortly.

This news angered Partnership Chairs because we rely heavily on the contacts and relationships our managers develop over a period of time. Many councillors feel that to move them every two years will just undermine the performance of local partnerships and weaken relationships with the wider community.

In addition what made things worse was that Area Partnership Chairs or other councillors have never been consulted on whether we support this change in policy and there has been no real justification given for swapping two managers now and in general the only justification given was to develop the area partnership managers.

But there has to be a hidden agenda here. It would seem Bury Conservatives or Bury Council management (not sure which yet) have decided to draw in the role of the partnerships and exercise greater control over their activities. It is clear to me that they fear the growing demands for local initiative and local working that the partnerships are bringing - and the demands that will bring on centralised Council departments that could be faced with diverse demands and pressures across the 6 townships. So expect more central influence and control over your local areas in the future. 

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2nd - Bury Liberal Democrats Annual General Meeting

3rd - Area Partnership Chairs Meeting, Bury Town Hall

3rd - Joint Scrutiny Climate Change Working Group

4th - Meeting with Longfield Precinct businesses

5th - PUBLIC MEETING: Save the Longfield Suite campaign. 7pm at the Longfield suite with the leader of Bury Council. All welcome,

6th - Bury Liberal Democrats Annual Dinner

8th - Remembrance Sunday - Prestwich Service at Heaton Park Congregational Church followed by parade and wreath laying ceremony at Prestwich Cenotaph on Rectory Lane.

10th - St.Michaels RC Primary School, Whitefield, Governors Meeting

12th - Prestwich Area Partnership, from 6.30pm, Heaton Park Primary School, Cuckoo Lane, Prestwich ALL WELCOME

16th - Standards Committee, 6pm, Bury Town Hall. Public welcome

19th - Street Lighting Sub-Group, Bury Town Hall

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last night  at a full meeting of Bury Council,  the main business was a motion calling for Bury Council to join with over 50 other Councils, and millions of people and join the 10:10 campaign to pledge to cut CO2 emission in Bury by 10% in 2010.

I had the honour of proposing the Lib Dem motion, my colleague, Cllr Richard Baum seconded. We accepted an appropriate amendment from the Labour Group and for a moment things actually looked positive.

Then the Conservative leader and others spoke against and my heart sank at the utter lack of understanding of the peril many of us may face in our lifetime and the perils our children and grand children will certainly face.

They talked of putting together a strategy, of putting it back until 2011, some even questioned the accepted scientific wisdom that the earth is warming and climate change affect.

Totally missing the point they talked about bringing others on board such as the business community - as it’s difficult in the recession etc.

I pointed out to deaf Conservative ears that action to cut CO2 emissions can save money as well as the planet. That the cost of ignoring climate change would have a devastating affect on businesses, our homes and quality of life. But all to no avail.

Clearly their slogan “vote Conservative, get green - is a non-starter, if not an insult to those that take the future of life on this planet seriously. Bury Conservatives are clueless on the environmental threat faced by the people of Bury , this country, the planet.

It seriously makes you question whether a Conservative Government would be prepared to take the necessary action or would they put it off ’till tomorrow. 

It was depressing, frustrating and in my book a dereliction of duty to those we serve.

You can read my speech to the Council here: climate-change-speech-281009.pdf

If you are concerned about tackling climate change I would urge you to visit the 10:10 website here and like me, join the 10:10 campaign, and encourage others to join. Bury Council may be fiddling while Rome burns but you can still play your part.

The latest clever wheaze (so they think) from Bury Conservatives is to set up “Task and Finish ” groups to deal with sensitive issues. These can be dealt with in the peace and quite of an office buried somewhere in the Town Hall out of the glare of prying public and for that matter local councillors.

Recently they set one up to look at options for the Council Security service and prior to that the result of the initial stages of the Civic Suites review was to establish a Task and Finish group to investigate the matter futher.

TASK & FINISH - HOW IT WORKS

Bury Conservatives have decided that the way to identify savings in council services is to carry out a number of Service Improvement reviews. These are carried out by officers. The officers produce a report which is then presented to a Scrutiny Committee (which does contain Councillors!). The report to Scrutiny will contain a number of options for consideration and the recommendation that a Task and Finish group be established to investigate further and report on it’s findings to the Council Executive (which is totally controlled by the Conservatives).

By dealing with issues this way they are hoping to minimise contact with Councillors - especially opposition councillors until the last possible moment. when no doubt a detailed officer report will produce overwhelming evidence in favour of the Councils preferred option. Effectively by-passing as much of the democratic process as possible.

Recently myself and other opposition Councillors proclaimed that Scrutiny is dead in Bury. Well, local Conservatives have just buried it!

Commenting on today’s GDP figures, which show the economy shrank by 0.4% between July and September, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“For all the hopes of a quick recovery, these figures make it clear we are still in the longest and what could yet become the deepest recession on record.“For all that has been thrown at the economy to try and stimulate a recovery it is clear that massive structural problems remain, particularly in the banking sector.

“This news adds to serious concerns over the realism of Government plans to deal with the burgeoning public debt. It is critical ministers spell out a credible path as to how they will deal with the deficit.

“With the legacy of unemployment likely to remain for years after the end of the recession, we need radical measures to avoid repeating the mistakes of the 1990s which left millions on the scrap heap.”

Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, Vic D’Albert added: “With thousands of families across Bury struggling to cope with the recession and unemployment, it is crucial that they see leadership and real action to deal with the affects of recession, providing genuine support, new opportunities and jobs.

“This Government is struggling to meet the aspirations of those worst affected and that means they are failing people in their hour of need. When leadership and action is expected they get the response of a head-less chicken and that just isn’t good enough.” 

This lunchtime I joined Save the Longfield Suite campaigners and spent two hours collecting signatures for the petition outside M&S in Prestwich.

I think I managed to fill over 5 pages of signatures and the response was terrific, with people eager to sign and pledge their support for retaining the Longfield Suite with it’s large sprung dancefloor.

The campaign is going from strength to strength and clearly campaigners are resolved to keep fighting until Bury Conservatives recognise the community value of the civic suites current facilities and back down over these plans. 

DON’T FORGET THE NEXT PUBLIC MEETING: Thursday November 5th, 7pm at the Longfield Suite. Your opportunity to put your questions and concerns directly to the leader of the Council, Cllr Bob Bibby.

Well the show went on as they say. No doubt whether it should or shouldn’t have will be long debated.

But it was clear last night that the persistent challenging of the BNP by the other panelists on their much publiscised right wing views did start to get to the heart of the matter. Griffin struggled to explain past quotes and failed to explain their policies.

Policies that until now they had publicly dressed up in a cloak of moderation and nationalism were becoming exposed as rascist, bigoted, homophobic, islamaphobic, divisive, illiberal and intolerant. In fact against everything Britain stands for. The mask definitely started to slip.

In that respect it’s only a shame he was subject to more forensic scrutiny as at times panelists were clearly allowing their hatred of the BNP to (understandably) get the better of them a little.

However at the end of the day, I just wonder how many current or would-be BNP voters actually watched Question Time last night because its not Nick Griffin and his mob we need to go after it’s the potential BNP voter. The problem remains the same. Mainstream parties need to persuade BNP supporters that we are worth voting for and that means we have to take their concerns seriously and find solutions.

When mainstream politics re-engages with that massive swathe of dissilusioned, apathetic voters that feel deserted and let down, then the BNP will be defeated.

Commenting after the defeat of a Liberal Democrat Opposition day motion calling for Government, Parliament, and all public sector bodies to cut their carbon pollution by 10% by the end of 2010, Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Bury South said: “This is a bad day not just for Parliament, but our country and the planet.

“The Government has failed to understand the level of public support for the 10:10 campaign or to get the message that people want real political action now to tackle dangerous climate change.

The 10:10 campaign calls on people/organisations and Governments to pledge to take decisive action to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

“Britain needs a Government which sets an example and delivers immediate and ambitious carbon reductions in the UK. Today the Government has failed to show leadership and send a clear message to the rest of the world that Britain will take action on climate change now.

Last year Liberal Democrats successfully added an 80% emission reduction target to the Climate Change Act and continue to press for Green taxes both to drive down emissions and to gradually replace traditional tax mechanisms.

“The Liberal Democrats will continue to show political leadership in dealing with the climate crisis and we will continue to give the strongest backing to the 10:10 campaign.”On Wednesday October 28th, Bury Councillors will be debating a motion to commit Bury Council  to the 10:10 campaign. “I hope for the sake of our town and it’s future citizens that the whole Council will rally behind the 10:10 banner and start to seriously examine ways and means to cutting carbon emissions in Bury.”

If you would like to join with me in taking the pledge to cut carbon emissions by joining the 10:10 campaign go to www.1010uk.org

Cllr Bob Bibby, Conservative leader of Bury Council has agreed to face prestwich residents over the Longfield Suite proposals.

At the last public meeting residents demanded that Council leaders face them to explain the proposals and listen to their case for keeping the Longfield Suite as it is.

As a result I have now organised a further public meeting on:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH at THE LONGFIELD SUITE, from 7.00 pm

Council Executive member, Cllr Beverley Sullivan has agreed to Join Cllr Bibby to hear residents concerns.

If you have a question you would like putting, but can’t make the meeting please email me on vic@burylibdems.net.

In the meantime if you would like to sign the petition it can be downloaded here: sos_petition.pdf 

Just print off, sign and return either to myself or one of my Prestwich Council colleagues. 

Please find details of half term activities for next week in Prestwich for details of other events outside Prestwich during half term and all year round  you can visit Bury Council’s What’s On guide at  http://www.bury.gov.uk/Events/default.htm 

May I take this opportunity to ask if you are the parents/guardians  responsible for children who may Trick or Treat to ask them to take proper care when they knock on a door, if it is not answered, to walk away.  Many residents are vulnerable and do not wish to answer doors in the evening.

BUTTERSTILE SCHOOL

Dance Talent — Free October Half Term Workshop for children aged 4-11. Book ASAPSamantha IngramChildren’s Centre AdministratorButterstile 0161 253 7900

HEATON PARK SCHOOL

Free Sports Camp 10 am till 12 Mon-Fri, For further info call 253 7076

PRESTWICH CRICKET TENNIS & BOWLING CLUB

A Fun Event with a tennis theme will be held from 10.30 am to 12.00 noon on Wednesday 28th October 2009 aimed at children under 10 (although older children would be welcome). Entry fee £1 per child.12.30 pm - 3.00 pm, a tennis camp (coaching) where the charge will be £12 per person or £10 per person for members of the same family.Ring Keith on 0161 773 1677 for further details.  

SEDGLEY CHILDRENS CENTRE

Sedgley Children’s Centre would like to invite you to a Pink Community Café on Friday 30th October 10am - 1pm to raise money for Breast Cancer.For further information Tel: 253 7476

VENWOOD ROAD BALLZONE  Ballzone Sports Camp – Mon-Fri,1pm till 3.30.pmFor further info call 253 7076

AREA PARTNERSHIP PROGRESS UNDER THREAT 

Bury Council has unilaterally decided it is to move Area Partnership Managers around from Area to Area in what councillors have been told is to help improve skills and best practice etc across the Borough.

The move has brought condemnation from councillors across the party divide and especially from Area Partnership Chairs.

As the Chair of Prestwich Area Partnership it might interest readers to know that Area Partnership Chairs were not consulted, Area Partnership managers were not properly consulted. AND, when we made clear our strong opposition those views were ignored. Then a couple of weeks after the event on October 14th we received a letter from a senior council officer confirming the situation and if anything just adding insult to injury.

The Area initiative relies heavily on the managers - these are the only staff the local townships have. They work in the community, build up community relationships, develop contacts and work extremely hard to respond to local issues, take forward Partnership initiatives and address the local agenda.

At a stroke Bury Council has put at risk the effectiveness of the whole innitiative. Whilst previously I was concerned about the Councils committment to local involvement and local decision making, I now know they are committed to maintaining the status quo - power and control from the centre.

It’s frankly an insult to the hard work that the Area Partnership Managers have put in over the past few years and a blow to the hopes of delivering real improvement on the ground and real community engagement and cohesion from Ramsbottom to Prestwich, from Radcliffe to East Bury.

Diverse communities, diverse requirements and strong local voices that demand local solutions.

I suspect a hidden agenda behind these proposals, in the meantime all I know is we are expected to put up with yet another bad decision from Bury Council. 

Following last nights Public meeting organised by local Lib Dems following concerns about the future of the Longfield Suite, Bury Councils Executive Committee has agreed to a special meeting in Prestwich.

At last nights well attended meeting residents called for the Council leadership to come to Prestwich and face the public over their plans to alter facilities at the Longfield Suite.

Vic D’Albert chaired the meeting and welcoming members of the public he told the meeting, “Coming only a couple of months after this Council adopted the Love Prestwich Strategy document, following the biggest ever public consultation in Prestwich, this amounts to nothing less than a betrayal of the wishes of local people”.

The meeting was also attended by St.Mary’s Cllrs Donal O’Hanlon and Mary D’Albert, Sedgley Councillor Steve Wright, Ivan Lewis MP and Michelle Wiseman.

Several organisers of events at the Longfield Suite spoke, highlighting how well used the facility is, all condemning the proposals and calling for protests. The overwhelming view of those attending was that the much prized dance floor should be retained and that the size of the Suite should be maintained.

One resident told Conservative, Michelle Wiseman, “You don’t understand, we like it the way it is, we want it to stay the same”. Under pressure from local residents Cllr Wiseman would only confirm that “the leader of the Council has given assurances that there will be a Council civic “amenity” in Prestwich”.

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Prestwich Local Area Partnership is supporting a range of Christmas festivities in the town with a grant of £1,500.

Throughout the run up to Christmas local residents and visitors will be able to visit a Christmas farmers market at Longfield Shopping Centre on Sunday 22 November.  The grant is also being used to support the Community Lights Switch On later that day as the finale to the day, as well as a community carol service at St Mary’s Church on the evening of Monday 21 December.

Continuing the Christmas theme, Church Lane Community Centre was awarded £3,000 from the Local Area Partnership to help fund equipment, such as tables, chairs and kitchen equipment for its newly refurbished building. This will allow the community centre to host a special reception during the community carol service.

And finally Downham Tenants and Residents Association will be helping elderly and disabled residents with their gardening as a £800 grant from the LAP has funded a sit-on lawn mower.

Councillor Vic D’Albert, Chair of Preswich LAP, said: “As we approach the Christmas period it is great to know that there will be a range of events taking place. This year the LAP has awarded £30,000 towards supporting local groups in Prestwich to support a variety of projects and this has helped make a real difference to our local community.”

PLANNING APPLICATION 

A Planning application has been lodged by Care UK for the siting of a mobile Health Clinic at Tesco’s for a period of seven years.

Details would be appear sketchy at present but presumably it will be one of those mobile testing clinics - where you can get your blood pressure checked out or perhaps have more serious matters checked/tested for problems. All potentially very good but immediately questions spring to mind.

Firstly why isn’t this happening at the walk in centre (or its much hoped for LIFT centre replacement)?

I thought the NHS was hard up. So why are they paying a private company to dump a mobile clinic at Tesco’s for 7 years and staff it?

It also seems a bit bizarre - have your heart checked out, while your better half rumages through the fruit and veg!

And I assume Tesco’s are getting a pretty good slice of the action also. Let’s face it they’re not exactly know for their benevolence to the local community. So perhaps someone will let us know who is paying what to whom in this novel initiative?
 

So as we (hopefully) approach the final chapter in the expense claims scandal, MP’s are receiving letter detailing over claims.

It is being reported in the news that not all MP’s are happy about some of what they are being asked to repay - especially the sums arising from the retrospective setting of spending limits for for instance cleaning.

However, what I would say to any MP’s (yes even Lib Dems) that don’t think they should repay is that they are completely missing the mood of the country if they think they have a case. The public aren’t interested in MP’s whinging about expenses, they would be more interested in how they plan to create more jobs and get Britain out of recession, and rightly so.

Public confidence in MP’s is so low at present the only acceptable thing is to pay up and shut up. Either that or stand down.

If confidence is to be restored the public need to know that their is a tightly regulated expense claim process and strict controls on what is acceptable. Only then can we move forward.

It is a matter of national disgrace that this scandal has dominated the news when the focus should have been on matters affecting the well being and quality of life of the British people. So hopefully this will be an end to the matter.

As Gordon Brown announces a £16 Billion Sale of public assets I can almost here the character from Dads Army shouting “Don’t panic”.

Any remnants of “prudence” has finally been expunged from his character with this one. The timing of this sell-off off public assets, in the midst of a recession has to be questionable proposal and one could almost lead to panic as to the true state of public finances. If indeed it was a simple case of being able to pick the timing in order to maximise interest and income, then this wouldn’t be happening now.

However, It could be that this sell off has nothing whatsoever to do with the state of our public finances and more to do with an impending General Election preceeded by a Budget. It could well be a cynical attempt to try and free up some resources - only time will tell.    

Clearly Cameron’s speech to the Conservative conference yesterday was full of fine , warm, words for those suffering at the front line of the worst depression  for decades. However if you have lost your job , struggling to feed a family, maintain your dignity and confidence in the future and keep a roof over your head , would those words make a difference to you?

The thing is we’re not talking about some wonderful economic theory, or building aircraft carriers, or policies to address endangered species.  We’re talking about peoples lives, here, now, and how they can be helped to recover and thrive.

That is where yesterdays fine words fail to meet the reality of the people he was clearly trying to reach. Because when you scratch the surface it’s the same old Conservative Party. They say they want to help the poor, so they plan to cut benefits. They say they want to help struggling families, so they plan to cut public services.

To paraphrase a famous quote, the author of which I have temporarily forgotten (to my shame). “Why is it that when they want to encourage the rich to work harder they pay them more, and to encourage the poor to work harder they pay them less?”

Cameron and Osbourne are right. If they win the next election there will be a lot of pain to endure, and they will be inflicting it without pain killers. Same old Tories. Squeezing the public services to pay for tax cuts for the fortunate.

So the Conservative Party is gradually coming clean. And it is clear already that as part of their “pain for all” plans phase one is taking a scorched earth policy to public spending.

With a freeze on public sector pay, delayed pensions, restricted pay limits and a 10% cut to public services this is a scorched earth policy designed for more than control of public spending in mind.

The more I here from Cameron, Osborne and co. the more I believe this weeks announcements are part of a concerted attempt to scare the British public into accepting the most demanding and fierce medicine they can throw at us. The big question is this. If the Tories are planning this scale of attack on our public services and spending, what do they intend to do with the savings? Something tells me when the public purse has recovered, we won’t be seeing re-investment in those same public services, and then they may just delay restoring the pension/earnings link or even put back retirement age further. And we shouldn’t forget that they have already pledged cuts to inheritance tax to make life easier for the rich as well.

Phase two should be very interesting - there is no doubt we need to cut public spending and we do need people to face up to some stark choices. However what we should be doing is not taking a chain saw to our public services but discussing which services should be protected and which need improving and which need support. What should our priorities be. I suspect the Conservatives know what they’re priorities are - so how about telling us. Now. Or is it all a case of slash and burn?

David Cameron’s announcement on the eve of the Tory Conference, that  Tory Government would review all those on Incapacity benefit with a view to getting many of them in to work or on £25 per week less in benefits (switching to Job Seekers), is a cheap shot at best in an attempt to woo the right wing of his own party and of course the right wing press.

At a time of deep recession when unemployment isn’t expected to start dropping any time soon, targeting those on incapacity benefit, forcing them onto the end of a growing jobs queue really isn’t going to solve the problem. In many parts of the country it is now common for up to 100 applicants for a job. How helpful will it be to add people who have been on incapacity benefit for possibly years , too that jobs market?

Everyone knows that the benefit system needs reform, it’s been Lib Dem policy for as long as I can remember. All main parties want reform and all main parties are committed to reviewing spending.

But this is really just another case of Tory posturing coupled with spending cuts. But cuts for cuts sake is irresponsible and will harm vulnerable people. We have to reconcile any proposed cuts too what our spending priorities need to be over the coming decade.

We need to protect the vulnerable, to protect vital front line services and to maintain key public services. Sadly the nature of Cameron’s announcement just reaffirms Tory cruel intentions and shows a reverting to type in the quest for media coverage and spending cuts.

On tuesday night, Ocober 6th, I will be hosting my latest “MEET VIC” event. An opportunity to come and say hello, and tell me what you think about our Government and what the issues are that really matter to you.

Feel free to raise any issues or ask me about Lib dem policies, or bring local problems to my attention. I will do my best to help in any way I can.

And the added bonus (if you are so inclined) is you can have a drink as well if you like.

It’s from 6 to 7pm at the Frigate Pub, Thatch Leach Lane, Whitefield. I hope to see you then.

What struck me most about Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Conference was that with possibly just 7 months left of 13 years in government how little there was left to offer the British public.

Ok, so he rattled off some notable achievements, fair enough,  but after 12 years it would be expected that something will have been achieved, however he completely ignored many of this Governments failings. Labours trampling and abuse of civil liberties, the failure to control public debt, the banks encouraged to gamble with that public debt. Excessive government borrowing to fuel failed initiative after initiative.

The complete failure to get to the heart of the green agenda and take the world forward - a missed opportunity if ever the was one. The illegal war in Iraq, the failure to have an exit plan, the absence of an exit plan in Afghanistan. The ethical foreign policy that vanished into this air. The 3000 extra criminal offences on the statute book - but failure to tackle the fear of crime and rising violent crime. Overcrowded prisons, under funded Councils, and far too much dithering to deliver real help and support when and where needed - for instance to the growing young unemployed.

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1st -  Prestwich Area Partnership, from 6.30pm Butterstile Primary School

6th - MEET VIC - Public Forum, 6 - 7pm, The Frigate Public House, Thatch Leach Lane, Whitefield. Informal opportunity to meet me as Parliamentary candidate for Bury South, and to raise the issues that matter to you, find out a bit more about me and what I stand for.

12th - Heaton Park Primary School Governors Meeting

14th - Prestwich Town Centre Regeneration Working Group, 6pm Prestwich Library

14th - Prestwich Festival meeting, 7pm Prestwich Library

15th - Area Partnership Chairs Meeting, 6.30pm Bury Town Hall

16th - Lib Dems “Pies & Politics”, 7pm 15 Lowther Close, Prestwich (invitation only - contact me for an invite!) An evening of lively political debate in an informal atmosphere while presumably eating pies!

19th - MEET VIC - Public Forum, 6 - 7pm, Elms Community Centre, Green Lane, Whitefield. Informal opportunity to meet me as Parliamentary candidate for Bury South, and to raise the issues that matter to you, find out a bit more about me and what I stand for.

22nd - Street Lighting Working Group, 6.30pm Bury Town Hall

28th - Full Meeting of Bury Council, 7pm Bury Town Hall, public welcome

Last night I attended the  first Street Lighting Working Group meeting at the Town Hall.

The working group arose out of the Tories “turn them off - no turn them back on again” U-turn on a budgeted 1 in 3 street light turn off. I was one of those that opposed the original proposal because I believe the issue needs addressing properly both from a financial perspective but also to address environment issues. Our Street lights emit about 13% of the Council’s Co2 emissions.

Last nights first meeting was a briefing on the issues, the state of our street lights, the technology available in replacement lights and options available for improving street lights in the borough.

We were told we had about 18,500 street lamps and that 1 in 5 of our street lamps (that’s 4000) was over 40 years old - when they have a life expectancy of 25-30 years!  We also learned that we are currently spending the whole of the available street light maintenance budget on replacing unsafe, broken or fallen down street lamps.

In effect we are replacing about 150 lamps a year when we currently have over 4000 that need replacing now. When you add to that the urgency required to get our CO2 emissions down, you will see why the working group were supportive of looking into various options to find the capital to replace street lamps and bring others up to standards now required.

Earlier this month we discovered that it would take to 2084 to repair all of our roads last night we learned that it would take to 2035 to replace our decrepit (over 40 years old) street lamps.

It really does bring home to you how much of our infrastructure has been neglected under successive Conservative and Labour Governments. 

MEDIA STATEMENT

Bury’s dole queues have lengthened by over three quarters this year to over 4,000.

Now Bury South Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Vic D’Albert says the Government must act fast to halt the rise in job losses and home repossessions in the borough.

There are now 4,230 people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance in Bury, an increase of 78.9% compared to this time last year, and an increase of 41.7% in the last three months.

Unemployment in the borough is now at a higher level than before Labour came to power in 1997, after the ravages of 18 years of Tory government.

Commenting, Vic D’Albert said: “Despite some sterling work by local businesses, these figures show that the recession is continuing to hit Bury hard as more jobs and homes are being lost. It is clear to me that the Labour government has failed Bury, and that the Tory Council isn’t doing anything like enough to help.

“It is vital that the Government offers help to the millions who are struggling to keep their heads above water. Income tax should be cut, and the banks must pass on the cuts in interest rates to reduce the cost of borrowing and keep people in their homes, and businesses open.

“The Prime Minister promised to abolish boom and bust, yet for the people of Bury it’s unemployment that’s booming, and their businesses that are going bust.
At the same time, the Tories at the Town Hall are dithering over Lib Dem proposals like our “Park Free After 3″ idea which would be a big boost to jobs.

“The banks have had their bail-out, how much longer must ordinary people wait for theirs?”

(source: Office of National Statistics)

I was delighted to be on hand to join in the presentation to Zack Hipps for winning the Prestwich Festival, “Prestwich has Junior Talent competition”.

Zack was presented with a framed canvass photo of himself with his sister - whom he beat in the competition, and a certificate of achievement.

I remember the competition very well. It was a lovely (rare) summers evening and there were some great performances from the young people. To me the whole event epitomised what the festival was all about. Hopefully next years event will be even bigger and better, but in the meantime congratulations to Zack, his sister and undoubtedly their very proud parents.

I was delighted to be able to take a tour of St.Michael’s RC Primary School in Whitefield today.

I had asked for an opportunity to go round the school in order that I may get to know the school a bit better. I was recently appointed to the school as a school Governor on behalf of the Local Education Authority. As I explained to Norman Duffin, the head teacher, I like to try and understand the school and be able to picture staff and the various parts of the building - I think that helps when I attend Governing Body meetings.

I was extremely impressed with the school, there seems to be a great atmosphere - a very happy school, and classrooms are bright and airy with tremendous displays on the walls.

Norman took the opportunity to outline some of the planned improvements for the school, which are quite exciting and will only enhance and improve the learning environment.

 I really enjoyed the opportunity and look forwad to forthcoming Governors meetings.

Once again Labour are both slow to react and when they do, they get it wrong. Baroness Scotland should resign over the error in employing an immigrant worker without the proper paperwork, not because of any political malice or opportunist “knifing” on my part, but because of her status and position.

As Attorney General she is the countries chief legal officer and advisor to the Government. She herself brought in the law that she has now broken (accidentally or otherwise). And remember ignorance of the law is no defence - and surely to goodness she cannot claim ignorance from where she stands.

No, the key reason is the fact that she holds one of the highest offices in the land and the top legal position at that. There is a real danger that she will be bringing her office into disrepute and certainly damaging its status and credibility. If she values the  position of attorney general and its reputation she will go.

But of course the amazing thing in all this is that Gordon Brown appears unable to see that or is at least prepared to see the office of Attorney general diminished in the public eye in order that one of his friends can keep their job. That is a bad decision and plain wrong.

You can read the full speech here:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Speech%3a_Nick_Clegg_delivers_his_speech_to_Autumn_Conference&pPK=8751593d-e92b-47fa-b6d3-61cd48e7d55d

Conservative Chairman , Eric Pickles has today said it’s time for Lib Dem voters to come home to the Tory party and told senior Lib Dem, Chris Huhne he is “playing hard to get”.

If we are really so close to the Tories why don’t they join the Lib Dems. In fact if any Conservatives want to drop me a line I’ll happily pop round and sign them up.

Of course Mr Pickles is in wind up mode and is just trying to undermine Lib Dem fortunes. The fact remains we are miles apart on many key issues. For instance while David Cameron proposes sweeping cuts to the salad counter at the House of Commons the Lib Dems are looking at savage cuts to Government expenditure in an attempt to find ways of safeguarding crucial front line services. 

While David Cameron goes on jollys to the North Pole to show us his green credentials the Lib Dems have been putting together real policies to deal with much needed cuts to Co2 etc including scrapping nuclear power and developing alternative sustainable energy.

While Cameron has huffed and puffed about the state of our democracy only the Lib Dems have proposed real reforms that include fair votes for our people.

Then there is civil liberties - more rhetoric about rolling back the state from Cameron, proposed legislation to scrap hundreds of illiberal laws from the Lib Dems.

Pickles, Cameron and co. are no liberals, but they are opportunists that are determined not to let ideology and real policies get in the way of a grab for power next year. And we have all seen what that approach has done to New Labour since ‘97   

BT is warning customers to be on their guard after a series of phone scams involving people claiming to be calling from the company.

The scammers call up their victim and warn them that their account is in arrears.
They then ask for card or bank details in order to settle the account.
If the person refuses or asks for proof, the fraudsters then offer to prove who they are by disconnecting the phone line then and there.

Once the victim puts the phone down, the scammer stays connected to their line, thus giving the impression that the customer’s line no longer works.

Evidence shows this type of phone scam has been happening all over the country.
Last weekend a number of elderly people in Suffolk fell victim to the scam; there have also been cases in the past year all over England and Wales.

Graham Preston, the lead officer for scams at Trading Standards, admits this type of phone fraud is around.
“Scams sadly are very common, they are variations of a theme and this particular scam seems to be prevalent at the moment,” he said.

He warns people to be on guard.
“In terms of advising people, keep your wits about you, be cynical. If somebody calls you, mistrust them if you have to, or don’t trust them,” he said.

“Particularly if they are asking for money, if they want your credit card details don’t be afraid to say no,” he added.

BT says it does sometimes make calls to customers about debt - but stresses that it never carries out disconnections during the call.

It advises customers not to give out any banking details over the phone unless they are absolutely certain who they are dealing with.

Lib Dem General Election candidate for Bury South, Vic D’Albert has welcomed todays announcement by Vince Cable of an additional property levy on properties worth over £1m.

“This measure would inject a bit more fairness into a distorted Council Tax system which would enable the Government to redistribute tax revenues to the low paid and remove many from tax altogether.” 

The new charge of 0.5% would apply to the value of a property above £1m. So if a home was worth £1.5m the 0.5% tax would apply to £500,000 of it, meaning the owner will have to pay £2,500 a year. The extra tax on a £4m property would be £15,000 a year. The Lib Dems say about 250,000 property-owners would pay about £4,000 a year each on average mostly in the South-East of England.  

Vic D’Albert commented, “It’s important that we balance this additional tax levy with what we are trying to achieve and that is all about lifting four million people - workers and pensioners - out of taxation and cutting taxes for people at the bottom end in a fair way.”  

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said: “I think people, even at the top end, now accept we need to try and rebalance things a bit so that everyone moves together - the whole of society moves together, it’s about fairness and rebalancing one of the most unfair tax systems around.This is a small correction which I think will make a big difference for people who are really struggling to make ends meet,” he said.

The new tax would be a “temporary” measure until it was able to implement its plans for a local income tax. People on low incomes, who are currently receiving council tax benefit, would be exempt, although the party has stressed it does not believe there are many low income people living in million pound homes.

Last nights EET meeting thankfully improved after the “coffee machine” disaster.

PARKING IN BURY

A annual report was presented about Parking services which outlined the number of penalty notices issued and other parking issues.

The report highlighted that the number of people parking in the town centre had reduced over the past year, that revenue from meters and notices will be less than budgeted and 6703 penalty notices were issued. My collegaue,Cllr Donal O’Hanlon raised a very interesting point that 24% or nearly 1 in 4 notices issued were eventually cancelled. In other words we (the Council) were paying people to cancel notices rather than being less heavy handed, reasonable or accurate in the first instance.

I requested that a wide ranging visitor survey be undertaken to focus on parking issues and identify any further issues. This was in response to a limited survey of 1000 motorists that appealed against notices.

STREET LIGHTING

Some avid readers of local current affairs will remember that the Conservative authority , first announced that they wanted to turn off street lights, then had an executive panic attack and decided to change their minds. This angered member of the Environment scrutiny commission who were aware of the need to improve street lighting both in terms of efficiency bu reducing CO2 emissions. Lighting accounts for 13% of the Borough total.

Last night we agreed to set up a working group to look at street lighting issues with a view to applying for a public finance initiative to improve our street lights.

HOUSING GRANTS

A paper was presented to the commission proposing changes to the grants available for residents to carry out housing improvements or adaptations. Much of these changes were non contentious - for instance amending the Minor repairs and Improvements Grants to take account of sustainability issues and decent homes standards.

However what bothered me intensely was changes to the Disabled Facilities Grants. Currently it is mandatory that the council finance up to £30,000 of adaptations, how they now propose that any further “top-ups” required will be only available in exceptional circumstances. Officers admitted that this was due to budgetary pressures - The council has a budget of around £1.2m which included £617,000 from the Government.

I am concerned that this is a start on squeezing local authority grants and support generally - and it greatly concerns me that this is once again financially driven - officers admitted that it is likely residents would have to wait longer or may be turned down for additional essential work.

Plans for Heaton Park School’s Childrens Centre have been approved by Bury Council’s Planning Committee.

At last nights meeting the committee unanimously approved the plans for the new centre on Cuckoo Lane.

This will prove a tremendous asset for both the school but especially the local community. The School will be undergoing refurbishment soon and the Childrens Centre work is expected to be wrapped up in that development/refurbishment work.

When completed it will almost be the finishing touch to the transformation of Heaton Park Primary school that in addition to a nursery , will also be getting a recently approved nursery play area.

These facilities are most welcome in this area and much needed by the local community and especially valuable to nearby Polefield estate that is recognised as a deprived area.

At last nights Planning Committee I asked (on behalf of residents) that careful consideration be given to drainage issues surrounding the new development as in the past developments have adversely affected drainage of surface water into neighbouring properties. The committee noted my concerns

The long awaited regeneration of Prestwich village moved a step closer tonight when Bury Councils Planning Control Committee approved an outline planning application.

The initial outline application basically designates areas for use and provides a general overview of the proposals. This application will now be followed in the coming months with detailed applications relating to specific site developments.

I am pleased that the application was unanimously approved. St.Mary’s Ward Councillor Mary D’Albert sought clarification on the size of the proposed supermarket and assurances that the Longfield Suite will be unaffected and the new libary will be at least as big as the existing one.

St.Mary’s Lib Dem Councillor Donal O’Hanlon could not vote because he has a vested interest in the development as Chair of the Town Centre Regeneration Working Group that has monitored and pressed forward these proposals on behalf of the Area Partnership. He did however suggest a number of conditions of which one regarding contractors and subcontractors parking was adopted.

So onwards and upwards. Developers will hopefully be working on key aspects/detailed applications now and there may well be detailed consultation with Town planners on the details.

It is also hoped that these detailed applications remain true to the Love Prestwich Strategy document which has been so well received and the the Area Partnership and Town Centre Regeneration Working Group remain an active consultee of the developers.

Watch this space - or to be more specific the Longfield Precinct space!

Last night was a case of one extreme to another. I started off in the Councils Economy and Environment Scrutiny sub group looking at the Local Development framework for Bury and ended up in a pub in Prestwich in a Tenants and Residents meeting.

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

This important sub group is responsible for monitoring the progress of the production of the Local Development Framework and associated documents. The LDF looks at the allocation and use of all land throughout Bury and for instance identifies land for business use, housing and of course the green belt. Perhaps the most controversial aspects include the need to identify new sites for gypsy’s and travellers as well as identifying land for about 11500 new homes.

As if that wasn’t enough they have to deal with the impact of climate change which will dramatically affect areas prone to flooding which we were told will have an impact on Radcliffe and Ramsbottom proposals.

LDF documents are still work in progress at this stage and there is much consultation and examination before they become adopted as policy by the council, but clearly there will be significant challenges with wide ranging impact on most of Bury.

POLEFIELD TENANTS & RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

Following the LDF meeting at the town hall I had to rush to a meeting of Polefield TRA at the Parkside Hotel in Prestwich.

The meeting included tenants, police, Six Town Housing officers and myself. We received reports that suggested that things were pretty quite on the estate - limited anti-social behaviour.

Plans are progressing for a Halloween night disco for under 11’s at Heaton Park School and a public meeting in November.

Tenants raised concerns about speeding on the estate, the use of (often illegal) bikes and quad bikes etc and potentially dangerous junction of Cuckoo Grove, Polefield Hall Rd and Polefield Circle. I promised to request the Council to investigate possible improvements to this junction along with the provision of some improved street lighting and road repairs.

It really does not achieve anything for Labour and the Tories to constantly try and twist each others words and statements on public spending in order that they then bleat “I told you so” to the media. With the Tories pledging to increase the costs of a ploughmans lunch in the House of commons and Labour trying to match the rhetoric with strong words but without saying much at all, we desperately need a grown up debate.

They talk of Public services as if they were something that is a luxury that can’t really be afforded in tough times - like eating out less or not replacing your ageing TV.

In all the talk of spending cuts and committments we need to remember that many public services are by definition quite vital and essential - relied on by many of the most vulnerable in our communities and by necessity not always affordable or providable through the private sector.

So in these difficult times whilst it is right to address Government spending, let’s also address Government income and Government waste, and lets have a sensible grown up discussion about services - the services that we can do without - ID cards etc and the services that need protecting - because of the impact of cuts.

The TUC were right to wade into the debate yesterday on the eve of their conference because we must not forget the implications of cuts invariably mean redundancies directly and indirectly.

Cuts will need to be made, but we need to ensure vital services are protected. It’s about services that matter, it’s about people lives as well as livelihoods.

Along with fellow councillors Donal O’Hanlon and Mary D’Albert I visited St.Mary’s Church on their open day yesterday. I must confess the main draw for me on this occasion was the fact that the Church Tower was open.

With expert guidance from a Scout leader we were led up the tower first to the bell ringers chamber and then upwards to the tower roof.

I can tell you now this is no trip for the claustrophobic or for that matter tall or “wide”. A very narrow winding staircase with a low ceiling leads you up in semi-darkness in places. Clearly people in the middle ages were both short and anorexic! At times I was feeling ahead with my hands on the steps ahead of me.

However it was well worth the effort for the views from the top are amazing. On a fine sunny, clear day you could see scout moor wind farm in one direction, the chill factor ski slope near the Trafford centre, and the Manchester Hilton Hotel. Sadly you could also see the Radius apartments rising like a monster from the centre of Prestwich village. With excellent views of St.Mary’s park and the clough it also served to remind me how green Prestwich is.

If you ever get the chance to go up the tower go for it, it’s worth it. After we finally got down (which is at least as awkward), we decided we to buy tea and cake in church - purely to aid recovery of course.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit Sedgley Childrens centre at Sedgley Park School yesterday.

The centre opened in July 2008, so it was great to see how it had progressed in 14 months since. The centre caters for all Sedgley’s diverse community including the growing muslim community and the orthodox Jewish community.

It was amazing to see the amazing rage of events that take place over the course of a week and to see and hear first hand about the facilities available and to see how health and childrens services are using the facilities.

The centre is clearly going from strength to strength and there clearly great pride and enthusiasm amongst the staff for the important services they are offering.

Congratulations to Vicky and the team for all their endeavours and achievements to date,

Well Done! (and thanks for the tea).

Is the world going mad? Are all men guilty until proved innocent? Is there so much danger exposed to our children when they take part in organised events?

The Government have today announced that parents who regularly drive children for sports or social clubs will have to undergo criminal record checks or face fines of up to £5,000 under new rules.

Along with parents who host foreign exchange students, they will fall under the scope of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, the Home Office has confirmed.

There is a real suggestion here that Government is losing the plot on this issue. At the very least it is a further civil liberties intrusion, at worst it will threaten the existence of small sports and other clubs.

What next ? Why not check out prospective fathers when their partners get pregnant? Why not get schools to carry out checks on parents who want to place their kids in their school?

It’s frankly ridiculous and we are in serious danger now of moving to a society of visible and invisible checkpoints. Perhaps this was one of the aims of the ID card scheme - they could carry our criminal record check details 

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the government was “in danger of creating a world in which we think every adult who approaches children means to do them harm”.

“Should parents who give other people’s children a lift to sports matches really face a £5,000 fine and criminal record if they fail to register?”

I wonder how long will it be before they extend this to the elderly or the disabled?

The worlds gone crazy.

At last nights Full Council meeting at Bury Town Hall, I proposed a motion on behalf of the Lib Dem group that called on the Council to scrutinise the use of the so-called “snoopers charter”, that is surveillance powers available to Councils.

Under powers available to Bury Council they can carry our surveillance including recording phone calls, videoing, use of unmarked vans with one-way windows, tracking, camers, binoculars etc. Over the past 5 years they have used this powers over 165 times to my knowledge.

At last nights meeting I was frankly amazed at the raction of both Labour and the Conservatives - both opposed our motion. I am amazed because I didn’t call for the powers to be scrapped or restricted (at this stage), or for any outside intervention or authorisation. I simply called for the procedures in place and the details about who can authorise spying and the type of incidents to be placed before councillors in order that they may satisfy themselves that this is a good use of Council tax money and officer time and that these ectreme spying powers are being used appropiately and with restraint.

I can only assume from the ruling Conservative groups determination that Councillors shouldn’t vet the use of these powers that they do have something to hide. I’ll just have to keep digging.

You can read the text of my speech in support of the motion here:  ripa_powers_motion_99091.pdf

As if the current recession isn’t bad enough, I came away from last nights Council Climate Change meeting with the realisation that things are going to be very difficult for local authorities and for that matter central government if we are to meet internationally agreed targets for Carbon emissions.

Effectively from 2011 a set of increasing financial pressures/penalties will be applied vice-like by Government in order to force councils to reduce carbon emissions. 

At the centre of the proposals is a scheme of carbon trading which would involve councils with emissions over a certain level having to “buy” carbon allowances and possibly trade them in etc.

What was clear from last nights meeting was that there isn’t really any alternative to these proposals and in Bury’s case perhaps as much as £300,000 in allowances may need to be purchased to start with (from where will the money come from I hear you ask?) and this may well rise if we struggle to reduce emmissions. It could all be a nightmare for councils and in turn council services that will require investment to meet the reduction targets.

The biggest challenge is likely to be with our schools. Currently it has been identified that 72% of Bury’s carbon emissions come from our schools.

I suppose what hit me last night was the fact that a) there is virtually no room for manouvre on this, b) Its another financial problem for public services and c) there is no choice!

After all if we fail on climate change we fail future generations and the clock is already ticking.

David Cameron is fast turning gesture politics into an unenviable art form. Today he has announced his plans to cut the cost of politics.

In plans that he admits won’t actually save that much in the overall scheme of things he says a Tory Government will reduce the number of MP’s, reduce their pay, reduce ministerial cars and other benefits such as subsidised food and drink in the HoC bars and restaurants etc.

Whilst I am all for saving money, he has to be careful that his party don’t push punative measures in a kind of populist retro punishment for the expenses scandal.

However irrespective of his empty gestures towards in acknowledgement of the popular dislike of politicians the plain fact is he is missing the point about the state of British politics.

Firstly many talented people can’t see the point or are not prepared to put up with the hassle of being a councillor or MP - that is leading to a poorer Government whether at local or national level.

Secondly, the state of our democracy. Frankly it’s in a state. We need to make voting more meaningful to people, that means they must feel their vote counts on a number of fronts. Firstly that means fair votes that lead to more representative politicians and secondly (at Council level especially) voters need to feel that casting a vote is worth the effort because of what can be achieved. Too many feel councils have little power these days to achieve much more than empty the bins. That needs to change.

Democratic politics isn’t something that can be afforded or not, it doesn’t come with a budget that can be trimmed. It’s precious and it ain’t cheap - but it also needs to nurtured and protected. So come on David how about dealing with the real problems instead of empty populist gestures against an easy target.

For me the real problem with this whole Libya/lockerbie problem is the way this Government seems to prefer to handle foreign policy and has now got it into a mess with the US Government and previously with EU partners.

I still recall way back in 1997 Robin Cook promising an ethical foreign policy for the UK. Well that would appear to have been truly ditched a long time ago - presumably well befor the Iraq war.

Once again we see the lure of massive trade deals  - a £550 million Oil deal in this case, being the price for sweeping any collection of ethical concerns under the carpet of convenience. From Human rights, arms deals with dictatorships to environmental destruction it would seem that if the price is right this Labour Government will happily turn a blind eye.

To a degree I can appreciate some dilemmas. For instance a deal that provided a major economic boost to UK business and provides or sustains jobs. That would be hard to turn down. But surely to goodness we can inject a bit more moral steel into our negotiations and without totally abandoning our principles.

If this whole Libya/Lockerbie prisoner episode show anything it is the need to reinvigorate our foreign policy with a strong ethical backbone and stop being played for the spineless money grabbing western power we must appear to be to some less than scrupulous foreign powers at times.

Gordon Brown is desperately keen to get G20 Governments signed up to greater control on bank bonuses - why not do the same for an ethical aspect to Foreign policy?

Yesterday afternoon I popped along to the Prestwich Horticultural Society’s annual show. In recent years this has been at the rather too spacious Prestwich Arts College Sports hall, this year it was held at the new Heaton Park Congregational Church on Heaton Street.

The wonderful (and very large!) blooms on display only served to emphasise the general absence of summer again this year, and that (absence) also served to highlight the wonderful effort and achievement of the exhibiting gardeners.

Once again there was also a grand display of show vegetables - probably the largest onions I have ever seen, alongside a junior section. As is traditional for me, I couldn’t resist a cup of tea and the raffle.

Well done to the organisers of what was clearly a well attended event.

Lib Dems ask all teachers, nurses and street cleaners in Bury South ‘where is the waste?’

Everyone employed in the public sector – including Bury South’s army of hard-working teachers, care assistants, librarians and social workers – is being asked to say where they think taxpayers’ money can be saved. 

The Liberal Democrats are launching a website where people who work with taxpayers’ money can submit suggestions on how to cut waste in the public sector. It will be launched by leader Nick Clegg as part of the ‘Ask the People in the Know’ project and can be accessed at www.nickclegg.com/intheknow .

Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat candidate for Bury South, said: “Every day I meet public servants out and about in Bury South whose hard work and dedication is an inspiration to us all. 

“They are the people who know what works and what doesn’t in their chosen field, and frankly they’re the ones I’d trust to say where cuts can be made safely without putting lives in danger. 

“Unlike the Tories, who just want to take an axe to public sector jobs, and Labour, who only care about bailing out bankers, the Liberal Democrats will reduce public debt in a responsible way. “That’s why we’re asking the experts – the people on-the-ground who know how money can be saved without threatening essential services – where is the waste?”

I have just signed up to the 10:10 pledge.10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010.

I increasingly believe that if we are to tackle carbon emissions in the UK we need to tackle it as individuals as well as applying pressure to our Government. Green policies are stalling with a Labour Government faced with recession and financial instability, but what about climate instability?

We need to show the Government that as individuals we want action to cut emissions and we are prepared to do our bit.  So go on take the pledge to cut your carbon footprint by 10% in 2010.

To sign up just visit the 10:10 web site at www.1010uk.org

Liberal Democrats have called on Bury South MP Ivan Lewis to explain his role in the freeing of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbset al-Megrahi.

It has been reported that Mr Lewis, Minister with responsibility for Libya, wrote a letter to Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill just two weeks before the decision to free the bomber, saying that he hoped that MacAskill “would consider the Libyan application” to free al-Megrahi. According to reports the Scottish government saw this as an attempt to influence their decision.

Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South said “I’m sure everyone in Bury was shocked by the scenes in Libya giving the Lockerbie bomber a hero’s welcome home. Although al-Megrahi has only a few months to live, I was very disturbed to hear that our own MP may have interfered with the decision made by the Scottish Justice Secretary which granted him his freedom.”

The decision to free the only man convicted of Britain’s deadliest peacetime act of terrorism has prompted suspicion and anger across the world.

Vic D’Albert continued “I urge Ivan Lewis to explain his actions at once. He represents the people of Bury South, and we have a right to know what role our MP has played in this controversial decision, and indeed why he was involved at all. This is a Scottish matter and I would be very worried if any Minister, let alone our own MP, was interfering in this way.”

9th - Full Meeting of Bury Council, from 7pm Bury Town Hall. Public welcome

14th - Local Development Framework Sub Group, 6pm Bury Town Hall, Public welcome

17th - Economy, Environment & Transport Scrutiny Commission, 6pm Bury Town Hall, Public welcome

The next meeting of Prestwich Area Partnership is October 1st, Butterstile School, Prestwich from 6.30pm

At long last it finally seems the Council are set to approve a policy for gating back alleys. A mere three years after I first pressed for a policy to be adopted.

It has been a frustrating three years to, with many schemes unable to proceed despite residents pleas, police support and councillors support - but because Bury Council didn’t have a policy we were stuffed!

The fact is it has been proven elsewhere that closing back alleys cuts crime and anti-social behaviour dramatically and as such I will be pressing for a number of alleys to be closed as soon as possible.  In some ways it’s a shame but if it cuts crime and improves the lot of affected residents then it has to be a good thing.

I read with interest local Conservative, Mr Grosskopfs comments in last weeks letters. Mr Grosskopf starts with a mistaken understanding of Gordon Browns economic policies and then goes on to provide a kindergarten explanation of how a Conservative Government would make everything in the garden rosy.

Fist of all, and anyone who know me knows that I am no defender of Labour policies, but I will grant that Gordon Browns economic policies have sought to end boom and bust in our economy despite Mr Grosskopfs comments last week. It is the methods employed in ending the boom and bust economic cycles previously suffered that has led to ridiculous borrowing levels by financial institutions and individuals alike that has led to our present demise. So if we are to blame Labour for the state of our economy lets at least get the reasons right!

He then goes on to suggest that a Conservative Government will sort this mess out and it will somehow be better for local government. I was first elected to Bury Council under a Conservative Government and perhaps I need to remind people - certainly local Conservatives, about the devastation wrecked on local Councils by a Conservative Government intent on blaming all the worlds ills on local councils while claiming the glory for every “saving” going at national level. Conservative Governments brought local councils to their knees, forcing damaging cuts to vital services and enforcing savage cuts to council responsibilities and powers. A Conservative Government would be no friend to local councils - remember the poll tax!

He then goes on to tell people that in any case the Lib Dems don’t stand a chance locally at the next general election. Me thinks he is worried. If  everything was as it was in 2005 he would be right. But we have more Councillors - more than the Conservatives in Bury South, Labour are much weaker, the world has changed  and the Lib Dems are stronger. And just to correct his comment, actually a vote for the Lib Dems will be just that AND will help us win in Bury South AND help us ensure we get fairer Government, better Government and a fresh start for Britain.

He finishes by questioning the Lib Dems achievements in the 10 years since we took “power” in Prestwich. I wish he checked his facts first. Sadly we have only been controlling the Area Partnership for the past 5 years and if he checked out the “powers” we have at local level he would discover that we are very limited in what we can do aside from Tory controlled Bury Council. In actual fact under those cicumstances I feel we have achieved an awful lot in 5 years and undoubtedly if the Bury Council was Lib Dem led we would have achieved much much more. But the one fact remains that whoever rund Bury or the Area Partnership I can assure residents that local Lib Dems will be fighting your corner on the issues that matter.

As Green energy and other initiatives take hold and become more embedded in out enterprise culture isn’t it time the Government had a strategy for green energy and a sustainable economy?

We just seem to be drifting from initiative to initiative in a desperate attempt to appear “green” , when what is needed is a costed, properly worked out national policy.

The trouble is the Government wants it all ways - firstly it wants to appear green, secondly it worries about the green sceptics an doubters especially in a time of recession and thirdly this Labour Government isn;t really that green conscious anyway.

So while the climate change/sustainable energy closk keeps ticking our policies are drifting with lots of fine rhetoric and initiatives here and there that never quite add up.

Along with my better half I attended the Farmers market at the longfield precinct today.

Even bigger and better than last time it once again seems to have been a great success. It really does add value to the precinct in so much as it brings quality produce to our precinct to provide an added attraction for local residents who hopefully will take advantage and visit other local shops and pubs/restaurants.

As always my eyes were bigger than my stomach and we overspent - but it’s all good stuff. The good news is that I understand that it is scheduled to come back at the end of November. Hopefully it will remain a regular attraction now.

In what can only be described as gross insensitivity, the compassion shown by the Scottish Government in releasing early the Lockerbie bomber due to terminal illness was swept away by an insulting act of hero celebration for his return home to Libya.

Despite pleas from the British and Scottish Government for the reception to be low key the response by the Libyans was appalling and clearly shows how unaware or utterly uncaring they are about the act of terrorism that was the lockerbie bombing.

If anything this heroes welcome for the lockerbie bomber just raises further concerns about our determination to “bring Libya into the international fold”, can they be trusted?

Congratulations to all those celebrating their A level results today - and commiserations to all those not!

Remember it’s not the end of the world if your results are dissapointing you will have further opportunities and life has a habit of throwing many of opportunities in you path.

Well done for all your endeavours whether you got the reults you wanted or not.

David Cameron is today making a speech on the NHS in another desperate attempt to prove the Conservatives are the party of the NHS , that it’s safe in their hands.

The trouble is even if we believe him, I am not sure I can believe the Conservative Party - especially following very public outbursts from  some of his MEP’s etc.

The problem is their past handling of the NHS and the lack of detail on their current policies. For instance they propose to “introduce more providers”. Now this can only mean privatisation. But there is no substance or detail so we can only wonder and worry about the extent of the privatisation they plan.

Until we see the small print of their health manifesto then no one can be confident that the NHS won’t suffer as it did under Thatcher and Major. The Tories can’t be trusted with our vital public services. That has been proved time and time again.

Today is the first ever World Humanitarian Day to honour international aid workers. The UN who announced World Humanitarian Day hope the event will focus attention on aid workers and increase support for their role.

Aid staff are working in increasingly dangerous environments and are frequently targets of attacks, it says.

Last year 122 international aid workers were killed, a death toll that was higher than that for UN peacekeeping troops.

The inaugural World Humanitarian Day falls on the sixth anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, in which 22 workers died.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the UN in in New York to remember the victims of the 2003 attack.

The day comes six years after the bombing of the UN’s Baghdad office

Over the past few years Aid workers have been increasingly seen as legitimate targets for killing or kidnapping as a tactic for some groups.

The UN hopes the day will serve as a reminder that aid work is based on a very simple principle: to bring impartial humanitarian relief to all those in need, our correspondent says.

I know very well the risks taken by aid workers. I have a cousin who has worked as an aid worker for the UN, and has been shot, assualted and held at gun point in her time. That’s on top of having to endure hostile conditions, with basic or little amenities - she has also suffered from food poisoning and infections as a result. But she loves the work and the relief aid brings is immensely satisfying.

In our violent world of strife, civil unrest, increased climate extremes and disruption aid work has never been more important and is literally a matter of life and death for millions and a crucial support for struggling nations.

Last night I chaired the Council’s Local Development Framework Sub group (of the Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Commission). Believe me it’s more interesting than it sounds!

Ostensibly the group has been set up to oversee the progress of the Council’s production of a Local Development Framework (LDF) and to scrutinise the consultation process and ensure all bases are covered etc.

The LDF is a votal planning document that will inform future development and conservation across the whole of Bury for the period up to 2026. For instance it will highlight where development will be permitted, whether that development can be for employment purposes or housing for instance. It will identify green belt and green “facilities”.

So all in all its a crucial piece of work that will have a far reaching affect on he future of Bury. Last night was only our second meeting so some way to go yet. But good progress is being made.

The meetings are open to the public - next meeting September 14th, 6pm Bury Town Hall.

With many young people receiving GSCE results shortly and many failing to make it to University - due to a shortage of places and dissapointing grades, a major headache is about to hit the unemployment statistics in September and October.

When you add the end of seasonal summer working in many places there could be a major problem brewing.

The Government needs to act now to ensure young people unable to find employment or full times education receive proper support. Its difficult enough finding work when experienced. When you are fresh to the jobs market its pretty daunting. When the job market is as poor as it currently is then that can be soul destroying.

It’s easy for young people to lose heart and even direction with early dissapointments. And this can lead to future problems, self esteem/confidence, health etc. At such time real support is needed. They have every reason to expect proper programmes of support, advice etc in place to help them find suitable employment or training etc and offer the encouragement to persist.

Last night I was at two meetings.

The first was a Standards Hearing to hear a complaint made against a fellow councillor. I won’t go into the nitty gritty here, suffice to say you’ll read all about it soon enough in the press. However I would just say its one of the most unpleasant meetings I ever have to attend. Inevitably there are often some sympathies with the plight of the accused councillor but thankfully I was but one of a three man Hearing panel, I just hope ultimately the decision taken can be seen as fair. But these things are never easy.

SAVE HEATON PARK

Thankfully my second meeting was far more pleasant as it was meeting with the local residents opposed to the development of a games zone in Heaton Park. Its getting quite exciting now and the evidence being accumulated by the group is both substantial and damning of Manchester City Council and their approach to the great green parkland legacy that is Heaton Park and local residents.

This one will go all the way to the wire, and there is much more to come on this , but again you’ll read more in the press no doubt.

Last night I was delighted to be able to attend the leaving party of Prestwich Area Youth Manager, James Perkin.

James became Prestwich Youth service manager 2 years ago and along with the rest of the Prestwich team has done tremendous work in the area, developing youth projects, reinvigorating the Phoenix centre and engaging young people on the issues that matter to them.

At last night leaving party, the greatest testament to his work over the past two years was the tributes paid by the young people themselves, especially the members of the band formed from the live music project that has been created at the Phoenix centre. They performed a number of songs, some well known, some self penned - including a special composition “James’s Song” , written in his honour.

It was a great night, I said a few words, but the best words came from the young people themselves.

What struck me though, and I said this to those there, was how vulnerable our front line services are. Over reliant on 1 or 2 people in an area each day to effectively try and deliver a service. People if asked might think there were 100’s of youth workers, 100’s of police officers. Yet the reality is that we are reliant on a small handful of highly committed, dedicated public servants.

As such it brought home to me again last night how fragile and vulnerable the youth service currently is, with the Tory threats of “outsourcing” or privatising the service hanging over it.

What the Conservative administration failed to realise (or perhaps they planned it that way), was by announcing their proposals they have threatened the very existence of the youth service - before they can even outsource it.

George Osborne claims the Conservatives are the progressive party in British politics. I can only assume he is only comparing the Tories with Labour.

With the radical sweep of policies and proposals the Lib Dems have at present and will have come the General Election I defy anyone even in these difficult times to suggest the Lib Dems are not progressive and indeed others like the Greens could also be classed so.

I’m afraid when it comes to being progressive they are really struggling. The problem is that they are constantly trying to throw off the shackles of their Thatcherite past and somehow re-invent the Conservative party as a liberal progressive party - which sadly for Cameron, Osborne and co. we already have. This is all in a desperate attempt to create a shiny new image with smily faces that we can trust again.

Labour resorted to prefixing “new” to the party name in a rather less subtle but extremely effective strategy. The Conservatives are trying to be cleverer about it but it amounts to the same thing, and two things they are not is liberal and progressive. 

With the announcement that Bury Council is to contest the recent equal pay ruling against the Council would suggest the Tories are playing a dangerous game indeed both with Council services and finances.

I understand all the other Greater Manchester Councils have accepted the decision, yet Bury Council seems to think that they somehow have a special case.

Having already incurred costs of over £600,000 they are now committing to spend a whole lot more on legal expenses to fight a claim that will cost millions if lost. To that end I appreciate the Chief Executives judgement that as protector of the public purse they must do all they can to safeguard public funds and as such the maths says it all, sadly however form on this issue isn’t good.

What is deeply worrying is that having seen what has gone before on this issue leaves me with precious little faith in the Council strategy especially with regard to any involvement from the ruling Conservative administration.

It must be remembered that not so long ago councillors were being told that we had to go through the painful pay and regrading review because if we didn’t we faced hundreds of legal actions against the Council.

So having demoralised half the staff, with many leaving, surpise surprise we end up with legal actions culminating in the recent decision that exposes Bury to claims running into millions.

Of course that was also helpfully followed by Bury’s Chief Executive warning of redundancies with dire consequences for council services.

Now the Council is advised that we once again have a great case. I wish I was that confident and in any case the moral arguments would seem in many cases to outweigh any legal technicalities. Then there is the sleeping partner in all this - the Labour Government that has stood back, washed its hands and refused to offer any crumbs of comfort to beleagured councils around the country- the silence is deafening.

Amid the recent reports that 19000 high street shops are likely to close this year and reposessions likely to rise to 75,000 this year why is this Labour Government appears utterly inept and paralysed.

This Government is seemingly unprepared to tackle the banks over the lack of help for small business and indicisive to the point of neglect in bringing to the table useful, properly funded initiative to provide support and re-training for the unemployed and incentives and further support for struggling businesses.

Personally I am sick of hearing a Government spokesperson standing in front of a camera exclaiming about all the great things they are doing , then seeing another local business go bust.

The problem with such devastation to small business is the knock on effect to other small businesses and the decimation to small towns suburbs. Small businesses usually have precious few reserves of any kind to tap into and find it harder to make cuts and offer the same services.

If Iraq was Blairs legacy, I fear Browns may well be Economic dithering and too little too late.

  LETTERS TO THE PRESS 6/8/09

I was amused to read the letters pages of 23^rd July with broadside against the Lib Dems from Lab/Con members.

Most amusing was the Labour member saying its all our fault for putting the Tories into power at Bury, and the Tory member saying we should remember that we were in coalition with the Tories in Bury. Who was right? Of course neither. Both sadly so wrapped up in their own spin and bitter take on events that they prefer to ignore the truth.

When Labour lost power the Tories were the largest party. The public that had voted against Labour and in two cases for 2 new Lib Dem councilors would not have stomached the Lib Dems then propping up a Labour administration. Straight and simple.

We have never been in coalition with anyone on Bury, preferring thus far to handle matters on an issue by issue basis and that has seemed to work well. But of course that will never satisfy the Tories or Labour who would simply prefer us not to exist – 3’s a crowd in politics so far as they are concerned.

The Conservative member then went on to lambast us “suggesting not a lot has happened”. I would correct him on that score, and suggest that not a lot has happened in Prestwich as a result of the Tories being in power –  but a lot has happened as a result of the local Lib Dems.

As I write we have teams cleaning graffiti and grot spots across the area, we have had a successful Prestwich Festival, plans for the development of Prestwich village are before the Councils Planning Committee, we are finally getting an alley-gating scheme to cut back crime, and we continue to press for this Conservative Council to get real and stop neglecting our highways. And, we will continue to stand up for all of Prestwich, while the Tories and Labour no doubt increase the mud slinging and point scoring in the run up to next May’s elections.

Finally, I noted  the Labour member saying we should have proportional representation because its not fair that the Lib Dems have all 9 Prestwich seats. Now there’s a turn up, welcome to the club Frank!

So when the people ask:what makes the Liberal Democrats different? - There is a simple answer. We are not thinking about ourselves today. We are thinking about our country tomorrow.

Paddy Ashdown, 1991.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manchester Council must see sense now?

Last night Bury Councils Healthier Communities Scrutiny Committee confirmed the Councils decision to close all but one of our elderly persons homes and change some to special centres ie for dementia/respite care etc.

Whilst the issue was controversial in itself and only went through on the casting vote of the chair, what is in many ways more controversial is the manner in which this decision has come about and the delusion that the Council scrutiny committees actually scrutinise to any degree.

Last nights meeting took over 2.5 hours to scrutinise the future accomodation needs and facilities required by the elderly in a 10 year plan culminating in the hoped for build of two care villages by 2020.  Were projected costings scrutinised? No. Were detailed analysis of the various options scrutinised? No. Have the implications for those with learning disability been fully scrutinised (as it will affect their facilities)? No.

Effectively what was actually being scrutinised (and I do use the word loosely now) was a vision from officers of what they would like to see developed over the next 10 years for elderly accomodation provision. Visions are fine but they are the beginning of a process, not the end.

Bury’s scrutiny of council decisions amounts to little more than a rough evaluation or assessment of the decision. How on earth can you scrutinise life changing decisions of the council in a couple of hours, especially when ranged in front of you are a bank of senior officers in support of the decision and no support for councillors trying to scrutinise.

The “scrutiny” system is a disgrace, doesn’t work, and a pointless waste of time.It will lead to policy mistakes and that means people may suffer. Surely even the ruling Tory group don’t want to see that. 

The Conservative experiment in “open” primary style selection in Totnes whilst interesting isn’t the answer to a wider engagement and broader public involvement in politics unless of course the Government funds the prohibitive cost of approximately £40,000 per candidate! And that suggestion in itself  would pose enormous questions, most of which I suspect the public at present would react negatively to.

We should remember the Conservative experiment is based on the american “primary” system and while there are merits to that system, I think much will get lost in translation to the British electoral system.

The overriding fact remains that our democracy is broken, trust in politicians has collapsed and our electoral system is blatantly unfair and unrepresentative. So essentially we need complete root and branch reform and we shouldn’t just look over the pond at their system - there are (sadly) many other countries across the world with different systems, more democratic, more engaging and more representative than ours.

When it came to representation of the people and democracy, it is matter national disgrace that the mother of parliaments was overtaken years ago. But we still beleived we were the best, we have delude ourselves for generations and now the great British public have said enough is enough.

Somehow the main parties have to now come together and push change through - failure now would be the death knell for the current political system and political parties as we know them and god only knows what we would end up with then!

A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood Ward of Prestwich as detailed below:-

Application number: 51622         Type of application: Full         Date Registered: 03/08/2009

Applicant: Bury Metropolitan Borough Council
Location: HEATON PARK CP SCHOOL, CUCKOO LANE, WHITEFIELD, M45 6TE
Proposal: EXTENSION AND REFURBISHMENT TO PROVIDE NEW CHILDREN’S CENTRE

Plans will be available to view on the Council’s website (see the Planning Dept link on the left) within 2 working days. Should you require further details please contact the case officer: Helen Longworth on: 0161 253 5322 or myself or my fellow Holyrood Councillors, Cllr Tim Pickstone or Cllr Wilf Davison.

A few people in favour of the proposed development of a sports zone in Heaton Park keep challenging the “anti” development campaign, including myself and colleagues, accusing us of spoiling things for the kids that want sports facilities.

I am frankly amazed at what little regard some people seem to have for parkland, and especially for something as widely cherished as Heaton Park.

They don’t see a problem with building on parkland, they don’t see the loss - only the gain, almost blinded by the potential gain. And perversely they fail to see that sports can be played on grass parkland as well. In fact unless things have changed isn’t football supposed to be played on grass? Grass parkland is the ultimate in flexible sporting facilities!

Would the same people like to see Bury Council build sports facilities on St.Mary’s park, Barnfield Park or the Clough?

Our parkland has to be protected because once developed it will be lost forever and that would be an apalling legacy to leave future generations.

 ”on this site once stood open grassland - a habitat to wildlife and mature trees, shrubs and wild flowers. A haven and place of tranquility and sport to be enjoyed by the many and available to all absolutely free”

Someone recently asked me why I am a liberal? Suggesting I might have had an easier time getting elected if I was a Conservative or Labour politician.

Well as a liberal I believe strongly in the freedom of the individual as a cornerstone to everything I believe. We are all individuals and have individual needs to varying degrees. And that’s where our social policies should start from. The perspective of the individual.

Secondly I believe in a tolerant society that not only recognises as strengths what a diverse community can offer our society but cherishes and encourages men and women of all ethnic, religious backgounds and sexual orientation to play a full part in our communities and celebrates what they can offer society.

As a liberal I demand equality and justice for all. No one person through wealth or influence should possess greater advantage over another through use of their wealth or influence.

The power of the state needs to be constantly checked and justified, and at all times the rights of the individual should be protected. Of course where there is a threat to national security all should be done to ensure that threat is not compromised but I beleive the removal of individual liberty should only be temporary and in extreme and justified circumstances. Hard won freedoms should not be given up lightly.

These are some of the key beliefs that make me a liberal and as THE liberal party in Britain that’s why I am a member of the Liberal Democrats.

Do you believe? Why don’t you join me in Britains liberal party and fight for a liberal Britain.

Following on from the news that 12,000 high street businesses have closed their doors this year, I remain alarmed at how little is actually happening on the ground to help struggling small businesses through the worst recession for decades.

If you strip back the warm rhetoric from the Government we are left with the facts that banks are not lending as they should - they have admitted to building up reserves rather than lending, and the Government just keeps moaning about it in the media. Not good enough.

As if that isn’t bad enough we have a local Council that sees the building of a new shopping centre and cranes towering over Bury as a sign that Bury is booming. Cllr Bibby if you bring your gaze down from the lofty cranes you will see boarded up shops, shops To Let etc all over Bury. The trouble is when the shopping centre is redeveloped will there be any local independent businesses left to be part of it or will it be the usual collection of national chain stores you can find anywhere?

The Government must apply more pressure to get banks lending and at local level we need Councils to stop “living the dream” and get real with the plight of struggling local businesses and do what they can to ensure they get whatever support we can offer them. After all small businesses are the lifeblood of towns like Bury and Bury Conservatives must not forget that. 

Earlier this week I was presented with a press statement about a particular initiative that is due to happen in Prestwich over August. As it was a Prestwich initiative I was rightly quoted in support.

I have just learned that my quote has now been replaced by that of a councillor from the ruling Conservative administration. No one from the authority even had the courtesy to even inform me - certainly not the Councillor concerned.

People often come up to me and say “Why don’t all you politicians work closer together, instead of point scoring all the time?” Well little things like this incident and other not so little things make it difficult to build bridges and work together and undermine your efforts. That genuinely is a shame because, at local level there is so often so much much more in common and much less politically charged issues.

Back by popular demand! - Sunday 23rd August 9.30am - 2.30pm

It is hoped to have another Farmers Market in November to coincide with a Christmas Lights “switch on”

Alongside the market activities incldue:
- giant free raffle
- children’s ride
- face painter
- squeaky the clown
- bag piper

The Prestwich Big Clean is being launched on August 3rd, to try and deal with the numerous grot spots and graffiti in Prestwich.

The Big clean is being supported by Community Payback which sees offenders being used in the community as part of a restorative justice programme. Offenders are supervised at all times.

A large number of sites have already been identified but if you know of any please let us know by completing this form graffiti-grot-spot-log.pdf and emailing to c.o’grady@bury.gov.uk

There has been much debate in the media today about David Milibands call for talks with the Taliban.

I think it’s important that we accept that if we are to get out of Afghanistan any time in the not to distant future we have to win some friends and tha Afghan Government has to start talking to those moderate Taliban leaders that may be prepared to listen.

We cannot turn Afghanistan into some sort opf westernised and western looking country. We have to face up to the fact that at the end of the day the Afghan people have to choose their own future. They may well choose an islamic fundamentalist future for their state. That shouldn’t automatically mean we cannot work with them. It shouldn’t ultimately mean they are our avowed enemies.

Nearly 200 British servicemen have now died in Afghanistan and for all we know thousands of taliban and certainly thousands of afghanis have died. If the bloodshed is to stop any time soon we have to start a dialogue, find a level of understanding and a path that leads to a peace acceptable to all a peace that saves lives, improves the security of our nation and ensures those that have sacrificed their lives have not done so in vain.

In the wake of the Tory by-election victory in Norwich North their treasury spokesperson Phillip Hammond has called for a massive Tory majority after the next election in order that the Tories are not held up in Parliament from making the necessary public spending cuts.

Hopefully there are still plenty of people out there who remember the early 1980’s. A new Conservative Government had come to power and they set about making deep cuts to public spending. Cuts that decimated local councils, cuts that hit front line services, cuts that hit the vulnerable and the weak.

The Thatcher Government politicised me and (I suspect, many more). I joined the Liberal Party in 1983 as a result - the need to fight such damaging policies, to fight for the vulnerable and the weak, the disadvantaged and the poor.

The last thing this country needs is a massive Conservative majority after the next election. Its generally agreed by all main parties that we need to make spending cuts, but they need to be justified to Parliament and to the people and they have to be managed.

A large majority for any party right at the start of a new Parliament would lead to a Government that could push cuts through without taking notice of opposition or the people. That would mean bad policies, bad cuts and bad news for the weakest in our society.

No Mr Hammond a massive Tory majority is not what’s needed, a caring supportive, unifying Government that can take the tough decisions and make cuts sensitively is what’s needed and the Conservatives aren’t it! 

I was horrified to read the latest report from the Community Security Trust (CST) into anti-semitic incidents for the first half of the year.

Unfortunately the report is grim reading with a record number of incidents reported in the 6 months to June.

Overall they have catalogued 609 incidents for the first six months compared to 544 for the whole of last year and 276 for the first six months of last year. In the Manchester area there were 143 incidents compared to 125 for the whole of last year.

The CST report identifies an upsurge in issues following the violence in Gaza in January.

These incidents are totally unacceptable and clearly every effort by the authorities has to be made to tackle anti-semitic based violence and assaults of any kind, whether verbal, physical, against the person or property. In our society there is no place for this.

Anti-semitism cannot be justified by the actions of the Israeli Government past or present and is in effect a warped excuse for extremism.

Read the full report here anti-semitic-incidents_report_jan_june_09.pdf

Unemployment in Bury has risen to 4589.

While the lastest figures represent a slight increase from May to June of 0.7%, they show that unemployment in Bury has doubled over the past year. There are now 78314 unemployed (on job seekers allowance) across Greater Manchester. The rate of unemployment in Bury matches the national average at 4.1%.

1 IN 3 UNDER 25

As if that isn’t alarming enough the amount of young unemployed (16-24’s) now stands at 1595 a staggering 34.8% of the total Bury unemployed. Or to put it another way 1 in 3 Bury unemployed are under 25. Bury now has the highest proportion of young unemployed across Greater Manchester. Overall there are 25115 young unemployed in the region.

LONG TERM UNEMPLOYED UP 113.9% IN A YEAR

Meanwhile those that have been out of work for over 6 months has now reached 1080 in Bury, representing 23.5% of the total unemployed, up 13.7% since last month and a staggering 113.9% in a year.

Sadly the number of vacancies doesn’t lift the gloom with a total of 531 vacancies posted in June- down 11% on last month and down 41% compared to the same time last year.

While incredibly some commentators are suggesting that we are starting to see a the light at the end of the tunnel due to the slowing increase of unemployment, personally I remain sceptical for now. After all now is the time we start to see a lot of seasonal jobs traditionally easing unemployment figures for the summer. If that is actually represented in these figures then things are even worse than we fear.

With businesses still struggling to get funding from banks (despite Mr Browns insistence) and a mass of university leavers hitting the jobs market any time soon, we need positive assertive measures now to stimulate the economy further.

Labour are almost paralysed with dithering and despair and effectively making a bad situation worse, when we desperately need a Government that can take decisive action and initiatives.

A dissapointing and ultimately frustrating Planning Committee meeting last night saw Bury Council respond with little more than a whimper over Manchester Councils plans for a sports zone at the St.Margarets end of Heaton Park.

The proposal for 12 soccer pitches and 6 tennis courts to be developed on open park land has dismayed local residents already subjected to intolerable levels of traffic and street parking. Now they fear noise and light pollution up to 11pm at night and even worse traffic and parking.

At last nights meeting the plans were before Bury for comment as part of required consultation with neighbouring authorities.

I addressed the committee calling for the council to recommend increased parking provision, floodlights to be switched off at 9pm in summer and 8pm in winter, an independant traffic and noise impact study and guaranteed use of the facilities for Prestwich/Whitefield clubs, associations and schools.

Officers had already recommended a floodlight turn off at 10pm rather than 11pm and a recommendation that Manchester ensure adequate parking ie provision meets demand.

A colleague of mine challenged the assertion that St.Margarets Road could cope with the increased traffic and another councillor called on Manchester to arrange a public consultation meeting in Prestwich. My requests were not taken on board.

Overall residents (and I) left dissapointed because firstly they were not allowed to speak. (3 minutes is all they wanted, Why not!!!) And secondly because yet again Bury reacts with all the venom of a rotting lettuce when faced with recognising and backing the concerns of their citizens over big brother Manchester.

What a let down. But the real fight continues too Manchester Town Hall where the full application is to be decided on September 10th.

Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs is currently trying to install a new software system. As a result it has led to massive delays in processing tax returns etc.

Now whilst this may be great news for those that are ultimately due to pay tax over as a result, many of those that are due tax refunds are struggling to cope.

One local business I know is currently owed £20,000 by the Revenue. Small businesses in the middle of a recession need that kind of money. Another Bury business I know is also owed thousands - tax paid via the revenues Construction Industry scheme for sub contracted staff - not repaid byclients - refundable from IR.

The Government must ensure that HM Revenue and Customs  get a grip of the situation and sorts this mess out soon, before the inevitable happens and businesses go to the wall as a result. That would be criminal negligence so far as I am concerned with the impact that small business failures have on local communities and the families involved.

If there is no immediate prospect of getting through the backlog and making these vital tax refunds then they should make imterim payments to cover (say) 80% of the expected repayment. That’s assuming they can still write cheques!

The Conservatives have announced their plans for reform of financial regulations and the regulatory system in the wake of the global financial meltdown.

The headline suggestion is that by scrapping the Financial Services authority and passing those powers to he Bank of England would somehow improve the system.

Sadly the Tories once again fail to address the front line problem and that is the power of big financial institutions and the greed mentality that led to over exposure and excess risk taking in an unstainable financial market place.

They do not address the fact that once banks start doing well again they will start acquiring other businesses and growing their financial portfolios once more.

That is why we need to address this empire buildingand limit the expansion of banks developing across all financial sectors, but essentially risking financial stability by moving into high risk areas. And that is why Vince Cable and the Lib Dems are right when they say we should be taking a lead amoving to break up the nationalised banks into appropriate small units that can focus solely on specific banking sectors ie retail (high st) banking seperate from merchant banking, investments etc.

What stopping the Tories from supporting this practical sensible approach? Perhaps they are too close to these institutions, too reliant on them for financial support. Perhaps too many vested interests. 

Last night I was delighted to attend a reception to officially open Prestwich’s latest community facility.

A legacy to St.Mary’s Church, the former Pensioners Club on Church Lane has been refurbished and decorated and was last night re-opened as Church Lane Community Centre.

Following a lovely buffet and refreshments ,the Rev. Bryan Hackett was master of ceremonies and made a presentation to a former member of the Pensioners club before introducing the Bishop of Bolton who blessed the new facility.

I was then invited along with the other Cllr D’Albert to officially open the building by presenting the keys to a management committee member.

I was pleased to be able to congratulate all those involved in refurbishing the building, and said it would prove a tremendous asset to the Prestwich community for many years to come.

Throughout the reception members of the Halle Orchestra string section played a number of well known classics.  

As an update from my previous post, a council officer has now come back to me and apparently Environmental Health will pay a visit and try and find evidence to prosecute someone. Progress at last!

The answer so far is 25 days and counting.

Baguley Crescent, Rhodes , Middleton - One block of flats has a mountain of household refuse including rotting foods and dumped mattress at the rear with over flowing drains covered in grease. I reported it to the Council initially about 6 weeks ago - no response. I re-reported it on June 22nd! I’ve just re-re-reported it an hour ago. I was told the supervisor is looking into it and will come back to me.

On another part of the same estate there is a stack opf asbestos roofing leaning against a wall. I reported that also on June 22nd - it is still there.

It really isn’t good enough that residents complaints - especially on an evironmental health issue (rats have been seen), should be so appallingly handled.

Lets see what happens next.

Bury Council have developed a Highways safety scheme to cut speed and improve pedestrian safety in the vicinity of Prestwich Arts College.

The initiative follows an accident about a year ago and pressure from local residents and local Councillors for action.

There will now be a short period of consultation with residents and interested parties about these proposals followed by a report to the Prestwich Area Partnership meeting of October 1st.

Please contact either myself or Cllrs Tim Pickstone or Wilf Davison if you require further information, meanwhile I attach proposal details and consultation form here heys-road-safety-scheme.pdf

Last nights meeting of Bury Councils’ Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny commission was most notable for one of the worst examples of a council trying to do a policy u-turn and save face that I have ever witnessed.

It all came about because in this years council budget the Conservatives decided that in oirder to save £250,000 they would switch off perhaps a third of street lights for a period each night.

Was this policy proposed as a grand environmental initiative - NO, Was this planned after extensive consultation - NO, Was this done as a blatant attempt to cut costs irrespective of the consequences - YES.

This was further ratified at a recent meeting of the Councils Executive that then requested the EET to scrutinise the issue.

Fast forward to last night and out of the blue the Conservative Chair, proposes a motion to go to Executive telling them to forget about it as it’s a bad idea.

Ok, even if we can put aside the fact that the Council Executive asked us to scrutinise the issue and we would be effectively be saying NO! And we could leave aside the potential environmental merits of reviewing the streetlights CO2 and power costs and requirements etc. At least we could if it was done for the right reason.

What was clear last night was that the Conservative Group, desperate to get out of a mess on this issue, with Council officers opposed, residents opposed and Police opposed, were desperate to be bailed out by the EET scrutiny commission. So now they can say they were prepared to go ahead but have bowed to pressure from the scrutiny commission.

I told the meeting that I didn’t think it was the job of this commission to find a way for the Executive to save face and get them out of this mess.

In the end due to something of an impasse (this item lasted nearly 40 minutes) and the opposition at least were opposed the switch off anyway, we agreed to tell the Executive to forget about turning off the street lamps (for now), so long as we can examine a long term strategy for reducing the environmental and financial impact of the boroughs streetlamps.

Phew, but what a joke!

Listening to Prime Ministers Question Time if one thing stands out its the huge chasm that appears to exist between Labour pronouncements on Afghanistan and the reality on the ground for the ordinary serviceman.

Like many other last night I was profoundly moved by the incredible public reception by residents in Wootton Bassett to return home of the eight servicement recently killed.

At the same time we here persistent reports from soldiers about inadequate equipment, comments from former senior militarymen and advisors about lack of helicopters and other equipment.

The complete incompetence and dithering this Government is showing is now politicising virtually every aspect of Government, even areas such as defence which once carried a convention of Government support. But clearly in the wake of such dithering and incompetence MP’s and opposition can not (and should not) stand by and allow the Government to waffle through the concerns raised while week in week out we bring back more and more of our dead servicemen.

The Government has to get a grip of the situation. We are in NATO, if we haven’t got any more suitable helicopters (to use that example of a pressing need), then lets borrow them off other NATO countries. What’s NATO for, for goodness sake!  If we haven’t got to hand whats need lets get it.

A matter of life and death if ever there was one.

Labour have announced today a review of elderly care funding to end what they rightly call a care lottery.

The trouble is that firstly they have said they want to make things fairer for the elderly requiring care but haven’t exactly said how. Only suggesting a few options that could be considered. Secondly you can’t go round inventing policies that affect one aspect of one sector of the community (albeit a major one).

Yesterday they announced a review of official retirement age, also fine, but shouldn’t it be considered as one of a range of measures that improve the quality of life of Britains people through their passage from working life to retirement life to elerly care and dependency?

Council officers endlessly talk about creating provision and support for those wanting to remain at home, then there are those with disabilities. Travel and leisure requirements and extra pressures on the NHS, not to mention actual pension levels  and other state entitlements.

It’s one thing Labour saying something needs to be done (It’s shameful by the way, that it’s taken 12 years for them to realise that!), but we need joined up thinking, cross agency/service working and genuine consultation with the elderly and the wider public.

Let’s face it we all hope to get there one day.

I attended the “Stand up for Radcliffe” march on sunday afternoon organised by Churches Together and the local MP, however I am concerned that what was ostensibly a successful event with over 100 taking part, may have been marred by public comments by the local MP suggesting the Chief Executive of Bury Council had lied and had been dishonest regarding assurances given that all necessary contract had been (or would be) signed prior to Labour losing control of the council.

The allegations followed speakers including myself. First of all a representative of Radcliffe Churches Together was followed by a parent and a former head girl.

I then addressed the assembled marchers in Bury Council’s Town Hall car park. I thanked the organisers for providing this opportunity for concerned residents, parents and pupils to make their voices heard and made it clear that I was concerned that Bury Council was not listening to the concerns being raised about proposals for Radcliffe Riverside and The Derby High Schools. I said that Governments start failing the people when they stop listening to those that elected them. That leads to mistakes and in this case the mistakes they are about to make could disrupt and damage the education of many Radcliffe young people. Parents have a fundamental right to expect that their children will receive the best possible education from the local council.

Radcliffe deserves a first rate high school like every other town in Bury. Bury’s decision not only jeopardises the future of the new school to be built but will also have a damaging impact on Riverside pupils.

My comments were followed by Ivan Lewis’s allegations. Allegations that centre around apparent pledges made just prior to Labour losing control of the Council. According to Ivan Lewis the Chief Executive gave assurances that all necessary contracts re: the land for the new Riverside School were or would be signed before polling day. Subsequently this turned out to not be the case.

These allegations are extremely serious and will need to be investigated and responded to that is clear. However I am concerned that over and above these allegations the key issues are hear and now, not something that happened or didn’t happen two years ago.

We need to address real concerns faced by parents and pupils around the possible disruption of education, transport issues, disabled access and more.Sadly Ivan’s comments distract from those very real concerns and it is now likely that an almight row will now blow up about who said what and when, at a time when we should be addressing the concerns of the school community.

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

That’s the story of last nights busy Prestwich Area Partnership meeting at Sedgley Park School.

PRESTWICH FESTIVAL

The meeting was opened with a rolling slide show of photos from the 55 events held throughout Prestwich Festival. I took the opportunity to highlight how the festival came about and to thank all those that played a part in ensuring its success. I also requested feedback from residents who attended any of the events also with suggestions about to improve the festival next time.

OASIS CONCERTS

Graham Atkinson, Bury’s Director of Leisure services, reported back on the issues faced by Bury Council and the cross council  coordination of the Oasis concerts. He highlighted all aspects of the operation and identified areas to improved on next time. Which included aspects of parking and toilet provision, crowd dispersal at the end of concerts. Public transport issues  and nuisance/anti-social behaviour. A report is currently being compiled.

HIGHWAYS

We received a report with the delegated budget for local unclassified road repairs for the year. Prestwich is being offered just over £62,000 to spend. the report highlighted that the 13 worst streets in Prestwich needed repairs totaling £700,000. Its fair to say the Area Partnership was not amused. A resolution was passed highlihting our dissatisfaction and calling on the Council to review the situation as a matter of urgency and to get to grips with this issue that is now approaching crisis point.

HEATON PARK GAME ZONE

Residents from St.Margarets area attended open forum to raise the issue about Manchester’s plans for a private game zone in Heaton Park. In response the Area Partnership passed a resolution in support of residents and to inform Bury and Manchester Planning of our deep concerns about their proposals.

NEXT MEETING

October 1st, Butterstile Primary School arrive from 6.15 for 6.30 start.

The Government are set to announce plans for fast tracking professionals into Social Work to help meet the critical shortage of social workers.

The pressure comes in light of the report into the Baby P death which highlighted the shortage of social workers at Haringey Council - A problem faced by many Councils.

Whilst I applaud every effort to bring more people into Social Work we have to be extremely careful that their inexperience coupled with on-the-job training pressures both with trainees and their experienced couterparts, doesn’t stretch our social services even further. 

The public needs to have confidence that the trainees aren’t getting a cut down training programme on the cheap that could ultimately put at risk even more children and vulnerable adults. We experience Social workers leaving or retiring all the time we could end up with a highly inexperienced and dangerously exposed social worker network.

At the end of the day we have to address the drain of social workers away from this service by bring pay and other benefits in line with the daily risks and pressures that they face.

To my mind that’s first base, we can then address the best ways of bringing more people into social work as quickly and expedient as appropriate bearing in mind the extreme vulnerability of their clientele and the high expectations of the general public.

I have just returned from Bury Councils Executive meeting at which the Councils Executive passed the Love Prestwich Regeneration strategy unaminously.

My colleague Cllr Tim Pickstone who attends the Executive on behalf of the Lib Dem Group, welcomed the strategy.

The strategy document sees the redevelopment of the Longfield Centre precinct with anew retail store, revamped library and Longfield suite coupled with more offices, shops a hotel and wider high street paving, larger open square area in the middle and much more.

Approval followed critical questioning from a representative of Tesco’s and supportive questioning from local residents and the Precinct owners, Hollins Murray Group.

The strategy will now become a material planning document. This means that any planning applications that come forward from developers (including Tesco’s) will be matched to the requirements , criteria and strategy outlined in this document.

Whatever happens next I am delighted that the biggest ever public consultation carried out in this area has finally been accepted by Bury Council. We must now await Hollins Murray Planning Applications and with the expectation that they are acceptable in light of the adoption of this strategy.

Stage 1 - mission accomplished, onto the next stage!

I would finish by thanking everyone who had an input into the strategy and have effectively helped create a truly acceptable blueprint for the future of Prestwich Village.

Last night the Government gave a fierce defence of the abolition of the 10p tax rate claiming it would bring down the budget and lead to tax chaos.

“The fact of the matter is however that Brown’s bloody mindedness and determination not to reverse this damaging cut will only serve to punish further in this recession many of those who have suffered most already. ”

The Government defeated the amendment to restore the 10p basic rate by 43. Lib Dems and Tories were joined by a number of Labour rebels led by Frank Field.

“A good Government must always be prepared to listen, however increasingly, Brown’s bunker mentality is leading to entrenchment and lip service, the result of which is leading to more and more suffering for those in the front line in this recession.

“Last nights “win” for Browns failing Government was a hollow victory confirming once and for all that Labour are no longer prepared to fight for the poor, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. ”

Prestwich Local Area Partnership takes place this Thursday, 9 July 2009 from 6.30-8.30pm, at Sedgley Park Primary School, Bishops Road, Prestwich.

The Local Area Partnership brings together the local councillors in Prestwich, partner agencies like Police, NHS and Six Town Housing, and community group representatives.

Councillors and partners will be available from 6.00 to meet up with local people, the meeting starts with formal business at 6.30, and then the public open forum where everyone can have their say is around 7.30pm.

Main Agenda Items

The main agenda items include:
- report and evaluation of the Love Prestwich Festival
- reports from the Area Manager, Police, Childrens Services and Youth Services
- report on Oasis Feedback
- Highway Repair proposals
- local grants.

Local Area Partnership Papers

Agenda (pdf 38kb).

Action notes (pdf 104kb).
Local area partnership manager update (pdf 47kb).

Highways refurbishment programme (pdf 51kb).

All members of the public are welcome to attend.

Attended my first meeting as Bury Lib Dems nominated member of Bury Council’s Climate Change committee last night.

This Committee is actually a sub-committee to the Councils Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Commission.

Last nights meeting was generally about deciding what particular aspects of climate change the committee would like to concentrate its efforts on over the coming year.

It was agreed that we would like to compare the relevant performance indicators set by the Government with actual results and compare to targets We will be receiving regular reports on these indicators throughout the year.

We will also be examining various aspects of the Councils carbon emissions to see how best that can be reduced.

It was also decided that examining the impact of climate change locally and possible mitigation measures should also be considered along with further examination of Bury’s recycling policy and allotment provision.

This meeting is open for the public to attend and ask questions, let me know if you would like details of the next meeting.

Many thanks to local resident Guy Dickinson for this information

Lodging a planning application objection will take you 2 minutes.

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

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

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

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

4) REASONS:

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

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

6) COMMENTS:

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

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

There were 24 burglaries reported in the last week in Bury and over half were due to open windows and unlocked doors.

Due to the warm weather residents have been leaving windows open and effectively providing an invitation to burglars. Police are warning residents to be vigilant and keep windows and doors closed and locked when out of the house.

See attached Bury Homewatch newsletter for more information and recent crime statistics here. homewatch-newsletter.pdf

On Thursday 2 July the Government announced a shift in policy for managing the Swine Flu outbreak.

As Swine Flu spreads and more people start to catch it, it makes sense to move from intensive efforts to CONTAIN the virus to focusing efforts on TREATING the increasing number of people who have the disease.

This means that the UK’s Pandemic Flu plans will change from the containment and outbreak management policies to the treatment phase.

What should you do if you think you have Swine Flu?
The most comprehensive information about Swine Flu can be found at: NHS website.
Definition of flu like symptoms
Fever (a temperature of at least 38°C) and either influenza-like illness (two or more of the following symptoms: cough, sore throat, runny nose, limb/joint pain, headache).

Advice
It is extremely important that if you think you have swine flu, you do not go to hospital or to your GP. If you have flu-like symptoms and are concerned because you think you have been in contact with someone who may have had Swine Flu:

•  
  • Stay at home.
  • Check your symptoms on the NHS Direct website, if possible.
  • Call the Swine Flu Information Line on 0800 1 513 513 to hear the latest advice.

If you are still concerned, call your GP or NHS Direct on 0845 4647.

Do not go into your GP surgery, or to a hospital as, if you do have Swine Flu you may spread the virus to others who are already unwell and less able to cope with the new strain of flu.

For more information visit the Swine Flu page (see menu on the left of this page.

I have attached the Councils proposed highways refurbishment programme for Prestwich the schedule lists the worst streets in Prestwich - in need of repair and you will see that the worst is Fairway with estimated repair costs of £165,000.

The trouble is Prestwich Area Partnership has been allocated £63,000 to carry out all necessary repairs.

The gap between budget and repairs needed is growing and growing and as reported last week the number of claims meanwhile is growing as well with £2,000,000 paid out between May 07 and June 09.

This Highways budget is set to be presented to Prestwich Area Partnerships meeting on thursday July 9th at Sedgley Park School. It has become an almost apologetic item on the agenda that only serves to cause irritation. Bury Conservatives have to take action to deal with our crumbling roads, or the claims will carry on growing.

The schedule and estimated costs can be found here: prestwich-with-footway-costs-split.pdf

A Manchester University study has found that patients with asthma avoid using inhalers or cut down their dose because they cannot afford prescription charges.

The study discovered that patients “skipped” or “stretched out” medicine, potentially making their illness worse. The UK survey has also found more than a third of patients are struggling with drug costs due to the recession.

Whilst this study highlights problems faced by patients suffering with a specific illness, it is undoubtedly the case that a review of precription charging is now well overdue. Many people are suffering because they cannot afford multiple prescriptions and so go without with the inevitable consequences. the recession has just aggravated the situation further.

What until recently affordability was mainly a problem facing dental patients, the problem has now spread to general medication. Whilst the Government has promised a review in the autumn we need urgent action now to deal with this growing health risk.

Cllr Sheila Magnall followed the House of Commons speaker in making a very competent debut at Wednesdays full council meeting at the town hall, maintaining a firm control of proceedings and not afraid to make judgments. Clearly the lady is not to be messed with!

However it is a shame she is operating in an apparently ever diminishing democratic environment at the Town hall.

To recap the Conservatives have made it more difficult for members of the public to ask questions at council, they have limited questions from councillors at Full Council and restricted questions at Executive meetings, they require further notice of questions in writing. On top of that they are in my opinion trying to restrict the scrutiny commissions scrutiny of policy and limiting the scrutiny commissions work programme of items they may wish to scrutinise. And if that wasn’t bad enough if an item is scrutinised, any recommendations to teh Executive tend to be ignored - at least if opposition members have had a significant input.

We desperately need to open up our democracy and re-engage with members of the public. The public we serve!

It’s time our democratic decision making and policy review structures were completely reviewed, if necessary with the aid of independant advisors or members.

Last night I took the opportunity to question the Conservative leader of the Council about his references during the week to disabled children attending Radcliffe Riverside. He had stated at a previous meeting that “It’s a reality of life” and the move to The Derby High could pose “A bit of a problem” as it does not have disabled access.

Whilst he clarified his comments last night, I told him that his remarks had been totally insensitive to the concerns of disabled people in the Borough not least Radcliffe and he should have apologised.

I also put it to him that the disability access issue is symptomatic of a Conservative Council making policy in a panic, on-the hoof and that the reorganisation of high schools had been mishandled and was a shambles.

He neither apologised or agreed with me - no surprise there. What was surprising was the leader of the Labour group accusing me of hypocrisy. This was apparently because we supported the motion to proceed with merger (with the Derby) to get the school built. Cheap points scoring, when he knows full well we never agreed to close Riverside before The Derby High. And we have consistently pressed for the pupils, parents, staff and Governors to be fully consulted and kept on side all along. Of course what we now know is that the Tories panicked and the rest is history.

Police investigated a quite staggering 300 cases of child abuse in Bury last year and a further 180 complaints from residents worried about child welfare etc.

Vic D’Albert commented, “These are frankly frightening statistics and in many ways a sad reflection on modern society. I just hope and pray that these statistics represent most if not all of the “iceberg” rather than the tip. There is no place for abuse in our society whether child or elder abuse and I would implore anyone who is worried about an individuals welfare and the possibility of abuse to contact the authorities immediately. I also applaud the Police and Council officers for their efforts and diligence in what must often be very trying and disturbing circumstances.”

Bury Police also confirmed that between 90 and 110 incidents of domestic violence are reported in Bury each week. The unit also investigates 120 reports of serious sexual offences each year, including 40 rapes, and 300 video interviews per year are conducted with vulnerable witnesses and victims. Around 100 complaints are received in Bury each year about the abuse of elderly and vulnerable people.

To report a crime contact the unit by calling (0161) 872 5050.

It’s started with a storm at Prestwich Clough and should end in glorious sunshine at Prestwich Carnival. After 35 days, 55 events, 1,000’s of visitors to events, money raised for charity Prestwich Festival puts its feet up and says goodbye for 2009 with a final weekend of fun.

The final push starts tonight with a Friday Night Social - Shangri La at 8pm at, Carlton Club, Bury Old Road featuring live music and a stand up comedian. And of course this will be followed by the customary bumper weekend of family entertainment at the Prestwich Carnival.

On Saturday 20 June a Football Tournament organized by FC United of Manchester will take place from 9am until 4pm at St. Mary’s Park.

In addition the Friends of Butterstile School will be holding their traditional fund day from 12.00 noon at Butterstile Primary School. As part of the fun all the children from the school will have the chance to enter a series of competitions to celebrate Prestwich, the four categories are photographs, poems, paintings or portraits. I understand Cllr Donal O’Hanlon is in the stocks for the wet sponge throwing. Now that’s an attraction not to be missed!

And finally on Sunday 21 June Prestwich Carnival Grand Parade kicks off at 1pm. The Parade arrives in the park at 2.30pm with six arenas showcasing local talent.

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

Information from the Highways Agency (North West). 
The Highways Agency is advising drivers using the M60 between junctions 19 at Middleton and 23 at Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester to allow extra time to complete their journeys over the next six weekends.

Starting Friday (June 19), work is being carried out along this 6-mile section each weekend until August, weather permitting. A full carriageway closure will be in place with a contraflow on the opposite side of the motorway while the work is being carried out. Various entry and exit slip roads will also need to be closed.

The work is taking place over weekends when traffic volumes are lighter and disruption to drivers can be kept to a minimum – however some delays can be expected. Work will start each Friday at 9pm and the motorway will be fully reopened by 5am each Monday.

To ensure the ongoing safety of road-users, a 40mph speed limit will be in place throughout the roadworks – which are planned to be completed by 5am, July 27.

Overhead message signs will be used to advise drivers of the closures so they can choose an alternative route.  
The exploratory works are taking place to assess the condition of the carriageway on this section of the M60.
The Highways Agency’s North West Traffic Officer Service will deploy extra crews for the duration of the work with a dedicated patrol to cover the roadworks area and react quickly to any breakdowns or accidents to help keep drivers on the move.

The Highways Agency Regional Control Centre will be monitoring incidents and traffic conditions from motorway cameras as well as using electronic signs to provide drivers with up-to-the-minute information.

Only Cllr Bibby, the Conservative Leader of Bury Council, could manage to insult so many local people in one meeting.

The local paper is reporting that Cllr Bibby commented that being disabled was a “reality of life” after admitting that disabled children being sent to a school without disabled access would be a “bit of a problem”.

As someone who is disabled I am happy to enlighten Cllr Bibby that disability is more than a “bit of a problem” and, whilst it may be a reality of life, such throw-away remarks and obvious complete lack of understanding of disabled people, their concerns and needs in coping with the daily realities of life are  almost beyond contempt. In fact when I read the comments I had to read them twice, because I couldn’t believe that someone elected to represent local people,  including the disabled, could say such a thing.

Equally alarming is that Cllr Bibby is leader of the Council and no doubt responsible for disability stratagies and helping the disabled enjoy equal access to services and facilities. Oh dear.

Incredibly this furore came about because of the proposed closure of Riverside in a couple of years time with Radcliffe children being encouraged to attend the “non-disabled” access The Derby High School while a new Radcliffe school is being built.

Cllr Bibby hit top score in the insult stakes when not only he offended the disabled, but arguably the most vulnerable of disabled groups - the young disabled. It’s bad enough going through the inevitable growing pains and other emotional upheavals you ordinarily face at that stage in your life. You just want to fit in and join in - Something Cllr Bibby clearly doesn’t understand. I hope he has at least the courage to apologise or failing that perhaps the rest of the Conservative group will publicly distance themselves from his remarks.

If you give your people a vote to decide their Government, they expect it to count, If you tell the world you are holding democratic elections, then you have to accept the results. 

The lesson over the past week (and sadly repeated time and time again) is that democracy and fair votes is a serious business. It is to be protected, nurtured, developed. Not undermined, tampered with and discarded at will. It is not a showcase PR event for 24 hour news.

If you ask the question you have to be prepared for an answer you don’t like!

So whether it’s the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty, Irans elections or for that matter Gordon Browns reform of our democracy and voting reforms, politicians should remember democracy has the words “Fragile, handle with care” stamped all over it.

The BBC has just uploaded the sensational news that Barack Obama with a single stroke killed a fly at the White House while in the middle of a TV interview.

So not only is the leader of the free world single handedly taking on the middle east, famine, and Climate change, he is clearly targeting pests to. Does this man know no bounds!

The bad news however is that lawyers acting for the fly’s family have commenced legal proceedings.

Planners at Bury Council have given approval for state of the art new facilities at Prestwich Arts College, marking the end of a long campaign for improvements to the successful local school.

The Council’s Planning Control Committee voted on Tuesday 16th June to grant planning permission for a new dining room and arts auditorium for the school, which was threatened with closure back in 2005. Local Lib Dem Councillor Vic D’Albert welcomed the news saying “This is a great boost for the school and the whole Prestwich community. As the only high school in Bury without a dining room,  this is long overdue. We’ve been lobbying the Council for years, and finally common sense has prevailed and given Prestwich young people what they need.

Commenting on the new arts auditorium, Cllr Pickstone, who is also a governor of the school, said “This will be a first class facility for a top quality school. But more than that, it will be used as a community facility, bringing better arts provision for the whole of Prestwich. I’m delighted it’s been given the go-ahead.”

The new facilities will be built in the near future. Cllr Pickstone said “We need to listen to the concerns of local residents on Heys Road, Glebelands Road and other nearby streets to ensure that the plans do not adversely affect local residents. When we get the process right, Prestwich Arts College and the whole area will have splendid new facilities.

So Gordon Brown has finally set out plans for an inquiry into the Iraq war. Something tat the Lib Dems have been calling for years. But there are problems.

Firstly, he says it will be held in private and secondly it will take over a year - ie taking it past the date of the next general election.

So far as holding the inquiry is concerned, I appreciate the need to guard state secrets, operational issues etc BUT there is a need to satisfy public concern and in some quarters , outrage at being led into an illegal war. Therefore there is a need to to have an element in the public domain, because there is a need to put the record straight, to come clean and to remove any doubt or concern over a potential cover up or white wash over events that transpired.

As for conveniently publishing the findings after the General Election, well I suppose its no real surprise. I doubt that there is anyone outside the Cabinet and certainly the Labour party that wouldn’t believe that this is being “managed” to minimise the impact, and I suspect that the publication date of the report is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to damage limitation.

So much for open government.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement yesterday that he would support the existence of a Palestinian State, albeit with initially very stringent conditions attached must surely be seen as a gimmer of hope in the quest for peace for Israel and the middle east in general.

As an initial response to Obama’s opening gambit the announcement is a welcome development that undoubtedly gives the process momentum following the kick-start from Obama.

Sadly initial reaction from the Palestinian Authority has been lukewarm to put it mildly. But the Palestinian authority has to recognise the validity and (I hope and believe) the sincerity of the announcement, and that it was not an easy decision to make.

We are at the very beginning of a possible settlement to a lasting middle east peace , but we are there nevertheless and we must hope that international efforts continue to push all sides to proceed along this rocky road both in the knowledge that there will be those determined to sabotage the process and that sticking to a peaceful settlement is the only ultimate course with an priceless prize at the end of the process.

The EU, Unites States and the UK must continue to support Israel in this process and apply pressure to the Palestinian Authority to respond positively to this initial announcement.

I don’t mind being criticised for not staning up for local residents, but when myself or local Lib Dems are attacked for supporting residents, well, that frankly takes the biscuit.

Local Conservatives have attacked local Lib Dems in the local free paper for supporting the campaign against development of a game zone in Heaton Park. Apparently we shouldn’t be campaigning on the issue because Manchester will make the ultimate decision. And????

Perhaps he would turn round and tell residents that he couldn’t help them. All I can say is that thank goodness Sedgley had Lib Dem councillors a few years ago when residents were so incensed at Manchester plans to build a school in Heaton Park. We now know local Conservatives would have sat back and allowed it to go ahead. However local Lib Dem councillors Ann Garner and Andrew Garner responded to residents concerns and campaigned against the proposals and guess what, they won. Now remind me where the local Conservatives were, oh yes, they were sitting on their hands happy to let Heaton Park get built on.

The Save Heaton Park campaign is one of those issues we should all be supporting irrespective of political party. It transcends party politics it is people politics. I still hope local Conservatives will see that it is wrong to develop Heaton Park and join the campaign.  

Phillip Hammond, Conservative treasury spokesperson has accused Labour of being juvenile over their attacks on his party for mentioning spending cuts.

Certainly it is the case that Labour leapt with childish enthusiasm down the throat of the Tories over their spokespersons admission that they would be cutting all departments by 10% except for the NHS.

And it certainly is mischievous if not juvenile for Labour to make these attacks when their own spending plans amount to spending cuts of similar levels, even if they are dressed up in typically machiavellian Brown double-speak and spun accordingly.

BUT it is rich for the Tories to get on their high horse about juvenile politics when every week at Prime Ministers Question Time their leader, David Cameron acts like an over excited steroid pumped 12 year old on red bull in a sweet shop.

The one key covered televised session of parliament deserves straight forward questions and answers. Not the mudslinging TV posturing nonsense that Cameron/Brown slug out each wednesday - now that’s juvenile. Remember Cameron pledging an end to punch and judy politics - it didn’t last did it.

The public is crying out for honest politics. Politics where the politicians just tell it as it is - no spin. Answer questions, not side step them and put forward clear policies not ambiguous vague “visions”.

We need politicians with guts, ideology, committment and attitude. The people need clear choices and policies nothing less. And they need to be listened too and properly represented. 

 Tonight I attended the latest Prestwich Festival event, “Prestwich has junior talent”. No prizes for guessing that the event, which was held in St.Mary’s Park, is based on the Britains got talent show. Mercifully the judges are lot kinder!

It was a marvellous event, with a couple of hundred people there, in glorious sunshine, and we were treated to performances from 8 talented young people from local schools. The event was organised by Parrenthorn and Prestwich Arts College - with their pupils managing the staging, lighting and sound etc.

All in all great entertainment and for me it’s what the festival is all about. Bringing local people together in local facilities, showcasing local talent, well done one and all!

Local Lib Dem Councillors have praised clean-up staff following recent Oasis concerts in Heaton Park, but voiced concerns that not enough was done to protect local people during the recent events.

The concerts, which saw 210,000 people enjoy music in the park over three nights, generated controversy over noise, but passed largely without major trouble.

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

Residents complained about excessive noise, particularly on the first night when a power failure caused a delay to the end of the concert. Cllr D’Albert said “Of course there was going to be noise, but I think continuing until 11.25 was too late, and I will be demanding that this never happens again. I want to know why the stage was set up facing the houses of Prestwich rather than the open space of the park, and why revellers weren’t moved on quicker at the end. This was particularly unpleasant for older residents and people with young children.”

Parking arrangements were only partially successful. Vic D’Albert said “We were given assurances that public transport would work and parking wouldn’t be a problem. Whilst streets in St Margaret’s and Sheepfoot Lane were well protected, those in Sedgley and Rhodes were not, and this wasn’t good enough. Buses and taxis were dropping off people in the wrong place, and queues for trams were very long. We need improvements to help residents.”

Cllr D’Albert did praise some aspects of the organisation. “I thought the street cleaning service was excellent, and lots of local people enjoyed a concert, either as paying spectators or for free in their gardens. A lot of local people enjoyed themselves, and local businesses received a welcome boost in trade. The gigs have raised the profile of Prestwich, and that’s great. In addition, some of the profits will be spent improving local parks, so people will see long term benefits as a result of short term disruption.”

“Prestwich Local Area Partnership will receive a report into all aspects of the concerts, and make this available to local people so that we can represent their views. I look forward to working with everyone - local people, and Bury and Manchester Councils - to make sure that if these things are to happen again, we in Bury make Manchester City Council learn from what happened.

There’s certainly room for improvement, but perhaps not for 200,000 people across three nights in quick succession. We need to deal with the noise better, reduce the numbers and restrict activity to sensible times and durations. We need to strike a balance between Prestwich people and money for Manchester.”

The drawn out process that started with abysmal local election results for Labour on thursday and finished with abysmal European election results last night served only to prolong the agony and confirm our fears for the state of british politics.

The mathematics of the European elections meant that the collapse in the Labour vote allied to reduced turnout directly related to the fascist BNP leader getting elected last night.

The results did favour the Conservatives, undoubtedly- again part of the mathematical process under this style of PR but don’t be taken in by Camerons spin on this. Voters were hardly flocking to the Tories - up just 1% to 27% of the total vote.

Once again my party , the Lib Dems, suffered for sticking to its principles in support of the EU and our committment to improving it rather than dismantling it as some would. But we held our seats and only lost 1%.

The real worry is the fragmentation of our political system, the spread of the vote widened further not just to the extreme parties such as BNP, UKIP, and English Democrats but across a plethora of small parties making up a spectrum of the odd, the eccentric, the self-interested and the extreme.

The expenses scandal has clearly damage mainstream politics further and coupled with successive Government failure to address the issues facing many led to growing disilusionment with the established parties. One wonders how long the clock will tick before the timebomb of extremism will go off in our faces? Because then it will