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

The main issues that came up were:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any questions just drop me a line!

I have been contacted by a distressed local resident who has been sent a letter from the Council threatening her with legal action unless she removes graffiti from a wall bordering her property.

The letter from a Council Risk Management Coordinator at the Council’s Planning, Engineering and Transportation Services Division says:

“The external appearance of your property is a source of concern due to this graffiti. The Council is writing to you as the owner/occupier, its purpose being a request that works are completed to remove the graffiti.

Its goes on…

“I advise that if prompt action is not made in remedying the removal of the graffiti…..the council has the option to take enforcement action under section 215 of the Town and country Planning Act 1990.”

“I do ask that the graffiti is removed within 21 days from the date of this letter.”

Isn’t it time we stopped targeting the innocent victims of petty crimes and anti-social behaviour?

Isn’t it time we supported local people who are the innocent victims of such behaviour?

The resident in question is a woman pensioner living on her own - she was extremely distressed in case she should be fined or somehow forced to clean the mess up herself at great cost to herself.

Its no way to treat people, especially our senior citizens.

I have written to the council asking that the letter be withdrawn and that the council put more effort into finding ways of supporting local people who are victims rather than threatening to punish them further!

Lib Dem councillors are currently working hard to tackle Graffiti and push for more resources to deal with this problem. Instances such as this hardly encourage the support of local people!!!

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

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

At the request of residents of Taunton Grove I visited this area yesterday and was taken on a tour of the rear of shops between Ludlow Avenue and kenilworth Avenue. Taunton Grove is currently being blighted by inconsiderate parking from customers of nearby restaurants, fitness centre and hairdressers. In addition the appearance of the area is suffering from rubbish being dumped at the rear of shops and some inconsiderate use of the rear of shops by shop keepers and patrons.

Residents provided me with numerous issues and problems needing to be addressed. I have promised that (along with my fellow ward councillors) I will investigate how best to tackle these problems over the coming weeks. So watch this space!

I have to say many of the problems currently being raised are now of a common theme -many caused by people who basically don’t give a damn and worsened by council services seemingly not able to tackle the problems raised. Result an increasingly dirty, messy, shoddy area. I think the time’s come to say enough is enough - and take no more. The council have to start putting sufficient resources into dealing with dirty streets, litter strewn, fly tipping, graffitti and vandalism. 

Prestwich Area Tasking Team meets 6 weekly to deal with tackling Anti-Social problems throughout Prestwich. If your community or business is affected by anti-social problems then you may wish to report the problem/s to your local councillors or Carran O’Grady (Area Partnership Manager - Tel:0161 253 7245 c.o’grady@bury.gov.uk).

In most cases complainants are asked to complete diary sheets of incidents to build up a picture and pattern of events.  Following on from that the ATT will contact you and either invite you to an ATT to go through the issues, in more detail and/or sign post the issue to the right agency.Please feel free to contact me, fellow councillors or Carran O’Grady if you wish to draw our attention to any relevant issues.  

PRESTWICH ATT MEETINGS

DATE    TIME    GROUP   VENUE  
12 December 2007        2.00pm  Prestwich ATT   Prestwich Library      
23 January 2008             2.00pm  Prestwich ATT   Prestwich Library      
5 March 2008                  2.00pm  Prestwich ATT   Prestwich Library      

I have received complaints of nuisance behaviour from local residents. I have reported the matter to Council officers who are investigating further.