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

       ·         They will cut taxes for ordinary families

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

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

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

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

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

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

• They will bring communities together with local people in charge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The recent announcement that there is to be a referendum to have an elected Mayor of Bury is nothing but bad news for Bury and Bury Council Tax payers

This is all thanks to the narrow minded one sided views of a small group of campaigners who are prepared to interfere with our democracy in order to get there own way on congestion charging.

I and my fellow Lib Dem councillors on Bury Council have opposed the proposed congestion charging scheme because we feel it is wrong for Bury people. Its an extra tax to pay for transport we are already paying taxes for! In addition the charging proposals would divide communities and penalise some and benefit others.

As a result Bury Lib Dems have been instrumental in forcing Bury Council to oppose the current schemes charging proposals - not the transport investment proposals - the charging aspects. That is now Council policy.

That however isn’t good enough for those that have raised the petition for an elected Mayor. They see an elected mayor being installed to oppose the congestion scheme.  They want to impose an extra tier of local government in Bury - an elected mayor as well as 51 councillors. An elected Mayor being on a salary perhaps as much as £100,000 plus additional costs of his office and administrative support.

And what for ? To oppose a charge that is already council policy to oppose. To oppose this unpopular charge they plan to sweep away the current system of Government in Bury and replace it with one individual who will decide what currently 51 councillors representing all corners and all communities in Bury do week in week out.

It’s bad , it’s a waste of money and it should be stopped. 

A Liberal Democrat amendment at last nights Council meeting finally exposed Bury Labour’s position on congestion Charging when they failed to oppose the proposed congestion charging scheme.

The Lib Dem amendment called for the bid to the Governments Transport Investment Fund (TIF) to be supported but made it clear that Bury was opposed to congestion Charging – in particular the scheme proposed, and called for the people of Greater Manchester to be consulted through a referendum vote on the issue.

It is true that we need massive investment in our public transport to encourage people out of their cars – but why are we being asked to pay extra taxes to pay for our Labour  Governments neglect of out transport  systems? On top of that the charging proposals are seriously flawed, over expensive and would divide communities.

Bury Lib Dems have been clear from the start that we need transport investment and improvements up front. We can then better assess the impact improvements will have on congestion and can properly consider what further incentives would be required.

Bury Labour are clearly being leaned on by neighbouring Labour Councils and possibly Labour MP’s – for much of the debate last night they resembled Humpty Dumpty trying to sit on the wall – but fell to earth with a crash at the end when the Lib Dem amendment was supported by the Conservative Group and became Bury Council policy.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…