Donal OHanlon

OK - I’ve been a bad lad in not updating my blog - sorry! Done it a lot in the last quarter, probably had something else on:

I have been up to my eyeballs in work (the stuff that pays the bills in another Labour recession) and in the evenings working as a Councillor for St Mary’s people. I have been studying, I’ve been to China, Scotland, London and France with work, and have still managed to buy a new car, change utility providers, go to the pub with friends, and do all the normal stuff that we real people do!

The year has been a rollercoaster, with Brown’s recession; Cameron’s inaction; Cleggy’s freshness (and lack of national coverage); Donal’s mad year at work; And everyone wondering what would come next?

The Council world has been a bit silly too: Tories have tried to silence any real opposition (unfair but mostly successful); Labour have continued their decline into immaterial silliness; and we’ve been better than most other years with effective ideas, proposals, and closing doors to alternatives, so that the leadership & Labour had to follow our lead.

We all defeated the Congestion Charge, now that was a kick in the thingies for Brown!

I helped out in some local elections well away from my patch, in the bargain I learnt more about canvassing and had some fun.

The people of Prestwich showed Bury Council that we were the most vociferous and intelligent people of the Borough, with the biggest contribution to a consultation for longer than anyone can recall! Brilliant!!

Thanks to the LibDems and the people of Preswich we now have a chance to shape our own future - it won’t be what everyone wants, but hopefully it will be an amalgam of what we all want.

And what do I want for 2009?

Well, watching the news today, I need to see Israel try to find a peace settlement with it’s neighbours; I want to see the disintegration of the Frist Past the Post electoral system; and I want us all to regain the neighbourliness that we enjoyed in the 70’s and before.

Enough of the tripling though - what is my list of wants and my list of “will do” for 2009? (They’re similar, so why bother having two lists!?)

1. Widen the LibDem message (from my true Liberal roots)
2. Go out more - get away from politics and enjoy real life!
3. Defeat both the opposition parties somewhere, somehow.
4. Do something distinguishing, maybe for my birthday?

What do you think?

Donal

October has been a busy but stressful month. The financial world crisis has now hit share prices in emerging as well as mature markets; employers are getting the jitters with the 3-day week returning; nobody is buying a new car or other high value goods - it looks bleak!

The Tories in Bury look like they couldn’t manage a bring & buy sale, with staff recognising ineptitude at every turn; The national Labour govt. are dropping clangers all over the show!

In Prestwich the Tories of Bury make promises and then rescind them (think gardens); they also make promises or proposals to spend the money that comes the way of the Borough in their own heartlands only (think school regenerations; childrens & library services etc.!) and they think nobody will notice! Mr Bibby & co. ought to have seen what happened to Radcliffe Labour when they tried the same tactics - Oh dear! Oh dear!

On the upside, the Prestwich Regeneration Strategy is coming to fruition (thanks to your LibDem Cllrs and some hardworking officers), and lots of responses have been received; We have a thriving community input & some very intelligent people, so let’s get writing our views and sending them to the Council.

Take a look in the library to see what’s proposed…

The weather’s been rather “dour” to say the least! However, it’s the political weather that is looking worse, and it’s time that the LibDems started handing out the yellow brollies. To this end, we need to start being the party of sunshine, giving people some happiness during the tough times - people remember the association.

We should refrain from crass marketing junkets of re-branding, such as the Tory green tree stuff.

Party season will soon be upon us - there are hallowe’en ones, there are early Christmas ones and Charity ones, but most importantly, there are parties! Enjoy them, and party hard when you have the chance, it looks like austere times are to follow!

Sometimes I wonder whether my timing on this earth was a trial in itself: As I hit teenage years we had the AIDS crisis, and I missed the boom financial years of the eighties by 5-10 years. Now I’m in my late thirties and should be spending my earnings on luxury items, but we have a recession and any shares or other investments could soon be worthless. Even getting away from it all to the continent (near or far) is more costly now than for a long time, with the pound doing very badly. I’m only thankful I got to China last month rather than this!

However, thinking about it with reason, I had the freedom & innocence of the ’70’s as a child, the imporving educational standards of the 80’s, and managed to find a good career path during the 90’s. I have a beautiful wife Jo (see - I even put your real name in it!) and a nice house, nice cars and wonderful family & friends. Things could have been worse - a lot worse.

So what to do next? Develop the person, develop the local people’s input, and develop the LibDems - keep watching, here it comes!

Donal

Cash flow gone. Banks turned upside down, insurers going dodgy, ambiguities & defaults worrying everywhere. Runs on banks - confidence shot! What the hell do we do?

“Root cause is housing crash” - Henry Paulson tonight. Take the cock-up from the banks, and bail them out. Hmmmm!

Nobody feels this is right, but everybody wants stability quickly. What is our “mission critical” issue? Punish the failures or bring stability to the finaincial world market? Clearly, the latter is favourite, but can we now say that Maggie’s dream is smashed? The market may have redressed its imbalance, but has it corrected errrors? NO.

Market control has proved it has no sufficient control, and so future control needs to be put in place tomorrow, but today we need stability. Who do we give this control to? Not the market, that’s for sure! Government is also clearly incapable of control, most of those who want to be in govt. are considered to be imbalanced by Joe Public.

The FSA, perhaps? No, they can’t control a tv remote! I simply don’t have tha answer, but at least I know how to ask the right questions. When I have the answers, then I will be God or (more likely, I suppose) a full-time politician with a vision!

Perhaps that is the lot of a LibDem local politician for now, learn to ask the right questions of those in power (and those they command) and then you learn the best way to reveal their inadequacy or ineptitude. After that, we can blow the electoral world apart with a devastating & overwhelming victory - and I really believe we can do so, we just need the confluence of luck, an inspirational leadership team (not just leader!), and a dedicated workforce of electable Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPC’s).

Speak to you soon  - Donal

A STATEMENT FROM BURY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS  

This statement follows the Full Council meeting of Wednesday, 10^th September. It also follows on from a number of informal discussions Lib Dem Councillors have had with Council staff, Union officials and Officers since the results of the review were announced.  

• Bury Liberal Democrat Council Group remain fully committed to ensuring a full, open and transparent continuation of the Job Evaluation / Equal Pay issue currently affecting Council staff.

• Bury Liberal Democrats are increasingly concerned that so many issues are outstanding, seemingly unresolved by Council Officers and the Conservative leadership. Too many questions remain about the fairness of the process. Liberal Democrats asked for a number of concessions at the Council meeting on September 10^th. Lib Dems urged the Conservatives to allow employees a personal appeal. We believe that anything other than this will be an affront to employees’ rights. We continue to urge Bury Council to reverse the decision not to allow personal appeals, with immediate effect.

• There are persistent concerns being raised about the moderation process. We expect the council leadership to fully detail how the accuracy and reliability of the moderation process was prepared, monitored and audited. If the process is to be held as a fair and transparent process then staff need to know that the moderation applied was in itself monitored and checked. Those undertaking the moderation must independent of the process, to ensure that the outcome is fair across all Departments.

• We welcome the Leader’s commitment to re-training and to make vacant posts available to suitably qualified staff. We would like to see more formal commitment to this process by Council via the introduction of a Re-grading Register, from which applicants could be approached and designated funds put aside for re-training. Such a system would ensure that the mechanisms and funding are in place to aid job training and reallocation.

• Bury Liberal Democrat Group were dismayed and disappointed that the Labour Group walked out of the Full Council meeting on 10^th September. It is our view that this (clearly planned and orchestrated) walkout was a stunt rather than a serious attempt to solve a major problem. By walking out of a debate on this issue, Labour abdicated their responsibility towards council staff as the main opposition to the leading group driving through the re-grading. Liberal Democrats will continue to provide the only serious, thoughtful opposition to the Conservatives, by ensuring that the process is handled as fairly and openly as possible.

• Labour’s walkout was a betrayal of the Council staff they claim to support. Their hot-headed actions ended debate and denied the opportunity for further questions. Labour’s absence from the meeting also meant that a debate on Radcliffe Riverside school did not take place, as the Labour Councilor due to ask the relevant question had left the meeting. The people of Radcliffe will rightly ask why Labour has let them down yet again.

• In response to a question from the Lib Dem Council Group, the leader of the Council agreed to hold a special briefing session for Council members. We welcome this initial response from the leader of the Council. We expect that the meeting should be held as soon as practicable. Representatives of the Union should be invited to attend.

• We acknowledge that this review came about due to national issues surrounding fair pay and that the Government instructed Councils to carry out a review following a job evaluation process and that review was carried out according to directives. However Bury Council is responsible to the people of Bury and its staff, and It is essential that staff are motivated to continue to provide the first class service its people expect to receive. The impact of this review on staff morale is a matter of great concern. Bury Council is in danger of losing some of its most experienced staff as a result of the way this review has been mishandled.

• Both Labour and the Conservatives must shoulder their share of the blame for the trauma now being faced by many staff. Labour were instrumental in establishing the process as directed by a Labour Government. And now with the review completed the Conservative administration are responsible for implementing the conclusions in a manner that both safeguards council finances but also council services. More important than blame though, is that the Council comes together for the good of staff moving forward. Liberal Democrats feel that all parties are duty bound to explore every avenue in searching for ways to support staff who are likely to lose thousands of pounds in pay. At the Council meeting on September 10^th Labour deserted staff whilst the Lib Dems secured concessions and more consideration from the Tories. 

• The Lib Dems in Bury recognise the hard work and dedication of Bury Council staff, and will continue to do all within our powers to support staff through this difficult period.

Bury Liberal Democrat GroupSeptember 11, 2008

Last night was the England game, they beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb, I heard on the news. Maybe I was unnecessarily pessimistic?!?

Last night was also Full Council, which was picketed by the Union & employees of Bury Council who are due to lose thousands of pounds after the re-evaluation process.

It started out reasonably enough, a bit of shouting which the Mayor managed to control. Then Cllr. Trevor Holt got in a serious tizzy, and was even more upset by Cllr. Yvonne Creswell who shouted “shame” at him - Trevor got seriously miffed!

Wayne Campbell then withdrew his party, and they refused to return. Total gesture politics, which achieved nothing (apart from enabling them to watch the match) whilst we actually posed some useful & serious questions of the Tories, which will hopefully work for our staff - after all, they work hard enough for us most of the time!

For those of you who left, we have now got the Tories to confirm the auditing procedure of the “moderation”, and will have a political party meeting to thrash out all the possibilities we can think of. Now that is serious work, and will hopefully achieve something for our staff.

Can England footy team beat Croatia? I’m sure they can, but to win they need mental strength, and I don’t think they can have that without changing the team significantly. In my humble opinion (and most people have one on the England squad!) we’d be better off with a bunch of Championship players, for whom pride in wearing the shirt means far more than the over-paid Premiership players, for whom there’s no novelty in it.

I ref amateur footy, and would much rather see a team with twice the effort and half the skill than the reverse (just think Greece in the 2004 Euros). That way can work, but the reverse ususally can’t.

The Olympics were a triumph, and it looks like the paralympics will be too. The follow-up to this is that the velodrome in Manchester (where so many medals were made in training) is likely to be replaced by a larger one in London. Another success, then!?!?

The Congestion Charge - should we have it or not? There is a launch for the “yes” campaign today, but nobody has sent me any details of the “no” campaign. My view is that we already pay taxes for public transport, road improvements etc. - why should those of us in Gtr. Manchester conurbation pay more than others to get something we deserve anyway?

Haven’t the roads been systematically narrowed in the last 10 years, with more & more bus lanes, chevrons, cycle lanes etc., but with insufficient use by those modes of transport, the Manchester Council now try to force the rest of us into a system which is excessively expensive. They could see they were likely to lose the vote on the old system, so now they’ve brought in a new voting system - not really a satisfactory way to decide how to tax the pants off people!

There have been some dreadful house robberies in Prestwich over the summer - when are the Police going to catch the criminals responsible, and what extra resources are they putting into catching them? I’ll be asking them that this week, but don’t expect any answers - they usually hide behind “operational security” and don’t tell us.

I see that Whitefield Area Partnership have copied our “Love Prestwich” campaign for anti-littering - the sweetest form of flattery?!? Lots of credit for our campaign has to go to Carran O’Grady, the Area Partnership Manager, who works really hard to improve Prestwich, and often overcomes incredible odds to get things going. Congratulate her next time you see her.

Staff pay cuts at Bury Council: What is my view? I can see that the Council HAD to do something, but it seems that the way it was handled was appalling; the moderation process is the thing most people fail to understand; the appeals system in impersonal; and the total result is plummeting staff morale at a time when everyone seems to be in financial difficulties.

How would I have handled it differently? Not sure - I don’t have access to all the info. that the Tories have, but two things spring to mind quite easily:

• Don’t send letters to arrive at people’s homes on a Saturday morning
• Hold joint presentations with the Union for all staff

 The Union seem equally to blame in this situation, but they don’t pay the bills so are not getting tarred with the same brush - they should be!

There will be lots of scrutiny of the whole system, and especially the appeals system being introduced - hopefully the LibDems can drill down to ensure that fairness is achieved through the Full Council meeting tonight & the special Scrutiny meetings arranged.

More later…..

It’s relatively quiet at the moment, but Vic’s doing well - got onto national TV and in the FeMail & Torygraph about graffiti - nice one!

Still working on some casework, but it’s slow with lots of Officers on hols so those that are here are v. busy & don’t respond back quickly (some never do anyway!)

Had an internal review and have made some positive changes to the way I propose to operate - you should see some changes from me shortly.

THe Olympics looks good in parts, but any reference to 2012 in London just winds me up - do you recall the disdain they had for Manchester when we went for it? What benefit (fleeting or lasting) will the NW receive as a rsult of the Olympics? I suggest absolutely nothing will be improved, but lots of hardship will be endured for no gain. Anyone care to bet against that?

So what happened in July, and what have I been working on?

Public Rights of Way & particular footpaths/bridleways are popping up - not actually all in my ward, but because of matters raised at Planning Committee & other associations I have, they’ve partly fallen into my lap to deal with.

Township Inequality is a big thing for me at the moment - I’ve been asking Senior Council Officers about how they measure “equality of service provision” and whether we in Prestwich are right in our assumptions, that we get considerably less £ spent upon us than elsewhere in the Borough. Needless to say, they’ve not been exactly forthcoming with any answers!

Planning matters always come up in the summer, when people want to get on with building things in the good (huh!?!?) weather. Lots of referrals have come my way, some dating back a year or two.

Town Centre regenration is big - the consultation process is nearly over, and the Consultants, Urbed, are putting forward their proposals shortly. I’m not giving anything away here, but most of it looks good, but we are still not keen on the height of proposals for Prestwich village. Tesco are not happy about it, which could make for an interesting situation in the future if they put some major proposals forward (which we expect them to!)

Roads & repairs, bus routes & vibrations therefrom, developers withdrawing from construction sites, SixTown Housing clearing dangerous sites - it’s all been going on this month!

Prestwich Conservation is getting higher up the agenda, with the St Mary’s Conservation Group having met twice recently to develop the scheme to a fully working model, like Ainsworth Village in the north of the Borough.

Graffiti seems rife again, at least we’re tackling it with the provision of clean-up kits straight away. Please contact us to let us know of any new graffiti you spot, and we’ll endeavour to have it removed ASAP.

Enough for now - more to follow soon….

Hi,

I got out of the habit of updating my blog after the elections - only just back in the groove now. So here’s what I’ve been doing:

Tue 27/5: Economy, Environment & Transport (EET) Scrutiny Commission with my colleague Ann Garner. Work is diverse, so we took 2 sub-groups each - I got Transport/Highways plus Local Development Framework.

Wed 4/6: LibDem Cllr meeting about the Urbed proposals, to determine our “group views” on proposals for Town Centre Regeneration.

Fri 6/6: Meeting with the Town Centre Manager, Carran O’Grady, about the forthcoming TCR (Town Centre Regeneration) sub-committee of the PLAP (Prestwich Local Area Partnership). We worked through the previous minutes, plus the agenda, and had discussions about relevant town centre matters over a brew & a biscuit (I Chair the TCR).

Mon 9/6: My birthday, and for the first time in ages I was not abroad, and not at work! I took a day off, and went to town with my dad, to get him a new suit. We got a nice one in Slaters, and then he took me for lunch to Mr Thomas’s Chop House on Cross St (try their corned beef hash - it’s great!). On the way there, I managed to show my support for the LibDem “Save Our Post Offices” campaign at Spring Gardens post office (well-timed & prepared, I’m sure you’ll agree!)

Tue 10/6: Did some casework, particularly about vibrations on Sandy Lane.

Thu 12/6: Case work, this time with Mary D’Albert in late afternoon, then I chaired the TCR meeting at Prestwich Arts College. The main topics were the Roads Repair funds (how we allocate repairs to roads in Prestwich) followed by a presentation & discussion on Urbed’s proposals for Town Centre regeneration. This was lively & informative, with lots of different opinions being aired. Pleae continue to send us/Urbed your views, they are still consulting! More on this later….

 Sat 14/6: Went on hols to Croatia for a week with wifey. A great relaxing break, with lots of footy (supporting Croatia of course), a few bevvies, and some interesting site-seeing (One day we hired a car and went to see the Walled city of Dubrovnik - a UNESCO world heritage site in Croatia; Mostar’s Bridge of Songs - a UNESCO world heritage site in Bosnia/Hercegovina; and Medjugorje in Bosnia - a site where the Virgin Mary was witnessed by some children in 1981, and now a place of pilgrimage for Catholics from all over the world). It was also our 10th wedding anniversary whilst we were there, and we had a beautiful romantic meal watching the sunset and listening to a musician, then went to watch the end of the Croatia match! (See wife - I do mention you!)

Mon 23/6: Back into the thick of it with the first sub-group meeting (Highways/Traffic) of the EET, which I was appointed Chair. We discussed the previous work program, and set a decent program of study for the forthcoming year.

Tue 24/6: Casework & email responses, mostly, plus pre-reading proposals & notes for Full Council the next day.

Wed 25/6: Despite the Germany v Turkey game I still went to Full Council. The most important issues for me were the erosion of Councillors & Public questioning of Executive members (proposed by the Tories, and a shameful way to treat Councillors & those who elected us to serve them) plus the questions I had for other Councillors on cleaning of our Town Centres and the work of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority(GMPTA). The answer to the first was “It’s gone to Scrutiny” and the latter will be sent in writing because the meeting timed-out, mostly due to the bickering between Bob (I’m the Leader now!) Bibby and Mike (I can shout louder than you) Connolly. However, I’ve seen the answer to the latter, and it doesn’t refer to the points I raised whatsoever, so shall be asking Cllr Yvonne Creswell (Deputy Tory Leader) to answer it again properly!

Thu 26/6: Writing my blog; casework update; Six Town Housing Open Day & Euro semi-final with a Chinese meal & bottle of vino, whilst ‘er outdoors is crown green bowling in the pouring rain!

Remember, Bury Councillors do this on a part time basis, I still have a full-time career and other hobbies plus a home life to hold down! You will therefore forgive my tardiness in updating my blog, as I also have to fit in the following:

Occasional meals out with wife (see - mentioned her twice in one blog!); 5-a-side football (1-2 times p/w); Going to the gym (nearly as frequently!); Walking; Driving my classic car (for fun/to shows etc.); Delivering Focus leaflets (incessantly); Keeping up-to-date on National Politics; Local political party stuff; Career development with various courses; Various overnight stays around the UK/Europe/the world to see my clients; Jolly boys jaunts; Occasional pint on a Friday night; Seeing family & friends; shopping & eating.

Not all Cllrs have as many outside interests as I, but I hope that it keeps my feet on the ground and ensures I’m approachable & well-known.

Anyway - enough for now, more at weekend, probably….

 D

What’s been happening?

Tories elected a very nice man to Mayor - Peter Ashworth. I hope he has a very pleasant year, and uses it wisely.

Annual Council was a fairly tame affair, after which we had a meeting about Prestwich’s priorities for the forthcoming year.

Thursday 15th led me to St Mary’s primary School for photo opportunities with a cycling training event - we’re trying to get kids to get more exercise, and learn to cycle safely from an early age. Then it was the Local Area Partnership meeting, where Urbed presented their initial findings on the Town Centre Redevelopment Study.

Many were disappointed at the lack of innovation & social/leisure facilities, but these are only very early drafts, and include the realism of potential developers’ “wish-lists” too. There is much more discussion to be had, and the initial plans are up on display in the Library now, for people to view & comment upon - have your say now, before it is too late!

On Friday I attended a very interesting seminar on “Business Continuity” for work, but there was some very useful stuff for Council to learn also. I then got to see GMP’s Horse Unit, and a display by the dog handlers & armed response unit - at last something nice!

Saturday 17th was a thankyou party for leafleters & helpers, which was very pleasant. I should’ve been ref’ing on Sunday, but the game was scrubbed, so I had a bit of a free day!

This week I’ve had Planning Control; St Monica’s & Butterstile Governors’ meetings; a meeting with the Fire Service & the inaugral St Mary’s Conservation “Management Team”. The choice was between St Monica’s & the Conservation meeting, nd I felt it was more important to go to the latter, but because I didn’t get back from Consett until 6.50pm, I didn’t have time to forward my apologies to the Governors.

I’ve also had to think about mentoring Mary in her first few weeks & months, and also think about the local “Development Framework” that’s been issued.

Fairly busy then! I’ll let you know what happened at the meetings next time….