Donal OHanlon

Hi there!

Today I got help in working through my lack of understanding, and am now able to post simple messages on the website. Stick with me, and see the development as I learn more and more.

One of my New Year Resolutions was to get my website going, so here’s this year’s first post.

The most important news at the moment is the Town Centre Regeneration.

Prestwich is currently going through a Consultation exercise, to help us work out what the next generation Prestwich Town Centre should be like.

The Council set aside money a couple of years back to pay for outside specialist consultants to help in the process, but because the regenerations of Bury & Radcliffe town centres had started, there was insufficient resources to manage a third renewal strategy at the same time.

Now the Consultants have started the process, and want to hear the views of those who live in, use, or would like to use Prestwich.

There should soon be a weblink from the Council website directly through to “Urbed” consultants, and they’ll be keeping a “blog” to keep everyone informed. I hope to be able to link directly from here too.

There will be several ways to get your voice heard, and we’re just going through the process of working out the best methods to achieve the widest consultation possible.

My role in this is three-fold:
1. As a ward Councillor for St Mary’s Ward, Prestwich Town Centre lies in the heart of my ward. I want to help make the revitalisation of Prestwich a reality, and will do all I can to turn a great opportunity into reality.
2. As a representative of the people in my ward (even if you didn’t vote for me!)

3. As Chair of the Town Centre Regeneration (TCR) Working Group, I can help shape the consultation process, and ensure that the voice of the people is not just heard, but enacted.

How does it work?

The TCR was set up as a sub-committee of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership (known as the PLAP, and formerly the Local Area Board) to help bring about the revitalisation of Prestwich.

The TCR reports to the PLAP, and the PLAP reports to the Council. Within reason & legal limits, the Council should enact motions brought to it by the PLAP, as advised by the TCR.

The TCR is made up of Councillors, Council Officers, and interested parties such as representatives of business & residents.
Because it’s impractical to include everybody who would have a direct interest in the changing face of Prestwich, it’s necessary for others to feed into the process by other means - via Councillors; via the Council; directly with the Consultants;email; letters; phone etc. to ensure that opinions are heard.

It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 102 years old, we will try to find a suitable way for your voice to be heard (and of course, listened to!)

So if you want more shops; better sports facilities; cleaner streets; safer roads or anything else, keep your eyes peeled now, because the next nine months could be the ones that shape Prestwich for the next few decades!

Enough from me for now - if you have any comments please respond and I’ll try to get back to you in a reasonable time. However, remember that I am new to this, and I don’t spend every waking hour sitting in front of a computer awaiting correspondence! Have a little patience with me?

Regards,

Donal