Donal OHanlon

So last night we saw both ends of the political spectrum in Bury.

The Tories continued Labour’s previous attitude of applying a generally prudent budget, but missing out on some opportunities to protect the vulnerable people in our society.

The Labour party showed how utterly myopic they can be, by offering a 0% Council Tax rise at the expense of completely decimating vulnerable adult & children’s services, for cheap political stunts. Rather than use this opportunity to seriously debate real alternatives, they decided to give themselves something to put into their Labour Rose - how very sad! The final insult was that they were intending to spend all the Council’s savings (Priority Investment Reserve)!

Pathetic opportunism is something one would expect from full time political activists like Wayne Campbell & his sidekick Mike Connolly, but the sad sight of (the normally serious) Derek Bowden supporting this silly budget proposal shows just how low even the serious Councillors in Labour will now stoop to buoy up their political aspirations!

Two obvious questions come to mind:

1. Labour ran Bury Council for 21 years, the last 10 of which were supported by a Labour Central Govt. Why could they not propose a 0% council tax rise in all that time?

2. If the reserves that the council saves up to protect it from day-to-day costs are so unimportant, why did Labour set them up and not spend them rather than sell the Lowry painting?

The LibDems proposed changes to the budget to ensure that simple services that everyone expects a local council to provide, such as street cleaning & park services were protected, whilst also not letting down the Children’s Services dept., who do incredibly important work, like providing the management for social services provision for “at risk” children.

In the end, at 10.40pm, our amendment was supported and Labour’s silly budget was dismissed.

My disappointment in Local Council grows with the Punch & Judy show last night. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have fun or enjoy our work, but when hours are taken up with knockabout humour and only a few minutes are spent saying how much people will actually pay in council tax, I feel that the Mayor needs to get a grip with the Labour & Tory leaders, and bang their heads together.

This is serious business, and Bib Bobby (aka “Punch”) got so upset with Wayne Campbell (aka “Judy”) and her sidekick Mike Connolly (aka “The Crocodile”) that he was swearing like a trooper and nearly blew a gasket.

 The strange thing was that Derek Bowden verbally asked a pile of questions that I enquired about, and which I’d submitted as a written question to the leader of the Council. I really didn’t think we were alike, but maybe we have more in common than I thought?

Ah well, it’s now officially the silly season of electioneering, so expect to have people knocking on your door, spouting rubbish promises, and looking like a bunch of “not rights”. Unless they’re normal people from the LibDems!

Let’s think about what’s happened in Prestwich since you elected LibDems:

- The Retreat water feature finally got finished & working

- We have a “Regeneration” programme run by Councillors (no matter how much Ivan wants to try and associate himself with it, it was & is down to us!)

- Prestwich Arts College is thriving and not closed (closure was proposed by Maggie Gibb & supported by Ivan Lewis)

- You have a Local Area Partnership that supports representation from the whole community, and interacts closely with health, police & fire to improve Prestwich in an intergrated way

- Rainsough estate is finally on the political radar, thanks to our involvement with the Tenants’ & Residents Association

- Children’s Centres are coming to an area near you shortly

- Safe play parks are provided near to areas they are most needed

And what did you get with 21 years under Labour? Hmmmmm……..

Donal