Donal OHanlon

Liberal Democrats at Bury’s election count last night:

Here’s our new team of Councillors in St Mary’s Ward - Donal O’Hanlon, Mary D’Albert and Richard Baum…… Labour MP Ivan Lewis sneaks past behind.

Lib Dem Councillors elected last night Mary D’Albert, Vic D’Albert and Ann Garner with some of their group colleagues Steve Wright, Wilf Davison and Donal O’Hanlon.

More pictures here

Liberal Democrats have continued to move forward on Bury Council making another gain from Labour and holding off a challenges from the Conservatives. This is the fifth election in a row in Bury where we have made gains.

Full results to follow, but in our key wards in Prestwich the results were as follows:

Holyrood
Vic D’Albert (Lib Dem) 1632
Labour 669
Conservative 852

St Mary’s
Mary D’Albert (Lib Dem) 1308
Labour 1013
Conservatives 692

Sedgley
Ann Garner (Lib Dem) 1488
Labour 906
Conservatives 1238

Across Prestwich the share of the vote was:
Liberal Democrats - 45%
Labour 26%
Conservatives 28%

The Liberal Democrats now have ALL NINE councillors in Prestwich. We’ll be doing our best all year round to stand up for the local community.

Across the motorway Lib Dem candidate Julie Baum put in a stunning performance to move into second place with a 50% increase in the Lib Dem vote.
Besses
Julie Baum (Lib Dem) 614
Labour 1084
Conservatives 584
Others 354

Well done to all our candidates, but particularly to re-elected Councillors Vic D’Albert and Ann Garner, and to new Councillor Mary D’Albert.
A huge thank you to the whole Lib Dem campaign team for a stunning result. Full results to follow.

Please don’t forget to vote in the important local elections on Thursday 1 May 2008. These elections will decide who will represent you at the Council for the next four years.

Hard working local resident Mary D’Albert is the Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate on Thursday.

Important Information
- Polling Stations are open from 7.00am - 10.00pm
- You don’t need your polling card to vote
- If you have a postal ballot, but have not yet sent it in, you can complete it as normal and take the completed envelope to your local polling station on the day.

Polling Stations in St Mary’s Ward
Rainsough and Heathlands Road area - Rainsough Mission
Agecroft Roads, Butt Hill, Barn Hill, Prestwich Hills etc - Butterstyle Primary School
St Anne’s Road, Carr Clough, Lowther Road areas - St Andrew’s Church, Woodward Road
Prestwich Village - Longfield Centre Library

If you need any more information, or need a lift to the polling station call our helpline on 0161 798 0117

Thank you!

What are we trying to achieve in getting Libdems elected?

1. Rid Prestwich of the influence of The Labour Party, who have proved that they are really just Tories wearing red dresses.
2. Employ another hard-working, committed reliable resident to work for the people of Prestwich.
3. Ensure that the Tories don’t get overall control of the Council, so that the LibDems can keep a close check on whoever runs the Council, as the largest party (it won’t be us this time, but one day it will be!)

4. Increase democracy, by giving more power to the people. Why should central govt. ring-fence how we spend money locally? Do they know enough to make decisions on our behalf?

What is interesting on Question Time?

1. Spending money on hospitals, education etc. is not the answer, it is part of a solution to make the Country better. The people want results, with clean hospitals, less littering, better credit responsibility etc. Labour have spent money willy-nilly, and have not focussed on results but soundbites.
2. Abolishing the 10p tax rate makes low-waged people pay more.
3. The 40% tax rate band is closer now to the “Average Wage” of £26k (at £33k?) than it ever has been, in percentage terms, so more & more are paying higher rate tax.
4. Why should “working parents” be given tax breaks but those who choose not to have children be penalised?
5. Zimbabwe is what kind of a problem? Life expectancy is low there (37); unemployment in at 80% (per Lembit Opik); the legal position of the elections is an outrage!
6. Talking & the pen are still mightier than the sword, but the value of money is getting too important, and we should remember that there are other things that are more important than money.
7. Is Jacquie Smith a typical lying toad, who should not have made an announcement about extra police during the run-up to local elections, or was she simply mistaken?
8. Lembit said dissolve the motives of terror, don’t just employ 300 more terror police (as we did in N. Ireland).
9. Politicisation of the Civil Service has occurred, and we do nothing to reduce this. Have Bury Council employed an ex-Labour employee/candidate in the Communications Dept., who has recently left?
10. Do we have too many “foreigners” in the Country? How many do you know on a personal basis? What do you know about them? Are any doing a job the same as you?
11. Was Enoch Powell partly correct in his view, when he gave his speech about “Rivers of Blood”? Do you know what he actually said?
12. Will these “foreigners” go elsewhere, as the economy falters?

What other important topics are on my mind?

1. Why should some children get money to go to school or college, yet pay college fees to go to Uni? (It’s means tested, that’s why!)
2. Why have Labour failed to redistribute wealth, which is part of what they were really about, originally?
3. Fuel duty is abominable at present, but the Government has achieved what exactly, in terms of public transport? Now they propose a TIF bid for Gtr Manchester, for which we will pay much higher tax in the future, because 2/3 of it is a loan!
4. Is the impact of Local Councillors restricted, because central government has a very tight leash by “ring-fencing” how we spend our cash? Either you trust a Community to make a decision (you trust them to vote for you, after all) or you don’t. What is the point of a local council, given the restrictions they include!

What personal questions arise today?

1. Should I change my car? I have an LPG-powered Jaguar which I bought 2 years ago as a 6-year old car. It’s lovely, cheap & relatively eco-friendly to run, but LPG has gone from 36ppl (at it’s lowest) in August 2006 to 60ppl (at motorway services). Some information I have read says that cars do not become carbon neutral until they are 14 years old – should I run my car (which does 20k per year) for that length of time? What kind of car would I go for anyway?

2. Thankyou!

A quick thankyou to the couple who returned my wife’s handbag. They found it on Lowther Rd, and returned it immediately on Sunday morning – it shows that Prestwich is full of trustworthy souls. Good job too, it was a Radley bag, a Christmas present from me!

Sunday 18/4/08

I was sat down enjoying Foyle’s War on ITV (instead of watching a bunch of Luvvies pat themselves on their backs for doing their job) when the power cut came on. It just reminds my wife (the candidate) of the 3-day week in the ‘70’s – who was running the country then?

There’s not much to do without telly, radio, no lights to read etc. Thank God for my head torch!!! It came in useful during the “inferno” on hols last year, and now once again we have the usefulness proved.

Good job that I charge up the laptop battery – a full 5.58 hours left!

The last significant power outage was on 31.10.07, less than 6 months ago – I will have to ask the question, “Why does it keep happening in Prestwich?” On that night I was in a full Council meeting, and asked a question related to the power loss – clearly some lessons seem to not have been learned!

Enough for now….

Election statement to readers of the Bury Times:

Liberal Democrats across Bury have had a brilliant response from local residents. People are telling us that they are fed up of Labour closing post offices, taxing poorer people and watching the economy slide. People are uncertain what the Conservatives stand for, and haven’t noticed any improvement since they took over last year.

Liberal Democrats in Bury have three clear priorities:

We want safe, thriving communities across Bury. People must feel safe in their own streets and communities. This isn’t just about tackling crime, it’s about stronger, united communities. That’s why we’re opposing Post Office closures and why we secured massively increased funding for children in the Council budget. It’s also why we have always opposed the unfair and divisive congestion charge.

We want Bury to be the greenest Metropolitan Borough in Britain. Last year Lib Dems secured blue recycling bins for every house, and this year more money for parks and cleaning. We cherish Bury’s beautiful environment. We will work hard to protect it.

We believe in giving power to local people, not keeping it at the Town Hall. This means that decisions should be made locally in the six towns that make up Bury. It means local people making decisions at the most local level about the services that effect communities.

On May 1st we have a choice - A return to the 21 years of neglect under Labour’s rule in Bury, uncertainty under the Tories, or a clear vision for a better Bury from your local Liberal Democrats.

Out on the trail, chasing those votes & convincing floating voters.

Lots of minor issues noticed & reported, with some positives in the pipeline, and some partially completed.

Seen the M60 J17 roundabout - they’ve put red paint on surface to aid drivers with poor lane discipline! Hurrah!!! I’ve been campaigning for this for over a year!

My other Work has also been hectic - major project due for completion & issuing to colleagues.

Also went to osteopath to get some minor treatment - feel great now!

Coroporate Risk Management in the Council is now developing nicely - I’ve asked a few things to b addressed & hope to have answers shortly on that….

I’ve been ref’ing recetly too, but no cup finals this year for me, because I was so busy with other stuff that I forgot to let the secretary know of my availablity (oops!)

Sad news on recent deaths - Gordon Sharkey (former Freeman of the Borough & Labour Cllr. that I sat next to in the Chamber last year); Charles Cross (also Freeman of the Borough & Town Clerk of Prestwich in 1974, when subsumed into Bury Metropolitan Borough. Charles was a resident of Prestwich, and in his day was the Country’s leading light on local Govt. law, highways, public health & related subjects. No wonder Prestwich was so lovely as I grew up in the 70’s!

Warren Flood, a former Labour Cllr & party activist has also died suddenly, recently. I didn’t know him well, but I believe he did some good work in his days as a Cllr., and I did meet him on polling day in the last couple of elections. He seemed like a nice chap, and I wish the families & friends of all the departed my sincere condolences. 

The St Mary’s Focus Team heard back form a local resident last night who was very pleased to discover that a missing bollard had been replaced, after intervention from our election candidate Mary D’Albert.

We heard last week that the bollard had been removed from the edge of Prestwich Clough during recent fencing works, and the people involved had not replaced it. This had led to illegal motorbiking activity in the area, because the bollard which had been installed to stop it had now been removed. Mary and the team got onto it and now the bollard is back.

During canvassing last night, we picked up a bit more casework too, so this morning our election candidate Mary has been chasing that up as well. One elderly lady was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to manage bringing her blue bin down her drive way, so we have asked that a refuse collector assists her with this, similar to the arrangement already in place for her grey bin. The lady was delighted to see local Lib Dems again, because we got the street light outside her house fixed a few weeks ago after a call to the team.

We have also heard from the Friends of St Mary’s Park, who contacted the team to talk about plans for a flower bed in the park. The group is one of a number of small community interest groups that Mary D’Albert and the team regularly attend and try to help. The Friends of the park have the plants, but not the time to plant them, so we are trying to work with the Council to get the flower bed planted by the time of the next Prestwich Clough Day, which will be in a few weeks. Lots of local people were delighted to hear that the future of this excellent community event has been secured for at least the next two years thanks to a grant of over £2,000 from the Lib Dem controlled Prestwich Local Area Partnership.

Prestwich Lib Dems will be back out on the campaign trail tonight, and we look forward to meeting more local people. If you see us, do stop and say hello, and let us know if we can help with anything.

Liberal Democrats have announced a full team of candidates to contest the elections for Bury Council on Thursday 1 May 2008. One third of the seats on the Council are up for election, with one councillor to be elected in each of the 17 wards.

Two Councillors are seeking re-election - Vic D’Albert in Holyrood and Ann Garner in Sedgley.

Liberal Democrat candidates are:
Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor
Ramsbottom - Janet Turner
Tottington - David Foss
North Manor - Ewan Arthur
Bury West
Elton - Robert Sloss
Church - Tamsin Thomson
Bury East
Moorside - Nissa Finney
East - Emma Davison
Redvales - Paul Jenkins
Radcliffe
Radcliffe North - Lynne Molloy
Radcliffe West - Joanne O’Hanlon
Radcliffe East - Mike Halsall
Whitefield and Unsworth
Unsworth - Theo Tzymcyca
Besses - Julie Baum
Pilkington Park - Wayne Burrows
Prestwich
Holyrood - Vic D’Albert
St Mary’s - Mary D’Albert
Sedgley - Ann Garner