Most people hate Tuesdays. You’re really only getting into the stride of the working week, there’s a long stretch before you get time off (Ha!) and there’s little going on socially.

We only have one telly, and there’s nothing much to watch on that for a Tuesday (apart from Shameless), so I carried on working in my office, having a good clear through my outstanding Councillor post tray.  This is stuff I’ve skimmed through, may need (but probably won’t) and stuff I’ve dealt with and printed off, but not had time to file.

The tray is normally about 3″ thick, but yesterday was nearer 5″, and it was starting to creak under the weight, so I went through it in detail. I found some stuff of use, some post that I needed to answer (sorry Butterstile - should’ve sent that form back in early Jan!) and some useless junk in which I have no interest that should’ve been binned when I skimmed it first time.

The overall effect was very therapeutic, and whilst there is still stuff in the tray, it’s mostly a filing issue now.

Audit Scrutiny was postponed, but I’d only deleted it from my Council diary and not my personal one. Fortunately, it was one of the earlier pieces of post I found, so I didn’t waste time traipsing up to Bury for a non-existent meeting.

I went through quite a few letters about Goshen/Bury FC, and filed them with all the other”Planning committee” stuff we receive. It’s an interesting case, because it seems strange that the Club would want to move to a location that is far more inaccessible than the current site(on foot, public transport, or by car). I’m sure that selling the existing site would realise lots of cash, but if fans find it easier to go somewhere else, than the new site, then what’s the point?

Ah well, I’m sure we’ll here plenty more on this over the coming months….

Hi,

 The weekend was spent enjoying a pint on Friday with my pal, followed by a hectic Saturday where a long list of household & garden chores were achieved.

I went out for an Italian meal on Saturday night, unfortunately it was not of the usual high calibre I’ve come to expect from local restaurants: Half an hour for a drink (from a waitress who spoke no English whatsoever); minimal drinks selection; lack of attention from waiting staff; a maitres d’hotel who kept sending food back & snapping at his head chef etc. We shan’t be rushing back!

Ref’d a match at Heaton Park on Sunday, not the greatest standard, but went ok, with only 1 yellow card. A 1-1 draw was a fair result.

Delivered leaflets on both afternoons, and spent some time looking for a good summer holiday. Also picked up some photos that I took with my 35mm for the family over Christmas. Mostly of the whole group of kids my siblings have produced - I’m disappointed with the results, but this is mainly because my siblings kept coo-ing at the kids and drawing their attention away from the camera! I’ve learnt that I need to prepare better for such assignments, and get the parents well out of the way in future!

In my normal work, we often  refer to “5S” in terms od Health & Safety. As a Councillor, it’s much more like the 5P’s - “Poor preparation precedes pathetic performance” (there are more “P’s” that could be added in, but that would be guilding the lily!)

Thus, I have spent a little time since my last post reading reports, checking facts & figures, preparing questions etc. I’m not the most methodical researcher, but when the germ of an idea is there, I can usually draw it into a suitable fomat, after a bit of research. Forthcoming meetings include Audit, Children’s Services, Full Council & Town Centre Regeneration. The life of a Local Councillor is not the most glamorous of part-time occupations/hobbies, but I do feel I can put some of the skills learnt in my full-time career to good use.

(For those of you not familiar, 5S is a Japanese system for good workplace management - Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke). Translations vary, but many accept it roughly as - Sift, Sort, Sweep, Sustain & Self-discipline.

Regards,

Donal

Checked my emails this evening, after a rather exciting day’s work in Pendleton/Charlestown area.

To my joy, I found confirmation that Six Town Housing have been “ushered” into removing their digits, and have undertaken some remedial work at Sherbourne Court, as I requested last week.

Electrical work has been undertaken: I am told “an electrician has visited all 16 blocks of Sherbourne Court and has completed all electrical jobs identified (and any additional ones that came to light during the visit); work was also carried out to the intercom system; further work was also identified to the intercom systems, lighting, graffiti removal and broken glass to bin stores”

So - we can get some things done for you!

This was immediately tainted when I checked telephone messages, and received a distressed message that a burglary had occured in the same locality!

I’ll speak to the person concerned and hopefully help them where I can, too.

regards,

Donal

A local resident contacted Lib Dem Councillors earlier this week to report that some litter had been in Carr Clough since bonfire night. Despite his frequent attempts to get the Council to take action, they had done nothing, so he came to local Lib Dem Councillors to see if they could help tackle the mess.

After calls were made to the Council’s Environmental Services Department by the St Mary’s Lib Dem Focus Team, the litter has now been removed.

It is a shame that local residents can’t get the Council to act to clean up this type of mess. Local Lib Dems will carry on working to try to get the Council to react quicker and more efficiently to local concerns like this, and find it unacceptable that residents’ concerns are so frequently ignored without Councillors getting involved. But  we are more than happy to assist and to try and get these types of litter problems cleaned up across the ward.

Tonight was the quasi-judicial “Planning” Committee. This means we don’t act like party political people, but responsible members of the Community!

There was not too much controversial stuff on the list tonight, but it was heartening at the end to see that our Enforcement Officers have been out working very hard to make sure people (and businesses) only do what is agreed by Planning Officers & Councillors.

The Planning Committee is made up of a real mix of people, and it’s nice to see a couple of younger Councillors getting onto it this year. When I started in 2006, it was the one thing I really wanted to be involved with, and I found most of the Councillors were “relatively” old. This concerned me, I was worried that they would all hark on about “good old days” etc., but in most cases I needn’t have worried - most are fairly progressive.

It’s one of the few Council meetings that the public turn up to. This makes it more lively, and I enjoy it because I feel knowledgeable about most areas of the borough, but when areas that I don’t know about come up, and I learn about them!

When I got home I watched Shameless on C4. I think it’s brilliantly written, about a family of “scallies” on a housing estate in Manchester. The father’s a drunk, the mother is unsure of her sexual preference, the wild kids range from 7 to early 20’s, and the pub is often the centre of the attention.

One of the actresses went to St Monica’s, where I’m a Governor and where I went to school (although back then it was called St Peter’s). It’s good to hear talented locals doing well!

Ok, enough for tonight, I have work, holidays, running and a gazillion other things to think about before sleeping.

Donal

What stuff have I recently (and in some cases for quite a long time) asked the Council to do?

1. Re-paint the M60 J17 roundabout, so drivers can follow simple colour-codings to stay in the correct lane (first asked for January 2007)
2. Repair the dropped grids on the same roundabout
3. Fill the hole on Butterstile Lane close to the junction with Venwood Rd (repaired once already in the last 6 months!)
4. Clean the precinct thoroughly & regularly
5. Finish The Retreat water feature
6. Answer recurrent queries relating to Tenants & Residents Associations (TRA’s) in Prestwich via Six Town Housing

7. Help us to get M&S to change the 1-way direction in their car park

The answers have usually been positive, but the resources to implement are often lacking. We will keep pushing on your behalf, though, and eventually positive action will follow!

Cheers,

Donal

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