After Audit on Tuesday night, there followed some case work on Wednesday lunch, with planning consent & untidy land etc. The Planning enforcement officers in Bury have become so good at their jobs, that in the 2 years since they were employed (we have 2, I think) they now have a completely full workload, and are finding it difficult to take on new jobs.

Wednesday was a game of five-a-side against an Insurance Company, which despite having no substitute we still managed to win! The down side was that I awoke on Thursday morning with a very tender back - not pleasant I assure you!

Thursday night was a Governor’s meeting at St Monica’s, which was enlightening. I learnt about an extension plan, and checked how the junction improvements at their corner were affecting them. There were also some questions about exactly what Bury Council were charging them for on certain issues - a little more casework I suspect.

Weekend beckons, with lots of leaflet preparation, street letters, deliveries and drop-offs to our deliverers. If my back continues to trouble, I’ll probably have to give the leafleting a miss, but we’ll see…..

This morning’s earthquake woke us about 1am. I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to apprehend the massive intruders who’d clearly knocked my door down!

I then checked everywhere else, and couldn’t find them, but observed that decorations had fallen off the mantelpiece, and a bit of plaster dust was noted on the carpet, whereupon the missus explained it’d been an earthquake, and she could see all the neighbours lights going on one by one.

Back to sleep then - there’s nothing I can do about those! (Doubtless I’ll get a few calls later today, asking,” Can you do summat about them earthquakes in Prestwich - you’re our Councillor, aren’t you?”) Ah well…..

I took the weekend off from LibDem & Councillor activities, spending some R&R time with family & friends in Palma, Mallorca.

It’s a very pleasant city, with a fairly nice cathedral as it’s centrepiece.

I’m not sure that I managed to recharge the batteries properly though, being a little indulgent in the European nightlife meant that I didn’t get to sleep ’til late in the morning some nights!

When I returned I came home to lots of emails, phone messages and post, some of which was boring, some silly, some very important and a ridiculous letter from a Mr Lee, of “new Labour”. He purports a “LibDem/Tory administration”, when clearly there are only 8 of us and 21 in the Council from Labour, with 24 Tories. I shall state clearly, “there is no such alliance”. Nearly one year later, your tired Labour team simply can’t get over the fact that after 21 years trying to run Bury Council, the electorate said, “Enough - you’re selling off our heritage because you can’t balance the books!” - think of the Lowry painting!

New Labour, if you can achieve nothing with nearly half the Councillors (by sitting on your hand when it comes to voting on the most important night of the municipal year) then I’m sure the electorate will continue to strip you of Councillors over the forthcoming years.

If you’d rather see vulnerable elderly people wandering the streets; “At risk” children being prevented from getting the services they desperately need, and Council finances being ruined, then sure, vote for “New Labour”. What’s so new about Labour anyway? You have the same tired old tripe from spin doctor after spin doctor, with nothing new to offer the nation after nearly 11 years in power.

Certainly, as a Council-tax payer in Prestwich, I’m at least 15% worse off than I was when they came to power. It’s time for a change, for invigorating new ideas, and only the LibDems have something to offer there!

Last night I participated in “Audit Scrutiny”, where we review the work of the Council’s financial control arrangements. One of the most important phrases was included in the external Auditor’s review of “Accounts & Statement on Internal Control” - the Authority needs to continue to closely monitor budget performance and implement necessary corrective action to mitigate the use of further reserves.

Taken in conjunction with the Director of Finance’s comments - it is accepted that there are hot spots that need to be addressed relating primarily to Learning Disability services, Leisure services and land charge income -   we can see that “new Labour’s” ideas of slashing existing funding to such services, tied in with spending the Council’s reserves, is plainly stupid and imprudent. And there weren’t many Labour councillors there to study the details - we got more questions from Tories than Labour, and they’re in control! Not very effective Opposition, I must say.

Labour wanted rid of Prestwich Arts College, so they could build a new school in their former electoral heartland of Radcliffe, whilst Prestwich was full and very few pupils put Radcliffe as their first choice.

Labour in Bury have no idea whether they’re for Congestion Charging or not, we can tell you exactly where we stand - firmly against further such tax and spend nonsense.

This Labour government have presided over illegal wars costing billions on the premise of “Wapons of Mass Destruction”. The most effective WMD’s I can think of are Tony & Gordon’s mis-management of Britain’s affairs! They’ve destroyed a lot more than Saddam ever could!

Ah well, I’m now off to work, and will later be working upon a solution to Highfield Rd parking with Officers, followed by a little leafleting and some case-work for constituents.

 More soon…..

Lib Dem’s Secure More Money for Children and Young People, and more money for Parks and Cleaner Streets 

Liberal Democrat Councillors saved services for young people and vulnerable children and secured extra expenditure on much needed environmental services such as parks, cleaner streets and environmental enforcement in Bury Council’s budget for next year.

The Lib Dem proposals, which were agreed and have become part of the budget:

- saved advice services for children and money for youth services across Bury

- saved services for disabled children, the “young carers” service and provision for children who are at risk

- secured new money for our parks and environmental services

- secured new money for a cleaner environment such as street cleaning and enforcement such as dog fouling and fly-tipping

 Cllr Tim Pickstone, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said:

 “This is a difficult budget again for Bury. We all need to be clear on why these difficult savings once again have to be made. The blame is quite clearly with the Labour Government who, despite many years of pressure, continue to effectively give Bury a “poor deal”.

“Services to young people are already stretched  -  A vibrant youth support service is essential to ensure educational staying on rates and engagement in training or employment, with the subsequent positive impact on reducing anti-social behaviour”

“We are not prepared to put up with an unsafe reduction in support for vulnerable children, and to not see advances in supporting the environment in this borough.”

Cllr Richard Baum, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Resources said

“The people of this Borough want cleaner streets, green space and safe places for their families. And the Liberal Democrat group will ensure that as much as possible is done to give them what they want. Our proposals tonight are to invest in parks in this Borough to ensure that every community has a well-managed place of peace and greenery to enjoy.

Attacking the Labour Party Proposal to cut vital services for a zero Council Tax rise Cllr Pickstone said:

“This proposal is madness. We would all like to have a zero council tax rise, but the Labour Party are proposing to scrap £700,000 on much needed services for disabled people, are proposing to scrap services for young people and vulnerable children, and proposing to run Bury Council into the ground by running reserves down to a dangerous level. This is a disgrace - I am shocked that that Labour Party will stoop so low in a pathetic attempt to gain votes.

“There are two opposition parties in Bury. One, the Lib Dems, have achieved over £1/3 million of expenditure on young people, children and the environment, while Labour have achieved nothing but a cheap gimmick at the expense of vulnerable people.” 

• Tesco have put in a proposal for an11m high wind turbine
• HMG (owners of shops in Longfield) have put in proposals for knocking down the Longfield, replacing with supermarket an hundreds of flats/apartments
• Tesco have put in for a Tesco “Metro” in the corner of Bury Old Rd & Heywood Rd

Maybe you want to comment on these ideas?

My only view is that it seems rather premature for the first two, when the regeneration study will show what the people of Prestwich want/need, so why put them in now?

And why have Tesco bothered to ask for planning permission anyway? They didn’t bother to ask when they needed additional storage space for chiller units, which they foolishly & dangerously put on their petrol forecourt!!!!

Donal

Oops!

Just read some of the blog comments. I knew people were reading it, but wondered where the comments/responses were! I’ve just found them, and will try to publish some when I get a few more technology lessons on working my ‘blog!

Thanks for the positive comments - it really is all new to me, so I don’t know if the blurb I write is of use/information to people unless I hear from you. At least I now know where to look!!

Donal

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

Last night was Planning Committee again.

There were few significantly controversial decisions to be made, but I asked for a site visit to a Children’s Educational Unit in Moorside, as there were plenty of questions that could be answered by a site visit.

This was granted after a vote by Councillors, but one of the more vociferous Councillors was against the idea, on the grounds that there was sufficient information provided already. The fact that the Councillor used to represent the ward concerned means that his knowledge of the area is much greater than many of the rest of us!

I was also told that this delay may mean that the Children’s Service may not be able to get the work done. If a private developer (rather than the Council) tried to use this argument to convince Councillors of the validity of their argument, we would usually tell them to “hop-it!” to say the least. Lack of time for development is not a reason to pass anything without proper scrutiny, and on Planning we are “semi-judicial”, meaning that we cannot be swayed by political considerations. This is the second time that Children’s Services appear to have taken such decisions to the wire, and I’ll therefore be referring these matters to the appropriate Scrutiny Committee, to see if it’s being run properly.

(The previous one was the Children’s Centre at Butterstile School within my Ward). Other political parties are trying to make some capital of the decision to delay a decision at Planning, where I also asked Councillors to consider a site visit, to understand the issues around the decision. I then left the room, as I have an “Interest” in the decision, as a Governor of Butterstile School. The Councillors chose to make a site visit, because the decision seemed to be rushed without suitable consultation.

A mobile phone mast was granted permission for development on Whittaker Lane in Prestwich, despite concerns expressed by residents relating to excessive development of the street scene: There is another one about 15-20m further down the pavement, with a bus stop in between. I raised the excessive development concerns, as well as explaining to Councillors that proposals had recently been put forward to develop the area for revised parking arrangements, which may require the digging-up of services on the pavement. Cllr. Steve Wright spoke about the concerns many local residents have, as did a softly-spoken resident. However, this was just a slight alteration to a proposal that had already been granted permission, so it was always going to be unlikely that it waould get rejected, and it didn’t.

Tonight is Full Council, where we consider the Budget for next Year. It’ll go on for 3 hours, Labour will probably bawl about all sorts of rubbish, the Tories will say how prudent they’ve been, despite getting a terrible settlement from Central Govt., and we’ll actually ask some questions about services that really matter to Joe Public.
If we don’t agree a budget, we all get barred from office, and maybe even sent down - so that is unlikely to happen!
This is the point where we see if Labour are any form of real opposition or whether they’ve STILL not got over being the party in power. I suspect the latter - I wonder if I could get odds at a bookies on it?
I’m asking questions about park services. This is important to Prestwich as we have Irwell Valley; Prestwich & Mere Cloughs; St Mary’s Park & Flower gardens in our Ward boundary. I want to see the parks flourish, and despite “Bury in Bloom” we seem to have seen precious little of that down here!
If you want to know more, or support us, come along to the town hall in Bury tonight. It’s a bit like Punch & Judy but without the cricket bat!

Donal

Town Centre Regeneration (TCR) - what’s it all about?

TCR is a sub-committee of the Local Area Partnership (formerly Area Board) that tries to help the regeneration of Prestwich. I’m the Chair, and other Prestwich Councillors, Council Officers & interested third parties (businesses; residents etc.) are co-opted in to provide specialist knowledge & support.

We held a meeting on Wednesday at the Library, where Urbed (the consultants we’ve engaged to undertake a professional study of Prestwich’s “wants & needs”) presented their preliminary findings. It was very good, and promises to be a sound springboard for positive future change.

A group of Prestwich residents, many with relevant professional experience, also presented their vision of what Prestwich should aspire to, and this mostly concurs with the Urbed study. As a result, representatives of the group have been co-opted onto the TCR, to use their professional experience to ensure Urbed get the right questions asked.

After the presentations, a Q&A session was held, where Urbed & the residents’ group were quizzed on specific points, especially relating to the conflict of Bury New Road (BNR) traffic & pedestrians; delivery of plans into real development; how Bury Old Road can help shape the vision for the Town Centre and alleviate the problems of BNR; the outcome if a recession occurs; and the inter-relationship Prestwich will have with the promised “Irwell Valley Urban Park”.

Excellent questions, and some good answers, although it’s fair to say that the study is ongoing, and thus not all the answers have been developed into achievable plans yet.

The next steps are:

• A presentation to Prestwich Local Area Partnership on 3/4/08 (come along & see it!)
• A “Visioning” workshop to interested representatives of specific groups at the Logfield centre on 13/3/08
• A link through the Bury Council website to the Urbed website, keeping us all up-to-date on the work Urbed are doing (I’ll probably put a link from this one too, when I know how)
• Postcards to nearby neighbours of the Town Centre, asking for their views

So, whilst we don’t have a fantastic town centre just yet, the first steps in making change happen have been taken! (And don’t forget, this all happened when LibDems got elected in Prestwich, but for the decade before when we had a Labour-controlled Area Board, all we got was a broken water feature!!) Hmmm……

Prior to the meeting, we held meetings with Traffic/Engineering Officers from the Council, regarding Highfield Road & Whittaker Lane parking arrangements. I’m glad to announce that as a result, a study will be commissioned to review a “Residents Only” parking scheme on Highfield Rd (the initial stages of which will not take long, but the implentation of which could take much longer!); and that Officers are studying the possibility of a “Private Management Agreement” for a car park behind the Chemists, as well as supplying additional parking signs & marked bays.

So a very progressive couple of meetings, but blimey, it took us a long time and an awful lot of meetings to get to this point!!!

Next job is to draft a couple of important letters on specific issues, and deliver gazillions of leaflets (both personally & to our distributors) over the weekend. Anybody want to deliver some for us?

Cheers,

Donal

Reported various issues raised with me(or requested further detail), this week:

Sherbourne Street lights are out and the road is uneven due to nearby works on former Tulle Court; Youth nuisance on Shrewsbury Rd; Planning situations on Warwick St, St Mary’s Rd.

A planning proposal has come in for the Longfield from the current owners of the buildings. This is strange, as I undestood that they’d been told by Officers about the Regeneration study, and thus should hold back until that’s complete.

However, it needs to be given due consideration, and I’m confident that Officers are working diligently on it as I type.

On the subject of Regeneration, we’ve asked Council to supply a small questionnaire or flyer into every Prestwich Council Tax demand, but this has been rejected, and I’m awaiting an answer as to why. It must be the most cost-effective way to ask all residents of Prestwich if they have an opinion? The Consultants have only budgeted for 5000 residents to be contacted, but there are more like 15000 residents living nearby who really should be contacted. We WILL find a way, I assure you of that.

Tonight is the Town Centre Regeneration meeting, which reports to Prestwich LAP on the review & study currently being undertaken by Urbed. Should be quite interesting, with a number of important issues coming to light, and it’ll require a firm grip on debates from me (as Chair) to ensure that we get through the whole agenda. We’re considering the following main issues tonight:

1. The progress of the Urbed study
2. The Consultation Event
3. Suggestions from a group known as the Regeneration Commission
4. Traffic/Planning Issues for Highfield Rd & Whittaker Lane

More to follow…

So, the political shenanigans season has started early this time!

Politicians are sticking oars into oily black seas, where no such oars should be placed! Time to put them back into areas where no such wooden object should be placed!!!

No details this week - let’s see what materializes (maybe you can decipher it at a later stage!)

I`ve been blogging for a couple of weeks now, and recognise from cryptic conversations about paint drying and grass growing that it’s a bit weak on the sensational side. I could be nasty, and that would be fun, but I’m sure that the blog would get pulled farily quickly. Maybe I’ll try it in a couple of weeks!

This blog is being written on a Swiss computer, so the letters are not all in the same place, and nor are the punctuations (apologies in advance! - see if zou can guess what letters/punctuation are different+). Iäm back in the morning to complete mz constituencz ward duties.

This week we had full Council, and the Leader, Cllr. Bob Bibbz (known to manz as Bib Bobbz for his tendencz to get things muddled) managed to have a go at me for asking him what the hell has happened to accountabilitz, when the Council doesnät even know where it left the benches it places around the borough for Pensioners to rest their wearz bones upon after a hard morningäs shopping+

Bob is obviouslz becoming more confident, and certainlz managed to keep the rather war-wearz Labour group well in control.

Bob didnät reallz know what question I was asking, and so tried to cover everz base with “how it was everz Councilloräs dutz to contribute to the well-being of the Borough+” for mz preliminarz question, but he tried weasling his waz out of the supplementarz question with some bland response and having a personal dig.

Labour were biyarre. Gasillions of questions about anzthing thez could think of, with no rhzme or reason connecting them. Mostlz it was a whinge-athon, whilst trzing to score minor political points from the various Councillors thez have up for re-election this zear (Cllr. Boden asked 6 - practicallz unheard of from the whole Council, let alone one Cllr+++)

What did I do?

I asked about Gtr Manchester Wasteäs attitude to Prestwich tip and the Forestrz Commissionäs approach to manage it. Peter Ashworth, the jovial Torz Cllr on the Waste Authoritz Board gave a good answer, but it did not correspond with the info. I had, so I asked him to check the facts and confirm in writing. Iäll chase that over the weekend in writing. Itäs important as it forms a vital wildlife corridor, as well as integral to the LIVIA urban park project being managed bz Manchester & Salford Councils (who are woeful at keeping us informed+).

I also asked a question about Gtr Manchester Fire & Rescueäs commitment to Fire Sprinklers. Kent F&R actuallz have a grant szstem to contribute towards sprinklers, zet we donät even insist upon them in schools zet!! The Brigade fullz favour sprinklers, and criticise Labour Govt. for failing to grasp the nettle with recent legisaltive changes. It would be great to see Wales & Scotland take the lead, and show England how our sillz Govt. szstem does not benefit the people of the land, onlz the politicians (think NHS & education in Scotland, for example!)

The one thing that I reflected upon this week is that I have been keeping mz elevction promise of using mz mouth in proportion to mz ears. I listen more, and talk less, which makes people occasionallz listen when I have something to saz (whatever tzpewriter or computer I use+) If onlz all politicians would follow suit!+

This is not the onlz precendent I have set of late. I hear that the FA are now considering a rule Iäve been applzing since I became a referee 6 zears ago. This is that Captains can speak to me on the pitch, all others will go in the book or off, if thez speak to me. If thez swear (at anzthing or anzone other than their own stupiditz) then thez at least go into the book. If thez swear at me, itäs straight off+. I didnät think it was revolutionarz then, but when I hear Hansen & Co. on MOTD, thez think itäs the best thing since sliced bread!+) (How manz times can he saz “Time and time again” on one program?)

Talking of which, itäs big match at the weekend. Will thez be silent for the 50th anniversarz of Munich? ……Come down to Hough End and see!!! (or are zou a couch fan, watching two slightlz more expensive teams at the weekend???)

Treesà

Vale Drive - land ownership is being determined, before thez consider whether the Council can prune the trees.

Lowther Close - same situation as above.

Longfiled Cleaningà

Richard asked questions of the Leader, Cllr Dot Gunther answered on his behalf, with no real answers being given. I know that from questions Iäve asked of Officers, thez want to wait until after the wall is engraved, and I said “bugger off”. It needs to be done Zesterdaz, not in a couple of monthsä time+. See Richardäs link from the left side, to read more. I will press harder at the TCR next week.

Roadsà

Butterstile Lane was repaired (well done) and Sandz Lane has been noted but not zet done. Iäll chase this again over weekend.

Hilton Lane junction with Burz New Road (BNR) is to be raised (AGAIN++++) at TCR next week.

If zou have anz further road issues, give me a call and Iäll raise them to the top as much as I can.

Traffic Crossingsà

St Annes Rd is still not top prioritz, see Richardäs recent post about this. Weäve both been chasing Council officers frequentlz about the dangerous crossing/lights on BNR. Should be started in the next couple of months though+

At Council I took the opportunitz to tell the top guz responsible about the sunken crossing opposite the Knowslez pub in Burz, just outside the bus station and probablz used bz hundreds of Council staff each daz. Thereäs a massive puddle where it should be raised, so visuallz impaored people know there is a crossing bz the raised bobbles on the pavement. Itäs in Burz not Prestwich, so letäs see how long it takes them to fix it - a bit of an experiment?

Planning

A resident has requested change of use for part of a dwellnig into an office. Iäve asked for more info. as I neeed to understand all the matters before representing a constituent one waz or another. Iäm on Planning Committee which is semi-judicial, so I have to be verz clear about not making mz mind up without all available facts. Possiblz more to follow….

OK - did zou guess the different kezboard bits?

• y is z and z is y
• à is where ‘ should be
• + is an !
• _ is actually where ? should be, but I thought that was too hard
• ç is where £ should be, but I didn’t use that

See zou soon (on a normal kezboard, perhaps_+++)

Donal

St Mary’s Lib Dem Councillors have been chasing up a number of issues on behalf of residents in the last few days.

We have asked the Council to ensure that Shelley Road and Butterstile Lane are adequately gritted during the current cold snap, for the safety of drivers and pedestrians, and in particular because of the buses that travel down those streets.

In addition, we have once again raised the issue of the abandoned garages on Shrewsbury Road. This is a long-standing issue, with difficulties in identifying land-owners to take responsibility for cleaning up and sorting out the garages. In recent weeks the area has become something of a hang-out for trouble-makers, and there was a fire there recently too. We’re hopeful that this can be progressed in the near future, and we’ll keep trying.

Also today we have once more raised the question of why the shops on Warwick Street remain vacant and abandoned so long after the fire which put them out of use. We have been told a number of different stories as to why the fire damaged building can’t be repaird, from problems with the insurance to an ongoing police investigation. Whatever the reason, the derelict building is used as the excuse not to re-surface Warwick Street, a road which is comfortably the most pot-holed in the ward.

It’s a shame that we have to apply quite this much pressure to get any action taken, or even to illicit a response from Council officers to legitimate residents’ concerns. But we will keep trying, and we’ll update you when we get a result.

Okay,

I have a list of things to achieve by the end of today, so I’ve got to get started early.

Shed has been delivered & erected already this morning (by 8.15am)

Contractor coming to work on the house this morning. (Meeting with Town Centre Re-generation Consultants dependant upon this)

List of complaints to get into the Council, on behalf of Constituents:

•  
  • Fly tipping - 2 areas
  • Planning enforcement matter to chase up
  • Road improvements
  • Overhanging trees problems
  • Bus routes requiring gritting

Oh yes, I also have the small matter of some normal work (8 hours) to pay for the roof over my head and the vast heating bills, due to the increase in energy prices and the cold weather! Happy days!

Fairly busy weekend.

Friday was a little night out to some local hostelries, imbibing the amber nectar. From my simple tastes, I have to say that we have some of the best beers in the world, right here in Prestwich!
I also like the hostelries themselves, we have some of the funniest characters locally, and we mustn’t forget the landlords/landladies, who make it all mix together beautifully.
The usual take-away (although this time before I went out) and the chat with some locals about issues that the Council need to sort out (and I need to chase up!)

We got plenty of leaflets out; I had a good workout moving 6′ fence posts around the garden and lifting bags of stones around; I got a major shop done; wrote lots of emails; did inumerable piles of washing, and sought more information on holidays. (No, I’m not quite living the dream, but bI do enjoy some of the realities of modern living).

I should have gone horse riding, but let’s face it, the weather was not particularly conducive to spending your time on your back on the floor! i’ll wait until the weather is a bit better before taking it on….

What I did do was watch a good film - The Painted Veil is striking and sad, I strongly recommend it.

We have full Council this week; and I’ve put forward a couple of questions to the outside bodies (GM Waste re. the use of Prestwich tip and also the Fire Service re. their commitment to sprinklers). There’s another full Council meeting this month, where the budget is debated - now that one should be a little more interesting!

Heard a great joke about balloons, very clean too! Ask me when you next see me.

Checked my Council emails, and noted that there’s been a spate of burglaries where large plasma-style TV’s have been targeted. If you have one, keep it out of sight, as much as possible.

Time to sign off and watch some telly, for a change.

D

Pleasant night out, commiserating with colleagues made redundant today.

One would have thought that a bank could ensure final payment to employees they are making redundant, but no, this was too much! Nevertheless, they (the staff) all seemed to enjoy it!

On my taxi ride home (taxi was early - hoorah!) we were stopped by Police officers. I don’t know the reason, I suspect that they did him (my driver) for excess speed. The clock time was 23.41, location Bury New Road, Higher Broughton.

The police officers got very upset when I started taking notes, and asked me to return to the vehicle. Apparently, it was “Nothing to do with you”. Not please, not sir, just a curt demand for compliance. Hmmmm! Not the best way for someone to get me to comply (ask my mother/wife/friends etc.)

For fun I complied, but nevertheless took details of one officers’ number, the other refused to provide his, saying that details were upon the ticket (is this an issue for data protection, for me as a witness?)

I asked the driver to show me the ticket, as I wanted to see the officers’ number. The number was illegible. It then took a call to GMP Traffic (856 4080) which was cut off after 5.30 minutes ringing (despite assurances later that they are staffed 24/7); followed by another call to central no. (872 5050) who put me through to central control , and after I explained the issue, they then said “putting you through” without explanation to whom, and then left me on hold for 5 mins and then cut me off; I then telephoned the switch (872 5050) again, and explained exasperatedly why I did not want to be put through without explanation - they told me it was my role to explain this to the control officer!

I finally got through, and explained why I did not want to be put through to anyone, without the existing operator being present (is it any wonder police time is wasted?!?!?) The member of staff was quite helpful, but could give me no names (including hers!) but finally got me the correct number of the officer concerned.

Given the incident reported on national news last week re. police officers being impersonated, and a cash transfer house being cleaned out of £50M+ (of which Police have recovered less than half - well done chaps/chapesses) is it any wonder people want to know who and why the vehicle in which they were travelling was stopped?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many legitimate taxis (for such was I riding in) were used in illegal acts over the last 12 months? On Thursday night? In this area?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many muggings, violent acts, burglaries, domestic violence issues etc. were reported on Thursday night in that vicinity (Rialto area, Higher Broughton)?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many speeding tickets and other cautions were issued by those 2 officers to persons engaged in “otherwise” legal actions?

Maybe the number of collisions/pedestrian accidents/near misses occured in that vicinity at 11pm-12am on a Thursday night over the last 12 months? (Why were the officers there?)

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many police (of any rank) were operating in the area at that time?

Let us then compare the statistics, and judge the police upon the statistics that count TO US, not the blurb quoted by endless temporary Chief Constables learning their political skills in Bury, before being moved to scary places, such as David Anthony, and his predecessor. Yes, I know Broughton is not in Bury, but can you explain a faster route to Prestwich from Manchester at that time on a Thursday?

Maybe one for the new Chief Constable or his rep. at Safer/Stronger Scrutiny, maybe even “Budget Council”?

A final note, to help worry you to sleep - the control room spent ages before confirming they could give me no further information, after I refused to give my details. I said that they have my telephone record & number traced, so they can always call me if they need to. However, when I asked whether it made a difference if I made a complaint at some time in the future, nobody seemed to know! SO WHY ASK FOR IT?!?!?

One thing is for sure, when the LibDems run our country, the truth will (mostly) out!

Cheers,

An angry Councillor!