What does?

1. Hairs in my food
2. My cat catching squirrels all the time
3. The Tories in Bury being such control-freaks that they’ve even rearranged the mayoral ceremony so we/Labour don’t vote down their agenda tomorrow
4. The amount of self-interest & egotism in ALL politics and most politicians
5. The amount we spend on “defence” in Iraq, but we don’t have enough for proper flood defence at home
6. The fact that most things in the UK get ignored first time; done wrong second time; and re-done almost correctly at the third attempt!
7. Most people’s ignorance of their own governance arrangements & democratic forums

Distant Lands:

 I am appalled at the situation in China, and also the recent cyclone damage in Burma. The difference of attitude of the news agencies to such similar terrible natural events, and the relationship of the respective governments is surely no coincidence?

We/the US don’t like Burma’s “junta” - so they must be handling things badly. China is a very powerful nation, due to hold the Olympics this year, and they appear to be doing everything possible to save lives. Hmmmmm!

Local Stuff: 

On a local note, the planning “Local Development Framework” is now at stage 2. Bury Council are setting out their plans for development for the forthcoming few years, so your views are important - READ IT & COMMENT ON IT NOW! I will!!!

There is significant change to local parkland going on at the moment. Did you see the proposals from the Forestry Commission for Irwell Valley? It was on display at the local Clough Day - why weren’t you there? It was brilliant! Come along next year and show that WE ALL LOVE PRESTWICH!

This should be a fairly quiet time as a Cllr, but casework keeps coming (especially as a result of canvassing) and there are big decisions to be made:

• What Scrutiny Commissions to be on next year
• What other Council groups to be involved with
• Group decisions on how “politically vocal” to be next year

 These are behind-closed-doors discussions, so ’nuff said for now - more to follow soon.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on the following:

• Securing the gates to St Mary’s park & requesting an internal barrier to prevent dogs/kids going straight onto the main road, following the alterations to the lights outside the gates (top of St Annes Rd)
• Enquiring about the double yellow lines on Bury New Rd outside said park
• Reporting asbestos fly tipping (how mad can people be?!?!) - with thanks to the public for that
• Thanking our helpers individually, for stakeboards & posters, delivering leaflets etc.
• Chasing up the closure of Prestwich cash office - who/why/where/when was the decision made?
• Considering road improvement schemes for 2008/9
• Chasing up outstanding work (e.g. the partially painted M60 J17 roundabout)

On the subject of that roundabout - some numpties still can’t follow the coloured lines, so I’ve asked for much better signage coming south from Whitefield.

Also been doing loads of my own stuff:

• Sorting cars out (tax/insurance/servicing etc.)
• Gardening/weeding
• Seeing family/friends
• My will & funeral arrangements (Really! - No wonder I’m a bit grumpy at the moment!)
• Refereeing
• Playing football & going to the gym
• Walking the Pennine hills, whilst my wife & her friends did the same route on horseback
• Oh yes, and a full time job, too!!!!

Getting into the groove of this free thinking stuff now!

In days of yore, and on programs like “Last of the Summer Wine” you always see residents sweeping gutters outside t’house. What about Neighbourhood Watch groups organising occasional sweep-ups for an hour on a particular day? (rather than the TRA mass clean-ups we occasionally help with).

What about blood donors coming to council premises to do lunch-time collections from staff (will I be accused of squeezing the life-blood from our employees?!?)

I’ve been speaking to the Fire Brigade about talks on Fire Safety to the business community, given their recently revised (and confusing) strategy on commercial/industrial  fire alarms that connect to central stations. Hope to have that one up & running shortly…

What about a specific software system for managing health & safety within the Council? one that will highlight outstanding actions, so that work like un-finished pavements etc. get addressed without being left half-dug forever (yes - I’ve reported the one at the bottom of Sandy Lane!)

What about prizes for staff who provide innovations that save the Council money? We could base the prize by categories of amount saved per annum. We could include local schools or community groups in competitions, or widen it to the whole Borough?

How about insisting that all new building developments are not accepted without travel planning provision in place, for example with segregation of pedestrians & cycle routes away from roads, as you often see  in western Europe?

What about a Council website with a plan of the Borough, highlighting all public rights of way, bridleways, proposed developments etc. (I asked for this one a year ago!) You could put a search icon onto it, so you could plan your round route, a bit like walkjogrun.net?

Why not have Borough guides, with walks/day trips on the history & architecture of the Borough, assisted by heritage societies and highlighted to sports & social groups?

Blimey! I’m worn out now, with all this thinking….better go for a lie down!

Donal

I don’t often speculate on local environmental policy, but it’s good to wake early on a Saturday morning, and clean the cobwebs from you mind with a bit of free thinking.

Last night I was pretty healthy, by going to the gym after work, then to the theatre (forget the burger for tea because there was no time for anything else!) to see a double-bill of Alan Bennett plays at the Lowry in Salford. It made me realise that free thought can lead to creativity, and creativity can be thought-provoking, as the plays were (they were about Burgess & McLean - spies from the Cambridge spy ring in ’30s England).

So what could we do locally to improve energy conservation? I know the Council has an energy showhouse somewhere, but I’ve never seen it or heard much about it (I was invited once, but couldn’t go because of work commitments).

What about office-businesses appointing “energy watch-person” to identify simple savings in businesses in the Borough? (lights off at night; VDU screens off - not on standby; consider cost-benefit analysis of capturing sun & wind energy etc.?)

Council providing energy conservation officers as a free service to home-owners? Listing all available grants to tenants & residents associations, then moving onto homewatch groups, then individual residents? Presenting at Area Partnerships with ideas & cost-effective solutions?

Countryside Rangers reviewing all their tools (petrol & diesel machines) to check they are serviced to optimum levels, reducing waste?

The Council to set up an energy-watcher in each department, looking at transport arrangements; energy bills; changing to long-life bulbs; low energy requirement equipment; glazing & insulation in all their properties etc?

If we employed or trained staff internally on this, we should be able to reap back the financial (and feel-good) rewards in a short space of time. Even the charging of mobile phones, hand-drying equipment in toilets and curtains/blinds etc. could come into the equation!

I won’t post this mail until I’ve checked with Council Officers (other parties are likely to nick my ideas!) but it sounds like a winner to me!

I drive a lot of miles for my work, and I have an LPG-powered car to do it in. I bought the car and had it converted myself. The benefits are tremendous, and as long as it is well-maintained then it should give me a decent life-span at cost-effective motoring. This, together with ensuring service intervals are maintained, tyres are properly inflated, and using natural ventilation most of the time rather than air-con is part of my contribution to reducing my carbon footprint.

I admit there’s lots more I can do, and given a little time & some impetus I will do them. For now, however, I am reasonably content that I have made a start.

 Donal

Just been churning over in my head about what’s happened in the last few years, since we started getting rid of Labour Councillors in this area:

We consulted in depth about people’s wishes on “The Retreat”, and although we didn’t get exactly what we wanted, people were engaged, whether they had access to a computer or not.

We now have a “Developing Communities” group, working out the most effective ways to spend the little money we are given to maximise benefit to the people of Prestwich.

We have the Town Centre Regeneration Group, enhancing links between the people of Prestwich and the framework being developed to improve the area.

We really do speak to those who are interested in improving all aspects of Prestwich, and act upon the comments we hear back.

The one telling comment from last night’s Regeneration meeting (and I heard it several times from different people) was that the Councillors from Whitefield, Radcliffe & further north, really had NO IDEA how disastrous the “Radius” development would be. They thought it would be the catalyst for change, and it is just a “blot on the landscape” and has set us back, not forward.

What do people say to me about the Radius: 

The problem with the Radius is that it is totally out of keeping with the area. The problem is that the landlord can’t or won’t let the shops. The problem is that it blocks out the light to prevent greenery to grow in our town centre. The problem is that it perpetuates the “wind tunnel effect” (between the Library & the shops) that is so scary to the elderly. The problem is that it provides a free skate park for the kids, which annoys the hell out of the residents in the flats above. The problem is that it sits at the centre of a piece of land that needs regeneration, and any residents in the flats above can look forward to 5 years of building work & dust & dirt going on around their homes. The problem is that there are too few parking spaces. The problem is that the flats were mostly sold to the “buy to let” market, so there’s no permanent residents and no stability or neighbourliness.

So, given such comments, what should we do with it? Knock it down again? Make the most of a bad job? Complain to the developers?

The reality is, financially & legally, it would be difficult to knock it down. We’ll have to develop things around it that try to stop it looking such an eyesore, that detract your eyes away from it. Let’s hope that  the workshop last night will help to resolve the problem that is the “Radius”! If we continue to work with the people of Prestwich in the way that Labour forgot to do for so long, then the people of Prestwich will get what they want & deserve, which in my terms is, “The best, not just ‘better’!!”

Donal

Last night  I attended the Town Centre Regeneration Meeting hosted by Urbed. Cllr Vic D’Albert (Chair of the local Area Partnership) welcomed everyone, and then David Rudlan (from Urbed, the Council’s appointed consultants) began the round-table “visioning” exercises for the people present, of whom there appeared to be about 130.

It was fantastic to see so many people so animated, active, and working together to come up with a viable future for Prestwich Town Centre!

Urbed provided a Consultant for each table, to keep us all focussed, and by ‘eck, did we need it! Our table was brilliant, made up of a real mix of ages, backgrounds and experiences. Some remembered the past fondly, some wanted us to be like a new European city, some wanted a mix, and all wanted the heritage buildings to be more focal points.

I get to have my say in this town quite a lot, so I deliberately kept in the background a bit, letting everyone else get their say. It was fascinating and heartening to see so many being so passionate about our home town, or the place we work. Brilliant!

Unfortunately, I had to leave at 7pm to go to a Tenants & Residents meeting in Rainsough, primarily about the development of the shops on Chapel Rd. The Council had undertaken a study to find out what the residents wanted the units to be used for. The survey came back strongly in favour of shops, but about half the people present on the night either wanted the shops to be bricked up, or knocked down completely!

The Chairman was left in a difficult position, as people started shouting without waiting for the Chair to invite them to speak, and then when he tried to get the meeting progressed, he was accused of being rude.

When asked about the leaflets going around, I was not given an opportunity to explain that Salford Councillor, Peter Connor, had shamefully used his position for political benefit: When Labour had 3 Councillors in St Mary’s, none of them had contacted Salford Councillors to work with them on improving Rainsough estate. Richard Baum, a newly elected LibDem in Prestwich contacted Mr Connor (should that be “con-er”?) in 2007, to find out what the position was about the shops, and whether we (Bury & Salford Councils)could jointly develop them for the residents’ benefit. Mr Connor then refused to take any more of Richard’s calls, and would not return  calls. He contacted Maggie Gibb, the last remaining Labour Councillor in Prestwich, and went on a photo shoot to show his commitment to the cause! Shame on both their heads!

Back to the TRA Meeting:

The Chair closed the meeting in some disarray, and explained that the next meeting was for the election of Officers to the TRA, and he would not be standing for re-election. This is a shame, because the TRA needs a strong character as Chair to keep control in the meetings, but hopefully they’ll elect a worthy successor.

I returned to the Urbed workshop about 8.15, just as some tables were finishing. My table were still working away, but it seemed that an impasse had occured on the “new or old” question. A mild consensus was agreed, but none of the participants seemed too happy with the final results.

After the event, a couple of the chaps from the table told me about some “Linux” software, that enables input from all sources on an “open access” platform. They explained how it could work on this project, and were interested in showing it to Council Officers to get it moving - sounds good to me! One of them already works with the Council IT bosses on telephony equipment, so it may be easier to get it trialled.

I’m all for “open Government”, and as I implied in the paper last week, I trust the people of Prestwich to come up with great ideas, and firmly welcome all input. Let’s “Go For It”, as was so famously said by that post-punk band, SLF.

Onwards and upwards….

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

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!