“Should we let free market capitalism continue unabated, or should we take stock, and all take some responsibility for improving our community for all?”

Clearly, the way the piece was written, and the “liberal/social” based newspaper it was written in would give you an indication of the answer they suggested, but I have to say that I tend to agree. And that surprised me a lot!

I thought that earning a good wage, occasionally being able to splash out on something unnecessary, and aiming for the top were core elements in my make-up. I still think that a desire to win is deep in my blood (ask anyone who races me in a go-cart, or plays 5-a-side against me!), but the active participation I have enjoyed in civic life has changed my perceptions about the nature of community and the role we all have to play in it.

Morally, I feel we should almost all engage in a basic understanding of politics. This would involve it as a compulsory subject at primary & secondary school, in prisons, and in public houses. We should all be able to explain why we want to vote in a certain direction, and be able to split this from the way our forebears voted (the number of Labour voters who fail to think for themselves & simply say “My dad did!” is astonishing, and a symptom of poor education).

Do we vote socialist because our wish to see eqaulity outweighs our personal desire for wealth? Do we vote liberal because the need to ensure fairness in a political and social system exceeds all others? Do people vote conservative because their natural tendency is conserving their current advantage over others? 

How many people actually analyse why they vote a certain way? Does anyone other than a philosophy student actually consider what would be in the best interests of the locality, the region, or the nation for the long term?

What role do ethics play in this big debate, and should we strive for increased emphasis on morality (whatever your creed or beliefs), or should we simply enact more laws to prevent people over-stepping the mark? My simplistic answer is that we should use more “soft focus” emphasis to bring people to recognise the importance of their social and physical neighbours.

I mean that there should be more emphasis (in education; social gatherings of all sorts; politics; sport; newspapers and magazines; theatre, tv & the arts etc.) on the way we can altruistically improve the lot of our neighbours by the way we interact. Asking someone their opinion & taking heed of their concerns would be a good start. Less emphasis upon personal wealth, fame & celebrity status would also improve things. More emphasis upon sport for the sake of enjoyment & simply winning (and not the cash/status you get as a result of winning) would be a simple improvement.

Daley Thompson, perhaps the greatest all-round athlete these islands have produced in the modern era, is quoted as saying, “My parents believed in the value of hard work. My generation of sportspeopledidn’t train and work hard because we wanted fame or wealth. We were motivated by the thought of glory, and of doing something for our country.” Compare that view of success to the likes of any well-known Premiership footballer. I know who gets my respect and who has yet to earn it…

I am a football referee. I would ref. a game for free, because I don’t need the money, because we need fair & firm referees, and because I need the exercise. I take the £25 because it pays for my petrol to get to/from a game, because it helps to continue a disciplined mentality in the teams that play (refs. have a quantifiable value to them) and because it doesn’t undermine those refs. who do need the money. My view of football is that it is a game, not a business. Anyone who makes a living from it is lucky, and should expect that luck to change at any moment, and take it with good grace.

The likes of Alex Ferguson, Neil Warnock and all the pundits who criticise refs., but don’t have the guts to get in the middle and do it themselves, should hold their heads in shame at the way they abuse another human (I know Mr warnock does it occasionally for charity, but he still abuses refs. on a regular basis - so he should really know much better!)

I would like to see refs. on televised games stop the game when they are abused, put the microphone on to speakers in the ground and on tv, and rebuke those who abuse them, shaming them to the stands, or better still, outside the grounds (my view is that “the vicinity of the field of play” includes anywhere you can see physically the game). They could also do the same for any player who swears at them, probably reducing many games to abandonment due to fielding insufficient players (you can’t play with less than 7 on the pitch, I think!). Enough ranting - back to the main point:

So do I referee more because they need me than I need them? Not really. My need for exercise and interaction with a bunch of like-minded blokes probably comes close to giving it balance.

What about being a Councillor - is that an ethical or altruistic decision? First of all, it’s not my decision (voters choose), but my willingness to stand and the work I’ve done since being elected is generally motivated by 3 things:

1. I believe in Proportional Representation, and will not cease until this country accepts that it is the only real fair system of voting, and adopts it. The only mainstream party who advocate this are the LibDems. The more Cllrs the LibDems get, the more chance they have of being a power to change in Whitehall. So I stand for that.
2. I have the time and inclination to do the work, and a work ethic to get things done. Whilst this is at the expense of my “soft side” (empathy is not a strong point!) I feel I provide the balance that we need in the Council, which seems full of people with a soft side (including officers of Council but excluding most of the Tories, I must say!)
3. I believe I can do a better job than others. This is not being big-headed, I just feel that others may faff & fiddle, whilst my no-nonsense approach (whilst being a bit “bish-bash-bosh”) is a strength that many others do not have.

 So how do we improve civic life, and make people more “morally accountable” to themselves & others?

The framework is already in place, it’s been around for nearly a hundred years. All we need is the will to implement a sense of natural belonging and pride. The Labour Government has done as much to harm this country by it’s continuance along the Maggie mold as John Major’s before it. What has been missing is a group ideal. A joint view that what is best for all clearly overrides what is best for individuals. Sounds idealistic, I know - ubt if we don’t aim for ideals we’ll only get the pits, in my view.

Those who seek only their own benefit don’t deserve our time or adulation. The Simon Cowell’s of this world - where do they fit in? They benefit a few at the expense of the many, and in the process get hugely wealthy (and whilst he may be helping some instead of none, is this better than the alternative that could be on the tv? I think not). Andrew Lloyd Webber seems no different, simply ripping off the BBC to make his own West End show a success. So let us cut clear of these people and make tv a bit more representative, with a lot fewer “luvvies” and a lot more shows of real worth. The only way to make this happen is to stop watching car crash tv. Unfortunately, with cash pressures on producers, this won’t happen any time soon. Hopefully the internet, iPlayer, cheap books in Charity shops and home-brew beer may help an anti-crass tv resurgence!

So in terms of “Civic Life”, why don’t we all try to think a little more locally, and change what we can around us for the better, and as a combined result we’ll alter the way central govt. (of any persuasion) finances, listens to, and behaves with local govt?

This means supporting local business; attending local theatre; drinking local beer; using local “civic” facilities; demanding more from your local council; asking your national politicians what they have achieved locally, and generally taking an interest in your neighbours. It means taking heed of others’ needs; being a bit more social etc.

I’m not telling you what to do, just giving you ideas, and letting you know that I’ll try to adopt them too.

D

Posted February 1, 2010

Today at a speech to Barnado’s Nick Clegg announced one of our four key policies for the General Election campaign ahead - A Fair Start for Every Child.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today pledged to give every child a fair start in life by investing an extra £2.5bn in schools which could be used to cut class sizes, offer one-on-one tuition and provide catch-up classes.

In a speech to Barnardo’s this morning, Nick Clegg set out the Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge to introduce a Pupil Premium which would raise the poorest children’s school funding to private school levels.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said:

“One of the biggest challenges we face as a country is breaking this link between financial deprivation at home and educational under-achievement in the classroom.

“Despite all the money that has been spent by Labour, schools taking disadvantaged children aren’t getting the money they need to break this link by cutting class sizes and providing them with extra support.

“As we work our way out of this recession and rebuild a country which is fairer, we must ensure our school system gives every child a chance to fulfil their potential irrespective of their background and where they live.”

View a full copy of the speech here.

The Policy in Brief
To give every child a fair start, Liberal Democrats will spend an extra £2.5bn on schools. The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school. The cash can be used to cut class sizes and provide one-to-one tuition or catch-up classes, ensuring every child gets the individual attention they need. An average primary school could cut class sizes to 20. An average secondary school could see classes of just 16.

Why is it Necessary?
Performance at school is closely linked to children’s background. The poorest children are only half as likely to get five good GCSEs as other children. Too often, the poorest children start school already struggling and fall further behind as they grow older.

Schools taking disadvantaged children aren’t getting the money they need to cut class sizes and provide them with extra support. The existing methods for distributing deprivation related funding are confusing and inconsistent. Nearly one in three pupils entitled to Free School Meals at secondary school attend relatively affluent secondary schools. Area based targeting therefore misses a large proportion of the poorest pupils – including in many rural areas. As a result, there is a huge gap between poor children in different parts of the country: in Kensington and Chelsea, 59% of poor children get five good GCSEs, while in Rutland, it’s 14%.

Policy Detail
The Pupil Premium would be available to the school which each disadvantaged pupil attended. It would be attached to those children entitled to Free School Meals – the million poorest children. The Pupil Premium would be set nationally and it would top up a national per-pupil base funding figure. It will raise the poorest children’s school funding to private school levels, with the average school receiving around £2500 extra for every child entitled to free school meals on their roll.

Figures are available for the predicted amount of money each local authority will receive, and can be calculated for individual schools.

Costs/Savings
This policy costs £2.5bn a year, and will be introduced in the second year of the Parliament after our jobs stimulus package, paid for from savings in Government such as our proposed reforms to tax credits (which will save £1.5bn) and administrative savings in the Department for Education and quangos (which save an additional £1bn).

Last Chance to Save Heaton Park!

On Thursday, 11 February 2010, the Planning Committee of Manchester City Council, will consider the planning application from Goals Soocer Centres UK for a commercial 5-a-side soccer centre at the At Margaret’s side of Heaton Park.

Remember that these revised plans include a massive 2.4m perimeter fence around the site, as well as further fenced off car-park, going up towards the reservoir. You can view all the plans at Manchester Council’s Website.

This could well be our LAST CHANCE to save Heaton Park - this is the third time that Goals have submitted their plan, but the first that its actually made it to the agenda for a committee meeting. The recommendation from the Planning Officers is to “Approve” the report.  

We’ve had a terrific response to the campaign so far: hundreds of people have sent in objection letters and emails; signed the petitions and written to the press. Thank you for everything that people have done so far. We still need help to stop this application:

If you are available on THURSDAY afternoon, join us outside Manchester Town Hall (Albert Square side) at 1.30pm. We’ll be going into the Committee meeting (this starts at 2.00pm) together where we’ll be allowed one person to speak on our behalf. Its important that as many people as possible come along and show the strength of feeling against the proposal.

Its not too late to apply pressure to your elected representatives - MPs and Councillors. If you live in Manchester please email your councillor telling them how strongly you oppose the application and ask them to represent you. You can automatically email all your councillors by entering your postcode at this website. If you live in either Bury South or Manchester Blakeley Parliamenary constituencies why not email your MP telling them how strongly you feel?
Bury South - Ivan Lewis MP (Labour): ivanlewis@burysouth.fsnet.co.uk
Manchester Blackley - Graham Stringer MP (Labour): Link to email

Carry on keeping up the pressure: - tell your friends - if you’re on facebook copy this message to your friends - if you use twitter - tweet about this! - use any opportunity in the press, or in internet discussion sites to object to the proposals. Follow these links to the Planning Committee agenda and the actual report.
Agenda

Report 

Keep up the campaign!

Tim Pickstone
Local Councillor (Holyrood Ward, Prestwich,  Bury MBC)
www.timpickstone.net
twitter.com/timpickstone ]]> http://donalohanlon.mycouncillor.org.uk/2010/02/08/heaton-park-notes-from-tim-pickstone/feed/ http://donalohanlon.mycouncillor.org.uk/2010/02/04/full-council-written-answers-as-suggested-by-council-officers/ http://donalohanlon.mycouncillor.org.uk/2010/02/04/full-council-written-answers-as-suggested-by-council-officers/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:41:11 +0000 donalohanlon http://donalohanlon.mycouncillor.org.uk/2010/02/04/full-council-written-answers-as-suggested-by-council-officers/ Questions of interest (to me, anyway!) asked, followed by their proposed answers: 

Question from Mr A Wentworth   

Why is the Executive Council Member responsible for Health and Well-being, making no public attempts to extol the Health and Well-being benefits plus savings to the NHS, the Longfield Suite provides to the residents of Bury. 

R 

It is widely acknowledged that all our Civic Venues provide a range of activities which foster health and well being, but we cannot ignore the financial realities of using taxpayer’s money to subsidise these venues to the tune of £600,000 a year.  We have to look at what alternatives are available that would retain the strong links with local communities but not require large ongoing unfunded subsidies. 

The Task and Finish Group is currently undertaking a wide-ranging consultation to enable a full range of views as possible to be gathered as part of its work.  The wide range of dance activity, and the benefits of that to the individuals who visit the Civic Venues, is already understood by the Task and Finish Group, and this will be considered as part of its work. 

Q         Could the Leader inform me:- 

i)                    What teething problems were encountered in changing the refuse collection rounds?ii)                  Have they been resolved?iii)                How much money do you anticipate saving in a financial year?iv)               How many fewer staff are involved in collecting?v)                 How much money has been spent so far on agency staff? 

A 

         You will all have received the answer that was provided in response to Cllr Smith’s very similar question at the last Council meeting. 

Due to the weather conditions and the need to suspend both residual and recyclate collections in recent weeks, it is not possible to isolate issues solely to the changes in the collection rounds.  Therefore, I cannot provide an answer in respect of the cost of agency staff that can be compared on a like for like basis. 

Q         A series of recommendations for the improved efficiency and use of Civic Halls was made in a Best Value Review in 2007. The Leader is on record as saying that he could not act on these recommendations due to the balanced Council which existed at the time. What are his exact reasons for coming to this view? 

A         As I recall it was clear from the outcome from Scrutiny’s deliberations that more work was to be done on the whole future of Civic Venues.  How could any Member reach any decision in the absence of a clear strategy for Civic Venues?  It was Cllr Connolly as Chair of the scrutiny panel who ordered a further review. 

Under this administration that review has been completed.  I am sure Cllr D’Albert and his Lib Dem colleagues will agree that we cannot continue to ask Council Tax payers to pump in - year on year over £600,000 in subsidies. 

Q         Can the Leader explain what additional and/or emergency provision will be provided for the repairs to the roads of this Borough, following the damage caused by two consecutive snow-bound winters? 

A.        To date we have received no additional/emergency financial provision to repair damage to the Councils highways after the recent adverse weather. As we identify the extent of the problem from a financial perspective, consideration may have to be given to reprioritising areas of spend to address the matter.      Remediation work has begun by a specialised team. 

Q         Can the Leader explain to the governors, staff & pupils of Butterstile Primary School their policy in relation to clearing snow around this school, to enable the continuing education of the children, and whether or not said policy was enacted and effective? 

A         The access roads to this school are not on the priority gritting routes although the adjacent roads,

, both are. 

There are over 70 schools within the Borough.  To include all of these on gritting routes would require a significant increase in resource.  It is not within the policy to grit around schools although we are considering options to provide grit bins to all schools for them to have the opportunity to undertake some gritting themselves. 

Q         What lessons have been learned so far from the Council’s           response to the recent severe winter weather? 

A         As you are aware the Current Winter has been the worst for some 30 years and as such has presented problems for the Winter Gritting Services.  The Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Commission has requested a report to their March meeting detailing actions taken and possible improvements to the current Winter Maintenance Operational Plan.  The Scrutiny Commission may make recommendations on how to deal with weather conditions similar to this in the future but we must not lose sight of the fact there is not a limitless budget for winter maintenance and setting priorities must be an integral part of the decision making process.  I would however commend the staff who have been out undertaking the services in extremely difficult and hazardous conditions. 

Q         Can the Leader advice specifically how many personnel from which departments were involved in clearing snow from which areas on which days. It is the view of many of my constituents that it would appear from the results in Prestwich that the response to specific issues as they arose, for instance around the Longfield Centre, was inadequate.  

A         During the severe weather, many employees from across Highways, Parks and Cleansing were unable to carry out their normal duties. 

They were switched to snow clearance duties on footways, shopping precincts, footways adjacent to health and emergency service facilities, cemeteries and the like, in accordance with areas identified in the Winter Maintenance Plan. 

Unfortunately it is not possible to provide the detail request by Councillor Garner.  More attention was applied to allocating the teams to key areas and managing service requests than to logging numbers, locations and times. 

So basically, they are not willing to admit that they put everyone into

Q         Could the leader tell us the approximate time for street lights to be repaired after being reported as not working? Is there any preference given to lights on A roads / streets or lights in our local parks? Does the Council’s performance meet government targets for the speed of street light repairs and how do we compare to other Authorities? 

A         There are two different standards for repair of street lights dependant upon whether it is within the Councils control or it is an electricity supply fault.  The former was in the past a national indicator but is now a local one.  The average time for us to repair a fault that is our responsibility last year was 4.82 Days.  Currently this year we are averaging 4.23 Days.  The target in the Street Lighting Code of Practice is 5 days for most types of routine faults.  The electricity is supplied by United Utilities who have a target of 15 working days to repair a supply fault.  However this is not statutory and whilst doing their best, street lighting is a lower priority than house and business faults that need repairing.  Last year they averaged 15.86 days to fix an outage and this year they are averaging 10.03 Days. 

So it appears it has nothing to do with Mr Grosskopf of Sedgley, and a lot to do with the efficiency of our Engineers and Streetcare Inspectors!!! (Oh, and Local Councillors alerting the Council to problems as they pass by whilst delivering their Focus leaflets! 

Q         Will the Leader of the Council please explain why no action was taken to implement changes at the Borough’s Civic Suites following the production of a report by Bury MBC in October 2007 that highlighted the suites needed improvements in advertising, website capability and more modern box office facilities? 

A         As I recall it was clear from the outcome from Scrutiny’s deliberations that more work was to be done on the whole future of Civic Venues.  How could any Member reach any decision in the absence of a clear strategy for Civic Venues?  It was Councillor Connolly as Chair of the scrutiny panel who ordered a further review. 

Under this administration that review has been completed.  I am sure Councillor Shori and his Labour colleagues will agree that we cannot continue to ask Council Tax payers to pump in - year on year over £600,000 in subsidies. 

Q         As there is no direct bus route from Bury New Road Prestwich to Bury, is the council going to urge its representatives on the GMITA to lobby the bus companies to provide one? 

A         Thank you for your question. As this is an issue that the GMITA should respond to can I ask that Councillor Baum passes his concerns to Councillor Creswell who, as the Councils spokesperson, can forward the issues to the GMITA. 

I think this adequately shows Cllr. Bibby’s lack of concern for the electorate, and disproves any idea that he may have an ounce of a clue about how to improve public transport in our communities. But why would it bother him? He had his new Lexus delivered to the town hall car park during the negotiations on employee pay – how sensitive! Oh yes, and he lives in Bacup, so wouldn’t have need of public transport in Bury! 

Q         Can the Leader explain who is responsible for the purchasing and proof-testing of gritting wagons, fitted with sophisticated (& presumably expensive) satellite navigation monitoring, which failed to provide the data promised, and enabled the practice of “ghost gritting” in many areas of this Borough? 

A.        At the outset, I would strenuously contest Councillor Garner’s comment about ‘ghost gritting’.  We do not and have not used such a practice. The Department leases its gritting vehicle fleet and this year purchased satellite navigation equipment for each of the vehicles (at a total cost of £3,500). 

Unfortunately the equipment, whilst in place, is still being developed and refined to provide us with accurate feedback on the routes, locations and timing of grit runs.  Once it is up and running, we will have excellent detail and data on which to base future decisions. 

On occasion some of the priority routes were not accessible even to a gritting vehicle either due to the conditions or because of congestion.  It is also important to note that the spreading of grit does not always provide an instant result in improving conditions.  Grit is only effective in certain conditions and changes in temperatures of only a few degrees can render recently spread grit as ineffective. 

So we bought something that doesn’t work, but we’ll have it ready by the summer – very useful on a gritting wagon! This is the kind of clever strategy and operation you get with a Tory Council! And over 4% Council Tax to pay for it too! (Oh – or was that Bob Bibby’s office refurbishment you paid for? He spent nearly four times more on that than he did on the sat-nav equipment for the gritting wagons!) 

GMITA:Cllr Richard BaumA number of people in my ward were forced to walk several miles home from

Deputy Borough Commander Pete Stevenson, who led our team, was designated as Operations Commander for the

Full Council 3.2.10: 

Last night I attended Full Council - mostly boring stuff with the occasional glimmer of hope. The only public question was asked by Alf Wentworth about Civic Suites, the health benefits of dancing, and the importance the Longfield plays in keeping people out of hospital via it’s very frequent dances. The Executive Member for Healthier Communities (Bev Sullivan - she may be up for election this year, hint hint!) gave a fairly bland answer, and on we went (The Tories took away people’s rights to ask additional questions, and ones that hadn’t been scribed in blood and submitted four decades before the meeting!).

There were no recommendations from the Executive, and in the Leader’s statement he referred to the excellent work of the EET Highways Scrutiny Sub-Committee (chaired by yours truly) and mentioned me in despatches four or five times. This was in an attempt to blame me for the failure of his Council to cope adequately during the recent poor weather.

 So - what did my Sub Group do to deserve such praise?

We studied the 127-page “Winter Service Policy & Operational Plan”, and put it forward to the full EET Scrutiny Committee as a sound document. The policy outlines the legislation we must adhere to; a statement of intent; explains the road hierarchy; routes; priorities for keeping clear; salting & snow clearance practice; where we get our weather data from; response times; the decision-making process; performance monitoring; equipment to be used; how many grit bins we have and where; fuel stocks; what the rate of salt spread should be; includes individual route plans; information on treatment of footpaths etc.

The document is sound (given the dire financial state of the Borough announced every year since the year dot!), and we put it forward to the Full EET Committee subject to the proviso that further investigation work be done by taking it to Local LAP’s for the public to add comments about where else they wanted gritting, grit bins etc. and why. This was done in December, and as far as I can tell, absolutely nobody in Prestwich put forward any written recommendations (although I stand to be corrected if someone did - that info. dates from about 15th Jan).

The problem was that most people would say it was not put into practice. So, what specifically can we say did not occur?

Well, to do that we need to review the Operational Plan against the performance data that should have been collected. Unfortunately, the sat-nav units didn’t work, because some edgit located them in the engine bay, and it would seem that nobody checked after installation that a signal was being received! So we can’t tell where the trucks were.

So what about rate of spread - surely that data can be analysed? Again, this would appear not to be the case, as the measurement is based on the moving element of the unit, and does not check the data against the amount in the truck or hopper by weight. This means that the practice I call “Ghost Gritting” (flashing lights, lots of noise, but nothing useful coming out of it - a bit like the Tory Party in Bury who run the Council!), witnessed by so many residents of Prestwich, has no appropriate checks & balances. Thus, we can’t say how much salt was laid, we can only tell that from the fact that the bulk storage nearly ran out.

And the questions we were going to ask about the “winter service plan” (mine was about the area around Butterstile School) were not allowed to be asked because we timed-out once more (my question was eighth on the list). However, they do have to be answered in writing, so I’ll add them when I get them.

Questions that were put and got a response (although I think in NO case did an “answer” appear!) included the following:

1. What went wrong with the refuse collection service & how much cash did we save by this cock-up change?
2. Why did the “balanced council” in 2007 prevent the Leader from taking action on the Civic Suites during 2007?
3. What’s the progress at Whitefield Town Hall?
4. Are we going to get more £ for road repairs as a result of the second consecutive bad winter?
5. What’s the Council doing about gee’ing up the PCT into action about the Whitefield Health Centre?
6. If a General Election is on the same day as the Council Elections, will the count for the latter occur the following day? (we got a straight answer to this, because it is not a decision that can be taken by anyone from a political background - “yes”!)
7. Is the Bury times correct about the “out of court settlement” offer announced in the Bury Times, and why was “Trev the Union Man” informed by this method instead of via an internal email/conversation etc?

There were then 2 motions, one by us about Police Funding, and one by Labour about Employee Pay. Ours succeeded in gaining the full support of all those present (albeit with an amendment by Labour), and the Labour one failed.

Questions to “Joint Authorities” (police/fire/transport etc.) followed a brief report by the Councillor on the police board, but my questions again couldn’t be put because despite the Deputy Leader (Yvonne Creswell) saying she was going to be brief in answering Richard Baum’s question about the failure of the Metrolink during the bad weather, she then blabbed on about “the weather was not confined to us, it was all ‘over the country…” - as if we hadn’t noticed!?! At this point I was bored & fed-up: The football was over, there was nothing of interest being said, and we all wanted to go home. I asked the Mayor to ask Yvonne to get to the point so we could get on, and the Mayor brought proceedings to a close! (Deos that count as another win for us?)

Save Our Suite:

At a meeting this week a few changes were made to the make-up, and decisions about what to do next were made. Labour & us are in accord, and it seems we have support from Cllrs Wiseman & Redstoone from the Tories too.

The “consultation questionnaire” is out, and it is the weakest, most lily-livered piece of crud I’ve seen in ages! There are no clear questions, so how they can draw reasonable conclusions from it are beyond me - I am sure the appropriateness of this will be brought into question. MAKE SURE YOU ALL COMPLETE IT!

HEATON PARK “GOALS SOCCER” ZONE:

I have written an email to the Officer responsible for this process at Manchester Town Hall, and asked for it to be dispersed amongst the Councillors on the Planning Committee there. Some of it can be seen in a previous posting below.

I have had a discussion with St Monica’s Head Teacher about it too, and will be sending him a copy of the full email which goes into more detail. I must repeat - I am not against the facilities, I am against their particular siting (at the furthest edge away from Manchester) where almost all the negative factors will affect the people of Prestwich, and all the positive factors (discounted access etc.) will be for the people of Manchester.

‘Nuff said! D

Sir,

Please register my comments as a formal objection to this proposal, and forward on to ALL members of your Planning Committee, please.

Whilst I am not against the development of a sports facility (I would normally welcome such), the location and layout are incompatible with the surrounding area. My main objections are as follows:

• Proximity to neighbouring dwellings is too close for this type of activity
• Noise & light pollution to neighbours
• Increase in demands placed upon adjacent roads will be excessive at peak times (despite the opinions of Highways Officers!)
• Detriment to the visual amenity, due to the introduction of fencing, new buildings and artificial playing surfaces (recent improvements to perimeter wall should be enjoyed by all from both sides)

There was a lot more in the letter, but don’t want to bore you!

D

Litter bins, brken steps, dangerous pot holes, littering, disability access, grit bins, waste collection etc.

I also managed to get some training on access to heating grants and other stuff through the Council, so if you need info. give me a call, I can point you in the right direction.

The Save Our Suite campaign is now warming up after the snow-bound 3.5 weeks in December/Jan, and there are meetings coming up of Highways Scrutiny, Full Council, a parliamentary reception to attend whilst in London, Tenants & Residents meetings and more. Looking forward to it all now!

Bury Council has finally launched their formal consultation on the future of the Longfield Suite, Radcliffe Civic Suite and other threatened Bury Community centres.

Now is the time to act, whether you have signed the petition or not, if you care about the future of our local community centres then it is crucial that you complete a consultation form.

Forms are being circulated and are available in Council buildings and the Civic suites themselves. The consultation can also be completed online here .

Don’t forget to let Bury Council know what you think, don’t forget to tell all you contacts about the consultation.

Don’t leave the future of our community centres to someone else, act now!   

This was how we expressed our dissatisfaction with the way the Tory Deputy Leader allowed the Prestwich Local Area Partnership (PLAP) Manager to be shipped to Whitefield, and her opposite number be shipped to us.

Disguised under an “Officer” decision (it had to be approved by the Dep. Leader - Yvonne Creswell) there was no reason, no justifiable cause, and no sense to the move. Both employees were against it, all the “Partners” of Bury Council were against it, all the Councillors were against it, and yet Yvonne Creswell did it because she wanted to (or was it because she wanted the Tory-controlled Whitefiled LAP to get some of the Carran O’Grady magic?)

Anyway - welcome to Rose De, the new PLAP Manager - I’m sure she’ll do a great job and work very hard.

Today is Farmer’s Market day, and terrible weather probably won’t stop the people of P/w coming to it, it may just encourage them not to hang about too long! I’ll be there later this afternoon.

Last week (w/c 11.1.10) was EET on Tuesday (more later); casework on Wednesday; Conservation Group Thursday; helping a friend with her CV on Friday. This week was Planning Tuesday, Bolton LibDem Exec Wednesday (couldn’t make it due to work); PLAP on Thursday; Footy on Fri followed by a few scoops. I missed Pizza & Politics last night, but delivered a bottle of plonk for the raffle that didn’t occur. I was at a friend’s 30th B/d bash in town. Town was rammed, with no parking, roads a nightmare & people drunk everywhere (United won 4-0; X-Factor or something on at the Arena; other stuff going on incl. roadworks!)

More catch-up later…

Posted January 20, 2010

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will today use a new and social media initiative co-hosted by the UK Youth Parliament to launch the party’s youth jobs manifesto pledge.

On the day that new statistics show the number of young people unemployed for more than six months has doubled in two years, Nick Clegg will announce the party’s plans using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The proposals would ensure young people do not spend more than 90 days on Jobseekers Allowance before they get more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme.

Today’s announcement forms the next step in the Liberal Democrats’ economic stimulus and job creation package. The plans will invest almost £900m in increasing the number of further education places, giving students financial support to return to college and creating a paid internship scheme.

Nick Clegg said:
“Young people feel cheated by this recession. Everyone knows someone who has recently left college or university with hopes of starting a career only to find they cannot even get on the lowest rung of the job ladder. We must help them now or they will be left behind in any recovery.

Our promise of more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme will give hope to the nearly one million young people who currently can’t find a job. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter play just as important a role as TV or newspapers in young people’s lives. Politicians can’t ignore new and social media if they want to connect with the next generation of voters.”

More information on the plans below:

This plan forms part of the Liberal Democrats’ economic stimulus and job creation package. In our first year in office we will redirect over £3.6bn of spending to creating jobs and building up Britain’s infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

We will invest almost £900million in creating opportunities to help young people who are unemployed gain the skills and experience to move back in to work.

The 90 day promise
Under our proposals a young person would not claim Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) for more than three months without taking up training, a job or an internship. If they did not, they would be fast-tracked onto a welfare-to-work programme such as the Flexible New Deal. At the moment a young person waits 12 months before being referred to a back to work programme which is too long.

Paid Internships
We will support young people while they get valuable work experience by paying anyone undertaking an internship a ‘training allowance’ of £55 a week (£5 more than JSA). This will help employers who want to offer young people work experience but cannot afford to pay them. We envisage that young people will do this for up to 3 months and receipt of the allowance will be dependent on attendance.

We will work with employers in the private and public sectors to ensure that there are a wide range of opportunities available.

More foundation degree places
We will fund up to 15,000 more college-based foundation degree places over the next academic year. Foundation degrees focus on a particular job or profession and are the equivalent of two thirds of a full honours degree. They are fully flexible qualifications which allow students to study part-time or full-time to fit their lifestyle.

Financial help to go back to college
We will increase the Adult Learning Grant which is a means-tested benefit for 18-24 year olds studying their first level 2 or 3 qualifications (GCSE or A Level equivalent). We will increase the payments by £15 a week to £45 to provide young people who are eligible with a real choice between improving their skills and claiming Jobseekers Allowance.

Funding
The economic stimulus package to create a fair and balanced economy with sustainable growth is funded by redirecting government spending. This includes removing Tax Credits from higher earners (£700m), scrapping the intercept modernisation program (£150m), restricting growth in the Train to Gain budget (£375m), scrapping the Child Trust Fund (£370m), cutting the Highways Agency Major Improvements Budget (£1,080m) and the introduction of a 10% banking levy (£1,000m). In the first year of the new Parliament, the party would redirect this £3.6bn of spending to create jobs and build up Britain’s infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

Haiti:

My heart goes out to those in Haiti who have lost their family, friends, homes, businesses and hope. The actions of governments and charities the world over is to be commended, but we have to ask why on earth it took so many days for search teams to get onto the ground, and why food, water & medical supplies still aren’t in the areas needed? We all know that the aid began arriving at the airport the following day, but it was another 2-3 days before there was even any word of professional search teams getting out into the worst-hit areas. How many people can survive under a collapsed building without food & water for 96 hours?

It is a poor reflection when the Aussie TV reporters pull a child from the rubble, and we know of no reports of international search teams doing the same. How come reporters can get onto the ground the next day, but the “helpers” can’t?

This isn’t criticism, a simple observation that many have made, and one that I put to my sister who works for a major international charity. She couldn’t answer, but I hope that those in charge try to do so to improve such responses for the future.

Local Snow:

Ok, the country was hit by heavier snow than we’ve had in 3 decades, nearly. However, the response was dismal again, as it always seems to be in Britain.

In Bury, gritters were witnessed to be “ghost gritting” before the directive from central govt. to conserve grit stocks. (Ghost gritting is the practice of sending gritting wagons out with lights flashing but not actually dropping any grit). My investigations have indicated that this may be  a widespread issue across the North West to act as a pacifying or “placebo” effect to the public.

Interestingly, despite the promises of SatNav controlled trucks to track & identify the exact location of the gritters at all times, I am now told that this didn’t work all the time because of where the aerials were located. Did nobody check this when we paid for the equipment to be fitted to the trucks?!?!

I actually enjoyed the snow, because the roads were clearer of heavy traffic, I got the chance to walk places rather than drive all the time (an issue of time & tasks to complete rather than preference), and the area looked cleaner than it has done in decades!

Further, I got to drive Jo’s mini, which was quite fun when she wasn’t with me in the car to worry! She spun it 180 degrees on Lowther Road on Friday, trying to stop on black ice as there was a 3-car pile-up in front of her. She went up the hill to stop vehicles coming round the blind bend and adding to the carnage, and when I commented how “publicly-spirited” this was of her (she stood there for an hour in the rain, stopping traffic ’til the police arrived) she corrected me by explaining that she didn’t want anybody to smash into her cute mini! Hmmm….

The point to learn for the Council is that we now have a 3-vehicle & 1 bicycle RTA on the stretch of road which narrows, which makes the stats look much worse, and hopefully requiring further road improvements to Lowther Road. It should also mean that the Council should provide more grit here, and those people nicking the road grit for their drives should be a bit more ashamed that they contributed to this carnage. (Yes, I too took grit, but it was for the dangerous parts of Lowther Close, not just personal use!)

DNA Database:

Figures obtained by the LibDems prove that for every single person removed from the police DNA database, another 250 are added. The UK Labour Govt. are still adding innocent people to a database of people, despite the European Courts ruling that the practice is illegal.

Add to this the outrageous numbers on “stop & search”, and the new “whole-body x-ray” at airports, and it really does feel like we are living in a totalitarian police state. Even the local Council gets in on the act, it was reported that Bury has 104 people entitled to enter homes without a warrant, 3 times the number of nearby Trafford, who are a larger Council! We have bin tagging, more CCTV per head of population than anywhere else in the western world, and yet we still don’t feel safe - could it be that the Government is twisting our thoughts towards fear, so we don’t start looking at how bad they really are?

Rubbish TV:

The poor weather probably meant that I stayed in more than I normally would, and I bought a TV (only the second in our house!) so probably watched a bit more over the last month than I previously had. It was dire!

Reality & D-list celebrity dancing, singing, skating and slobbing comprises most prime-time shows. Add to this innane cop, ambulance, and town-centre binge-watching, and it’s no wonder we don’t seem to mind the CCTV cameras!

Why don’t more people just turn it off, and either listen to a talk radio show whilst doing something useful, or take a hobby to prevent the crass getting into their heads?

Football:

I’ve played and reffed very little recently - it keep getting called off. However, I plan to do quite a bit more to work up my fitness for the elections, and also to give my energy levels a boost, as they’ve been sapped by over-indulgence in all things bad over Christmas!

City are doing well, United are stuttering, Liverpool are abysmal, and Arsenal & Chelsea play the nicest flowing footy in the Premiership at present (unfortunately!). I wonder what further acquisitions Mancini will make this month? A couple of clever midfielders and a spare defender or two wouldn’t go amiss. We’re too close to the cup derby match to make a difference now, but I hope he continues to strengthen the squad.

Bury are doing well, I hope to be able to get to a couple of games shortly, but it’s another thing in my wish list, where time is the biggest problem!

Donal & IT:

OK - never got those pics downloaded (see last blog). I loaded the camera s/ware, and connected the camera, but the pc doesn’t even see the camera, no idea why! I’ve tried different cables and stuff, perhaps it’s because previously I loaded pics via my smart printer. Maybe have to go for a new printer (last one went back to my previous employers when I left).

I’m also getting to grips with my new work Blackberry. It’s ok, but when I get a message that a meeting’s cancelled, I won’t believe it in future!!!

Much of the casework I now get is via email or phone, very few letters. It’s much nicer to get them, but I understand how much easier it is to deal with something instantly.

Enough for now, I’ve got household chores, post, and emails to the Council to write!

Bloomin’ everywhere again today! 6-7″ (more than 30cm in new money) fell last night. Another 2-3″ fell today, and once more I was snowed in at home, along with many others (in their homes, not at mine!!!).

I was up early and went to dig out the drive/road for the fourth time of recent weeks. I soon realised how futile that would be on my own, so went back inside and got out my old ski clothes. Jo & I walked up to Prestwich (giving me a chance to get some great photos - see below I hope), but the meeting was postponed whilst the other party battled the weather. I nipped up to my mum’s whilst we waited, had a brew, and gave everyone a laugh as I strode around unashamedly in my long-johns (I got them 20+ years ago for my eldest sister’s wedding, and they still fit!). No photos of that, you’ll be glad to know!

We then went back to the village, had our meeting, and walked home via the bakery to get some barms for lunch. I got back in about 11ish, then sat down to log onto work computer, but my Blackberry kept bleeping so I didn’t get logged on for ages -the wonders of technology!

I must say Prestwich looked lovely before it went slushy, and although I tried to help a couple of cars, I did wonder how essential most of the journeys actually were. I saw all sorts of cars - the funniest was a Merc sports trying to go up a hill - that didn’t really deserve any assistance! Lots of smug 4×4 drivers tootling about, but then think about it, virtually everone else got a snow day and they had to cover! And all year round they pay bigger fuel bills! (I still wanted one today when I saw my neighbour buzzing here & there in his marvellous British-made one, though!)

Gritting:

Look, we’ve had the worst snow for nearly 30 years  -what do you expect? Bury has 5 gritting wagons, driven by the bin-lorry drivers. Would you rather they crashed £100k bin-waggons or gritted the major routes?

The grit-wagons are high-tech and the amount of grit put down depends on speed, depth of snow, forecasted snow, temperature and loads of other factors. I’ve read the policy (which is under review now - pass your comments to me) and it seems sensible enough. We simply don’t have the people, trucks or money to grit all the hills, slopes and pavements that we all (yes, me included!) would like to see gritted. Blame Labour & the Tories for it - we haven’t ruled this Country in a lifetime, so it must be them who starve Local Councils of the cash to provide a decent service! Oh, so that means you should also vote for us in the forthcoming General & Local elections, which all 3 major plus some minor parties have already started campaigning on.

See next post for photos - I have to re-boot the computer to get the software running properly.

Oh, HAPPY NEW YEAR! And I hope it’s happy, healthy and prosperous for you and me!

D

A long December, with the pleasure and increased concentration of starting a new job and trying to work out what’s critical, what’s important, and what’s trivial.

I’ve had a bit of travel, trying to meet the movers and shakers, and understand what goes on where. I’ve also been meeting my team in their various locations, understanding how they like to work, and what motivates them etc.

In the Council during December I had meetings of Planning; Economy, Environment & Transport “Highways” Sub-Committee which I chair; LibDem Council Group; Full Council. In one week I had 5 meetings on Mon-Wed evening, plus met Nick Clegg in Rochdale on the Thursday and went Christmas Shopping the last Friday before Christmas, and still got to the pub by 9.30pm! Not every week is like that, I’m glad to say, although it keeps me active & away from the telly!

The work of the Save Our Suite continues, and we’re planning additional campaigns for the new year, more to follow…

I’ve had a lovely Christmas, and am looking forward to a hectic and exciting new year, I hope you are too.

Execution in China: 

I woke this morning to the news that the mentally-ill former London taxi driver was executed in China. It saddens me, because it was clearly more a political gesture than as a punishment for this individual. It was also a sombre reminder of how far China have yet to travel in terms of hman rights, but it sends a very strong warning to those planning to travel there for nefarious reasons. I greatly wish that I had written to China’s leaders to plea for clemency, as I often do in campaigns for Amnesty International. Instead I was over-indulging in fun, eating & drinking. I don’t want to turn into (assuming I’m not already!) a political bore (or boor), but I suppose one of my New Year’s Resoutions will be to be more aware of international and historical issues.

Christmas Cards:

This year I sent fewer than ever. This was both due to a lack of planning, time, effort and interest in such greetings, but also because they now seem rather anachronistic in an age where “reducing carbon footprint” seems to be the buzz-phrase of the last year and new decade. I did buy charity cards, and wrote many & sent some (late), but I suppose I question their relevance & importance and was far less interested in sending them this year.

So I apologise if you didn’t get one from me, again - I’ll try harder next year!

Overspending, Over-indulging, and great presents:

I spent a little more than I planned this year, but mainly because the prices of the presents for my nephews & neices seem to have almost doubled in a year (clothes are more expensive the bigger they get!). I have spent virtually nothing on myself, although Jo & I bought ourselves a second telly, as we only have one in the house and it can be difficult when we both want to watch something different at the same time. Jo usually gets her way, but there are one or two things I really enjoy, such as a good film, an anti-establishment program (Top Gear as an “anti-green” campaign?) or something amusing like “Yes Minister” or “Question Time”.

I have over-eaten un-healthily, and certainly imbibed more alcohol than a quack would say was good for me, but these things can be remedied quickly in the new year with a tummy bug and a bit of will-power, matched with a hectic schedule and a pile of goods from Boots, to help me look better than I probably deserve! It’s certainly obvious to a man of forty that he’s reached “tipping point” when he gets more facial creams for Christmas than he does electrical goods! Thanks everyone!

The last two days I have spent much longer than is usual in the bathroom, trying to work out in what order these unguents should be applied, but my face feels smoother (if plumper) than before Christmas. Some promise results in 4 weeks, I will take a photo now and let you know the results in 4 weeks, assuming I remember.

Some of the best presents are not for stretching the skin but the mind. My mother-in-law bought the Andrew Marr book which preceded the recent TV series, ” A History of Modern Britain” about the period from 1900 to then end of WWII. I’ve started it and it seems a very interesting read. I’m also reading a few other books at the moment, one of which is JB Priestley’s “English Journey” - a tour of rambling the English landscape & towns during the autumn of 1933, which fits in quite nicely (Thanks to a local Charity Shop).

I got Rush “Chronicles”, which charts the band’s sylistic changes over the decades, and will probably get an album by Journey in the sales. I’ve gradually turned to “Rock” sice I’ve been listening to Mrs Sweeney’s lad more (since the demise of “The Rev” last year I’ve needed a fix of an indie radio station, but the nearest I could get was Rock Radio or XFM). As a result I’ve been listening to more old rock, my preference is for “prog rock” and early 80’s, before the rise of the tousled “stadium rock” of the mid-80’s. It reminds me of 1980, when my mate Rob used to lend me tapes of soem of his faves (I’m sure his sister Denise lent them him!)

Housing Crisis?

Is it me, or has there been a massive increase in the numbers of beggars in Manchester over Christmas? I very much doubt that this many people are without shelter, and that many are begging as a means of “job”. Given my previous paragraph about presents received, my over-indulgence etc. this may seem cruel, but I would like to know what the figures are, and whether the numbers begging reduces as the amount of “Christmas goodwill” subsides?

I have also noticed the begging in Prestwich village tunnel, and have reported that to the police and the Council (issues over land ownership, I was told!). A few people have told me that they feel intimidated, and that they don’t feel the beggars are local, so must be from an organised group. I don’t know the validity of that, but from the homeless figures and assistance I see the Council providing, it seems there is virtually nobody without shelter in the Borough, and therefore no need for begging. I will be continuing to press for more investigation and action to prevent public begging, which is not necessary given the amounts of social assistance available in 21st Century Britain.

I do buy the Big Issue, but that is a case of the person showing willing to impprove their circumstances, and provides me with interesting reading material whilst benefitting the vendor. A tricky subject, and one which most politicians would avoid in their blogs, I suspect!

Anyway, need to go now - got real work to do, and need to change the terrible album I’m listening to now (The best of “A Flock of Seagulls” - it’s a short album!)

D

So, most recent of all we had the Link around the Longfield on Sunday. A great turnout, with TV cameras and radio interviews, local press and more. It will be interesting to see how much makes it into the press. I was on Radio Manchester on Sunday morning, talking about the “review”, but I sounded like I’d had 5 cigars beforehand (I had a stinking cold - not well enough to go to the mayoral ball at guess where - The Longfield!) I was disappointed not to see more people there, but as the momentum of the campaign grows, we’ll see the numbers increase. It was good to see a couple of Tories present - despite what the press and other Councillors say about Peter Redstone, I’ve always found him pleasant and amusing company, if a little “non-PC” at times. I suspect many blokes would say the same, the problem is that there are not enough “blokey-types” sitting on the Council benches - how many would you find down your local boozer having a pint, and how many would be looking down their snooty snouts sipping a gin fizz in a crass party meeting, never meeting those whose cash pays their way in life?

What else? Oh yes - there was a little cafuffle about my questions following last full Council, I think some people want apologies from me, and some of us want answers, I suspect neither will be satisfied any time soon.

The National politician scandles continue - Tony B liar will probably have to face a bunch of his former colleagues in parliamentary scrutiny, tonight’s TV had a fun look at Hazel Blears’ lack of answers about her home flipping, and the various papers keep digging up new Tory peers corrupt practices (morally, if not yet proved legally!). Keep bringing it on I say - the only way we’ll get either the Tories or Labour to accept a new voting system is to weaken them so substancially at election time that they have no option but to accept electoral reform to imply that they have a “mandate” for their policies.

What I’ve been up to recently, in local politics:

Economy, Environment & Transport Scrutiny - the other Councillors are often exasperated by my interminable questions, but it’s because I read their reports and ask about the validity of their information. Last week we had Cllr Iain Gartside (who is also one more Tory I quite like, but there are only 2 more, so that’s ok!) bringing a report about the development of a team to improve “procurement” (”purchasing” to a normal bloke) and how they get departments to reduce their spending and target savings. So naturally I asked what that department saved on, and what their target was - oops! It’s not yet been developed. That’ll be another sensible Tory idea then?

Street lighting spending also came up, but I can’t talk about that for legal reasons (although I’m not allowed to be told what those are, I believe!)

We discussed the removal of the 95 bus serevice. It transpired nobody in the Council knew what the process was to delete a bus route (well nobody present at a Scrutiny Commission where this was a subject on the agenda, anyway!) I suggested we call in the bus company, the GMPTE &/or GMPTA (does anyone really know or care what the difference is - a bit like the HSE & HSI!), and we should also discuss more closely with our neighbouring north Manchester boroughs why we get such a  poor deal from public tansport, which was to be discussed by Officers (hmmmm - expect to see that on the table in 2025 then!)

Sometimes local government is very like the TV show, “Yes, Minister”, but at least something happens in that show every 10 years! Many Council Officers are very good, and I would give particular praise out to the Engineers, Traffic, Highways Inspectors, SOME housing officers, and Democratic Services (plus Carran of Prestwich LAP of course), and whilst many others I don’t come into contact with too often, others are a little too close to the Leadership of this Council for a healthy (sceptical) relationship to be fostered, in my opinion.

Much like many public service roles, there are a few “work-shy” types, who give the rest a bad name, but most are so over-worked and under-paid that I can’t believe they stay. I suspect that the only reason most do is because of personal situations and the legal duty to accomodate the same, and many feel they would not be so well accomodated in the private sector. Whilst they may be a bit correct in such an assumption, those with a half-decent work ethic would easily find good employers elsewhere. We must cherish them as much as we can, even if we feel that not everthing goes our way all the time.

I’ve also followed up many personal queries on behalf of constituents, matters include planning, waste, parks, traffic, road safety, lighting and more. I won’t bore you with them all, but most have been resolved amicably, with some very good news on the housing front for some residents!

Anyway, the news is due on soon - speak to you soon!

Donal

Prestwich Local Area Partnership will showcase Prestwich Winter Wonderland which kicks of on Sunday 22 November with a bumper Prestwich Christmas Farmers Market and Christmas Lights Switch On at The Longfield Shopping Centre with not only top Coronation Street Star Katherine Kelly (Becky) to switch on the lights.

There will be lots of family entertainment to enjoy this splendid day with top local entertainment, Dave K, a Town Cryer, Besses o’th Barn Brass Band, Pop Star Academy, Prestwich Arts College Choir, Sweeky the Clown and Santa’s Grottos of course. Prestwich Library have pulled its own cracker for the visitors at the Farmers Market to drop in with their children to enjoy Carnival of the Animals Story time and mask-making 11am-12 for children under aged 10 and under in Prestwich Children’s Library and a FREE prize draw for a big cuddly blue teddy bear. (Please contact the library to book your place), a chance for children to write your letters to Santa and post them in the post-box at the Santa Grotto, Local History Displays – with Craig Brisbane, Guitar Class & Art Society Demonstrations and a one off Computer Taster Session – ‘Shop till you Don’t Drop!’ teaching shoppers how to online shop from the comfort of your home 11-1pm. There’s even a chance to pop in and see Prestwich Hospital Exhibition. What a Cracker!

Chair of Prestwich LAP Cllr Vic D’Albert said “We put out the message to the Prestwich Community that’d we would highlight any Winter Events and in LovePrestwich Winter Wonderland What’s On Guide was born. I promise you that LovePrestwich Winter Wonderland What’s On Guide will have something for everyone for all ages and faiths so don’t miss this chance to get a sneak preview. I am delighted that we’ll will celebrate the first Prestwich Community Carol Service at St Mary’s Parish Church on Monday 21 December followed by a reception at Church Lane Community Centre. As well as Christmas we celebrate Chanukah, Fast of Tevet, Eid-Ul-Adha, Al-Hijira (Islamic New Year) and National Holcocaust Memorial Day which has particular importance to our Prestwich Community. Prestwich has had a wonderful year this year having enjoyed a wonderful LovePrestwich Festival and to finish with a LovePrestwich Winter Wonderland is the icing on the cake.”

Other reports at this months meeting will include The Local Development Framework, The Big Clean and Police Report.
To download papers click this link

Bob was blabbing on when I arrived, apparently he’d been doing so for 15 minutes, after he’d already announce he could only stay for 45mins. He had several more pages of speech to go, so Vic cut him dead and asked him to do what he’d promised, and answer some questions from the public, instead of wasting more time. Bob was gutted, but couldn’t really say no (it’s a tactic the Tories use frequently to reduce the number of questions they receive - particularly Jack Walton at Full Council - a complaint is going in on that one, Jack!).

Vic, local MP Ivan Lewis, and lots of the public asked him specific questions which he invariably wouldn’t answer straight. I asked for the figurs that I’d asked for 2 weeks ago, but had still not received. He promised I could have them, so we’ll wait & see! I can’t divulge them to you, but I can ask a whole lot of questions about them.

Ivan asked for a non-partisan approach to the Save Longfield campaign. I agree the sentiment, but as someone like Ivan has rather thin support on the ground round here, that kind of thing may only assist his publicity machine, and not recognise the hard work done by LibDems, so I remain to be convinced, but it’s not my fight, it belongs to the people whom I reperesent. They can decide on that…

Cllr. Bibby insisted that no decision had yet been taken, but as there is no open list of options available to choose from, that is simply wrong (some would consider it a “lie”!)

A youth dance troupe who practice there gave a performance of the kind of thing they do (Class Act - very good!), at which point Bacup Bob scuttled off to an emergency Tory group meeting, probably to decide who’s turn it was next to look like a complete numpty in front of the public.

The meeting carried on with people demanding action, and it concluded with Vic asking for volunteers for an “action committee” to decide on a plan of attack.

It’s shaping up for a bun-fight, and I don’t think Bacup Bob has a stong throwing arm!

Download the plans here and here.

I used to sit on the Heaton Park Mgt Committee, but it was a pretty pointless activity, as the park managers did whatever they wanted, despite protestations from the users. At the time, I was a football team club secretary, and they never asked us what would be best, simply kept reducing the size of the pitches because some of the schoolkids who regularly used the pitches weren’t fit enough to play as proper “wingers”. Anyway, back up to date:

Goals Soccer Centres have re-submitted their plans for a commercial soccer centre in the St Margaret’s Road area of Heaton Park this week.

These plans will now be subject to public consultation, with an expected date at Manchester Council’s Planning Committee on 17 December 2009.

The plans have been resubmitted despite significant opposition from local residents, heritage watchdogs and many users of the park.

The new plans see a slightly reduced scheme of THIRTEEN soccer pitches, SIX tennis courts and a climbing wall area. There are 40 car parking spaces and Club House.

Over the next week we’ll be giving you more information on how to campaign against the proposals - this will be our last chance to SAVE HEATON PARK!

More information on the planning application here (Manchester City Council). (Search under Higher Blackley Ward.)

Download the plans here and here.

Answers to Questions

Posted November 4, 2009

Here are the written answers to questions asked by the Lib Dem Group to Full Council last week. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you require any further information.

Suggested answer to written Question 1 submitted by Councillor O’Hanlon

Q The Council is considering changing the use of the Longfield Suite in Prestwich, whilst proposing to retain the Elizabethan Suite in Bury and Ramsbottom Civic Hall.

Why is this the case when the Council’s own figures show that the Longfield Suite is better utilised and makes more money than the Elizabethan Suite and Ramsbottom Civic Hall?

Can the Leader of the Council assure me of the Council’s commitment to provide a civic hall for Prestwich which allows community groups to use a dedicated public events space and which provides a hub for local community activities?

A I would like to thank Cllr O’Hanlon for his question

First of all I would like to remind all members that no decisions have been taken regarding the future of any of these venues, despite some member’s best efforts to whip up public anxiety and anger.

A task and finish group will look at all four venues with a view to finding the most viable and sustainable solution for local communities and the Council. Commitments have already been given by the Leader that there will be extensive consultation with any interested groups, individuals and the Local Area Partnership and their views on alternative use for the Longfield Suite be reported back as part of the Group’s final report.

Suggested answer to written Question number 3 submitted by Councillor Baum

Q At the last meeting of the Council I asked for a progress update on my proposal to allow free parking after 3pm in Bury Town Centre, after a similar scheme boosted trade and Council coffers in Rochdale. Cllr Gunther replied saying that the Council “will continue to look at initiatives wherever they are and assess the value for Bury, taking into consideration the potential impact on the business community as well as the Council’s financial position.”

What are the outcomes of the assessment of “Park free after 3″ for Bury, what is her assessment of the potential impacts for the business community and the Council’s financial position of the scheme, what are the comparative costs / benefits of “Park Free After 3″ compared to “Park Free for 15 minutes,” and when will my scheme be introduced?

A The potential impact on the Councils financial position is likely to increase the parking budget deficit. The anticipated deficit from the on-street “15 minutes free parking” scheme alone is likely to be in excess of £80k. There would also be the additional costs of setting up the scheme such as legal costs, signing, machine software changes etc.
Given the financial constraints of the Council there are no plans to change the current arrangements which are very satisfsactory.

Suggested answer to written Question number 5 submitted by Councillor Pickstone

Q Goals Soccer Centres Ltd seem likely to be submitting an amended application for a commercial soccer centre in open piece of parkland adjacent to the Bury MBC border in Holyrood Ward. Is the Leader of the Council aware of the serious heritage concerns raised by English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Garden Heritage Society and others around the destruction of part of this historic piece of parkland?

Were the Authority aware of these objections when making its own comments to Manchester Council’s original application?

A The application is wholly within the area controlled by Manchester City Council and as such it is for them to assess the acceptability of the Planning Application and any concerns over the application should be sent to Manchester City Council, as per the advice to all local councillors in an email from the Planning Department on the 29th June 2009.
The Council is not party to the replies to consultations received by Manchester City Council, and was not aware of any comments that the City had received when it made its comments.

The Planning Control Committee considered what impact the application would have on the nearby residents in terms of noise and light pollution and the impact on the highways network.

The assessment on the impact of the Listed Park is a matter for Manchester City Council and English Heritage and we are not part of this assessment.

On a point of information, it is understood that whilst English Heritage did not support the application, it did state that it had no objections in principal to the development of sports facilities and made various recommendations for amendments to the scheme.

A joint meeting has been held between English Heritage, Manchester City Council and the applicant to discuss these recommendations and a revised scheme is awaited by Manchester Planning Department.

The Council will be informed of the revised scheme when it is received.

Suggested answer to written Question number 7 submitted by Councillor Andrew Garner

Q Council recycling facilities at Tesco Prestwich have recently been closed. Does the Leader agree with me that this is a backward step for recycling in the borough, and that a reduction in recycling sites without a commensurate increase in collection from the remaining sites will result in fly-tipping?

Have alternative sites and increases in collections been considered? If so, what are the plans and when will they be introduced?

A The decision by Tesco to withdraw this facility was unfortunate but the decision was taken following persistent large scale fly tipping of waste at the site which it proved impossible to control. This was despite a range of preventative measures being employed such as signage, CCTV, regular cleaning of the site and speaking to users of the facility.
There is nothing to suggest that the closure of this recycling centre will result in an increase in fly tipped recyclable waste. That sort of waste does not typically get fly tipped.

There are a network of recycling centres across the borough, the nearest to Tesco’s being the Longfield Centre which has the full complement of recycling banks. Furthermore the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Clifton Road, Prestwich has recently been refurbished and its recycling facilities improved.

Furthermore, all Bury residents living within the vicinity of Tesco’s have access to kerbside collections of paper and card, plastic bottles, cans and glass and so should have little need for a recycling centre in any case.

Suggested answer to written Question 9 submitted by Councillor V D’Albert

Q Could the leader confirm how much is left in this year’s Council budget for Disability Grants for Building adaptations for the current year?
A Private Sector Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG’s), budget, expenditure to date and remaining budget 2009/10
Budget £1,107,000
Expenditure to 22.10.09 £418,713
Remaining Budget £688,287

Suggested answer to written Question number 11 submitted by Councillor Baum

Q Bury Market is one of the jewels in Bury’s crown, and the best market in the country. I have spoken to many traders who are struggling through the recession, and who trade at different sites but would prefer to trade in Bury more often. Has any thought been given to opening the market fully on more than three days per week, helping traders and boosting visitor numbers to Bury?

A Traditional market days at Bury Market are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Bury Market Hall is open six days a week and Bury Fish and Meat Hall five and a half days a week.

The Open market comprises 212 daily licence stalls and 82 leasehold units who trade on the three established market days. In addition to these market days, Daily licence traders have the opportunity to trade on the open market on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Open market leasehold traders can, if they wish, trade for seven days a week.

However, traders make their own judgment as to whether it is commercially viable to open or not outside of the established market days. The vast majority of traders choose not to open.

Traders are represented by two trader organisations - Bury Market Traders Association (BMTA) and Bury Open Market Traders Association (BOMTA). Markets Management have ongoing dialogue with the trader organisations and have requested they consider Sunday opening in light of Town Centre developments. Feedback to Markets Management is that traders have expressed concerns and are reluctant to open on Sundays. Further consultation regarding Sunday opening is to be undertaken with the Trader Organisations.

Suggested answer to written Question number 13 submitted by Councillor S Wright

Q Can the leader inform us of the total amount spent on taxi fares by the council in the last four years, split down by department?

A I am happy to send round a full analysis of taxi costs by service but for brevity tonight I thought that it might be more helpful to provide the total costs for the last four years, which are

2006/07 £959,546

2007/08 £1,039,983

2008/09 £1,067,548

2009/10 £479,306

Of these costs 99% relate to the provision of transport to people with specific needs within Adult social care, Children’s social care and schools.

I can assure Members that Taxi services are procured following a full tendering exercise and I can also assure Members that the way in which transport is provided to vulnerable people is subject to on-going review to ensure that their needs are met in the most efficient and effective way.

Suggested answer to written Question number 15 submitted by Councillor Steve Wright

Q Has the council given any consideration to allowing sole traders permission to use council-run household waste recycling centres in an attempt to ease problems like flytipping?
A This is a decision for the GMWDA who operate such facilities.
Having said that, the GMWDA, through its contractor Viridor, do provide outlets for commercial waste at some of its other facilities. E.g. when the Transfer Loading Station at Every Street, Fernhill reopens in January traders will be able to dispose of their waste there, subject to a minimum half tonne charge.

Suggested answer to written Question number 17 submitted by Councillor Ann Garner

Q Can the Leader confirm the number & location of all the public waste bins in Bury, the collection rotas for each, and the plans for the future of such waste bins?
A There are currently 728 public waste bins situated across the borough which are emptied on different days of the week at different frequencies, depending on location. A full list detailing the location and collection rotas for each bin can be passed to Cllr Garner.

Requests for new bins are considered on an individual basis, taking into account several criteria, for example

location e.g. on a school route, near shops, fast food outlets etc
feedback received from residents and the Street Care Teams
numbers of bins already within the locality
whether any additional funding or sponsorship is available from tenants and residents groups or LAPs
whether there is any potential obstruction to the footpath.

Suggested answer to written Question number 19 submitted by Councillor Davison

Q Given that 25% of PCN’s are cancelled for one reason or another, can the Leader confirm whether we are attaining “best value” from our current enforcement providers (NCP); when their contract is due for review; and what figures/circumstances would he consider appropriate for an immediate review of such provision?

A A vast majority of the 25% cancellations are based on the Council’s customer care policies and not NSL Ltds performance. In fact less than 1% of cancellations are for Civil Enforcement Officer errors and therefore we are attaining “best value” from NSL Ltd.

The current Enforcement Contract with NSL Ltd is for 5 years with w.e.f. from 31st March 2008 and expires 30th March 2013.

As the mis-understandings of the Annual Report, and the following apologies in the Bury Times regarding the cancellation reasons are not related to the performance of NSL Ltd, I do not consider an immediate view of their enforcement provision is required.
Suggested answer to written Question 21 submitted by Councillor M D’Albert

Q Can the Leader explain what assistance this Council has given to groups wishing to set up Credit Unions in the last year?

A In the last year the Council has not received any requests for groups wishing to establish Credit Unions. At our annual Community Conference this year our lead third sector partnership agency – B3SDA sought the views of the third sector around the possibility of setting up a Credit Union in Bury. However, neither the Council nor B3SDA have been approached by any group seeking support in this respect.

Credit unions are financial co-operatives, linked to a specific body by a “common bond” (eg group of employees, trade union members, residents of a specific area etc).

Many existing credit unions are expanding their common bonds, if a credit union is required by the people of Bury, it would be sensible to first speak to the Bolton credit union (“quids in”). The Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL) can advise on initiatives happening in an area, or put residents in contact with the relevant bodies.

Setting up a credit union can take up to three years and simple step-by step guidance is available from the ABCUL – the LA’s role here should be to put residents in contact with the correct regulatory body. Credit unions also have to register with the FSA.

Suggested answer to written Question 23 submitted by Councillor Ann Garner

Q Can the Leader explain what negotiations, when and with whom he or members of his Executive Team have undertaken with neighbouring authorities on resolving issues relating to social housing schemes that we share with our neighbouring authorities?

A We are not aware of any negotiations that have taken place with regards to resolving issues relating to social housing schemes that we share with neighbouring authorities.

However, officers from Strategic Housing in Bury are currently commencing work with officers from Salford and Manchester Councils and housing associations in order to seek to meet the needs of the Jewish community in these boroughs. As yet, this work is at a very early stage.

Bury is also involved with other authorities in Greater Manchester in the sub-regional choice based lettings scheme. However, this is simply an initiative to give applicants greater mobility and does not involve sharing any social housing schemes with neighbouring authorities.

Tuesday was a number of things - the afternoon opening of the Prestwich Hospital exhibition at the library (missed as it was during work time) followed by a  meeting to discuss “fairer social housing allocation” at the Elizabethan Suite in Bury. Whilst it would have been good to go, I doubt if anything I may have said would have made a great deal of difference, as there are so many “needs assessments” and central Govt. targets to meet, anything constructive would probably have been washed away in a tide of bureacracy!

Anyway, we can drive this throughthe Scrutiny process instead, so perhaps it was only doubling up.

Wednesday night was Town Centre Regeneration, which I Chair. I was pleasantly surprised to see a collection of shopkeepers from the Village, all keen to hear about the plans for the site. Unfortunately, all they got was high-level stuff about the process of regeneration, not the specifics of how the Council may assist them in relocation, or when the whole thing may start. Had we known they were coming, we may have been able to allay many fears early-on, unfortunately we couldn’t as the process is so complex, and time was so short, all we had time for was the business at hand, and to answer some of their immediate questions.

There was also positive movement on developing the “secondary” shopping centres of Whittaker Lane & Sedgley - more on that another time.

Thursday night was the Official preview night of the Rock development, but instead I went to Vic D’Albert’s meeting at the Longfield on the Council’s plans to demolish the Longfield Suite & spend all our money in Bury on the Elizabethan Suite. This Tory Council’s attitude to “Six Towns” is diabolical - all they care about is Ramsbottom, Tottington & central Bury, with no concern for the residents in the South. They plan to “change the use” of Radclife Civic Suite (but have proposed no ideas for what) and have the Longfield Suite demolished as part of the Town Centre Regeneration. However, as it is integral to the regeneration (Item 6 on the list of 35 action points) it is clear that the people of Prestwich demand it be retained.

Vic’s blog outlines ( http://vicdalbert.mycouncillor.org.uk/ ) what happened as a result. Basically, Vic outlined how we’d got to wheree we are now, and how the Tories have betrayed the people of Prestwich by ignoring the results of the biggest public consultation in Prestwich history.

Ivan Lewis, the local MP turned up and was very effective at stirring up the crowd. Lots of members of the public who regularly use the Longfield spoke about it’s importance; the benefit to the health of the elderly; the way it provides a dancefloor which is only second to Blackpool Tower ballroom in the whole North West; how it hosts major talent such as Flavia from “Strictly…”, and how it is our responsibility to ensure it’s continued existence.

 I spoke briefly about the Regeneration and what it means to have a community facility such as this, how even the Mayor’s Ball is held here and not at the Elizabethan Suite!

People demanded to see the facts & figures in the report that proposes closure, but of course the Council are loathe to do so, as it has “commercially sensitive data” which may be of use to competitors. The question to ask is, “Who the hell round here is in competition with the Longfield Suite?!?!?” We, as Councillors, can see the data, and we shall be analysing it VERY carefully. I have already asked for the full report & all the data analysis behind it from the Democratic Services team. I have also asked for comparative data on the use of schools facilities, as a benchmark.

Michelle Wiseman snook in at the back. She’s a sitting Tory Councillor in Whitefield, and also prospective parliamentary candidate. After I’d finished speaking, I invited her up to the front to explain the Tory’s proposals, which she abjectly failed to do. She was there “to listen”, she said. Why set out a proposal and then listen, when you have a proposal which has been devised through massive (and expensive) consultation with the public, and then ratified by the Council in the “Love Prestwich” regeneration strategy, and already agreed by the Council’s ruling Tory executive? She had NO answers!

Ivan & Vic both ran rings around her, the public asked her some tough questions, and she was terrible in response. Sorry Michelle, but you were! And if you’re that bad, just imagine how inept Bacup Bob will sound trying to defend a decision that usurps a prevoious decision he made only 3 months ago!!! Anyone who’s seen him in Full Council will know that presentation is not his strongest point, especially when he feels he’s under pressure. It should be more fun than a Punch & Judy show!!!

Vic invited her to return with the Executive of the Council, to listen to the people of Prestwich, and Bacup Bob and his crew have accepted the challenge, I hope the TV’s are there to witness this one!!! Hmmm, that gives me an idea!

After the Longfield meeting I went to the Carnival charity cheque presentation evening, where the profit from the Carnival is spread amongst the various charities of the area. AA very pleasant evening!

Friday night was a “pies & politics night” at my house, with a veritable house-full of like-minded souls discussing the credit crunch & other matters.

Saturday day was a LibDem conference in Widnes, which was very inspiring & uplifting, and that evening I went for a meal with my wife & some friends at Peppe’s in Whitefield. I ate so much that I only ate 2 croissants all day Sunday, until Sunday evening when we sat down to tea. I wan’t reff’ing, so managed to get through a long list of chores that I’ve been meaning to do for a while - feels great when the whole list is ticked off!

And now for some paying work…

See the photos above: Is this how you want Prestwich to be managed?

I’d love the Deli to do really well & flourish, but I want them to take a little more social responsibility for their actions. The Senior Engineer for the Council will be coming to inspect soon, and I bet it doesn’t look like this then!

The shop is close to the housing estates it’s designed to serve. They could provide a delivery service (previous owners used to!) or amend their parking to be more suitable. They could buy land nearby & convert it, or work with other businesses nearby to share facilities. What do you think?

The Tories want the Elizabethan Suite to be the only decent venue this Borough has, and they want to control it. They have no representation south of the M60, so they’re scared that the venue that is most used; largest & premiere facility of the Borough; the most cost-effective one is not “in their control”! (We talk of the Longfield Suite of course!)

When did Civic facilities have to make money? It’s preferable, but not essential. After all, Bacup Bob takes money from this Authority and doesn’t even pay his Council Tax here - and he’s a complete waste of our money! What does he know about what makes a community tick? He loves the Borough so much he won’t even live here!!!

The Longfield Suite loses less money than the other Civic Suites. The Longfield is utilised more than all the other Civic Suites. The Longfield is better than the other Civic Suites. So why get rid of it? Because it’s in an area that Bacup Bob doesn’t care about!

And he’s not the only “Nasty Tory”. Ask any one of them if they’ll vote against this proposal, and I would bet a fiver not one would say “yes”. I suspect one honourable member would abstain, but with the Mayor’s casting vote, the situation remains the same! Oh, it’ll be just like the Prestwich Arts College all over again, but this time the baddies are the big fat Tories and not the weasly Labour party!

Bring it on - we love beating the useless toffs!

See the following link to SAVE OUR LONGFIELD:

www.savelongfield.com

(I call him Dev, because he reminds me of Dev in Corrie, who also does a crafty comb-over and funny camera shots to hide his bald patch!)

Labour had one which was like a call to arms, but was a little muffled I feel.

Unfortunatley I couldn’t make it to ours, but I watched eagerly to parts, and although we came across well, I think we still need to be bigger & louder, and pull a few stunts to get in the press/on TV.

I was just about to put the transcript of Nick Clegg’s speech on here and then decided not to - who on earth would read it? If you were that interested you’d look it up yourself! And I’m not sure I can copy videos over!

There are strips of land that need to be bought & sold, there is “waste” ground that is being used as a “ransom strip” by certain parties, and there is (rather importantly) a proper design to be brought to fruition. Oh yes - the developers need some prospective tenants, which include an supermarket and a hotel. I suspect they have interest from many parties in all areas, but it is “firming up” into a contractually-binding agreement that probably needs to be done next.

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

• Irwell River Valley Trust - working with a local company to keep an eye on flora, fauna & rivers in the locality. Not much done yet, but promoting it is next big thing.
• Planning outcomes tour - A day looking at decisions of Planning, and how the design actually turned out. I was unable to attend this due to work commitments, but have seen most of the buildings and am fairly happy that we’re doing a reasonable job, as far as we can with the laws as they are.
• Parking Issues in Prestwich - discussing with Riddell TPS & Council Officers on how we progress the muddle in the loading bays around the Longfield. We have a resolution, and a press release will be out very shortly. It basically means that it is owned by HMG under lease from the Council, so they have a right to protect the loading bays from people who park there when not unloading.
• LibDem Council Group - a meeting to discuss how Full Council went, what we’re all up to individually, and what we do next to spoil the Labour-Tory love-in that seems to be prevalent at the moment. The usual scenario is that we propose something innovative, Labour & Tories both wish they’d had the brains to do it, so “amend” it slightly, then they vote together to overrule our original motion. They fail to see that WE are the ones making things happen - it’s great!
• Tonight is Area Partnership. Doubtless there will be some whingeing about the Longfield regeneration program from parts of the public that I’ll have to deal with, otherwise a fairly mundane affair I expect.
• I’ve commissioned a picture (bought by my mum & dad) for my 40th birthday (in June) by well-known local artist Peter Roughan. He’s done a pencil mock-up, and will now be getting on with the real thing. It’s not expensive, and it’s something he really enjoys, so we both win!
• Dealing with local police on a criminal matter to which I was a witness. Can’t say more for now!
• Housing Issues Advisory Group - dealing with performance management of Six Town Housing & the Council’s Strategic Housing Unit. More good figures from my neighbour - well done Sam!
• Sorting planning issues in St Mary’s for local residents & the Council.
• Went to a “Terrorism Awareness” course run by GMP, both as a Councillor & in connection with my full-time job.
• Went to see how a decent Housing Association elsewhere deals with housing management issues - Six Town Housing seem to have a long way to go!
• Played 5-a-side twice a week recently.
• Refereed adult football - a 4-3 classic!
• Read the notes to minutes of lots of meetings, and made comments to appropriate persons to interject on issues I have concerns, but which I’m not directly responsible for.
• Dealt with lots of “grumbles” from residents, usually about bins, rats, dog dirt etc.
• Got to a meeting late (of which I was Chair!) due to full-time work commitments all about Highways and how we manage them. It raised more questions than it answered, and I’ve emailed lots of follow-up questions as a result.
• Attended Full Council and brought a motion on sport, hosting an olympic nation and getting a mini-olympics for the kids, to get the “lasting legacy” that Labour said they’d give us as a reslt of the 2012 Olympics.
• Held down a full time job, got another brilliant job, had a bit of home life, played some sport, saw the family, and lots more besides! Want something doing? Give it a busy person!

No resting - just work, work, work!

(Can you tell i’m getting better with inserting stuff onto by blog?)

And what we saw was a little disappointing. Dirt, grime, but the same flags from China, just not looking so elegant. The water feature was not as good as the one in China, and our shopping centre needed the lights on permanently - it was so dark!

So we once again resolved to improve things, whatever it took. Despite Tesco helping to delay the proposal by 6 months, we knew P/w NEEDED revival.

Vic D’Albert commissioned a Festival to brighten us up; Rick Baum & I campaigned on cleaning the centre; I continued as Chair of the TCR; we all continued on the push to make it better. We Love Prestwich, and want everyone else to “Love Prestwich”.

And the people looke at possible designs, and the overall plan was formulated, and we went back unto the people and showed them the combination of their ideas and planning realities.

We all had different views about how good it really was, but we all agreed it was better than what we currently have.

Here we see some designs I snapped on a trip to China. What do you think of them? Would you like to live somewhere like this?

Look at the pictures of old Beijing with new Beijing, starkly contrasted on either side if the “Bund”. Do the old buildings look more solid, more imposing, if a little less tall?

Is the bin a bit  of smart but simple design? Is the waterfall more in line with what we should have got in Prestwich?

These thoughts were whizzing though my head when I was travelling around - even thousands of miles away I was obsessed with how good we could make my home town look!

So then we look at townscapes, planning preferences, what we actually prefer to see, and what would we want from Prestwich?

She competed in the lightweight cob class, and came a respectable fourth, for which she got a rosette and a mighty prize of £5! I reckon the day probably cost a few hundred quid in total, but hey-ho, it’s the competing that counts!

I enjoyed the day, delivering some leaflets early doors, then washed, vac’d & waxed my car, and took the mother-in-law there with the roof down. A most pleasant time on a wonderfully warm September Sunday.

D

Last night was EET (Economy, Environment & Transport) Scrutiny Committee, where we look at the work of sub-groups scrutinising the Executive, and/or preparing reports for taking through into policy.

Allotments

A member of the public came & asked questions about allotments - fortunately I was well briefed because I’d just seen the written answer to a question submitted by the LibDems at Full Council. 96% of allotments in the Borough are let, there are 516 plots and a waiting list of 450 people. It is less clear what the Council are actually doing to improve access to allotments, how they’re funded, or how well they’re managed.

Housing Scrutiny

I sit on HIAG, the Housing Issues Advisory Group, who scrutinise the work of the providers of our Council Housing, and also of the work of the “Strategic Housing Unit” of the Council. HIAG reports to nobody, and as a result has no teeth. Senior Managers of Six Town Housing basically ignore HIAG, and will not attend to report their actions there. This is therefore being subsumed into a sub-group of EET, called “Housing Services Sub-Group (HSSG). The voting rights have to be taken away from the non-elected representatives, and it gets 3 Tories, 1 Labour & 1 LibDem, which our Democratic Services Officers tell us reflects the political balance of the Council (26 Tory, 16 Labour, 9 LibDem). I disagreed, but the debate went on & on, and as we’d only ever had one vote on HIAG, we accepted the position & moved on.

Parking Services

We got an annual report from Officers on the issues affecting this department. Lots of stats, and it made fun reading. I asked lots of questions, but felt that there was little evidential substance to the  answers, so will be taking it further. Basically, 1 in 4 tickets are rescinded or cancelled, which means we are paying NCP to do wasteful work on our behalf. Officers said the REAL figure was more like 8%, but did not provide enough evidence to substantiate this. There was no comparison with other Boroughs, so we couldn’t see how Councils who deal with their own parking arrngements get on, or how we fared before 2002, when we “outsourced” to NCP.

I also raised the farce that is currently ongoing about parking around Prestwich Centre, which was always enforced by the Council, and now is being done by “Central Ticketing” on behalf of Riddell’s, the managing agents for HMG, who own the Longfield Centre shops, and who we just gave planning consent to regenerate!

They claim they own some bits of land, but we’ve got double yellows there which indicates it is managed by the Local Authority. Tickets are £100, or £65 if paid early, and apply to disabled-badged vehicles as well. This has never before been enforced, and is catching a lot of people out. I have said that I will rip down the posters & charge Riddells a couple of thousand for my services, handing the cash back to those affected by the parking charges. I ‘ve arranged an urgent meeting with the Council’s Officers & Riddells & me to sort it out. If it is not sorted at that meeting, I will very publicly take action to protect the rights of the people of this Borough!

Private Sector Housing Financial Assistance Policy

Our SHU (see above) develop policies to fund adaptations to housing, for the sick, elderly, and others. The new policy explains how the funding is allocated, but most of the detail was skimmed over. The headline is that Govt. has matched any funding we in Bury have paid into this, but it appears that Bury Council under the Tories may cut this in the future. The SHU are banging the drum for their funding for next year, and the Tories may give in to their demands if enough bad press comes their way!

Street Lighting

Our Senior Enginner brought forward a report to explain some of the considerations & options. It missed some stuff off, pointed out by LibDem & Labour alike. I have stepped back from the argument now, with Vic D’Albert (see link to the left) sitting on the sub-group to scrutinise this before early December. There is some possibility of gaining Govt. grants to help pay for this, but we need to move fast, so we’re taking tenders from consultants to help prepare our begging bowl bid.

ELR Update

We all got a copy of the proposals from East Lancs Railway on their future plans. No comments were passed on this, as it was past 9pm and the meeting began at 6.30pm.

SubGroups Update

We updated the Scrutiny Committee upon the work that we’ve been doing in our sub-groups.

Urgent Business

The deletion of the 95 bus affects many wards in the south of Bury, as well as in Little Lever & beyond. Tony Isherwood for Labour tabled this asa concern on “Community Transport”, especially affecting kids going to school at Phillips High from Radcliffe.

It’s already been reported to GMPTE, and Officers & Councillors have been asked to get more information & report back to this Committee for the next meeting. If no improvement is noted, we may need to take serious action. Wait & see….

D

The meeting on Wednesday  got 3 of our motions passed, that’s an achievement for a party of 9 in a Council of 51 Councillors. We also got to ask some pertinent questions which will be useful ammunition in the forthcoming elections.

We clearly punch above our weight, and we exceed the performance of those around us.

So far, since becoming a Councillor in Prestwich, I’ve achieved a fair bit, but not nearly as much as I would like to get done. Along with my LibDem colleagues, we can lay claim to invigorating the area, and helping to establish the following:

We have the realistic regeneration prospect for Prestwich, the outline proposals are coming to Planning Committee next week. A multi-million pound development, which never saw the light of day under Labour or Tory rule in Prestwich.

We have an attitude of “take back our streets”, with anti-graffiti campaigns, and far greater partnership working with the Police.

We have a month-long Prestwich Festival, celebrating all things “local”.

We have a thriving town centre, with a working fountain and a farmers market!

We have outlying shopping centres now believing in the regeneration, and wanting a slice of the action.

We have a “can do” attitude, with people wanting to get involved in all sorts of improvement projects.

We have Tenants & rsidents Associations improving housing estates all over the area.

There is still much to do, but I woke this morning and realised that we have helped to improve the area, and some of that is down to me, and that makes me proud! Hurrah!!!

Then, I put forward a fairly reasonable motion about Bury getting active in the Olympics, perhaps hosting a nation, having a mini-olympics to get us in the mood, and asking central Govt what was to be our promised “lasting legacy”? This was defeated by the Tories & Labour having a “love-in” which watered it right down, so there are no promises to fulfil, no targets to try to achieve, just a vague wishy-washy hope that we can continue to provide some support to others who actually pull their finger out! I doubt any winning Olympians would want to be associated with such crass objectives - it is hardly in the aspirational spirit of the Olympics!

Vic D’Albert, our PPC put forward a motion on the surveillance powers used by the Council. Again, the Tories were aided by Labour to amend the motion so that it had not teeth, ambition or guts.

There were shed-loads of questions, almost entirely blagged off by Bibby & Co with “We’ll have to get back to you in writing about that”, and the written questions from the public were simply avoided by not being answered whatsoever! The Tory Executive simply referred to topics they wished had been asked! This is not democracy, this is pantomime time from some very poor imitation “politicians”.

On the up side, I got home from the meeting to watch the England game on ITV.

We’ve had any number of peaceful protesters, love-ins, and calls for tolerance, but few seem to have grasped the nettle and actually made it happen. So what does make peace a reality?

Well, in Northern Ireland I think it was an “accord” where the British Govt. accepted that population growth was going to vote them out of power and hand it over to the Republic within a couple of decades, so they opted for peace and re-building instead. The Catholics got power-sharing, and it’s starting to become a lovely place once more.

In far flung corners of the world such as Indonesia recently, the Tamils were simply defeated and eradicated, or annihilated if you believe the Channel 4 news.

In China, a place I visited last year, it seems that the maintenance of peace is by a fairly oppressive management regime, where dissent is tolerated if it’s private, but public dissent is “dissuaded”. This effectively maintains the peace.

In the US & UK, we are allowed to air our beliefs, but not in front of foreign dignitaries, politicians or VIP’s. The dictatorial manner in which our dissent is now legally subjugated is oppressive and excessive. However, if people aren’t allowed to remonstrate with their leaders, this “keeps the peace”, as far as the police are concerned. It does not engender a peaceful existence however.

So how would I have delivered “Peace in our time”? Could I have got Hitler to step back from the precipice of war? Could Churchill have managed it? Could anyone?

I suspect that Hitler was so egotistical, self-centred and confident that no one person could have prevented it. Only the reversal of financial fortunes for a resurgent Germany could have prevented it, and that would have meant their opponents working in financial unison before war was declared, which itself would have been an act of aggression.

However, nowadays with the widespread knowledge of history, we surely should be able to avoid inter-national conflicts. The Balkans in the 90’s; Chechnya now; Afghanistan and god-knows how many African conflicts? Below is a list of “conflicts” where UN peace-keeping forces are CURRENTLY deployed (with thanks to the UN website - see http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/currentops.shtml )

Current Operations

Africa

• United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT)
• African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID)
• United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS)
• United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI)
• United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
• United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)
• United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)
• United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) ⁽¹⁾

Americas

• United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)

Asia and the Pacific

• United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT)
• United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)
• United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) ⁽²⁾

Europe

• United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP)
• United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)

Middle East

• United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)
• United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
• United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO)

This proves that humans are not very good at being peaceful, and perhaps is a reason to suspect that we’ll never have “Peace in our time”, but if we don’t strive for it, and recognise that others have a right to exist, then we’ll never achieve it . So when someone asks me, “Do you support Israel or Palestine?” my answer is “Neither”.

Those who choose war rather than find a mutually beneficial solution to disagreement are not deserving of anyone’s support. In the same way, I did not support the “Catholic” cause in Northern Ireland, despite being a first-generation Catholic, whose parents originate from Northern Ireland.

Ask yourself - do you support one side over another because those you know are involved, and fight on that side? That is not enough reason. In fact, that is an emotional but crass response. You are given a brain to think with. Most of us are educated enough to read a selection of articles from different perspectives, and apply reason to a situation. Try it, and see how much better you feel!

Donal

He said that he’d taken on board the considerations of those families of victims, some of whom he spoke to directly; the legal position of the conviction & normal “compassionate release” procedures; and other matters of importance. In fact, this is the pertinent section of his speech:

“Let me be absolutely clear. As Cabinet Secretary for Justice in Scotland it is my responsibility to decide upon these two applications. These are my decisions and my decisions alone.

In considering these applications I have strictly followed due process, including the procedures laid down in the Prisoner Transfer Agreement and in the Scottish Prison Service guidance on compassionate release. I have listened to many representations and received substantial submissions.

Let me be quite clear on matters on which I am certain. The Scottish police and prosecution service undertook a detailed and comprehensive investigation with the assistance of the US and other authorities. I pay tribute to them for the exceptional manner in which they operated in dealing with both the aftermath of the atrocity and the complexity of a world-wide investigation. They are to be commended for their tenacity and skill. When Mr Al-Megrahi was brought to justice, it was before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands. And I pay tribute to our Judges who presided and acted justly.

Mr Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 270 people. He was given a life sentence and a punishment part of 27 years was fixed. When such an appalling crime is perpetrated it is appropriate that a severe sentence be imposed.

Mr Al-Megrahi has since withdrawn his appeal against both conviction and sentence. As I have said consistently throughout, that is a matter for him and the courts. That was his decision. My decisions are predicated on the fact that he was properly investigated, a lawful conviction passed and a life sentence imposed.

I realise that the abandonment of the appeal has caused concern to many. I have indicated that I am grateful to and proud of those who have served in whatever capacity in bringing this case to justice. I accept the conviction and sentence imposed. However, there remain concerns to some on the wider issues of the Lockerbie atrocity.

This is a global issue, and international in its nature. The questions to be asked and answered are beyond the jurisdiction of Scots law and the restricted remit of the Scottish Government. If a further inquiry were felt to be appropriate then it should be initiated by those with the required power and authority. The Scottish Government would be happy to fully co-operate in such an inquiry.

I now turn to the matters before me that I require to address. An application under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement and an application for compassionate release have been made. I now deal with them in turn.

Prisoner Transfer

Firstly, the prisoner transfer agreement.

The Libyan Government applied on 5 May 2009 for the transfer of Mr Al-Megrahi. Prisoner Transfer Agreements are negotiated by the United Kingdom Government.

Throughout the negotiations and at the time of the signing of the PTA with Libya, the Scottish Government’s opposition was made clear. It was pointed out that the Scottish Prison Service had only one Libyan prisoner in custody. Notwithstanding that, the UK Government failed to secure, as requested by the Scottish Government, an exclusion from the PTA for anyone involved in the Lockerbie Air Disaster. As a consequence Mr Al-Megrahi is eligible for consideration for transfer in terms of the agreement entered into by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Libya.

I received numerous letters and representations, and recognised that a decision on transfer would be of personal significance to those whose lives have been affected. Accordingly, I decided to meet with groups and individuals with a relevant interest.

I met with the families of victims: those from the United Kingdom who had relatives on board the flight, as well as those whose kinfolk were murdered in their homes in Lockerbie; a lady from Spain whose sister was a member of the cabin crew; and I held a video conference with families from the United States. I am grateful to each and every one of them for their fortitude on a matter which I know is still a source of great pain.

I also spoke to the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder. I met Minister Alobidi and his delegation from the Libyan Government to hear their reasons for applying for transfer, and to present to them the objections that had been raised to their application.

I have noted and considered all the points presented, and also relevant written representations I received.

Prior to ratification of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, it was scrutinised by the Westminster Joint Committee on Human Rights, to which Jack Straw, UK Secretary of State for Justice, gave a commitment that in cases where applications were not submitted personally by the prisoner, the prisoner must be given the opportunity to make representations. Mr Al-Megrahi had the opportunity to make representations, and he chose to do so in person. Therefore I was duty bound to receive his representations. I accordingly met him.

It was clear that both the United States Government and the American families objected to a prisoner transfer. They did so on the basis of agreements they said had been made, prior to trial, regarding the place of imprisonment of anyone convicted.

The United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, was in fact deputy Attorney General to Janet Reno at the time of the pre-trial negotiations. He was adamant that assurances had been given to the United States Government that any person convicted would serve his sentence in Scotland. Many of the American families spoke of the comfort that they placed upon these assurances over the past ten years. That clear understanding was reiterated to me, by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

I sought the views of the United Kingdom Government. I offered them the right to make representations or provide information. They declined to do so. They simply informed me that they saw no legal barrier to transfer and that they gave no assurances to the US Government at the time. They have declined to offer a full explanation as to what was discussed during this time, or to provide any information to substantiate their view. I find that highly regrettable.

I therefore do not know what the exact nature of those discussions was, nor what may have been agreed between Governments. However, I am certain of the clear understanding of the American families and the American Government.

Therefore it appears to me that the American families and Government either had an expectation, or were led to believe, that there would be no prisoner transfer and the sentence would be served in Scotland.

It is for that reason that the Libyan Government’s application for prisoner transfer for Abdelbasit Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi I accordingly reject.

Compassionate Release

I now turn to the issue of compassionate release.

Section three of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 gives the Scottish Ministers the power to release prisoners on licence on compassionate grounds.

The Act requires that Ministers are satisfied that there are compassionate grounds justifying the release of a person serving a sentence of imprisonment. Although the Act does not specify what the grounds for compassionate release are, guidance from the Scottish Prison Service, who assess applications, suggests that it may be considered where a prisoner is suffering from a terminal illness and death is likely to occur soon. There are no fixed time limits but life expectancy of less than three months may be considered an appropriate period. The guidance makes it clear that all prisoners, irrespective of sentence length, are eligible to be considered for compassionate release. That guidance dates from 2005.

On 24 July 2009 I received an application from Mr Al-Megrahi for compassionate release. He was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in September 2008. I have been regularly updated as to the progression of his illness. I have received numerous comprehensive medical reports including the opinions of consultants who have been treating him. It is quite clear to the medical experts that he has a terminal illness, and indeed that there has recently been a significant deterioration in his health.

In order to consider the application for compassionate release, I was provided with reports and recommendations by the Governor of Greenock Prison, the doctors and prison social work staff. Also, as laid out in statute, I have consulted the Parole Board. This is the normal process for consideration of an application for compassionate release and my decision is in accordance with all the advice given to me.

It is the opinion of his Scottish Prison Service doctors who have dealt with him prior to, during and following the diagnosis of prostate cancer, and having seen him during each of these stages, that his clinical condition has declined significantly. Assessment by a range of specialists has reached the firm consensus that his disease is, after several different trials of treatment, “hormone resistant” - that is resistant to any treatment options of known effectiveness. Consensus on prognosis therefore has moved to the lower end of expectations.

Mr Al-Megrahi was examined by Scottish Prison Service doctors on 3 August. A report dated 10 August from the Director of Health and Care for the Scottish Prison Service indicates that a 3 month prognosis is now a reasonable estimate. The advice they have provided is based not only on their own physical examination but draws on the opinion of other specialists and consultants who have been involved in his care and treatment. He may die sooner - he may live longer. I can only base my decision on the medical advice I have before me. That medical advice has been made available to the United States Government at their request and has been published on grounds of public interest.

It has been suggested that Mr Al-Megrahi could be released from prison to reside elsewhere in Scotland. Clear advice from senior police officers is that the security implications of such a move would be severe. I have therefore ruled that out as an option.

Conclusion

Having met the criteria, it therefore falls to me to decide whether Mr Al-Megrahi should be released on compassionate grounds. I am conscious that there are deeply held feelings, and that many will disagree whatever my decision. However a decision has to be made.

Scotland will forever remember the crime that has been perpetrated against our people and those from many other lands. The pain and suffering will remain forever. Some hurt can never heal. Some scars can never fade. Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive. Their pain runs deep and the wounds remain.

However, Mr Al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule. It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die.

In Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity. It is viewed as a defining characteristic of Scotland and the Scottish people. The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live.

Mr Al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.

But, that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.

Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available. Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown. Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people. No matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

For these reasons - and these reasons alone - it is my decision that Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die.”

From the above speech you can see that this was not decided upon a whim. You can see that great care & deliberation was taken. Whether the British Govt. secretly did a deal with Libya to improve trade is not important in this single decision (although it is of course important, with Libya’s economy being a fantastic place for Britain to trade!). Whether this would upset the US Govt. was not a job which Mr MacAskill had to deal, that was a job for Gordon Brown and his Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

Clearly, a failure by Miliband (either of ability or in practicality) to negotiate with the US has damaged our “special relationship” with the US, which was pretty much in shreds as a result of their foreign war-monger politics in Iraq (I do not include Afghanistan in this - that is a war that probably did & definitely now DOES need to be fought).

So we come to my opinion of the decision:

• Was it right to release Al-Megrahi?

Based upon the information I can get hold of, yes. It was a compassionate action, and that factor outweighs the need for ensuring a criminal is punished, in this situation at least (especially as the UN consider it a miscarriage of justice!). This does not make me a “soft liberal”, merely someone who wishes the legal system to be correctly administered.

• Could we have done more to reduce the impact of this release?

Yes - by negotiating properly with the Libyans & the US, and setting out the criteria for such release.

• Will the UK benefit from this decision?

If it doesn’t, then Miliband & Brown have failed, Libya have been seen to “win”, and we have further alienated the US.

Donal

The suggestions from the public was that we should have them every month, but my thoughts are that quarterly is enough, and they should be on especially if/when the Longfield redevelopment occurs, to remind shoppers that we’re still here, and allow them to see the regeneration in progress!

Some good news for the area, at least!

Donal

So this is what the Tories give you for a 4.9% Council Tax rise - imagine what you’ll get from them next year when they give away a 0% Council Tax to try to bribe the electorate at the polls!

I have reported these issues to the Council for immediate reparation. I suggest you do the same if you see such neglect, or call me and I’ll bark at them ask for their assistance!

Incidentally, when you call, make sure you get a job/complaint reference number and the name/time of the person you spoke to, some issues to get lost!

Donal

List today includes:

• Downloading all the rest of my CD’s to PC (or “ripping” as I see it is known!)
• Updating my blog
• Delivering leaflets
• Oh - breakfast & make a brew for Jo.
• Tidying & cleaning my home office
• Diary management from now until the elections
• Preparing my personal manifesto promises
• Setting up a separate PPC Blog linked to the Bolton LibDem site ( http://www.bolton-libdems.org.uk/ )
• Responding to letters pages & comments/questions from constituents
• Getting the photo-shoots needed for Vic for his Bury PPC duties
• Helping Jo with cleaning her stables
• Polishing cars with a polishing machine
• Seeing family? Nah - saw most of them yesterday, but must thank my cousin in Ireland for my 40th birthday card received last week!
• Later - go to the gym and set up a fitness regime that I can really adhere to
• Re-apply for my Referee’s licence to Gtr Mcr’s Ref’s Association

 When it comes to fitness, I do plenty of exercise, but still never enough or of the right type. I also eat lots of the wrong things (like many I suppose) but I do limit myself on junk foods during work, despite the ease with which I could pick up a burger on the motorway services! I also promise to list my booze intake for myself, so that I can keep track - it’s so easy to come in at 9.30pm after a council or LibDem meeting and sup a couple of glasses of wine, when a herbal tea would be much better!

Well - off to do a bit of local leafleting now, then get through the other jobs on the list!

The “outline” planning request is in with the Council, and it’s now that members of the public and other interested parties should comment on the proposal. It’s expected that the application will be seen at the September committee, which is on Tuesday 15th.

Crime has been on my mind recently, I’ve been asking the police to comment upon the spade attack within the pub in Prestwich, and I’ve also had to deal with a burglary and car theft for my neighbours, who were on holiday at the time.

I was disappointed to miss James Perkin’s leaving do at the Phoenix Centre on Wednesday, unfortunately I was staying overnight in Newcastle so couldn’t help him celebrate all the hard work he’s put into working with the local Youth over the last couple of years. He really has been an inspiration, and I wish him well in whatever he does next.

I’m now trying to get a bit fitter for the new footy season, and am going to the gym a little more frequently as well as running a (very) little bit! I’m a referee for adult male footy, and also fancy playing a few games this season for my old team. However, this may prove difficult due to political commitments over the next 10 months. I’ll keep trying - never one to shirk a challenge!

Back by popular demand! - Sundey 23rd August 9.30am - 2.30pm

It is hoped to have another Farmers Market in November to coincide with a Christmas Lights “switch on”

Alongside the market activities incldue:
- giant free raffle
- children’s ride
- face painter
- squeaky the clown
- bag piper

Tonight was the AGM (Annual General Meeting) of Raisough Tenants & Residents Association. Tomrrow I get my first night off from Politics/Council of the week. Nomally I’d play 5-a-side if I could, but got something else on so can’t.

Got a letter from the Treasury today (yes - the Houses of Parliament & all that!). It follows a letter I sent to them of my concerns for the licences trade, the response explains the Govt’s attitude to tax on beer - a very important part of the economic revenue, apparently. The fact that pubs are dying on their feet seems to have passed the Govt. right by! However, I’m grateful for the personal response, which came through Ivan Lewis’s office.

Off to pick up my Chia Palace Spanish fried rice now - back soon!

D

Sunday did some leafleting.

Monday went to a School I’m a governor at to help with a Health & Safety survey, then Chaired the Highways Scrutiny Sub-Committee, sorting out the work program for this year.

Today went to the Knowledge Economy Sub-Committee at 5.30pm, to help set the agenda of work program for this year. I don’t actually see a lot of point, because the development of the Knowledge Economy is not a key plank of the Council, so why are we concentrating on it? This was one question I asked, it went down well, like a lead balloon.

After that I attended a debate of the Youth Cabinet in the Chamber. It was interesting mostly for the lack of information attained, rather than what was useful! Some Tories attended, as did Mike Connolly who left early, and a couple of other Labour Councillors.

Got some interesting emails whilst I was off, I’m wading my way through them, along with telephone messages.

Glad to be back, but there’s an awful lot to do!

D

We gave them our views of the proposals about the dramatic changes proposed by Labour to the  delivery of health services, and what our parties would bring in if we got elected.

We also got presentations from the local PCT and the health service. I was pleased that I knew our party policies (first test!) and that I came across ok. Susan is a reasonably experienced politician, having been leader of the Tory-led Trafford Borough Council, so she came across well, and David was ok, if perhaps a little too representative of his ilk (he’s a solicitor by trade, like far too many of our existing politicians, in my opinion). however, he was thoroughly decent in sending me a couple of photos he took, which I’m very grateful for.

I’m enjoying watching Question Time at the moment, David Laws is making a good fist of putting our case forward, but that pratt from the Daily Femail is going on about hanging, and some spotty youth claps his hands like he’s never heard of this thery before.

Jarvis Cocker looks spaced out and clearly hasn’t read the papers for months. IDS (Irritable Duncan-Smith) is ok, one wonders why the Tories didn’t keep him as their leader (at least he accepts he’s bald, unlike Cameron!) The smart chap in the audience who talked about teachers being able to pass tick box tests and forget about “teaching” kids to be free thinkers was spot on - they are paid to teach, not tickbox forms! Professional Development is important, but most of the CPD systems (Continuous Professional Development) that all sorts of industries have, is just a waste of time and money for many.

Rail Franchise & Privatisation - is it good? not for me, I think. Old British Railways was far from perfect, but at least they can’t be accused of stripping out the profitable routes (Dr Beeching excluded, of course!).  BR owned Sealink, and my dad worked for 43 years (without a single day off sick, I am told) for BR. I got a “Priviledged Ticket” as a child of a railway worker, and I can only think of one bad rail journey, where my fingers got caught in the doors at the old station in Bury. the Station Master gave me a Victory Vee to take my mind off it - a thoroughly bad day!

Railways require subsidy and are a central resource for the people, just like in France has. Why can’t we see sense?!?! OMG - The pratt from the Daily Mail said something right - the railways would be better as a nationalised industry - surely more so than the banks?

Donal

Donal

On the other hand, you could be a lazy git, take the you-know-what out of the ignorant electorate, and rip off the expenses system for everything you can get.

What type of MP would you make, if you got elected? Or what type of MP would I make? The answer is difficult, because people change over time, especially if you work in a palace. People who spend time in palaces tend to get a “majestic” complex. They start believing that they really are royalty, I suspect, and I think if you’re surrounded by like-minded others, as in the Palace of Westminster, then you need to be pretty strong to prevent yourself from catching this nasty disease!

I suspect that my relatively humble origins would keep me as a backbench MP, but my wide experience of industry would make me a useful tool for those who want to know what particular businesses actually do, how they operate, and what jobs employees are involved in. This week I’ve been round a very large food producer, retail shopping village, small independent retailers, stayed in an independent hotel, visited a large and complex industrial manufacturer, and still got a day at home to write up reports on most of them, as well as deal with general admin.

I’m sure there are still a couple of thousand people who want to be MP’s, but I reckon the numbers are swindling dwindling these days!

D

On Saturday 20 June a Football Tournament organized by FC United of Manchester will take place from 9am until 4pm at St. Mary’s Park.

As well as Butterstile Fun Day which takes place from 12.00 noon at Butterstile Primary School. The friends of Butterstile will be holding their traditional fun day. As part of the fun all the children from the school will have the chance to enter a series of competitions to celebrate Prestwich, the four categories are photographs, poems, paintings or portraits.

I’ll be there sitting in the stocks having people chuck wet sponges at me for an hour - come and have a go!

And finally on Sunday 21 June Prestwich Carnival Grand Parade kicks off at 1pm. The Parade arrives in the park at 2.30pm with six arenas showcasing local talent.

Prestwich Festival and Carnival Organiser, David Curtis, said: “This year’s carnival is going to be special. The publicity of Love Prestwich Festival has really got out there so there’s many more stalls and attractions this year. Love Prestwich Festival was all about showcasing the best of Prestwich. Come with the family and enjoy this day - I have it on good authority that the Prestwich Carnival Sunshine Team will bring the sun with them this year!”

Carran O’Grady LAP Manager said “Feedback from Preswich residents and businesses has been great about the Love Prestwich Festival and people want the Festival to return in 2010. We will look at the highlights of this our first year soon and look at making it even better for next year. All organizers should be applauded for the hours of planning their individual events which made the 55 events amazing”.

Cllr Vic D’Albert, Chair of Prestwich LAP said “Love Prestwich Festival finishes the way it started - on a high. I’ve been to as many events as possible throughout the Festival and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all. The Clough Day was fantastic, The Farmers Market sold out, Prestwich has got Junior Talent was amazing to mention just a few. I’m already knocking on the door to get more Farmers Market in Prestwich and an annual Festival. As usual I’ll be at the Carnival volunteering with my bucket which raises money for local groups as many Festival events have and then like everyone else enjoying the best Carnival around.”

I would encourage everyone to come out and enjoy activities that they wouldn’t normally attend, try something different  - you only live once!

Donal

Ask any retired headmaster, teacher or employee who has never worked in the private sector, and they may be a little woolly about the difficulties faced by employees not in the public sector. That’s not to dismiss public sector, it’s just my honest opinion that they sometimes lack the objectivity or relevance of political ddecisions in the private sector.

I understand the impact of public sector decisions - I am sorry to have to be party to them sometimes, especially when I am rightly admonished for an off-the-cuff remark about “being paid” to do something I’d love to have the time for, on the day you have to accept a massive pay cut - you know who you are - and I am truly sorry for my remark.

Tonight I went to a Radcliffe & Bury South Sports Forum (RBSSF).  This replaces the defunct Prestwich Sports Advisory Forum that I took over a couple of years back (itwas defunct then!). The team were made up of Radcliffe Forum members plus me, trying to set the agenda for the next year.

I admit I have still to see the point of a forum that has no clout with the Council, no finances of significance to sponsor individuals or clubs, and no interest from sports clubs, but ever the optimist, I want to see sport flourish and fat kids a thing of the past, so I will help to make it work. I know it’s not the best encouragement, but no bugger reads this anyway, so who cares!

Oh Hi folks! I didn’t reailse we were heading for an election and you’d all trawl my blog for incriminating trash! Welcome - try doing something to improve your own neighbourhood before criticising me about my efforts! Why don’t I ask your neighbours how annoying your habits are? I have the tenacity and the pedantry….

So, back to the meeting. We talked about the group membership, how we’d recruit members, what & who we knew, but not about the benefits to others of becoming members. Eventually I  asked for a single sheet flyer from one of the Sports Devlpt Officers present, so I could explain to people who already go to interminable meetings why they should go to another. It was promised - she seemed promising, and I’ve never met her before, but I won’t hold my breath.

It was not quite torpor, but it was better than a recent LibDem Exec, and if we all DO what we say we will, it means I can trust others to get on with something I normally never trust others to do! I’m not a control freak, but the old adage, “If you want something doing, do it yourself” and, “If you want it doing, give it a busy person” spring to mind!

However, I’m not one to talk, it took me yonks to get a cheque signed by signatories to hand over cash from the defunct organisation!

Nighty night - back to my CJ Sansom book!

D

On Sunday I spent an hour guarding a hole on Lowther Rd, to prevent other cars & drivers doing what I nearly did - drive into a crater!

I guided people around the hole, which was about 1′ across on the surface, and 6′ x 4′ x 7′ deep underneath. I called the emergency Council number, who sent a crew out to put guard rails & signs around it, and then on Monday a couple of steel plates were put over it too.

The outside looks inoccuous, but below is a vacuous void of danger - a bit like the Labour and Conservative parties, upon whom we’ve entrusted the running of this Councl for so many years!

Planners at Bury Council have given approval for state of the art new facilities at Prestwich Arts College, marking the end of a long campaign for improvements to the successful local school.

The Council’s Planning Control Committee voted on Tuesday 16th June to grant planning permission for a new dining room and arts auditorium for the school, which was threatened with closure back in 2005. Commenting on the news, local Lib Dem Councillor Tim Pickstone said “This is great news, not just for the school but for the whole community. Prestwich Arts College is the only high school in Bury without a dining room, and this news is long overdue. We’ve been lobbying the Council for years, and I’m glad they’ve finally seen sense and given Prestwich young people what they need.

Commenting on the new arts auditorium, Cllr Pickstone, who is also a governor of the school, said “This will be a first class facility for a top quality school. But more than that, it will be used as a community facility, bringing better arts provision for the whole of Prestwich. I’m delighted it’s been given the go-ahead.”

The new facilities will be built in the near future. Cllr Pickstone said “We need to listen to the concerns of local residents on Heys Road, Glebelands Road and other nearby streets to ensure that the plans do not adversely affect local residents. When we get the process right, Prestwich Arts College and the whole area will have splendid new facilities.

He sees the public are fed up with the rubbish MP’s, the tax evasion, the expenses debacle, even the whole false system of Govt, and he pledges a solution. Then he delivers a woolly vague blurb that may, at some undetermined date in the future, lead to a bit of change.

Make Votes Count is a group I support, their aim is to make our voting into a fair system. Here is their Press Release on Gordon’s latest bilge:

The Prime Minister’s statement on democratic reform was not as bold as billed; in fact on electoral reform he has been far more timid than the circumstances demanded.

There is a real urgency to implementing reforms, to restore public trust in MPs and in politics as a whole. Voters have shown they are impatient with the main parties, and want real change in the way we do politics. So why does the Prime Minister continue to dither on opening up the debate and on timescales for implementing electoral reform?

Gordon Brown talks the language of quick change and ending the Gentleman’s Club when it comes to expenses. But he fails to bring that approach to the other area MPs still self-regulate and is now under scrutiny - the way in which MPs are elected.

Elections affect all of us. Decisions on how they are conducted certainly shouldn’t be in the hands of the politicians, whether those on the National Council for Democracy or on the Opposition benches, whose jobs-for-life are at stake. Is it no surprise that David Cameron is leading the resistance to change: he and his party stand to benefit the most from the status quo. It is more of a surprise that Brown wasn’t even willing in his statement to repeat the 1997 Labour manifesto promise of a referendum on the introduction of a proportional voting system.

The Prime Minister talks about starting up the debate on electoral reform. But we’ve been having that debate for over ten years. In January 2008 the Government published as “a contribution to the ongoing debate” its long-awaited review of those proportional voting systems already introduced. The Alternative Vote Plus (AV+) was a system recommended by the Jenkins Commission back in 1998 after long and careful deliberations involving plenty of opportunities for public engagement and debate.

There is still just enough time left for completing an open public debate and then holding a referendum before or at the time of the next election. The referendum would give voters the chance to register their feelings twice: once to get rid of a tainted MP in the General Election; and once in a referendum to choose whether to get rid of a rotten system and change things for good.

Even after his statement today, Gordon Brown still has the opportunity to be bold and start exploring this referendum option; to show he is able to go beyond the self-interest of the political elite and give power back to the man and woman on the street.

NB:1) Make Votes Count’s goal is to reform the House of Commons with a voting system that balances the principles of: (i) Broad proportionality (ii) Stable government (iii) Extending voter choice and (iv) Maintaining a constituency link. These principles would be met by the AV+ voting system recommended by the Jenkins Commission. But Make Votes Count will campaign for a yes vote in a referendum on any system that advances these criteria.

2) Make Votes Count has joined together with a broad range of civil society organisations and individuals to call for a referendum on the day of the next general election to change the way we elect our MPs. See the ‘Vote for a Change’ campaign website http://www.voteforachange.co.uk

If you agree with these sensible aims, join in the debate now, because Gordon’s hoping that time will heal this wound by the next election!

Donal

Mr Brown has done some things wrong, and is not the most effective leader, but he is not so bad as to go just yet. He should not be forced to go by the press, and even if his own party force him out, it probably would not be the best thing for the Country.

The thing that we need is a revised political voting system, and this needs to be in place before the next general election.

James Purnell’s resignation is a shot in the leg for Brown, but one he could get over if his advisors get it right. They probably won’t though, because they’ve got so much wrong recently.

If we just replace the Labour party with the Conservatives, we will not improve anything. We will make things much much worse!

So my suggestion to Gordy is to wait, wait and wait some more - allow me to do some preparation, and allow Nick Clegg to get some more messages across, to make Davey Cameron look as inept as he really probably is!

The public will not get a “proper say” in who leads us, if the system of choice is “first past the post”, which is unfair and allows bizarre arrangements to skew the results.

Let us have a realistic system that provides fair representation, and then give us the leaders we truly deserve.

D