Richard Baum

December saw the conclusion of a few things - not just the year! Nick Clegg was elected Lib Dem leader and promises much positive change for our party which I hope we can translate into a positive difference on the ground. The Butterstile Children’s Centre was given the final go-ahead after a long but necessary planning process. And the Retreat fountain was finally replaced with a granite version. We kissed the fencing goodbye and switched on the new fountain at the same time as the Prestwich Christmas lights on December 10th.

Thankfully congestion charging reached the end of the line in Bury as well. A Lib Dem proposal rejecting congestion charging and calling on the Council to reject the TIF (Transport Innovation Fund) bid if it came with charging was adopted as Council policy. A triumph for us and, I hope for local people, thousands of whom are opposed to the charging proposals.

Smaller ward matters continue to occupy us - we tried to deal with knotweed on Gardner Road and just this week have asked for the few remaining gaps in blue bin provision to be plugged. And the public bins need a bit of emptying every now and again, and the litter on the streets gets cleaned but soon replaced. 

As the year draws to a close I think there’s a lot we can look back on with pride together. Lib Dems don’t do things for people, we do things with people, and we’ve done a lot with the communities of St Mary’s this year. Personally it’s been great to be elected and become more able to work with local people to improve things all round. And for the party, we’ve gone from six local Councillors to eight, with more hopefully to come.

I can look back on Tulle Court, the Retreat, Rainsough, the Children’s Centre, and the littler things like litter clean ups and fixed street-lights, with the satisfaction that we’re doing some good. It doesn’t always work, and I don’t think things will ever be perfect. There’s always litter - it’s about how we work to make sure its quickly removed. There’s always holes in the road - it’s about how we work with residents and the Council to fix as many as we can.

But I do think we’re getting somewhere. I think we’re working better together and I hope we continue to do so in 2008.

Rick