Richard Baum

Tonight was Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) night, and once again I came away from the meeting feeling more disenchanted and disappointed than anything else. Most of all I was disappointed in myself and the internal screaming I find myself doing when I just can’t help people who come to the meeting so evidently frustrated.

Once again there were probably as many people on the top table as in the audience. With so many problems evident across Prestwich, and so many people frustrated at the lack of action on so many things, it’s a bit shame that more people don’t come to speak to LAP members. Is it because people can’t be bothered, or just that they think their input can’t make a difference?

Sadly, tonight I came away thinking that, whilst it may be the former for some people, it’s the latter in a lot of cases too. Yet again there was a very eloquent and well-put complaint to us about the state of Prestwich Village - the fact that it’s mucky, untidy, never swept or cleaned. This is the same complaint made over and over, and no matter what I do, no matter what my fellow Councillors do, still it’s the same. It’s a shocking dereliction of duty by the Council itself, who are ignoring not only the elected members but the people who elected them in the first place. This isn’t a political issue. It’s not that one party can do it whilst others can’t. It’s that nobody can do it because the Council aren’t fulfilling their part of the bargain which says that we pay them money to keep the streets clean.

Two LAPs ago we got an officer down to the meeting to address us about street cleaning, and yet still nothing has changed. It’s an absolute disgrace, and the state of the Village centre is nothing short of a scandal. I may be a Councillor, but I am also a Council Tax payer and I am frankly fed up with all of my efforts and requests for help falling not only on deaf ears but also to officers who just don’t seem to care. Why should it take me phone call after email after phone call to get bins empties and kebab wrappers swept away? These things should be happening. The service is appalling and I stand shoulder to shoulder with any resident who says so.

I will keep trying. We will all keep trying, but as a relatively new Councillor I sometimes wonder what the hell I’m doing battling against some absolutely shocking non-interest from the Council itself. I was elected to help the people of my ward, to try and give them what they want, and yet all I am met with is excuse after excuse, and my patience is wearing dangerously thin.

Maybe I shouldn’t write this blog when I’m angry, and I am well aware that this posting is clearly lacking in solutions. But I just want any readers of this to know that I am just as angry as my residents are about the state of these services. I am elected to serve and it’s difficult sometimes. And hugely frustrating when I would have gladly spent tonight emptying the bins and sweeping the streets in the rain myself rather than sat in a school hall listening to the same complaints as last time. I’d have had a far better time, and we’d have achieved something at least.

Rick