Richard Baum

Last night’s meeting with the CPA inspectors was like pretty much everything else that I experience at the Town Hall - it had its good points and its bad.

It was very refreshing to see five members from three different parties sit in a room for an hour and not have a single petty political squabble. Despite us talking about the hottest of hot political potatoes in terms of issues in Bury, the debate stayed high-quality, and the discussion stayed out of the playground. The group of backbench members was made up of me, Cllr Ann Garner (Lib Dem), Cllrs Tim Chamberlain and Trevor Holt (Lab) and Cllr Jack Walton (Con). We were asked about our thoughts on Scrutiny, risk management, the Council’s priorities, and the challenges Bury faces.

The discussion was full of passion and vigour, which is no surprise to me because I have been struck by just how passionate our Councillors are about the Borough since I’ve come into office.

But I was disappointed with some of the questions, and the tone of the enquiry which struck me as sounding a bit like minds were closed to new ideas. Avenues were pursued relentlessly despite lots of us saying that they weren’t really relevant, and sometimes I thought that the inspectors’ knowledge of Bury was a bit sketchy. Which is a shame given that their report has so much importance.

Still, we’ll see how it goes, and what comes out in the wash. I think we can all be proud that we played our part and did it truthfully.

Tonight it’s full Council. I am asking the Leader a question on street cleanliness, and I may pop another one in there about something else if there’s time. I am also answering some questions as the Council’s Deputy Spokesperson on the Passenger Transport Authority. I will write a full report tomorrow. And don’t forget that it is a public meeting, with public question time available at the start. The Town Hall is the venue, and it kicks off at 7pm.

Rick