Richard Baum

Last night’s Council meeting saw a number of interesting questions asked and answered.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone asked a very pertinent question about congestion charging. Obviously the Lib Dem Group remain passionately opposed to the charge, and one of the main reasons is its effect on some local communities. Simister, for instance, which residents won’t be able to enter or leave without passing through the charging zone. And Parrenthorn High School, one third of the pupils of which live the other side of the M60.

Local people in Prestwich might be penalised for very short journeys going nowhere near the City Centre. If the M60 is to be the outer charging zone, there needs to be consideration paid to this issue, and Cllr Pickstone asked for such flexibility to be considered in the unhappy event of congestion charging being introduced.

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Cllr Andrew Garner asked about the Sheepfoot Lane / Bury New Road junction, which has recently been rebuilt, but which now has a dangerous dip in the middle of it. We were assured that this will be fixed in the next few weeks.

I asked about bio-fuels. The government has set a target that all Council vehicles should run on 5% bio-diesel by 2010, which the Council is complying with. But I asked whether the Leader agreed if this was simply a stunt by the government. They look “greener” on the surface, but the bio-fuels debate is much more complicated and a lot of people think that growing crops for fuel, rather than growing them for food and concentrating on alternative fuels and efficiency, is a more sustainable way of doing things. This is certainly an issue to watch out for.

Cllr Mary D’Albert, the newest St Mary’s Councillor, asked about the horrific state of the Borough’s roads. We were told that over 18 miles of roads need repairing in Bury. And yet for Prestwich, the budget for road repairs won’t even fix a single road! It’s shocking, and we will be pressing for lots more money in this budget in the future. Government’s continued budget cuts to Councils do have a big impact, and the crumbling roads are one of the more visually obvious signs.

The Lib Dem Group also asked about graffiti (the policy for the removal of which is to be re-visited, as everyone in Prestwich can probably testify that it isn’t working at the moment!), the Sustainable Communities Bill, and other issues.

Such questioning of the Council is important, as it raises the profile of issues that matter to local people, and gets the Executive to think more about what they’re doing. Unfortunately, our rights to question are being curtailed, and the rights of the public removed entirely, by the leading Tory group who are abusing their power by restricting these rights. See posting below for more about that.

Rick