Richard Baum

Don’t forget the Prestwich Local Area Partnership meeting, which takes place tomorrow (Thursday) night at St Monica’s school on Bury Old Road. God knows I can’t…

Amongst other things on the agenda, there’ll be an update on the URBED Prestwich Town Centre regeneration project, and the ceremonial unveiling of the Prestwich Plan 2008-11, on which I’ve been beavering away nicely for quite some time, and of which more tomorrow.

It’s an open meeting, and everyone’s always welcome to come along and hear the updates on what’s been going on in Prestwich recently. There will be representatives from the Council, Police, Fire, NHS and other partners there. So if you have a problem, if noone else can help, and if you can find them, come to the LAP and ask your question.

My mouth is still burning from last night’s pizza with the local Police, that unbeknownst to me had the Devil’s Vegetables on it, and was as hot as the centre of the Sun. Normally close proximity to the long arm of the law brings me out in a sweat, so such heated conditions weren’t entirely unexpected during dinner with the local Sergeant. However it’s not often that my mouth is the epicentre of the warmth.

But as well as downing fire-extinguishing mugs of water all morning, I have been talking to the Council’s parks people about a potential skate park in the ward. Such ideas often bring about gasps of horror amongst local people who suspect that such a skate park will attract trouble. The reality is often different, and I think it’s important to provide a safe local place for young people to skateboard about if they want to. Quite why anyone would want to is a mystery, but if the kids like hurtling through the air on a bit of plastic with rollerskate wheels on it, then that’s fine by me as long as they don’t hurt old ladies in the act. Sticking them out in a corner somewhere, which seems to be the approach favoured by the Council, doesn’t help with engaging them in the wider community.

The Parks department are a bit reluctant to get involved because of bad experiences in the past ,but I think that if we design it right, and involve everyone in the planning, we could come up with an idea that’s acceptable. Then of course we have to find the money to fund and maintain it, and short of turning the sofa upside down I don’t have any ideas about this at the moment. But we’re working with people to see if we can find an answer to this too. I will keep you informed. I am going to bring it up at the LAP meeting tomorrow night, which is yet another reason, if one were needed, to come along and join the fun.

Rick