Richard Baum

Last night was the first Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) meeting of 2009. I normally give the meetings a plug on here before they happen, so apologies if you were waiting for that. You’ve now missed the meeting… Still, lots of people managed to find their way there despite my tardiness in publicising it, which is a testament to the British public’s undentable spirit. And possibly the fact that nobody reads this blog normally.

In the past the LAP meetings have had an unfortunate tendency to come towards the bottom of the excitement scale, somewhere between watching a stranger lying in a coma and staring for hours at a featureless wall. They’re useful, but the useful stuff is often buried in a typhoon of other stuff.

Last night’s was a bit different though, as we finally cracked down on people using their ten minute allocated presentation time to deliver a forty-five minute oration on a subject only slightly less tedious than counting grains of salt in an egg-timer. So last night we got all of the important information with none of the unnecessary boredom, which was great. And, since it took place in a primary school hall and we were all seated on tiny chairs designed for four year olds, our precariousness in regard to falling off them in front of everyone kept the adrenaline flowing anyway.

We heard from the Children’s Centre managers telling the crowd (of which there were many – it was great to see several dozen member of the public there) about the enhanced services on offer in Prestwich now. There are two Children’s Centres now, including one in the ward at Butterstile School, which was the venue for the meeting last night. Before it began I took a tour of the new facilities with my colleague Cllr Donal O’Hanlon, and I have to say that it looks magnificent. Play space, training rooms, therapeutic facilities and social space for youngsters and their families, and a great addition to the ward.

We also heard some disappointing news about the Prestwich regeneration plans. Whilst response to the consultation was significant (over 450 responses) and positive (over 70% in favour generally), there will be a delay of a couple of months now before the strategy can be formally adopted. This is because Tesco have raised some formal objections and, whilst we’re confident that we will be able to proceed, we need to make absolutely sure that everything is watertight. The strategy doesn’t give Tesco what they want, which is a mammoth store fronting onto the main road. We like Tesco in Prestwich, but the general view is that it’s quite big enough, and anything bigger might impact on the town centre. Tesco disagree, so we need to find a way out of this and proceed as soon as possible turning Prestwich back into what it needs to be – a thriving urban village making the most of all its strengths. Hopefully it won’t take long.

Also last night there was an update on work on the St Mary’s conservation area, which is roughly the everything between Church Lane and Butterstile Lane, and down from Bury New Road towards Lowther Road. It’s a beautiful bit of town with some fine old buildings and lots of greenery, and the Council is working with the Heritage Society, local people and us to make it easier to protect.

There was also a report from the Police, and the public forum with a range of questions from the floor to all of us. All in all, a fine meeting I thought, and a good display of what Prestwich LAPs should be all about – a good discussion with local people on a range of topics.

I’m just sorry I didn’t tell anyone about it in advance!

Rick