Richard Baum

Last night’s council budget meeting cut services left, right and centre, whilst imposing a massive above-inflation Council Tax hike of nearly 5%.

The Liberal Democrats proposed EXTRA spending where it matters to people most, but our plans were vetoed by the Conservative Executive seemingly hell-bent on pursuing an agenda miles from what the people of Bury want.
Firstly, we proposed that a special “Credit Crunch Advice Fund” be established (initially for just one year) to provide a much needed boost for advice services to people and small businesses in Bury that are struggling because of the Credit Crunch. Thousands of people are being affected by unemployment, debt, housing problems and rising bills and our advice services just cannot cope. We proposed a £300,000 fund, for the first year, to give these advice services the boost they need. The Tories said no.

Secondly, we proposed a massive 33% increase in the budget for street and pavement repairs (£300,000 a year). All of us know what a terrible state some of our roads and pavements are in. They look tatty, and are dangerous to drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Last year, Prestwich was given £150,000 for the whole year for its road and pavement repairs. This wasn’t enough to repair the single neediest street! So we proposed this big increase. The Tories said no.

And they didn’t even say “No” politely. They didn’t even acknowledge that their budget prioritised other things. The Leader of the Council, Conservative Cllr Bob Bibby, stood up publicly last night and simply said he’d “take no notice” of what we had to say. Well thanks Cllr Bibby. The people of Bury will, I’m sure, be thankful for that spirit of cooperation for the good of the borough… 

Our third proposal related to the youth service. Protests have been growing over the proposed review of the service, which the Tories have pre-empted entirely by already earmarking £200,000 of youth service savings! We asked last night what the point of a review is if the amount saved from the service has already been confirmed! 

Whilst we welcome a review of the youth service, as we would with any service that might be delivered in a better way, we wanted a guarantee that any savings are RINGFENCED for the youth service so that we could provide enhanced services for the same amount.

Unfortunately, the Tories, once again, said “no.” They wouldn’t answer straight questions on whether or not they’ll be cuts, and the young people present at the meeting last night would have gone home none-the-wiser about the future of their service.

I know the Lib Dems aren’t in control of Bury. Democracy says that the Tories are, and that’s fine. But our budget amendment last night sought to address real concerns about the economy, the state of the roads and pavements, and the youth service. We weren’t asking for much. That the Tories rejected it would’ve been fine had they explained their rationale and highlighted which priorities they thought mattered more. But they didn’t do that. They scornfully threw our prioposals in the bin without the smallest bit of thought. That’s the real problem here, and is more clear evidence of an arrogant Executive putting itself before the people.

Rick