Richard Baum

After months of ceaselessly howling at the Council’s Environmental Services Department like some kind of feral dog that just won’t be put down, I scored a double success today. And there was a victory for common sense over housing too, which was the cherry on top of my Council cake.

Firstly, and most astoundingly, the Council finally agreed to implement the street cleaning rota sign that we’ve been harping on about for about the last year. After to-ing and fro-ing between officers and the Executive, and after quite a bit of me banging my head repeatedly against hard surfaces, out of nowhere the Council have agreed that from next week local people will be able to see exactly when the centre of Prestwich is cleaned.

This is great news for many reasons. It’s not just because the Environmental Services Department have at long last moved towards sanity on this issue, but also because local people will be able to see, for the very first time, just when the centre of town is cleaned. This will either put pay to the damaging rumours that we aren’t cleaned as often as we should be, or it will confirm them, and then we can shout a lot and get it put right. Either way, at least we’ll know.

The sign they’re going to use to keep people informed was actually designed by me, because it ws getting so ridiculous that the Council wouldn’t do it themselves that I had to do it for them. So from next week you will be able to see who cleaned Prestwich, when in the day it was done, and where to go with complaints. Thanks very much to the Council for agreeing to this.

Also today, a vehicle owner who had very considerably parked his gigantic advertising truck outside someone’s front room a month ago finally moved it, after your local Councillors stepped in yesterday. The Council paid a visit to the owner this morning, and when it was made clear to him that it wasn’t really on to leave a massive advert blocking someone’s entire windows, he shifted the truck. We don’t know where it’s gone, which is slightly worrying, but if it’s ended up outside your house instead, accept my apologies and please just get in touch.

And finally, there has been some progress with the sad case of the family with the baby living in damp conditions at Sherbourne Court. At first, Six Town Housing used their corpse-like reflexes to suggest a meeting in about three weeks. They have since reacted to my ongoing looks of anger by shaping themselves and actually popping round to see the sick child earlier than planned. This has now happened, and they’ve agreed a plan of action to improve the through-flow of air, and to replace some faulty equipment in the bathroom. In addition, another meeting has been arranged between the tenant and the Council regarding possible re-housing. So we’re getting somewhere there too. 

I needed a couple of good news stories today, after last night’s meeting of the Council’s Licensing and Safety Panel. For some reason, every meeting of the panel sees me descend into some kind of vortex into the recesses of the space-time continuum, as no matter how long or short the agenda, the meetings all manage to drag on ad infinitum until I almost forget why I’m there or who I am. Last night’s went on til gone 10, and in all seriousness I doubt the fairness of a process which sees panel of Councillors deciding on the livelihoods of taxi drivers when they’ve all been there for three hours solid, and some of them haven’t been home yet after a long day at work before the meeting. We should start earlier, split up, have more meetings, or preferably stick to doing what we do know but just say less words, speak quicker, and keep our veerings from the relevant at least marginally sane. Three hours into the meeting, and after the umpteenth question from a panel member who would have known the answer if he’d read his papers in advance, it really is a battle to see which will explode first - my rage or my bladder. This is a serious panel whose decisions have a real impact on real people - I don’t see that there’s an excuse to get so delayed on an agenda and to rush through some people’s cases because we’ve dithered on others.

I hope then, that the weekend is as pleasant and successful as today has been. I was supposed to be going away, but that has turned to dust like so many other of my exciting plans. And as a result I am left here with my leaflets and the faintly distressing prospect of having to watch England labour to an unconvincing victory against Kazakhstan in the football.

Ah well, at least the Licensing meeting isn’t still going on…

Rick

Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has released a statement on the government’s moves to intervene in the banking crisis:

“When a ship is sinking, we must send out the lifeboats, not argue about who steered the ship into the iceberg. At Prime Minister’s Question Time yesterday, I pledged my support for the moves being taken by the Government. Vince Cable and I have been clear that we must do whatever is necessary to halt the downward spiral of the British economy.

But the Government must do more. It must use the leverage it currently has over banks to end unacceptable bonuses for senior executives, ensure that home repossessions are only ever an absolute last resort, and cut some slack for struggling small businesses before calling in their loans.

Now is also the time for tax loopholes to be closed for the very wealthy and the money saved to be used to cut taxes for low and middle income earners. Hard-pressed families and individuals need more of their own money back now more than ever as they are worrying about their savings and facing mounting bills.

We are fortunate to have a great deal of economic expertise in our party with Chris Huhne, David Laws and Susan Kramer working closely with myself and Vince Cable on the challenges that face us. Over the coming weeks and months it will continue to be our party that is leading the debate with the ideas and solutions to put Britain’s economy on the right track.”

On a related note, I was assured this morning that Bury MBC does not have any money in troubled Icelandic banks. This is good news, particularly after what happened with Bury’s money when BCCI collapsed a few years ago.

Rick

Last week I wrote that the Leader of the Council had opted out of attending an Overview and Scrutiny panel on Job Evaluation / Equal Pay, in favour of going to a swanky dinner in Manchester. I was angry about this, but confident that at the very least the meeting could be rescheduled so that employees could get some reassurance over a process which could see many of them lose thousands in salary.

Today the Leader has once again left me feeling extremely angry and disappointed, failing to agree a date for the revised meeting, and again depriving staff of their right to a public explanation. I have been working with the Chair of the Scrutiny Commission to make sure that this meeting happens. I know that the Chair has been forthright in his requests to Council officers and the Leader that he make himself available. This has not happened, and now the opposition to the Bury Conservative Council have had to resort to drastic measures to get this heard in public.

A motion has been signed, calling for an extraordinary meeting of full Council on this issue. This means that the Leader will be forced to come to a public hearing and answer questions on this issue.

It is a crying shame that it has come to this. Whilst it is obviously vital to get effective scrutiny of the process, a meeting of full Council is only fractionally as effective as a Scrutiny Commission would have been. The environment is nowhere near as suited to proper questioning, and the confrontational layout of a chamber with opposing members facing each other is not conducive to information gathering like the inclusive environs of a Scrutiny Commission are.

That this issue needed forcing at all is a damning indictment of an absent Leader who has shown nothing but a lack of interest in responding to questions which need answering.

Maybe I’m naive about politics and how the Council works, but I just don’t understand how the Leader of an organisation that is, for whatever reason, shafting a quarter of its staff, can just disappear from view and seemingly go out of his way to block scrutiny of the process.

He does himself and the Council as a whole no favours at all by not being utterly open to questioning, and nothing but transparent in his desire to share information. It is not good for anyone that we in the opposition have to strain every sinew on behalf of the staff to get the Conservative ruling group to answer questions about this process.

This isn’t about bashing the Tories. We don’t want to question them to make them look silly or to apportion blame for the outcome, which was not entirely anyone’s fault. We want answers about the process the Tories implemented, and about how we can all make it better for the staff.

I am incredibly frustrated that the Conservative response is to bury their heads in the sand and not answer. It took weeks to get the answers I posted on here yesterday. Weeks of uncertainty for staff, weeks of frustration for Councillors, and weeks of feeble inaction by the Tories.

This issue is massive. It affects thousands of people, leaving them helpless at a time when the wider economy is making things worse. Our role is to help them, and we can’t because the Conservatives led by Cllr Bibby are making the job of helping so much more difficult. They should genuinely be ashamed of themselves.

We don’t want a party political fight, we just want open answers. The consistent, inexplicable delays just makes me shake my head with dejection. It’s crazy and it makes me wonder what the hell I’m doing with it all. What is the point of trying when every avenue is blocked?

I hoped very much that yesterday’s answers marked the start of some new openness from the Leadership and the officers carrying out their instructions. Today’s ongoing unwillingness by the Leader to submit to the most basic scrutiny has convinced me that it wasn’t, and now the opposition has had to invoke this drastic step of a full Council meeting to try and get the answers we should have had long ago.

Rick

I have today received answers to a number of questions I have recently put to the Council regarding Job Evaluation and Equal Pay. I feel that it is important for staff and everyone involved to be as informed as possible, so here are the questions and answers received from the Council’s Director of Personnel today:

Question 1:
Is it true that appeals are taking place without Union representation, because Union officers are busy advising would-be appellants and do not have capacity to attend appeals that have been scheduled early in the process whilst still dealing with the preliminary stages of those for later on?

Answer 1:
In response to the further question concerning appeals, I met with the Branch Secretary and the Regional Officer from Unison this morning when we agreed the following with regard to the future conduct of appeals:

Unison will provide trained panel members so we can run 8 panels per day. During that first week Unison will “double up” and may sometimes provide two analysts to sit on the appeals panels, one will take part, the other will be an observer;
We will review the position when we meet on 23rd October.

Unison will provide the names of their analysts to Corporate HR; local stewards will be supported by regional officers to ensure that the 8 panel commitment can be maintained.

The co-ordination of appeals will be undertaken by Corporate HR working on the assumption that we will run 8 panels per day. Advance notice of the appellants details, paperwork, time and venue will be provided so that Unison have at least three working days and no more than seven working days notice to prepare for the hearings.

We agreed to review the process and progress of appeals in two weeks time (meeting with Unison on 23rd Oct)

For the remainder of this week we will cover appeals where TU analysts are available / have committed their time to participating in the appeal.

For information, some appeals have taken place this morning (supported by Unison) and others have taken place where the appellants requested that their appeal went ahead without a TU analyst.

Question 2:
How much money will it cost to extend full pay protection for employees of Bury MBC to the 2 years, 9 months level proposed by Bolton MBC

Answer 2:
If we were to offer full protection for 2 years, 9 months, the total cost to the Council would be £9.5m.

Please note we have sought permission to capitalise protection costs, however this option has been declined by the DCLG.

Question 3:
Please explain the different points-to-pay system which sees 430 points in Bury equate to £18,907 and 430 points in Bolton equate to £23,749

Answer 3:
The establishment of a pay to points system in each Authority is a matter for local determination that is influenced by local job market factors and affordability. All Local authorities must retain the nationally agreed pay spine (which Bury has done) but each Authority can determine the relationship between JE points and pay to suit its own local circumstances. For information please note that in the pay to points model developed by Blackburn with Darwen council, 430 points equates to a salary range of £17,800 - £20,100.

Question 4:
Please explain the low scoring for Revenues and Benefits staff in relation to the “Responsibility for Finance” section.

Answer 4:
Employees within Revenues and Benefits were awarded points within the levels 1-4 against this factor (there are six levels in total).

The factor measures the direct responsibility of the jobholder for financial resources, including cash, vouchers, cheques, debits and credits, invoices, budgets and income.

It takes into account the nature of the responsibility, eg. correctness and accuracy, safekeeping, confidentiality and security, deployment and degree of direct control etc.

This factor is hierarchical for jobs in finance and the guidance states that the levels awarded to jobs should reflect this. Consequently managerial roles within the R&B service were awarded Level 4 which is defined as:

The job involves high direct responsibility for financial resources. The work involves either:

(a) accounting for very large sums of money, in the form of cash, cheques, direct debits, invoices, or equivalent, where care, accuracy & security are important or:

(b) being accountable for large expenditures from an agreed budget or equivalent income. The responsibility may include contributing to the setting and monitoring of the relevant budget and ensuring effective spend of budgeted sums.

Other posts in the hierarchy were graded accordingly.

Question 5:
How many roles had their points cut during moderation, and what was the average number of points lost?

To be advised.

Question 6:
Can you confirm that, for all part time staff, gains and losses have been pro-rata’d as appropriate?

Answer 6:
Yes, part time equivalent figures have been used in the calculation

Question 7:
Has consideration been given to the “Stafford” model of dealing with this issue?

Answer7:
Contact has been made with Staffordshire to establish the facts. Staffordshire did not abandon Single Status. They are in the advanced stages of implementing the results from their Pay and Grading Review. In broad terms, some £85m has been pumped in to support the review’s outcome. This has, of course, significantly reduced the number of losers.

I continually receive questions from staff and residents on this, which I am relaying to the Leader for answers. These are the answers I received today, and I am hopeful that the outstanding question, and any others I receive, will be answered shortly.

Rick

Some success this morning in the struggle with Six Town Housing over the condition of the flat at Sherbourne Court. It is home to a baby (and will soon be home to another), but is riddled with damp which is obviously doing nobody any good.

After some increasingly fraught lobbying yesterday, we have managed to get the maintenance visit which was compassionately scheduled for three weeks from now brought forward to tomorrow. That will allow for repairs to be scheduled, which I have asked to be actually carried out urgently.

Unfortunately the morning has not been entirely successful. I am becoming increasingly tired because of Tamsin’s futuristic alarm clock, which is driving me mad and is so hyper-effective that it wakes me up a full half hour before it’s supposed to each and every day.

It is a Philips “Wake-up Light,” ostensibly designed to wake people up slowly and as nature intended, rather than startle them into consciousness by playing the news intro from Five Live, which is what traditionally woke me up. The advertising blurb talks about people with conditions which make them actually depressed about getting up on dark mornings. Tam seems well up for believing this, and whilst I am sure that there are awful and genuine mental illnesses of this sort, I am struggling to overcome the suspicion that she might just, y’know, not like getting up for work.

So this thing of her’s is a radio alarm clock with a gigantic light on top of it, which slowly comes to life for half an hour before the scheduled alarm call, reaching full brightness at wake-up time rather like the sun rising. And then, at the allotted hour, rather than the radio or some beeping puncturing the air, the sleeper can be stroked gently towards awakenness by the sounds of water rolling over rocks, or birds tweeting in the trees, or, oddly, frogs croaking. Tamsin likes the birds.

Apparently Tam likes this new method. Unfortunately I think I have the world’s most sensitive eyes, because the very instant the light begins its grim march towards full shininess, I wake up. And then I spend the next half an hour staring at the ceiling watching it get brighter and brighter, like a passenger staring out the window on a space ship to the Sun.

For her, this alarm clock does exactly what it says on the box. She langurously stretches out at 7am with a smile on her face. I look bitter and annoyed, and would much prefer to revert to the traditional method which saw me flailing about like a madman as the news headlines blare from the wall, wondering whether I am still in my hideious nightmare or whether the FTSE losing 2000 points in one morning is actually true.

What makes the situation worse is that I bought the damn thing, as a birthday present. And it cost the best part of £100! One hundred pounds to be woken up for work in the most irritating way possible.

She’s bounding round the house like a song bird, fresh as a daisy, whilst I am half an hour more tired than I was before, becoming insane with hatred for the little orange glow in the corner of the room. I have tried wearing a mask to shield my eyes, but frankly it makes me look like a buffoon. And I think I have an odd-shaped face because it won’t sit right on it.

There is no escape from this. Even now I can feel it burning its fake sunshine into my eyes. I can’t bring myself to deprive her of her morning crux, but how’s a man supposed to get a good night’s sleep when the sun itself rises in his bedroom? Answers on a postcard please.

Rick

I was very disappointed today to hear from the Council’s Head of Waste Management, who contacted me to say that the promised street cleaning rota sign will now not be coming to Prestwich. As a reminder – having been contacted by many residents concerned about street cleanliness, we asked for (and were promised) a sign in the centre of the precinct indicating the street cleaning rota for that week, signed after each clean to let local residents know when the cleaning had been done.

The rota was not suggested by me. It was suggested by a large number of the people whom we Councillors and the Council itself serve, namely the residents of Prestwich. I asked Cllr Dorothy Gunther, the Conservative Executive member for Environmental Services, to accept their suggestion, and she agreed on behalf of the Council. Now though, we are told that this won’t happen.

The fact that people empowered to make and implement decisions have now changed their minds will annoy a lot of residents, I’m sure. It’s certainly annoyed me, since it’s taken so long to get precisely nowhere, and especially since I relayed the agreed action to the people who asked for it. Once again I think that the people of Prestwich have the right to feel let down by the people at the Town Hall and by the Tories running it.

The Head of Waste Management said:

“Cllr Dorothy Gunther and I have discussed the matter and we are of the view that a rota of the type you suggest would serve little purpose in reality. What’s important is how clean the precinct is and not how often it is cleaned. It is cleaned as often as is necessary to maintain a satisfactory standard of cleanliness and that may be 2 or 3 times daily. Furthermore it may differ between days of the week and between different times of the year.”

I strongly disagree that the proposed rota will serve little purpose. When it started becoming clear that even a starting pistol wouldn’t jerk the Council into action on this, I designed a rota myself and sent it to them. It could easily be adapted to suit different times of day and times of the year. It was not about imposing a standard rota. It was about informing residents of the proposed schedule for that time and place, and crucially that the proposed schedule was adhered to.

I think it would have served to provide what is lacking at the moment, namely confidence amongst the residents that the centre of Prestwich is being cleaned satisfactorily. The Council and I agree that what is important is how clean the precinct is. I think disagreement exists between residents and the Council over whether or not it is in fact clean.

The rota would have shown the number and frequency of actual cleans, so that residents would know that efforts are being made to keep the precinct clean. If residents could see that the precinct is still not clean to their satisfaction despite two or three cleans a day, we could begin a dialogue about how to solve this problem. At the moment residents aren’t sure when things are cleaned or who is cleaning them, and so naturally assume that “nothing is ever done” or “Bury Town Centre gets cleaned more than Prestwich.” I get these complaints all the time. The Council has an ideal opportunity to put these rumours to rest with this rota, but have chosen not to do it.

This signed rota isn’t about checking up on street cleaners. It’s about providing local people with information about what standards are, and clarity that they’re being met, so that they stop complaining to me (and the Council) that they aren’t.

I am very disappointed that people living in, working in, and travelling through Prestwich Village still have no idea how often their streets are actually cleaned, who is doing the cleaning, and who they can complain to. There is talk of a Street Cleaning Plan to give people information on the service. But even when this has been put in place, there will still be a lack of information on ACTUAL cleaning (as opposed to planned cleaning). So there will still be the opportunity for accusations that standards aren’t being met.

It’s very irritating and, I fear, another example of a promise broken for no clear reason. It would have cost nothing and generated a lot of goodwill, as well as keeping residents informed, and educating them on Council services. Unfortunately they are now denied that chance.

Rick

Tonight is a meeting of the Bury Liberal Democrats. It is taking place at Fishpool Liberal Club from 7pm, and all members and supporters are welcome. Recently the attendance at these meetings has gone up markedly, and whilst they’re not quite large enough events to necessitate the hiring of ballrooms and convention centres (yet) they are certainly worth coming along to if you’re interested in the Lib Dems in Bury and/or are a bit of a meeting junky. Luckily for me, and handy for those looking for an explanation as to my ongoing unpopularity, I am both of these things, and so will be there with bells on. It would be great to see all local members there, so please do come down if you have the chance. Rick

So I went to a wedding this weekend, the entertainment part of which was a “Ceilidh” - Scottish dancing which is like Working Men’s Club Linedance night crossed with a fiddle and an accordion, all set to the dictatorial shouting of a man in a kilt. I was dreading it, but in truth it was actually very enjoyable, and I now regret my overly negative build-up in Friday’s post. Yes, I did look like a cross between a marionette and a man being executed by Old Sparky, but I had a splendid time, and can now do-si-do with only minor bruising.

The wedding itself was fairly uneventful (although the bride and groom, one of whom was friends with Tam, neither of whom were friends with me, probably thought different). The major incident of note was that the church organ failed halfway through the ceremony, and refused to be revived. The bride remained calm, although I would have been livid. The last thing any newlyweds want for the wedding night is a malfunctioning organ.

Of course I still found the wedding hugely distressing, as someone else my age surrenders their childhood in a blaze of veils and cravats, and hurtles headlong into cosy middle-aged domesticity without a thought for the simmering resentment that must surely, surely, be dangerously building up within them as their lives turn into monotonous net-curtain-grey deserts of boredom. Why do they do it? How can they do it? Is the groom secretly Jerry Lee Lewis? Next time I go to the wedding of a friend I may hum “Great Balls of Fire” during a quiet part of the ceremony just to check. Crazy stuff that we children, who just yesterday were chucking frisbees about in the back garden, are now marrying each other. It’s like I’ve joined a cult and not realised.

I’ve given this a lot of airtime on here before, so I won’t delve into it again now. But it’s a good job I didn’t know bride or groom this weekend, or else I may well have tried to stop the whole thing and ordered us all back to school where we belong.

I have come home to quite a few bits of casework from residents. Once again the issue of litter in Prestwich Village refuses to go away and leave me in peace. There seems to be a particular problem with smokers confusing the pavement with the bin, and dropping their cigarette butts all over it outside The Fairfax pub. So I have asked for extra enforcement action. And by “extra,” I actually mean of course “any,” since there doesn’t seem to be any ever, and litter droppers would have to be both filthy and extremely unlucky to get caught as things stand at the moment. In my view, it’s no good bragging about the potential for fines if there’s never anyone there to dole them out. I know resources are tight, so I have asked for a targeted “spree” of enforcement as a minimum, so that people are aware that there will be some come-back if they continue to spew litter out like a catherine-wheel-cum-bin-explosion.

The Ruskin Road gardens issue has also been on the agenda over the weekend, after featuring in the Manchester Evening News and on BBC1’s “Northwest Tonight” on Friday. I am glad that the press release from the Lib Dems in Prestwich has had some effect on the media, even if, at the moment, our please to the Council are falling on less than receptive ears. I have been chasing up the Council wondering why the letters they promised 10 days ago offering 1-2-1 meetings with residents haven’t been written yet.

And I have made further contact with Six Town Housing over the ongoing issue of the damp flat and the ill baby. Their response of “Well, yeah, we know the baby’s sick but there’s a waiting list and she’s on the bottom of it. See you in three weeks” was about as acceptable as me wearing a white dress with a train to this weekend’s wedding and shouting obscenities during the exchange of rings, and so I have asked Six Town as politely as my rage would allow to think again and give this case the priority it deserves. They appear happy to see babies ill. I am not.

Hopefully we can progress these cases this week. I will keep you informed.

Sunday nights are obviously the most awful of the week, made all the more simply unbearable by Strictly Come Dancing. I hope your’s is OK.

Rick 

Last night’s Local Area Partnership was notable for a couple of reasons.

A local resident came along last night and raised an issue in the public forum which was very upsetting. His partner is a tenant of Six Town Housing at Sherbourne Court, and her flat is riddled with damp. She has a baby of 1 and another on the way, and the baby’s mattress is covered with damp, her clothes are damp, and the entire flat is a health hazard. Complaints have been made and not responded to properly, and when the tenant requested help with a bath, she was told to fit it herself.

We were all shocked by this tale of inadequate service from Six Town. It’s not the first such story we’ve heard, and it won’t be the last. As a regular at Rainsough Tenants and Residents Association, I am frequently made aware of some shocking cases of atrocious customer service from the Council’s Housing Arms Length Management Organisation. This one was particularly upsetting though, and made even more so because, yet again, nobody from STH had bothered to come to the LAP. This happens all the time, and I think in all the LAPs I have been to, STH have come to one ever. They are a part, a vital part, of the Local Area Partnership. Many of our most vulnerable residents need their help and support. It is galling to see them ignore their responsibilities and act so shoddily.

Today the issue has been chased up, and despite a baby’s health being put at risk due to faulty maintenance, STH’s response has been to schedule a meeting three weeks from now. This again is just unacceptable, and I am trying to force a meeting as soon as possible and much sooner than that.

Moving on from the disappointment of the STH issue, there were also a couple of interesting presentations last night. Firstly the skate park presentation from local young people, which showed that they really are determined to make progress on what I think would be an excellent new facility for local people. They’ve got their work cut out, both in terms of funding and getting the public on board. But they’ve certainly got a lot of goodwill from members of the LAP.

There was also an update on plans for Philips Park, which will be restore dto something like its former glory (and more) if a Heritage Lottery Bid is successful. And there were also pleasing reports from the Primary Care Trust who were consulting on health care priorities locally, and from the Police who reported a drop in crime in the area recently.

This weekend I am going to a wedding, part of which involves a ceilidh, which I am informed is basically Irish dancing, and will doubtless involve me flailing around like I am undergoing a serious attack of the central nervous system, and wishing to the Lord above that I was elsewhere.

All good fun…

Rick

Don’t forget the Local Area Partnership tonight, at Sedgley Park School, from 6pm. All the fun of the fair, without the risk of being dragged onto rickety roller-coasters that fold out of trucks and are just one loose bolt away from disintegrating in a ball of fire and screaming.

I am looking forward to tonight particularly because of the presentation from some local young people about their plans for a skate park. Not everyone likes skateboarders, and there is quite a lot of worry that a skate park might attract noise and disturbance. To be honest I think it would do the opposite, and give young people a structured and safe place to roll around on their skateboards and career off railings doing the type of stunts that make me wince just thinking about them. But if that’s their bag, then so be it.

So I’m hoping that tonight’s presentation will get the ball rolling on taking that issue forward. We have a vibrant and organised youth service in Prestwich, centred on the Phoneix Centre in St Mary’s Park, and it would be nice if thought could be given to perhaps turning one of the two unused bowling greens into something that would be very well used indeed.

Also tonight is the open forum, which I mentioned yesterday. It’s worth mentioning again, partly because it extends this posting towards a length that I find acceptable, but mainly because it’s the best chance local people have to air their concerns, raise their issues, and bring local causes and bones of contention to the ears of Councillors, the police and the NHS. So, if you are free this evening and you want to listen to the issues in Prestwich, or start your own, then come down to the LAP and join us.

Rick