I am taking the weekend off leafleting (and if Mr Brown calls a General Election, it will be the last weekend off for a while!) to go to my cousin’s engagement party in the glamour capital of western Europe, Watford. I have decided to treat myself to an hotel whilst there, and am staying in the no-doubt palatial surroundings of the Travelodge Watford Central.

Prior to that I have a lunchtime date at Eastlands to watch Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United.

I might be back in time for leafleting tomorrow teatime, dependent largely on whether the company of family members for an evening turns me to drink, and whether or not the lure of a sunday pub lunch overwhelms me tomorrow morning. We shall see…

Rick

I am sure that Jacqueline Miley’s letter about Rainsough in the Prestwich Advertiser tonight struck a chord with many residents living there. However, local Lib Dem Councillors are working hard with residents to try and make Rainsough a better place.

It is unfortunate that the estate is on the border between Bury and Salford, and too often this is used as an excuse for a lack of action. But we hope that the future is bright for local people.

The Tenants and Residents Association has recently been re-vitalised, with a dedicated committee of local people supported by officers from both Six Town Housing (Bury) and Salix Homes (Salford). I have been delighted to attend both meetings so far.

At the last meeting I was able to tell the TRA about my recent conversations with Cllr Peter Connor, the Executive Member for Housing at Salford Council, who has given his support to our goal of revitalising the derelict shops on Chapel Road. I hope that this is the start of a fruitful relationship between us for the good of Rainsough.

In addition, the Community Regeneration sub-group of Prestwich Local Area Partnership has Rainsough at the top of its priority list, and improvements to local community facilities will come in the next few months as a result.

I am delighted to serve Rainsough residents, and just this week have been in liaison with Bury Council over improvements to the park on Kersal Road used by many locals. Improvements do take time, but we are working hard and have definitely not forgotten about the vibrant community of Rainsough.

Rick

Last year I was 58th on the list of Iain Dale’s “top 100 Lib Dem blogs.” I have to say that in a year which saw me elected to public office, it didn’t rank as my number one achievement. But still it provided some pub-table comedy when chatter came to an awkward pause, and it did make me a bit proud to think that there are 99 other Lib Dem bloggers in the world. Which I found surprising.

This year I have made sterling progress and risen to the dizzying heights of 52nd place. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry…

Actually, I am. Pass the tissues. Sniff… 

Rick

Last night Cllr O’Hanlon and I were joined by a number of helpers as we visited the Rectory Lane / The Drive area of the ward talking to local people about the current Lib Dem resident’s survey. We are travelling round various parts of the ward in the coming days handing short surveys on a range of issues out to local people. It’s always important to find out your views on the issues. I we don’t get round to your house, and you want a survey, just get in touch and we’ll make sure you get one.

Since it’s only a short survey, we’re giving people the chance to fill it in there and then, and leave it sticking out of the letter box for us to pick up when we walk ack past their house at the end of our round. Unfortunately last night, in between the distribution and collection of the surveys, the heavens opened and I was caught in a nasty torrent which rendered a lot of the surveys a liquid mess, and turned me from upstanding-Councillor-about-town to dishevelled dripping drowned rat. I have been coughing a lot today, and fear that I may have given my health to the cause!

Forget polling data - the real reason I don’t want Gordon Brown calling an election for October is because the thought of canvassing in the dark and pouring rain sends another shiver through my already shivering body!

Rick

The past few days have been very busy, hence no blogging I’m afraid.

On Friday I attended the Transport Network committee of the passenger Transport Authority, where I raised a number of points about the state of Radcliffe Bus Station, and the fact that a shocking 66% of Metrolink trams have the wrong destination blind showing! I am hoping for comments and improvements soon.

Over the weekend there was lots of leafleting, as the new St Mary’s Focus hit the streets. If you live in the ward and haven’t got your’s yet, you will soon.

We have also started a new residents survey as a follow up to the party conference, which will be taking place this week. So if we knock on your front door during Eastenders, be assured that we will try to be brief!

The weather is absolutely foul though so that might be curtailed tonight anyway…

Rick

I watched last night’s Lib Dem party conference broadcast with a mixture of boredom and depression. It really was a disappointment. 

I know the environment and climate change is very important. The problem for us in trying to make a film about it is that everyone else thinks it’s important now as well, so where once banging on about it made us look radical and modern, now it makes us look like we’ve got nothing else to say.  

People associate us with the environment more than anything else, and whilst we may have scored a moral victory in getting Messrs Brown and Cameron to start talking green too, we now need to move the debate on to other policy areas to maintain our identity as a radical party of opposition, rather than one of three parties all nervously frowning about climate change. 

Who in the country knows anything about our crime policies, which are sensible, radically different, and plainly workable? Absolutely nobody. Who knows about our plans for education and the NHS – both areas where we stand out a mile from Labour and the Conservatives? If Brighton were covered in a giant net for a fortnight, trapping all Lib Dems inside, there’d scarcely be a person left in the rest of Britain who knew anything about them.  

We’ve made the environmental case. And we’ve done it so well that it’s now the mainstream of British politics. Yes, we’re still the best at it, and we’re suggesting different things to the others, but we’re not ploughing a lone furrow any more. We should still talk about it, but it should be treated as one of many important policy areas, not the only one.

If we ever want to be seen by most of the people of the country as more than a single issue party, it’s time to move on. We’re worried about Labour and the Tories jumping on the bandwagon and stealing our green credentials – but I think we’re wrong to worry. People will see bandwagon jumping as just that. We’ve been committed to the environment for years, and people won’t forget it. We haven’t talked about PR in a major way for a while, and people haven’t forgotten that we stand for that, have they? Now we need to show what else we’re made of.

Last year we had our “Five Steps to Cutting Crime” campaign, which I haven’t heard anything about since. We’ve just had an NHS campaign, which again seems to have evaporated. What about our plans for taxes (other than green ones)? Or education? Foreign policy? Jobs? Anything except bloody carbon emissions, please. We’ve done it to death. 

And if we must concentrate on the environment, please can we do it in a less gloomy way? We’re supposed to be liberal, optimistic, positive about human potential and what we can do for the world. But last night’s broadcast was like “Book of Revelations: The Movie.” Flooding and disaster abounded (and that wasn’t just Ming trying to look young and play rugby with people 60 years younger than himself). Environmental promotion should be about the sexy things – new technologies, working in partnership with poorer nations to reduce carbon and increase development at the same time. The only things that make the headlines are revenue grabs and car bans.  It’s about as sexy as Ann Widdecombe in a British Gas boiler suit.  

I get frustrated sometimes. I didn’t join the party because all I care about is carbon emissions. I know it’s important, but so is everything else. Forget drowning when the polar ice caps melt – everything is drowning now in a theme which takes us no further forward.

Rick

This morning I met with Cllr Peter connor, the Executive member for Housing at Salford City Council, to talk about the derelict shops on Chapel Road in Rainsough. The estate is in the odd position of receiving services from Bury Council (and representation from Bury Councillors), but the tenants are Salford tenants because the estate is on the border of the two authorities. I hope this isn’t why sometimes things fall through the gap in terms of service provision…

The area is crying out for some decent community facilities, and Cllr Connor seemed very keen to work with us to renovate the site. It will cost at least £60,000 to refurbish the shops, which is one of a number of potential options. Whether a commerical operation is viable is doubtful, given that we have tried and failed there before. But the scout hut currently used for community groups is woefully unfit for the job, and the estate has no doctor’s surgery, clinic, job centre, or other outreach service. Given that money is available for a Children’s Centre in the ward, I am going to try and really press for the appropriate funding to give the people of Rainsough (which, let’s not forget, is the most deprived part of Prestwich) the facilities they deserve and need.

I will update the Tenants and Residents Association at their meeting on Thursday night, and I will be inviting Cllr Connor to the next meeting of the Local Area Partnership Communities sub-group to take this further and see what we can do. The good will is definitely there. It’s now just a case of bringing the people to the money and seeing if we can make it happen for Rainsough.

Rick

Yesterday I attended the clean-up day at Sherbourne Court. I was there for about two and a half hours, picking up litter, organizing helpers and talking to local residents and Six Town Housing Staff.

First of all let me say that it was a very well organized day, and thanks must go to the Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) and to Six Town Housing and the Council for organizing it so well. Thanks also to the Fire Service and Salvation Army for coming along. The firemen carried out safety checks on a number of flats, and the Salvation Army provided free food and drink for the assembled masses.

There was an excellent turnout. I counted at least two dozen people in the time I was there, and there were still a few hours to go when I left. There were plenty of bin-bags filled, and the grassy areas were looking a lot cleaner by the time the press came to take photographs at midday. The main event to be recorded was the signing of the TRA constitution, which was witnessed by Six Town Housing staff. I was also joined by fellow ward Councillor Maggie Gibb, so it was nice that local residents could see both political parties working well together for the good of the community.

People really do care about Sherbourne Court. I realize that a lot of residents have experienced difficulties there, and are frustrated with anti-social behaviour and litter. I really do share local people’s frustrations. Too often yesterday I came across rubbish that appeared to have been deliberately left rather than carelessly discarded. And too often the Council is too slow to come down hard on tenants whose behaviour is unacceptably bad. But yesterday showed that Sherbourne Court is not a forgotten estate. The TRA is a great step forward, allowing a group of elected residents to speak directly to Six Town Housing and the Council on behalf of all residents. And the staff present from the Council and Six Town Housing yesterday showed that they really are dedicated to making the place better.

Communities coming together is the only way to improve things locally. I am glad I was a part of yesterday’s clean up day, and I hope it is the start of good times for Sherbourne Court.

Rick

Not me.

I didn’t win “Blog of the Year from someone elected to public office” at the Lib Dem Blog of the Year wards at conference last night. The award went to Mary Reid, and she deserves it. She actually managed to win two awards, so well done to Mary.

I wasn’t in Brighton to trash the place like a rejected rock-star, but our local prospective parliamentary candidate Vic D’Albert texted me to let me know the news, and after contemplating defecting to one of the other parties as a result of what is undoubtedly anti-northern and anti-male bias, I calmed down and will stick to my guns.

The result of course means that I can’t give up blogging because I have to try and win next year. Which I think is bad news for everyone.

Rick

Tomorrow sees the start of the Lib Dem annual Federal Conference, in Brighton. I have already said that I’m not going, and I’m still not.

But this bombshell news hasn’t stopped anyone else going, and the last I heard the Conference was going ahead all the same.

Bury Lib Dems will be represented by Cllrs Pickstone, D’Albert and Andrew Garner, who will all be taking part in the debates, training sessions and fringe events.

And of course, attending the Lib Dem Blog of the Year awards to see if I win in the snappily titled category of ”Best Blog from a Lib Dem elected to Public Office.”

So look out for news of the Conference in the coming days. It will help firm-up policy ideas, and set us on the way for another exciting year for Lib Dems across the country.

Rick

The refurbished Metrolink line between Bury and Manchester is back up and running, and only slightly behind schedule.

I haven’t had the chance to ride it myself yet, but Cllr Andrew Garner from Sedgley ward has, and he said the quality of ride was much improved. I have heard from local residents that the noise of passing trams is also greatly improved. Which is fantastic news, and a credit to those in charge of delivering this much needed project.

Now all we need is cleaner, less crowded, more reliable trams at a price that isn’t likely to bankrupt us mere mortals, and in an environment not surrounded by uncontrolled feral thugs, and the Met might become more appealing than a dose of flu.

Here’s hoping that Stagecoach, the new company runnning the service, do the trick.

Rick

I was delighted to see that the hole in Bury New Road near to Prestwich park Road South has finally been fixed. It was a burst water pipe of some kind, and it had been spewing water out at an alarming rate for a couple of weeks. It was also a big enough hole to be damaging cars.

I rang United Utilities to get them to sort it out, only to be told that it was a “Category 3″ leak, and would be fixed “at some point within 10 working days.” Given that it was in the middle of the busiest road in north Manchester, and was leaking water at what looked like thousands of litres a day, I wonder what kind of leak would engender a less meandering response? Niagara Falls appearing in St Mary’s Park, perhaps?

I was pretty annoyed at being given the brush-off in such an off-hand way. Even though I badgered them and it was finally fixed, United Utilities make good money from our water bills, and should provide a service which fixes major problems quickly. Water preservation is important, and I expect better from a big company than to turn up when it wants to fix a problem for its customers.

Rick

I would like to wish all Jewish readers of the blog a Happy New Year. At this high holy day time it is wonderful to see so many local Jewish people coming together to celebrate Rosh Hashana. It is great to represent such a diverse ward and I am priveleged to do so.

Rick

Apologies for quietness on the blogging front in recent days. Busyness is no excuse, but I am going to use it all the same.

On Wednesday night it was the inaugural meeting of the Local Area Partnership sub-group on Community Development. There were Council representatives from all three Prestwich wards, as well as from Bury Council, the Police, Salix Homes (Salford’s housing management company who manage the houses in Rainsough), and community activists. It was a good turnout and although I had to leave the meeting after an hour it was still enough time to hear about some exciting plans and ideas which will hopefully come to fruition in the months to come.

This morning I attended a meeting of the Passenger Transport Authority, where the big item on the agenda is the extension of the concessionary fare scheme from next spring. About 400,000 over-60s in Greater manchester will be applying for, and receiving, new passes in the next few months, starting in October. It’s a big task for the people managing the change, but we were assured that there’ll be plenty of communication and everything will run smoothly.

Rick

Last night was the latest meeting of the Resource and Performance scrutiny commission, on which I am the Lib Dem representative. There were reports on our current budget position, and revisions to the way that the Council manages its assets. 

The main event was the debut before the commission of the new(ish) Executive Member for Finance, Cllr Peter Redstone. He was there to talk about the budget.  

The point of scrutiny is, as far as I am aware, to allow members to gain a better understanding of the issues placed before them, and to question the Executive Member responsible about policy and decisions. And of course there are officers there to support the Executive on the detail. 

I thought that last night the whole thing descended into political point-scoring, moving well beyond what was necessary for scrutiny. The situation was not helped by Cllr Redstone himself, who is now responsible for delivering a budget set by Labour, and who’s opening gambit was “I obviously had my reservations about the sustainability of the budget when I took it on.”  

This accusation was clearly a red rag (or perhaps a red flag…) to a bull, and the Labour members really went for him to explain himself, which he couldn’t do. Whether his comment was made intentionally to enflame the situation, or was heartfelt and just carelessly phrased, I don’t know. But what I do know was that it deflected serious questioning away in favour of petty squabbling about who said what and when. 

I laid off the Redstone-baiting because, truth be told, I don’t know anything sophisticated about the budget and my concerns had been answered by the officers anyway. Quite why the occasion had been used for a political slanging match when the only people present were officers (who are a-political) and members (who I imagine are fairly politically convicted…) is a mystery. The questions were overly aggressive, and the answers overly defensive as a result. Information isn’t being shared between Executive and scrutiny, for reasons of petty rivalry and childishness. And it does nothing for the people of Bury. 

At the end of the meeting I was pulled up by a Labour member about my silence during the grilling. I was told that my job was to “oppose” rather than be quiet. I had no response at the time, and although I thought of the perfect witty rejoinder 90 seconds later, by that time I was half way down the stairs and absolutely alone. If I’d still have had company, I’d have said that  my job is not to oppose, but to scrutinize. My job is certainly not score political points in a room with no members of the public and three embarrassed looking officers. 

Last week at Council I carelessly phrased a question, and it annoyed opposition Members who thought (mistakenly) that I had purposefully kept them in the dark about an issue. In reality the thought of sharing it with anyone, regardless of party, hadn’t crossed my mind. It is a sad fact that rather than think the best of fellow Members, for political reasons we seem to automatically think the worst of them. Secrecy and suspicion rule the day, and the opportunity to score points and bash the opposition is taken ahead of our real job which is to make sure that the Council serves the people of Bury properly. 

Rick

I received a very disturbing email today from a resident, who told me that he had been subject to a serious assault in Prestwich recently, and that despite reporting the incident, the perpetrator is still roaming the Village.

I have to confess that the email upset me. First of all I was upset the anyone could do that to another person, and live in the kind of moral vacuum that apparently exists there. What type of skewed moral plain do some people live on, how have they come to get there, and how can we get them back?

But I was also upset at how powerless I feel to sort it out. I would love to be able to ring a contact at the police, report the issue again, and get this man off the streets and away from the public he is harming. But I can’t. Of course there is due process and the collection of witness statements, the difficulties with positive identification, and stretched police resources. But when I get correspondence from residents clearly very upset at the lack of a positive response, it almost makes me shout out in frustration that I can’t do more and stop these types of things.

I have rung and left a message with Sgt Campbell at Prestwich police station to arrange an urgent meeting to discuss this and other anti-social behaviour issues that I have raised here of late. And I will try to attend the next Area Tasking Team meeting next week if I can get the time off work. But again I seem to go to lots of meetings whilst the crime continues and the perpetrators walk around like they own the town. And it is very frustrating. Hopefully we can get some kid of positive outcome soon. I share local people’s concerns (this attack happened on my own street) and I am trying my best. But these are difficult issues and sometimes I don’t know where to turn for a happy ending. I wish I did, and I’ll keep trying.

On the plus side - I did today get a positive response to an issue I raised. Some recycling bins had been filled with household waste by some residents moving out of their home. The bin collections weren’t emptying them because the wrong type of bin was used, so I asked the Council to treat this as a special case and actually act to empty them. I have now been promised that this will happen by the end of the week. So that’s good news at least.

Rick

This morning we went leafleting in the Ostrich Lane area, in Sedgley ward. The new St Mary’s Focus is being printed this weekend, so we can start deliveries next week. Look out for it!

Other than that, I have little to say today. I had a large lunch at “Gourmet Burger Kitchen” in the new Spinningfields development in town. It’s an amazing new regeneration project behind the courts in town, with a dozen or more huge office buildings, and restaurants and bars as well. Only a few of the restaurants are open as yet, and one of them is Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Essentially they serve burgers the size of babies, and charge six or seven quid for the privilege. And they top them with the types of things you don’t normally get on burgers, like satay sauce and beetroot (not at the same time). All very tasty, but lethargy-inducing.

So now I am tired and watching the football, and doing this.

Rick

At Council on Wednesday the Lib Dems attempted to convince the Chair of the Planning Committee to change the rules on how local people can be represented at Planning meetings.

At the moment, ward councillors can speak on behalf of residents. But last year people in my ward were left without representation because two of their three Councillors were on the committee (and so forbidden from speaking), and the third was unavailable. I wwas not yet elected, so couldn’t help either.

Lib Dems tried to speak up for local people at that meeting by nominating a Councillor from the ward next door to speak instead in residents’ behalf. Despite the fact that this substitute Councillor was Chair of the local Area Board which comprised the ward in question, and lived in the ward concerned, he was not allowed to speak, and thus the residents were not represented.

We asked the question on Wednesday night as to whether this situation could be prevented from happening in future with the addition of a new clause in the rules of the Planning Committee allowing for Councillors from a neighbouring ward to speak on residents’ behalf if none of the three ward Councillors was available.

We weren’t opening the floodgates to anarchy, simply suggesting that, in the unlikely event of residents being left in the lurch again through no fault of their own, there’d be some alternative for them. The new clause would only be invoked if there was no way any ward Councillors could speak. It wouldn’t have been an opportunity to ignore a local ward Councillor and go to one from another party in the next ward, say. If a ward Councillor was available, then only he/she could speak, not any other Councillor. 

The Lib Dem proposal simply allowed for representation from a nearby Councillor when none from the ward were free.

I was disappointed with the reaction of the Chair of Planning, who refused to allow the amendment to the rules. He said that this was not compliant with the constitution of the Council related to Planning meetings. But this was simply saying “we can’t change the rules because the new rules conflict with the current rules.” Well, that’s exactly the point! The new rules would indeed require a constitutional change, but this is easily done, and it’s clearly for the common good.

Rather than take the opportunity to increase representation for local people, and close a loophole which left lots of local people frustrated last year, Cllr Cohen (Chair of Planning, Conservative) decided that the rules were inflexible and shouldn’t be changed. His reasoning was illogical and petty.

I think this is a silly decision, and does nothing to improve the reputation of the Council.

When it comes to giving people more of a say, we should seize the opportunity, not cite arcane rules that make no sense and can be easily changed.

Rick

In March 2007 the Liberal Democrat team on Bury Council successfully proposed a budgetary amendment which extended the “Blue Bin” recycling scheme to every house in the Borough.

The success of the scheme was confirmed in a response to a question Lib Dem Council Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone raised at the Full Council meeting last night. 1,020 Tonnes of recyclables were collected in July 2007 - the first month after the Blue-Bin roll-out up from 767 Tonnes in July 2006 - a massive 33% increase!

It’s excellent to see such a great response from the public to the recycling initiative. The Lib Dem’s are already asking when the scheme can be made fortnightly for everyone. I also asked for a report on the small number of households who’ve not yet received their bins (mostly farms, but a few areas with restricted lorry access). I’ll let you know this information when it’s received.

This blog has been shortlisted in the category of “Best Blog from a Liberal Democrat Elected to Public Office” in the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards.

Which is wildy exciting, and just about the biggest boost to my ego since it became apparent that, for some women, the thought of being near a local councillor is actually a turn on.

The nomination does not mean that I am automatically caught up in the whirlwind of glitz and glamour that comes with, say, an Oscar nomination. In fact, I was informed of the nomination in a text message from my mother.  I was confused for a short while, but have regained the composure expected of a public figure now.

My fellow nominees are Adrian Sanders MP, Mary Reid who is a Councillor in Kingston, Matt Davies who is a Councillor in Haringey, and Peter Black AM. Given that all four of those blogs are infinitely superior to mine, I expect that I shall come an honourable fifth. But still, it is marvellous to be shortlisted at all, and my thanks go to whoever nominated me.

Official news of the shortlisting can be found here and is, at the time of writing, the number one news story on the Lib Dem main party website, ahead of stories about Iraqi interpreters and Nelson Mandela. Which is just about the most ridiculous thing in the world.

The winner is announced at conference in a couple of weeks. Maybe this is all a ruse to get me to go…

I now need to find a way of emblazoning the nomination across the top of my homepage, along with the other blog-related excitements that have happened this year (58th best Lib Dem blog in the country according to Iain Dale being my number one highlight).

But first there is the small matter of Full Council, which is where I really need to get going to now.

Rick

I have just had a call to say that, following the complaint I raised at the beginning of the week, there will now be two new paper recycling bins at Tesco. They are due to be delivered on Friday.

This is great news, and shows that, when they pull their finger out, the Council can make sure that the right thing happens.

However, this is just a stop-gap solution. What we really need (and what I actually asked for) is more collections. The new bins will probably be filled just with the excess paper that’s been dumped outside the old ones. I want the bins empties twice as often, so we can recycle twice as much.

I don’t ever want to see people giving up on recycling and going home, like I saw on Sunday when the bins were full.

And I’m going to ask why this can’t happen when we question the Leader of the Council at the Council meeting tonight.

Rick

I received a phone call from a resident a couple of nights ago. A street light near her house had not been working for a while, and despite a couple of calls to the Council, nothing had been done to sort it out.

I said I’d get involved, and lo and behold, only hours after a Councillor had raised the issue, the light had been fixed. According to the resident, it took all of three minutes to do the job.

Whilst I’m pleased to have been able to help, and happy that the light is fixed, once again I am disappointed that it took three phone calls from two people, and the sizeable prod in the back that is a Councillor ringing, to get this tiny job done. Responsive repairs like this should happen quicker and with much less effort required. On several occasions before I was elected I used the Council’s online “Report a Problem” system, and was given an immediate “RAP” number. Nothing else ever happened. Nobody rang me to ask for more details, and the problem was never ever repaired.

I am partly here to sort out the problems of residents in this regard. And I don’t begrudge it in the slightest. But I am also here to empower residents to take control themselves, and sort out problems with the Council directly. I can’t do this if these complaints are ignored. But imagine how frustrating and belittling it is for the people of Bury to be so brazenly ignored by the Council, and have to turn to their Councillors to get even the tiniest things done.

Rick

I am missing the big ol’ Federal Conference this year, because it is in Brighton and thus about as far from my house as is possible without the addition of a passport. However, I can accept the horror of my fate and live without five days of south coast liberalism safe in the knowledge that the North West conference is just around the corner and, as its name suggests, is happening in the North West and thus closer to home.

Or so I thought.

Unfortunately this year the conference is a month earlier than usual, so now I can’t go because it clashes with a family engagement party taking place in Bushey (a name which, for no other reason than the fact that I’m a giggling schoolboy at heart, makes me laugh). Which is all very annoying because I want to go to conference. Last year in Blackburn was very good, with speeches from John Leech MP and Saj Karim MEP amongst the highlights, together with great training courses and some good photo opportunities for Focus as well. I got to meet lots of nice people, and learn a few things too.

This year it’s all happening in Winsford, with our Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg MP coming along to speak, and a nice congestion charging motion to debate. And a hustings for the Euro elections too. It’s open to all members, and early registration is cheaper. You can register here.

But I won’t be there. And I am unreasonably upset about this. Even more upset than I was when I opened my invitation to the engagement party and found a John Lewis gift list fall out. And that’s going some.

Rick

I have been on to the council today about the recycling issue at Tesco. Their response was typically buck-passing, saying that it was part Tesco’s fault, and part Greater Manchester Waste’s fault. Well, the site is run by the Council, and GMW has a couple of Bury Council representatives on it, so you’d think someone might be able to give a more positive response than that.

I have asked for such a response. getting fobbed off like this is not acceptable and I won’t stand for it. The people I represent deserve better.

Also today, I have arranged for a Six Town Housing tenant to be re-assessed for home improvements after a referral I received last week. Hopefully the tenant will receive the improvements she needs to her home.

As well as this, I have been speaking to representatives from Six Town Housing about the possibility of more local community action days, like the one scheduled for Sherbourne Court in a couple of weeks. I think that these are great ideas for bringing people together, so we’ll see if we can get any sorted out for Carr Clough and Rainsough in the ward.

And speaking of Rainsough - I have finally managed to track down Cllr Connor from Salford, the man in charge of Housing there, to talk to him about the Rainsough estate and the shops on Chapel Road. We have arranged to meet on the 18th September, where we can discuss what plans Salford have for clearing up the eyesore that is this derelict row, and ideas that we in Bury have along those lines too. It has been great to see the work of the Tenants and Residents Association in the last couple of months, and I look forward to updating them on my meeting with Cllr Connor when the TRA next meets on the 20th. Rainsough is in a unique predicament - the tenants are looked after by Salford, and the properties are owned by Salford, but the roads, bins and other services are provided by Bury, and that’s where the tenants are registered to vote… So hopefully together we can work something out.

Rick

A number of questions have arisen this weekend, the answers to which I am currently not in possession of:

1) How can anyone consider the activity of “sphereing” to be anything other than a modern day version of what should have been done to sheep-rustlers in Medieval times? It was horrific. Tamsin may have enjoyed the sensation of rolling helplessly over and over down a Staffordshire field inside a rubber ball, but I did not. If David Cameron had a go, I could well see it forming part of his strategy for deterring youth crime.

And to be honest, it might work.

2) What is point of ice-skating? Seriously. What is its purpose? Whilst I flail about like a one-legged drunkard tight-rope walking across Niagara Falls in a gale, children of 9 fly past me at 75mph in a perfectly controlled glide. Ice should be found in freezers and Arctic nations alone.

3) Why is the recycling facility at Tesco Prestwich so small and frustrating to use? I went there today to get rid of my paper and card (and as someone who receives meeting notes from two separate local authorities, and who lives with a primary school teacher, let me tell you that an unholy aomunt of it ends up in the recycling), and was thwarted.

Normally, attempting to recycle paper at Prestwich is a bit like a fat man climbing a hill. It takes longer, and is much harder, than it should - but ultimately it gets done, and at the end of it there is more of a feeling of satisfaction than there otherwise might be.

The bins are normally full almost to bursting, and attempting to access them requires slalom-like skills to dodge the various discarded boxes and bits of rubbish littering the place. But, as I say, normally I succeed. Slipping a few sheets of paper in here and there, finding a bin with contents that are hearteningly easy to flatten… These are the little things that lead to the big things happening. And I go home with an empty paper box and a happy heart.

Today I encountered a scene that looked like a passing papier-mache cargo plane had jettisoned its load overhead. Rather than being close to bursting, I can only assume that several of the bins had actually exploded, spewing their contents over a wide radius. There was not a single spare millimetre of recycling space. Every bin had reams and reams of damp paper on top. And the floor around the bins was an unsightly mess full of smeared pictures of Princess Diana from the front of the Daily Express.

I find the state of the facility appalling. The Council should be making it easy and pleasant to recycle paper. They are currently making it hard and unpleasant. There needs to be more bins, and they need to be emptied more frequently. And the money needs to be found to pay for it because recycling is not only hugely important in its own right, but is the simplest and first step for most people in leading more environmentally responsible lives. If the Council can’t even get the baby-steps right, how can we convince people to take the bigger ones? And of course, the less we recycle, the more we get fined. If I didn’t have the time and energy to fiddle with wet bins for twenty minutes today, I’d have given up and gone home. I imagine plenty of people did.

Once again I say to the Council - let’s get the basics right. Sort it out. I have emailed the Executive Director of Environmental Services today, to get his view. If it isn’t satisfactory, I will contact the Cabinet Member. Bury Lib Dems are the only party taking recycling seriously in this Borough. We got a blue bin for every house. And now I’m going to make sure that the recycling facilities that the community has are easy to use.

Rick