Figures obtained by Bury Lib Dems regarding fixed penalty notices today reveal a fairly shocking neglect of Prestwich by Bury Council.I asked a question at Council last week about how many fines for littering and dog fouling had been issued in Prestwich in the last twelve months. Fixed Penalties are important deterrents and methods of punishment for people intent on spoiling the local area by making it dirty and not cleaning up. And after a complex tallying procedure involving what must’ve been the world’s most powerful super computer, the Council revealed that over the last year a grand total of… zero dog fouling fixed penalty notices and four litter fixed penalty notices had been given out.

Four fixed penalty notices, for the whole year! This compares to 59 in the Town Centre of Bury. Even that figure is barely one per week, but in Prestwich it’s one every three months for litter, and none at all for dogs! This despite constant reports of problems, lack of Council clean up, and campaigns by Councillors for action.

Another sad sign of the neglect that the Tory Council give to Prestwich. It’s pretty much the only thing they give, other than a 300ft high flashing neon green light to any would be litter-lout which says that he’d have to be the unluckiest person in Britain to get fined for dropping litter.

The people of Prestwich deserve better than this Tory neglect.

Rick

Yesterday’s reports of flooding on Spring Vale have seen increased efforts to rectify the situation today. Which is good news because it’s pouring down again.

I have sent a letter to United Utilities asking them what they plan to do to stop people in my ward sploshing around in raw sewage from their drains. The Council have also got involved, and have arranged for someone at UU to go down and speak to the worst affected residents to try and sort this problem out. In the short term though, they’ve had to resort to sand bags to try and keep the water out. This is a welcome development, in that at least something is being done. But really, sandbags are absolutely not an appropriate long term solution to this. We aren’t in Whitechapel at war time, we’re in suburban Prestwich in 2009 and there’s got to be a better way than sandbags.

Hopefully United Utilities will agree. It’s about time they pulled their finger out. Unless of course their finger is plugging a hole in the drain, in which case they should leave their finger where it is whilst thinking about a more sustainable solution.

Thanks once again though must go to the Council’s Environmental Services department, who have worked very hard to get some progress today. I have criticised them in the past in fairly colourful terms, and rightly so because they have re-defined the word “awful” at times. But recently there’s been a marked improvement in the timeliness and effectiveness of their help, and more often than not at the moment they are providing good and quick solutions to the problems of local people that I raise with them. This has been a good example, and hopefully we can see it through to a successful conclusion for residents.

Rick

Great news for the residents of Hilton Lodge in the ward today, who have received the new bottle recycling bin we asked for. The old one was overflowing, and recycling was becoming less like a civic minded good deed and more like a game of Jenga. Residents got in touch and asked me to get them a new one, which has now duly arrived.

Thanks to the Environmental Services Department of the Council who have acted so quickly to get it done.

Rick

It seems odd to be writing about downpours and flooding on the hottest day of the year, but that’s what I’m about to do, because I have spent a lot of today learning about quite how impotent the Council are when it comes to dealing with overflowing drains.

People who don’t believe in climate change need look no further than the end of my road for proof, because that’s where a load of waste water resided yesterday after a biblical downpour on Saturday night. And “waste water” is probably the politest possible term for the stinking sludge that it actually was. Thankfully it was cleaned up, but not before it sat there for a day.

The reason for the flooding is because the drains on Hilton Lane can’t cope with showers like that. They overflow. Unfortunately, the privatised water company United Utilities can’t be forced to do anything about it, and so local residents suffer whilst the drain goes un-fixed. I am told that United Utilities policy is only to act when houses are flooded. SInce it’s only the street and gardens at the moment, they’re happy to sit on their thumbs and do nothing until it reaches people’s front doors.

All of which seems a bit silly to me. They should act now. I have written them a letter to say so, and to ask what they are doing for local people to prevent flooding. I’ve also been speaking to angry people about the effect it’s having on them. It’s happened a couple of times this month, and there are reports of people becoming ill. This is twenty first century Prestwich and I find myself writing stuff out of a Victorian dyssentary epidemic…

Hopefully we’ll see some action before I sail off in a great flood.

Rick

It was my Mum’s birthday this week, and she wanted to do what every middle aged lady / five year old boy in the land wants to do - go to the zoo! So that’s what we did today, getting up close and personal with a number of hairy beasts. Usually weekend encounters like that don’t take place until the early hours of Sunday morning and after I’ve had a bit too much to drink, but today I was safe because they were behind electrified fences and were, on the whole, not intent on inviting me back to their place via the late bus.

What I really should’ve been doing today instead was putting my serious head on and undertaking some leaflet-related chores about Prestwich and Whitefield. But the lure of the lemurs was too much, and so I’ve had to postpone all things political until this evening.

Aside from writing this blog tonight, I’ve been proof-reading a new Focus newsletter for a ward in Bury North which we hope to put out soon. I’ve also been chasing up a bit of casework, particularly around town centre litter. As I explained the other day, there have been some notable improvements recently, but there are still some hot grot spots to deal with, and one local resident has become my photographer-in-chief. She spots ‘em, I report ‘em, and then after some prodding and one of my angry looks, the Council clean ‘em! And she’s spotted some more today which, whilst disappointing evidence that the cleaning still isn’t totally up to scratch, is good news because now it’ll be dealt with.

Also today I’ve been chasing up a fairly desperate situation for one elderly lady in the ward who’s garden has turned into something of a bog, potentially because of a leaking sewage pipe. This is obviously something that needs solving very soon, so I’ve been talking to the Council about water sample testing and the swift fixing of pipes. I know more about sewage leaks than I did this morning, that’s for sure! And I’m not sure I like it!

There are plenty of jokes and puns to be made about a 28 year old spending his weekend evenings like that. Sadly none of them are printable on a respectable blog. Or even on this one. Suffice to say that it’s not really a great way to spend a Saturday night! I hope any people reading this are having more fun!

Rick

There’s a Beatles song called “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” in which Paul McCartney sings chirpily about Maxwell, a serial killer who goes on his merry way bludgeoning everyone from his teacher to a judge. There’s a lot of jangly guitars and happiness, but all the while something very sinister is going on.

Bury Council’s Leader Bob Bibby has got much the same mixture of smiliness and horror down to a tee, although I’ll admit that as far as I know he’s not committed mass murder (yet…). Last night’s Council meeting is a perfect case in point. His statement to the Council about the work of the Executive joyously announced various triumphs, but forgot to mention the unfolding catastrophe that is the state of the borough’s roads.

All is well in the Tory Garden of Fantasy. Sadly in the real world it is not. Because today, the Conservative-run Bury Council has revealed, to the accompaniment of several jangling guitars and with teddy bears and smiley elephants dancing about all over the place, how much Prestwich has been given to repair its roads and pavements for the coming year. And that figure is just £63,000.

That’s £63,000 for the whole of Prestwich. Imagine how much it costs to fill a JCB with diesel, and then think how far £63,000 is going to get you. Not very.

The figure came in a document which also contained a list of the roads most in need of repair, as identified by the engineers at the Council. This list only highlights the 12 neediest roads, ignoring the dozens of others with cracked paving stones and pot-holes. But the list of 12 roads alone would cost over £700,000 to fix!

The Council’s response to our crumbling roads is to reward the taxpayers of Prestwich with a settlement giving less than 10% of what’s needed just to fix the 12 worst roads in town. It’s shameful. Bibby’s Silver Hammer comes down on all our roads and pavements in fine style!

In fact, three of the identified 12 local roads (Fairway, Parrenthorn Road and Mount Road) each cost more to fix individually than the entire allocated budget! And eight of the identified 12 priority roads have been carried over from last year because of the woeful funding given then. They were awful a year ago, we couldn’t afford to do anything, they’re worse now, and we still can’t afford to do anything!

Not only is this settlement a crushing disappointment, but further evidence that this unthinking Tory shower leading the borough have got their strategy all wrong. Just last night at the Council meeting, it was revealed that Bury has paid out nearly THREE MILLION pounds in compensation to victims of trips and falls on local pavements in the past few years. That’s three million pounds of our money given to people who’ve been injured because of the Council’s failure to maintain the roads. People are tumbling about all over the place like a Barnum and Bailey Acrobatics Extravaganza, and the Tory response is to take a further gamble by investing a pitifully small sum in fixing the problem. 

The continual failure to invest, and refusal to learn from mistakes, is a disgrace. It’s a savage waste of public money and a clear and continuing danger to public safety. And it’s a damn site less enjoyable than listening to The Beatles.

The Prestwich Local Area Partnership has the unenviable task of deciding which roads get the crumbs from the table and actually get fixed. To give an idea of the scale of the problem, it is estimated that Scholes Walk and Warwick Street, two of the smaller streets in Prestwich, would both cost in excess of £50,000 to fix. With only £63,000 on offer for the whole area, we’ve got quite a decision on our hands. Choosing a single pot-holed shambles to spruce up will be nigh-on impossible.

Lib Dems have long called for a re-prioritisation in favour of street repairs. The amount spent on compensation, and the continuing decline in the quality of our roads, cannot be allowed to continue. We will carry on fighting to get a better deal for local roads.The Tories have cheerfully brushed aside this problem for long enough. It’s about time they faced it head on. If we’re paying out millions in compensation, we should bite the bullet now and take out a loan to do some serious repairs. It’ll be cheaper in the long run and it’ll give us some acceptable roads.

Rick

Last night’s Council meeting was principally memorable for the moment when my colleague and the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, Cllr Vic D’Albert, accidentally tipped a cup of water all over me. Suffice to say the evening wasn’t drowning in highbrow debate. 

However, we did use our oppornutiy to question the leadership to some effect. Notably, we uncovered more interesting tit-bits about the costly deal struck by the Tory Leadership on public transport.

Swine Flu has arrived in Bury, having circled the borough for a while, breaking out in places like Bolton and Tameside. The outbreak seems a lot less deadly than when it first appeared in Mexico, but naturally many people will be worried about a potentially nasty dose of the flu, and it’s bad news that it’s come to town.

My full time job is in the NHS, and I share an office with the people in charge of flu-preparedness. In a piece of ill-timed misfortune that really couldn’t have been made up, they were both on holiday when the outbreak started. That was ironic given that the NHS has spent years and millions getting itself ready for a pandemic but had clearly not bargained on simple things like annual leave getting in the way. Thankfully they returned before we all died, neither holidayed on a South American pig farm, and all was well.

The good news didn’t end there though, because my close proximity to them has re-assured me that there really are some very sophisticated plans in place to help mitigate the impact of any flu outbreak, swine or otherwise.

I know it’s an easy thing to say, but right now there seems little to panic about. The symptoms are no worse than regular flu, the plans are in place to deal with it, and thankfully the mortality rate is very tiny indeed.

Not that you’d be able to find out much about the outbreak if you came to the Bury Council meeting tonight. Unfortunately, the elected representatives of the people of Bury can’t ask the Council’s leadership about the outbreak, the resultant school closure, or the plans to deal with it because of rules imposed by them to limit our rights to scrutinise them.

Questions are only allowed if submitted four working days in advance, or on the night only if they relate to a specific discussion held by the Executive and minuted. Unfortunately, whilst the Council’s Tory leadership are many things, soothsayers they are not, and so they didn’t discuss the Swine Flu outbreak at their last Executive meeting. Since the Swine Flu virus inconsiderately decided to appear in town less than four working days before a Council meeting, that avenue is closed to us as well. And so, despite this being a substantial public health issue which has doubtless irked thousands of local people, the rules on questions imposed by a paranoid and anti-democratic council Leader means we can’t ask about it unless they make a special exception. Another reason, if one were needed, why these silly rules need changing. I plan to test it tonight, if nobody beats me to it, and hopefully the Leader will put good sense before inflexibility and allow questions on this urgent matter.

Thankfully, it looks like Swine Flu isn’t the apocalypse we all feared it might be. But if anything truly awful (or truly great, or really noteworthy in any direction) did actually happen, I hope there would be the flexibility to give quick and good answers to the legitimate questions of elected councillors. There should never be a time when it’s acceptable to hide behind bureaucracy, and I think that’s particularly true now.

I am confident that the plans in place to mitigate the effects of Swine Flu will work, and I thank the local services involved in making them happen. I also send my best wishes to the people so far affected in the Borough.

Rick

It’s far too muggy to type much today. Even our cat has decided that being alert and active is too much like hard work, and so he’s lying down curled into a ball, refusing to move from my office chair.

Unfortunately no such escape form the oppressive heat is possible for the modern councillor-about-town, and my reputation as an upstanding citizen would probably suffer a bit were I to carry on in the same fashion and refuse to move at all when it’s warm. So I have to do far less pleasant things like go to work and sit in a stifling office, which is what I did today. The place where I work was conveniently built without either air conditioning or windows which open more than an inch. Hence on hot days I can fry an egg on my desk. It’s not conducive to work.

I have though had chance to follow up a couple of bits of ward work, whilst fanning myself with bits of paper and provocatively loosening my tie. There’s a storm brewing in the humid Prestwich sky, and another one brewing down at Tesco, where the state of the recycling facilities is getting people hot under the collar. Basically there’s not enough space for the number of bins needed to store everyone’s recycling. As a result, people are a bit lazy and just dump their bits of cardboard all over the place rather than find another recycling point. Neither the Council or Tesco want to clean it up, and so there’s a 19th century wild-west style stand-off developing. Sadly it won’t end up with a duel between the manager of Tesco and someone from the Council at dawn one day, and will most likely end up with the recycling centre moving elsewhere. Which is annoying to me because I like using it. I suspect it’s annoying to other people who like doing the same too. I will keep you posted.

Also today I have chased up some street-cleaning issues in the town centre. The situation there has got a lot better recently since a new rota was introduced and more staff got involved. There are still a few littered nooks and crannines though, and today I got some photographic evidence to prove it, from a local lady who lives about five floors from the ground, and about 4.98 floors from the top of the pile of litter which coats it. So I’ve asked about why that is.

The excitement builds to tomorrow’s meeting of full Council. If you wonder what that humming you can hear is, it isn’t the computer or a case of tinnitus. No, it’s all of Bury a-buzz with activity about the occasion. Or, more likely, it actually is tinnitus. Best ring NHS Direct.

But if you actually are interested in coming along to see us all in action, it’s at the Town Hall at 7pm and it’s free to get in!

I just hope it cools down. Today’s temperatures plus the combined hot air output of 51 Councillors in a room will make it dangerously hot…

Rick

This week sees the first meeting of Bury Council of this municipal year (excluding Mayor-making, which doesn’t count because it’s far too polite, and there are sandwiches afterwards).

In the olden days, I’m told, these meetings actually meant something. Policy was decided, decisions were taken, and a difference was made. These days, thanks to the Labour government re-jigging how Councils work, absolute power rests with the Council’s Executive, a sort of “cabinet” of the leading group. So nowadays, full Council meetings can be little more than talking shops where issues are raised, and then acted on or completely ignored, depending on the whim of the Leadership. It’s all hugely frustrating, but I have my vengeance by occasionally delaying everyone’s home time by making speeches which are both lengthy and made in the full knowledge that they probably won’t change a thing…

What Councillors are left with though, is the chance to question the Leadership and hope that someone from the press is there to hear them do it. Sadly, even they have got wise to it, and often don’t send anyone now. 

If we’re lucky there may actually be answers to these questions as well, although I won’t hold my breath. Previous Q&A sessions with the Leader and Executive have, for the most part, been like trying to get a giggling toddler to explain where he’s hidden your car keys. They don’t really understand the question, they just know they don’t want to tell you the answer…

All too often a question is answered by a muddled statement read out by an equally muddled Executive member. It all stems from the fact that questions must be received long enough in advance for Council officers to concoct a fiendishly complicated non-answer. The whole process doesn’t aid dialogue, scrutiny or honesty one little bit. All the half-truths, evasiveness and double-speak isn’t even necessary. Nobody’s there to hear it, so even if the Tories told the truth in their answers and admitted their mistakes and the Council’s problems, it wouldn’t get reported anywhere.

There are no debates scheduled this time, which means that the more verbose members (e.g. me) will have to restrain themselves and their epic speech-making tendencies for a few weeks at least. The “poor-man’s-Cicero” impression which I have been nurturing for the last couple of years will have to wait until the next meeting or beyond for its next outing, and several dozen people forced to listen to it can breathe a sigh of relief until then.

It’s not that I like the sound of my own voice (although don’t get me wrong, I prefer it to the sound of some…), it’s just that in these days of emasculated councillors and pointless meetings, making a speech is just about the only thing left to engage the brain. Even if the arguments are pointless and the decisions already made, at least the sentences can be neatly constructed. Even if the whole thing’s pointless, at least it’s got cadence. 

So hopefully, amidst the answer-fluffing and the non-debates, we’ll be out of there at a reasonable hour. Which is ironic given that I’ve got nothing to go home for. Normally there are Champions League games to be missed for Council meetings, and then the meetings go on until 22:30 by which time I want to scream like a banshee and run flailing out of the chamber in frustration. Hopefully such a scene can be avoided on Wednesday.

On the off chance that that does actually happen, you can come along and see it, because the meeting is open to the public. At the very least it’s somewhere to shelter from the rain if you need it. Kick-off’s at 7pm at the Town Hall.

Rick

I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours at the Prestwich Carnival yesterday, along with hundreds of other local people who ventured onto the streets and into St Mary’s Park despite the rain looming threateningly all day. It was not only another successful carnival raising lots of money for charity, but the culmination of the Prestwich Festival.

I’m sure there are few who would disagree with my opinion that the Festival has been a runaway success. The three showpiece occasions (Clough Day, Farmer’s Market, Carnival) were joined by dozens and dozens of other, smaller events. From social nights to Prestwich has got Junior Talent, and from Bike MOTs to free Archery, there’s been something for everyone over the past six weeks. In fact, the Farmer’s Market was so successful that the demands I’ve heard for a repeat have been so vociferous they almost verge on harassment… If only people would get so happy about their bins being collected on time!

The Festival has been more successful, and involved more people, businesses and events, than we could ever have thought possible. The organisers deserve our fondest thanks, as do the many volunteers who’ve helped make it possible. As someone sadly used to leafleting, I know how tedious it must have been to post 10,000 Festival brochures through people’s doors. But we did it.

This has been the first year we’ve done it, and I know it’ll go from strength to strength in the future. I’m proud to have been involved from the word go. 

So, yesterday was the Festival’s final act – the Carnival and Grand Parade.

I was harangued into venturing towards the fairground rides, although I did manage to avoid actually going on one. One maxim I live by is not to willingly allow myself to be whirled round at top speed on anything hauled around off the back of a caravan and that can fold away inside a truck. That discounted many of the sickness-inducing whirly-go-mads that populated much of the main field. Thankfully the afternoon passed without the waltzers coming loose and flying out onto Bury New Road, and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. Certainly more fun than I had gurning at the rides and wondering why anyone would put themselves through that unless they were training for some kind of manned space mission.

The parade itself looked fabulous, and I got to see it all in double quick time as I walked along Nursery Road where it was backed up waiting to begin. It’s only when you see all the participants in one place that you begin to appreciate the numbers involved in making it a success. It’s also the only way you can truly appreciate the staggering numbers of girls who are in to baton twirling. It seemed like there were hundreds, every one of them achieving with minimal fuss the art of not managing to take someone’s eye out with a flying stick.

Congratulations to all involved. 

Rick

24 hours after “Chaytor-gate 2,” and still no word from Bury North’s MP.

Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph revealed that Bury North Labour MP David Chaytor had paid several thousand pounds to his daughter, using an assumed name. The paper also claimed that senior members of the Bury Labour party had received tens of thousands of pounds of Mr Chaytor’s allowances for unspecified “consultancy” work.

Just a few weeks ago, Mr Chaytor was forced to apologise after claiming £13,000 on a mortgage which no longer existed. After that revelation, which led to the Labour Party banning him from ever standing for the party at an election again, Mr Chaytor promised to dedicate his remaining time in office to explaining himself. He’s yet to do any public explaining, and he’s certainly got more explaining to do now.

Another Labour MP in a similar predicament (although one who’s only been exposed once so far) has done the decent thing. Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich, has stood down as an MP immediately, forcing a by-election and giving local people their chance to have a say.

Mr Chaytor has not done this. He is content to sit out his term of office, despite these lurid allegations and their damaging effect on the people of Bury. The Telegraph point out that Mr Chaytor may benefit from as much as £100,000 by staying on until the next election. But the damage his continued tenure as the local MP is doing to Bury is worth far more than that. He should follow Ian Gibson and resign immediately.

Rick

It takes quite some effort to be awarded the dubious honour of “Worst Road in Prestwich.” Amidst the potted roller-coasters that criss-cross the district, there are some streets with more holes than a sieve and more bumps than a dodgem rink.

However, there is one road that stands head and shoulders above even the rotten collection everywhere else. Its name strikes fear into cyclists and drivers all over town, it’s been used as a dressed set for lunar landing reconstructions, and its pot holes are so deep that geologists come from miles around to age the strata. It’s… Warwick Street.

I used to live off it, shielded from its bumpyness only by an abandoned old gym at the back of my garden. Unfortunately even the gym had enough, and burned down in 2006. Plans to replace the burned-out shell were submitted to the Council on Tuesday, but rejected for various reasons including parking concerns. Whilst this is bad news for people wanting the building replaced, it’s good news for road-lovers, because now the Council’s Highways Department have promised to look at resurfacing the street!

Any attempts at re-surfacing were put on indefinite hiatus whilst the planning application was in the pipeline. But now it’s done with, the Council can look at doing it itself. Here’s hoping they see sense and rid Prestwich of its worst road by far.

Rick

Bury North’s MP David Chaytor is embroiled in further scandal tonight. The Daily Telegraph, which last month exposed Mr Chaytor’s alleged £13,000 “phantom” mortgage claims, now reveals details of further inappropriate payments.

The paper claimsthat Mr Chaytor used almost £5,000 of taxpayer’s money to pay his daughter, using an assumed name. In addition, tens of thousands more was used to pay people with close links to the Bury Labour party for unspecified “consultancy” work.

These latest revelations come as Mr Chaytor still refuses to meet constituents to explain his actions, or step down now as an MP. I have been calling for his resignation since these allegations broke, and I repeat that demand now. It is not right that the people of Bury North are put through further embarrassment and saddled with a lame-duck MP in expenses turmoil for the next year. If the police do as they say they might, and launch criminal investigations against some of MPs, Mr Chaytor will bring further shame on Bury North.

Although Mr Chaytor has served Bury North for 12 years, his time is up. His further tenure as the local MP does nothing but damage Bury. He should give the people their say right now, and resign. His own party have lost faith in him and have forbidden him from standing again, but he is determined to hang on until the bitter end, despite bringing these lurid allegations home to Bury.

The Telegraph hints at one possible reason why Mr Chaytor won’t quit now rather than at the next general election. Staying on until then will bring significant personal financial rewards. He will be paid an extra £100,000 in public funds if he clings on until an election next May.

The Telegraph says that “He will earn about £59,000 over the next 11 months, and then in the year after that, he will receive between 50 and 100 per cent of his £64,766 final salary as a “resettlement grant”. The first £30,000 of the grant, the exact size of which is dictated by age and length of service, will be tax-free. Mr Chaytor will also be able to claim up to £40,799 in “winding up allowances” to pay off leases and staff members. He employs his wife Sheena as his office manager and will be able to give her a pay-off. Mr Chaytor will then be entitled to claim a pension of about £19,500 a year for the rest of his life. ”

Mr Chaytor, I say this not just as your election opponent but as a life long bury resident and a passionate believer in the good that politics can do: Please, for the good of Bury, resign now and give the people of Bury their say.

Rick

It’s started with a storm at Prestwich Clough and should end in glorious sunshine at Prestwich Carnival. After 35 days, 55 events, 1,000’s of visitors to events, money raised for charity Prestwich Festival puts its feet up and says goodbye for 2009 with a final 5 days of fun.

The last free archery session is today (Thursday 18 June) at The Phoenix Centre. During the festival over 100 11 to 8 years olds have already enjoyed these free sessions.

This evening also sees the Festival Music Night taking place between 7pm and 10pm. It promises to bring some classical sophistication to The Longfield Centre with a wonderful night of music with the Bury Music Service Band, Affetside Choir and to round off the evening in grand style, Besses o’ th’ Barn brass band.

Tomorrow, there will be a Friday Night Social - Shangri La at 8pm at, Carlton Club, Bury Old Road featuring live music. And finally a bumper weekend of family entertainment will take place at the Prestwich Carnival.

On Saturday 20 June a Football Tournament organized by FC United of Manchester will take place from 9am until 4pm at St. Mary’s Park.

As well as Butterstile Fun Day which takes place from 12.00 noon at Butterstile Primary School. The friends of Butterstile will be holding their traditional fun day. As part of the fun all the children from the school will have the chance to enter a series of competitions to celebrate Prestwich, the four categories are photographs, poems, paintings or portraits.

And finally on Sunday 21 June Prestwich Carnival Grand Parade kicks off at 1pm. The Parade arrives in the park at 2.30pm with six arenas showcasing local talent.

Prestwich Festival and Carnival Organiser, David Curtis, said: “This year’s carnival is going to be special. The publicity of Love Prestwich Festival has really got out there so there’s many more stalls and attractions this year. Love Prestwich Festival was all about showcasing the best of Prestwich Come with the family and enjoy this day - I have it on good authority that the Prestwich Carnival Sunshine Team will bring the sun with them this year!”

Carran O’Grady LAP Manager said “Feedback from Preswich residents and businesses has been great about the Love Prestwich Festival and people want the Festival to return in 2010. We will look at the highlights of this our first year soon and look at making it even better for next year. All organizers should be applauded for the hours of planning their individual events which made the 55 events amazing”.

Cllr Vic D’Albert, Chair of Prestwich LAP said “Love Prestwich Festival finishes the way it started - on a high. I’ve been to as many events as possible throughout the Festival and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all. The Clough Day was fantastic, The Farmers Market sold out, Prestwich has got Junior Talent was amazing to mention just a few. I’m already knocking on the door to get more Farmers Market in Prestwich and an annual Festival. As usual I’ll be at the Carnival volunteering with my bucket which raises money for local groups as many Festival events have and then like everyone else enjoying the best Carnival around.”

Planners at Bury Council have given approval for state of the art new facilities at Prestwich Arts College, marking the end of a long campaign for improvements to the successful local school.

The Council’s Planning Control Committee voted on Tuesday 16th June to grant planning permission for a new dining room and arts auditorium for the school, which was threatened with closure back in 2005. Commenting on the news, local Lib Dem Councillor Tim Pickstone said “This is great news, not just for the school but for the whole community. Prestwich Arts College is the only high school in Bury without a dining room, and this news is long overdue. We’ve been lobbying the Council for years, and I’m glad they’ve finally seen sense and given Prestwich young people what they need.

Commenting on the new arts auditorium, Cllr Pickstone, who is also a governor of the school, said “This will be a first class facility for a top quality school. But more than that, it will be used as a community facility, bringing better arts provision for the whole of Prestwich. I’m delighted it’s been given the go-ahead.”

The new facilities will be built in the near future. Cllr Pickstone said “We need to listen to the concerns of local residents on Heys Road, Glebelands Road and other nearby streets to ensure that the plans do not adversely affect local residents. When we get the process right, Prestwich Arts College and the whole area will have splendid new facilities.

The Oasis concerts the other week generated lots of local comment. For me the most worrying news was the appalling behaviour of some taxi drivers. Black cab drivers were reportedly charging four times the going rate for a ride into town, and private hire drivers were plying for hire, invalidating their insurance and committing an offence in the process. The implications for safety and trust in these public service providers was worrying.

I sit on the Council’s Licensing Panel, and last night was the first meeting since the Oasis gigs. I took the opportunity to ask the Council’s Licensing staff whether they’d caught any naughty cabbies. They hadn’t, but their efforts had been mainly concerned with counterfeiters and illegal traders that night. What they have done since is liaise with Licensing staff from Manchester City Council, who were looking at taxis on those nights. They tell Bury that there are several taxi drivers under investigation, including perhaps some from Bury, and so hopefully we will hear soon that appropriate action has been taken.

Oasis should’ve been fun for people. There is no excuse for public servants to be profiteering and putting concert-goers at risk in this way.

Rick

Prestwich Lib Dems have long criticised Bury Council’s under-investment in road repairs. This past weekend my ward colleague Cllr Donal O’Hanlon was reminded exactly why when he discovered a two-metre deep crater on a Prestwich street.

Donal discovered the hole on Lowther Road, one of the many Prestwich streets resembling the cratered surface of the Moon.

Bury Council announced it’s annual budget recently, but the amount given over to road repairs was so low that we can’t even afford to fix the single neediest road in the area. Local Area Partnerships decide how much of the meagre money allocated can be spent on the upgrading of the roads and pavements, but there is nowhere near enough, and now they’re nearly swallowing up local people!

Prestwich Area Partnership has been allocated less than £200,000 by Bury’s Conservative-controlled Council to repair all the roads and pavements in the town. This despite  4.9% council tax rise and the continual demands for more investment as roads crumble and legal cases mount.

It’s about time the Tories took some responsibility and action instead of hoping that the roads will eat the opposition.

Rick

Local Tories have shown how out of touch they are with local feelings on Heaton Park, after two contradictory statements seemingly aimed at publicity and populism rather than serious debate.

Michelle Wiseman, the Tory parliamentary candidate for Bury South, has called on her website for a complete ban on concerts at the park after Oasis came to town last week. Whilst it’s true that there were teething problems, many tens of thousands of people had a great time. The events pumped hundreds of thousands of pounds (if not more) into the local economy, and problems of litter were dealt with very well indeed. 

Yes, there were a few problems. But the sensible thing to do now is not to call for concerts to be banned in future. The sensible thing is to do what many residents have asked me to do and what Lib Dem Councillors have promised to do - namely to work with Manchester City Council and others to make the most of the advantages of big events, but make big improvements to noise and traffic concerns. I’d love Heaton Park to become an occasional venue for big events, but only if they can be made to work for everyone. The Tories are clearly in the mood not just to cut 10% of all public spending if they win power, but also to cut concerts in Prestwich without working with local people to find a better way! 

Fair play to Ms Wiseman, however, for voicing an opinion on her usually lifeless blog, even if I’m probably the only person to have read it. The blog does tend to be about as controversial as painting your living room beige, so maybe this is a step in the right direction.

Sadly however, it doesn’t look like Sedgley Tory Jonathan Grosskopf has been reading it, because he’s been writing pretty much the opposite in the newspapers this week.

Mr Grosskopf is known principally for two things - repeatedly losing elections to Liberal Democrats in Prestwich, and being in permanent residence on the letters page of the Prestwich Advertiser. This week’s effort from him is an angry tome using incendiary language to have a go at a Lib Dem campaign of intervention in Heaton Park. It couldn’t be anything more than a publicity stunt, he says, clearly not checking his language with his own parliamentary candidate, who has done precisely the same thing by intervening about concerts!

Mr Grosskopf’s angry rant is to his usual standards of silliness. He criticises the Lib Dem campaign to stop a large 5-a-side football centre being built over a wooded area of parkland. The proposals would cause traffic chaos apart from the whole issue of concreting over some parkland, and have understandably irked a lot of people. Our campaign isn’t against soccer centres in general, just this one and where it’s proposed to go. If they can find a better location for it, I’ll cut the ribbon on it myself. But until they do, we support our residents and oppose the scheme.

This isn’t good enough for Mr Grosskopf though. He criticises what he calls a “PR stunt.” For one thing, Mr Grosskopf clearly has no sense of irony. It strikes me as laughable that a man’s angry reaction to Lib Dems supposedly undertaking PR stunts is to criticise them on the letters page of a newspaper. This exercise in Grosskopf PR is as hypocritical as it is silly.

But worse than this of course is the content of the letter. Grosskopf letter gives no principled reason why we shouldn’t oppose the soccer centre, he just criticises us for getting involved at all. He doesn’t appear to favour it himself. He just thinks that the campaign is a stunt. This is fairly insulting to both the local Lib Dems and local people. He couldn’t be more wrong or have misjudged the severity of this issue if he’d tried.

Worryingly for a would-be councillor though, his criticisms reveal his utter lack of understanding of the feelings of the community and of the role of local councillors. We must get involved, we must publicise our involvement, and we must respond to the wishes of local people. That’s what we’ve done here. If Mr Grosskopf has a different view on this issue, he should say so, but if all he can do is criticise any involvement at all from local Councillors, he’s being unwise and is putting his own name in lights ahead of any local opinion at all. That’s not the kind of councillor I want.

Mr Grosskopf opposes getting involved in campaigns to save the park, but Ms Wiseman obviously doesn’t. The only thing they’ve both got in common (other then the colour of their rosettes) seems to be that they’ve both ignored local people and have launched campaigns seemingly by themselves entirely.

The best way Mr Grosskopf and Ms Wiseman can serve Prestwich is to convince their fellow Tories to give us the funding and action we need to deal with problems like graffiti and litter in Prestwich - problems that we’ve repeatedly highlighted and tried to tackle, with precisely no help or extra support from the Tories running the town hall. Mr Grosskopf and Ms Wiseman should be reminded that is is their party who want to turn off half our street lights. It is their party who refuse to pay to mend roads and pavements. It is their party have promised 10% spending cuts if elected nationally.

They are mixed up and doing nobody any favours in Prestwich.

Rick

Every once in a while I get a phone call from someone who’s read about my campaign on Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, which whilst useful can also be exceptionally unfair at times. This is often the case when allegations are made, never proved or even tested, but recorded on CRB disclosures. This can mean innocent people being removed from jobs, refused work, and prevented from seeing their children, despite being guilty of no crime.

All of these calls are upsetting, but this morning’s particularly so. It was from a man I’d never spoken to before, who’d read my previous posts. He is a nurse who has moved here to flee persecution in Zimbabwe, but was sacked from his job and is now unable to get a new one because of allegations in his CRB disclosure. These allegations never resulted in a conviction or even a trial, and the man maintains that he is innocent. Still, the CRB disclosure reveals them, because the Police have the right to reveal such allegations on these forms if they consider it relevant. This morning’s caller likened the power of the police in these matters to the power of the police in his home country.

The man is a nurse, and is seeking work as one. Of course the people he would nurse if employed need to be protected. There needs to be a system which protects them, and in most cases the CRB system does the trick. But it needs changing now, so that innocent people aren’t caught up in it. The police have made an arbitrary decision, and whilst the man can ask them to change their mind, neither he nor anyone else can force them to. There needs to be a way for innocent people to remove incriminating evidence from CRB forms, or else the tearful, desperate people who ring me regularly will never get the justice that the CRB system is set up to ensure.

Rick

My team and I successfully completed the “Three Peaks Challenge” over the weekend, getting to the top of the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales. Set a target of 24 hours, we walked up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon with 14 minutes to spare. We raised nearly two thousand pounds for Tenovus, a cancer charity, and there’s still time for you to help us raise some more at www.justgiving.com/3peaks1day.

After a night at a guest house in Fort William, we started at 09:20 on Saturday morning at the foot of Ben Nevis, and were up and down it again by 15:00. A drive to Scafell Pike saw us there and leaping out the minibus at 22:00, stumbling back down in the darkness at 02:00 on Sunday morning. We’d got to Wales and Snowdon by 07:00, and were at the top just after 09:00 to complete the challenge.

In my sleep deprived, damp and achey state, I didn’t take in as much as I could of the stunning surroundings. Only the most violently throbbing facts of the trip sunk in to my addled brain. For instance, Scotland is unfeasibly huge, especially the road around Loch Lomond which must surely be the world’s longest single road. It seemed to take forty years to drive round it.

This morning my feet look like something out of an exhibit of medical oddities. There is also some quite significant industrial action taking place in my legs, both of which are refusing to work at all. Thankfully I am now washed and revitalised after 12 hours sleep. I was absolutely not anyone you wanted to be near to last night after no sleep in 36 hours, and after 26 miles of walking and 800 miles of driving. Some of my clothes have gone beyond needing to be washed. They just need burning, and the resultant ashes encased in lead and buried deep underground. 

I’d like to say that the only thing that kept me going as I trudged down Scafell Pike in the dark at 2am, or contemplated walking down Snowdon with an ankle blister the size of an apple, was the prospect of this evening’s meeting of the Licensing Panel. Unfortunately I’d be telling the worst lie of my life, so I won’t say that. But what the meeting does signal is a return to the type of municipal chatter-boxing that is a million miles away from the glorious views, shattered bodies and godforsaken cross-country minibus rides that marked out my weekend. Life goes on, despite me wishing, when halfway up Ben Nevis, that it wouldn’t.

Please don’t let my aches be for nothing! Get sponsoring!

Rick

I am away from Prestwich for the next few days, attempting a ridiculous walk for charity.

Anyone wanting to sponsor me for the walk can still do so. Please visit www.justgiving.com/3peaks1day. We’ve achieved the £1,500 target, but since this is about curing cancer I suspect we’ll need closer to two grand to do the trick.

Rick

As well as attending election counts and listening to Oasis concerts from various vantage points around Prestwich, my life as a councillor means  that run-of-the mill casework also continues to drop gently into my inbox from various bits of the ward.

This weeks bag had been mixed. First off there is the case of the dangerous dog which is irritating residents of one particular local street. I know the dog from my leafleting rounds, and have often been scared witless as it charges towards me bearing its teeth. I am glad I don’t have to live next to it, and feel sorry for the neighbours who do, especially since the owners haven’t made any efforts to keep it suitably housed. It’s a shame for the dog as well, but worrying for the kids on the street who have to deal with a massive canine leaping the fence and charging them on a fairly regular basis. It has been known to bite, but unless there’s evidence of it there’s not much that can be done. Thankfully Six Town Housing and the Police are now involved after I called them on behalf of neighbours, so we might be able to stop this annoyance becoming more serious when it tears a chunk out of someone’s leg or, more worryingly, bites off the hand of an innocent Lib Dem leafleter.

Also this week, I have been brushing up on my (admittedly scanty) knowledge of local arboriculture, after being called to investigate an outbreak of Himalayan Balsam. Apparently this invasive species has emerged from the Clough, has found its way into some local gardens and is now spreading like wild fire. I have no idea what this is or how to get rid of it, but thankfully the Council employs people who know about these things and so the matter is now in their capable (and, no doubt, green) hands.

One other ongoing matter relates to the infamous bollards at the corner of Kingswood Road and Dashwood Road. These five bollards, installed after a lengthy campaign to deter massive HGVs from doing three point turns, have actually turned out to be so successful that we need to tone them down! They are now affecting small cars doing the same manoeuvres, since their drivers can’t see them in the dark. So, having been collared by an anxious resident the other day, I have asked for reflective strips to be put on them, so people don’t keep driving into them.

There are lots of other little things bubbling over as well at the moment across the ward. I would be more than happy to take a look at any issue you have with any council service in Prestwich. Please do get in touch.

Rick

Local Lib Dem Councillors have praised clean-up staff following recent Oasis concerts in Heaton Park, but voiced concerns that not enough was done to protect local people during the recent events. The concerts, which saw
210,000 people enjoy music in the park over three nights, generated controversy over noise, but passed largely without major trouble.

Commenting on the concerts, Cllr Vic D’Albert, Liberal Democrat member for Holyrood and Parliamentary candidate for Bury South said “What’s clear is that over 200,000 people came to Prestwich and had a great time. But there
were lots of problems for the people that live here, and we need to get the balance right. Before Manchester City Council think about having more concerts here, they need to think about Prestwich residents.”

Residents complained about excessive noise, particularly on the first night when a power failure caused a delay to the end of the concert. Cllr D’Albert said “Of course there was going to be noise, but I think continuing until 11.25 was too late, and I will be demanding that this never happens again. I want to know why the stage was set up facing the houses of Prestwich rather than the open space of the park, and why revellers weren’t moved on quicker at the end. This was particularly unpleasant for older residents and people with young children.”

Parking arrangements were only partially successful. Cllr D’Albert said “We were given assurances that public transport would work and parking wouldn’t be a problem. Whilst streets in St Margaret’s and Sheepfoot Lane were well protected, those in Sedgley and Rhodes were not, and this wasn’t good enough. Buses and taxis were dropping off people in the wrong place, and queues for trams were very long. We need improvements to help residents.”

Cllr D’Albert did praise some aspects of the organisation. “I thought the street cleaning service was excellent, and lots of local people enjoyed a concert, either as paying spectators or for free in their gardens. A lot of local people enjoyed themselves, and local businesses received a welcome boost in trade. The gigs have raised the profile of Prestwich, and that’s great. In addition, some of the profits will be spent improving local parks, so people will see long term benefits as a result of short term disruption.”

“Prestwich Local Area Partnership will receive a report into all aspects of the concerts, and make this available to local people so that we can represent their views. I look forward to working with everyone - local people, and Bury and Manchester Councils – to make sure that if these things are to happen again, we in Bury make Manchester City Council learn from what happened. There’s certainly room for improvement, but perhaps not for 200,000 people across three nights in quick succession. We need to deal with the noise better, reduce the numbers and restrict activity to sensible times and durations. We need to strike a balance between Prestwich people and money for Manchester.”

My Sunday night was spent having a lot less fun than even the most die-hard Oasis-haters would have had if their ears had been glued to a Heaton Park speaker – I was at the Bury count for the European elections.

Bury is one tenth of one small part of one region in one country which is one twenty-seventh of the European Union. I know the elections were important, but I couldn’t help but feel that standing there in the leisure centre was the Euro equivalent of being at the count for election of vice-Treasurer of the Prestwich and Whitefield Coffee and Biscuits Club. 

Not only was there a depressingly large pile of BNP votes, but the whole process dragged on so long that at one point I feared we’d start counting the 2014 elections before we’d finished with this lot.

Someone promised me it would be over by nine. They lied. 

Out of 48,000 votes cast, the amounts counted up at the end didn’t come to the same number as the amount counted into the ballot boxes when people voted. Despite a difference of only 7 (or 0.01%), this meant two laborious recounts and lots of people rolling their eyes and cursing democracy in all its troublesome, vote-counting forms. I wasn’t content with eye-rolling, and actually sat with a glum expression on my face at the back end of a hissy fit directed at party colleagues and containing the whined phrase “I want to go home” several times over. 

This was of course my second appearance at a count in recent days, following the Radcliffe West by-election on Thursday. Two nights out of four spent at vote counts at Castle Leisure Centre is not my idea of a good time. It does though seem to appeal to a disturbingly geeky set of young politicians who appear to be emerging from somewhere in ever greater numbers. They’re easy to spot, They often sport blue rosettes, drone on about by-election statistics, and almost certainly have never kissed a girl. There were lots at these counts. I’m all for young people getting into politics, but some people are just so into the minutiae of it that it makes me fear for their very souls. People should be into it to make the world better, not to bore me to death talking about vote swings in some remote south western council district.  

Thankfully there are plenty of people in the Bury political scene who are also required to attend counts, but like talking about anything but politics. Last night during the interminable wait for the declaration, I was chatting to colleagues from all parties on topics as diverse as the Twenty Twenty cricket and The Apprentice (both of which we were missing because we were at the count)…  

One particularly intriguing conversation centred on the ages old question of why there aren’t more takeaway owners standing as European election candidates. It costs £5,000 to get your name on the ballot, but this is the same whether you’re a party like the Lib Dems or a single person standing as an independent. This is a pretty high amount for one person, but is worth it if you’ve got the cash lying around and a message to get out, because the Royal Mail will deliver a leaflet for you free of charge to every house in the region. Hence me spending two solid days sticking labels on 6,000 of our’s. 

They don’t have to be addressed like our’s were of course. Some bright spark had the idea of addressing the Lib Dem ones, and whilst it probably does work it was very disheartening to see Tam chuck out the one that came through our door without even reading it because it arrived with leaflets from four other parties on the same day. I wonder if that happened with all 6,000 of mine?

So, no address required. Election leaflets just need writing, designing and printing, and sent to the Royal Mail, who’ll then do the posting.

Which made us wonder in the sports hall last night about the takeaways. They spend a fortune in time and effort sticking menu after menu through my door. If they stopped calling them menus, and started calling them European Election leaflets, for five grand they could get the Royal Mail to deliver for them and cover every single house in the North West! And I tell you what, the way people hate politicians right now I suspect the Golden Dragon Chinese would probably rack up a fair few votes! Free prawn crackers with every main course is one manifesto promise most people would believe.

Unfortunately, the mystery of the Chinese menu-cum-manifesto may never be solved. Thankfully though, the puzzle as to when we’d all go home was eventually answered. Finally, nearly 6 hours after we started what should have been a short count (because we’d done half of it after the local elections on Thursday), and after an agonising debate with the Regional Returning Officer about whether or not we’d have to recount the votes until our eyes bled, it was finished.

We were released into the early Monday morning air to the news of Labour’s collapse, a pretty static performance from the Lib Dems despite everyone hating politicians, and two BNP MEPs crowing about a new world order despite polling fewer votes than they did five years ago. 

And then, in too few a number of hours, it was work again for the start of another week. 

 In the words of Bob Geldof et al, I don’t like Mondays. 

Rick 

The weekend in Prestwich was dominated by the Oasis concerts which saw 150,000 people come to town, and approximately 300,000 shoes ruined by mud. I know a lot of people were disturbed by noise and congestion, but I also know that a lot of people (including me) had a great time enjoying the music at the concerts.

So far I’ve had three complaints, and whilst I have responded to them all and don’t doubt their seriousness, is still 209,997 less than the total number of happy concert-goers.  

Having said that, there were undoubted problems with some aspects of the organisation. I know that we’re going to be looking at ways to improve things in future so that if Manchester City Council decide to do this type of thing again we can make good the things that didn’t go so well this time. 

There’s been plenty on our blogs and in the press about Oasis from the residents point of view. There’ll be plenty more in the next few days as well. I’m a resident, but I also went to the gig, and I think there were problems with the experience which probably exacerbated the problems of rowdiness later on. 

For starters, there’s probably little that annoys the paying public than a gigantic “golden circle” for prawn-sandwich quaffing VIPs which prevents regular folk from getting within a quarter mile of the stage. Heaton Park’s example was so big it could probably have taken the entire crowd. Instead, 20,000 lucky people had enough room to swing a family of cats around them whilst dancing to “Roll With It”, whilst the mere mortals fenced off behind had to strain to hear from 400 yards, unable to see anything at all because the big screens had clearly been installed by idiots and were barely above ground level.

Not content with annoying a raucous crowd with this, the transport to and from the venue was, by all accounts, a complete shambles. Luckily I could walk home, but my friends couldn’t, and according to some the Shuttle bus may as well have been named “Challenger” for all the enjoyment it gave its passengers, several of whom are I believe still queueing for it now. 

The queues for buses and the tram resembled those to see a Royal lying in state. There were obviously not enough vehicles for people, and once again our much maligned public transport system reminded us quite why it is so much maligned. It was rubbish. The Metrolink in particular covered itself in precisely no glory, ending too early and woefully underestimating demand. I don’t know why I didn’t pick up on this before, but in retrospect the promise of “some double trams” was never going to be enough to cope with the usage of Bowker Vale station increasing from 8 to 40,000. 

But let me reserve my most acute anger for the thoughtless, greedy and criminal private hire car drivers who prowled the streets offering rides to town for shivering fans at midnight. Anyone foolish enough to get into a private hire car without booking by phone with the operator immediately invalidates the driver’s insurance, but I know how tempting it can be when the only alternative is a six mile walk. The drivers know this full well. Most Private Hire drivers are honest, hard-working, and entirely trustworthy. Unfortunately a minority treat the public and the license with contempt, and they were out in force to take advantage. 

Plying for hire is an offence which can lead to loss of licence and, I’m pleased to say, often does in Bury. Scumbag drivers weren’t just plying for hire though, they were charging would-be customers £60 or £80 for a ride into town. This was an exercise in greed and illegality that we really shouldn’t see on our streets, but one brought about by wholly inadequate yet sadly predictable failures in our transport system. 

You’ll see the Bury Lib Dem official response to the gigs above in a few minutes when I post it. I hope everyone who went had a great time, didn’t act stupidly or thoughtlessly towards local people, and that Prestwich people who didn’t go didn’t suffer too much either. 

Rick 

Bury North MP David Chaytor is under further pressure to resign as an MP this evening. Mr Chaytor, who has admitted receiving £13,000 of taxpayers’ money for a “phantom” mortgage, has made clear his intentions to resign as an MP at the next General Election. This decision, effectively consigning Bury North to representation from a “lame duck” MP until an election is called, has provoked angry criticism from residents.

Now, another MP embroiled in the expenses scandal has done the decent thing and resigned with immediate effect. Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich, has today resigned as an MP, triggering a by-election and giving the people of his constituency the chance to have their say. He can put his case, and the people of Norwich can hear it.

David Chaytor should do the same in Bury North, and allow local people to elect an MP who can represent them free of scandal and without one foot in the political grave. Mr Chaytor and Mr Gibson are two of the four MPs suspended by Labour for alleged expenses abuses. Mr Gibson has done the right thing by resigning now. Mr Chaytor has not. He should.

Rick

Last night’s Oasis concert has generated a number of questions which need urgent answers. I’m a fan of the group (and am going tomorrow night) but I’m also a Prestwich resident, and seeing the disruption caused locally last night I was upset. 

These gigs are a great opportunity to do something good for the area, but after last night I feel disappointed.

Whilst reviews of the concert appear to have been positive, and the audience enjoyed themselves, there were problems with the show itself which had a knock on effect for residents, and there were clearly logistical problems which hadn’t been properly thought through despite assurances and promises from Manchester City Council and the promoters of the gigs.

The failure of two power generators caused a 40 minute interruption to the Oasis performance. As a result, a decision was made to extend the 11pm curfew to 11.15pm. I understand that the reason for this was to reduce the likelihood of crowd disturbances because of a reduced performance time. Unfortunately it obviously caused a great deal of disturbance to local people who had noise going on longer than expected. I can understand that a difficult decision had to be made to extend the curfew, but local people were explicitly promised that this wouldn’t happen, and that large fines would be levied if it did. I will be interested to see what happens here, especially since the show was not stopped until 11.24pm, nine minutes beyond the end of even the revised curfew.

The concerts were also extremely noisy. Obviously it was going to be loud, but I don’t think I was alone at being shocked at just how loud it was. I live well over a mile away and could hear every word. There may well be reasons for the speakers being set up to face the houses of Prestwich as opposed to the green space of the rest of the park, but I don’t know what they are and would be interested to find out.

I held out high hopes for last night, but unfortunately some of them were dashed. Credit is due to the street cleaners and the Police for their work during and after the gigs. But there were major problems with on-street parking, large numbers of pedestrians on nearby roads before the gigs, and drunkenness. All of these were matters which we were given assurances on, but sadly we were let down.

There has been a de-brief meeting today involving all of the organising parties. Hopefully some lessons will have been learned. I want events in Prestwich where everyone has a good time but where the local people have their wishes respected too. I think the balance wasn’t quite right last night, and more work is needed.

I hope that Saturday and Sunday are better for residents, but if not then I think we have to seriously consider Heaton Park’s viability as a concert venue. Of course it’d be great to have a concert venue like that on our doorstep, in an ideal world - it makes money for the Council and it brings people to the area. But Heaton Park sits in the middle of an established residential area which perhaps just isn’t suited to events like Oasis concerts. No matter what benefits gigs like this bring, if they can’t be made to work for everyone, they’ll have to stop.

We’ll have to see about that. Let’s hope though that Saturday and Sunday are pleasant experiences for concert-goers and residents alike.

Rick

Tonight is the first of three Oasis concerts at Heaton Park. These are the biggest events in Prestwich since the Pope came to town in 1982, and that was the biggest thing ever to happen here. 210,000 people are expected over the next few days, and since I can hear it from my house a mile away, I reckon it’s pretty noisy if you live nearby.

Help is at hand if there are any problems. A helpline for residents will be open from 08.00 - 01.00 (i.e. all day and into the early hours) on each concert day, and from 08.00 - 20.00 on Friday. The number is 0161 954 9003.

For more information on the concert, and the extra provisions in place to ensure safety and clean up mess, visit the Bury Council mini site here

Rick

Tomorrow (Thursday June 4^th) is European election day. Hundreds of millions of people will take part in European elections across the continent, and it’s your chance to have your say about how the EU is run and what role Britain plays in it.

Please use your opportunity to vote.

Many people might want to show politicians what they think of them after the expenses scandal. Whilst I think that this is fine, I think it’s important to remember two things. Firstly, that although lots of MPs have been very badly behaved, the majority haven’t, and it’s wrong to think that they’re all rotten. Second, expenses is an important issue but it’s one of many issues, and I think that there are plenty more important than that. What kind of education system do you want? What kind of NHS? What do you want to do about climate change or crime or the recession? I think they’re all more important than expenses, and I hope people who vote consider which party is closest to their views on those things.

The European elections give local people the only chance to vote under a system of proportional representation. Unlike the general election where people vote for one name to become their local MP, the Euros are different. You’ll have the chance to vote for a list of names from each party. The more votes each party gets, the more members of that party’s list gets elected. 

That’s good because it’s more proportional, and the total votes across the North West will be roughly reflected by the number of MEPs the region sends to the European Parliament. But it also increases the chances of smaller parties finding themselves with MEPs. In the past it was “safe” to register a protest vote with a smaller party because there was no chance of them getting elected. Now, in the North West, a party on the extremes could find itself with an MEP with just a few percent of the vote. That could lend legitimacy to parties whose views we find distasteful and who’ve never represented us before.

Bury Council also has a by-election tomorrow, in Radcliffe West ward. My best wishes to our candidate there Mike Halsall, who I know is Radcliffe through and through and would make a fine Councillor if elected.

Rick

David Chaytor, Bury North’s MP who has admitted to claiming £13,000 of taxpayers’ money for a mortgage which didn’t exist, has decided to stand down as an MP at the next general election.

This is a sad end to a career in public service that goes back over 12 years in Bury, and many more years further back as a Councillor in Yorkshire. Mr Chaytor’s current predicament is a personal tragedy. I strongly suspect, and I really do hope, that his mistake was nothing more sinister than that. Justifiable criticism of his conduct on this occasion should not outweigh the praise he is due for fighting Bury’s corner for the last dozen years, and for dedicating the majority of his adult life to trying to make this country a better place and fighting for his beliefs.

I am disappointed in him, but let’s not forget the service of a man who’s been MP for my home town for as long as I’ve been able to vote.

I think it’s a shame though, that as he calls time on his political career, he hasn’t been braver. I think he should have stood down now.

His decision to quit at the next election (which might be as far away as May 2010), goes some way to acknowledging the immense harm that his “unforgiveable error” has done to the office of MP for Bury North. But it does not go far enough. He should resign now, rather than limp on as a lame duck MP until the leader of his party calls an election and he can stand down to receive his parachute pay-offs and fade away.

He has said that the remainder of his time in office will be about “explaining his errors.” The people of Bury North though, will only hear his explanations alongside those of dozens of others caught out by the Telegraph and standing down as a result. If he wants to explain himself, why does he not put his head above the parapet and do it now? Let the people of Bury North make the call, not him. If his explanation is good enough, let them judge him on it. They are being deprived both the choice and the explanation, which will be washed away with the froth of the others.

Liberal Democrats have said all along that power needs to be returned to local people. They should make the decisions. In his final act, Mr Chaytor has taken power from the people of Bury North, who are saddled with an MP suspended from his party and struggling to clear his name. The people of Bury North deserve better.

Local people should decide David Chaytor’s fate, not David Chaytor himself. Once again I ask Mr Chaytor to do what he has done often over the last 12 years but refuses to do now – put Bury North first and resign immediately. Explain yourself, and let the people decide.

 Rick

A licence application has been received for the Priest’s Retreat pub. This was briefly Luna Carribean Restaurant, but that closed down which meant that it returned to being a closed-down pub. Now the Council has received an application from China Sun Restaurant, which my spider-senses tells me is probably a Chinese Restaurant.

The applicants want an alcohol, music and dancing licence from 11.00 - 23.00 seven days a week. I know some people living near to the Priest’s Retreat in the days when it was a pub had some concerns about the noise. As with all applications there is time for local people to raise issues and concerns. The deadline to do so is 26th June, and please contact the Council for further information.

Rick