Don’t forget that it’s Prestwich Local Area Partnership tonight, from 18:30 at St Monica’s High School. Part of the agenda will be dedicated to the Prestwich Community Plan, which will outline the vision for Prestwich’s improvement over the next three years to 2011.

What is the Community Plan?

The Community Plan is a document which sets out the Local Area Partnership’s (LAP’s) priorities for Prestwich between 2008-11. It is the document which says how Prestwich will become a better place to live in the next three years.

The Community Plan contains ten priorities overall, with the aim to create a Green Prestwich, a Thriving Prestwich, and a Strong Prestwich.

Each of these 10 priorities contains some specific actions which the LAP aims to achieve by 2011.

The first Prestwich Community Plan was created in 2001, with a second Plan in 2005. The first two plans were aspirational documents, but this new plan sets out targets for the LAP to achieve, building on the successes in Prestwich in recent years, and setting the scene for progress in the future.

Who was involved in creating the Community Plan?

The Community Plan has been created after joint working with a wide range of partners, including the Council, Police, Fire Service, NHS Primary Care Trust, the voluntary and faith sectors, and other agencies. There have been a number of events held in the last year in Prestwich and Bury, such as the Bury Community Conference and the Bury Community Planning Event, involving all partners in setting priorities for the area.

Local people have had their say too, via their local Councillors and through the opportunities to comment on drafts presented to previous meetings of the Local Area Partnership. The Developing Communities Working Group of the LAP has met 7 times to discuss the Plan during its development.

In addition, evidence such as government policies, current Council plans, surveys and local intelligence information like the Prestwich Neighbourhood Intelligence Assessment has been used to inform the priorities in the Community Plan.

After extensive consultation and analysis, the Plan was brought together by Carran O’Grady, the Prestwich LAP Manager, with assistance from Councillors and other partners.
What are the Plan’s priorities for Prestwich?

The Community Plan sets out the LAP’s joint priorities for Prestwich. There are 10 in all:

A Green Prestwich
1. Improve Parks and Leisure Facilities for Prestwich
2. Achieve a reduction in car usage in Prestwich
3. Reduce air pollution in Prestwich
4. Improve the Prestwich environment by reducing litter and graffiti

A Thriving Prestwich
5. Create a clear vision for the redevelopment of Prestwich town centre
6. Support for the retention and growth of local Prestwich Village Town Centre businesses
7. Create Better Facilities for the most deprived areas of Prestwich

A Strong Prestwich
8. Make Prestwich healthier
9. Make Prestwich safer, and reduce crime and the fear of crime
10. Create a Prestwich for people of all ages

How will we make sure that we achieve our priorities?

Each of the 10 priority areas detailed in the Community Plan contains agreed actions and target outcomes. There are approximately 70 actions overall that will need to be completed by 2011.

Every action has an identified person and/or agency responsible. All the partner agencies, including the Council, Police and NHS, have agreed to the Community Plan, so everyone knows what they have to do. The identified people and agencies will regularly report back to the LAP and the two LAP working groups on progress, and we can make sure we achieve our aims.

How does the Prestwich Community Plan link to the wider plans for Bury?

Prestwich LAP is one of six LAPs in Bury, each with their own Community Plan. All the Community Plans link to an overall Team Bury plan for the whole Borough.

Each of the 10 priorities in the Prestwich Community Plan links directly to a Bury Borough priority. This means that Prestwich improves in step with Bury as a whole, and everyone in the Borough is supportive of Prestwich’s plans and priorities.

What about things that aren’t on the Plan?

Obviously there are many things that aren’t in the Community Plan. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t important. Although the Community Plan identifies 10 priorities, a huge range of actions and targets are contained in the plan, and the priorities themselves will ensure that if a viable project requires LAP support to make Prestwich better, then it will receive the LAP’s help.

Come along and learn more tonight, as well as the usual LAP goodness including updates on everything that’s going on in Prestwich.

Rick

Don’t forget the Prestwich Local Area Partnership meeting, which takes place tomorrow (Thursday) night at St Monica’s school on Bury Old Road. God knows I can’t…

Amongst other things on the agenda, there’ll be an update on the URBED Prestwich Town Centre regeneration project, and the ceremonial unveiling of the Prestwich Plan 2008-11, on which I’ve been beavering away nicely for quite some time, and of which more tomorrow.

It’s an open meeting, and everyone’s always welcome to come along and hear the updates on what’s been going on in Prestwich recently. There will be representatives from the Council, Police, Fire, NHS and other partners there. So if you have a problem, if noone else can help, and if you can find them, come to the LAP and ask your question.

My mouth is still burning from last night’s pizza with the local Police, that unbeknownst to me had the Devil’s Vegetables on it, and was as hot as the centre of the Sun. Normally close proximity to the long arm of the law brings me out in a sweat, so such heated conditions weren’t entirely unexpected during dinner with the local Sergeant. However it’s not often that my mouth is the epicentre of the warmth.

But as well as downing fire-extinguishing mugs of water all morning, I have been talking to the Council’s parks people about a potential skate park in the ward. Such ideas often bring about gasps of horror amongst local people who suspect that such a skate park will attract trouble. The reality is often different, and I think it’s important to provide a safe local place for young people to skateboard about if they want to. Quite why anyone would want to is a mystery, but if the kids like hurtling through the air on a bit of plastic with rollerskate wheels on it, then that’s fine by me as long as they don’t hurt old ladies in the act. Sticking them out in a corner somewhere, which seems to be the approach favoured by the Council, doesn’t help with engaging them in the wider community.

The Parks department are a bit reluctant to get involved because of bad experiences in the past ,but I think that if we design it right, and involve everyone in the planning, we could come up with an idea that’s acceptable. Then of course we have to find the money to fund and maintain it, and short of turning the sofa upside down I don’t have any ideas about this at the moment. But we’re working with people to see if we can find an answer to this too. I will keep you informed. I am going to bring it up at the LAP meeting tomorrow night, which is yet another reason, if one were needed, to come along and join the fun.

Rick

This evening I had a very enjoyable and informative “working dinner” with the Prestwich Local Area Partnership Manager and the local Police Sergeant, discussing police targets for the Prestwich Plan.

It was the second time I’d been for tea to Croma in 48 hours, and having admired my Sunday night companion’s pizza from across the table then, I ordered it tonight. And thus I have a top tip for anyone likely to be eating in front of a policeman in the near future - don’t order food with jalapeno peppers on it, because you end up coughing and spluttering all over the poor officer, and looking like an idiot. So Sgt Campbell, I apologise for that.

The meeting itself was a success, and we now have a framework of police targets to go into the plan, which will be presented to the Local Area Partnership later in the week. I was a bit confused before about how the police measured their performance, but now we can see how local police are doing against their Divisional targets, which will give local people much more of an idea about how local law enforcement are making Prestwich safer.

We also talked quite a bit about how to engage more between councillors, the police and local people. We talked about joint surgeries, which might start happening soon, and broader discussions at local meetings regarding crime. So look out for them in the near future.

Rick

As well as spending £100,000 and countless hours staging a referendum that moved us precisely nowhere and yet which still managed to please me, the Council has also this week given me my debut on the Licensing and Safety Panel. This is the group of Councillors who decides whether to grant licenses to taxi drivers (in the main) and whether or not to take them off the naughty ones.

Obviously there are loads of applications for licenses every year, and so the panel only gets to see the ones that aren’t clear-cut decisions. Most people applying for licenses are perfectly decent people wanting to earn a living performing this important public service. But an important public service it is, and so everyone wanting to do it has to be a fit and proper person, and when they’ve got a criminal record as long as the Tyne Bridge, it’s up to me and the rest of the panel to decide.

This is an important job. Not only are we talking about the livelihoods of the people involved, but also their families and of course the safety of their passengers. It’s not to be taken lightly.

We had about half a dozen license revocation issues at the start. This is where license holders have done something naughty (usually getting caught plying for hire rather than picking up pre-booked customers like they’re supposed to, although occasionally something very naughty indeed like beating someone up) and now come before us to see if it’s naughty enough for us to take their license off them.

After that was a dozen or so applications, where we were tasked with deciding whether people with criminal histories were now reformed enough to be given a license. For some it was easy, either because their discretions were so few or ancient as to barely be worth a mention, or because they had more form than Reggie Kray. But for others it really was touch and go. It doesn’t feel pleasant watching a man trying to make a living be denied that opportunity by us.

What irks the most is spent prosecutions. Under the enhanced CRB check that taxi drivers must submit to, all the convictions ever recorded, spent or not, are disclosed. So we have cases of people with long records stretching over a number of years, but who have been conviction free for a decade or more. What do we do with people like this? And, should they even have to tell us? What is the point of a spent conviction if it is never truly wiped away? One fella had a trivial conviction the best part of 20 years ago. Why should he have to declare that no matter what job he’s going for? He committed the crime but he paid the punishment and has obviously reformed since.

It was an interesting evening, and the legal advice we got through light on some interesting issues, like the achingly slow criminal justice system. Unfortunately these meetings aren’t open to the public because of the confidential things discussed. It’s a shame because unlike 95% of the other Council meetings, watching one of these would probably enthuse people about what we Councillors get up to. Sadly the public are stuck with scrutiny, where it’s now wonder the average audience is nil.

Rick

Last night’s Council meeting saw a number of interesting questions asked and answered.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone asked a very pertinent question about congestion charging. Obviously the Lib Dem Group remain passionately opposed to the charge, and one of the main reasons is its effect on some local communities. Simister, for instance, which residents won’t be able to enter or leave without passing through the charging zone. And Parrenthorn High School, one third of the pupils of which live the other side of the M60.

Local people in Prestwich might be penalised for very short journeys going nowhere near the City Centre. If the M60 is to be the outer charging zone, there needs to be consideration paid to this issue, and Cllr Pickstone asked for such flexibility to be considered in the unhappy event of congestion charging being introduced.

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Cllr Andrew Garner asked about the Sheepfoot Lane / Bury New Road junction, which has recently been rebuilt, but which now has a dangerous dip in the middle of it. We were assured that this will be fixed in the next few weeks.

I asked about bio-fuels. The government has set a target that all Council vehicles should run on 5% bio-diesel by 2010, which the Council is complying with. But I asked whether the Leader agreed if this was simply a stunt by the government. They look “greener” on the surface, but the bio-fuels debate is much more complicated and a lot of people think that growing crops for fuel, rather than growing them for food and concentrating on alternative fuels and efficiency, is a more sustainable way of doing things. This is certainly an issue to watch out for.

Cllr Mary D’Albert, the newest St Mary’s Councillor, asked about the horrific state of the Borough’s roads. We were told that over 18 miles of roads need repairing in Bury. And yet for Prestwich, the budget for road repairs won’t even fix a single road! It’s shocking, and we will be pressing for lots more money in this budget in the future. Government’s continued budget cuts to Councils do have a big impact, and the crumbling roads are one of the more visually obvious signs.

The Lib Dem Group also asked about graffiti (the policy for the removal of which is to be re-visited, as everyone in Prestwich can probably testify that it isn’t working at the moment!), the Sustainable Communities Bill, and other issues.

Such questioning of the Council is important, as it raises the profile of issues that matter to local people, and gets the Executive to think more about what they’re doing. Unfortunately, our rights to question are being curtailed, and the rights of the public removed entirely, by the leading Tory group who are abusing their power by restricting these rights. See posting below for more about that.

Rick

The Liberal Democrat motion to full Council calling for a halt to the government’s plans to close five Post Offices in Bury was successful last night, winning unanimous support from Councillors.

The motion was brought to Council as a result of the government’s plans to close 2,500 more Post Offices, having already closed one third of the Post Office network in the past ten years. It called for an end to the closure programme, the halting of consultation in favour of giving full support to rebuilding the network, and called for both of Bury’s MPs to make amends for supporting the government’s plans in Parliament.

I proposed the motion, and you can read the full text of the speech I made above. My colleague Cllr Wilf Davison seconded, and made a great speech telling Council of the efforts he’d made to speak to the post masters at all the threatened Post Offices in the Borough.

Our Post Offices are vital public institutions, and supporting them is crucial in preserving our communities. The Council has now made clear its support for local Post Offices and its opposition to the government’s ongoing and damaging closure programme.

Rick

Last night’s full Council meeting was used by the ruling Conservative Group to make the most damaging change to democracy in Bury for many years.

Just eight weeks after taking control of the Council for the first time in two decades, and having already removed opposition membership from the Council’s Executive, last night the ruling group voted disgracefully to remove the right of the public to ask verbal questions at Council meetings.

The Tory proposals were part of a raft of measures to “improve the efficiency of Council meetings, “ almost all of which were either damaging to the democratic accountability of the Council, or improvements to process that went nowhere near far enough.

The Conservative Group voted en masse for these proposals, despite one veteran Councillor speaking passionately against them, and several others voting with very heavy hearts indeed. Although the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups spoke and voted against these damaging plans, the Tory majority meant that they passed.

But I was not surprised at the reluctance amongst many in the ruling group to submit to the wishes of the leadership. The plans see the rights of the people we serve seriously curtailed. Where once anyone could come to a Council meeting and ask the Council anything, now questions must be received in writing six days in advance, with no opportunity for a follow-up question.

What kind of message does it send to local people, when we are elected to serve them, and then remove their right to question us with our first act of power? It is a disgrace and the leaders of the Council should be ashamed of themselves. The sun came down on a dark day for democracy in Bury last night, and the Conservative group have done untold damage to the institution of the Council. Where Bury Council was once a leader amongst other Councils in providing access to the people we serve, now it has surrendered its advantage.

At a time when public faith in democracy and elected representatives is so low, this type of action is just beyond understanding. It is also completely unnecessary. In all the Council meetings I have ever been to, there has never been one where public question time has exceeded its allotted time or unduly delayed the meeting. These restrictions can only be politically motivated, to remove the threat of having to deal with tricky issues. Well, to the Leader I say that tricky issues come with the job, and ducking them is simply unacceptable.

Rick

Lock your doors and windows - the unstoppable whirlwind of excitement that is full Council rolls into town again tonight, and you have the chance to come along and see it for yourself at the Town Hall from 7pm.

On the agenda tonight are the usual suspects such as Questions to the Executive and Questions to outside bodies. But also tonight there is an interesting motion opposing Post Office closures, which I am proposing. For those that don’t know, the government are “consulting” on plans to close 2,500 Post Offices nationwide, including five in Bury. What this means in reality is that they have decided to close 2,500 Post Offices including 5 in Bury, but aren’t doing it yet because they’re waiting for the news to settle in before actually bringing down the shutters.

Liberal Democrats oppose these closures for lots of reasons, and when I upload my speech onto here tomorrow, you can read why I do. But hopefully the motion will pass tonight, calling for a halt to the closure programme and calling on our two Labour MPs to do what they’re paid to do and actively oppose the government’s plans on our behalf. I am still coughing like a chain-smoker though, so the delivery might not quite be as I hope.

As well as that motion, Bury Conservatives are suggesting a shameful reduction in the rights of local people to ask them questions tonight. They have proposed removing the rights of local people to ask verbal questions at Council, for no good reason at all that I can think of. They’re also reducing the opportunities for Councillors to ask questions, and are generally taking the opportunity that power affords them, and battening down the hatches. Expect some fireworks there too.

Everyone is welcome to come and see the fun. I wish more people would do, too. Public attendance fluctuates but is normally quite good, and what better way is there to bone-up on the issues raging in Bury than to take an interest in the goings-on in Council?

And the good thing for you guys is, you can leave when you want to and don’t have to stay to the bitter end. Which is more than can be said for me…

Rick

I spent the weekend working on a motion for Council which I will be proposing on Wednesday, to do with the Post Office closure programme. We oppose the programme, which sees 2,500 more Post Offices close across the country, including another five in Bury I was typing away with one hand (my left one, as us left-handers tend to do…) whilst holding a gigantic Post Office publication in the other, which lists in staggering detail every fact and fancy about the closing Post Offices. So I will be speaking in support of the motion to stop the closures on Wednesday night, and if the mood takes me I shall read from the giant book.

This speech presents me with a problem because I have a cough, and as a result I can’t string more than two sentences together without collapsing into a heavy-breathing, spluttering wreck. This is doubly unfortunate because I absolutely love the sound of my own voice, and the thought of giving up an opportunity to hear it for eight or nine minutes depresses me greatly.

However, I will soldier on hoping that Mother Nature is a Liberal Democrat, and will cure what ails me. Her and Vick’s Vaporub, which I heard from a world renowned medical expert (my Dad) yesterday can be used as a cough-repellent if placed on the tongue and swallowed.

Also this week I will get to talk to a real life Australian person, when my oldest friend returns from his new home in Melbourne with his Antipodean girlfriend in tow. By “oldest friend” I mean longest standing friend. His age is, like mine, 27. Anyway, quite what the girlfriend will make of Bury town centre as opposed to the palm trees and tanned bodies of Oz is beyond me. But we do have the World Famous Market, whereas all they have is the set of Neighbours and a beach.

The weekend just gone saw a bit of leafleting in Besses in the rain, which was deeply unpleasant. It’s not a ward I am overly familiar with, and whereas in my home patch I can trudge, head-down, in the downpours, on unfamiliar ground I have to keep looking up to make sure I don’t walk into some street furniture. So I got a bit damp.

Us Lib Dems also had some festive frolics on Saturday night, when my Mum (who is our campaigner and candidate in Besses ward) had a birthday party cum housewarming. I shan’t reveal her age, but at least she now has a suitably warmed house. And more leftover food than I ever thought possible.

So anyway, that’s my immediate past and immediate future. And remember, the Council meeting on Wednesday night is open to the public, so just come along. You can even ask a question to the Leader and Cabinet, although this is probably the last time you’ll be allowed to do that. Of which more tomorrow…

Rick

Tonight is the first meeting of the Resource and Performance Scrutiny commission of the new municipal year. I was on the commission last year, as the sole Lib Dem, and here I am again, this time joined by our newest Councillor Mary D’Albert. Many of the other faces will be the same though. This appears to be the commission Councillors come to and never leave. A bit like a retirement village.

Tonight isn’t entirely a normal meeting, because much of the agenda is devoted to discussing what we’re going to do in meetings for the rest of the year. I was quite disappointed with aspects of scrutiny last year – not least the fact that after four hour meetings we often achieved little but the accumulation of vast quantities of hot air. I was disappointed to read in the annual review report that we only had 11 meetings last year. This was far more than the other commissions (we’re only scheduled to have 6), but I thought I’d spent enough time in that room to have had at least 50.

So I am going to suggest a few alternative ways of doing things this year. The agenda is so massive that it’s inefficient having all of us meeting at the same time. I think working groups looking at a small number of topics might be better, so I will suggest that. Last year this was adopted on a small scale, and I think it worked very well.

Also on the agenda tonight is a report on complaints. Ironically I have a major complaint about this report because I think it is largely a load of rubbish. It tells me very little, and the low numbers of complaints seems at odds with the experiences I hear about from residents all the time. This might be my own lack of understanding (I hope it is), but I have a number of questions which I want answering tonight.

All this assumes of course that I don’t pass out through hunger between now and then. My “bikini fit” diet is progressing in a way that makes me wish I could die fat rather than live slim. Sunday and Monday were fluids only, which passed off surprisingly well. But Tuesday and Wednesday were fluids and fruit, and by the time I got to my sixth consecutive meal of sticky, sugary tree-grown yuk I gave in and had a can of soup. It was either that or go into the garden and howl at the moon until bedtime.

So I fell off the wagon slightly. Today I am allowed raw vegetables, which means my lunch is the hugely appealing prospect of some chopped up peppers and carrot.

I’m not sure if it’ll make me live longer, but it’ll certainly feel longer.

Rick