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

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

Today has been hugely dull. Great gusts of tedium have blown themselves around me as I trudged from meeting to meeting at work. And because I am left handed and was at one point using a flip-chart marker, an untoward smudging incident occurred and now I have ink on my fingers and I look like an errant schoolboy.

One of the necessary evils of my job as a Councillor is to chase up Council Officers who haven’t responded to my emails. I don’t know if it is a pathological thing with some of them, or whether the world wide web doesn’t function in the small quadrant of land between the Town Hall and my house, but whatever the reason I am frequently ignored. If this is how they treat me, God only knows how they treat people without the luxury of a public mandate.

Today’s chasings-up include a month-old request for a reply to a letter regarding Phillips Park. Some local people want help planting out some flowers there, but the response so far from the Council has been nil. You’d think they’d welcome the help, but I don’t know what they think because they haven’t bothered to reply to me.

There is also the matter of a “Keep Clear” box, desperately needed for residents of The Radius who can’t get in or out of their car park because of jams outside. This was requested in April, promised three weeks ago, and still hasn’t been painted. I don’t know how long it took to paint the roof of the Sistene Chapel, but this appears to be a job on a similar scale.

The third issue relates to the green ooze on Woodward Road, which I have written on here about before and which still shows no signs of being removed. Apparently it may have something to do with a collapsed drain, which is a relief because I thought at one point it marked the start of an alien invasion. But regardless of the exact cause, it isn’t pleasant and it’s still there. So, two months on, and five emails down the line, I have asked again today, in a tone probably most reminiscent of a school master dealing with someone who hasn’t done their homework.

And finally there is a vulnerable old man who asked me to have the kerb outside his flats dropped if possible, to allow him to enter and exit his own home without jolting him out of his wheelchair or requiring a detour to the end of the street. Obviously my pavement-lowering skills aren’t top-notch, but I know a man who can (The Clerk of Works, Bury MBC). Unfortunately he too ignores me, and so I have asked again for his help today. It’s OK though, I am sure this poor old man bouncing along the road in his wheelchair doesn’t mind that the man paid to serve him is too rude to do his job.

The shoddy response times to requests for service from the Council are nothing short of maddening. The Council has a customer service charter which states that emails must be answered within 24 hours, and responded to fully within 10 working days. I have kept an informal record for the past couple of months, and this standard is not met well over half the time. And I am a Councillor, so am probably treated better than most. And there’s not much I can do about it either. I have raised it in Council, I have spoken to people and emailed them time and time again. And nothing changes. We are still having phone calls, emails and even face to face chats ignored. We may be opposition back benchers but we are still elected members with people counting on us to get things answered.

The poor people who come to me for help must wonder why I can’t act quicker, and honestly so do I. I am not asking for the impossible. I don’t want a bypass built past somebody’s back garden in a fortnight. I want simple things, or quite often just any kind of response at all so that the resident doesn’t feel like he’s being ignored. Often a reasoned “no” is quite sufficient. But I am not even getting that.

It’s frustrating. Almost as frustrating, in fact, as trying to scrub permanent marker off my fingers. And let me tell you from bitter experience in the toilet at work today - that is VERY frustrating. 

Rick

Another deeply malicious article in the Advertiser this week on the elected Mayor.

Voters in Bury will be asked on July 3rd if they want to have an Elected Mayor running the Council. The referendum has been called because 10,000 or so signatures were collected, allegedly in favour of a Mayor, but in reality in opposition to congestion charging. Those behind the petition have linked the two issues without a single fact to back them up, and are continuing their catalogue of lies in the run-up to a vote which could forever damage the relationship between Bury and its local leaders.

The article “Vote to veto the toll tax” in today’s paper is hugely misleading, and potential voters should be very wary of the claims made within it from both the author and pro-Mayor campaigner Geoffrey Berg.

Mr Berg is right that this congestion charging is a massive issue. But the Mayoral referendum will make absolutely no difference to it at all, and voters should be made aware of what will and won’t change if they vote for a Mayor.

The article says “if Bury votes for an elected mayor who is opposed to the congestion charge in the July 3 referendum, the borough could become exempt from the charge.” But this is simply not true. The two issues are absolutely un-connected. It is as simple as that.

At present Bury Council has made it very clear that it opposes congestion charging. When the issue comes to a final vote at the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), the Leader of the Council will vote against the charge. Replacing him with a Mayor can do no more than bring exactly the same result. The only difference will be that it will be the Mayor voting against the charge, not the Leader. The vote will carry exactly the same weight.

And remember of course that there is no guarantee that an elected Mayor would vote “no” at all. An elected Mayor won’t be bound by the will of the Council, and if we elect a maverick then he can vote how he wants and we’re stuck with him for four years. Putting that much power in the hands of one person is dangerous. Add to that the cost of a Mayor (£100,000 for the referendum, same again for the election, another £100,000 annual salary and maybe another £75,000 salary for his deputy), and over four years we’re looking at nearly £1m taken out of front line services like caring for the vulnerable and cleaning the streets.

I have personally led the fight against congestion charging in Council. In council, I proposed the amendment opposing the charge, and this opposition was adopted as Council policy. I remain stridently opposed to the planned charge. But I will be voting “No” to a Mayor in the referendum because I see absolutely no connection between the two issues. I urge my fellow voters not to fall for Mr Berg’s lies. A Mayor would be bad news for Bury. So would congestion charging. So we should reject a Mayor once and for all, and pull together to oppose this charge.

Rick

Last night eh Local Area Partnership heard a presentation on the future of Prestwich Cash Office. A number of local people will have noticed the signs that have been put up at the “Cash Office” at the Library announcing its closure. We have been assured that these have been put up in error and the office is not closing at the present time.

Prestwich Councillors all met with Mike Owen, the Council’s Director of Finance and E-Government on Wednesday, who answered questions on the cash office. The Council does want to review whether the Office is viable nowadays and will be consulting on this over the summer.

We made some very strong points about the benefits of face-to-face human contact - particularly as post offices are closing and some shops are reluctant to run the “Pay-Point” system because of security issues. The Prestwich Local Area Partnership will be receiving a full report and consultation at its July meeting. In the meantime, I will gladly relay the concerns of any local residents regarding the future of this important community asset. 

Last night’s meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) was successful on a number of fronts.

First, there were no recorded fatalities despite the meeting taking place in a room hotter than an angry volcano. If I’d have known what the temperature was going to be, I’d have brought along a couple of eggs to fry on the floor rather than waiting until I got home for tea. I would also have probably removed my tie, although I may not have gone quite as far as one member of the panel who decided to leave any semblance of respect at home as well as his formal attire, and come in a t-shirt.

The substance of the meeting was also pleasing as well. The “business” part of the meeting saw reports back from a number of the groups operating in Prestwich to make the community better, and we learned about their successes in the past couple of months. There were also updates from partners including the police (reporting a fall in most types of crime), the NHS (presenting about new GP facilities in Bury, although not in Prestwich), and the fire service.

Then the “Open Forum” gave the chance for lots of local residents to raise issues about the work of the partnerships. Once again there were frustrations raised about street cleaning, and I have now asked for a formal response from the Director of Environmental Services as to why the pavement-sweeping machines aren’t being used properly around here. Also, there were calls for larger bins on the precinct, and more action to be taken on pigeons. I was pleased to report that work to pigeon-proof the Precinct will take place this Sunday after I asked for it to be done some time ago.

Perhaps the main event though was the initial options report from URBED, the design consultancy we have engaged to consider options for the future of Prestwich Town Centre. The options that they put forward are really just their first thoughts, and do lack certain of the elements which they will have in their final form (such as the west of Bury New Road, links to the Clough and full consideration of traffic and parking), but they do give a flavour of some of the types of things that we could consider for the next 5-10 years in Prestwich. There was a full and frank discussion afterwards from amongst the many dozens of local people who came to the meeting, and the options are available for all to view in Prestwich library.

Rick

The first Prestwich Local Area Partnership of the Municipal Year takes place at 6.30pm pm Thursday 15th May 2008 at The Longfield Civic Suite, Prestwich. Come along and see the launch of the “Love Prestwich” anti-litter campaign, which follows on from some of the work local Lib Dem Councillors have been leading on in getting the Council to tackle the “Dickensian filth” which sometimes plagues local streets.

Prestwich LAP will launch its Love Prestwich Litter Campaign for the summer which aims to target Prestwich Village Town Centre to promote respect of the environment to residents and businesses to Love Prestwich and keep it clean. Lots of the problems we have with litter are caused by people dropping it, and we need to create a lot more pride in our local area. So many local people tell me that they lovel Prestwich, so now is the time to show it.

The meeting will also feature URBED, the regeneration specialists who we’ve been working with on plans for the future of the Village centre. Following on from the huge turn out at Prestwich Visioning event in March, URBED will be coming along on Thursday to say what people Love about Prestwich Village and how it might move forward.  They will have some initial options and ideas to put forward of how the future of Prestwich may look in the future, and there’ll be the opportunity to ask questions on what you see. 

There’s so much going on in Prestwich at the moment, and I’m confident that we stand at the start of a hugely exciting time.  This is the perfect opportunity to come and have your say. As well as the URBED proposals and the Love Prestwich campaign, the Open Forum will be at 7.30 for any concerns members of the public may want to raise about anything at all to do with the Council, Police, Fire and Health services, and the local area in general.

It will also give you the chance to meet the newest Lib Dem Councillor in Prestwich, Cllr Mary D’Albert, who will join the LAP for the first time.

Please do come to the meeting and have your say on what’s going on in Prestwich.

Rick 

The weekend just gone saw my house well and truly “warmed,” when a large throng of people descended on it and risked their lives by taking part in that most extreme of sports – eating food barbecued by me.

The death count is currently static and zero, but can only move one way, and since the gestation period of whatever bacteria I have infected my friends with is probably a good few days, I am expected a flurry of angry and vomit-interrupted phone calls towards the end of the week.

There were representatives from every walk of my life there in the garden on Saturday night – neighbours, old friends, fellow Lib Dem types, strangers who claimed to be friends with Tam… And obviously because we all lead contented lives where our every whim is catered for in a blizzard of effortless consumerism, nobody could be bothered putting in the necessary legwork and making new friends any more. So we had the odd scenario which I see at weddings whereby the assembled crowd split off into sects, not intermingling except for laboured small talk in the queue for food. I am equally guilty of being simply too lazy to bother making friends with new people. Occasionally someone new sneaks in by the back door, just appearing at enough functions that I’m also at so that my ignoring turns to gruff nodding, then to an acknowledging smile, until eventually conversation turns to mutual ground like the fact that we keep bumping into each other at interminable social events. But mainly, I’m sorry to say, my friendship train left the station long ago.

So on Saturday I got a taste of what it must be like having a wedding of my own – being happy that everyone I love is in the same room for pretty much the only time in my life, but then spending the whole time panicking that I can’t get round to see them all. There really is a lot to be said for granting audiences with people at individual time-slots. At least then I could ask the sort of probing questions about new boyfriends that I really want to ask, rather than just glancing across rooms at laughing crowds that should have me in them, and making sure everyone has enough wine in their re-usable plastic cup.

The perfect way to get rid of hangovers, whilst simultaneously fulfilling community duty, is to attend the Annual Prestwich Clough Day. Happily for all concerned, this was yesterday, and once again was an absolutely excellent event of which our whole area can be proud. The weather was perfect, unlike last year when, as I recall, Prestwich was visited by the monsoon. This year the brass bands weren’t using their trumpets as snorkels, which is always a good sign for an outdoor event, I find.

As in previous years there were some excellent stands, full of information from community groups, the Council, local charities and societies. I learned a lot about the very exciting developments from the Forestry Commission in the Drinkwater Park area over the coming months – there are going to be some beautiful new developments, by the sounds of it. There were also animals to view – birds of prey and hedgehogs received plenty of attention from the guests who I’d brought along post-housewarming.

I think there were more people there than I’d seen in previous years too. I was there from the beginning right through until near the end, and it was a hugely successful event which showed our district off for the vibrant and friendly place it really is. Enormous credit must go to the organisers and those who gave up their time to make the stalls a success. Their efforts really did make an enormously positive impression. Here’s to next year.

Rick

Last night’s full Council meeting was, in large parts, the usual depressing slanging match between Councillors who really should know better. Watching grown men (and women) making snide remarks and childish comments  across a room, when there are people with real problems in the Borough, is not pleasant.

I raised the issue of the Butterstile Children’s Centre, and was pleased to hear from the Executive Member for Children’s Services that it will be up and running on time at the start of next academic year. Also, the outreach facilities to Rainsough and Carr Clough will also be available, which is great news. It’s taken a while to get where we are, but it will still be finished in time, and after the right processes have been followed for all local people. The Children’s Centre will be a great asset for the ward, and really have a positive impact on families locally.

A couple of people raised the issue of the toilets at Bury interchange last night. I raised it again this morning at the meeting of the Transport Network Committee of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority. The toilets are, it turns out, the responsibility of the Council, and they really do need sorting out because they’re in quite a state. Not the right welcome to the Borough for people arriving by bus or Metrolink.

That is assuming, of course, that the Metrolink gets them here at all. I spoke once more about Metrolink this morning. I am still deeply dissatisfied with this system, supposedly the flagship public transport system for Manchester. It is still, in my opinion, far too expensive, dirty, unsafe and unreliable. On Friday I stood waiting for a very long time at Bowker Vale, a station so decrepit that it looks nigh-on abandoned, and was genuinely scared by some of the anti-social behaviour by some people who treat the network like their own uncontrolled playground. I have raised the issue many times, and in other parts of the network there are efforts to improve both the condition and the safety of stations. The Prestwich section seems not to benefit, and although improved ticket machines and CCTV are in the pipeline, they aren’t coming quickly enough.

This may have been my last ever Transport Network Committee, because I may not serve on GMPTA again next year after the elections. But I am glad I raised the issue, and will do so again given the chance.

Rick

For the second day running, your Lib Dem representatives on Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) have good news for local public transport users, and this time it’s of particular benefit to the most vulnerable people in the Borough.

A new door-to-door transport service for people with access and mobility difficulties is off to a flying start in Bury. GMPTA extended the popular Ring & Ride service at the end of January when it added nine new minibuses to provide extra trips across the conurbation.

In the first few months, 246 passengers journeys have been made from Bury on the new ‘cross boundary’ service into neighbouring districts. And 2,355 journeys have been made.

Ring & Ride makes a real difference to people who find it difficult to use ordinary public transport to get out and about. It has always been a very popular service for making trips in Bury but we’re always listening to users’ suggestions for improving it. We surveyed passengers and they said they would be prefer to keep on paying a fare rather than travelling for free - so long as we invested in this new cross boundary service.

So I am delighted to see so many people finding it useful. It is clearly giving Ring & Ride users in Bury a lot more choice about where they can travel.

Previously we could only offer local district based services but the new minibuses are allowing us to take people that bit farther afield into neighbouring areas. The investment has clearly been worthwhile and I’m glad to be able to offer such an improved service. I’d encourage anyone who might want to give Ring and Ride a go to call GMPTA and register to use the service.

Passengers must register their details before they travel by calling the Bury depot on 0161 764 1999.

The service currently runs from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday. Journeys can be booked from seven days in advance up to one hour before travelling.

To book a journey on the cross boundary service call 0845 688 3989 (lines open between 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday).

Fares are set at £2 for a single journey, and £1 for a single journey for GMPTE concessionary permit holders.

For more information on Ring & Ride visit www.ringandride.info http://www.ringandride.info

Great news for Bury!

Rick