Good news today, with a promise from the Council that we’ll get some much-needed additional safety barriers outside St Mary’s Park in the next couple of weeks, just in time for the peak summer holiday season.

Since the re-modelling of the junction at St Ann’s Road outside the park, the gate is now much more aligned to the crossing, and the only thing preventing a hyperactive child flinging himself into the path of an oncoming Range Rover is a single small barrier. Given the ever-rising obesity numbers, several of the youngsters may soon be wider than the barrier itself, and so I have been asking for additional protection for some time, along with a local resident who has been prodding me on the subject too.

And now the Council say that we can have it. Apparently there will be two or three extra barriers there soon, which will make the whole place lots safer, and minimize the angst which I suffer every time I drive past there half expecting a tragedy to occur. 

All of which is good news for me and for local children, although bad news for those hand car wash places that are springing up everywhere.

Tonight I am going to see a band at the Manchester Apoloo, in an homage to my youth. I will probably complain that it is too loud, and suffer from tinnitus-like symptoms until a week next Tuesday. But it beats staying in.

Rick

Today I’ve been chasing up a couple of things. The missing street signs on Butterstile Lane and Carr Avenue remain AWOL. I was told six weeks ago that it would take ten weeks to replace them. I refuse to believe this, since it would take me less time to enrol on and complete a metalwork course and make the damn things myself. So I have been prodding the Highways Department about that today.

In addition, I noticed this morning that the sign at the end of my own road can no longer be read since it has been overcome by nasty-looking thorned weeds. So I asked them to sort that out too, whilst they’re in the area. I’d do it myself but there are nettles and I am delicate…

Later on this week there’s the next meeting of the St Mary’s Conservation Area working group. I am looking forward to finding out the latest plans for this important local area.

One of the issues involved for anyone living in the area is around buildings and planning, which reminded ne today to chase up the planning application for the site of the former Park Hotel on Lowther Road. This site has been derelict for a few years since the pub was knocked down, and now there has been an application received for some flats. I think that opinion may be divided on this one – we don’t want a building site, but not many people like flats, especially if they’re overly tall. So I am talking to a resident with concerns, and would be happy to hear any others. We need to make sure that whatever happens, the development minimises its impact on the surrounding homes – i.e. enough car parking spaces, retention of privacy and light for existing residents, and a commitment to actually build something rather than keep the land vacant for years.

I’ll put any updates on here as they arrive.

Rick

A couple of weeks ago I shrieked around the district in triumph having secured the construction of a bollard at the top of Dashwood Road. I had been trying to get it in place for about six months, and had strangled myself in more red tape than it would take to gift-wrap the Eiffel Tower. But a local resident and I got there in the end. God bless the Council and its lightning reflexes.

Today someone reversed into it, knocking it down, before driving off. Which was fairly irritating.

Thankfully someone got his number-plate, which I have passed on to the Police. I don’t know if wanton bollard destruction is a crime, but I hope so because he has deflated me somewhat, and thus deserves the type of punishment metered out to errant slaves in Roman times.

It is doubly bad because I am on day two of my “bikini fit” diet today, and in absolutely no mood for irritants. The first stage of the diet is a “detox,” which is apparently supposed to make you feel better by removing from your diet all solid foods for 48 hours. So I haven’t eaten anything requiring the use of teeth since Saturday evening, and am feeling the strain. Yesterday I was only allowed water. Today I have progressed to water and smoothies. Tomorrow I am on solids again, but only fruit.

I work with nurses and they doubt the healthiness of my choice. I doubt my own sanity, and would genuinely kill for a bag of crisps. And not just a stranger. I would kill a friend.

But the women in the book look good in bikinis, and since I am too lazy to find a diet for men, this will have to do for now.

Whether it works or not will be interesting. But regardless, if they catch the bollard murderer I will suggest to the judge that he don his black hat and sentence him to a fortnight of bikini fitness dieting. That’ll teach him.

Rick

Information uncovered by the Liberal Democrats shows that across England almost three times more parking tickets were issued following the Road Traffic Act of 1991 which allowed local authorities to take over enforcement of parking from the police.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary Norman Baker said:

“Illegal parking must be tackled in order to ensure safe and clear roads and local authority enforcement is a very important part of this.

“The scale of the increase in parking tickets following decriminalisation is extremely worrying.

“Motorists need to have confidence in the system. The Government needs to introduce an independent parking regulator to ensure that appeals are dealt with fairly and impartially and to ensure that car parking operators, local authorities and private firms are all held to consistent national standards.”

I get lots of angry residents ringing me about parking tickets which they think are unfair, and which often strike me as being at the excessive end of the scale. There is often a lack of common sense and understanding, sometimes from both sides, and this could be dealt with by national standards which are clearly understood by both drivers and parking enforcers.

Rick

Occasionally the struggle to get little things achieved in my ward vastly outweighs the small-time reality of what it is I am trying to do. Today’s successful installation of bollards on Kingswood / Dashwood Road is the perfect case in point.

One night about six months ago I noticed the world’s single largest HGV trying to do a three point turn down the residential side-street that is Dashwood Road. This monster truck was, seriously, about thrice the width of the road, resplendent with more bright light bulbs than the Blackpool Illuminations, and almost certainly possessing a horn of such magnitude that a single honk would have de-forested Prestwich Clough.

This was just the latest in a string of trucks getting stuck down that road, having fallen foul of giggling sat-nav machines mischievously mis-directing their hapless drivers on the way to somewhere else. And obviously the local residents were getting mighty fed-up of their cars being de-wing-mirrored , their walls being knocked down, and their sanity sorely tested.

One such Dashwood-dweller asked whether I could sort out a bollard, which would deter the truck drivers from attempting the three-point turns, and have them driving round the block instead.

An easy task you might think, since a bollard costs £200 and the Council’s budget is £250,000,000. Sadly, this would prove not to be the case, and it is only now, half a year and several threats to pay for the blasted thing myself, that we finally have the Richard Baum Bureaucracy Gone Mad Memorial Bollard unveiled to the waiting world.

The delays were unfathomable. Partly because Council officers gave this absolutely no priority (which is understandable when there are major junctions that need completely re-building, but frustrating nonetheless), but mainly I think because the lines of communication between Finance and Highways are as frayed as a tatty old rope bridge. It took more to-ing and fro-ing than it is almost possible to believe to get this done. But get it done we did. And I am proud.

Unfortunately we are only half way there. The symptom has been attacked, but the cause has not. I wrote to the business to whom the trucks are attempting to deliver, advising them that their lorries were being guided by the sat-nav equivalent of “Number 5” from the Short Circuit films. They assured me that they would take care of it, but they clearly haven’t because the drivers still travel ever more irretrievably into suburbia before realising that a 40 foot truck probably shouldn’t be driving down a narrow street of terraced housing in the middle of the night.

So I have asked for the Council to install signs to tell drivers to ignore their Sat Navs. I am told that such signs don’t exist, but I know that they do because I’ve seen them with my own eyes in such exotic locations as Ashton under Lyne.

Their installation will be another nail in the coffin of despair for local people, but will probably take at least another six months to get done, because nothing’s ever simple, and we’re already starting from a fairly unpromising point whereby the Council flat-out denies that the signs even exist!

And of course I await with baited breath the necessary removal of the new bollards when a truck tries to three point turn anyway and gets utterly stuck.

Rick

Last night I attended a meeting of the Developing Communities sub-group of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership. There was lots on the agenda including updates on the progress of the Rainsough shops debate, the children’s centre, and other Prestwich regeneration projects. Of particular note are up-coming action to be taken as regards enforcement of dog fouling and littering. The local Lib Dems are on the war-path at the moment about both of these things, and it’s good to see that the Council are listening. So look out for some action in the coming months.

This morning I attended the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority meeting, where there was a lot of discussion of the roll-out of the new bus passes for the over 60s, and some frankly unfathomable reports on budgets which members around the table nodded sagely at whilst being spoken to by accountants talking soothingly.

On the way back from the meeting, perhaps as God’s gentle way of prodding me towards not giving up on reading complicated financial papers quite so easily, I managed to crash my car twice. Once into a wall whilst exiting the car park, and once into a lamppost whilst reversing into my space at work. They say bad things come in threes, so if you see me driving any time soon, best pull over to be on the safe side.

The Easter weekend kicks off in about four hours which will seem interminably long sat here at my desk. Blogging may or may not be sporadic during the long weekend. Obviously there will be more leafleting than I care for, as election time hurtles towards us. And on top of that, Tamsin goes away to Florida with her family for a fortnight, leaving me to live the life of a bachelor-king. So I may be being fed grapes by a lady somewhere, and have no time for the likes of this.

Probably not though, so I imagine I’ll be back tomorrow

Rick

I would say that the biggest practical difference in my life in the last five months since my election is the amount of post I receive! And this week my post-bag has had another couple of concerned letters about Gardner Road in it.

At the moment there are no speed restrictions other than the regular 30mph limit on this road, which is increasingly becoming absolutely packed with residents’ cars on both sides. Added to this are the trucks and other vehicles going to and from FDK Kitchens, and I think a lot of residents are worried that it won’t be long before there is an accident on this stretch of road. Given the large numbers of families in the area, this is particularly worrying.

Lib Dems have long supported 20mph zones around schools, and I wonder whether any local people have a view on whether we should press for similar restrictions in the Gardner Road area? I welcome your views on this subject, and if there is a consensus of opinion I can press the Council to act.

Rick

Last night was the inaugural meeting of the Scrutiny sub-group analysing the Council’s proposals for alternative models of service delivery.

At the moment we are still at the “invitation to tender” stage, which is right at the start of a process which will see a full options appraisal and may end up with that resulting in no action being taken. On the other hand, it may result in a major contract with a partner, so it’s important stuff. It was a good discussion last night and we all got to grips with the issues. There is a lot to talk about, and I have contacted the Council this morning with some further questions which will form the basis for the next meeting.

In the end we will be reporting back to the Council’s Executive with recommendations on how best to proceed.

Also in the last few days, I have been dealing with casework about a number of issues - from pigeons on the precinct, to speeding cars on Gardner Road. And from litter on Butterstile Lane (again) to the land between the Post Office and Tesco, I am currently investigating these issues on behalf of local people. I hope to bring you news on them all in the coming days.

Rick