Thursday was the first meeting of the Prestwich Township Forum for this ‘municipal’ year (2012-13). This is the meeting that brings together the nice Prestwich councillors, together with a similar number of appointed ‘community reps’.

As it was the first meeting of the year, the first thing we did was elect a Chair. This year David Stanley, from the Prestwich Clough Day Committee was elected as Chair – here’s to a successful year for him as Chair.

Onympic Torch Relay

We had a briefing on this from the Council. The torch is coming through Bury, Whitefield and Prestwich on 23 June 2012.
It arrives on Rochdale Road in Bury at around 3.30pm and will cross through Prestwich at around 4-4.30pm down Bury Old Road. In total there are 26 torch bearers in Bury, even though part of the route (between Bury and Whitefield) will be in a vehicle.

A special website has been produced with more info and a suveneer event guide will be given out on the day.

There is more information here.

Stone Roses Concerts – Heaton Park
We had an update on the concerts from the Manchester City Council organisers. Largely this is the same as the information previously posted on this site here.
The community hotline will run from 2 day out from the concerts – and then 8.00am – 1.00am
0161 9549003.

Letters to 8000 residents going out next week

There was some discussion from local people about where all the income goes from the concert. The answer was that Heaton Park has income targets set by Manchester City Council and concerts like this contribute to meeting those income targets. What was interesting is that the Park has entered into a partnership with SJM events, who have made significant investment into the park – such as the improved entrances and roadways for buses and drop offs. We can only guess that this probably means more events are on their way.

Public Question Time
Frank. Shatliffe, who is chair of the Prestwich Carnival, asked about why the Council’s Market’s Department has started making a charge for people to have stalls at charitable events like the Carnival. Councillors agreed to raise this with the Council. (I am assuming that this is one of the many increased charges that the Labour Council has introduced without giving too much detail … and look forward to finding out more!).

Prestwich Festival Update
The Chair reported that the Clough Day attracted 7000 people, and has now become a very well establish local event. The Festival is going well – for example 500 ppl attended the IEPAD day in Philips park.
Funding used to come in from farmers markets used to be £1500 – £1800 a year from the markets but no more as the markets are being run by a commercial operator.
There was some discussion about the role of the Police in the Carnival, as the Police are now clearly saying to all events that they will not be involved in traffic management (their priority is crime prevention) which seems to have caused some concern for the Carnival organisers.

Apparently Bury Council has said that there is no money for a Christmas lights switch on in Prestwich this year – again this was something that used to be funded by the Farmers Markets. It will be interesting to see how much money the Council spends on Christmas in Bury town centre when it can’t even find this for Prestwich.

Prestwich Passport
Lucy Roper from the ‘Local in Prestwich’ business group outlined plans for the new ‘Prestwich Passport’ card and loyalty scheme which is being launch next weekend to encourage people to shop local! The launch in big tent at the carnival and a huge huge float in the parade!
Although Prestwich was unsuccessful in round 1 of the ‘Portas Pilot’ bids, there is a 2nd round with the deadline for applications on 30 June 2012.

Finance Update
There is a small amount of money in ward specific grants in each of the Prestwich wards, there is no money left for the year for bigger ‘cross ward issues’ (as it was all given out in April).

Crime and Police
Inspector Kenny reported that Prestwich has seen a 20% reduction in crime in April and May.
Key threats remain:
– vehicle crime
– burglary
Key message
– light evenings always bring an increase in crime
– make sure you secure your property
– don’t leave stuff on display as criminals are opportunists
PACT meetings being re-instead
STAT partners meeting

Hope that is OK – any questions please ask!
Tim

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