Yesterday I attended the Prestwich Local Area Tasking Team. This is the body that brings together various staff that are working to make Prestwich a safer place (Police, Council, Six Town Housing etc). I try to attend as a representative of the nice Prestwich councillors. Yesterday’s meeting was, for some reason, very poorly attended – hopefully this will pick up again next time.

There were a number of issues discussed, including:
– We talked a lot about concerns many local residents and business owners have around the area of the shops on Heywood Road (near Heaton Park reservoir) and some people who are worried about a group of young people ‘hanging out’ here in the evenings. The police are very aware of this situation.
– We discussed alley-gating, particularly now that the Council has a policy which allows alley-gating schemes to go ahead. In particular I asked about progress on the three alley-gating schemes that we have as potials in Polefield, and also another group of local residents who’ve approached me on the Taunton Grove alley. The Police are going to look into all of these.
– We discussed some issues around Baguley Crescent (in Middleton, but part of Bury Council and part of “Prestwich” for Council issues). There have been a number of concerns about fly-tipping and other criminal issues amongst a small number of residents. The area is actually policed by the Middleton Police Team, and our Prestwich team agreed to get in touch with them to make appropriate contacts.

(On leaving the meeting I had chance to have a quick look at the small exhibition upstairs at the Library on the history of Prestwich Hospital. It is only a small exhibition, but well worth a quick look if you are in the building!)

Any questions, please ask!
Tim