Last night was the annual ‘Budget Council’ meeting of Bury Council. This is an important meeting where Councillors set the budget for the next financial year (2013-14) and set the rate of Council Tax rise which will take effect in April. Headlines – Our council tax will rise by 3.5% in April – Council House […]

Bury Council has announced proposals to completely abolish the important Park Ranger service. We are totally opposed to this proposal from the Council in Bury. We all know that savings need to be made by all public sector bodies in these difficult economic times, but there are other ways the Council could save money without […]

Last Wednesday was the regular meeting of Bury’s ‘Full’ Council. This was the first time that Bury’s Council meeting had been streamed live on the internet. I’m not sure how many people were watching (!), or  if the recording is to be made permanently available – which would seem sensible if it is going to […]

Last week was the regular meeting of Bury Council’s ‘Cabinet’. I get to go as one of the two Opposition Party leaders in Bury. There were two particularly contraversial issues on the agenda last week that it is worth sharing with people. Libraries The Cabinet considered a plan to make quite significant savings in the […]

Bury Council has today published a draft Programme of Savings 2013-14 to 2014-15. Because of a number of changes it now estimates that it needs to save an extra £8.7 Million, which is on top of the £17.7 million that was included in its current three year plan for savings. The full copy of the […]

Bury Council is currently undertaking a review of the Council’s Seedfield Physical Disability Day Centre. Seedfield Day Centre provides daytime support for people aged 18 and over who live in Bury and have a physical and/or sensory disability. This review will look at the current provision at Seedfield and determine what action the Day Service […]

Last night was the regular meeting of Bury’s Cabinet which I attend as an Opposition Leader. Three main issues: Home to School Travel for Faith Schools At present the Council pays for a bus pass for children who attend a faith school, which is not their nearest school. This is in addition to paying for […]

Bury Council has written to all Prestwich councillors informing us that the recycling centre at the Longfield Centre is to close “very shortly”. The Council’s ‘reasoning’ is that it costs a lot to keep the site clean and tidy, and that it has to pay to dispose of the items. It suggests that the site […]

Last night was the regular meeting of Bury’s ‘full’ Council – the 5 or 6 times a year where all 51 councillors meet together. Yesterday we also met for a Special meeting of Council – to bestow on three people the honour of ‘Freedom of the Borough’. This was bestowed on former Whitefield councillor Derek […]

Just a quick note to thank everyone who gave us their support in yesterday’s local elections in Prestwich and throughout Bury. Although our share of the vote was up in Prestwich from last year, regrettably this wasn’t enough to stop Labour winning again in all three wards. The results were: Holyrood Ward Labour 1510 (up […]