Yesterday was Bury’s and Bury Council’s annual ‘Strategic Planning Event’. This event brings together senior councillors, senior staff at the Council together with our partners in ‘Team Bury’ (Police, NHS, Fire, Probation, Housing, voluntary sector, Colleges etc). The morning was spent with partners, and the afternoon was just the Bury Council people looking at the […]

Yesterday was the regular monthly meting of AGMA/GMCA* Scrutiny Panel at Manchester Town Hall. For me, this was the first meeting since being elected as “Co-Chair” of the Panel, and July was my turn to be in the Chair. * AGMA: Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. GMCA: Greater Manchester Combined Authority The Panel, which is […]

Questions from the Lib Dem Group at Full Council, together with the answers we received! Councillor Mary D’Albert Pupil Premium Could the Leader please detail the amount of ‘Pupil Premium’ funding being received by schools across the authority and give a breakdown of this funding by ward. A. In 2011/12 the Pupil Premium is £430 […]

Wednesday night was Bury’s Full Council meeting. This was the last full meeting of the Council before the local elections on 5th May 2011. Here’s what happened: Apology from the Leader of the Labour Group The Bury’s Labour Leader Cllr Mike Connolly read out an apology for not declaring an interest at a meeting of […]

Last night was the regular meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership. This is the body which brings together the nine councillors in Prestwich, together with representatives of partner organisations (police, NHS etc) and community groups. Last night because of a family bereavement I got to stand in as Chair of the Local Area Partnership, not […]

Last night was the annual “Budget Council” for Bury MBC. This is normally a long night and last night was no exception. Given the financial situation the country finds itself in this was probably the most difficult budget the Council has ever had to set. Over £14 million of money had to be taken out […]

Not good news to report. I’ve just been at a meeting of Manchester Council’s Neighbourhood and Communities Scrutiny Committee, which was considering the issue of leasing a part of Heaton Park to Goals Soccer Centre PLC for a commercial soccer centre. Regrettably the decision made by Manchester’s Chief Executive has been upheld, and the lease […]

Wednesday night was the regular full meeting of Bury Council. This is one of the five or six meetings a year where all 51 councillors meet together. The main items discussed and considered were: Combined Authority We were joined by (Lord) Peter Smith (the Labour Leader of Wigan Council) who is the chair of “AGMA” […]

Councillors can ask questions at each Full Meeting of Council. Not all questions get answered verbally, but we do get a written answer to all questions. Here’s the questions and answers asked by myself and the rest of the Lib Dem team. Councillor T Pickstone Local Area Boards and Local Area Partnerships have provided a […]

Last night was the regular “Full” meeting of Bury Council. This is where all 51 councillors meet together, about six times a year. The meetings seem to get more confrontational all the time, and last night last no exception. We finished at 10.20pm, with still loads of business that hadn’t been concluded. Leaders Statement The […]