A new direction for Bury South

Cllr Byrne corrected the recent newspaper article in the Manchester Evening News about the length of time it takes to repairs pot holes and roads in Bury in answer to my question at tonight’s Council meeting.  I was reassured that the 15 years referred to in the article is not pot holes which are repaired within a relatively short period of time but in fact the backlog for repairing our roads but that is only providing no more deteriorate in the meantime.  Oh well so they may be repaired in my life time – I’ll check them out when I am taking my first free bus ride into Bury Town Centre!

Last night I held a meeting at which all the recipients of grants from the Whitefield and Unsworth Area Board were invited to come along and update us on how they have spent the money allocated to them and how their projects are doing.  It was a very informative evening with some fantastic presentations – from power point with a splash of photographs – to small community projects where the presenter just spoke with the aid of notes from a piece of paper but the passion for their project shone through.  Congratulations must be offered to all these volunteers for the amazing work they do in the community from setting up gardening clubs, to running community centres for the young and old.  I have nothing but admiration for the work that you all do and I am pleased that I was able to play some small part in helping.  I have taken the opportunity over the past year to visit most of the projects that have received funding and shall catch up with those that I have missed over the next couple of months.

Yesterday my fellow parliamentary candidates and I were delighted to welcome the Shadow Children and Family Team to Bury, Bolton and Trafford.  My day started off accompanying Baroness Morris of Bolton to Higher Lane Primary School in Whitefield, of which I am a Governor.  Trish is the Shadow Education and Children’s Minister in the House of Lords and was very impressed by the pupils she met at the school and commented particularly on the friendly and relaxed atmosphere in the school.  We then went on to Bolton Lads and Girls Club where we met with David Cameron and then on to the Waterside Centre in Sale for an afternoon of talks and discussions with the Shadow Children’s Team led by Tim Loughton MP, Shadow Health Minister & Shadow Children’s Minister.

at Farfield hospital.  Another 27 beds at Fairfield hospital are to go over the next year as part of a cost cutting exercise.  The official line from the Pennine Acute Trust is that is part of a ’series of improvements’ for patients’ – how can less ever deliver more!  I await the comments from our Bury South MP and Healthcare Minister with interest.

I was interested to read in last night’s Manchester Evening News that the repair timetable to fill potholes in Bury stretches for 15 years – oh well at least I do not live in neighbouring Salford where there is a 30 year wait.  I toured round Whitefield and Unsworth earlier this week, with Area Board colleagues, to determine which pavements and roads we should allocate the £130,00 budget we have to spend on repairs out of a total cost of £570,000 to repair all those on the list and was concerned to see that the majority of the roads on the list had been carried over from last year’s budget.   I can now see that this is not be unexpected after finding out that the Council can only afford to repair the roads every 76 years.  So next time someone asks when their road will be repaired I will have to advise them that it will be but probably not in their life time!

No doubt you are expecting to see a comment on the budget so here is a brief one.   It is clear that this is a tax con and not a tax cut, with the lowest paid workers being hit and making them more reliant on the tax credit system.  As far as the NHS is concerned Gordon Brown only mentioned it once in his speech and that was only to re-announce what he first said 3 years ago.  Oh and borrowing is up again by £8bn! 

Last night’s meetings started with Area Board Chairs meeting at 6pm at the Town Hall where the new Area Initiative was discussed in detail.  The ruling Labour Group have now listened to some of the concerns raised by Area Board Chairs and residents alike and have now decided to keep the Open Forum in the new format of the Area Board meetings.  This followed on by a public meeting to discuss more of the same issues with a very disgruntled public. 

I then went on to the AGM of the League of Jewish Women.  This group of volunteers (they have men in their group as well) do amazing work throughout the community serving teas in hospitals, reading in schools, hand and hair care at Christies Hospital to name a few of the tasks they undertake.  I also had the chance to meet the Mayor and Mayoress of Bury and the Mayor and Mayoress of Salford once again!  Well done to everyone who is a member of the League you have a lot to be proud of.

Last night I was delighted to accompany the Mayoress of Bury to the annual Magen David Adam UK fundraising dinner at the Manchester Hilton Hotel.  The guest speaker was the former Sovient dissident Nathan Sharansky who has settled in Israel.  His speech was one of the most powerful I have heard and the video following was really an eye opener – MDA is run solely with voluntary contributions and that is why events such as this are so important.  The Mayor of Trafford and her Consort and the Mayor and Mayoress of Salford were also at our table together with representatives form the Christian Friends of MDA.  Congratulations must go to all the committee for a superbly organised evening.

Last night I was invited to attend a meeting with a group of 15-16 year olds who have set up a Youth Council in order to put on events such as parties, barbecues and speakers’ evenings as they recognise the gap in facilities for youngsters of their age and want to provide somewhere for their peers to go in a safe, warm and friendly environment.  I was very impressed by how organised they were and how much they have managed to achieve in the short time they have been together.  I am pleased to be able to help them with looking for funding for their first event and wish them much success and may they go from strength to strength and be an example to others in the community of what can be done. 

Well it is now 12.15pm and my mothers’ day rest is well and truly over – mind you looking out at the weather I am not so sure!  I am bracing myself to wrap up and go outside to deliver some leaflets!  One present I received today was Bolton born and bred and still a resident there, Peter Kay’s book ‘The Sound of Laughter’.  My daughter must have been listening to the recent Council debate on local sustainability!

To all mums out there enjoy the rest of the day and to all kids go easy on us - we really do try our best just like you!