A new direction for Bury South

Tomorrow is the Jewish festival of Pentecost – the harvest season in Israel – and also when we celebrate the giving of the ten commandments.  It is customary to eat dairy produce at this time and I have already consumed my first piece of cheese cake  and then made the mistake of looking how many calories are in it!  Sunday will see the final countdown to the Radcliffe West by election and the European elections on Thursday, 4 June.  Lots of opportunity to burn the calories off then when out campaigning.  Sunday also brings the official opening by The Mayor of Bury of the Radcliffe Swimming baths and fitness centre following the Council’s £300K revamp.  More good news for Radcliffe residents – hope to see you all there.

I was delighted to welcome Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action, to Radcliffe this morning where she spent time talking to Radcliffe shop owners and market traders.  We were joined by Cllr Bob Bibby, Leader of Bury Council.  Baroness Warsi was very impressed with the work being done in Radcliffe Town Centre to improve the area and to bring more trade to the town.  She was excited to learn of our plans to develop the town centre further and to help traders and residents alike.  More information about this will be available shortly – keep reading …………

I think that summer finally arrived this weekend after a relaxing day on Saturday I spent some time on Sunday at the Manchester Limmud Conference where I spoke about my life as a Councillor and just general issues that affect people day to day such as crime, education and parenting.  In the early evening I went along to a meeting at the home of Yvonne Moore, Chairperson of the Old Hall Residents Association, to discuss the planning application for the proposed new school on the green belt land off Copper Lane in Whitefield.  The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at home.

Yesterday I went out with my husband to the Albert Dock in Liverpool where we visited the Beatles Museum and browsed round the shops.  The evening was spent having a pre-birthday meal with my family (yes today is my birthday!).

I went along to the planning meeting last night to support a local resident with her resubmission to open a wine bar/bistro in the centre of Whitefield.  I am delighted that this was passed as it will bring more jobs into Whitefield as well as improving the economy and the visual aspect of the town centre. 

Prior to this I had lunch with Alex Williams who is No 4 on our list of European Candidates for the forthcoming elections on the 4th June.  Alex was the parliamentary candidate in Bury South in 2005 and it was great to have the opportunity to catch up.  I wish Alex good luck in the forthcoming elections!

Mark Prisk MP, Shadow Spokesman for Business & Enterprise, visited Bury this morning.  He spent the first hour taking a tour of O2 which is based in Radcliffe and is the largest employer in Bury employing 1,400 people.  It was fascinating to learn of the work they do there and how they are keeping up to date with the new technology and their market share of the mobile telephoine industry.  Following on from this he went along to Europa House in Bury Town Centre where he addressed over 60 local business people which was in the format of a question and answers session.  The issues raised ranged from corporation tax to raising finance for start up businesses to skills and employment issues.  I have been trying to set up this event for many months and delighted that it has finally taken place.  Mark along with his Shadow Cabinet colleagues who will of course be back in the North West for the Conservative Party Conference which takes place in Manchester in October and I look forward to welcoming many of them to Bury during this time.  The message that came through was that people want transparent and consistent policies.  Mark said however that he nor his colleagues could make any promises on many financial issues until they had ’seen the books’ but as we all know there are going to have to be tough financial measures taken to reduce the level of debt the country has.

I dodged the showers yesterday morning to go leafletting in Radcliffe West.  After that I went along to join in the festivities taking place at Prestwich Clough.  It was well attended although some of the organisers I spoke to said numbers were slightly down on last year possibly due to the weather. I then went along to the launch of the Manchester Chai Lifeline project at Heathlands.  The question of MPs expenses have been on everybody’s mind this weekend and I cannot think of anyone I have met who has not mentioned it to me.  David Cameron has responded swiftly to this and has taken the correct and firm stance on this issue.

This morning (at a very early hour) I attended a business breakfast to raise funds for the Nicky Alliance Day Centre.  The Rt Hon Michael Portillo was our guest speaker and he spoke to over 150 guests about his time in Parliament his time working with Margaret Thatcher during the 1979 elections and his view on the economic climate today.  He said that David Cameron considered himself the ‘heir to Blair’ but now it is more likely to be the heir to ‘Margaret Thatcher’.  He warned of tough measures ahead to get the economy back on track and the review of final salary pensions for public sector workers was just a start.

Yesterday afternoon I went along to the installation of the New Mayor at Bury Council and I am delighted that it is Cllr Sheila Magnall who I have had the honour to work with on the Conservative group since I was first elected to represent Pilkington Park Ward in 2003.  I know that she will have a hard act to follow in the footsteps of Cllr Peter Ashworth who worked tirelessly throughout his year in office and will now be Deputy Mayor.

Following this I attended a meeting in the evening regarding the planned relocation of Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School to green belt land in Whitefield.  It was a well attended meeting and thanks to Yvonne Moore Chair of the Old Hall Residents Association for organsing the meeting.

Yesterday afternoon there was a special Council Meeting to bestow the Freedom of the Borough on Danny Boyle, pop group Elbow and the athlete Zoe Robinson.  It was a special afternoon for all recipients and an enjoyble afternoon in the Council Chamber.  I am sure all will change by the next meeting.  Then went out and about in Radcliffe again the evening meeting local residents with our candidate Samantha Davies.

On Sunday morning I went along to Bury Grammar School for Boys where they were filming The Big Question for BB1 hosted by Nicky Campbell.  The topics covered were surrogacy, a national DNA database and religious humour or films.  A heated debate took place on all three subjects and I was pleased to be able to have a brief chat with Nicky Campbell after the filming.  After this I went on to the AGM of the Jewish Representative Council and caught the end of the talk by the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Peter Fahy.