John Mallon wins in Pilkington Park
Moments ago, John was elected Councillor for our ward. Thank you to everyone for your support during the campaign.
The full results are
Mallon, J (Lab) 1168,
Curati, P (G) 118,
Davison (LD) 102,
Parkinson, J (UKIP) 392,
Vincent,B (Con) 1149
The moment Labour took back Bury Council
For those of you, like myself, who were unable to witness this historic event for Bury and the moment we took back the council.
Jo Columbine – special talent ‘straw-polling’!
Look out for our Chair and extra special runner-up in Whitefield – John Mallon celebrating with the rest of the Labour team!
Young Bury South Executive Member Eamonn O’Brien writes about last week’s budget; what it means for younger people and what it says about the ConDems
Many of the cuts announced by the Tory-led Bury Council came as no surprise to most people in Bury.
We know that it is in their nature to dismantle vital public services and openly attempt to privatise whatever they can. Just consider the recent “Easy Council” proposals and this recent article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-12619329.
However some of the cuts show an even greater contempt for the people of Bury and especially its young people. About 2 years ago the young people of Bury as well as their supporters were protesting against cuts of £200,000 to the youth service; now they are having to deal with over £900,000 worth of cuts and the complete destruction of a universal youth service in Bury.
Whilst the broader cuts are unpopular, unnecessary and unfair, this attack on Bury’s youth is astounding. At a time when the National Tory-led Coalition is pulling the rug from under young people by abolishing EMA, the Future Jobs Fund and trebling tuition fees, the Tories in Bury are further attacking those who hold no blame whatsoever for the economic crisis, by, for instance, planning to close 4 out of 5 youth centres.
It was on these issues that I joined fellow young people to protest outside Bury Town Hall on budget night. For a cold and wet night the turnout was impressive and we certainly made out voices heard. It was also comforting to see various other groups coming together such as Unions, Labour Party members and the Bury Action Group to show our anger outside the Town Hall.
Once inside the meeting began to become contentious soon after the budget was announced. Mike Connelly, leader of the Labour group, led the attack on the budget itself and, despite heckling from the Tories opposite, condemned the budget as highly unfair and damaging. As could be expected, the Tories’ only response was that Labour was to blame for the situation, so they were reminded that it was the Coalition’s cuts to local government that were the true cause for these savage cuts.
The most notable thing from the night for me was the passion and authority with which the Labour Councillors spoke. This was highlighted further by the conspicuous silence of the Lib Dem Councillors for much of the meeting. Yet their initial silence was only the beginning of their role in the budget. After the Labour Group announced its amendments, one of which would have saved the Youth Service, the Lib Dems abstained, effectively giving the Tories the ability to reject the amendments.
So why did they do it? While they may deny a local coalition pact, it is interesting to see what happened to their own amendments. These included most but not all of Labour’s, leaving out the saving of the Youth Service.
To me therefore, and I hope many others, we can gather a few things from budget night. It confirmed the Tories are the same old nasty party, pushing a Thatcherite agenda decades after she first became PM and the young people of Bury were born! Meanwhile, it’s clear the local Lib Dems are as weak, ineffectual and unprincipled as their national counterparts.
Only Labour will stand up for the people of Bury, and that’s why we have to take back the Council in May.
Bury Council Cuts
On the 24th December the Bury Times reported on the cuts that have been proposed by Bury Council for 2011/12. As these have been announced over the holiday period and the story not significantly revisited in the 31st December Bury Times, it is possible you may have missed what is being planned. Elizabeth FitzGerald will update you.
The central government settlement for Bury is likely to reduce by 13% or £12m. Bury have identified £5.3m with a further £3.8m found by ‘adjusting budget assumptions’(!). The proposed cuts can be found here. The information on the website is not easy to decipher. The files are clearly internal review documents that probably make a lot of sense to those using them but as an ordinary member of the public I found some of the descriptions meaningless.
For example, what does saving £0.5m by reducing demand for ‘re-ablement’ packages in Adult Care mean? As a lay person, ‘re-ablement’ sounds like helping people to help themselves so it appears a little short-sighted but given I have no idea what it means it could be a good idea!
What is the £137k to be saved by the item, ‘Re-structure planning implementation and review of activities, including reduction in delivery of schemes’? Does this mean less planning permission could be granted which could be bad for the local economy? Or that the regulation and process of planning will be changed resulting in less local accountability, i.e. consultation is expensive; it is a lot cheaper just to put an application through without scrutiny.
General themes across the documents appear to be increasing fees, not recruiting vacancies, cutting support to voluntary groups, contributions from reserves and reducing services. The press briefing states that 120 jobs will be lost with most of these vacancies but it would be good to understand how many people will lose their jobs. Specific measures include:
- Sunday car parking charges will be introduced in Bury and charging started at leisure centres. The crèches at Ramsbottom and Radcliffe leisure centre are also being closed but it is not clear if they have assessed the impact on revenue of these combined changes.
- Reducing crossing guards at 21 locations out of 75.
- Closing Unsworth Library and shutting Prestwich on Sundays.
- Savings from the planned changes to Radcliffe Civic Hall.
- Reducing maintenance, bedding and rangers in the parks with more support to be provided by volunteers.
- The Chief Executive’s department sees a number of vacancies unfilled, agency and overtime cut, and voluntary severance offered.
- In Adult Services there are lots of references to efficiencies, increased fees and reduced budgets but it is not clear what this means practically. However, the £2.8m saving is significant. £0.9m is an annualised saving from 2 centres closed this year but I cannot see reference to the 5 sheltered homes or homeless shelter under consultation. Perhaps they are in the other £2.0m or not going to happen now?
- The Children’s learning budget will save £1.7m with £1.1m from changes to National Strategies (free school meals, etc?). However, there are a lot of smaller cuts to welfare officers, behavioural support, school transport (faith schools), 14-19 provision, SEN team and £0.3m from making schools use their external grants to buy services previously provided.
- £0.7m is saved in the Children’s Prevention and Partnership budget including Sure Start Centres and no further allocations to the Youth Opportunities Fund.
- £0.3m is to be saved in social care.
These proposals are a consultation and the budget will be set at a special meeting of the full council on 23rd February 2011. There is a link on the website to make any comments on the proposals and a public meeting will be held in January to discuss them but there is no date at the moment.
Here at Whitefield Labour we will try and keep publicising the Cuts and any meetings or public events.
Bury’s Proud Cultural Tradition
Here at Whitefield Labour we thought we would celebrate Ivan Lewis’s role in the Shadow Cabinet for Culture, Media and Sport with Elizabeth FitzGerald looking at Bury’s cultural heritage.
The Met, or the Derby Hall, has been at the centre of cultural life in Bury since 1925, albeit with a short break as an electricity showroom! From Joy Division to Peter Kay, the Met has always made sure the citizens of Bury have a strong local option when picking their cultural excursion for the evening. However, it is not just cutting edge folk, blues and comedy, amongst others, on offer; it also has a strong community link with classes for children and adults covering salsa, theatre and singing. Look out for the ‘Big Sing’ in October where the Bury Acapeelers Community Choir will be performing a special version of Elbow’s ‘One Day like This’.
Bury lies within the shadow of two of the most important football clubs in the world at the moment – one plays in red and the other blue – but I am not writing about Manchester. In fact the three clubs in Bury are the polar opposite to those two! Radcliffe Borough’s only comparison to United was its long serving manager Kevin Glendon (21 years) and FC United’s origins are well known. And Bury Football Club? Interesting facts include the shortest name in the football league and the biggest margin of victory in an FA Cup Final (6-0, 1903). But what is important about Bury is its role in the community. The ‘Forever Bury’ campaign was set up when the club went into administration in 2002. Since then the supporters have become a significant shareholder in the club and community organising group. In a world where the concerns of the media are of wages and wags, our policy to football in particular and sport in general should be one of inclusion and responsibility from the top to the bottom.
How many towns have a Chocolate or a Blues Festival? Welcome to Bury – festival town! What about a ‘Big Whistle Weekend?’ Or brass bands and morris dancers on Clough Day as part of the Prestwich Festival? My personal favourite occurs on August Bank Holiday. There is no need to travel all the way to a Worthy Farm when you can visit our very own GlastonBURY! Not just a great day of music but also a fundraiser for Bury Hospice. What do all of these things have in common? Community and the desire to fully enjoy our leisure time in the company of others.
I think it’s time for everyone to get over the sale of the Lowry painting and learn to love Bury Art Gallery again. Not only is it housed in a beautiful building – I especially love the stained glass bees – but everything about it represents the role of culture in society. From the building to the collections inside, it is testament to the determination of local people to enjoy art, whether in the form of endowments to the gallery or its support of local artists and children. One of my proudest moments was having a picture exhibited as a seven year old! As well as its permanent collection, which includes a Turner and Constable, the gallery always has interesting temporary exhibitions and the Moomins are arriving this autumn. My favourite work is ‘Moor at prayer’ by Ludwig Deutsch. If you walk around too quickly you will miss it but stop and wonder at a moment of true beauty and quiet contemplation.
Almost every part of the borough is represented with its own newspaper but it is not just through the print media where Bury is building a strong tradition. New local websites are being set up all the time either for sports teams, schools, businesses or community groups. This evolution in communication and organisation can bring businesses closer to their customers and able to grow without the traditional barriers to entry. Community groups better able to inform, organise and include with good local examples being Ramsbottom Online or Forever Bury. I would like to see better use of new media for council services like the Longfield Suite to generate higher usage and more income, a local government strategy to proactively support local business and charities to exploit the internet, and better community organising and information for each part of the borough – especially Whitefield!
Talking of new media our very own Parklover has been nominated in the Best City and Neighbourhood Blog category at the 2010 Manchester Blogs Awards and what was her inspiration – Bury’s Green Spaces. And we do not need 12 Green Flags and countless awards for ‘Bury in Bloom’ to tell us what we already to know. We are incredibly fortunate not just to be surrounded by beautiful countryside but to have some of the best parks in the country. These community assets are the result of a long term strategy to improve the lives of Bury’s citizens, allowing all parts of society to both mix, feel valued and do it all for free!
There are so many other things I could mention – local sports clubs, restaurants, bars, the market, our great local bands, the East Lancs Railway – the list would be long! In the hard times to come all of these activities and organisations will suffer through the reduction in government support and personal income. We will be presented with hard choices about whether the council should sponsor a football team or if our community assets, in the form of parks, buildings or art, should be sold. With limited resources the country may be asked to decide between the national (Olympics) or impacting millions through local budgets. However, leisure is the reward for our work, it brings the community together and Bury has a proud history in these areas. Our public services must be protected in the coming years but so must the enjoyment of our daily lives!
Community Clean-Up
Many thanks and well done to all the Labour members and supporters who helped clean up their local community.
See if you can spot them in the Prestwich and Whitefield Guide!
Litter Clean-Up
This Sunday 5th September, Labour Party members and supporters will be cleaning up the area between Ringley Drive/Dovehouse Close.
We’ll be there from around 3pm. If you can help, we’d love to see you there.
Don’t forget your rubber gloves!
Whitefield Labour 