Just before Christmas Councillor Tim Pickstone was able to meet with staff from both the Council and NHS Bury Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for an update on mental health services for children and young people (historically referred to as CAMHS – Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services). This followed on from a written question at […]

Alongside the GMSF, Greater Manchester has also set out a draft ‘Transport Delivery Plan’ – for 2020-25 – which sets out what is planned in terms of transport infrastructure. This is divided into: Things that are actually going to happen in the next 5 years In Bury the only significant thing is some extra double […]

Today Greater Manchester’s Labour leaders are publishing the revised proposals for the ‘Greater Manchester Spatial Framework’ to provide 201,000 new homes in Greater Manchester over the next 20 years. Councillor Tim Pickstone, Bury’s Liberal Democrat Group Leader said: For Bury this plan is a disgrace. While other boroughs like Bolton have maintained all future housing […]

This week the Government published a consultation on Waste Strategy, which has been criticised for its lack of ambition. The strategy aims to: – Introduce a tax on single use plastic with less than 30% recycled content. – Consider banning plastic packaging where there are alternatives. – Legislate to allow government to specify a core […]

Bury’s final ‘Full Council’ of the year took place at the end of November. This is the meeting, normally six times a year, where all 51 Bury Councillors meet to undertake some of the important functions of the authority. Gambling Policy Every few years local authorities have to publish a ‘Gambling Policy’, which was agreed […]

Greater Manchester Councils have confirmed that the next set of proposals for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) will be published in early January 2019 for an eight-week public consultation. The bad news is that the Government seem to be expecting Councils to go for a higher number of homes than had recently expected which […]

At the most recent full meeting of Bury Council, the Liberal Democrat group of councillors were successful in getting the whole Council to sign up to a principle of building future homes which are ‘fit for the future’. Recently the Government has announced a relaxation of the restrictions on Councils which will hopefully mean that […]

Responding to an official report published today revealing one in eight children and young people aged between 5 and 19 surveyed in England in 2017 had a mental disorder, former Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb said: “These troubling figures reveal the true extent of mental health problems among children. The Conservative Government has a […]

Last week was the meeting of Bury Council’s Cabinet, and earlier this week the meeting of the Council’s Audit Committee. Both meetings considered the mid-year financial report for the Council which raise some very concerning issues. Councillor Tim Pickstone was at the Cabinet, Councillor Steve Wright was at the Audit Committee: Both meetings heard that […]

Liberal Democrats in Parliament are backing a cross-party amendment to the Finance Bill to ensure the maximum stake for fixed-odds betting terminals are introduced as planned within six months. Currently the maximum stake for Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals is £100, but the Government’s own review has concluded that this should be reduced to just £2. However […]