Intervention by Bury Liberal Democrats has led to concessions by Tory-run Bury Council, and the news that council staff set to lose money after job evaluation will be allowed to attend their appeals in person.
 
Prior to the meeting of Full Council on Wednesday 10th September, the Conservative-run Council had been clear that no personal hearings would be granted. However, following a question by Liberal Democrat Cllr Wilf Davison asking for this policy to be reconsidered, the Council’s Chief Executive today (17th September) sent a letter to all staff informing them that personal appeals would now be allowed.
 
The leader of Bury Liberal Democrats, Cllr Tim Pickstone, said “We are pleased that the Conservatives have finally seen sense. Staff should of course be allowed to attend these appeals, where massive chunks of their salary are at stake. We have always been clear that we want a transparent, open process, and we are glad to have convinced the Tories of this.”
 
Cllr Davison said “At the Council meeting, the Labour group chose to display their unhappiness at Job Evaluation by walking out of the meeting. Liberal Democrats stayed to oppose the Conservatives in a sensible way. I asked for the appeals process to be reconsidered, and now it has been. Liberal Democrats will continue to try to make this process as fair as possible, and challenge every instance of unfairness that we see.””

PLANS to free local police forces from the grip of central government bureaucracy and targets have been welcomed by Liberal Democrats in Bury.

The proposals have been launched by Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne and will be debated at the party’s conference in Bournemouth in September.

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson for Bury South said that police officers would be freed to spend more time policing communities rather than chasing government targets. 

“The police have to be free to police our local communities,” said Vic D’Albert, “Constant interference and targets from Whitehall do little to catch criminals and deter crime. Bury police are far better placed than a government minister in Whitehall to decide what the local priorities are. “

The proposals also call for police authorities to be elected by local people, rather than appointed by ministers. That will mean policing priorities are under the control of local people.

Other proposals to be debated by the Liberal Democrats include appointing 10,000 extra police officers, paid for by scrapping the expensive and bureaucratic National Identity Card scheme. 

The spokesman’s paper from Chris Huhne MP, Cutting Crime: Catching Criminals With Better Policing, is available on the Liberal Democrat website: http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/Cutting%20Crime%20by%20Catching%20Criminals.pdf