200,000 Bury Home Care Visits less than 15 minutes

Investigations by Lib Dem councillors in Bury have revealed that over 200,000 of Bury’s home care visits in the last year were of a duration of 15 minutes or less.

Lib Dem Councillor Tim Pickstone asked at the last Council meeting about the number and proportion of visits that were less than 15 minutes, and less than 5 minutes in the last year.

On average 549,000 home care visits were provided – 37% were of 15 minutes or under and 4% 5 minutes or under.

Less than a year ago the Labour Party made a pledge to help end 15 minute care visits, yet Bury’s Labour-run Council continues the practice on a massive scale.

Care charities and the public sector Trades Union UNISON have condemned care visits of less than 15 minutes and are campaigning for their end in their ‘Save Care Now’ campaign.

Find out more about UNISON’s Save Care Now campaign here.
Find out more about charity Lennard Cheshire’s campaign to end 15 minute care visits here.

Campaigning on Food Waste

Bury’s team of Liberal Democrat councillors have successfully brought the issue of Food Waste to the attention of Bury Council.

At the last full meeting of Bury Council, Lib Dem Councillors Mary D’Albert and Tim Pickstone brought a motion before Bury Council, which was accepted by all other parties and has now become Council policy.

In Britain today households throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink waste each year, half of which could have been eaten.

Given that there are 4 million people in the UK living in food poverty, and 900 million people going to bed hungry each night worldwide, we believe this needs to change.

As a result of the Lib Dem initiative Bury MBC has agreed to play it’s part in reducing the amount of food waste generated by the Borough.

This will include more information about reducing food waste in the information we provide to residents about waste disposal, including online, paper resources and through the work of the waste enforcement teams, and work with the major institutional producers of food waste in the Borough (Schools, colleges, hospitals, other major employers) to encourage strategies that achieve a significant reduction of food waste.

Lib Dem Councillors Mary D’Albert and Tim Pickstone taking the issue of food waste to the Town Hall

Bury Council currently collects 15,000 tonnes of brown bin waste each year, which costs taxpayers nearly £1 million in charges.

We can all do our bit to reduce the amount of food waste we produce – put simply not buying too much and not making too much!

The website ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ has lots of helpful tips.

Save the Last Bank!

Local Lib Dem councillors in the Holyrood Ward in the Prestwich area have been campaigning with local residents to save the last bank branch in the ward, the Royal Bank of Scotland on Bury Old Road near Heaton Park.

Although many people recognise that banking has changed significantly over recent years, we also need to recognise that bank counter services are important for many people, including small businesses, local community groups and some more elderly and vulnerable members of the community.

The nearest RBS branches are on Cheetham Hill and in Bury Town Centre. The cash machine (on the corner of Bury Old Road and St Margaret’s Road) would also be closed is the ONLY free cash machine close to Heaton Park, a rather popular destination!

Thank you for everyone who has supported the campaign so far. We need to keep up the pressure and have a meeting with RBS in a couple of weeks.

If you can please sign the online petition at www.loveprestwich.co.uk or you can sign in person in the Fresh Cookie sandwich shop on St Margaret’s Road.

We’ve made this short video to highlight the problems from the bank closure.

Tim Farron is the new Lib Dem Leader

The local Lib Dems have welcomed the election of Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Tim Farron said that under his leadership, the party would oppose the cuts to tax credits and other benefits in the Conservative’s budget and push for greater spending on infrastructure such as transport and broadband.

At his first speech as leader, Tim said “If you care about human rights join us. If you think you shouldn’t have your emails snooped on join us. ‎If you think everyone deserves a decent home join us.” You can watch Tim’s inspirational speech here.

Cllr Tim Pickstone, who leads the Lib Dems in Bury said: “These principles are at the heart of what drives the Liberal Democrats, our members and activists. More than ever Britain needs a party that will stand up for what we believe in, so we’re continuing our fightback and I’m asking local residents to be part of it.”

There has never been a more important time to join the party.

Across the Country since the General Election 17,000 people have joined the party. Locally we have been joined by dozens of new activists and members this year, including a large number since it was announced that Tim Farron was elected. The Liberal Democrats have also seen stunning election victories at local council by-elections across the UK, beating both Labour and the Conservatives.

If you would like to join please go to www.libdems.org.uk and join the FOCUS teams fightback.

Brian Paddick calls for drug policy overhaul

Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, has called for an overhaul of UK Drugs policy.

He said that the Government’s new Psychoactive Substances Bill “adds to the confusion and further undermines the credibility of UK drugs laws.”

His comments come during the Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Lords. Lord Paddick has branded the Bill unfit for purpose with huge unintended consequences.

“The reason why millions of people break the law by taking controlled drugs is because, quite righty, they see that our drugs laws lack credibility”, Brian Commented. This Bill further undermines the credibility of the drugs laws in this country.”

“It’s time we started treating those who misuse drugs as victims of drug dealers rather than criminals.

“It is time we confronted the fact that criminalising young people for possessing substances only as harmful, or less harmful, than alcohol or tobacco, lacks credibility.”

Forthcoming dates for your diary

Bury Lib Dems will be hosting a few members meetings in the coming days:

Fundraising and Events Meeting- Thursday 18th June at 7:00pm

A group of members will be meeting at the Woodthorpe Pub (Bury Old Road, Prestwich M25 0EG). The meeting will involve discussion about how we can improve our fundraising methods as a local party and get together a list of our next round of events.

Member’s Meeting- Monday 22nd June at 7.00pm

The next meeting of Bury Lib Dem members will be taking place next Monday at the Radcliffe Civic Suite (Thomas Street, Radcliffe M26 2UH). We’ll be discussing our upcoming election campaigns and our fundraising and events programme. All members are welcome and it would be great to see another good turnout.

Human Rights Action Day- Saturday 27th June

Next Saturday, Bury Lib Dems will be running a campaigning day which will focus on raising awareness of the possible scrapping of the Human Rights Act, coinciding with the party’s national day of action on the issue. Two stalls will be set up, one running from 10am at the Prestwich Precinct until lunchtime and another one in Bury town centre (venue TBC). For this to be productive, we really do need as much help throughout the day as possible, even if it’s just for an hour so.

If you can attend any of these events or would like anymore information, please contact Michael Powell (07730 045287, organiser@burylibdems.net).

Local Government Conference in Manchester

Every year, an event co-run by the Association of Lib Dem Councillors and the Lib Dem Local Government Association group moves around the country and this year, it’s down the road in Manchester. It’s always a great event featuring lots of training opportunities and this year, there’s the added bonus of a leadership hustings with Tim Farron and Norman Lamb. The conference will be running next weekend on Friday 19th to Saturday 20th June at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester city centre.

If you’d like to register for the event or would like anymore information, please click here.

Reporting Back- Annual Council and Mayor Making

Last month myself and Councillor Mary D’Albert attended Bury’s Annual Council and Mayor Making. This is the annual meeting – part business and part ceremonial – that marks the beginning of the ‘municipal year’.

It was great to be back as a Liberal Democrat ‘Group’ on the Council, even if there is only two of us this year. Mary and I have agreed that I will be the Group Leader and she will be the Deputy Group Leader.

In the formal business councillors are allocated to Committees for the year.
I will be representing you this year on the Health Scrutiny Committee (which is responsible for ‘scrutinising’ our local health services), the Prestwich Township Forum and the Council’s Standards Committee.
Mary will be representing you on the Planning Committee, the Corporate Parenting Board and the Prestwich Township Forum.

Made in Bury Awards

Made in Bury winners with last year’s Mayor Michelle Wiseman and group leaders

A highlight in recent years have been the community awards given to individuals or community groups in Bury. This year was no exception and awards were given to:
Young Persons’ Group: Early Break
Volunteer of the Year: Ann Bebbington
Outstanding Contribution to a Township: Dr Falmai Binns
Good Neighbour: Nathan Hickey
As a group leader I had the role of introducing one of the awards, to Dr Binns for her excellent work in the more ‘rural’ villages in north Bury around Broadband, buses and a new health walk.

Mayor Making

This year the Mayor of Bury will be Councillor Stella Smith. Stella is a Labour councillor who represents the East Ward in Bury. Her husband, and Mayor’s Consort John Smith is a former Mayor of Bury, so the two of them will be reversing their civic roles for the year. The Deputy Mayor is last year’s Mayor Councillor Michelle Wiseman, an independent councillor from Pilkington Park ward in Whitefield.

Book of condolence for Charles Kennedy

This Tuesday marked the sad passing of former party leader, Charles Kennedy. Charles remained highly respected and admired throughout his 32 years as an MP.

To mark the impact that he had on many lives, as well as a long and successful career in the Lib Dems, party HQ have opened a book of condolence on the party website.

If you would like to leave a message or add your name to the book, click here.

Date for your diary- Human Rights Campaigning Day

Bury Lib Dems will be running a campaigning day in Bury later this month to coincide with the party’s national day of action aimed at saving the Human Rights Rights Act.

The campaigning day on Saturday 27th June will include street stalls in the town centre, as well as door knocking and leafleting all aimed at beinging about greater awareness of the Conservative’s plans to ambolish the current Human Rights Act.

More details of the campaiging day and how you can get involved will be posted here in the following weeks.

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Bury Liberal Democrats

Campaigning for a Liberal Bury, Prestwich, Radcliffe, Ramsbottom, Tottington and Whitefield