The current public consultation phase on Greater Manchester’s proposals for Clean Air Zone’s closes on 30 June 2019.
The proposals are for daily charges in Greater Manchester for lorries, buses, taxes and vans that do not meet strict emissions regulations – these would be £100 per day for lorries and buses, and £7.50 per day for taxis and vans.
Before proposals are taken further, members of the public are being asked for our views. Take part in the consultation here.
105,480 – That’s how many people had joined the Liberal Democrats as of last weekend! That makes it official – our party is the biggest it’s ever been.
First of all welcome to our new members – you’ve joined Britain’s biggest liberal family. We couldn’t be more excited to have you on board.
It’s been a brilliant month for our party – We’ve elected more councillors in one set of local elections than ever before, we’ve gained more MEPs than ever before and we’ve topped a nationwide Westminster voting intention poll for only the third time since the 1980s
Our movement is going from strength to strength – and we aren’t going to stop. We’re fighting to give the people of Brecon and Radnorshire the chance to elect a new, pro-EU MP. We’re going to elect a new leader to take our party into its bright new future. Our campaign to stop Brexit gains more momentum every day.
The Conservatives are going to waste this Brexit extension squabbling amongst themselves. Jeremy Corbyn continues to fight to drag Britain out of the European Union. Public opinion has changed – the people want to stop Brexit. Only the Liberal Democrats will give you, not politicians, the final say on leaving the EU.
Last week was the first Overview & Scrutiny meeting of the new Council year which saw a series of presentations by representatives from the different Council departments. These outlined each department’s work programme and priorities for the coming year.
Strategy and transformation: – Developing a ‘corporate core’- bringing support services and staff together to build up capacity and improve efficiency- Quarterly budget monitoring report updates to be sent to Councillors as well as end of year reports- Lead officers to be put in charge of each work stream (e.g. Finance, Governance, ICT and Digital, HR)Children and young people: – Increasing number of foster carers inside the borough and reducing reliance on external carers- Enhanced support for care leavers- Working to further reduce permanent exclusion numbers- Enhanced early support strategy to support new LAC (Looked After Children)- Implement early intervention schemes in schools needing support
Operations: – Continuing to work towards a more productive and reliable waste service operation- Implementing a ‘preventative maintenance’ approach to highways (i.e. developing a programme for all roads to be addressed after a set period to prevent deterioration of highways)- Introducing a plastic strategy to minimise use of single-use plastics across the borough- Improving the customer interface to make reporting problems involving highways even easier and more efficient for residents
Business growth and infrastructure: – Beginning work on regeneration scheme in Radcliffe- Implementing £10 million investment in Prestwich village centre (following consultation process with residents in the Summer)- Continuing to develop land and property portfolio- Moving forwards with GM spatial framework and focusing on scope for development on brownfield sites- Working towards potential regeneration of Bury Interchange (supported by T4GM)
The papers for the meeting are here. Any questions please just ask!
On the 21 May was the monthly meeting of Bury Planning Control Committee. This is the meeting made up of the 11 Councillors who represent various wards of the borough of Bury. The committee determines planning applications for certain major developments and others where objections have been received.
Prior to the Committee meeting, a site visit took place in respect of planning application 63785at Elton High School to assessed the creation of new artificial grass pitch together with associated floodlighting, boundary treatment and equipment storage.
The following applications received approval without any major concern:
North Manor App No. 63038, 60039
We discussed a change of use of an existing barn into a yoga and leisure use (App No. 63038) and a listed building consent for the same change of use (App No. 63039).
Bury West – Elton App No. 63834
We discussed the proposal for the erection of two semi-detached houses at the north of Green Street, Bury.
The following applications received approval but we raised some concerns:
Ramsbottom and Tottington – Ramsbottom App No. 63617
We discussed a proposed development to the west of Manchester Road, in Ramsbottom, for the erection of 35 no. dwellings.
A residential development on the site had already received outline planning consent in November 2016 (for up to 50 dwellings). Therefore, the Planning Committee could only consider matters in relation to the layout, scale, appearance and landscaping of the proposed development.
However, the site was designated as a Site of Biological Interest as it supported relatively species-rich grassland. The proposed site plan and landscaping plan confirmed that an area of 3,300 square metres of species rich grassland would be located on the east side of the site.
We analysed the merits and I raised the following points:
Increasing the area designated for Special Biological Interest (SBI) and putting an investigative so that part of the land on the west side of the site, which was indicated in the landscaping plan as private land, could be also open land designated for SBI
Including electric vehicle charging points
Clarifying the affordability criteria for the dwellings
More information and the full papers for the meeting are here.
Every member gets an equal say in choosing who they want to lead our party.
To get your vote, all you need to do is join the Liberal Democrats by midnight on Friday 7th June. Membership starts at as little as £1 per month. A great time to encourage friends and family to join!
North West hustings for the new Leader take place on 14 June 2019, 7pm in Manchester. We’re hoping to arrange a ‘Bury’ team at the hustings so please get in touch if you are interested in going.
Every member gets an equal say in choosing who they want to lead our party. To get your vote, all you need to do is join the Liberal Democrats by midnight on Friday 7th June. Membership starts at as little as £1 per month.
Join the thousands of people who’ve already joined us this year and shape the direction of our party and our country.
North West hustings for the new Leader take place on 14 June 2019, 7pm in Manchester.
Well done to the North West’s two new Liberal Democrat members of the European Parliament – Chris Davies and Jane Brophy.
Chris, who lives in Oldham, was MEP for the North West until 2014. Jane, who lives in Timperley, is a local Liberal Democrat councillor on Trafford Council. They join the largest ever team of Liberal Democrats MEPs – 16 across Great Britain.
The North West Region has 8 MEPs, which are allocated proportionately depending the votes for each Party. Results for the North West region were:
Brexit Party 31.2% – 3 MEPs
Labour 21.91 – 2 MEPs
Liberal Democrats 17.2% – 2 MEPs
Green Party 12.4% – 1 MEP
Conservative 7.6%
UKIP – 3.6%
Change UK – 2.7%
Bury’s votes are counted separately before being added towards the North West total. Bury’s votes were:
Voting takes place on Thursday, 23 May 2019 to elect members of the European Parliament.
Polling stations are open as normal – 7am – 10pm – you don’t need your polling card to vote.
If you have a postal vote, which you have not yet returned. You can fill it in as normal and take the sealed envelope down to your local polling station on Thursday (or in fact any polling station in Bury).
In the North West we will be electing eight members of the European Parliament – these are shared out proportionately between different parties depending on their level of support.
Liberal Democrats believe that the importance of the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union has never been clearer. The national humiliation of Theresa May’s Brexit puts so much at risk – the NHS, our public services, jobs across the country, peace in Northern Ireland, the unity of the UK and our global reputation as a country that is confident and outward-facing. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Find out more and read our European Manifesto here.
Investigations by Bury’s Liberal Democrat councillors has revealed that Labour and Conservative councillors have not allocated around half of the money allocated to them for their local communities.
Only two areas – the Liberal Democrat councillors in Holyrood Ward and also the councillors in Tottington – have allocated the total of £4,500 allocated under the Elected Member Discretionary Budgets during that period.
The scheme was set up in December 2017 for councillors to support local projects and initiatives within their ward and wider township at their discretion.
More information was provided in an investigation by the Bury Times, reveal that only £41,801.96 was spent by councillors in their communities out of a possible £76,500.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone said: “We welcomed the decision to provide councillors with small delegated budgets to spend on priorities in their own wards. Liberal Democrat councillors in Holyrood ward have had no difficulty making sure all of that money has gone to the right place supporting a whole variety of community groups and initiatives.”
“There are so many good causes that need our support so I am amazed that only two of the 17 wards in Bury have spent the money that has been allocated to them.”
Councillors in Radcliffe West spent the least money at £312 out of a possible £4,5000 while Besses and St Mary’s wards spent around £700 each.
A huge thank you from the Liberal Democrat team here in Bury for your support in the local elections.
The Liberal Democrats had our best result in Bury for almost a decade:
– holding Holyrood Ward, with an increased majority (986 votes over Labour) electing our new Councillor Cristina Tegolo
– gaining St Mary’s Ward, by 942 votes over Labour, electing our youngest ever Councillor, Michael Powell.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Tim Pickstone said: “This is the first time in a decade that the Liberal Democrats have won so many seats in Bury. Not only that but we also got significantly more votes than Labour across the three Prestwich seats.
Local people are sending a clear message that Labour’s policies around building on our green belt land, and their failure to tackle congestion and air pollution need to change”.
