Public Meeting: Democracy Needs You!

Bury Liberal Democrats have organised a public meeting on the theme: “Democracy needs you: why you should get involved in politics today”.

“Democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted” former USA President Barack Obama says. We will look at how democracy works, why sometimes it doesn’t and how you can be part of fixing it. Remember – decisions are made by those who show up!

Wednesday 27 June, 18-30 -20.30, St Margaret’s Church Hall, St Margaret’s Road, Prestwich. 

Our speaker is Councillor Lisa Smart, Deputy Leader of the Opposition on Stockport Council, and the Liberal Democrat Target Parliamentary Candidate for Hazel Grove constituency.

The event is free and open to the public. We ask everyone to register for a free ‘ticket’ in advance so that we can manage number.

18.30 to 19.00 Doors and Light Refreshments
19.00 to 19.45 Speaker
19.45 to 20.30 Q&A

Event details can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/events/170488923669159/

Metrolink New Fare Zones – Public Consultation

A new zonal fares system is being proposed for Metrolink. The proposal would replace the existing ‘station to station’ fare system with a zonal system – similar to London’s travel network.

You have the opportunity to share your feedback ahead of any final decision being made about the proposed change with a survey before 17 June. Take the survey here.

According to T4GM, the proposal would make using Metrolink simpler, more convenient and better value for money.

The proposal for Metrolink would introduce four ringed zones on the network.

Regular tram users will notice that the proposals put many fares up! For example Prestwich to Manchester is put up 20p (single) and 40p (return).

In our view Metrolink is horrifically expensive compared to other modes of transport. An annual season ticket from Marple to Manchester Piccadilly (18 miles) is £1,030. Heaton Park to Manchester is 4 miles and £930.

Last year investigations from the Lib Dems revealed that 12% of Metrolink journeys are not paid for, so honest passengers are paying for the 1 in 8 journeys that are not.

This is our opportunity to have a say on the new fares proposals – you can do so here.

Reporting Back: Full Council

Last Wednesday was Bury’s ‘Annual Meeting’, the yearly meeting which follows the local elections in May.

The meeting is in two parts, a ‘business’ Annual Meeting, and a largely ceremonial ‘Mayor Making’ second part.

Because there was only a slight change in the composition of the Council this year the Annual Meeting didn’t many significant changes:
– Labour will be running the Council, with a Labour Leader and Cabinet with no changes.
– Council confirmed the appointment of Geoff Little as Chief Executive, although the recruitment had been done by an interview panel, the appointment must be ratified by full Council.
– Appointments were made to the Council’s committees and working groups. This year the Liberal Democrat group have been asked to chair the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which will be undertaken by Councillor Mary D’Albert.
– Councillor Tim Pickstone has been re-elected as Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Steve Wright will serve as Deputy Group Leader.
– Tim Pickstone has also been re-appointed to one of the Greater Manchester Scrutiny Committees which looks at the work of the Mayor and Combined Authority. Steve Wright has been appointed to the Board of Six Town Housing.
– In the second part of the meeting Councillor Jane Black (Labour) was appointed as Mayor for 2018-19. The previous Mayor, Councillor Dorothy Gunther (Conservative) will serve as Deputy Mayor.

Lib Dem Lords inflict more defeats on Tory government

Our Peers are fighting back against the Tory government’s hard Brexit.

Last week Theresa May suffered yet another series of damning defeats in the Lords, exposing the ever-increasing anger at her administration’s undemocratic, destructive approach to Brexit.

So far the government has been defeated a total of 14 times, with the Lords rejecting the Brexit deadline and exit date, securing a meaningful vote in the Commons, and quashing attempts to hand ministers ‘blank cheque’ powers.

Both Tory and Labour Peers have voted with their conscience, defying their parties’ whips.

24 Tory peers voted against their own government, forcing them to report back on UK-EU Customs Union negotiations: there have been a staggering 168 Tory votes against the government.

Just yesterday more than 80 Labour peers ignored party policy and voted with the Lib Dems to maintain membership of the European Economic Area.

There have been a total of 4,092 votes against the government during the report stage, showing definitive support for the Lib Dem campaign against Brexit.

The Lib Dem Lords are leading the charge and will continue to hold the government to account, fighting for the ultimate form of accountability: handing the final say on Brexit back to the people.

Campaign to exempt overseas NHS Staff from Charges

Local Lib Dems are backing the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in its campaign to persuade the Government to exempt overseas nurses working in the NHS to stop being charged to receive care for themselves and their families.

Under a system introduced in 2015, non-EEA nationals must pay a £200 overseas health surcharge per family member for every year on the main sponsor’s work permit. It’s resulted in some overseas nurses receiving requests for more than £3,000 to cover possible use of the NHS.

In February, the Government confirmed it will double the cost from £200 to £400 later this year and has so far refused to rule out extending the fees to EU migrants after Brexit.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Mary D’Albert said: “We have a chronic shortage of nurses in this country, and at the moment we have 25,000 nurses from outside the EU working in the NHS. All of them pay income tax and National Insurance as well as providing a key public service.

These people keep the NHS running; they are the very last people who should ever be sent up-front invoices for health care.”

There are also 21,000 EU nurses working in the NHS, who will be fearing what the system will be post Brexit.

Single Market defeat sends a clear message

Tonight, the House of Lords has racked up three more victories for common sense on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

The Government have received their eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth defeats in the House of Lords during the Report stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill. 

A vote on an amendment to ensure our future interaction with EU law and agencies was passed by a cross-bench majority of 298 to 227

A further vote on an amendment to remove the exit date from the bill passed by a cross-bench majority of 311 to 233.

And finally, an amendment that would keep Britain in the single market passed with a cross-bench majority of 245 to 218

These votes were a victory for common-sense.

Of course if the UK wishes to remain in specific agencies, such as Euratom, it should be able to. This allows us to replicate EU law and means that we can continue our role in any agency that we wish to if it is of obvious benefit.

The Government needs to swallow its pride and keep the benefits of being in European agencies.

Furthermore, the victory on the single market amendment sends a clear message to those sat around the Cabinet table that Parliament won’t just sit back while Theresa May leads us towards a hard Brexit.

245 Peers from all parties and none have voted to stay in the Single Market and protect the UK economy, defeating a Government hell-bent on pursuing ideology over prosperity.

Local Elections – Thank you!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the Liberal Democrats in the local elections last week.

In Bury:
– The Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Tim Pickstone, was elected in Holyrood Ward.
– In next door St Mary’s Ward, Michael Powell narrowly failed to take the seat from Labour, this time by 56 votes. This was despite a terrific 250 vote increase in the Liberal Democrat support.
– In most other wards there was increased support for the Liberal Democrat candidates in many wards.

The new composition of Bury Council is: Labour 31, Conservatives 17 and Liberal Democrats 3.

Across England, the Liberal Democrats saw the best local election results for 15 years.

Highlights included:
– retaining control of South Lakeland, Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Sutton and Watford, including defending the elected mayor of Watford.
– taking control (from the Conservatives) of London Borough of Richmond, London Borough of Kingston, South Cambridgeshire Council and Three Rivers Council (the latter from No Overall Control).
– Significant gains in many other councils, the biggest being Hull (9 more councillors) and Haringey (6 more councillors).
– 77 more councillors nationally
– 16% of the vote in the BBC’s notional national share of the vote.

More information at the Liberal Democrats national website.

Thursday is Polling Day!

Thursday is polling day in the important local elections in our area.

Polling stations are open 7am to 10pm. You do NOT need your polling card to vote. Here are details of polling stations in our area. If you have a postal vote that you’ve not been able to return you can the completed vote to the polling station on the day.

If you want to help the Lib Dems win on Thursday call 07976 831 686 or come into our HQ at 17 Prestwich Park Road South, Prestwich M25 9PF.

Reporting Back: Answers to Questions

Earlier this month was the regular meeting of Bury’s Full Council. The Liberal Democrat team always take the opportunity to ask our full quote of questions to the Leader of the Council. Here are some highlights:

We asked about the levels of uncollected bins:
Could the Leader inform members of the numbers of bins which are reported by residents as uncollected, by bin type, for the previous three financial years?

Answer
The total number of bins reported to the Customer Contact Centre as missed for the previous 3 financial year. The figures do not include the self-serve missed bins forms and are based on a total of 82,850 properties and does not include any increase for new properties over the 3 year period.

(summary – for the full figures by colour of bin see the link below)
2015/16 – 5495
2016-18 – 7141
2018-19 – 6454

Missed collections may be as a result of several reasons such as access problems particularly in narrow back street collections, weather conditions and mechanical breakdown.

Apparently these figures do NOT include bins reported as not collected through online forms, which seems like a gap in the system especially the Council is encouraging people to use online more. We will follow up on this.

In a previous meeting of the Council, we were given a promise that bus lanes in the south of the Borough would be reviewed. (This followed the successful removal of the bus lane on Rochdale Road in Bury.) We asked why nothing had happened yet:

Answer
The review will not take place until the GM Congestion Plan and GM Air Quality Plan have been completed and their requirements fully determined and understood. This is because there is a possibility that the emphasis on bus lanes may have change in order to drive through meaningful progress to meet the aspirations of these plans. Consequently, any bus lane review undertaken too early would result in the outcomes being framed in completely the wrong context.

We asked about media reports about LED Street lights:
Recent reports have indicated that LED street lighting can have a negative impact on both wildlife and on human eyesight. Could the Leader inform members what actions are being taken to review this information what impact will this have on our lighting policies?

Answer
There has been much discussion on this issue, with many articles being published in the press and online. Unfortunately, many articles (both for and against) appear to be personal opinion without any credible source, or appropriate professional qualification of the author. As such, it is a difficult task to sort fact from fiction at this moment in time.
Staff are not aware of any official advice, or guidance, identifying any risk to health.
The Scientific Committee on Health, Environment and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) produced a Preliminary Opinion on “Potential risks to human health of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)”, which was adopted on the 6th of July 2017.
Section 6.11 “Overall conclusion” states: “The Committee concludes that there is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs in normal use (lighting and displays) by the general healthy population.”
All LED lanterns used within the Borough have been sourced from reputable, well established, manufacturers and conform to all
Council Questions – 11 April 2018
required British and European standards.
Our main supplier is Philips Lighting, whose LED lanterns conform to BS EN 62471 Risk Group 1 – No photobiological hazard under normal behavioural limitations.
Staff will continue to monitor information provided by the manufacturers, guidance from the respective professional bodies, such as the Institution of Lighting Professionals, and also information provided by the Council’s Health & Safety Advisors, who often receive information and guidance from the Health & Safety Executive.
It is not possible to say what impact this will have on our policies until a specific risk has been identified.

Reporting Back: Arena Bombing and the Fire Service

Last week was the regular monthly meeting of the Greater Manchester Corporate Issues and Reform Scrutiny Committee. This report is from the Liberal Democrat representative on the Committee,  Prestwich councillor Tim Pickstone.

Last week’s meeting mainly focussed on the very significant issues raised in the Kerslake Report into the 2017 Arena bombing terrorist incident and the response of the Fire Service. Amongst other things this Scrutiny Committee is responsible looking into the work of our local fire service.

A non- statutory independent review of the events and aftermath of the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack were commissioned, chaired by cross-bench Peer Lord Kerslake. This Review has focused on Greater Manchesters’ preparedness for and response to the attack and the nine days that followed it.

The review has identified what a range of responding agencies did well on the night and during the following week that helped people as well as what could have been done better.

The Scrutiny Committee specifically focussed on the work of the fire service, with both the Elected Mayor (who is responsible for fire services) and the Acting Fire Commander there to answer questions from councillors.

As people will have read in the media, the significant issue was the time between Greater Manchester Fire being alerted of an incident, and attending the scene at Manchester Victoria, which was almost two hours.

A full report and timeline is here.

Some of the issues raised by councillors included:

  • Issues of seemingly poor communications between the Fire Service and other emergency services, and more can be done to ensure that this works better in the future.
  • Issues around morale in the fire service, and whether working practices can be updated.
  • Lessons learnt from the fire service in updating its own procedures in dealing with bombs.
  • How the lessons learnt in Greater Manchester were already being taken to make change in procedures nationally.

I asked specifically about the issue of the procedure of the Fire Service (and this is Government guidance not a Greater Manchester procedure) that in the event of a shooting terrorist attack to withdraw to a ‘safe distance’ of 0.5km. I asked how Fire Service was developing its thinking on the balance between the need to protect fire fighters, with the need to protect the public. This is not a simple issue but I feel that we need to think about how the public would be protected in a major incident in the future, where 0.5km would cover a large part of our city centre.