Bury Liberal Democrats are calling for a commitment from Bury Council to clamp down on graffiti across the borough.

The Lib Dems have launched a “6 to fix graffiti” campaign and are challenging the Conservative-run Council to take a zero-tolerance approach to the problem.

Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Bury South commented, “Bury Council has failed to tackle the problem of graffiti. We have to show our support for local people who are the victims of this crime, and our commitment to our community which shouldn’t have to put up with vandalism like this.”

“Despite graffiti being an issue for several months now, all the Tories at the Town Hall have done so far is issue Area Partnerships a few graffiti cleaning kits. While that’s a start it’s a wholly inadequate response to the problem. They are telling us we should clean the mess ourselves, but it’s the Council that should be tackling the problem. The Conservatives running Bury Council talk about writing a policy, but it’s taking months and it’s not getting rid of any graffiti.”

“It’s time Bury Conservatives showed some leadership on this issue and worked alongside local police, residents groups and others to tackle the problem head on. It’s spoiling our town”

Lib Dems have identified 6 points they would like to see developed to fix the problem of graffiti.

1.      Local people – encouraged to challenge graffiti, report graffiti 

2.      Bury Council – to commit  to clean up graffiti quickly

3.      Local Businesses – pledge to clean up graffiti on their property 

4.      Police – to catch the offenders and punish them including getting them to clean their own mess up

5.      Schools & Youth Service– to educate and challenge pupil perceptions and opinions

6.      Utitility Companies – to work with Bury Council and commit to cleaning sites swiftly.

“We believe we have been patient with Bury Council, but now we need action not more warm words from Bury Conservatives. Let’s see some commitment to our communities, A coordinated effort and zero tolerance.”

50p Fare’s Fair Petition

Lib Dems in Prestwich have been campaigning for a flat rate bus fare for children in full time education.This will enable some of the most vulnerable in society to afford decent public transport.

Local Councillor Vic D’Albert said: “The Government is forcing concessionary fares up yet again to an unacceptable level. We should be providing public transport at affordable prices for children and young people at school and college.”

“Not only would this be great news for local children and young people, but it’s great news for the environment with car journeys jamming up our roads”

We’re calling on the Government to fund 50p bus travel for ALL children under 16 and those in full time education up to 18 years old.’

‘I/We, the undersigned call on the Government to fund 50p bus travel for ALL children under 16 and those in full time education up to 18 years old.’

What a week I’ve just had annoying and frustratin at times but very busy.

Monday was our liberal group meeting alot was discussed but unfortunately not for publication, however I think I made a big mistake. In an attempt to point out how good the group was at updating our websites I said that every time I look at Mycouncillor.org there is always someone from Sedgley mentionned I did mean to say Prestwich its no wonder I was getting daggers from around the table anyway upwards and onwards.

Tuesday it was my sub group Participation of young people we are getting close to some recomendations and the mood was very positive. Although I had to step in at one point. One of the officers on the sub group said how pleased she was that the young people had recently organised a demonstration about the proposed changes to the youth service. At this point Cllr Ahmed (Tory) started to defend the executive and how mis guide the youth were. Now Cllr Ahmed is six months a councillor also on the sub group is Cllr Davison (Lib) and Cllr Byrne (Lab) both these gents have a good twenty years experience at the Town Hall and royal Pointed out his errors about the youth service. I Decided to give them all a couple of minutes to get it out of their systems. Then I had to step in and point out that we had to get back on track with the sub group.

Wednesday saw the council budget meeting another mockery to the democratic system. The headline fibure is 4.79% increase to the council tax. The debate was started by questions from the public. There were 7 questions in total from members of the youth cabinet, althought Cllr Ashworth had prepared answers it still highlighted the incompetance of this council. In one breath she mentionned there would be a full consultation which the youth acbinet could participate in, the very next question she said the youth cabinet will be involved in the decision to choose a new provider - proving that the decision has already been made.

The questions were followed by a Tirade from Cllr Redstone who was moving the Budget for 2009,2010-2011,2012. The majority of his speech was a party political broadcast for the conservatives in  Bury. The little bit he gave to the budget was Turning off the street lights at certain times in certain places, reducing the book fund and changing swimming pool opening hours.

Thursday was a call in meeting for Children and yong peoples scrutiny this was about the closure sorry federation or amalgamation oh I don’t know of Radcliffe Riverside and The Derby high. The Basics are surplus places in schools in Bury - answer close a school, conservatives favourite choice Radcliffe Riverside 1st and only problem they think is a promise of a state of the art school in radcliffe  easy move The Derby there.

Hence at the meeting on thursday lots of angry Radcliffe riverside parents and The Derby parents but as usual it doesn’t matter the conservatives made sure there was enough cllr on the panel to vote down any proposal the panel might suggest- as you can see the democratic process in full operation -

steve     

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, Vic D’Albert has told Bury Council they “need to get a grip of the situation affecting Radcliffe Riverside and The Derby High Schools as they risk letting down both schools”.

Problems with the planned re-building of Radcliffe Riverside on the old East Lancashire Paper Mill site has rumbled on for months and recently new plans that envisaged utilising The Derby High School site were mooted. Then following the Councils decision being approved The Derby School Governors rejected the proposals.

Vic D’Albert said, “This whole saga has veered from concern to anguish to anger amongst those affected. And now if Bury Council don’t deal with this issue properly they risk losing millions of pounds of investment in local High Schools.”

Under the Governments’ Building Schools for the future programme, Bury Council can tap into millions of pounds of grants for rebuilding and refurbishing local schools. Bury Council planned to tap into these funds for the rebuild of Radcliffe Riverside and refurbishment of other schools. However the Government makes it conditional that the Local Authority addresses issues of spare capacity (as a result of falling rolls) and they need assurances that all affected schools support the proposals.

“The recent turn of events which has seen Radcliffe Riverside unhappy at plans and The Derby High reject the proposals, now means these proposals and the much needed funds are at best in serious jeopardy. Bury Council needs to get a grip of the situation for the benefit of all concerned. They need to bring people together, consult properly with all stakeholders and deal with this issue. If all concerned need to be locked up together in the town hall until the matter is resolved then so be it. This situation cannot be allowed to continue drifting with the arguments being raged through the local media.

If Bury’s Conservative administration fail to deal with this properly they will adversely affect the future education of thousands of high schools students.”