With just over 100 days to go until the local and general elections, I have been very busy getting out on the streets of Bury North talking to people. I have also been recently selected to fight myself in the Heywood and Middleton parliamentary election. The elections are due to place on May 7th.
The next “Super Saturday” campaigning event in Bury North is this Saturday 31st May. If you are interested in helping then please let me know and I will give you more details.
I’ve just been informed by the Police that tomorrow evening’s PACT meeting at Tottington Library’s annex “Space 2” has been postponed due to operational reasons with the Police officers that were due to attend.
As soon I hear when the new meeting is arranged I’ll let you know.
Firstly, apologies for the delay since the last update. I have been very busy dealing with Council casework and also standing in the Heywood and Middleton Parliamentary By-Election. It was a good experience that I’ll never forget and thank you to everyone in Tottington for their good luck messages and support. The good news with me not winning is that I can carry on helping and representing everyone in Tottington, Walshaw and Affetside as their local Councillor!
Fighting for Forty on Turton Rd
Still waiting for news from the Town Hall regarding the 40mph campaign for Turton Road. Residential areas everywhere are being reduced to 20mph to make them safer, it makes complete sense to reduce Turton Road to 40mph from 60mph.
Pavement Parking on Rhode St/Lyndon Close
Due to complaints over a long period of time regarding pavement parking on the junction , Council Officers are proposing to introduce yellow lines on the corners of Rhode St/ Lyndon Close. I have fed back all views expressed by residents,including those in favour and those against but the Council’s Traffic Management Unit wish to put safety first and introduce the restrictions on the bend to prevent accidents.
Broadband Update
I know it must be extremely frustrating for residents of Affetside and Hawkshaw who are still without high speed broadband coverage despite the huge levels of Government investment taking place in the Greater Manchester region. David Nuttall, MP has recently requested in Parliament that extra funding streams be identified to address the problem of new Broadband Cabinets needing to be installed. Apparently, the current funding criteria does not make provision for investment in new Cabinets which is why Affetside and Hawkshaw are not being included BDUK’s HSBB roll-out at present. David and I will continue to fight together with The Bury Rural Inequalities Forum to overcome this problem.
PACT Meeting at Tottington Library, 6.30PM, Wednesday 29th October
Councillor Yvonne Wright and I will be there, together with local police, who will be updating us on recent crime and ASB incidents. If you would like to raise any incidents please do come along and speak directly to your local police officer and PCSO.
And Finally…Last Week’s Council Meeting
It was interesting to find out that the Council have had to spend £450,000 on publicising the new 3 weekly bin collection regime. My Group’s motion to reconsider implementing this new collection regime was voted down by all Labour Councillor’s who have completely ignored the wishes of the vast majority of residents in our Borough to keep Grey Bin collections at 2 weekly.
In relation to the Adult Care Services Review, I wanted to know exactly how much of a stake Bury Council will have in the new “Social Enterprise Company” that will be taking over of the running of services. Unfortunately, the answer I got back evaded the question so we’ll have to wait and see. Should the stake be minimal or nothing then I would say that this could be viewed as Privatisation through back door. Surely a Labour ran Council wouldn’t do this….would they??
Last week, a group of local Conservatives and I sought permission from a private landowner to cut back this overgrown land facing the Walshaw War Memorial. This is how the land looked before we got stuck in!
After a couple hours and many trips to the tip and back it was starting to look better.
And then after 4 hours – what a difference! We plan to do some more landscaping work on it and maybe look at planting some bulbs.
The residents of Turton rd have had enough of speeding vehicles, and want the Council and the Police to reduce the speed limit to 40 MPH on the de-restricted part of the road. Many residents turned out to march along the road, which has since been publicised in the Bury Times.
Last week, Cllr Yvonne Wright and I was out on the streets of Tottington asking residents to complete our “2 Minute Survey” on the local issues that matter the most to them. Unsurprisingly, Labour’s 3 weekly bin collection proposal was a hot topic with more than 97% of residents against the idea. If we have missed you, then please complete the contact form and let me know about any issues you are concerned about.
After a very busy few weeks, I’ve finally got the chance to update my blog.
WW1 Remembrance Services at Bury Parish Church on Sunday 3rd & Monday 4th August
I attended both of the services to remember all of the fallen from Bury in WW1 in this the 100 anniversary of the outbreak of WW1.
On Monday evening, I took part in reading out some 2,500 names from Bury Parish Church records who fought and died. It took over 3 hours to complete but every name was read out in slow and dignified manner.
40 mph Speed Limit for Turton Rd Update
After the 500+ named petition was presented to full Council on the 9th July, the campaign is now being cranked up with plans of a demonstration / walk up and down Turton Rd with placards saying “Fighting for 40!”. Mr & Mrs Grundy, Eileen Grimshaw and Cllr Yvonne Wright are currently organising this to take place on Saturday 16th August at 10am – meeting at the bottom of the Woodstock estate.
Bury Council’s Traffic Management Unit are due to meet in September to maker a decision so we need to be a visual as possible in the local media to show the strength of feeling about this.
3 Weekly Grey Bin Collections
As Chairman of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel, I called a special meeting last week examining this controversial policy from the Labour Party. Many angry members from the public turned up to ask questions to the Labour Cabinet members responsible for deciding to implement this policy. The panel had the choice to refer the decision to a Bury Full Council meeting in September in order to give all Councillors across the borough the chance to debate this, but unfortunately the 9 Labour members of the panel voted not do anything. The 3 Conservative members (Me included) voted to refer this back to Full Council.
However, given that a petition with over 3,000 names on it has been presented to the Council then, under the Council’s Constitution, the matter will now have to be debated in Council anyway in September. Bury Conservatives position is clear:- WE SAY NO TO 3 WEEKLY COLLECTIONS! There are other options available which could save the Council money and also increase the re-cycling rate.
And Finally….
I’ve just heard news that traffic management unit at the Council will be put parking restrictions at the junction between Rhode St and Lyndon Close. Residents have been suffering for a long time about difficulties accessing their driveways due to parked vehicles on both bends at the Junction. This must be very welcome news for the residents of Rhode St and Lyndon Close.
A decision was made by the ruling Labour Councillors at this weeks meeting of Bury Council’s Cabinet to implement 3 weekly grey bin collections.
Whilst I’m all in favour of recycling, I feel that every 3 weeks for a grey bin collection is one step too far given the limited size of the grey bin. Bury will be the first Council in the country to do this.
I am aware of many families in Tottington, who’s grey bin is near to being full, or full after 2 weeks. I know that they will just not be able to get all their waste in a grey bin that is only collected every 3 weeks.
I know that many residents in the last year have had the Council urging them to downsize their bins to help recycling and many (Including new residents) received a much smaller 140 litre grey bin. Will they now be allowed to upgrade to a 240 litre bin, or get a second smaller grey bin? Many residents in terraced homes could not fit another grey bin in their gardens.
The Labour Party have a clear political agenda of moving to monthly bin collections. The Labour-run Welsh Government is doing it in Wales, and now Labour councils are following in England. It will harm the environment by fuelling fly-tipping, and rips off taxpayers by cutting the services they pay for in council tax.
Having only received the proposals 7 days before the meeting certainly gives the impression that they have “Railroaded” this decision through. Such a serious decision should have merited much more consultation.
The Viridor Laing contract presently does not allow items such as margarine and yogurt pots and other plastics to be recycled in the blue bins whereas many other local authority contracts do. Would it therefore not be a good idea to try and renegotiate the contract to see if they will allow those items which would then boost Bury’s recycling rates?
As Chairman of the Council’s Scrutiny Committee – I have decided to ‘Call in’ this decision to reduce the frequency of collections. The meeting has now been confirmed to be held, in public, on Wednesday 30 July at 7pm at Bury Town Hall. All residents are welcome to attend to ask questions or make comment at the start of the meeting.
Please do send me your views by inserting your name, email address and comments below and pressing submit. Finally, for an update on the Affetside 480 Bus Service and the campaign to lower the speed limit on Turton Rd please visit Cllr Yvonne Wright’s latest Blog entry at cllryvonnewright.wordpress.com
It has recently emerged that Rossendale buses and “Transport for Greater Manchester” are planning to withdraw this vital bus service from Affetside.
Over the past few weeks, the many local around Affetside have been campaigning against this move. Cllr Yvonne Wright and I have surveyed many residents and we are still compiling a list of who uses it. Our latest estimate is well over 30%.
Local resident, Joanne Wilcock, has been hard at work in putting together 3 Options that could be suggested to TFGM in order to save the bus service. These are :-
Option 1 would have the 480 bus pass through Affetside and Harwood and return up Bradshaw Road to continue its route as per the porposal on 1st Aug (through Hawkshaw and Greenmount to Bury). This would need two buses going in opposite directions.
Option 2 would have the 480 bus pass through Affetside and Harwood and then turn left at the end of Tottington Road at the Seven Stars to connect Ainsworth where there is a bus turnaround. It could then retrace its steps to Affetside and continue as above. Again Bolton passengers would need to change at Harwood onto the 507
Option 3 is for either the Rossendale 480 or the FIRST bus 469 that currently terminates in Tottington to come up Turton Road , pass through Affetside and Harwood and then turn around to retrace its steps at the BRADSHAW turnaround near to St Maxentius Church. Passengers for Bolton again could change at Harwood.
It is our understanding that Cllr Noel Bayley who represents Bury Council on Transport for Greater Manchester has been made aware of these suggestions and will present them to TFGM shortly. Let’s hope TFGM and Rossendale buses adopt one of these options!
Dear Residents,
Thank you for re-electing me on Thursday 22nd May to serve for you all for another 4 year term on Bury Council. I feel honoured and proud to be able to continue representing our local area and I promise to do my best to get the best deal I can for our ward. I will continue to actively help keep our local area clean and tidy, together with local volunteers and park rangers as well as supporting local groups and associations.
I will also fight to maintain and improve services that you regularly use in other parts of our Borough, such as Bury Central Library. As mentioned in my election address, Bury Conservatives want to see it restored to it’s former self with books rather than sculptures! We also want to see the removal of bus lanes to improve the flow of traffic and stop fining motorists who in some instances are unable to avoid encroaching into them.
The blight of pot-holes on our roads will also be a key focus and I will continue campaign for more unused reserves to be spent on fixing our highways in a state of disrepair.
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Judith Kelly, who fought a good campaign against me and I wish her all the best for the future.
Me and Judith with Cllr Yvonne Wright and members of Incredible Edible, Tottington at Pumpkin Fest.
Since my last blog update, I have been very busy talking to residents and dealing with many issues. In particular, I am currently liaising with the Council, Police and other agencies to :-
As many of you will be aware, I am standing for election to continue to represent you at Bury Town Hall for another 4 years on Thursday 22nd May. If you are registered to vote by post then you should have received your postal ballots by now. If you are voting on Thursday 22nd May but you are unsure where your polling station is then please contact me on 07824 865 571. If you have still not received your postal ballot then again please contact me on my mobile if you would like assistance in voting (I can also provide lifts to and from the polling station).
Thank You for reading my blog and I hope you have found it useful and informative. I’m off out again now on the campaign trail on the streets of Tottington, Walshaw and Affetside !
Iain.
Dear Residents of Tottington, Walshaw and Affetside,
On Thursday 22nd May, you will have the chance to vote in two sets of elections on the same day – Local elections to decide on who represents you in Tottington Ward on Bury Council and European elections to decide who will represent the North West region in the European Parliament.
I am standing for re-election as one of your Conservative Councillors. Since I was elected nearly ten years ago, along with my colleague Councillor Yvonne Wright I have been contacted by many of you and hopefully have been able to help with lots of different problems.
Due to the date of the European elections being fixed across Europe, the local elections which are normally held on the first Thursday in May, have been put back to May 22nd this year so voters only have to go out to vote once. Many people in Tottington, Walshaw and Affetside already vote by post because they may be away at work during the day, or because of ill health they find it difficult to the get to the polling station or simply because they find it more convenient.
If you would like to vote by post please contact me by the 6th May at the latest by ringing me personally on 07824 865 571 or e-mailing me on iaingartside@yahoo.com and I will ensure you get the simple one page application form which you will need and which is very easy to fill in.
I look forward to hearing from you if you need my help.
Kind Regards
Iain
P.S You can always take the postal vote in person to your local polling station if you don’t want to risk returning it by post.
iaingartside 