Bury South Liberal Democrats have welcomed plans to boost affordable housing and avoid home repossession. 

The plans, launched by the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP and Shadow Housing Minister Sarah Teather MP, include: 

• providing refurbishment loans for owners of empty homes if the homes are leased to housing associations,

• boosting the amount of private housing for rent including using empty commercial property temporarily as housing,

• bringing in a new type of secure mortgage to help boost lending to house buyers,

• letting councils and housing associations buy up unsold private houses and allowing them access to funds to bring their homes up to social housing standards,

• making sure the courts allow repossession only as a last resort.

Parliamentary spokesperson for Bury South Lib Dems, Vic D’Albert said, “There are many people right across Radcliffe, Whitefield and Prestwich who are struggling to get their own home or are facing repossession because of the recession. We must do all we can to help residents through these bad times. 

“Many homes built just before the recession started lie empty, often because the banks are not lending to people wanting to buy, yet there are many people needing a place to live. We want to unblock the system and our plans will help to do that. 

“Giving housing associations and councils the opportunity to buy up empty homes that builders cannot sell will mean hundreds of local families will be able to rent a place of their own.

With a package worth more than £16m and payments of £650,000 per year for the rest of his life no wonder Sir Fed Goodwin is trying to hang onto his pension from failed bank RBS.

And this all comes at the same time has his bank  RBS announce the biggest loss in corporate history and require a further £13 billion bail out from us, the taxpayer - equivalent to every person in the country handing over about £215.

The problem is of course Sir Fred was at the helm of this bank at the time of its demise and arguably can be held at least partially responsible for the strategic decisions that ultimately proved so costly, not just to the bank but the taxpayer as well. Which of course is why he had to go at the time of the collapse.

So why then did the bank offer Sir Fred such a massive pay off? A bank fails, and they not only agree to pay his pension etc but top it up with what we now know are discretionery elements.  It’s smacks less of a golden goodbye and more of a golden shutup and keep shtum.

I think first and foremost the board of RBS needs to explain and justify to the British taxpayer WHY these massive discretionery elements to his pension scheme were paid at the same time as they were going cap in hand to the Government.

Secondly if all reason and moral obligation fails to persuade Sir Fred then it really is incumbent on this Government to take all necessary action.

The message has to be sent out loud and clear that as a country, and especially in times such as these, we cannot sit back and reward failure, especially when that failure leads directly to financial misery, and employment uncertaintly to be heaped on fellow employees and all associated with RBS.

Thirdly the Government has to take action to ensure that this nonsense one rule for the those at the top of the tree, one rule for the rest culture is ended once and for all.

I have always believed in fair pay for a fair days work. That should extend to all employment benefits and apply to everyone, from the cleaner to the Chief Exec.

Lets hope common sense and a sense of moral duty comes to the fore in the meantime.

Bury Conservatives have ignored the recession and forced through an inflation busting 4.79% Council Tax increase amidst cuts to public services at the special Budget setting Council meeting last night.

Much of the debate was focussed on the proposals to cut youth services in the second year of the 3 year budget approved. The Conservatives plan to cut £200,000 from the service by outsourcing aspects of this vital service.  A large number of young people attended to ask questions and lobby against the proposals.

The other controversial issue was the proposal to save money by turning  a number of street lights off at night. Full details of this proposal are yet to emerge, however it has to be made clear that this is a money saving measure from the Conservatives NOT an environmental energy saving measure. It clearly has not been thought through as yet and may well take some persuading before it happens. But that doesn’t bother the Conservatives.

Whilst there was a welcome cash injection for disabled adult services which has struggled with adequate funding, there were cuts across the service spectrum and further use of reserves.

Opposition parties proposed amendments which were both defeated by the Conservatives. The Lib Dems proposed an additional £300,000 for local street repairs and an additional £300,000 in support of a apackage of measures to support local businesses through the recession over the next 12 months. In addition we proposed a review of youth services - but significantly with a view to ploughing back any savings directly into providing better youth services across the borough.

The debate was marred by the constant “bating”, provocation and insulting behaviour by a number of senior members which in my opinion bordered on showing a lack of respect for their office and threatened to reduce the debate to a cross between a playground squabble and a circus.

I raised concerns in the debate that the Conservative group were using the budget to announce major policy initiatives involving significant resources, without any consideration by officers, scrutiny by councillors nor consultation with the public. This could lead to serious problems as the year progresses.

It is now clear to me that the Conservative strategy is to bump up Council Tax this year and cut services as there are no elections. Then prior to next years elections we will see more cuts in an attempt to set a council tax as close to 0% as possible. Politics of manipulation, deceit and cynicism.  

Radcliffe born director Danny Boyle, Bury based band Elbow and Paralympian Zoë Robinson are set to be given the Freedom of the Borough in recognition of their outstanding individual successes over the past year.

Guy Garvey, Mark Potter, Craig Potter, Richard Jupp and Pete Turner from, the Mercury Award and Brit Award winning band Elbow, formed at Bury College in the mid 1990s and all have roots in the town.

Zoe Robinson, lives in the north of the borough and attends Boccia training sessions at Bury’ Castle Leisure Centre on a regular basis.

Oscar winning film director, Danny Boyle grew up in Radcliffe and his family still live in the town.

Borough Councils can confer the status of Honorary Freemen of the Borough on  persons of distinction and those who have rendered eminent services to the Borough. This is carried out at a specially convened meeting of the full Council, where the Freeman are presented with the honour.

The Freedom is the highest tribute that a Borough can bestow and although in modern times it is an honour only and does not confer any legal rights, Honorary Freemen are invariably invited to take part in all important ceremonial occasions in the Borough.

The proposals are currently being drawn up so that they can be put before a special meeting of Bury Council for approval.

In recent times this honour had been bestowed on long serving councillors who had served in excess of 30 years on Bury Council. The last time the status of honorary freeman was bestowed was on former Councillor Bill “Mr Tottington” Johnson. 

Personally I can think of no finer local examples of hard work, endeavour and the pursuit of excellence than these recipients.  

Jack Straws decision to veto publication of cabinet minutes relating to lead up to the Iraq war will reinforce the view that there is a cabinet/Government cover up on this issue, further damaging the Labour Government and landing another blow against our democracy.

Remember this decision is in light of a court judgement instructing the Information Officer (FOI) to release papers. Jack Straw insists that releasing such documents will damage Cabinet discussions and debate of important issues. However I beleive there is an overriding need in this case for the British people to discover what went on. We need to know what debate took place , what advice was given that ultimately led this country into an illegal war and the deaths of thousands of innocent people and many of our brave service personnel.

We are being denied the truth from a Government that increasingly fails to recognise the essential need for transparency, openness and individual freedom.

This is a disgraceful act from a discredited Government.

My deepest condolences to David Cameron and his family on the tragic death of his eldest son, Ivan aged just 6.

The death of a young child is always the most tragic of all and the death of a son/daughter is the most devastating of nightmares that any parent can conceivably face.

As a parent myself my thoughts are with him at this time as I’m sure are those of many millions more.

The Five Stars Appeal on Bury New Road has just notified the Area Partnership of a new monthly networking event at Croma Prestwich which will be held on the last Wednesday of every month. This will be a very informal affair with no joining fee, no commitment and everybody is welcome. Croma Prestwich and Five Stars Appeal are looking at working together with the local community through this difficult time, to encourage new relationship building that will be of benefit to all.

You will be greeted with a glass of wine before heading up to the mezzanine to mix and mingle with local business people, a selection of mini pizza and dough balls will be served during the evening.

Where              Croma Prestwich

                        The Radius , 30 The Longfield Centre

When               Wednesday 25^th February

Time                6.00-9.00pm

Cost                 £10.00 per person (to be prepaid)

To reserve your place at this new event please contact Nicola@fivestarsappeal.co.uk or call 0161 798 8901 or 0789 9971000

I have just been copied into this complaint to the Council. (I have removed names etc to protect privacy).  

“I am writing to you regarding an ongoing saga of the lamppost outside my house at xx Heys Road, Prestwich, The overview, for those not yet familiar, is that on 5 November 2008 the lamppost outside my house was knocked down. One of your engineers came out within a few hours, made safe the debris and marked out where a replacement lamppost would be placed. After a few days the debris was taken away.

From that point on I have been phoning every few weeks asking when a new lamppost will be fitted – there is a complaint in your system for you to see the exact chronology but it seems that from the 5 November to 5 December nothing was done as the report seems to have been lost in your system. A new lamppost was eventually erected but not connected to any power as this is the job of United Utilities. I have been informed by Mr xxxx that United Utilities have had some sort of teething trouble with their new job scheduling system and that the new lamppost would be connected on 20 February 2009. It is now 23 Feb and there is still no power to the lamppost.”

I will be pressing the council to ensure that this is issue is dealt with and that the street light is connected. In many ways though this highlights a common problem. Much time is wasted in “agency” working between the Council and others. In this case the Council acted promptly only for United Utilities to badly let down the Council and the long suffering resident. It’s a ridiculous situation and one that greater powers need to address perhaps with a legislative committment to deal with such issues within a certain time frame or face heavy penalties.

You may have seen in the local press that Prestwich Area Partnership is launching Prestwich Festival this year. It will start with the Clough day on May 17th and finish with the Carnival on June 21st.

We want lots of entertaining events in between using local facilities and organised by local groups, associations, schools, church,faith groups etc.

Basically we want to showcase Prestwich Talent and bring back Prestwich success stories to inspire the next generation , and oh yes , raise lots of dosh for local charities and for local projects.

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO CAN HELP? CAN YOU HELP ?

Get in touch and lets get Prestwich buzzing this May/June. For more information go to my Prestwich Festival page and go to the launch meeting, Thursday March 5th, 7pm at Prestwich Arts College .

It has just been announced that repossessions last year rose 54% to 40.000. Meanwhile at the same time it was announced that the Governments home owner support scheme (to support people struggling with their mortgages) has been delayed and put back to at least April.

At the very time people need such a scheme they are faced with delays. In some instances this delay will prove critical and effectively mean even more families will lose their homes. The Government has got to react more effectively to support people through this recession. No gimmicks, No spin, just hard, fast, effective action.

In the North West it was announced that repossessions were up 8% for the last 3 months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007. This compares well with the South West up 20% , but poorly compared to Wales up only 1%. However the only statistic that will matter to many will be the repossession they face.

The Government must redouble efforts to ensure there are no further delays and that if possible they can bring forward this urgently needed support for people in severe arrears.