It’s started with a storm at Prestwich Clough and should end in glorious sunshine at Prestwich Carnival. After 35 days, 55 events, 1,000’s of visitors to events, money raised for charity Prestwich Festival puts its feet up and says goodbye for 2009 with a final weekend of fun.

The final push starts tonight with a Friday Night Social – Shangri La at 8pm at, Carlton Club, Bury Old Road featuring live music and a stand up comedian. And of course this will be followed by the customary bumper weekend of family entertainment at the Prestwich Carnival.

On Saturday 20 June a Football Tournament organized by FC United of Manchester will take place from 9am until 4pm at St. Mary’s Park.

In addition the Friends of Butterstile School will be holding their traditional fund day from 12.00 noon at Butterstile Primary School. As part of the fun all the children from the school will have the chance to enter a series of competitions to celebrate Prestwich, the four categories are photographs, poems, paintings or portraits. I understand Cllr Donal O’Hanlon is in the stocks for the wet sponge throwing. Now that’s an attraction not to be missed!

And finally on Sunday 21 June Prestwich Carnival Grand Parade kicks off at 1pm. The Parade arrives in the park at 2.30pm with six arenas showcasing local talent.

Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

Information from the Highways Agency (North West). 
The Highways Agency is advising drivers using the M60 between junctions 19 at Middleton and 23 at Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester to allow extra time to complete their journeys over the next six weekends.

Starting Friday (June 19), work is being carried out along this 6-mile section each weekend until August, weather permitting. A full carriageway closure will be in place with a contraflow on the opposite side of the motorway while the work is being carried out. Various entry and exit slip roads will also need to be closed.

The work is taking place over weekends when traffic volumes are lighter and disruption to drivers can be kept to a minimum – however some delays can be expected. Work will start each Friday at 9pm and the motorway will be fully reopened by 5am each Monday.

To ensure the ongoing safety of road-users, a 40mph speed limit will be in place throughout the roadworks – which are planned to be completed by 5am, July 27.

Overhead message signs will be used to advise drivers of the closures so they can choose an alternative route.  
The exploratory works are taking place to assess the condition of the carriageway on this section of the M60.
The Highways Agency’s North West Traffic Officer Service will deploy extra crews for the duration of the work with a dedicated patrol to cover the roadworks area and react quickly to any breakdowns or accidents to help keep drivers on the move.

The Highways Agency Regional Control Centre will be monitoring incidents and traffic conditions from motorway cameras as well as using electronic signs to provide drivers with up-to-the-minute information.

Only Cllr Bibby, the Conservative Leader of Bury Council, could manage to insult so many local people in one meeting.

The local paper is reporting that Cllr Bibby commented that being disabled was a “reality of life” after admitting that disabled children being sent to a school without disabled access would be a “bit of a problem”.

As someone who is disabled I am happy to enlighten Cllr Bibby that disability is more than a “bit of a problem” and, whilst it may be a reality of life, such throw-away remarks and obvious complete lack of understanding of disabled people, their concerns and needs in coping with the daily realities of life are  almost beyond contempt. In fact when I read the comments I had to read them twice, because I couldn’t believe that someone elected to represent local people,  including the disabled, could say such a thing.

Equally alarming is that Cllr Bibby is leader of the Council and no doubt responsible for disability stratagies and helping the disabled enjoy equal access to services and facilities. Oh dear.

Incredibly this furore came about because of the proposed closure of Riverside in a couple of years time with Radcliffe children being encouraged to attend the “non-disabled” access The Derby High School while a new Radcliffe school is being built.

Cllr Bibby hit top score in the insult stakes when not only he offended the disabled, but arguably the most vulnerable of disabled groups – the young disabled. It’s bad enough going through the inevitable growing pains and other emotional upheavals you ordinarily face at that stage in your life. You just want to fit in and join in – Something Cllr Bibby clearly doesn’t understand. I hope he has at least the courage to apologise or failing that perhaps the rest of the Conservative group will publicly distance themselves from his remarks.

If you give your people a vote to decide their Government, they expect it to count, If you tell the world you are holding democratic elections, then you have to accept the results. 

The lesson over the past week (and sadly repeated time and time again) is that democracy and fair votes is a serious business. It is to be protected, nurtured, developed. Not undermined, tampered with and discarded at will. It is not a showcase PR event for 24 hour news.

If you ask the question you have to be prepared for an answer you don’t like!

So whether it’s the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty, Irans elections or for that matter Gordon Browns reform of our democracy and voting reforms, politicians should remember democracy has the words “Fragile, handle with care” stamped all over it.

I applaud the Council’s Planning Committee for last night sticking to their guns and refusing the planning application from Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School to build a new school on green belt land near Old Hall Lane in Whitefield.

I know there were other factors, notably the under capacity at the school , but to my mind the overriding factor is that green belt land should not be built on. There is rarely an argument strong enough in my opinion to warrant removing for all time yet another green corner of our land. We must continue to take all necessary actions to protect and preserve our green belt.

So far as the school is concerned I understand their dissapointment and frustration. I would urge them to continue looking for a better location – perhaps a brownfield site in the area – but would ask them to see the big picture here, and try and understand the need to protect our diminishing green belt.

The BBC has just uploaded the sensational news that Barack Obama with a single stroke killed a fly at the White House while in the middle of a TV interview.

So not only is the leader of the free world single handedly taking on the middle east, famine, and Climate change, he is clearly targeting pests to. Does this man know no bounds!

The bad news however is that lawyers acting for the fly’s family have commenced legal proceedings.

Planners at Bury Council have given approval for state of the art new facilities at Prestwich Arts College, marking the end of a long campaign for improvements to the successful local school.

The Council’s Planning Control Committee voted on Tuesday 16th June to grant planning permission for a new dining room and arts auditorium for the school, which was threatened with closure back in 2005. Local Lib Dem Councillor Vic D’Albert welcomed the news saying “This is a great boost for the school and the whole Prestwich community. As the only high school in Bury without a dining room,  this is long overdue. We’ve been lobbying the Council for years, and finally common sense has prevailed and given Prestwich young people what they need.

Commenting on the new arts auditorium, Cllr Pickstone, who is also a governor of the school, said “This will be a first class facility for a top quality school. But more than that, it will be used as a community facility, bringing better arts provision for the whole of Prestwich. I’m delighted it’s been given the go-ahead.”

The new facilities will be built in the near future. Cllr Pickstone said “We need to listen to the concerns of local residents on Heys Road, Glebelands Road and other nearby streets to ensure that the plans do not adversely affect local residents. When we get the process right, Prestwich Arts College and the whole area will have splendid new facilities.

So Gordon Brown has finally set out plans for an inquiry into the Iraq war. Something tat the Lib Dems have been calling for years. But there are problems.

Firstly, he says it will be held in private and secondly it will take over a year – ie taking it past the date of the next general election.

So far as holding the inquiry is concerned, I appreciate the need to guard state secrets, operational issues etc BUT there is a need to satisfy public concern and in some quarters , outrage at being led into an illegal war. Therefore there is a need to to have an element in the public domain, because there is a need to put the record straight, to come clean and to remove any doubt or concern over a potential cover up or white wash over events that transpired.

As for conveniently publishing the findings after the General Election, well I suppose its no real surprise. I doubt that there is anyone outside the Cabinet and certainly the Labour party that wouldn’t believe that this is being “managed” to minimise the impact, and I suspect that the publication date of the report is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to damage limitation.

So much for open government.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement yesterday that he would support the existence of a Palestinian State, albeit with initially very stringent conditions attached must surely be seen as a gimmer of hope in the quest for peace for Israel and the middle east in general.

As an initial response to Obama’s opening gambit the announcement is a welcome development that undoubtedly gives the process momentum following the kick-start from Obama.

Sadly initial reaction from the Palestinian Authority has been lukewarm to put it mildly. But the Palestinian authority has to recognise the validity and (I hope and believe) the sincerity of the announcement, and that it was not an easy decision to make.

We are at the very beginning of a possible settlement to a lasting middle east peace , but we are there nevertheless and we must hope that international efforts continue to push all sides to proceed along this rocky road both in the knowledge that there will be those determined to sabotage the process and that sticking to a peaceful settlement is the only ultimate course with an priceless prize at the end of the process.

The EU, Unites States and the UK must continue to support Israel in this process and apply pressure to the Palestinian Authority to respond positively to this initial announcement.

I don’t mind being criticised for not staning up for local residents, but when myself or local Lib Dems are attacked for supporting residents, well, that frankly takes the biscuit.

Local Conservatives have attacked local Lib Dems in the local free paper for supporting the campaign against development of a game zone in Heaton Park. Apparently we shouldn’t be campaigning on the issue because Manchester will make the ultimate decision. And????

Perhaps he would turn round and tell residents that he couldn’t help them. All I can say is that thank goodness Sedgley had Lib Dem councillors a few years ago when residents were so incensed at Manchester plans to build a school in Heaton Park. We now know local Conservatives would have sat back and allowed it to go ahead. However local Lib Dem councillors Ann Garner and Andrew Garner responded to residents concerns and campaigned against the proposals and guess what, they won. Now remind me where the local Conservatives were, oh yes, they were sitting on their hands happy to let Heaton Park get built on.

The Save Heaton Park campaign is one of those issues we should all be supporting irrespective of political party. It transcends party politics it is people politics. I still hope local Conservatives will see that it is wrong to develop Heaton Park and join the campaign.