Following on from the news that 12,000 high street businesses have closed their doors this year, I remain alarmed at how little is actually happening on the ground to help struggling small businesses through the worst recession for decades.

If you strip back the warm rhetoric from the Government we are left with the facts that banks are not lending as they should – they have admitted to building up reserves rather than lending, and the Government just keeps moaning about it in the media. Not good enough.

As if that isn’t bad enough we have a local Council that sees the building of a new shopping centre and cranes towering over Bury as a sign that Bury is booming. Cllr Bibby if you bring your gaze down from the lofty cranes you will see boarded up shops, shops To Let etc all over Bury. The trouble is when the shopping centre is redeveloped will there be any local independent businesses left to be part of it or will it be the usual collection of national chain stores you can find anywhere?

The Government must apply more pressure to get banks lending and at local level we need Councils to stop “living the dream” and get real with the plight of struggling local businesses and do what they can to ensure they get whatever support we can offer them. After all small businesses are the lifeblood of towns like Bury and Bury Conservatives must not forget that. 

Earlier this week I was presented with a press statement about a particular initiative that is due to happen in Prestwich over August. As it was a Prestwich initiative I was rightly quoted in support.

I have just learned that my quote has now been replaced by that of a councillor from the ruling Conservative administration. No one from the authority even had the courtesy to even inform me – certainly not the Councillor concerned.

People often come up to me and say “Why don’t all you politicians work closer together, instead of point scoring all the time?” Well little things like this incident and other not so little things make it difficult to build bridges and work together and undermine your efforts. That genuinely is a shame because, at local level there is so often so much much more in common and much less politically charged issues.

Back by popular demand! – Sunday 23rd August 9.30am – 2.30pm

It is hoped to have another Farmers Market in November to coincide with a Christmas Lights “switch on”

Alongside the market activities incldue:
- giant free raffle
- children’s ride
- face painter
- squeaky the clown
- bag piper

The Prestwich Big Clean is being launched on August 3rd, to try and deal with the numerous grot spots and graffiti in Prestwich.

The Big clean is being supported by Community Payback which sees offenders being used in the community as part of a restorative justice programme. Offenders are supervised at all times.

A large number of sites have already been identified but if you know of any please let us know by completing this form graffiti-grot-spot-log.pdf and emailing to c.o’grady@bury.gov.uk

There has been much debate in the media today about David Milibands call for talks with the Taliban.

I think it’s important that we accept that if we are to get out of Afghanistan any time in the not to distant future we have to win some friends and tha Afghan Government has to start talking to those moderate Taliban leaders that may be prepared to listen.

We cannot turn Afghanistan into some sort opf westernised and western looking country. We have to face up to the fact that at the end of the day the Afghan people have to choose their own future. They may well choose an islamic fundamentalist future for their state. That shouldn’t automatically mean we cannot work with them. It shouldn’t ultimately mean they are our avowed enemies.

Nearly 200 British servicemen have now died in Afghanistan and for all we know thousands of taliban and certainly thousands of afghanis have died. If the bloodshed is to stop any time soon we have to start a dialogue, find a level of understanding and a path that leads to a peace acceptable to all a peace that saves lives, improves the security of our nation and ensures those that have sacrificed their lives have not done so in vain.

In the wake of the Tory by-election victory in Norwich North their treasury spokesperson Phillip Hammond has called for a massive Tory majority after the next election in order that the Tories are not held up in Parliament from making the necessary public spending cuts.

Hopefully there are still plenty of people out there who remember the early 1980′s. A new Conservative Government had come to power and they set about making deep cuts to public spending. Cuts that decimated local councils, cuts that hit front line services, cuts that hit the vulnerable and the weak.

The Thatcher Government politicised me and (I suspect, many more). I joined the Liberal Party in 1983 as a result – the need to fight such damaging policies, to fight for the vulnerable and the weak, the disadvantaged and the poor.

The last thing this country needs is a massive Conservative majority after the next election. Its generally agreed by all main parties that we need to make spending cuts, but they need to be justified to Parliament and to the people and they have to be managed.

A large majority for any party right at the start of a new Parliament would lead to a Government that could push cuts through without taking notice of opposition or the people. That would mean bad policies, bad cuts and bad news for the weakest in our society.

No Mr Hammond a massive Tory majority is not what’s needed, a caring supportive, unifying Government that can take the tough decisions and make cuts sensitively is what’s needed and the Conservatives aren’t it! 

I was horrified to read the latest report from the Community Security Trust (CST) into anti-semitic incidents for the first half of the year.

Unfortunately the report is grim reading with a record number of incidents reported in the 6 months to June.

Overall they have catalogued 609 incidents for the first six months compared to 544 for the whole of last year and 276 for the first six months of last year. In the Manchester area there were 143 incidents compared to 125 for the whole of last year.

The CST report identifies an upsurge in issues following the violence in Gaza in January.

These incidents are totally unacceptable and clearly every effort by the authorities has to be made to tackle anti-semitic based violence and assaults of any kind, whether verbal, physical, against the person or property. In our society there is no place for this.

Anti-semitism cannot be justified by the actions of the Israeli Government past or present and is in effect a warped excuse for extremism.

Read the full report here anti-semitic-incidents_report_jan_june_09.pdf

Unemployment in Bury has risen to 4589.

While the lastest figures represent a slight increase from May to June of 0.7%, they show that unemployment in Bury has doubled over the past year. There are now 78314 unemployed (on job seekers allowance) across Greater Manchester. The rate of unemployment in Bury matches the national average at 4.1%.

1 IN 3 UNDER 25

As if that isn’t alarming enough the amount of young unemployed (16-24′s) now stands at 1595 a staggering 34.8% of the total Bury unemployed. Or to put it another way 1 in 3 Bury unemployed are under 25. Bury now has the highest proportion of young unemployed across Greater Manchester. Overall there are 25115 young unemployed in the region.

LONG TERM UNEMPLOYED UP 113.9% IN A YEAR

Meanwhile those that have been out of work for over 6 months has now reached 1080 in Bury, representing 23.5% of the total unemployed, up 13.7% since last month and a staggering 113.9% in a year.

Sadly the number of vacancies doesn’t lift the gloom with a total of 531 vacancies posted in June- down 11% on last month and down 41% compared to the same time last year.

While incredibly some commentators are suggesting that we are starting to see a the light at the end of the tunnel due to the slowing increase of unemployment, personally I remain sceptical for now. After all now is the time we start to see a lot of seasonal jobs traditionally easing unemployment figures for the summer. If that is actually represented in these figures then things are even worse than we fear.

With businesses still struggling to get funding from banks (despite Mr Browns insistence) and a mass of university leavers hitting the jobs market any time soon, we need positive assertive measures now to stimulate the economy further.

Labour are almost paralysed with dithering and despair and effectively making a bad situation worse, when we desperately need a Government that can take decisive action and initiatives.

A dissapointing and ultimately frustrating Planning Committee meeting last night saw Bury Council respond with little more than a whimper over Manchester Councils plans for a sports zone at the St.Margarets end of Heaton Park.

The proposal for 12 soccer pitches and 6 tennis courts to be developed on open park land has dismayed local residents already subjected to intolerable levels of traffic and street parking. Now they fear noise and light pollution up to 11pm at night and even worse traffic and parking.

At last nights meeting the plans were before Bury for comment as part of required consultation with neighbouring authorities.

I addressed the committee calling for the council to recommend increased parking provision, floodlights to be switched off at 9pm in summer and 8pm in winter, an independant traffic and noise impact study and guaranteed use of the facilities for Prestwich/Whitefield clubs, associations and schools.

Officers had already recommended a floodlight turn off at 10pm rather than 11pm and a recommendation that Manchester ensure adequate parking ie provision meets demand.

A colleague of mine challenged the assertion that St.Margarets Road could cope with the increased traffic and another councillor called on Manchester to arrange a public consultation meeting in Prestwich. My requests were not taken on board.

Overall residents (and I) left dissapointed because firstly they were not allowed to speak. (3 minutes is all they wanted, Why not!!!) And secondly because yet again Bury reacts with all the venom of a rotting lettuce when faced with recognising and backing the concerns of their citizens over big brother Manchester.

What a let down. But the real fight continues too Manchester Town Hall where the full application is to be decided on September 10th.

Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs is currently trying to install a new software system. As a result it has led to massive delays in processing tax returns etc.

Now whilst this may be great news for those that are ultimately due to pay tax over as a result, many of those that are due tax refunds are struggling to cope.

One local business I know is currently owed £20,000 by the Revenue. Small businesses in the middle of a recession need that kind of money. Another Bury business I know is also owed thousands – tax paid via the revenues Construction Industry scheme for sub contracted staff – not repaid byclients – refundable from IR.

The Government must ensure that HM Revenue and Customs  get a grip of the situation and sorts this mess out soon, before the inevitable happens and businesses go to the wall as a result. That would be criminal negligence so far as I am concerned with the impact that small business failures have on local communities and the families involved.

If there is no immediate prospect of getting through the backlog and making these vital tax refunds then they should make imterim payments to cover (say) 80% of the expected repayment. That’s assuming they can still write cheques!