Ann Garner

Please note that after May 3rd, 2012 – after nine years with Bury Council, I will no longer be representing Sedgley Ward residents as their Councillor. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has contacted me as well as worked hard to assist me to represent our diverse communities. Its been both a challenging and interesting role and I’ll miss it. However, I’m still an active Lib Dem and involved with our local schools and community issues.

After many years of nagging, our local stations are being updated to make them more accessible and safer. Hopefully this will encourage more people to leave their cars at home and use public transport to work etc.

Residents have received their postal votes, so our work for the next few days is to encourage people to complete them and send them into Bury Council. Every year I expect residents to get fed up of a gentle reminding phone call or knock on their door – most are incredibly grateful as they are so easily forgotten.

St Gabriel’s – Sedgley’s CofE Church’s garden is in need to TLC – so I’m hoping to escape politics for an hour this afternoon to join an amazing group of women who care deeply about the communities who live in our area as well as keeping the weeds down in this Church’s super community garden; which all are welcome to explore and relax in peace, escaping from busy lives!

The night began with a debate without notice, ‘To Tweet or not to Tweet’ in Council meetings. A quick twenty minute session drew diverse views and debate in regard to reaching out to community members. Cllrs admitted to re-viewing their initial standpoint and the motion was carried by 28 votes (of 51 Cllrs). By now it was 8.45 and Cllr Brown, the Tory Leader, and then tried to submit another debate, rejected re time pressures.

Speeches valuing Cllrs not re-standing in five weeks time followed. Cllr Bowden, retiring after forty years, thanked for his valuable work especially steering the Council towards a greener way of operating, including changing the chemicals used to kill weeds on our pavements and roads!

After this and public questions time, they began to work through our pre-submitted questions. Cllr Mary D’Albert asked why we haven’t been consulted over the sale of land where our local ‘Prestwich Tip Household Re-cycling Centre’ was based – apparently the Council will not be purchasing it and didn’t feel they needed to consult local people either – so do we need to get this facility registered as a Community Asset under the Localism Bill?

As ever, Labour also got their members to pre-submit questions too, so they filled a wodge of Question time to voice their successes – most annoying as it meant my question on the process for registering a Community Asset will work and when we can begin to use this new process, wasn’t answered!

There was, as always, a lot of animosity – with Standing Order 1413 quoted to demand apologies for rude personal remarks – splattered through the meeting. No wonder few people want to be part of politics when so much time wasting goes on rather than real scrutiny and progress!

By 9.45pm, we were still on item 6 of 13 items …..

What I will miss are the hard working council officers as well as the changing art exhibitions on Council Chamber reception walls. It’s presently the work of local high school youngsters, including our special schools. I was amazed at the standards; I hope that they continue to explore their creativity!

With a fabulous place to hold a conference, delegate’s actively explored proposed policy documents a variety of issues housing and policing. I was amongst an almost packed hall for the ‘Shirley Wiliams’ Health Reforms emergency policy motion, first thing Sunday morning. It was an informed, active and often heated debate resulting in a counted vote to remove clauses that directed our Peers, to support it; without this the motion went through. This means that the Bill will continued to be scrutinised, issues challenged and changes sought in the Lords before the final reading in the House. What I was impressed with is the energy and commitment for our elected leaders to actively engage with members with a listening ear. What I disliked, were some very intimidating anti-NHS reform lobbyists who preyed on people queuing to go through security checks on Saturday.

We’ve managed to hold our recent meetings at the Longfield Suite, a community space that we dearly want to hold onto – a bouyant meeting that went on a little too long but at least folk went away, being able to get their views across. Work by local businesses to get residents to shop locally, more, is doing really well. Which reminds me that I need to stock up on cheese and b’day cards!

I’ve enjoyed the company of amazing women at the Muslim Jewish Forum’s Arts event based at Manchester Town Hall today. There are so many inspirational women out there, working together across communities in order to foster understanding, tolerance and value of others. Thank you!

One of the biggest gripes of residents, recently, is bins ….. left after emptying across pavements, residents who leave their bins out, in the way of others, who have to pick their way around them! Another, by the same residents, is dog pooh when owners do not clean up after their pets and pot holes in pavements. Holes in roads and paths we can report for them to be mended but catching dog owners to get them to be responsible is an on-going problem – as is getting residents to put their bins back!
However, in between everything else – snowdrops are everywhere – and lovely!

I was out and about with 6 Town Housing officers this morning, looking at issues and solutions for Downham Gardens estate. It’s a super small estate of mainly flats with problems, like elsewhere of parking. Luckily they have an environmental scheme for creating a dozen more parking places to build out present problems where people park on grassy areas, creating a muddy eyesore, especially one resident whose car has carved up a mess that will cost a huge amount to put right. The community garden there is looking super; I look forward to when the daffodils are flowering there again!