Residents have asked us to find out when more re-cycling will take place as many residents (5, 000 of them) as well as schools/youth and community centres still don’t all have a brown bin for composting garden and other such waste or full access to re-cycling activities.

Fellow St Mary’s Lib Dem Cllr Donal O’Hanlon and I were at the first meeting of the Scrutiny Commission for Environment, Economy and Transport last night and a report about re-cycling was tabled for our discussion/comment/scrutiny.

Apparently there is a review taking place to work out how to use the equipment (trucks) and staff teams more effectively in order to be able to extend re-cycling more efficiently. It’s hoped that more brown bins will be available by the end of 2008 and that the Council, can take recyclables from schools by incorporating them into new collection routes.

As to the green bags for paper/card/catalogues/directories - although it’s accepted that the green bags are not fully sufficient/fit for purpose and they blow around - alternatives explored at present have not turned up anything more viable - as yet. And if households need more than 2 green bags they can have them - just phone Bury council (253 5000) or email me and I’ll deliver them with your Focus.

I am shocked to find out that households are still only enabling the Council to collect 26% of possible material for re-cycling of what they produce - this is ridiculous! We all need to do more!

All the Greater Manchester Councils (except Wigan) all work together for re-cycling and waste disposal to develop a joined-up approach as well as keep costs in check. There are new re-cycling sorting plants coming on-line over the next 2-3 years which will also increase the quality of re-recyclable materials that the Greater Manchester Councils can jointly sell/pass to companies to then re-cycle. The more companies want different materials from household rubbish to re-cycle, the more that can then be collected from us householders.

An interesting development, is that a Bury charity called re-Build, refurbishes furniture for needy people. The Council now takes bulky items that are suitable over to them to mend/repair instead of putting it in landfill! This is what should be happening. Re-build also have volunteers who need to have work experience working for them, too - so its more than a furniture re-vamping process but a real community-based approach.

However, for may residents, the issue of re-cycling is blood-boiling stuff – as much of our rubbish, ie unsolicited letters and unnecessary packaging, we have to dispose of, we didn’t ask for in the first place!

I ‘phoned one of our residents, to see how she’s recovering from a nasty pavement fall. As well as lots of stitches above her eye, she’s lost feeling to part of her scalp and was telling me how odd it feels when she’s blow-drying her hair. However, she was looking forward to a week away in the family caravan; I hope she has a well-deserved rest and break. After several other calls, I chatted with one of our supporters, she’s really been hit sideways by both a family bereavement and nasty bug. Cllr colleague, Steve, is pleased that some ugly and dangerous old coal-bunkers will be removed from the gardens of bungalows for retired people. Hubby and Cllr colleague, Andrew’s still chasing broken promises to re-house a local family as well as recovering from mountains of leafleting in the by-election.

Yesterday, we took our youngest son out to lunch at Sam’s Chop House. He was delighted to be able to eat as well as watch the Monaco Grand Prix! Celebrating the end of his BTEC studies and hoped for results, it will not be long before he’s also away at Uni. Whilst the ‘boys’ were sorting out their mobiles, I escaped to buy some new makeup ready for both an evening out and a course I’m being sent on in a few weeks. Jodie on Selfridge’s Clinique counter was a marvel. She not only showed me new colours and how to use products better, I left with newly ‘painted’ face and step by step chart ….. as well as new bits and pieces …

By half nine this morning, my husband still in bed, I had my arm down a drain. I’d been putting this job off for weeks. Being mucky and smelly, I decided to finish digging a tree root out of the back garden, move a fir tree and a few bushes around, ‘turned’ the compost heap and take up some of our crazy paving to plant herbs. All I need now is a cool rainy day to ‘bed’ everything in again! A day’s rain is all I need as we’ve got leaflets to get out and I haven’t done any all weekend …. so need to show willing ….

I’m a by-election widdow at present, ‘Hubby’ has been juggling family life, his job as well as working on the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. He’s shattered but really enjoying things and I’m just a little concerned that he’ll not know what to do with himself at the weekend, when the results are in and he’s got to slow down a bit. However, we have our own local community leaflet to finish, print and fold ready to get out asap too!

I’m returned from our local Bury Friends of the Earth meeting. They are supporting the Manchester wide Congestion Charging Bid – I still have very mixed feelings and huge, huge concerns. I agree that we need to improve public transport but local councils could have been doing this for years – they have been caught on the hoof with climate change concerns and congested roads and feel the need to be seen to be doing ‘something’. The ‘something’ ie TIF bid has far too many problems and difficulties to overcome and also creates an additional tax on the ordinary working person. So yes, invest and improve public transport (but who will use it at night if it’s not safe) BUT find another way without taxing the ordinary motorist who can ill afford either a hybrid car (to be exempt) or to pay the tax!

Away from my rant – my student’s work is still coming in, in dribs and drabs – yesterday I managed to get coursework work ‘signed off’ that should have been completed last year. It’s as though some of them live in a computer game, a bubble far from reality that if they are not doing a conventional A level with its associated exams – the alternative means they have coursework that they really need to do! Perhaps if we stopped their EMA payments when their third piece of coursework didn’t appear, they would be forced to either find a job or get on with their work – time to go, ranting again! There again, I’ll not be able to afford to get to my teaching job if congestion charging comes along …. maybe I’ll have to start looking for something else … nearer home …

This afternoon we’re all getting together at Cllrs Vic and Mary’s home to celebrate our local election success with friends and supporters to thank them. It will be great to get together and chat rather than the snatched conversations we’ve had over envelope stuffing and leafleting over the last few weeks!

The highlights of this week were ‘Mayor Making’, folowed by afternoon tea and our first full Council meeting of the year followed by our briefing with council officers who want to chop the cash-payment facilities at our local library that we disagree with. We then had a two hour meeting to explore the outcomes of the Urbed study. This is a community consultation mapping process to explore what businesses, land owners and residents vision for the future of our small town that we lovingly call ‘Prestwich Village’. Its been a great process to explore what everybody would like but whether it actually influences the main ‘players’ in the area, of whom I suspect, think that tall over development making every shopping and community area similar with another at the cheapest possible price …..with little or not enough comittment to help create a more environmentally sustainable community, vital for our future. The consultation report was then shared with residents and community partners at our LAP the following evening. Initial reaction also raised concerns of too many, too tal buildings. However, there is agreement that our warn-out shopping centre needs re-developing.

Next week – marking coursework for the BTEC Care course I work on – and supporting students to find inner enthusiasm and energy to complete outstanding work. There is a sub-group SEN meeting at the school where I am a governor a Friends of the Earth meeting in Bury and time to be able to pop around to see residents who need support to get things sorted.

At our councillor group AGM – I became the link Cllr for young people in Prestwich as well as Lib Dem representative on the Youth Cabinet, which meets at Bury town Hall. I’m also on Environment, Economy and Transport Scrutiny Commission, with the brief for the Environment (Donal to have Economy & Transport). I’m also on an Equality working group for the Council.

This week has been catch-up – case work and marking. I’ve been liaising between two residents about an overly large tree between their gardens, finding out about disability support for ramps for a resident, lobbying for pavement repairs – where a lovely resident fell and has had plastic surgery to stitch up her face (she’s had a really horrid time and is in a mess as well as really shaken-up) – and asked why after spending over 1 million £, our road re-modelling at the Bury Old Rd/Scholes/Sheepfoot junction …. has a huge dip ….. to the point that residents feel its dangerous ….

Tonight is Richard and Tamzin’s house warming party and tomorrow, Prestwich Village Clough Day … see you there?

Both house and garden have been blitzed this weekend – as well as contacting BT about nuisance text messages being sent to my ‘phone. This morning it was just before 8am, the dirty message un-repeatable and the service now cancelled! My answer machine can also skip messages – so I don’t have to listen to the rude ones on that, either.  Both of my brothers, who live and work oversees in different countries, ‘phoned and it was great to catch up.  They’ve been following the election results through the web and BBC - it was good to talk with them, I didn’t know they were so interested in politics!  I’ll be able to catch up with one and family, whilst they are back in the UK for a few weeks over the summer and need to find time to go visit the other.

Next week is for supporting my students, their coursework marks go to the exam board shortly. Fed up and tired, they need huge amounts of patience and TLC; others some need a shove or two, to ensure that I get them to complete with the best possible opportunity to do well.

Politically, we have our Group AGM on Thursday eve. I’ve just talked with Tim, with my wish list of which committees I’d like to be on for our Area Partnership and Council Scrutiny Commissions. I also have phone calls to make and residents to see – to catch up with case work that I’d not been able to do last week. There seems to be an array of tree issues … fence problems and Council House Roofers leaving a messy trail behind them …

I’m frustrated with my tree issue too or at least with my inability to remove the base of the huge overgrown shrub (Cast Oil Plant) that was far too close to the fence at the bottom of our garden. The woody branches have been sawn ready to dry out and use on our log-burning stove; the roots are really stubborn. I’ve dug around and hacked with an axe but run out of energy. I’ve got a fir tree that I grew from a seedling, ten years ago, ready for the spot. Hopefully my son will feel sympathetic and put his youthful energy and muscles into it, next week (as well as cut the grass!).

Liberal Democrats at Bury’s election count last night:

Here’s our new team of Councillors in St Mary’s Ward - Donal O’Hanlon, Mary D’Albert and Richard Baum…… Labour MP Ivan Lewis sneaks past behind.

Lib Dem Councillors elected last night Mary D’Albert, Vic D’Albert and Ann Garner with some of their group colleagues Steve Wright, Wilf Davison and Donal O’Hanlon.

More pictures here

Liberal Democrats have continued to move forward on Bury Council making another gain from Labour and holding off a challenges from the Conservatives. This is the fifth election in a row in Bury where we have made gains.

Full results to follow, but in our key wards in Prestwich the results were as follows:

Holyrood
Vic D’Albert (Lib Dem) 1632
Labour 669
Conservative 852

St Mary’s
Mary D’Albert (Lib Dem) 1308
Labour 1013
Conservatives 692

Sedgley
Ann Garner (Lib Dem) 1488
Labour 906
Conservatives 1238

Across Prestwich the share of the vote was:
Liberal Democrats - 45%
Labour 26%
Conservatives 28%

The Liberal Democrats now have ALL NINE councillors in Prestwich. We’ll be doing our best all year round to stand up for the local community.

Across the motorway Lib Dem candidate Julie Baum put in a stunning performance to move into second place with a 50% increase in the Lib Dem vote.
Besses
Julie Baum (Lib Dem) 614
Labour 1084
Conservatives 584
Others 354

Well done to all our candidates, but particularly to re-elected Councillors Vic D’Albert and Ann Garner, and to new Councillor Mary D’Albert.
A huge thank you to the whole Lib Dem campaign team for a stunning result. Full results to follow.

6am leafleting this morning whilst most folk slept, little was on the road and birds flew freely around gardens hunting for breakfast, was great fun … now its late - I’ve just got home from the election ‘count’ at Bury Sports Centre. 

I’m relieved that I will be able to continue as a Sedgley Councillor, we have held Sedgley by around 250 votes (close call again).  Mary D’Albert is our new Lib Dem Prestwich Councillor, for St Mary’s Ward.  So, at long last, I’m not the only Lib Dem Woman councillor with 7 men! 

The Tories now hold Bury firmly - so our lobbying and sticking up for Prestwich begins again, in earnest!  Thank you for the help, support, cups of tea and warmth on the doorstep, there’s much to do - as ever!  I’m going to bed -  my students will expect me to be bright and bubbly for their lessons …