More on Congestion Charging!

Well as many of you may have read in the papers Bury Council has voted against the Congestion Charge. At an extremely vocal full council it was decided that if the government returns with a proposal for the £3bn investment in public transport including the Congestion Charge we will have nothing to do with it. I was interested to note that the Labour Group Abstained, but it is unsurprising considering their government taskmasters are trying to force this through, no doubt they are being pushed into this. Only with a Conservative controlled council could this have been thrown out and only with more Conservative Councillors can threats like this be averted in the future.

A Little CF stuff now, elections have been called for the Conservative Future NME elections. And already things are getting steamy and sultry (alright not strictly true but it makes it sound so much more exciting!). One Figure that did impress me though, Conservative Future has over 80 000 members, the Liberal Democrats could only muster 40 000 to select their new leader.

 

Anyway have a very merry Christmas and a Extremely Prosperous New Year (that is of course unless Mr Darling stuffs it up even more!)

Congratulations

Just a quick post to Congratulate our very own Stuart Penketh on his selection to stand in the constituency of Ellesmere Port and Neston as a PPC, a fantastic local councillor as many will testify and an excellent choice for this vital seat!

Congestion Charging

Well I promised I would speak about this in my first post, and so I shall! First I would like to say that I am completely opposed to the concept of Congestion Charging especially in the format being proposed at the moment. I can safely say that if I believed that Bury Conservatives were in favour of the charge then I would have had serious doubts about standing as a candidate.

Now I'd like to explain as well as I can the situation at the moment. At the moment there is a lot of misinformation being bandied around that the consultation regarding funding is a way of getting congestion charging in by the back door, this is not true. The council has put forward a plan to find out how much money will be available to improve public transport within the borough, and if the funding is available without having to implement the congestion charge. That is the crux of the matter. Bury (and Manchester) would benefit greatly from a injection of money to create new services, in particular improved services in the north of Bury. Without these services in place it is futile to penalise people who are not provided enough services to travel around.

This subject I know is very important to people in Prestwich, being on the border of the proposed first boundary of the charge anyone wishing to visit family just over the M60 would be charged, parents taking their children to school would be charged, even going to the new Morrisons being opened would cost you!

I note with Interest that Liberal Democrat national policy is in favour of Congestion Charging, however your local councillors say they disagree with their party! Pandering to public opinion demeans the public they are attempting to serve! The Conservative Party, both nationally and locally, has always opposed congestion charging and there is no difference in Bury! Only a majority Conservative administration can stop Congestion Charging in Bury.

My Apologies!

The Phone number previously listed will not put you in touch with me, some problems at the service provider, the following number will work however

 

07866460904

 

Call or text me and I'll be happy to help with any problems which you may have

Issues...

At the Local Area Partnership (LAP) on thursday I made a couple of points that were brought to my attention whilst canvassing a last month.

Mini-bikes
There is a strategy in place to deal with the issue of Mini-Bike usage and a number have already been confiscated by police working on the Polefield Estate, the Team is based from Whitefield Police Station so if you have any problems call them on

0161 856 8203

or alternatively Prestwich Police Station on

0161 856 4538

these bikes are not only a nuisance but also dangerous to the riders and other road users, it is illegal for Petrol Stations to allow them to fill up however if they use a Petrol Canister then nothing can be done.

Traffic on St Margrets Close

During an event at Heaton Park there were problems with traffic on the close from people who don't want to pay to park in the park. I have been informed that Traffic Wardens will be in Attendance and that the hope of some residents for a sign will be put up for consideration.

I will inform you of other issues when I have some responses.

Olympics may close Manchesters roads

According to todays Times the government is pressing ahead with plans to close many of the country's major cities during olympic events. One of those listed was Manchester, whilst it is nice to find out that manchester may be having some olympic events, especially because I was under the impression it was another London centric event, for them to announce that our roads must be closed is ludicrous! I personally doubt I'll be attending any events and I certainly don't want to be forced to pay to go into the city on the bus or tram if I wish to go shopping! further afield they government has Vetoed a plan to at least have Park and Ride schemes on the M25 into the Capital. Yet again the government has shown us the autocratic (no pun intended) way in which it rules.

Important Message from the Police

Can you circulate this around especially as Xmas is fast approaching - it has been confirmed by Royal Mail.
The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:
A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and
that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number).
DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.
If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.
If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the
premium rate service regulator) at
www.icstis.org.uk
http://www.icstis.org.uk/

Excellent Conference and Brown shies away from a mandate!

Well it may have been noted that I didn't attend Conference this year, and I'm rather upset that I missed all the fun. However I watched most of it on BBC Parliament and even though I say this from a rather biased point of view it was far superior to the other party conferences. A real discussion was held about future conservative policy, and our first policies were announced, as you may have noticed.

No Inheritance Tax for

Properties under

£1 Million

I'm know many people are welcoming this, with properties in the north west going up and up, especially in Prestwich, a sigh of relief can be heard passing through the town.

Lower taxes are good for everybody, but they must be supported by revenue from other sources, so I welcome the decision to focus more attention on Non – Dom residents in the UK.

Excellent speeches were made my many on the front benches, covering topics as wide as third sector involvement in schooling, to finally freeing out Police forces to actually focus on crime.

I am interested to note the amount that is being promised for Gordon's new rail link, £16 Billion. A disturbing amount of money to be spent, unsurprisingly, on London. This money could have easily been sent to Manchester to help cut road congestion, instead of trying to blackmail us into accepting Congestion Charging. Again we see how little Government cares about the North of England, that complacency may return to bite them on the proverbial if they ever decide to hold an election....

...and so we get onto the very exciting news that there WON'T be a General Election this autumn. And one can't help but think they have shot themselves in the foot. Admittedly the marginal poll results don't bode well (44% Con/38% Lab/16% LD) however Prime Ministers in Mr Browns situation very rarely manage to perform miracles this late in a governments lifetime.
Also the continued fakery and spin pouring out of Downing Street. From Reopening a Hospital and dragging their first patient back months later, to fiddling the figures with the number of troops heading home during the traditionally sacrosanct party conference season. Gordon Brown has shown that the Spinners are still weaving at the highest levels (apologies for mixing metaphors there).

I'm hoping to have a leaflet out soon so watch your doorsteps!

Mat

Nearing an Election?

Well the rumour mill is spinning, and just as furiously as usual.
People keep telling me that Gordon Brown is going to call an election next week.
in fact I've encountered two main schools of thought:-

1. He'll call it tomorrow and thus avert disaster during the conference regarding cutting the powers of unions. Throwing the whole country into uproar and disturbing the Conservatives peace of mind
2. He'll call it at the end of conference, thus overshadowing everything said during conference and everything that happens the week after in Blackpool.

Then I personally don't see him calling one at all, alas I'm generally overly optimistic about these things. hell even in 2001 there was still a part of me that thought we may win!

And on a seperate note,

Ivan Lewis has announced that he doesn't want to play the blame game with regards to Prestwich town center. Probably because he is partly to blame, alongside the local Lib Dem and Labour councillors. Having taken Prestwich for granted for too many years it is now coming back to haunt them. Over the past 10 years or so the degredation of the town center has continued unabated.
It seems to me that when something has gone wrong nationally it is overspill from Conservative government, however Mr Lewis has been an MP for 10 years now, no wonder he doesn't want to play the blame game!

Started Canvassing

I started canvassing earlier this week, and already I've found issues that are worrying people! I'm hoping to get as many of these sorted as quickly as I can. Also made a visit to the Same Yet to wet my throat afterwards, it's a few years since I was last there and it's looking really nice, might take a trip up there for a meal soon.

Bury South had a Stand Up Speak up event on Monday, it led to some lively debate and thoughts put forth on how what we think are some of the major problems our public services have to deal with and how we feel a future Conservative Government should work. All our ideas will be sent to the Conservative Party for consideration. You too can make a difference with our policy, click onto http://standupspeakup.conservatives.com/ and have your say!

I now have a number for you to call me on, if I don't answer leave a message with your name and Number and I'll get back to you. Or alternatively text me on it again with your name and address and I'll call you back as soon as possible.

07964014961

07866460904

Or email me

m.hague@ixphotography.co.uk

Without information from residents I can't know what issues are affecting you so keep in touch.

Matthew Hague

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome

Hello There!

Let me introduce myself, I'm Matthew Hague, Conservative Spokesman for Holyrood and Chairman of Bury Conservative Future.
I'm going to use this blog to keep you updated on issues in Holyrood and also occasionally to speak about Conservative Future (CF).
A Little bit about myself now. I am a Student persuing a degree in Secure and Forensic Computing and I am also a Music Photographer. I have been a member of the Conservative Party for 3 years now and a supporter for many more.
I Believe that the people of this country are capable of running their own lives and that we don't need so called "big government" to dictate everything we are allowed to do. With regards to Holyrood Ward I lived on Guest Road up until 2 years ago and now reside just round the corner in Radcliffe, where I stood in May of this year for Radcliffe East. I say this so people know now, instead of it being bandied around by other people. Holyrood, and in a wider sense Prestwich were integral to me while growing up and I found local residents friendly and good humoured. Whilst living on Guest Road I worked for two years at the Welcome Inn, during this time I met many very interesting people, and made some good friends.
I will be campaigning on Local Issues, and wider issues too. Obviously the most pressing at the moment is the Congestion Charging proposal. I, along with my fellow Conservatives, am opposed to this stealth tax, and I shall post my reasons later. Also important is to carry on combating Anti-Social Behaviour, be that youths hanging around outside your local shop or boy racers using your local street as a racetrack.
to end I would just like to say that if you have any issues you would like dealing with please do get in touch.

I can be contacted by email on m.hague@ixphotography.co.uk have your subject line the word Holyrood
I will add my Mobile number later as I should soon have a number specifically for you to call

Many thanks for reading this and I look forward to both hearing from you and helping you for the forseable future

Matthew Hague