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