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/