COUNCIL 6 APRIL 2016 – WORK OF THE CABINET

LEADER’S SPEECH

Thank you Madam Mayor, it gives me great pleasure to up-date

Council on the work of the Cabinet since the last meeting of

Council.

Madam Mayor before I start I hope you, and Council, will

indulge me for just a couple of moments whilst I say a few

words on matters not relating directly to Cabinet.

Firstly, as you rightly said, there are 4 members of Council who

are stepping down and not standing in the forthcoming local

election and I would like to endorse your kind comments.

Councillors Wiseman, Fitzwalter, Isherwood and Cassidy are all

long standing and highly respected Members who have given to

this Council, to their constituents and to the people of our

Borough a level of service which has been nothing short of

outstanding and I hope that all Members will join me in

thanking them and wishing them well for long, healthy and

happy “retirements”.

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Michelle Wiseman has served not only as a Councillor but she

was also a first class Mayor and Deputy and she has been a

first class councillor whilst also holding down a really time

consuming day job. I stand in awe of her time management

skills! Thank you for your service Michelle.

Luise Fitzwalter is the epitome of a community campaigner and

in her time on the Council she has worked tirelessly for the

people of Ramsbottom.

Council has already heard about the very sad death of her

husband Ray and during the time that he was ill, whilst she was

at his side looking after him, Luise never once shirked from her

duties to the people she represents. That Madam Mayor is the

calibre of Luise Fitzwalter and the Council will be a poorer place

without her just as the world will be a poorer place for Ray’s

passing.

Dot Cassidy is also another absolutely first class Councillor,

totally dedicated to the residents of her ward and another

tireless worker and campaigner.

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Madam Mayor, in the times we live in, where the public seem to

have grown weary of archetypal politicians, it’s a crying shame

that more people don’t see the work that Councillors such as

Dot put in, day in and day out. And why do they do

it...because they care Madam Mayor, that’s why, and no-one

cares more than Dot.

Dot...or Granny Dot as she’s better known amongst the Labour

Group...thank you for everything you’ve done for this Council,

for Moorside ward and for the Labour Group. We’ll miss you

but at least after your op we can now take you home and plug

you in!

Last but not definitely not least is Tony Isherwood. Tony has

served on Bury Council for many, many years and has held

some of the most important, complex and challenging

portfolios. Most recently he’s been responsible for the Council’s

finances and for the environment brief.

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Tony has an incredible mind...particularly when it comes to

maths, as the Chief Executive found out to his cost while Tony

was in charge of finance! He can be faced with incredibly

complicated matters and take them right back to their core and

most of all he can take the big decisions that matter.

Tony is also a man of great integrity who has never shirked an

argument when faced with matters of principle and he’s also a

man of great courage, something he demonstrated in spades

when we made changes to the refuse collection service.

In my view, political giants are few and far between and in

Tony, Bury Council is losing a giant. Again, thank you Tony for

everything you’ve done to make this borough a better place.

Turning to you Madam Mayor, tonight’s meeting will be your

last sat up there in the hot seat and I really wanted to place on

record my personal thanks, and the thanks of the Labour

Group, for the superb way that you have chaired Council

meetings during your year of office.

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You have been firm but fair, clear and considerate and you’ve

done a great job keeping us moving and keeping us under

control! Quite simply you’ve been a credit to the office of

Mayor.

I know that there will be other opportunities to express our

thanks but I’m sure that all Members will want to join me now

in saying a huge thank you to you.

Moving on to the work of the Cabinet....

Madam Mayor, the last Cabinet meeting devoted itself to a

subject that in incredibly dear to the heart of this Labour

Group, that is our staff.

Our staff are this Council’s most valuable asset and we take

their welfare very seriously which is why I was delighted that

Cabinet approved reports covering the new Workforce

Wellbeing Strategy and the Equality Strategy.

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The Equality Strategy 2016-2020 sets out the Council’s equality

vision, objectives, and policy along with a framework and

decision making structure in relation to equality matters.

The Strategy’s main objectives have been developed from the

Council’s corporate Vision, Priorities and Outcomes and from

research and consultation and they mean that we will:

 take action to tackle and reduce unwanted behaviour in

both our workplace and our schools;

 reduce the amount of unknown equality data we hold on

our employees;

 work to digitally include more of our employees.

We also approved a new Wellbeing Strategy which sets out the

framework for how we can help and support employees to

develop better physical and emotional health.

In turn this will bring about substantial benefits for our

employees, for the Council and for the Borough.

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Of course Madam Mayor, there are already many positive

initiatives and interventions already in place including:

 The Occupational Health service

 Our Work life balance toolkit

 Awareness raising days

 Initiatives such as Get the World Moving

 Employee health checks

 Staff surveys

 Policies and processes to tackle unwanted behaviour

The Workforce Wellbeing Strategy builds on this existing good

practice and sets the foundations for a more effective way

forward.

Madam Mayor, like most Members I read with some dismay,

and not a little anger, the Bury Times headlines about the

Wellbeing Strategy.

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Whilst I can understand the focus on references to bullying that

are mentioned in the report, and whilst I fully accept that this is

a critically important issue that we intend to address quickly, it

was very disappointing that there was no reference to the many

positive responses that we received to our employee survey.

My colleague, Cllr Holt, was absolutely right when he wrote to

the paper pointing out that the Council has committed

employees and strong managers as demonstrated by the fact

that, for example, around three quarters of those who

responded to the survey said that their work gives them a

feeling of personal accomplishment and that their manager

recognises and acknowledges when they have done their job

well.

Over 80% also say that there is good team co-operation,

leading to a supportive work environment.

These are just a couple of examples of the many positive

comments that we have heard from our people.

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I know that there are questions on this matter later on our

agenda which Cllr Holt is very happy to answer so I won’t say

any more on the subject other than to reassure staff that we

will take their responses to our survey very seriously indeed.

Finally Madam Mayor the Cabinet approved the long awaited

report on the A56 through Prestwich Village.

The proposals before Cabinet had been the subject of

widespread public consultation and had been amended several

times to reflect the comments that we had received.

Madam Mayor, regeneration of Prestwich is absolutely vital and

is something that the other political parties on the Council put

off and put off but not so this Labour Group.

Despite the coalition and Conservative Governments’ crippling

austerity agenda we have put together a £2m funding package

to improve the A56 as a key element of our plans to revitalise

Prestwich village, and now we intend to implement this vital

scheme.

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And vital it most certainly is.

You only have to look at other similar areas where high streets

have been remodelled and improved and there is no doubt that

the work has led to a revival in the fortunes of these centres

and so in my view, and the view of the Labour Group, this

scheme is a prerequisite if we are to secure the regeneration of

Prestwich.

In fact so important is this to the revival of Prestwich that we

believe that there is no choice but to go ahead. Lesser schemes

have been tried in the past and they have not worked.

It is interesting that the other two main parties are now

jumping on the populist bandwagon and are up in arms about

the scheme.

Let me read you a small quote Madam Mayor...

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“Our recommendation is that a single lane of traffic is created

in each direction and to remove obstructions from this as far as

possible so that it flows smoothly.

This allows the second lane to be reallocated to permanent

parking bays, wider pavements and street trees.”

You’d think I’d lifted this from the Cabinet report because this is

exactly what the scheme will do.

But no...it’s actually a quote from the Love Prestwich Strategy,

a strategy that was approved by the parties opposite in

2009....and then immediately shelved because they didn’t have

the courage or the commitment to Prestwich to carry it out.

And yet now Madam Mayor, even before a shovel has hit the

ground, we are seeing dividends from the scheme.

Just this week I have been delighted to hear that a nationally

lauded company, Muse Developments, have signed an

agreement with HMG, the owners of the Longfield Centre, to

redevelop the centre.

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This is another vital element of our plans and it was great to

hear Muse say, and I quote, “The council’s plans for the

improvement of the A56 through the village fit in very well with

our ambitions for the Longfield Shopping Centre and have given

our plans a major boost”.

Yes, we are aware that there are issues with cycling and we

have committed to work with cyclists to see if we can make

changes to the scheme down the line should additional funds

become available.

I would like to place on record my thanks to the Prestwich

Labour Councillors and to officers of the Council for the

enormous effort they have put in to bring this scheme to life

and to bring such a big name as Muse to the Prestwich table.

Madam Mayor as I think we probably all know this is the last

Council meeting before the elections and so I would like to

finish by passing on my best wishes to all candidates who are

standing for office...clearly I’m sending better wishes for some

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than others and even better wishes for the candidate for Bury

East!

END

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