| BETF.596 | The Chair, Tan Ahmed, after welcoming everyone to the meeting of Bury East Township Forum, paid tribute to Councillor John Byrne, Councillor for Bury East and Deputy Mayor, following his sudden death at the end of December. Councillors Mike Connolly, Leader of the Council and Councillor Trevor Holt, who are also Councillors for Bury East, expressed their sadness at the loss of a close friend and paid tribute to his contribution to civic and political life in Bury and to such a dedicated Councillor for Bury East Ward.
The chair, Tan Ahmed, asked that all attendees of the Bury East Township Forum stand and observe a minute silence in order to pay their respects in memory of Councillor Byrne.
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| BETF.597 | No declarations of interest were made in relation to any items considered at the meeting.
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| BETF.599 | The Township Co-ordinator, Dave Thomas, gave an area profile presentation to the Members of Bury East Township Forum on Formulating Area Plans, including the following statistics, facts and issues:
- Bury East population - Moorside has the second largest population of all the wards in the Borough
- Integration and Cohesion - Bury East has a mix of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds
- Deprivation levels - Many areas of Bury East are consistently in the 20% most deprived for issues such as income and employment deprivation
- Bury East local community plan priorities, including:
- Raise education standards to meet the rest of the Borough average
- Improve provisions for young people
- Ensure local people enjoy the improved Town Centre in Bury
- Increase training opportunities so residents can compete for jobs
- Reduce crime
- Ensure Bury East is a green place to live
- Reduce the number of house fires
- Reduce health inequalities
- Health facts - East Ward has the highest adult smoking population in Bury and Bury East the highest mortality rate with Moorside the highest of the 17 Bury Wards
- Childhood obesity - Bury East has the highest level of obesity in Reception and Year 6
- Teenage conceptions - Bury East had the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in 2010
- Out of work benefits - Bury East has a higher than the Borough average for job seeker allowance claimants
- Employment
- Income and debt
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| BETF.600 | The Township Co-ordinator invited attendees to take part in a round table discussion based upon a number of key themes on how to improve life for Bury East Residents. Suggestions made during these discussions would help formulate Bury East’s Area Plan. Each table included a facilitator and appointed someone to record the discussion and report their findings.
At the end of the session the Chair asked each group for its findings and the following priorities were identified:
TABLE 1: EMPLOYMENT/WORKLESSNESS/INCOME
- Raising aspirations of young people
- Realistic and inspirational career advice
- Progressions in Education
- Interventions
- Employers’ engagement
TABLE 2: HOUSING ENVIRONMENT
- Healthy partnerships
- Progress feedback
- Support for parks
TABLE 3: CRIME/PERCEPTIONS OF CRIME
- Drug related crime
- Antisocial behaviour - which has dropped 14% in Bury East from last year
- Burglary
TABLE 4: HEALTH AND WELLBEING
- Encourage young people from school age to be more healthy
- Have more information available for parents
- Prevention rather than intervention
TABLE 5: EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
- Better use of Children’s Centres - encouraging youngsters to begin reading early
- Free books for children
- Mobile libraries
- World Book Day events
TABLE 6: COMMUNITY INTEGRATION AND COHESION
- Positive real role models
- Organise cult awareness events
- Encourage apprenticeships
- Investment in social enterprise
- Information bus
- Raise awareness for parents
TABLE 7: TOWNSHIP FORUM INVOLVEMENT
- Promotion in schools for information
- Youth participation
- More welcoming meetings (less formal)
- Questionnaires
The Township Co-ordinator explained that the information generated would be fed into the draft Area Plan which would be reported at the next meeting of the Township Forum.
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| BETF.601 | The Chair, Tan Ahmed, invited questions, comments and representations from members of the public present at the meeting. Questions were asked and comments made on the issues detailed below:
- James Hill - Pimhole Residents’ Association, asked if people were able to park on double yellow lines and block driveways. He explained the difficulties certain streets had on Market Days - Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays,
being reduced to one way traffic and the dangers this was causing.
Inspector Charlotte Cadden replied that the Police don’t enforce parking restrictions as it was not seen as the main priority compared to victims of crime. Inspector Cadden stated that any queries regarding traffic and parking should be made via the LA to NSL who deal with parking and traffic enforcement.
- A member of public asked about issues with fly tipping around Castle Hill Road area.
The Township Co-ordinator stated the Customer Contact Team should be informed of any grievances in the first instance.
- Councillor Ahmed reported that he had been contacted by residents on Rydal Close regarding dog fouling in that area.
The Chair, Tan Ahmed, stated that this issue should be reported to the Customer Contact Team.
- Gemma Philburn, Streetwise 2000, asked if anyone was aware of what the Bluebell Pub Premises on Wash Lane were to become as it had now been sold.
Councillor Connolly replied that he would try and find out and report back.
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| BETF.602 | It was reported that the next meeting of the Bury East Township Forum would take place on Wednesday 21 March at 7.00 pm in the Peel Room, Town Hall Bury.
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