Questions are invited from members of the public about the work of the Cabinet.
Notice of any question must be given to Democratic Services by midday on Monday, 7 March 2022. Approximately 30 minutes will be set aside for Public Question Time, if required.
Minutes:
The following question was submitted in advance of the meeting by a member of the public, Anton Slawycz:
Following the work of the Pilkington Park Councillors and pressure from the community it is great to see Rye Croft is being removed from the Accelerated Land Disposal (ALD) Scheme. What assurances can you give to the community that Rye Croft will remain as is and will not be subject to an ALD in the near future?
Responding, Councillor Eamonn O’Brien reported that he had been invited for a site visit by the local community and, on the back of that and the objections received we thought it appropriate to withdraw it from the disposals programme. A Community Asset Transfer was looked at, but it was deemed simpler to withdraw it. I can confirm there is no intention to bring this site (or any other withdrawn sites) through any future phase of the land disposal programme. We are also more than happy to continue to work with the community there in how this site is used and protected in the future.
The following question was submitted in advance of the meeting by a member of the public, Marie Holder:
The cabinet report outlines the community asset transfer toolkit following the request of this from the Overview and Scrutiny committee last year. What will the council do to ensure this is widely known in the community, with community groups, as well as being accessible online for reference?
Responding, Councillor Eamonn O’Brien reported that following discussions and a request from the Overview and Scrutiny committee last year, an updated Community Asset Transfer Policy and Toolkit have been prepared and are due to be approved by Cabinet today. This revised version aimed to be more accessible, in line with comments and feedback received. Following approval, officers from the Land & Property Team with engage with the Council’s communications team to ensure that details of the revised community asset transfer policy and toolkit are communicated to the wider community and included on the Council’s website, and that more use is made of the policy when future sites are identified. Officers will ensure that contact details are included and details on how the Council will assist community groups through the community asset transfer process, which was often quite complicated and time consuming. Encouraging and facilitating early conversations was key, and as such training for Councillors would be held to help them engage with local communities.
The following questions were submitted and answered in writing:
Muhammad Sajad Warraich:
It's clear to see that a lot of roads across Elton Ward and Bury have been left to ruin, with the council failing to spend its pothole budget to fill in the potholes in the roads. Please can the leader of the council provide an explanation for the systematic neglection of roads in Bury?
Councillor Eamonn O’Brien reported that more than 12,000 potholes were filled across Bury this last financial year – and a further 12,000 will be tackled in the coming 12 months. The council is about to invest a further £10 million into the borough’s highways, taking the total to £30 million over nine years.
Latest figures also reveal that, under the previous phase of the highways strategy, around 112,000 sq m of surface dressing was put down on 91 streets, and 45 roads were resurfaced. In the pipeline for the coming year is a further 115,000 sq m of surface dressing on 82 streets, and 70,000 sq m of resurfacing on 15 streets. Around 5,000 sq m of patching was completed in 21/22, and any backlog caused by Covid delays will be reprogrammed over 22/23 and 23/24. Bury should receive £6m per annum for its 660km of road network. Since 2010 we have received a third of that amount. This council has had to borrow £30m to maintain the road network. If anyone is neglectful of Bury's roads, it's this government. I suggest Mr Warraich writes to his local MP to get Bury a better highways settlement.
Peter Liggins:
Will Bury Council listen to Sustrans &, the Senior Transport Planner at ARUP, when they say that Option 1 of the Heaton Park Active Travel Neighbourhood “will not work”. Both bodies only recommend Option 2, so will the Council commit to only moving forward with that proposal & to disregard the unworkable Option 1 plan?
Sustrans are currently consulting over the Heaton Park Active Travel Neighbourhood. 2 Options are being proposed, but Sustrans & ARUP have told me that they only recommend Option 2 & did not wish to put forward any other proposals. They claim Bury Council insisted that an alternative proposal was created ( now known as Option 1) which Sustrans & ARUP have told me ‘will not work’.
Councillor Alan Quinn reported that at the Active Neighbourhood drop-in event yesterday (Tuesday, 08 March 2022) which was attended by over 150 residents and businesses, the rationale for the two options was discussed.
It was acknowledged that Option 1, if implemented, would require monitoring and evaluation on the surrounding streets to understand the impacts of any traffic displacement, as has been acknowledged during previous correspondence.
It is also acknowledged that the project team had recommended an approach like Option 2 through the workshop process, but also recognise that residents will have differing views and the presentation of two options would provide a way to understand what would or wouldn’t be supported.
The whole purpose of such an engagement exercise as that undertaken for the Heaton Park Active Neighbourhood initiative is to understand what residents think of the proposals. No decision has yet been made as to which, if any, option would be taken forward and it may be that the results of the current feedback exercise would result in an alternative option being taken forward that could include a combination of measures from the two options.