Tim Pickstone

On Thursday, 11 February 2010, the Planning Committee of Manchester City Council, will consider the planning application from Goals Soocer Centres UK for a commercial 5-a-side soccer centre at the At Margaret’s side of Heaton Park.

Remember that these revised plans include a massive 2.4m perimeter fence around the site, as well as further fenced off car-park, going up towards the reservoir. You can view all the plans at Manchester Council’s Website.

This could well be our LAST CHANCE to save Heaton Park - this is the third time that Goals have submitted their plan, but the first that its actually made it to the agenda for a committee meeting. The recommendation from the Planning Officers is to “Approve” the report.

We’ve had a terrific response to the campaign so far: hundreds of people have sent in objection letters and emails; signed the petitions and written to the press. Thank you for everything that people have done so far.

We still need help to stop this application:

If you are available on THURSDAY afternoon, join us outside Manchester Town Hall (Albert Square side) at 1.30pm. We’ll be going into the Committee meeting (this starts at 2.00pm) together where we’ll be allowed one person to speak on our behalf. Its important that as many people as possible come along and show the strength of feeling against the proposal.

Its not too late to apply pressure to your elected representatives - MPs and Councillors. If you live in Manchester please email your councillor telling them how strongly you oppose the application and ask them to represent you. You can automatically email all your councillors by entering your postcode at this website.

If you live in either Bury South or Manchester Blakeley Parliamenary constituencies why not email your MP telling them how strongly you feel?

Bury South - Ivan Lewis MP (Labour): ivanlewis@burysouth.fsnet.co.uk

Manchester Blakely - Graham Stringer MP (Labour): Link to email

Carry on keeping up the pressure:
- tell your friends
- if you’re on facebook copy this message to your friends
- if you use twitter - tweet about this!
- use any opportunity in the press, or in internet discussion sites to object to the proposals.

Follow these links to the Planning Committee agenda and the actual report.

Agendaf

Report

Keep up the campaign!

At Bury’s Full Council meeting, we get to ask questions to the Council’s Executive Committee. Since the Conservatives changed the rules a couple of year ago, hardly any actually get answered nowardays, but we do get written answers (ie a written copy of what was to have been said) after the meeting if they’re not answered.

I’ve not posted all of them this time, as it would take too long (perhaps a role for the Council’s website, rather than a Councillor’s blog!), but given that this doesn’t happen, here are some of the more interesting questions asked by the Lib Dem team.

tim

Councillor Baum

Q Can the Leader explain what additional and/or emergency provision will be provided for the repairs to the roads of this Borough, following the damage caused by two consecutive snow-bound winters?

A. To date we have received no additional/emergency financial provision to repair damage to the Councils highways after the recent adverse weather. As we identify the extent of the problem from a financial perspective, consideration may have to be given to reprioritising areas of spend to address the matter.

Read the rest of this entry.

At Full Council we get the opportunity to ask questions to “Joint Authorities” in Greater Manchester. Here are quesions asked by me and my Lib Dem colleagues Richard Baum and Donal O’Hanlon.

Fire Authority:

Cllr Tim Pickstone
Would the Council’s representative to the GMFRS join me in congratulating all GMFRS staff who have been involved in work in Haiti following the recent terrible earthquake there.

A. Following the terrible earthquake in Haiti on the 12 January 2010, 9 of our colleagues travelled down to Gatwick Airport as part of the UK Fire Service International Search and Rescue Team, preparing to fly out and assist rescuers from other Fire and Rescue Services around the country with the rescue efforts.

The team members were;

Read the rest of this entry.

The campaign to save Heaton Park from a commercial soccer centre made it to the BBC Manchester website today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8492770.stm

Heaton Park residents oppose sports centre plans

People living around one of Europe’s largest municipal parks are opposing plans to create a new sports centre.
Goals Soccer Centres wants to build 13 five-a-side pitches, changing rooms, and tennis and netball courts in the north-west corner of Heaton Park.
But opponents said the security fencing would create a “caged stockade”, out of keeping with the green space.
Manchester City Council, which owns the park, said the plans were compatible with the ethos of the park.

Wilf Davison, who represents Prestwich residents for neighbouring Bury Council, said: “What they are proposing is a caged stockade.”
“We believe it is going to create major parking problems, major congestion in the entrance area which is St Margaret’s Road.

“We think the visual appearance is awful… it will be visually intrusive for the local community. Their outlook - for the people who live opposite - will be appalling.”

The 640-acre park in north Manchester, about four miles from the city centre, provides about a quarter of the city’s green space.
Councillor Mike Amesbury, executive member for culture and leisure at Manchester City Council, said the facility would improve the park.
Despite some opposition, he said many Manchester residents had been campaigning for the facilities since the mid-1990s.
“There are going to be differences of opinion but this is going to be great for park users,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.
Goals Soccer Centres has submitted two previous applications for football facilities at the site, which were withdrawn.

The latest will be considered by the city council’s planning committee on 11 February.

Apparently Cllr Amesbury said:
“There are going to be differences of opinion but this is going to be great for park users”

Get a grip - a large piece of open parkland is going to be turned into caged football pitches, which will cost around £45 an hour to hire. Explain to me how that’s “great for park users”???

Today at a speech to Barnado’s Nick Clegg announced one of our four key policies for the General Election campaign ahead - A Fair Start for Every Child.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today pledged to give every child a fair start in life by investing an extra £2.5bn in schools which could be used to cut class sizes, offer one-on-one tuition and provide catch-up classes.

In a speech to Barnardo’s this morning, Nick Clegg set out the Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge to introduce a Pupil Premium which would raise the poorest children’s school funding to private school levels.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said:

“One of the biggest challenges we face as a country is breaking this link between financial deprivation at home and educational under-achievement in the classroom.

“Despite all the money that has been spent by Labour, schools taking disadvantaged children aren’t getting the money they need to break this link by cutting class sizes and providing them with extra support.

“As we work our way out of this recession and rebuild a country which is fairer, we must ensure our school system gives every child a chance to fulfil their potential irrespective of their background and where they live.”

View a full copy of the speech here.

Read the rest of this entry.

Details of a traffic calming scheme for the southern part of Heywood Road (from Heys Road down to Scholes Lane) have been announced.

The proposals include a 20mph zone as the road nears the area of Park View Primary School (Rectory Lane roundabout to Scholes Lane, including Park View Road itself.

The full details of the scheme can be downloaded here.

Bury Council has finally launched their formal consultation on the future of the Longfield Suite, Radcliffe Civic Suite and other threatened Bury Community centres.

Now is the time to act, whether you have signed the petition or not, if you care about the future of our local community centres then it is crucial that you complete a consultation form.

Forms are being circulated and are available in Council buildings and the Civic suites themselves. The consultation can also be completed online here .

Don’t forget to let Bury Council know what you think, don’t forget to tell all you contacts about the consultation.

Don’t leave the future of our community centres to someone else, act now!

Not that I need reminding, but this recent survey of 250 Conservative Candidates in target parliamentary seats has just confirmed why a David Cameron Government is just the wrong answer for this Country.

Bizarrely Conservatives put the Environment (reducing Britain’s Carbon Footprint); affordable housing, and better transport BELOW “victory in Afghanistan”, “cutting red tape for small businesses” and “reducing welfare benefits”.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will today use a new and social media initiative co-hosted by the UK Youth Parliament to launch the party’s youth jobs manifesto pledge.

On the day that new statistics show the number of young people unemployed for more than six months has doubled in two years, Nick Clegg will announce the party’s plans using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The proposals would ensure young people do not spend more than 90 days on Jobseekers Allowance before they get more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme.

Today’s announcement forms the next step in the Liberal Democrats’ economic stimulus and job creation package. The plans will invest almost £900m in increasing the number of further education places, giving students financial support to return to college and creating a paid internship scheme.

Nick Clegg said:
“Young people feel cheated by this recession. Everyone knows someone who has recently left college or university with hopes of starting a career only to find they cannot even get on the lowest rung of the job ladder. We must help them now or they will be left behind in any recovery.

Our promise of more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme will give hope to the nearly one million young people who currently can’t find a job. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter play just as important a role as TV or newspapers in young people’s lives. Politicians can’t ignore new and social media if they want to connect with the next generation of voters.”

More information on the plans below:

Read the rest of this entry.

Due to the huge public outcry Goals Soccer Centres have failed to present their plans to Manchester City Council Planning Committee for a second time.

They are trying everything they can to get these plans approved. It’s up to us to stop them.
They have tried and failed in other parks. We must fight them every inch of the way.

Goals have been stopped before

Regents Park - REJECTED
Mordern Park -REJECTED

Lets stop them in Heaton Park and make it three nil for all those people who love open
parkland.

We urge you to object to this new planning application
The new planning application from Goals includes raising the level of the pitches by
80 centimeters which is almost a metre higher than they were originally planned. Making this blot on the landscape even more obvious.

Additionally security fencing is also planned. This physical and visual barrier will effectively cut off this area of parkland and thereby detract from the special character of this area of the park.

You need to send your objections to Manchester City Council by 3rd February 2010 If you have already sent in an objection during the last consultation period you will still need to send in another objection.

A - Sign the Online Petition HERE

If you’ve already signed - find TWO friends to sign! - Ask them to join the “Save Heaton Park” Facebook Group.

Here’s the link to the petition to send to a friend in an email.
http://www.saveheatonpark.org.uk/?page_id=2

B - Download and email / send in an objection letter.

Download the letter here - you can amend this letter to include your own words and objectsion.

Email your objection to r.griffin@manchester.gov.uk

C - Write your own Objection Letter

Quoting Application No: 090370/FO/2009/N1

and send to:

Peter Babb
Head of Planning
Manchester City Council
P.O. Box 463
Town Hall Extension
Manchester
M60 3NY

D - Attend the Save Heaton Park Meeting
Find out what has been happening with the campaign.

Monday 25 January 2010
7.00pm Church House (St Margaret’s Road, Opposite the Church), Prestwich.

Thank you for all your support so far!