Getting Out There

I am always taken aback by how pleasantly surprised people are to see their Councillor. I am, it seems, the only one they have ever met. Outside election time that is - and even then they seldom call.

The good thing about getting out there is that you quickly find out what's happening in an area. People tend to raise similar things. Also, you get to find out about the difficulties people might be having, especially those who depend on the Council for vital care or support services.

Today, we knocked on all doors in Scarlin Road and the closes off of there. We met a lot of people and I now have three or four bits of casework to do. My plan is to cover every street in the Division at least once each year of my four year term.

This was Friday afternoon. The day ended on a positive note. Upon arriving at Glastonbury Ct play area I found that it had been repainted - in part anyway. The rest to follow. This was following some case-work with local residents.

Elsewhere it is all action. Schools are the big issue at the moment. The ruling Tories have suspended the Schools Organisational Review until new funding is clearer. That won't happen so the review is up in the air. Which means a lot of uncertainty for parents, children and their teachers. I met one such teacher on Friday and she told me the effect this was having on morale.

My hope is that the Council will give Middle Schools another ten years. My fear however is that the impending cuts in schools budgets will force two-tier on us anyway, with split sites being introduced alongside a `federal' system - where a single head covers a number of schools.

Of course, the freeing of schools from Council control would mean that we could choose the kind of school system we wanted both as a community in Bury and as individual parents. But that is something a long way away for now.