March Against the Cuts - 5th March

All Saints Park at 12.00 and marching to Albert Square.
Rally 1.30 pm Manchester Town Hall

We will be protesting against the Coalition government’s determination to make us pay for the economic deficit The question of how local Councillors who say they are against the cuts should respond to the Coalition Government's imposed funding cuts to local authorities clearly remains a major controversial issue.

The so-called 'Dented Shield' approach previously employed by Labour controlled Councils back in the 1980's against the Thatcher Government, combined with a complete lack of involvement by Labour & other opposition party Councillors in the anti-cuts fight on the ground, is clearly a wholly insufficient anti-cuts strategy if one at all, and falls way short of the type of anti-cuts stance we should expect all elected representatives worthy of their salt to be taking in the next period.

Report from the Wednesday 23rd Budget Meeting

This is intended as a straight record of what I saw, please add to it if you were there so we get a fuller and more rounded picture of the event.

Around 130 people turned up at some time between 6 and 6.45pm outside Bury Town Hall to protest against the cuts.    The major groups represented were ourselves (with two banners), a substantial (and noisy) presence from the Youth Parliament, the UNITE union and a number of members of UNISON.    Two people (including me) were taking names of new members of the Action Group.   I signed up 16 new members.  We were at the Manchester road entrance and were encouraged by supportive toots from horns from passing traffic.   

There seemed to be an unnecessarily large police presence, largely occupied in ushering us to the right entrance or in assisting ushers to protect the entrance to the Town Hall. 

There was clearly another way in to the Town Hall open for councillors and we saw no Lib Dem or Tory councillors and therefore could not lobby them.   The Labour group plus MP Ivan Lewis turned up (I guess around 6.25) and briefly addressed us through a loud hailer expressing their support before mingling with the protesters.   The Bury Times political correspondent was there.

BURY ACTION GROUP PRESS RELEASE 27TH FEBRUARY 2011

Last Wednesday Bury Council made a few headline changes to its drastic set of budget cuts, no doubt hoping to be supported and praised as a listening council. The concessions make very little difference.

Bury Action Group always knew we were in for a long fight over cuts. Our organising meeting next Tuesday at the Met Theatre at 7pm will plot the way forward for the next few months. New members are welcome to attend.

One concession came directly from the Tories: transport to school for children with special needs was reinstated. Congratulations to the vigorous campaign from parents which put this at the top of the agenda and made it impossible to ignore.

Protests greet Bury Council cuts meeting

Report from Thursday's Bury Times.

Huge Bury Council cuts were due to be rubber stamped at a critical local authority meeting.

Protesters from Bury Action Group announced they would be lobbying outside Bury Town Hall last night before councillors deliberated over the proposed budget cuts of £12.2 million.

Please click here for the full report

Pictures from Wednesday's Demonstration

Please click here for a link to Whitefield Labour Party's site which has pictures from the demonstration outside Bury Town Hall

UNISON statement on the campaign

Most of you will be aware of proposals going before council that if passed will result in significant job losses. An action group “bury against the cuts” has very recently been set up to protest against all cuts to the council budgets. As yet no decision has been made by the UNISON Bury branch executive committee on whether we will be joining with this grouping.

 The branch do of course want to build the widest possible support for opposing both the current proposals and the nationally driven cuts in local government that will undoubtedly have a devastating effect on all our jobs. We will report back on any decision to affiliate or not to this or any other such group once we have had discussions with representatives of the group.

BURY ACTION GROUP PRESS RELEASE 20TH FEBRUARY 2011

Bury Council’s budget meeting at 7 pm on Wednesday plans cuts that will decimate many essential services. The cuts are being imposed in a great rush with little or no consultation with employees or the people of Bury.

Bury Action Group will lobby and demonstrate outside Bury Town Hall from 6pm and has tabled questions for the meeting itself. Please come and join us.

These cuts will directly affect some of the most vulnerable people in Bury. Transport to school for children with special needs will be withdrawn, in some cases forcing their parents to give up work. The budget for carers who help vulnerable adults to maintain their independence will be slashed. Provision in libraries for people with sight and hearing difficulties will be cut. A hostel for the homeless may be under threat.

Public Sector workers set for rally over cuts

Article from the Bolton Evening News (hosted by Bury Times) about union opposition to the cuts.

"UNION members are preparing for their biggest rally ahead of the council meeting to approve its budget for 2011/12.

Cuts in grant funding and the Government’s deficit reduction programme mean the authority has to find £40 million of savings next year, all of which are set out in the budget".

Please click here for the full article

Support for 23 Feb demo grows

Today we have been informed that Unite the Union will be joining Bury Action Group campaigners on the 23rd of February to demonstrate against the cuts that are being proposed by the council. This follows on from the news received at last Thursday's Scrutiny Committee Meeting where members of Bury's Youth Parliament informed us of their intention to protest over the cuts in Youth Service provision. We are awaiting news on Unison participation, which we obviously hope they will agree to.

Remember, its not too late to get involved if you aren't already. Bury Action Group will be outside Whitefield and Prestwich metro stations Monday evening, so if you would like to come along and help out please do. We also need as big a turnout for Wednesday's meeting as possible, so please do what you can to publicise this with your neighbors, friends, family and work colleagues

URGENT: Tickets to Budget Meeting on the 23rd

Due to the interest being shown to the meeting on the 23rd of February where the budget will be voted upon, tickets will be issued for the public gallery. They will be given out at the Town Hall entrance on Knowsley Street on a first come first served basis.

The persons that have put questions will receive a ticket which needs to be collected from the Town Hall reception.

If you have any further questions, please forward them to our email address

Final battle looms over town hall budget cuts | Prestwich Advertiser - menmedia.co.uk

Article from Thursday's Prestwich Advertiser

Sweeping council budget decisions that will shape the futures of Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield are just days away. Now an eleventh hour rallying call for a final fight against the planned cuts has been issued.

Final battle looms over town hall budget cuts | Prestwich Advertiser - menmedia.co.uk

Report from last night's Scrutiny Committee

Eighty people turned out for the Scrutiny Committee on 17th February, the last chance to challenge the impending cuts before the full budget meeting on Wednesday 23rd February. For a while it was standing room only until extra chairs were brought in and so the meeting started late.

Cllr Gartside and Finance Director Mike Owen gave the same presentation, with some updated figures, that they gave at the consultation on 1st February but this time aimed at a dozen councillors who were expected to scrutinise the budget. While the figures leading to the cuts were explained there was initially no discussion of what this meant to services – we didn’t need a Maths lesson, we wanted to know what’s being cut. There was virtually no documentation provided for the public who outnumbered councillors by six to one.

Lib Dem Councillor Richard Baum on our campaign

Below is a response to a set of questions that were put to the Councillor on the impending cuts;

Thanks for your email.

We are hamstrung as Councillors in that we are legally obliged to set a balanced budget according to the settlement given to us by the government. So we can't avoid making cuts, even if we wanted to. Failing to set a budget would mean us being sent to prison.

I will oppose cuts specific to Prestwich as i have been doing, and hopefully we can stop these when it comes to the vote next Wednesday. 

From Budget Consultation to Budget Protests

Bury Action Group was 're-born' from the anger expressed at the Bury Council budget consultation on 1st February. 180 people attended the meeting in the Elizabethan Suite to hear excuses and hand-wringing from Cllr Iain Garside, lead member for Resource, and the Council's Finance Director Mike Owen. 

It was clear that the council had simply accepted whatever meagre resources had been doled out by the Con-Dem coalition, and we, the people of Bury, simply had to accept there was no alternative to the cuts. There were even lists of budget headings strategically placed around the room, with post-its supplied, so you could pick your favourite cut! Needless to say no-one took up the opportunity.

Lobbying/questions at Internal Scrutiny Committee Thursday 17th February

Arrive early - any time after 6pm outside Bury Town Hall to lobby councillors on their way in. We hope to have our new banner by then, but you should still recognise our group if it isn't ready.

Meeting starts at 7pm in the Peel Room. Members of the public are allowed to attend and there is a half hour session near the beginning for public questions. The organising committee have prepared some questions but you can bring your own, offer support to those who ask them and watch the whole debate.

Unemployment rises in Bury

Unemployment in Bury has risen in the past month, according to labour market statistics in the Bury Times today. 

For the full article please click here

Welcome

This page is currently in the process of being constructed. If you would like to get in touch with us about the campaign to stop the cuts in Bury, please send us an email at buryactiongroup@gmail.com to receive notification of events and meetings which we will be planning over the coming weeks and months.