Bury Labour reject return of Township Forums

Friday, 17 January 2025 16:50

By David Murphy

Up until 2017, the six towns of Bury held regular public meetings called Township Forums. A Council vote was held on 15th January 2025 which proposed a return to these public forums. Labour voted to reject the idea.

Up until 2017, the six towns of Bury held regular public meetings called Township Forums. In April 2024 the Bury Independents party committed to work to bring back Township Forums to the borough. The Unsworth & Whitefield Township Forum in particular was always well attended, with the meeting in January 2017 being attended by 42 residents, even though it was held in the middle of the day on a weekday.

Township forums were set up specifically so that local people could have a say on how their areas were run, and they were very successful in promoting the social, economic and environmental well-being of each of the six towns. The forums were generally chaired by one of the ward councillors with regular attendance from Unsworth & Whitefield councillors, plus an advisory group of local representatives from the business community, voluntary organisations, residents associations and community groups. Often Police and Community Together (PACT) meetings were combined with Township Forums. By the end of 2017 Bury Labour had abolished the Township Forums, with a promise to replace them with ‘virtual meetings’ that ultimately never appeared.

At full council on 15th January 2025, the Radcliffe First group proposed a motion to bring back Township Forums. At the same meeting the Leader of Bury Independents and Unsworth local campaigner Steve Middleton asked Bury Labour council leader Eamonn O’Brien if he would consider bringing back the Whitefield & Unsworth Township Forum, as it was always well attended. Councillor O’Brien did not agree with, what he called a “one size fits all, tick-box approach.”

Commenting today Steve said “At the moment it is quite difficult for local residents to have their views heard in public due to the lack of public meetings. Council-related issues are often raised at other meetings, for example complaints regarding street light dimming were raised at the Whitefield PACT meeting on the 16th January, but the complaint couldn’t be heard by the Police as street lighting is a council matter, not a Police matter.

One of the reasons the Bury Labour group voted to reject the motion to bring back Township Forums cited costs. The Bury Independents party commits to funding venue & equipment hire for the Unsworth & Whitefield Township Forum to get it off the ground and bring it back for local residents, meaning there would be no cost to the council.”