The move has been blamed on Labour bailing out the bankers, whilst local councils feel the heat.

Funding for Bolton’s NHS has been slashed meaning there are insufficient funds.

Julia Silvester, who has a wealth of experience in health issues, said: “This is a step backwards for all of those residents who were eager to see a new health facility for our community.”

Julia has blasted Labour’s town hall chiefs for their mismanagement of bin collections in Bolton. They changed the system, which left thousands of people without a bin collection for WEEKS.

The fiasco worsened when snowy and icy conditions swept across the area, crippling bin collections completely.

Julia said: “It has just been a farce. To make matters worse the country was running out of grit so out roads became so dangerous that bin lorries could not pass along them.”

A 100 tonnes of Bolton’s salt was given to Bury, leaving a shortage here. Lib Dems have called for a review to make sure that this never happens again.

Refuse collectors will be taking waste next Monday (11th January) from Bolton Road car park, La Scala car park and the Grey Man car park in order to ease the pressure on householders after the collection vehicles were unable to do their normal rounds.

The three sites will only, however, be open from 8am until 12noon – which has been blasted by Councillor David Wilkinson, who represents Westhoughton South.

Cllr Wilkinson said: “This is simply not good enough. These are very limited times, when many residents will be at work. I will be pressing the Labour council to ensure that all surplus rubbish is picked up, and not just left uncollected like it has been on many streets.”

“Whilst I support the council’s emergency plan, it needs to be extended. I am also worried about less able residents such as the elderly or disabled. How are they to be expected to get rid of their waste?”

For full details on the emergency service see our original article, here.

It comes as bin lorries are unable to safely get around Westhoughton’s streets and so bin collections next Monday have been cancelled.

The announcement comes quickly after Westhoughton South ward councillor David Wilkinson asked the council to consider setting up emergency drop off points to help out his residents, many of whom are struggling to cope in the snow and have bigger and bigger piles of rubbish.

The council’s contingency plan means that residents who are mobile and able to transport their excess waste will be able to hand over their waste to a parked refuse collection vehicle which is crewed up with staff from the service.

Westhoughton’s emergency collection points next Monday will be:

- Bolton Road car park

- La Scala car park, Wingates

- Grey Man pub car park, Hindley Road

Click Zone 1 Household Waste Drop Off Points to view the full list of drop off points along with a map (supplied by Bolton Council).

Residents are advised to continue checking this website for further updates throughout the week. If you have any particular concerns you can contact our team by e-mailing us at focus@westhoughton-libdems.org.uk.

Parliamentary Candidate Jackie Pearcey with Lib Dem campaigner Derek Gradwell at Fell Foot Meadow in 2009

Work has started on a promised play area for the Summerfields Estate .

Housing developers Barratts and Wimpey had agreed to build a joint play area as part of the development of Madison Park and Fell Foot Meadow.

However, the site was not usable as Wimpey had left their site completely flat, and Barratt had left a considerable amount of material piled up, and grass over.

This led to an 18-month delay before any work really started.

The Liberal Democrat team had to push Bolton’s Labour-run Council before the developers moved out of the area completely.

Westhoughton North campaigner Derek Gradwell said: “It has been a long struggle to get the council to take action against the developers, but finally now we are seeing some progress.”

Derek’s team is continuing to lobby the council to get them to push developers into completing the play area and open space, including the landscaping.

A LIDL store

LIDL will be opening Thursday, 3rd December, we can reveal.

The national chain will open their first Westhoughton store at the Wigan Road / Cricketers Way junction, off The Fairways.

It is being closely followed by Sainsburys, who will be opening in February 2010.

The old 'Cupboard Love' shop on Wigan Road

A new cafe could be opening on Wigan Road if planning permission is granted.

The applicant wants to set up the new food outlet in the former ‘Cupboard Love’ shop on the corner of Wigan Road and Wilbraham Street, opposite Ditchfield Gardens.

The hours of opening would be Monday to Saturday 9am to 4pm and Sunday 9am to 2pm.

They plan to have one full-time member of staff, and two part-time employees, and the dining areas would be those shown in our picture, in the shop front at the street corner and fronting on to Wigan Road.

Has your bin been emptied?

Labour chiefs faced a grilling by angry residents and binmen as the bins fiasco rumbled on.

Top man Councillor Cliff Morris – Leader  of the Council – and Cllr Sufrana Bashir-Ismail, his Executive Member for Cleaner, Greener, Safer were sat on a panel organised by The Bolton News, where residents were invited along to ask the difficult questions.

It comes as residents across Westhoughton have not had their bins emptied over the past six weeks, and there is little sign of improvement. An internet poll on this website found that 71% of people said they were fed up with the currently problems.

It has been a deeply embarrassing few weeks for the Labour party in Bolton, and it all came to a head when the meeting was convened this week. Even the binmen spoke up – one even challenging the panel members to come and do his job for a week, promising to give a day’s wage to charity if they could complete the job successfully.

Cllr Bashir-Ismail was heckled noisily by the audience when she claimed the meeting was becoming ‘political’.

Westhoughton South ward councillor David Wilkinson said: “The most simple of question on everyone’s lips has become the most difficult question for Labour’s bosses. Everyone in Westhoughton is asking me, ‘When is my bin going to be emptied?’ and they just can’t give a straight answer.”

“We have been inundated with frustrated people who have been left without a bin collection for weeks. We are continuing to pressure the Labour-run council for answers, and above all, some action,” he added.

At the Council Meeting on 21st October Liberal Democrat Councillors strongly criticised the chaotic situation around bin collections and the many bins that are missed each week. We asked a number of critical questions of the Executive Member responsible for the service (Councillor Sulfrana Bashir-Ismail).

The questions we asked covered:

• Did the Executive Member stand by her decision to implement the changes to the bin collections, and would she give her full and public support?
• Did the Executive Member agree that the current failure to collect grey bins for several weeks at a time was a breach of Labour’s election promise?
• Could the Executive Member confirm whether there was now a policy not to issue green bins to terraced houses (even those with small gerdens back and front) and if so, was there any intention to remove green bins from those properties?
• What actions were being taken to ensure that refuse crews knew the location of bins where there should be an ‘assisted collection’ and to ensure that bins were returned to the correct position afetr emptying?
• What was the cost of additional crews, additional journeys and other measures to remedy mistakes of non collection of bins?
• Would there be any help for the ‘hard to reach’ areas of the Borough where there is no recycling available, and missed bins can cause additional problems?
• Has there been any change to the service standard where missed bins should be collected within 3 working days?

Apart from confirming that no policies had changed, we got little in the way of answers.

It was to be expected that Labour Councillors would not wish to raise questions publicly about probably the worst current problem in provision of services. What was surprising was that the Conservatives also were totally silent.

We later moved an amendment “That the Executive Member be urged to take a higher public profile in support of her policy and the officers that are carrying out that policy”. Most Conservatives supported that, but it was defeated because they were again split – several Conservatives voting with Labour and others abstaining.

Local councillor Julia Silvester has been calling for better footpaths in Westhoughton’s cemetery.

As our picture shows, a number of the footpaths in the grounds are in a poor condition. Campaigner Julia said: “The cemetery is let down by the state of its paths and the Lib Dem team has been acting on the complaints of residents to try and see action.”

Your Liberal Democrat team is now pleased to report that Bolton Council has agreed to spend £25,000 on improving the footpaths. Julia added: “This is excellent news for everyone who visits the cemetery.”

Labour councillors tried to stop a new Tesco in Westhoughton, only to be found shopping in it days later. They have been blasted by Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Jackie Pearcey.

The new mini Tesco on Manchester Road at the White Horse junction has proven to be a lifeline for people living in that area, especially the elderly who cannot travel far.

But Labour councillors originally wanted to quash the plans. Despite their objections, the plans went through and Tesco has become a hit with locals.

Residents will be shocked to read that Labour councillors were spotted doing their shopping in the very Tesco they refused, a few days after it had opened.

Westhoughton South ward councillor Julia Silvester said: “The Liberal Democrat team has always had the interests of local residents as its number one priority.”

Bolton West Parliamentary Candidate for the Lib Dems, Jackie Pearcey added: “It’s a shame Labour fail to see what Westhoughton needs for its future.”