Councillor Iain Donaldson said: “These improvements are very welcome and should help these local shops. We now need the City Council to find the cash to carry out similar schemes for other shopping parades in the area - such as Green End and Fog Lane.

The Lib Dems raised a petition of local people calling for a crossing and handed it in to the City Council, who have listened at last.

Councillor Iain Donaldson said:

“This is a junction of two busy roads. People need to cross to get to the park and fields, as well as to the local schools, shops, bus stops, etc.

“We have been telling the City Council for years that they need to improve the safety of the junction for pedestrians, especially children and older people. “We are delighted that they have listened at last and made the crossing much safer for local people.”

 Commenting on the Post Office agreed by the Labour Executive, Lib Dem Leader Simon Ashley said,

“This report does not do what the Council motion I proposed asked for. The Liberal Democrats will be calling this report in for further Scrutiny. The Post Office made the Council sign a non disclosure agreement, which meant that Councillors have not seen any detailed figures for how much it would cost to save these Post Offices.”

During questioning, Labour Councillors confirmed that a subsidy in the order of £1million over three year would be needed, and that the Post Office had specifically excluded the Parrs Wood Branch, as its reopening would affect nearby Post Offices.

Lib Dem finance spokesperson Cllr Simon Wheale added,

“The Post Office, in stopping the Council even considering re-opening Parrs Wood, has acted outragously. The Liberal Democrats are going to use Freedom of Information requests to try and get more detailed figures. Once we have that, we will do all we can to find the money in the Council’s budget to save these Post Offices.”

Councillor David Sandiford, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Didsbury East, proposed a motion at a packed meeting of the full City Council in Manchester Town Hall, calling for the Council to reverse their previous decision to sell the 3 acre site and instead revert the land to house 50 allotments.

However, the Labour Councillor in charge of leisure refused to agree to do this.

Councillor Sandiford said:

“There is a large and unfilled demand for Allotments in South Manchester. According to Council officers, the waiting list for Manchester’s allotments is greater than 700. People waiting for an allotment can and do wait over three years for an allotment in their own area.

“Everyone accepts the positive aspects of allotmenteering - keeping healthy because of the physical work that one does in growing crops, contributing to a sustainable lifestyle, the social aspects, the educational aspects, and being able to have access to a fresh supply of good food.”

Councillor Sandiford, who used to have an allotment in South Manchester when his family was younger, added:

“This three-acre site is big enough for 50 full size allotments. It would make an excellent contribution to the needs of the local community. The decision to sell the site was taken by the Executive of the Council. That is why the motion calls on the Executive to rescind that decision.”

The motion was seconded by Councillor John Cameron, who represents Burnage Ward, which is near to the Parrs Wood allotment site.

Councillor John Cameron said:

“Land owned by the City Council should not be seen simply as a potential sum of money to be realized through its sale. It should also be seen as an asset that belongs to the people of Manchester and which should be used for their benefit now and for many years to come. Selling off assets such as this land may appear to offer a quick buck, and we all recognize that the Council needs money for the provision of services. However, like the sale of school playing fields, this also represents a short-term gain at the expense of a long-term loss. When you consider that the Council has not even managed to sell the Parrs Wood allotment site, the argument for removing it from sale and returning it to use as allotments becomes even more compelling.”

The Labour Group supported the Liberal Democrat motion on Post Offices at October’s full City Council Meeting.

Manchester Lib Dem leader, Cllr Simon Ashley said:

“I am happy that the Labour Group supported our motion. It offers a lifeline to the 5 Post Offices earmarked for closure in August, and the chance to re-open 23 branches closed by the Post Office across the city since 2003.”

Burnage Councillor John Cameron added:

“Our motion doesn’t write a blank cheque. It allows Council Officers to investigate how much subsidy is needed to keep these Post Offices open, and come back with a plan. This is good news for those campaigning to keep local Post offices open.”

John Leech MP and the local Lib Dems are backing Shelters new ‘Breaking Point’ campaign, which calls on the government to end the housing crisis.

The plan also calls for mortgage lenders to use repossession only as a last resort, and provide more help and support to homeowners; and for more safeguards for tenants renting privately. Shelter say the Government should review property taxation to make the system fairer, including council tax, stamp duty, inheritance tax and capital gains tax.

John Leech MP said:”Everyone has the right to an affordable and decent place to call home. With many thousands of families in Manchester waiting for their own council house, repossessions soaring, and private sector rents rising, we need to do more to tackle the housing affordability crisis.”I am working hard with Shelter to help the one in four families in the North West that are suffering from stress or depression due to today’s housing costs.Councillor Iain Donaldson, who is the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Housing in Manchester added:”As local Councillors we know from our advice surgeries and post bags that lack of a proper home is a major problem for hundreds of families in our area alone. Many are living in totally overcrowded and inappropriate conditions.”Gordon Brown has promised to make housing a priority in his Government. Now is the time the Labour government lived up to its fine words and tackled the problem head-on.”

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats show that the number of thefts in Manchester in less than the first quarter of this financial year stand at a little under 500, compared to a little over 200 for the whole of the last financial year.

Now Councillors Cameron and Donaldson are calling for the Council to take action to stop the thefts happening, instead of waiting for them to happen, as happens at present.

Councillor John Cameron said:

“We always report things like graffiti, broken streetlights and potholes that we notice when we are out and about in Burnage. We noticed that we were reporting more and more missing drain grid covers from the area’s streets. These missing covers are stolen for scrap, which has a high value at the moment. The trouble is that when they are stolen a dangerous hole is left that could cause serious injuries to pedestrians.”

Councillor Iain Donaldson added:

“When we report these missing covers, the City Council replaces them with non-metallic ones, which do not get stolen as they have no scrap value. What we have suggested is that they start to replace the metal covers in areas where there are lots of thefts before they get stolen, not after. That way the City Council would at least be able to accrue the value of the metal to spend on council services, instead of just waiting for the thieves to steal them all. It would also remove the trip hazard being caused for pedestrians.”

After years of calls from the Lib Dems and local people to have the range of materials collected from the kerbside increased to include plastics, directories and cardboard, the City Council is at last taking action - but only in a handful of places.

Councillor John Cameron said:

“If materials like plastic and cardboard, which can be recycled, are put in the ordinary rubbish bin, they end up in landfill sites, which is bad for the environment and costs the council tax payers money, through landfill taxes.

“The Liberal Democrats have argued for years that the Council should encourage more recycling by collecting other materials, like plastic and cardboard. We know that local people want to recycle these things, but the Council have not been making it easy by only collecting glass, aluminium and paper.

“At long last it seems that Labour has started to listen and are bringing this in - but why only to a few areas? It is great news for the people of parts of Whalley Range and Sharston, but what about the residents of Burnage, Withington, Didsbury, Northenden and Chorlton Park?

“After all of these years of delay it is high time that they got their act together and offered a comprehensive recycling collection service across the whole city.”

Lib Dem Councillor for Chorlton Park, Norman Lewis, added:

“It makes no sense that residents of Chorlton who live in the areas covered by Whalley Range and Chorlton Wards will get the improved recycling service, but those who happen to live in the Chorlton Park Ward will not. It’s just not fair.”