Now we are well into the New Year, this is the time we usually look forward in anticipation of things to come. I would ask the question: ‘What have we got to look forward to in 2009?’

The Credit Crunch is biting and Stockport residents like the rest of the country are starting to count the cost. You only have to go into the Town Centre, or indeed your local or district centre, and whilst the sales are on, no-one is spending their money.

The current Government has a lot to answer for. Tony Blair spilled the beans’ on Brown’s record as Chancellor when he said: “It is true that we had 10 years of record growth when I was Prime Minister. I have, unfortunately, come to the conclusion that it was luck." Gordon inherited a thriving economy when Labour came to power. Now Britain, thanks to his fiscal incompetence, has hard working families set to be hit again and again with much higher taxes, including the 15% VAT rising to an anticipated 20%.

Only a couple of weeks ago on a visit to the Lowry and Manchester David Cameron condemned Brown for ‘making a complete mess’ of taxation and economic policy. He said money should have been saved during prosperous years to prevent Britain being saddled with the biggest national debt of the developed world. But what did Brown do? He sold off Britain’s gold reserves at a time when gold was at its lowest value, losing us over £7 billion.

There are no signs of green shoots of recovery yet!

The GreenFlagPark in Heaton Moor, Thornfield Park, is looking good. Thanks to the efforts of my colleagues and myself in our ward of Heatons North we are hoping that this year the park will go from strength to strength. Local residents will recall that last year some fruit trees had to be removed, but Anthony, Les and I were able to obtain funding for replacements.

A new pride is coming through and in the very near future Les, Anthony and I will be involved in the planting of some new trees in ThornfieldPark, to be enjoyed by residents for years to come. STEVE HOLLAND, Stockport’s Conservative Candidate for the next General Election is looking forward to seeing the continuing improvements that can be achieved. Steve is Chairman of a Park’s Friends Group and that park has been awarded a Green Flag too. He is passionate about retaining and improving our green spaces.

At least there are some green shoots to be seen here!

Cllr Jackie Jones
Heatons North
Conservative

This article, by Cllr Jackie Jones, was first published by the Stockport Express 28/01/2009.