I CANNOT understand why Cllr Carter wasn’t jailed and received a community service order.

I have worked in the justice sector and offenders were given harsh sentences for this type of crime and they weren’t always in positions of trust or had repeated alleged past crimes.

In last week’s Guide it would appear that Cllr Connolly’s reference to the judge made him reconsider the sentence and issue a community order.

Would Cllr Connolly have been voted Mayor of Bury if this would have been public knowledge?

This has cost the tax payer hundreds and thousands of pounds and actually, who was punished in the end?

In view of the poor Ofsted reports with regards to children’s services, why wasn’t this flagged up earlier?

I for one, do not feel confident that the current council members have the experience or expertise to run the council and make decisions on behalf of the public in a positive way.

As regards to the libraries, a poor decision was made to reduce Bury Central Library and use the space for a Sculpture Centre.

This needs to be reviewed as a matter of urgency and possibly the library space returned to the library.

If I was a member of the Wrigley family, I would be mortified.

Bury Central library was one of, if not the first, public libraries in Britain.

Wasn’t Bury a thoughtful, engaging and innovative council in the 18th century with the insight to ‘improve literacy and reduce crime’?

I think this is still needed and applicable now, in the 21st century.

Library closures should not just be a political decision, motivated by financial constraints.

There should be proper debates and solutions which are not driven by one political party and if necessary individual input by entrepreneurs and cross party debate.

The consultation was a farce, with a model template used by the consultants to close libraries and I would imagine that this company has been used by other councils which have closed libraries.

The population of Bury is roughly the same, if not smaller than Rochdale and Oldham and there are no cuts to library services in these towns.

Bolton has borrowed money to improve services and Salford is to open seven new libraries.

Lancashire has reversed the decision to close libraries. Maybe Bury could find out how other areas have been successful and reverse the decision.

Bury Council should look at how other areas have managed to save libraries and this would be and excellent move in restoring public confidence and engaging the public once again.

Why is Bury the only borough in Greater Manchester facing these cuts?

I would like to know what the council leader, Cllr Rishi Shori, proposes to do to restore confidence and hopefully give Bury residents some answers and hope.

The only response I’ve received from councillors and our MP is “it’s not us, it’s the lack of funds from Government”.

I think it’s a bit more than this . . .

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