May 15, 1968

BURY Town Council will soon take another big stride towards solving the town centre car parking problem by providing a £20,000 car park in The Mosses.

The car park will be built south of the new orbital road between the Jolly Hatters pub and Spring Street and will provide ground level parking for 300 cars.

Whitehall loan sanction for the scheme is now being sought, and it is hoped work will start in the summer.

Chairman of Bury Roads and Traffic Committee, Cllr A.L. Collinson, said: "We feel very confident this new car park will go a long way towards relieving the present parking problems in the centre.

"It is quite an extensive site and will also provide easy access to the shops."

A second large central parking scheme should also be underway by the time the work starts, at the old Union Square site.

Developers working on the new shopping centre in area are planning to erect a two-deck car park with free parking for 400 cars.

The area is already being cleared and part of has been Garden Street sealed off to make space for equipment.

LARGE rats claimed to be plaguing homes in Hinds Lane, Elton, may in fact be coypu — rodent scavengers the size of cats.

That is according to the latest theory put forward by Mrs D. Baylis, whose 10-year-old son, David, found one dead at the riverbank . The specimen, however, was washed away by the rising river before it could be examined.

Mrs Baylis said she understood the coypu was "almost a new rodent" in this country, and that they are large brown animals that breed very quickly.

Around a month ago, residents claimed thy had seen "rats the size of cats" in the area, suggesting the situation may have been aggravated by the tipping of sheep's hooves at a tip on the banks of the Bury-Bolton Canal.

CONSERVATIVES consolidated their sweeping poll-day success of 12 months ago with another "blockbuster" victory in Bury's municipal elections.

The party took all 11 seats on Thursday, the first time they have done so for 21 years

Turnout for the election could have been the lowest on record, with fewer than a third of the 43,000 electors heading to the polls — much to Labour's cost.

[Labour's East Ward, held for 12 years, toppled to the Tories, as Conservatives also took four Radcliffe seats and one Heywood seat from Labour.]

As a result of the elections, the Tories now hold 34 Town Council seats, Labour eight and the Liberals two.

Conservative agent, Mr Henry Purcell described the party's success in East Ward as "a fantastic breakthrough", adding: "We got control of the council in 1965 and have worked hard ever since.

"This has proved we are on the right lines. We are prepared to accept the responsibilities we have taken over."

Labour Party president and council group leader, Cllr John Skellern, said: "The results nationally were a disaster for the Labour Party.

"Locally they were an indication of the unbelievable indifference of the people of Bury to the state of the town."