OPPOSITION parties set out their alternative proposals for the 2019/20 budget at a council meeting last night.

Conservatives said they would invest £30m in the borough’s highways by resurfacing roads and fixing pavements.

They would borrow money to fund this but make savings on highway insurance claims which the council has spent millions of pounds on in recent years.

Tory leader James Daly said: “We simply cannot, as a council, continue to pay out that amount of money that should be invested in fixing the roads.”

In addition, his party would spend £1m on street cleaning and tackling fly tipping.

Cllr Nicholas Jones described the state of fly tipping in the borough as an “absolute disgrace”, saying that it is a major issue which causes distress to residents in his wards.

The Conservative councillor said that the council has done some work to tackle the issue in parts of the borough, but there are still areas that need addressing.

He said: “There are other hotspots in Bury, one being Pilkington Park, where we have people coming from outside of Whitefield – and even sometimes outside of Bury – and fly tipping.”

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Conservatives would also create a £1m youth fund to support community-based activities that encourage a healthy lifestyle together with a £1m education fund to employ five school improvement officers.

This would be funded by saving £2m on hiring consultants and agency workers.

The Tories also want to borrow £10m to create an arms-length development company that would build thousands of homes both inside and outside the borough.

He said: “If we could build 10,000 homes in 20 years, we could make millions of pounds. That’s millions of pounds for front-line services.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Pickstone said that the Conservatives had some good ideas, but their proposals for funding did not “stack up”.

This included giving council staff three days of unpaid leave and reducing their trade union facility time.

Instead his party would spend more money on road repairs, tackling congestion, mental health in schools, fly tipping and creating no-idling zones.

In particular, they wanted to tackle “rat runs” by introducing traffic management schemes.

Cllr Pickstone said: “This is an issue that’s blighting many parts of the borough.”

His party called for a yearly investment of £100,000 to provide additional support to schools to assist teachers supporting children with mental health needs.

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Cabinet member for health and wellbeing Andrea Simpson said that the council would look at providing more mental health support in schools.

She said: “I’m quite happy to take this on and take it to the health and wellbeing board.”

The Lib Dems also suggested a £3.6m investment over the next two years on highway maintenance that would be funded by additional borrowing and the use of some reserved.

They agreed with the Conservatives in that the council would saving money in the long-run by reducing the amount it pays out in insurances claims.

The Lib Dems would also reduce management costs, use capital receipts and borrow some money for highways investment to pay for their proposals.

Their amendment to the budget failed despite Conservative councillors voting in favour for it.