QUESTIONS are being posed to residents, business and community groups to help produce the Bury 2030 masterplan, which will shape the future of jobs, health, education and the environment for the next decade and beyond.

An eight-week consultation has been launched asking everyone what the priorities for the borough should be – and if you could play a role in making the improvements you want to see.

The Bury 2030 strategy is a connecting and unifying element of a number of plans designed to shape the future of the conurbation as a whole.

These include the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, a GM Clean Air Zone and Minimum Licensing Standards.

There are five themes underlying the plan:

  • Healthy Communities: helping people to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and be able to access more support in their community. Also: giving children the best start in life, focusing on families who need extra support in the early years.
  • Carbon neutral: creating a greener, carbon-free borough and redesigning our towns and services to change behaviour and reduce negative effects on the environment.
  • Inclusion: making sure that everyone’s voice is heard, with new ways of engaging at local level through the new Community Hubs in each township, connected to new jobs and new developments in the borough.
  • Digital first: to make our services more accessible and online and ensuring people have the skills and facilities to connect with them.
  • Inclusive Growth: this includes investment in physical infrastructure (roads, cycle ways and public transport); creating more office space and better quality workplaces to encourage more businesses to open and remain in Bury; to ensure residents have the best chance to access good jobs through school improvement, further and higher education, apprenticeships and adult skills.

Councillor Eamonn O’Brien, leader of Bury Council, said: “Bury 2030 started last year with a “Big Conversation” in which 1,100 people from around the borough gave us their thoughts, wishes and concerns.

“This feedback has helped to produce this latest plan – but if it is to succeed, it must have widespread support from all sections of the community: residents and businesses, young and old.

“This is not a ‘council’ plan – this belongs to us all, and we can all play a role to play in making it happen. That’s why we’re inviting everyone to join in and help us produce a plan that is truly backed by Bury.”

Download and read the full strategy by clicking here: https://www.onecommunitybury.co.uk/bury-2030