THE TOWN Hall’s top man has well and truly entered the technological age — by setting up the borough’s first ever leader’s blog.

A month after his Labour party took control of Bury Council following a nail-biting local election, Cllr Mike Connolly has launched an online weblog diary.

It updates taxpayers on what he has been up to and allows them to ask questions about his role.

Under the Conservatives, residents had few opportunities to engage with elected members.

The Tories banned members of the public from Executive meetings, where many key decisions are made, and they axed Local Area Partnerships (LAPs), where residents could raise vital community issues.

They also restricted public question time at other meetings.

Cllr Connolly said: “In trying to make the council more transparent, we’ve re-instated public meetings of the Executive and we’ve said residents can ask questions on the night, rather than have to submit them in advance.

“We’re also going to set up new township forums, to bring the workings of the council closer to our communities.

“When I became leader just a month ago, I promised to improve the dialogue we had with people in Bury, “I’m the first to admit my computer skills are not all they could be, but having a blog is a handy way for me to communicate directly with residents in a modern way and, of course, for people to respond.”

In his second entry, Cllr Connolly talks of engagements at a town hall conference today.

Cllr Connolly follows in the footsteps of another Labour-controlled authority, Manchester City Council, whose leader, Sir Richard Leese, has kept an internet diary since 2007.

But Cllr Connolly is yet to join Bury Liberal Democrats leader, Tim Pickstone, in joining Twitter, which allows people to follow their progress minute by minute.

n Read Cllr Connolly’s blog at bury.gov.uk