Bury Futures – Let’s Do It!

Thousands of people have watched a series of video streams debating and exploring the future of our borough to 2030 and beyond to mark the launch of Bury’s Let’s Do It! strategy.

Let’s Do It!is the ten-year vision and strategy for the borough, produced following two rounds of consultation with local people and partnerships.

Approved by the full council meeting last week, at its heart are four core principles:

• A Local Approach
• Driving Enterprise
• Working Together
• Taking a Strengths-Based approach.

The Bury Futures series was an invitation for everyone to further engage and get involved in Let’s Do It! bringing together local, regional and national commentators to discuss these core principles including through the lens of health, communities and business.

Each discussion was led by Bury-born national journalist Philip Collins, with contributions from Adam Lent, chief executive of the national think tank ‘New Local’, and Ramsbottom-born Professor Diane Coyle. They were joined by many local representatives including the Bury Voluntary and Community Faith Alliance, Jewel Foundation and Bury Community Support Network.

Common themes that emerged included maximising the existing partnerships in the borough, building on the strengths of local communities, and empowering people to be enterprising. The importance of business and voluntary groups were always paramount, along with the council’s role as a connector and enabler for local communities.

Councillor Eamonn O’Brien, leader of Bury Council, said: “Each discussion explored the key themes which Let’s Do It! is built around - Local, Enterprise, Together, Strengths – but a common thread ran through each of them: there are huge challenges for us all, but we need to stay ambitious for our future, a future we can all play an important part in to make the most out of the opportunities that are out there.

“How we do that is a big question and the Let’s Do It! strategy sets out Bury’s vision to address this. This last year of tackling Covid has shown the amazing contribution that public services make – from the council setting up and running new community hubs and the central role of public health, to the incredible efforts from the NHS in getting out the vaccine and teachers adapting to virtual learning.

“However, a huge part of this has been underpinned by new and strengthened relationships across our communities, local businesses and residents.

“Over the past year we have truly seen the power of society: public services working together to put people first, neighbours checking in on each other and building new friendships, and the renewed recognition of our ‘key workers’, especially our health and care staff.

“Detailed within the Let’s Do It! strategy and referenced throughout the Bury Future series are practical measures everyone can take to contribute to positive futures for Bury. Working together, in our neighbourhoods, this could include joining a community clean-up team; finding out how to recycle more; increasing physical activity through our amazing grassroots sports clubs; sharing your interests and making your voice heard in our equality networks. The Bury Directory has information about groups and activities to get involved with, or how to establish your own and connect through your local community hub. If you want to get involved, call 0161 253 5353.

If you are an employer, this could include setting up apprenticeships and hosting work experience placements and supporting volunteers to help mentor people look for work across the borough.

Cllr O’Brien added: “This is what the ‘Bury Futures’ series sought to do; to start the conversations about how we continue to change for the better and encourage everyone to get involved. Let’s do more to support what makes our borough great: our diverse and vibrant local communities, our amazing public services and the key workers that run them, and our local businesses who need our help to recover. These were the people who turned up as advocates for our borough at Bury Futures and who, day in and day out, make us proud of where we live.

“Be part of playing to our strengths to deliver our vision for Bury - all of us have a role to play in promoting healthier and happier lives in our borough.

“So, as one of our borough’s most famous daughters, Victoria Wood, Prestwich-born and Bury-raised, once said, Let’s Do It!”

You can watch the Bury Future series in its entirety online by visiting www.bury.gov.uk/buryfutures

The Bury Let’s Do It Strategy is available here: https://councildecisions.bury.gov.uk/documents/s26040/LETS2_FINAL.pdf

Find out about groups and your networks in your communities: https://theburydirectory.co.uk/

ENDS

Press release issued: 26 March 2021.