As the end of 2024 fast approaches, Bury Independents becomes a year old. It only seems like yesterday when a very small group of Bury residents got together and decided to form a political party. In the May elections that quickly followed our formation, we selected a handful of candidates and ultimately managed to field Bury Independent candidates in half the wards with vacancies across the borough.
While we were not fortunate enough to elect anyone in 2024, I was astonished that over 4,500 local residents put a tick or a cross next to a Bury Independent box on their ballot paper. That makes Bury Independents the third largest party by vote share across Bury and is absolutely amazing for a political party that did not even exist 5 months before the election took place! As leader, I am incredibly grateful to the candidates that put themselves forwards, the campaigners and volunteers who helped us and, of course, local residents who voted for us.
Once the local election was over, it was quickly followed by a General Election! We decided to leave the national parties to it and also assumed that after months and months of political leaflets, door knocking, emails etc that the people of Bury deserved a break from elections so we took the opportunity to have a rest ourselves.
But there is plenty more to come from Bury Independents in 2025 – we continue to support the campaigns our party members have been involved in, for example the fight to save our green belt, ensuring that we have our say on planned redevelopments across Bury, Whitefield and Prestwich and relaunching our proposals to ensure free parking remains available across the borough as well as bringing back township forums, so that local residents can truly have a say on how our towns are run & funded.
So before we start 2025, I’d like to sign off 2024 on behalf of the party by asking for Bury residents to think about supporting a local charity this Christmas. Bury volunteers do some amazing things for local people and I can think of plenty of Bury charities worthy of support, but if you are looking for a charity to donate to this year please consider donating to the Bury Hospice Christmas Appeal which relies on community support to maintain its services. All donations to the hospice are used to provide crucial care for Bury people. You can donate at visufund.com/christmas-appeal-2024 or call the team on 0161 797 1748
On behalf of the entire Bury Independents team, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Steve Middleton, leader, Bury Independents party
