IN A bid to "engage communities in a new way"  the cabinet has tonight approved a radical overhaul of the way the council garners public opinion. 

Instead of the regular township forum meetings which allowed the public to feedback to the council their issues a new three tiered system will be introduced from mid-May. 

The report was brought by cabinet member for communities, councillor Tamoor Tariq, who stressed this was not the end of township forums. 

Under the new system the public will be able to submit their feedback online, directly to the council's website. 

There will be a level of "township engagement" with an annual meeting for networking and updating the public, held in June around the beginning of the new council year. 

These annual meetings will also "celebrate key outcomes and achievements".

The final tier would be at "ward level". 

In each ward an annual or bi-annual forum linked with "participatory budgeting events"(PB) will take place. 

Cllr Tamoor envisages these events will be "an opportunity to really engage people at neighbourhood level around what they love in their local area, how they can work together to make it better and to determine how they can ivest any grant funding wisely". 

The PB events will let the public to vote on where money is allocated, with councillors managing their own discretionary fund. 

Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Pickstone asked if this plan meant the end of township forums.

Cllr Tariq said: "It isn't the end of township forums. What we are asking is the local community to provide feedback into how they want it to be done."

He added, the new system could even lead to more meetings in the year if that was the way communities wanted it.

Cllr Pickstone also drew attention to the PB meetings saying he felt "X-Factor style" meetings were not always the best idea as they can become popularity contests and lead to disparity.

He said: "A school encouraged all the parents to join, which is great, but a charity for mental health cannot do that."

The new system would provide "flexibility", said cllr Tamoor. 

Adding: "If there was a group there who couldn't get the sufficient level of votes, elected members could get together and allocate some of our money, which is available for us to spend."

Cllr Sandra Walmsley felt township forums had evolved from their intended purpose. 

She felt grouping wards together was not always the best option. 

Saying: "What is an issue in one ward isn't necessarily an issue in another ward in the same township area. 

"I think [these ward meetings] will focus on responding to that, allowing communities to take more control."

The new feedback framework, to be governed by the Team Bury Wider Leadership Group, was approved. 

A report on the scheme will be submitted to the council each year.