Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet will decide next Monday whether to spend £200,000 to demolish Lyndale School
Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet will decide next Monday whether to spend £200,000 to demolish Lyndale School
Cabinet 17th December 2014 vote on Lyndale School closure L to R Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Education), Cllr George Davies, Cllr Ann McLachlan
As reported around a fortnight ago on this blog Wirral Council’s Cabinet meets next Monday morning to make another decision about Lyndale School.
Cabinet previously decided to close Lyndale School in Eastham at the end of August 2016. On Monday councillors on the Cabinet will be deciding whether to declare it surplus to requirements, to ask the government for permission to sell off the playing fields (with a further six-week consultation expected on this), demolish the school building and to sell off the site.
The rationale for demolition is that an empty building could attract vandalism.
Parents of disabled children at Lyndale School campaigned to try to persuade the Labour councillors on Wirral Council to change their mind and keep the Lyndale School open. Although councillors from opposition parties agreed with the parents that the school should remain open, Labour councillors consistently voted to close the Lyndale School school.
The site of the former Lyndale School is expected to be sold for housing.
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
When are the Heritage Open Days for 2016 in Bidston?
When are the Heritage Open Days for 2016 in Bidston?
Bidston Lighthouse (Wilding Way), Bidston Hill 14th August 2014 taken by John Brace
It’s nearly September, which means starting on the 3rd September will be a series of Heritage Open Days on the Wirral.
The full list of free Heritage Open Days can be found here, but below are some more details on the ones that are taking place in the local area I live (Bidston).
3rd September 2016
Bidston Windmill will be open from 10.00 am to 12 noon (last entry at 11.45 am). Further details are here. Booking is not required, but there is a minimum height restriction of 110cm for visiting the upper floors. Children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult. For further details email info@bidstonhill.org.uk.
Also on the 3rd September (as well as on the 5th, 6th and 10th) Bidston Lighthouse and Telegraph Station (accessible from Wilding Way) will be open to the public between 12.45 pm and 4.00 pm (with guided tours at 1.00 pm, 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm). Guided tours have to be booked in advance through their website. For further details contact Amanda Pickles on (0151) 653 7816 or by email to info@bidstonlighthouse.org.uk.
8th September 2016
St. Oswalds Church in Bidston Village will be open on Thursday 8th September 2016 from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. No booking is required and for further details contact the vicar Ron Iveson on (0151) 378 5835 or roniveson@hotmail.com.
Although not a Heritage Open Day, Church Farm in Bidston Village is having an Open Day on the 17th September 2016 from 2.00 pm to 9.00 pm. Admission is £1.
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
Wirral Council and Magenta Living promise to work together to combat flytipping on Crossways Estate
Wirral Council and Magenta Living promise to work together to combat flytipping on Crossways Estate
Councillor George Davies (Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety) and Chair of the Birkenhead Constituency Committee 28th July 2016
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
Birkenhead Constituency Committee 28th July 2016 The public questions referred to below start at the 20 minute 21 second mark
The author lives around half a mile from the area described below.
As you can read in this blog post (which is mainly photos) from January 2011 flytipping has been a problem at Flaybrick Cemetery and the turning heads at the top of Hoblyn Road, Collin Road and Naylor Road for some time.
In the last few days I was walking with my wife Leonora there (sadly without my camera) and there is a lot of flytipping at the top of Naylor Road by Flaybrick Cemetery.
As the photo in this blog post from a local community organiser shows Magenta Living have “tinned up” many of the properties on the Crossways estate meaning that sadly flytipping in that area can be done unobserved.
At the last Birkenhead Constituency Committee (held near the end of July) I asked what was being done about flytipping and what is planned for the future of the houses in these roads.
The written answers given to both questions are below (although you can also watch me ask them in the video above).
Response from Department for Regeneration and Environment (Wirral Council)
Hoblyn Road, Collin Road and Naylor Road are all done on a street cleansing every 4 weeks schedule. Over the past months we have had several deposits of fly tipping emerging at the very top of these areas.
We have had the councils [sic] Enforcement Team and Kingdom investigating the fly tipping and have had positive feedback.
We are also working with Magenta Living regarding the development of the existing houses with additional street cleansing. We will continue to work alongside Magenta living [sic] when the new development is completed working with housing officers tackling waste and recycling and street cleaning and fly tipping.
(Cllr Steve Foulkes who is a Wirral Council appointed Director of Magenta Living left the room during this question)
Response from Magenta:
The Crossways estate in North Birkenhead comprises of 200 3 bed houses including Hoblyn, Collin and Naylor Road along with 13 properties on Hoylake Road.
Very limited demand began to be experienced and Magenta Living took the decision not to allocate any of the properties on Crossways until a longer term, sustainable solution could be found.
Magenta Living has carried out survey work and been working with residents to identify improvement options. One of the principle issues raised by residents was the unpopular ‘gilbury’ units, ground floor extensions that house the bathroom facilities. Two demonstration properties were made available to residents to view in May 2016, one had the bathroom relocated upstairs and made into a 2 bed house, the other was retained as a 3 bed again with the bathroom upstairs.
Feedback from residents was largely very positive and work has subsequently commenced, on a phased basis in order to ensure demand still exists, improving the empty properties in Hoblyn Road, including the demolition the gilbury units, before the occupied properties are then improved.
Other works identified include;
Demolition of some properties towards Flaybrick Memorial Gardens
Improved physical security measures
Improving the external appearance of properties
Exploring the option of a low cost home ownership scheme
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
Why did the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside need a seconded part-time Private Secretary costing £16,828 a year?
Why did the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside need a seconded part-time Private Secretary costing £16,828 a year?
Job Description Private Secretary to Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner seconded from Liverpool City Council
A few years ago, before Jane Kennedy was re-elected as Police and Crime Commissioner earlier this year, the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel agreed to her request for a Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside in June 2014. Previously Jane Kennedy had stated she wouldn’t need a Deputy but changed her mind.
The appointment of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner (a part-time role of three days a week work with a salary of over £30,000) was first made to Cllr Ann O’Byrne (at the time also Liverpool City Council Cabinet Member for Housing), then in August 2015 the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner changed to Cllr Sue Murphy (a St Helens Council councillor). Cllr Sue Murphy continued as Deputy PCC until the end of Jane Kennedy’s term of office in May 2016. After Jane Kennedy’s re-election Sue Murphy was then was re-appointed as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner by the councillors on the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel on the 14th July 2016.
In addition to the £31,800 paid to the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner (from June 2014 to the 1st May 2016, then from 14th July 2016 onwards) Liverpool City Council had been providing a seconded employee (part-time) to be a “Private Secretary” to the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner at a cost of £16,828 a year.
However here’s one quote from the “Principal Accountabilities” bit of the job description, “Vet incoming correspondence addressed to the Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner/Chief of Staff, deciding on the most appropriate manner by which it should be dealt with, this ensuring that only relevant correspondence is filtered through to the Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner.”
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
Three councillors from the Wirral (Cllr Steve Foulkes, Cllr Jerry Williams and Cllr Les Rowlands) each spoke on the item, which you can watch starting at the 24 minutes 20 second point in the video below.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
Merseytravel Committee (Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) 28th July 2016 Part 2 of 2 (Enhancing Services on the ‘Borderlands’ Rail Line starts at 24:20)
The Merseytravel Committee agreed to work with the Welsh Assembly Government to push for a twice hourly service, to set up a joint steering group with the Welsh Assembly Government and to develop a realistic project plan to:
a) improve the line,
b) introduce a bus-rail interchange in the Hawarden Bridge area,
c) enhance intermediate stations (such as Heswall and Upton) to make them more convenient, attractive and accessible and
d) to look into a potential new station at Woodchurch.
Future reports on progress are expected to be made to the councillors on the Merseytravel Committee.
Attending the public meeting was the Chairman of the Wrexham Bidston Rail Users Association John Allcock. When asked for a quote for WBRUA’s views on the decision by the Merseytravel Committee he wrote, “The WBRUA welcomes the Merseytravel Committee’s decision to support the enhancement of the Borderlands Line. This railway has been a Cinderella line for many years but has the potential to be a significant part of the transport network in our area and benefit the communities and businesses it connects.”
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
