Category: Bidston & St. James

Reason to vote Liberal Democrat on May 5th – Day Five

Many years ago shortly after I was selected as the Lib Dems to be their candidate in the Wirral Council election, a woman living near Birkenhead Park station emailed me in response to one of our leaflets. She was the foster carer for a teenager in a wheelchair and had great difficulty with the stepped … Continue reading “Reason to vote Liberal Democrat on May 5th – Day Five”

Many years ago shortly after I was selected as the Lib Dems to be their candidate in the Wirral Council election, a woman living near Birkenhead Park station emailed me in response to one of our leaflets.

She was the foster carer for a teenager in a wheelchair and had great difficulty with the stepped ramp at Birkenhead Park station. This station has (as many who will use it will know) a stepped ramp going down to the platform.

She had no difficulty in as she put it “bumping him down the ramp” but found it impossible to get him back up. As a result she was travelling to Conway Park train station (which has a lift) and wheeling him back a mile through the streets over bumpy pavements (which was very tiring for her).

As a result I wrote to Merseytravel and lobbied them (and Frank Field) my MP to improve access at the train stations. Access for disabled people to stations was also an issue raised at an Area Forum in relation to stations on the Chester/Ellesmere Port route.

The current policy of Merseyrail (and Merseytravel) is to provide taxis for disabled travellers from the nearest accessible station. The Roads v Central Trains Limited [2004] EWCA Civ 1541, (2004) 104 ConLR 62 case (which being a Court of Appeal case) was about exactly this issue and is binding on any case brought by a disabled person in the County Court.

In it a disabled traveller couldn’t use a station because of a footbridge. He was put to inconvenience (compared to his non-disabled travellers) in travelling to a nearby station and getting a taxi. Doing this added an hour to his journey. Like Merseytravel the train company claimed it’d cost £750,000 to adapt the station.

Appeal judges found the claimant had been discriminated against and overturned the ruling of the lower court, awarding £1,000 in damages and special damages of £97.

However there is a problem with the law and Merseyrail (which makes ~£6,000,000 in profit a year). Both Merseyrail and Merseytravel (at least due to what they’ve said in public and correspondence) see access to stations as a National Rail issue.

After British Rail was privatised the different areas were either put out to tender (eg the rail franchises for example Merseyrail, Virgin, Arriva Train Wales etc) or a separate company was set up. National Rail is the successor to Rail Track and is responsible for the track, signalling, infrastructure, stations etc.

Although the money for improving station access goes to Merseytravel, they complain that Network Rail causes them (as they see it) increased costs due to bureaucracy.

I raised with Merseytravel the issue that all stations within Bidston & St. James ward – Bidston, Birkenhead North and Birkenhead Park as well as the nearby station of Upton all had problems with accessibility.

I am pleased to announce that as a result of my lobbying (and others) money in this financial year has been set aside for improvements to Birkenhead North station.

In total approximately £1.6 million will be spent on a Park and Ride scheme (which is why the properties were pulled down) and on making the footbridge accessible.

Once again this shows that where people come to the Liberal Democrat Action Team with their problems, we take action and improve things for local residents.

In the meantime, the paint on the footbridge is peeling (which I doubt will be done before it’s replaced) and when I have more news about when the work will begin I will give an update.

I would like to thank Cllr Dave Mitchell, the Liberal Democrat Merseytravel representative for his help on this issue. The late Tony Garrett of the Wirral Transport Users Association was a passionate advocate for public transport and wanted these improvements made to stations on the Wirral. He even toured each Area Forum asking questions.

Although it may be some time before all stations in Bidston & St. James can be used by those with mobility problems, the news on Birkenhead North train station is a welcome step in the right direction.

New Housing Development Clarence Park on the Beechwood

Clarence Park - site for new Housing in Beechwood

When out delivering with the Liberal Democrat Focus Team on Beechwood today I noticed a derelict piece of land that used to attract flytipping has now got a big sign on it advertising 2 and 3 bedroom properties in a development called Clarence Park.

This is as well as a plan for houses by Liverpool Housing Trust on the former site of Feltree House (which was demolished over the Summer). Residents on the Beechwood (despite less car ownership than some parts of Wirral) have regularly told us about the parking problems encountered by them on this estate.

Clarence Park is being made possible thanks to funding from the Coalition Government. Without funding the properties would be about £140,000. However the government provides a loan of 15% of the value. The housebuilder also provides a loan of 15%. These two loans of 30% are interest free for five years. There are no restrictions on selling the property during this time.

Lib Dem councillors Simon Holbrook and Alan Brighouse have tabled a motion to Wirral Council at its meeting of the 18th entitled “Mortgage Support for First Time Buyers”. This outlines the “Lend a Hand” scheme (which lends buyers a deposit), the “First Buy” scheme (again helping low-income families to find a deposit) and asked for a report from Ian Coleman and Kevin Adderley on how this can be achieved on the Wirral.

Last November I wrote the following about the Liberal Democrat government housing policy. I am glad to see it being put into effect!

November Focus:-

Lib Dems deliver 150,000 new affordable homes

New Lib Dem plans will see the biggest increase in affordable homes for more than thirty years.

The Lib Dems in Government will deliver 150,000 affordable homes over the next gour years. That’s more than Labour delivered in their first eight years in power!

The plans will reverse the massive decline in affordable housing under Labour, who sold off more properties than they built.

Local campaigner John Brace explained, “After 13 years in power, Labour left Britain with 45,000 fewer affordable homes than they started with.

Thanks to the Liberal Democrats affordable social housing will at long last be available to thousands more families across Britain.”

Photo caption:
The Lib Dems are providing new affordable homes where Labour failed.

Postal Voting – Deadline 14th April – Only 5 days to go

Today Wirral Council sent my excellent agent, who then passed on the information to me the invite to the opening of the postal votes (starting on the 20th April) at Wallasey Town Hall.

It is not too late to register for a postal vote, if you want one. The form can be downloaded from Wirral Council’s website. For people who are planning to go on holiday, will be at work or have children to look after having a postal vote brings welcome flexibility to the process.

I am pleased that (unlike last year) Wirral Council is sticking to the legal requirement to invite candidates/agents to the opening of the postal votes. The postal ballots are one of the weak points of our system and as a judge described Labour’s previous election fraud “would disgrace a banana republic”. Having said that there are many other weak points in our democracy, considering the large amount of people registered to vote who are not allowed to (eg dead or other reasons).

Lib Dem voters are more likely to vote by post. Last year many in Bidston & St. James did not receive their postal votes. When they complained they didn’t receive replacement postal ballots and were turned away from polling stations.

This even included myself! If this year anyone tries to stop your exercising your democratic or legal right to vote, please get in touch with us and we will submit a formal complaint.

One change made from last year, which affects polling stations outside Bidston & St. James (I live in the largest polling station area) is that polling stations serving more than 2,500 voters have been split. I see this as an excellent change that will prevent the disgraceful long waits for hours that people had to endure when voting in the local and General Election last year.

If anybody has any questions or suggestions for improvement in the democratic system, please leave a comment. There have been reports of people previously going to a polling station and being turned away as someone has impersonating them has already voted.

We must have a democracy where everybody’s vote counts not just in theory but in practice. After the election I had a conversation with the Returning Officer Steve Maddox (who has since retired) as to why it appeared my own vote hadn’t been counted as it didn’t appear in the list of people who had voted. I was not entirely convinced by his explanation and hope this year Wirral Council will at least be able to be able to provide a result which isn’t questionable. I live in hope that one day we’ll actually get an accurate result in Bidston & St. James and that everyone’s vote is not only counted, but recorded as being counted.

This year the Returning Officer is Bill Norman.

Wirral Council Cabinet to decide contractor for Cathcart Street Primary School/Children’s Centre

The Lib Dem/Conservative Cabinet will next Thursday decide upon a contractor for the refurbishment of Cathcart Street Primary School, creation of a new Children’s Centre here (as reported by the Liverpool Echo) and provision for holidays/after school clubs.

The Cabinet report suggests they choose Paragon Construction for the project.

Waiving of call-in is also requested on this decision, so that the project can be started right away (depriving the Labour Party to have a further meeting within two weeks stating why they’d be against over a million pounds worth of investment in this school). The plan is that the contractor will start over the Easter break which would be impossible without waiving call-in.

The project raises a number of questions which I will be asking of Cabinet:-

a) Will the contract specify that local employment has to be used (or a % of local employment)? Is this what “Provision will be made within the contract for Targeted Recruitment and Training (TRT) so that Wirral Council can continue the policy of developing a Construction Employment Integrator (CEI).” means at 9.7? 12.2 states “The successful constructor will be encouraged to employ local labour and source materials from local suppliers as far as possible.”, but does this mean they will?
b) What’s the scale of the bonus the contractor would get for completing on time?
c) Considering the tendency of construction projects to take longer and cost more, what controls are in place to ensure it comes in on time and budget?
d) A number of construction companies contracted on the Wirral have gone bust part way through a project. For example the project to reconstruct the West Kirby Marine Lake or the new medical centre on Laird Street. What alternative arrangements are in place regarding this eventuality and has the financial background of the preferred contractor been looked into?
e) What can other Wirral schools learn from the green elements of the design in helping combat climate change, reducing their carbon footprint and saving Wirral Council money?

Another Sunny Day in Bidston

I had another sunny day in Bidston talking to voters on the doorstep. There were many issues raised and some were very supportive of the Lib Dem/Tory government and Wirral Council (which is run by a Lib Dem/Tory partnership).

A number of issues I will be raising with the relevant spokesperson (or be taking up with council officers) for a response, the positive response may be partly because I live nearby and have worked or dealt with problems for those supporting us in the area.

Unlike some, I enjoy talking with people about their problems and see it as a positive that elections force parties, candidates and teams to engage with the public.

Judging by people’s responses, this election will be (as it is every year) decided by those people who have yet to make their mind up. With the deadline for postal votes less than a week away local residents could be making their mind up soon as to who is best to represent them for four years as their Wirral councillor.