Category: Bidston Village Conservation Area

Have Your Say – Waste and Rubbish – Proposed New Sites for rubbish in Bidston & St. James

Following on from the earlier consultation on the Waste Plan for Merseyside and Halton, there’s now going to be a public consultation on “Preferred Options 2: New Sites Report”. Thanks to a strong Lib Dem campaign ruling out Prenton Quarry and you’ll be pleased to know there are proposed sites in Bidston & St. James … Continue reading “Have Your Say – Waste and Rubbish – Proposed New Sites for rubbish in Bidston & St. James”

Following on from the earlier consultation on the Waste Plan for Merseyside and Halton, there’s now going to be a public consultation on “Preferred Options 2: New Sites Report”.

Thanks to a strong Lib Dem campaign ruling out Prenton Quarry and you’ll be pleased to know there are proposed sites in Bidston & St. James you can object to, although it seems at this stage they’re just consulting on new sites that’ve been added after a number of other councils on Merseyside objected to them in their areas.

Who wants to live near a rubbish tip anyway?

However the report is available to download, view online and leave comments on at their website.

As they stated in a letter to me “Various issues relating to sites arose as a result of discussions and the first public consultation; therefore we aer undertaking another public consultation so that you have the opportunity to comment on new sites and updated issues”.

The consultation period will end on 20th June 2011 and a paper copy can be obtained by contacting the Waste Plan team on 0151 934 2804 or visiting your local library or council building where copies should be available.

There will also be drop in sessions, the nearest being on Thursday 26th May 2011 at Millenium House, Victoria Street, Liverpool, L1 6JD from 4pm to 7pm. Further information can be obtained from the Waste Plan Team on 0151 934 2804.

Any witty comments left like “Yet another Lib Dem writes a load of rubbish” I won’t censor, but joking aside how we deal with rubbish is a very important issue going forward.

Here is a list of the proposed new sites (which are as a result of decisions made by Halton and St. Helens Council rejecting waste sites in their area):-

W0360 Wirral Car Parking/Storage Area, former Shipyard, Campbeltown Road 5.9 333046 387412
W0180 Wirral Former Goods Yard, Adjacent Bidston MRF / HWRC, Wallasey Bridge Road 2.8 329675 390566
W2215 Wirral Bidston MRF / HWRC, Wallasey Bridge Road 3.7 329684 390736

Looking back over the last 12 months

Looking back over the last half-year or so since this blog started, what were the stories and pages on this blog that have captured the public’s attention and brought them to this blog?

There was the story about the 2011 Census, which many people had questions about ranging from why was there no question 17 (it was a question asking if you understand, speak, read or write Welsh).

The About John Brace” page was popular and attracted a number of comments. It’ll be updated soon.

This Cabinet meeting about the Conservative-Lib Dem budget and Labour not being happy was read over a hundred times.

Merseytravel’s response on Mersey Tunnel’s issues also aroused interest.

The pages about protest outside Birkenhead County Court regarding Council Tax and the Save our Forests campaign were read just a bit more than stories about the Chinese New Year celebrations in Liverpool, HMS Campbeltown, ID Cards being scrapped or the Labour Chair of Merseytravel using his casting vote to increase Mersey Tunnel tolls.

More local issues also aroused interest such as the Lib Dem plan to invest £1.8 million in Cathcart Street primary school as a result of the closure of Cole Street primary school and the relocation of the Children’s Centre across the road to Cathcart Street Primary School, how much councillors are paid (which was used by some parties during the election to show how some councillors were getting £50,000+/year), Arriva not stopping its buses at the new bus stop near Tesco, the Lib Dem Mayor at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm, Flaybrick cemetery flytipping and the Corsair in Bidston Village being demolished.

Over the Winter the issue of gritting and bin collections was on resident’s minds. The street level crime website and minimum price proposals for alcohol were also topics the public were interested in.

In total there have been 5,557 views of pages on this website and it has been read keenly by certain councillors and others. Yet who knows what the public will be wanting from its elected representatives in the next 12 months?

Cabinet meeting (Wirral Council) 22/02/2011 Part 1 – the Conservative/Lib Dem budget cometh and Labour is not happy

Well yesterday the Conservative & Lib Dem Cabinet “unveiled” their Wirral Council budget for 2011/2012. Labour’s (opposition) budget will arrive by noon on Friday the 25th February.

Next Monday (1st March) the full Council will vote on the budget, although with 41 (yes I know it’s 42 including the Lib Dem Mayor but generally he doesn’t vote as he’s supposed to be politically neutral as part of his office) “progressive partnership” councillors to Labour’s 25 24 (edit – I sometimes forget Cllr. Knowles had switched from Labour to Tory and the independent Cllr Kirwan isn’t still with Wirral Council) councillors, I’m sure even Labour can do the maths and realise Labour’s budget will be defeated next Monday (with no need for Budget Part 2 on the evening of the 9th March) by around seventeen votes.

Can you see which bits of the Budget are from the Lib Dem side and which from the Conservative side? Yes you can see “the seams” between the two halves as we continue to be two independent political parties with minds and policy making processes of our own. If you look really hard you can see the bits influenced by yours truly and others (for example the 4-year rolling programme for 20 mph residential zones discussed last year by the party when Cllr Quinn was Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport) now carried forward by Cllr Rennie.

One Lib Dem policy coming into play is the pupil premium which means about £5 million extra for Wirral Schools to spend on children on free school meals, looked after children and service children. You should’ve heard the “wails of anguish” at the Wirral Schools Forum from headmasters/headmistresses from the more prosperous parts of the Borough when they realised £5 million would be spent on improving the educational chances of the most needy! Clearly Wirral is a place of large social divides and the extra money will be a welcome boost to the schools in Bidston & St. James.

So what may you ask is “in the budget”? Well, first to deal with the elements of the council tax that are made up by Merseyside Police’s budget and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s budget. Both Merseyside Police and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service froze their contributions from Council Tax compared to last year (2010/2011).

Due to increased costs and inflation (as well as a high proportion of its costs being on staff), Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service will be cutting some jobs. Their Chief Exec/treasurer explains the situation in a self-styled “podcast” (I don’t think he quite knows what a podcast is but I have to give them a few marks for trying), which unfortunately with my browser Firefox either opens a blank black window or six video windows of him at once creating an echo effect so I’ve uploaded it to Youtube (which has slightly better audio quality than five echoes).

For the purposes of any copyright lawyers out there, as the work has been made previously available to the public (and still is on Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s website at this location), this is classed as “fair dealing” under s.30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is being done for the purpose of news reporting (and making sure you can hear what the speaker says).

Quite why councillors on Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service left it to an officer to record a video to explain the cuts is a mystery I’m sure my humble readers can enlighten me on in the comments section (or maybe I’ll just ask Cllr Ellis, Cllr Niblock, Cllr Rennie or Cllr Roberts next time I see them).

Bidston & St. James Focus – Labour suggests reading it

As recommended for reading at a public meeting last week by Labour below is a link to a recent Bidston & St. James Focus.

September 2010 issue with articles on free swimming, benefits advice, Birkenhead Park Festival of Transport (other editions had an article here about a carer’s event, Action on Eyesores and Wirral’s Future – Be a Part of It.

Here is a brief update. Swimming is still free (or reduced) for many of Wirral’s residents. The economic mess left by Labour have meant many residents have lost their job, sending unemployment rates up in areas like Bidston & St. James to nearly 40%. The Birkenhead Park Festival of Transport was a great success (so was the carer’s event held in Birkenhead Park).

The public consultation attracted over 5,000 responses and went on to be considered as part of Wirral Council’s budget next year. The demolished Corsair continues to be an eyesore in Bidston Village (but is now less so since its demolition).

In a special bonus to our loyal online readers, the main photo is in colour (unlike the printed version in B&W)!

We always welcome any letters from Labour councillors (and other resident’s letters) as well the many thank yous received from local residents about articles in a Focus.

The Bidston & St. James Action Team is of course busy all year round in all parts of the ward. So keep an eye on this blog for up to date news.
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Corsair demolished – Bidston Village Conservation Area

An article about the site of the former Corsair pub in Bidston Village, Bidston

John Brace on the site of the former Corsair pub
John Brace on the site of the former Corsair pub

Residents of Bidston Village and Beechwood had complained about the eyesore that’d been the closed-down Corsair pub at one end of Bidston Village.

Unlike the other pub at the other end of the Beechwood (previously called the Seven Stiles, now the Fender) which just suffered slight vandalism when it was vacant this one had been set alight many times. In May the Corsair had been set alight again taking six fire engines to put out and triggering worries about asbestos as well as traffic problems .

Residents near to the Corsair had received a letter stating the shell of a building was to be demolished earlier this year and were puzzled when it didn’t happen. When I raised it at the June Area Forum, it turned out the owners had appealed the request for demolition; so legal proceedings has slowed the demolition down. As far as I know it was the only derelict, arsoned pub in Bidston & St. James that was adjoining a Conservation Area.

Since then it’s been demolished. The residents are asking what’s going to happen to the site now? Parking is a problem in that area (exacerbated by the loss of the pub car park). I will be making enquiries to see if there are any future plans for the site.