Category: Elections

Flytipping – alleyway and shop on corner of Hoylake Road/Challis Street, Bidston

Flytipping – alleyway and shop on corner of Hoylake Road/Challis Street, Bidston                                   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. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will … Continue reading “Flytipping – alleyway and shop on corner of Hoylake Road/Challis Street, Bidston”

Flytipping – alleyway and shop on corner of Hoylake Road/Challis Street, Bidston

                                 

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.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Leonora Brace talks about flytipping behind the shops on Hoylake Road, Bidston, Wirral

The video above is of me interviewing my wife Leonora about an issue of concern to local residents that’s been rumbling on for years. Not only is the alleyway behind the shops getting full of rubbish (the gates put there to cut down on it have been vandalised and one is lying at an angle instead of upright) but the area at the bag of the corner shop is becoming a health hazard.

Previously I had written to the owner (a director of Wrexham Signs Ltd) to get it cleared up. However it was sold onto someone in Wallasey who so far I haven’t received a response to. The owner is making money from the sign on the side of the shop and has recently been served with a notice by Wirral Council giving them 21 days to clear it up as it’s a health hazard.

Last Thursday I talked with Bill Norman (the Borough Solicitor) at the Town Hall about the issue regarding a litter control notice being served on the owner and he passed my letter about it onto Rob Beresford who is in charge of this area at the Town Hall. This has been raised previously at an Area Forum and the placement of a litter bin on the corner of Hoylake Road did help with the more casual amounts of throwaway litter.

Residents did talk to us while we were filming and said they saw those dumping it and suggested CCTV either on the site itself or the pub across the road. If the owner doesn’t clear it away within the 21 days, Wirral Council can take action and invoice the owner. It’s just a shame local residents have had their community looking like this for so long!

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.

Anonymous Registration – Electoral Roll – One less reason not to register to vote

One of the common things you hear from people on the doorstep as to why they won’t vote is that they don’t want people tracking them down through the electoral roll.

However people can register anonymously. If for example you fear domestic violence or are in an occupation where your name and address needs to be kept private. Evidence of this such as a court order or from a senior police officer or senior Social Services officer is required.

Out of the 10,000 electors in Bidston & St. James one has chosen this route, but it is not very well publicised as it has only been available to people for the last few years. At the end of each polling district is a “Other Electors” section that for electors not connected with a specific address eg overseas voters. Anonymous registrations are put here but instead of a name there is just a letter (N) followed by a poll number where the name would be.

Those who are anonymously registered are sent a polling card in a windowless envelope. They are the only voter who has to take this polling card to vote. When they do so, their name and address is not read out.

Their information is not shared with candidates or political parties but only a select number of people prescribed by law. Joanna Perry, Policy Manager, Victim Support said:

“Anonymous registration is a big step forward for people who are in fear of their safety, or even their life. We know of situations where a perpetrator has subsequently found the victim and caused considerable distress or further harm, and in some situations killed them.

“So it is vital that victims who live in fear are informed of the option to register anonymously and still participate in the right to vote that is available to us all.”

Labour Rose: Election Special

Whilst out today with my wife, I spotted Cllr Harry Smith on Worcester Road and sure enough when I returned home there was a Labour leaflet delivered.

It seems both the Lib Dems and Labour agree that the nearly £2 million spent on Cathcart Street Primary School is a good idea. The very spot Cllr Smith and former Cllr Cocker are standing in in a photo on the leaflet was where we were told by a caretaker that photos couldn’t be taken! I have also listened to the concerns of John Cocker and the headteacher which they have aired at a number of public meetings when the future of the school was under threat.

It was however not Labour’s decision to make. It was Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors that decided to close Cole Street Primary School, save Cathcart Street Primary School and invest money into Cathcart Street Primary School (in fact they will be making a decision on the contractor on Thursday).

Onto the second story in the leaflet, as Cllr Smith knows it was Liberal Democrats that campaigned for road safety measures on Fender Way. We were the ones who handed in a petition over over a hundred residents. We lobbied the local councillors, showed them photos and kicked up such a fuss we were told (after Cllr Smith complained to Cllr Roberts) never to bring a petition to an Area Forum ever again!

His claim that he "made sure resources were allocated from local Area Forum funding" is a strange one to make. The decisions over the local Area Forum funding allocation for road safety for this financial year were made by Wirral Council’s Cabinet (comprised of Conservative and Lib Dem councillors). We have an email from Wirral Council stating that no decisions are made by the Area Forum panel in respect of this. Wirral Council may have it wrong, so we will look into the matter and report back in a later more detailed post.

Cllr Harry Smith then takes credit for "more than £250,000" allocated to road repairs on Wirral. Going by a press release about pothole repair, the figure is £625,931 and judging by the large difference in the amounts, Cllr Harry Smith seems to be referring (despite writing "the recent cold spell" to not last Winter, but the Winter before when a Liberal Democrat Cabinet member for Streetscene and Transport Cllr Jean Quinn decided to put extra money towards potholes.

Cllr Smith then goes on to mention the Liberal Democrat Party. He states "Are you aware that the Liberal Democrat Party has long been in favour of votes for prisoners?"

Jeremy Brown, Lib Dem MP for Taunton and spokesperson for the party said in the House of Commons, "It was said that my party favours votes for prisoners, but that was not in our manifesto and the Leader of my party has made it explicit that he does not favour them."

In February MPs voted 234 to 22 against giving prisoners the vote. I will write an article further on this. However if you wish to view the debate in the House of Commons on this issue it can be viewed on the BBC’s website.

May Elections

I’ve just read the latest press release from Cllr Holbrook about the May elections.

As he points out, Liberal Democrats work hard for residents all year round. Unlike Labour who announced budget cuts to libraries, then defended the plan to the public, then spent thousands on a barrister at a public enquiry, the Lib Dem/Tory coalition on Wirral Council consulted first with the public.

I have previously pointed out myself that thanks to Lib Dems in government, 4,400 Wirral residents are now not paying income tax and 102,000 people are paying £200 less. £5 million extra is going to Wirral’s schools, targeted where it is most needed in areas like Bidston & St. James.

The designation of Wirral Waters as an Enterprise Zone will further help local residents searching for employment.

There are those that criticise the Liberal Democrats for forming a coalition government with the Conservative Party in the national interest (and similar criticism of the local progressive partnership with the Conservative Party on Wirral Council). Do you think more money would be going to schools in areas like Bidston & St. James and that people on a low income would pay less tax under a Conservative council or Conservative government?

Cllr Holbrook says “Unlike other parties, we do not rely on negative criticism, empty insults and blank sheets of paper to try and win votes.” I think he is referring to Labour who won’t come clean about the £14 billion of cuts they planned. The difference between the Coalition government cuts and Labour’s cuts are things like the following:-

ID cards: £86 million saving to the taxpayer
£800 million saving to the public in fees

Instead of cutting waste, Labour let government spending get out of control. Thanks to the tough decisions made by Lib Dems on Wirral Council no Sure Start centres had to close yet in Labour run councils massive cuts have been made to vital services people rely on like Sure Start and libraries.

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).