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?

The people of Bidston & St. James, what’s happening on Wirral Council?

Many people yesterday phoned the Lib Dem Action Team hotline saying that they’d voted for us and thanking us for our help. Certainly we will be around for a good time to come as we work hard all year round not just at election time.

I appreciate people taking the time to call and let us know how things are progressing. Yesterday unfortunately our dog Hannah died, both myself and Leonora felt better by the kind and thoughtful way residents were towards us.

However, there is now a period of political uncertainty for a week and a half. This is frustrating from a casework point of view as there are no spokespeople to work with. For the next couple of weeks the Lib Dems will be working out a deal that will result in one of three outcomes. These are as follows:-

a) Scenario A – carry on the partnership with the Conservatives but renegotiated. Although the Conservatives had no overall gain in councillors, most thought that as Cllr Knowles had been elected under a Labour banner that he would lose his seat in Seacombe to a Labour candidate. Thanks to Cllr Gardiner’s resignation the Conservatives picked up a second seat in Greasby/Frankby/Irby. However, they did make two other losses to Labour in Wallasey. As the Conservatives gain seats from the Lib Dems, it changes the total of Lib Dem/Conservative councillors from forty-two to thirty-seven.

b) Scenario B – reform the partnership with the Labour Party. Although Labour now have the largest number of councillors, they are only two ahead of the Conservatives and with seats ping-ponging between the two this could quite easily change back. Many residents remember what Wirral Council was like under decades of Labour control and are keen for the partnership that’s run Wirral Council to be given a chance for another year. Bear in mind that for ten of the last twelve months Wirral Council has been run to a Labour drawn up budget (apart from slight changes made as a result of the emergency budget).

c) Scenario C – A Labour minority administration. This has downsides and upsides:-

i) gives Labour something to point to next year that they’ve achieved
ii) the Con/LD councillors could easily vote down anything they don’t like
iii) would allow the Conservatives and Lib Dems to both be parties of opposition which may lead to electoral gains in 2012.

d) An all-party administration (which is as they’d say in racing a 1000-1 outside chance)

Whatever happens the residents of Bidston & St. James have sent a clear message. They were told how they voted would cause the government to fall. It hasn’t at a national level but the Lib Dems have woken up to what their members have been telling their elected representatives. For a good while I’ve been saying Labour has been pursuing a policy of fear, uncertainty and doubt. This has worked well for them and is partly genuine as they don’t know what’s going on.

The problem though is that both the partnership at Wirral Council and nationally is of two halves. Both parties only have half the picture so the Labour plan was to use a Divide and Conquer strategy. Certainly their influence over picking on Nick Clegg as part of the AV campaign was one tied into their core strategy of targeting Lib Dem voters.

The problem that Labour have is that their strategy has backfired. It has if anything brought the two parties closer to each other as whereas the Lib Dems (or a good majority of the party) were at least friendly towards Labour, now they don’t like the way they’re behaving.

It’s strange of Cllr. Foulkes and his Labour councillors to pursue a strategy of going after the Lib Dems for five weeks, then be all smiles and wanting our help after Labour have lost control in 2010 and are desperate to get a sniff of power. Admittedly all parties behave like this to varying degrees, the Conservatives saw this coming and have (thankfully) told the public some of the skeletons in the cupboard of the previous Labour administration.

What will happen? It’s up to the ten Wirral Lib Dem councillors to decide. Although some residents think I hold the position of councillor, I do not with Wirral Council. The Mayoress of Wirral Mrs. Jennings is unelected so am I, as like with the Mayoress it’s to do with who I’m married to.

However, what’s clear is that neither the Lib Dems or Conservatives can withstand the type of campaign Labour waged this year next year without it causing problems. Whereas this may lead to the political stalemate it has for at least the last few years eventually a party will get its act together and get the necessary 34 seats.

Another person feels conned out of their vote by Labour

As we did during the election we heard another story from a voter today.

During the election, someone connected with the Labour campaign knocked on their door. If you want a Labour government and to keep your benefits, vote Labour they told him.

Don’t vote Lib Dem or Conservative because they’ll take your benefits away. They even said voting Labour here would bring down the government, when they knew full well:-

a) it wasn’t a General Election so it was impossible to do so
b) the chances of Labour even getting control of Wirral Council were remote.
c) they were overegging the pudding over welfare reform

Now, putting my “honesty is best” hat on, is this wrong from a legal or ethical perspective?

From Labour’s perspective they know exactly what they’re doing in targetting one party’s vote. They know the legal provisions regarding saying untrue things about a character’s character or conduct could get the election voided, yet telling untruths about a party is a more difficult thing to tackle. Going door to door with conversations is harder to prove after the fact that the black and white text of a leaflet.

However it explains the strong No vote in the AV referendum (again people were told it’d bring down the government, despite Labour’s leader and Frank Field backing yes Labour as a party were split on this issue), it also explains why the Labour vote changed between the postal votes going out and the close of polls on polling day.

It’s time however for honesty in politics. The Coalition government will last a further 4 years. No party has overall control of Wirral Council. Negotiations are happening between the Lib Dems and Labour plus the Lib Dems and Conservatives.

However, in order to work with a party you have to one some level trust them. Whoever we go with, our reputation come polling day next May will be tied in with theirs.

The most amusing thing I heard on the doorstep during the election that by the way a person was saying it so adamantly I knew they had been told it was:-

“We’re voting Labour as we’ve been told John Brace is a councillor and it’s the only way to stop him”!

Oh, Labour, when will you start telling the truth at election time?

A Brief Message about the elections and the result

Firstly a quick thank you to my wife, people I spoke to, those who signed my nomination papers, those who voted including myself.

However, the questions now to ask are “What next?”. Well candidates and agents in this election will be busy this month will be busy filling out an election expenditure form.

Guidance is here and covering complex issues such as spending reductions in places with two elections for councillor on the same day (eg Greasby/Frankby/Irby) and other advice regarding election bureaucracy.

This form needs to be filled out, along with a declaration from the election agent and candidate.

Copies of these are then open to public inspection (and copies can be made), which show not just the spending but the source of the money. In the past I’ve had a look through other candidates and agents’ spending to see what they’ve done. Sometimes it’s more interesting to see what they’ve forgot to declare (or maybe deliberately forgot to declare) as political parties (well aware of this means to see what the others are up to) have been known to provide as little information as possible.

There are legal penalties for getting it wrong, but convictions are rare.

Following my question to Cllr Ian Lewis at the Council meeting of the 13th December 2010, I will quote what he said:-

“A person may also, of course, be offered gifts and hospitality, when seeking election, and we shall therefore publish the election expense return submitted by each elected member.”

His full answer can be read here.

I thank Cllr Lewis for his comprehensive answer and know from what is said to me by the people know that the public welcome a new era of openness and accountability at Wirral Council as opposed to the previous Labour-led administration’s desire to keep the public in the dark and stitch things up behind closed doors.

My wife Cllr. Brace holds slightly different views on things as she represents her community but we usually agree. Just like the Lib Dems and the Tories we sometimes disagree on how to go forward. Yet, we still stay together!

The one constant in politics is change. Political reform has to happen. Yet, Wirral Council also needs to live up to its legal responsibilities when it comes to democracy.

Labour will spend the next few years condemning the Liberal Democrats and Tories for doing what they’re elected to do. Yet Liberal Democrats believe in a plural form of politics, where we work together with other parties combining the best of both worlds.

The public trust in politicians over the MP expenses scandal is still lingering in the public’s mind. This scepticism and trust has done harm to democracy. Yet it was Labour MPs who were put in prison. It was a Labour MP Phil Woolas that was convicted of lying about the Lib Dem candidate and lost his seat.

I saw the hope with which the country greeted a Labour government in 1997. However if they ever wish to govern the country or Wirral Council again they will have to prove they have changed as a party.

Based on their literature I would say the first step they need to take is to tell the public the truth and stop treating their own residents with little or no respect.