Posted On January 16, 2012 Leave a Comment

Central Park – Walled Garden restored to the public.

16th January 2011

Central Park, standing at the edge of Seacombe and Egremont on the one side, with Liscard on the other, is a key public asset.

Cllr Adrian Jones & Mrs Di Ledder met Council Officers, who came up with remedies at a meeting this morning.

When the Tory/LibDem collaboration, in control of Wirral until last May, sought the reduction of some 1100+ council jobs our Central Park Ranger, who left early under one of the schemes of ‘encouragement’ to go, was among them.  He was popular and dedicated, well known for working far beyond the call of ordinary duty; we all wished him well for his early retirement, but we certainly miss him.

The public were left with the impression that the deletion of such posts would occur only if they did not adversely affect front line services.  But were people under the care of  Social Services  in Central Park not ’front line’?  Following the deletion of our Ranger’s post they found themselves without organised means to open the buildings they were using, in the morning, or to secure them afterwards, or even to have the lavatories cleaned.

This picture of Mrs Di Ledder was taken in the Park, with Cllr John Salter, when the improvements to the children's playground were being done.

The attractive Walled Garden was no longer open to the public unless the volunteers, or their carers, or Social Services staff, found ways to get it done.  And with the retirement of our Ranger it was also closed to the public and to visitors on weekends.  Not exactly good news for the ‘Leisure Peninsula’?
With no Council arrangements put in place  for the lavatories to be cleaned that, too, fell by default to Social Services Staff and volunteers.  Whoever else felt it was acceptable, it was not acceptable to your Seacombe Labour Councillors.
“What”, readers might ask,  “was the rationale for not making arrangements for the buildings and the Walled Garden to be unlocked and secured, and for the lavatories to be cleaned?”     That would be for the previous administration to explain.  Your Labour Councillors are just getting on with the business of having it put right.
Happier times are back again

 Meanwhile, the privatisation shadow has been lifted and our Parks have returned happily to public maintenance, with our professional officers able once more to arrange for the buildings to be opened for the volunteers and Social Services Staff to work unhindered; for the lavatories to be cleaned, and for our Walled Garden  to be re-opened to the residents of Wirral who, by the way, own it.

 

We will not publicly name Council Officers, not even in a ‘good news’ story such as this, but with great pleasure we can report our sincere thanks to them for the professional manner in which they were able to put remedies in place at a meeting in the Town Hall this morning.  No such thanks would be complete without recognising the wealth of advice given by Mrs Di Ledder, who chairs the Central Park Partnership.

 

 

Posted On January 13, 2012 2 Comments

New Brighton Tidal Paddling Pool.

13th January 2012

Cllr Pat Glasman reports on a matter from Cabinet.

At the eleventh hour I was able to present alternative costs and proposals to a report to Cabinet last evening (12th Jan) which had recommended that the funds for the tidal pool should be reallocated.

But should there be a tidal pool as well? The debate continues.

Cabinet decided to refer back to Officers for further consultation and requested a further Report be brought to Cabinet once the facts relating to the use of the pool and costs of a suitable Coastal Engineers survey had been clearly identified.

Keep watching this site for more information.

See also the ‘Wirral Globe’ story by following this link:

http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/9471242.New_Brighton_tidal_pool_safety_costs__over_estimated_/

Meanwhile the following comment was sent in response to Pat’s earlier posting but it is directly relevant here, as well.

Hi there its nice to see the New Brighton labour coucillorors  getting a blog.

I am very disappointed in the council decision to delay the reopening of the tidal pools. I hope it will be resolved by the coming summer season. I recall them as a kid because they were free and we were short of money they were the highlight of our visits to the Magic of  New Brighton. I note that councillor Glasman is doing her best to assist in resolving the matter, good for her. Keep up the good work.

Carl Leckey

 

 

Posted On January 12, 2012 Leave a Comment

Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey and shadow leader of the Commons

Angela Eagle

The government suffered a huge blow to its planned changes to the welfare system on Wednesday night when the House of Lords voted three times against means testing of benefits for cancer patients and young disabled people. In the commons chamber, I congratulated the Labour, crossbench and the tiny band of Liberal Democrat peers for standing up for decency and fairness and blocking these shocking plans. I urged the leader of the House not to use parliamentary time to reverse the votes and instead have a debate on fairness to remind the Liberal Democrats in the coalition just why they entered politics in the first place.

At business questions on Thursday, I raised the issue of fat cat salaries following the prime minister’s New Year tour of TV studios and his announcement that shareholders’ votes on executive pay would be binding. But in November the prime minister announced that his idea to address exorbitant boardroom pay was to appoint more women to boards. In October he told us the solution was boards asking themselves ‘is this the right thing to do’.

Over the last year we have had plenty of press releases from No. 10:  yet FTSE 100 bosses put their own salaries up by a staggering 49 per cent while last year average earnings went up by just 1.4 per cent. Instead of the prime minister touring TV studios once a month, I asked the Leader of the House explain to him that if he is serious about dealing with fat cat salaries we need action not more press releases and asked him to tell us when we are going to get it.

I also called on the leader of the House to have a word with the chancellor and enquire when we can expect to see a response from the treasury to Will Hutton’s report on fair pay in the public sector. In June 2010 the chancellor announced in yet another press release that this was an ‘important review’ and it would pay ‘a crucial role’ in developing government policy.  But it has all gone very quiet since, with not so much as a whisper from the government since the report was published ten months ago.

Following a year in which the issue of lobbying engulfed more than one minister, the cabinet office promised in November that the government would be publishing proposals to clamp down on the access lobbyists have to government by ‘the end of the month’.

Since then we have had a Bell Pottinger executive boasting of the access he can get his clients to the top of government and now one of the prime minister’s top aides, has signed up to another lobbying firm. What we haven’t had is this much promised consultation.

The last time the leader of the House was asked about this – at the beginning of December – he told the House the government would be publishing proposals ‘in a few weeks’. Given this consultation is now long overdue I asked if the cabinet office minister would return to the House to explain what has gone wrong?  I’m not holding my breath!

Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey and shadow leader of the Commons

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