Monday, 11 July 2011
Sunday, 10 July 2011
The week just gone
I've had a real mix of things to do this week. Actually I'm very lucky to have such a combination of job and politics that gives such a variety.
Along with quite a few doorstep conversations with constituents, some meetings on local issues (some of which I'll blog about separately) and a load of writing and research, I shared a bill with Ken Dodd.
Tuesday was the Freedom Roll ceremony for the Liverpool Post and Echo. As opposition leader I am asked to speak at these and it was a great pleasure (although speaking last you always find you are having to rely on your wits as most of the factual information has already been used up by the others). Ken Dodd wasn't originally scheduled to speak at this but he agreed to be added in at the last moment. The ceremony was in the atrium of the newspapers' building (they are usually in the Town Hall). It's the first time I've seen an event done there but it's clearly a good space to use.
Yesterday following a street surgery in Cressington I popped over to Woolton to help colleagues deliver a last minute leaflet. It seems that a local bus service won't be running next week (Merseytravel's new company not being able to start straight away) and the Councillors wanted to make sure that people along the route knew not to be standing at a bus stop in vain. The services in Woolton affected are the 173 and 174 although there are other South Liverpool routes with similar problems. http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/ should have the details.
Last night was a regional Lib Dem dinner with Chris Huhne MP (energy and climate change secretary of state) as the speaker. He was very good about the Green Deal but also about the whole issue of media ethics and the News International investigation. He pointed out that, unlike Labour and the Tories, the Lib Dems had not been "canoodling" with Rupert Murdoch.
And this morning I was out with Gill from the Cricket Club working on a local parking problem (details in my earlier blog)
Along with quite a few doorstep conversations with constituents, some meetings on local issues (some of which I'll blog about separately) and a load of writing and research, I shared a bill with Ken Dodd.
Tuesday was the Freedom Roll ceremony for the Liverpool Post and Echo. As opposition leader I am asked to speak at these and it was a great pleasure (although speaking last you always find you are having to rely on your wits as most of the factual information has already been used up by the others). Ken Dodd wasn't originally scheduled to speak at this but he agreed to be added in at the last moment. The ceremony was in the atrium of the newspapers' building (they are usually in the Town Hall). It's the first time I've seen an event done there but it's clearly a good space to use.
Yesterday following a street surgery in Cressington I popped over to Woolton to help colleagues deliver a last minute leaflet. It seems that a local bus service won't be running next week (Merseytravel's new company not being able to start straight away) and the Councillors wanted to make sure that people along the route knew not to be standing at a bus stop in vain. The services in Woolton affected are the 173 and 174 although there are other South Liverpool routes with similar problems. http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/ should have the details.
Last night was a regional Lib Dem dinner with Chris Huhne MP (energy and climate change secretary of state) as the speaker. He was very good about the Green Deal but also about the whole issue of media ethics and the News International investigation. He pointed out that, unlike Labour and the Tories, the Lib Dems had not been "canoodling" with Rupert Murdoch.
And this morning I was out with Gill from the Cricket Club working on a local parking problem (details in my earlier blog)
Trying to solve parking problems
I've been out this morning with the charming Gill from Liverpool Cricket Club trying to solve some parking problems in our area.
The cricket club plays host to car boot sales on a Sunday. It has a free car park for visitors to the sales. However these Sundays are also marked by quite a lot of indiscriminate parking in some of the residential streets near the club and quite a few complaints from residents who can't get into and out of their own drive.
It's not an easy one to solve but we thought we'd do some work to draw visitors' attention to the free car par and try to persuade them to park in a way that doesn't cause problems for residents.
We jointly wrote a leaflet which this morning Gill and I put under windscreen wipers as we walked round the neighbouring streets. We chatted to some people and it was clear that some didn't even know there was a car park they could be using (this might be an issue around signage and publicity).
Obviously if people are parking in an illegal way then more forceful action needs to be taken but we decided to use persuasion at first.
We're hoping to do a repeat performance in a couple of weeks time so it'll be interesting to see if there are fewer cars.
The cricket club plays host to car boot sales on a Sunday. It has a free car park for visitors to the sales. However these Sundays are also marked by quite a lot of indiscriminate parking in some of the residential streets near the club and quite a few complaints from residents who can't get into and out of their own drive.
It's not an easy one to solve but we thought we'd do some work to draw visitors' attention to the free car par and try to persuade them to park in a way that doesn't cause problems for residents.
We jointly wrote a leaflet which this morning Gill and I put under windscreen wipers as we walked round the neighbouring streets. We chatted to some people and it was clear that some didn't even know there was a car park they could be using (this might be an issue around signage and publicity).
Obviously if people are parking in an illegal way then more forceful action needs to be taken but we decided to use persuasion at first.
We're hoping to do a repeat performance in a couple of weeks time so it'll be interesting to see if there are fewer cars.
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Dog owners events in South Liverpool
Free dog health checks and microchipping are on offer at an event in Garston, and others across the City.
The Garston event, which runs from 10 to 4 on Sunday 10th takes place at the Sports Centre on Long Lane, L19. You can take your dog along and talk to experts from the PDSA and other charities.
Microchipping a dog means that if it gets lost there is a greater chance of you being reunited with it!
Other dog owner roadshows are taking place in July. There's one on the 9th at the Wavertree Sports Park and one on the 17th in Sefton Park for example.
If you can't transport your dog yourself, there is a service called Pets to Vets that can do it. There's a small charge and the service has to be booked by phoning 07941259754.
The Garston event, which runs from 10 to 4 on Sunday 10th takes place at the Sports Centre on Long Lane, L19. You can take your dog along and talk to experts from the PDSA and other charities.
Microchipping a dog means that if it gets lost there is a greater chance of you being reunited with it!
Other dog owner roadshows are taking place in July. There's one on the 9th at the Wavertree Sports Park and one on the 17th in Sefton Park for example.
If you can't transport your dog yourself, there is a service called Pets to Vets that can do it. There's a small charge and the service has to be booked by phoning 07941259754.
Social Liberal Forum commentary
Thanks to Mary Reid of the Social Liberal Forum we have a list of blogs about our recent conference, including the interviews with Chris, Evan and Vince.
The link to the list is here
http://socialliberal.net/2011/06/20/blogging-about-the-slf-conference/
The link to the list is here
http://socialliberal.net/2011/06/20/blogging-about-the-slf-conference/
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Garston Fun Day
Saturday was another great Garston Fun Day (although the weather wasn't quite as good as last year)
The organisers, mainly the local churches, did a fantastic job and there were plenty of stalls with things to do for both children and us older lot.
I spent quite a bit of time on the Friends of Garston Park stall. Our tombola and our bird box making was very popular. The picture here shows a crowd round the stall while Mark (one of our committee members) helped a visitor make a bird box. (You can't actually see Mark. He is too hard at work!)
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The organisers, mainly the local churches, did a fantastic job and there were plenty of stalls with things to do for both children and us older lot.
I spent quite a bit of time on the Friends of Garston Park stall. Our tombola and our bird box making was very popular. The picture here shows a crowd round the stall while Mark (one of our committee members) helped a visitor make a bird box. (You can't actually see Mark. He is too hard at work!)
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Weed spraying update
For some weeks now, my Lib Dem colleagues and I have been raising the extent of weeds across the City and the lack of weed spraying. I have found weeds in some parts of the City that are literally shoulder high and foot high is not at all unusual.
For some people this may not be a big issue. But the volume of complaints individual councillors have received shows that it is bigger than you might expect. Some complaints are around the fact that weeds make it difficult for some with limited mobility, or for people pushing a shopping trolley or a pram (try going too near a thick patch of growth and see what happeens to a small wheel). Other people's complaints have been more about appearance. People are proud of their City and don't like to see it looking bad (I have had remarks for example about feeling the need to apologise to visitors)
Anyway, research showed the programme this year had a start date of 1 July (although that didn't mean starting everywhere on the same date) and would be a single spray
We felt that wasn't enough and put some pressure on to, at the very least, get the start date moved forward. People had remarked that parts of the City looked like a jungle
Opposition members don't make the decisions. That is what the administration does. However we can attempt to persuade which is what we did this time, with a series of motions to committees and so on.
Anyway, the good news is that the weed spraying programme has had its start date pulled foward to mid June (now in other words). So we were successful.
The bad news is that because it is a six week programme and the people doing the spraying have to move from one area to another, depending on where the starting place is there will still be some parts of the City that don't get their weeds sprayed until the end of July .
At last night's environment committee we heard a lot about how the programme had started and the fact that there were quad bikes, but nothing about which particular areas the staff were doing first. I am firing off a question about that this morning and will post if/when I get an answer as what most residents are actually asking is not when the programme kicks off in general but when they will get their area done.
For some people this may not be a big issue. But the volume of complaints individual councillors have received shows that it is bigger than you might expect. Some complaints are around the fact that weeds make it difficult for some with limited mobility, or for people pushing a shopping trolley or a pram (try going too near a thick patch of growth and see what happeens to a small wheel). Other people's complaints have been more about appearance. People are proud of their City and don't like to see it looking bad (I have had remarks for example about feeling the need to apologise to visitors)
Anyway, research showed the programme this year had a start date of 1 July (although that didn't mean starting everywhere on the same date) and would be a single spray
We felt that wasn't enough and put some pressure on to, at the very least, get the start date moved forward. People had remarked that parts of the City looked like a jungle
Opposition members don't make the decisions. That is what the administration does. However we can attempt to persuade which is what we did this time, with a series of motions to committees and so on.
Anyway, the good news is that the weed spraying programme has had its start date pulled foward to mid June (now in other words). So we were successful.
The bad news is that because it is a six week programme and the people doing the spraying have to move from one area to another, depending on where the starting place is there will still be some parts of the City that don't get their weeds sprayed until the end of July .
At last night's environment committee we heard a lot about how the programme had started and the fact that there were quad bikes, but nothing about which particular areas the staff were doing first. I am firing off a question about that this morning and will post if/when I get an answer as what most residents are actually asking is not when the programme kicks off in general but when they will get their area done.
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