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I produce an e mail bulletin roughly every fortnight with news and info about South Liverpool (mainly L18 and L19 but sometimes further afield).  If you'd like to start receiving this, you can subscribe by using this link.

Local jobs on offer

There's a jobs fair coming up on 1 October organised by the Speke Retail Park.  The event takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (next to David Lloyd and Damons).

More information is at this link.

Planning applications in our area

I produce an e mail bulletin which contains details of planning applications but between times I highlight some of them here so people don't miss the deadlines for comments.

The planning committee decided, earlier this month, to agree to plans for a Co op and houses at the junction of Greenhill Road and Booker Avenue (where the petrol station used to be years ago).  The minutes of the meeting can be seen here.

Garston C of E School has an application in for an extension. The details are here. Deadline for comments is 31 March.

There is a proposal to develop the Cressington House site for housing (St Mary's Road).  Comments are not open yet (don't be confused by the odd looking date) but what details there are are at this link.

Plans for the development of the Mansion House in Calderstones Park ( to make it into an education centre) have come in from The Reader Organisation.  The details are here and the comments deadline is 31 March.

Housing planned for the former Watergate School site.  Deadline for comments is 26 March.  Details here.

Applications for alcohol sale licenses have come in from Martins on Allerton Road and from 58 St Mary's Road.  The list of details and deadlines, plus a form for anyone who wants to comment, is at this link.

Booker Avenue Co op - planning committee decision

Liverpool's planning committee today voted to agree to plans for a Co op on the bit of vacant land at the junction of Greenhill Road and Booker Avenue (there was a petrol station here some time ago)

Councillors were asked to delay the decision so that they could have a look at the site for themselves but refused.

Given that local residents are worried about increasing traffic problems at that junction, it seems irresponsible in the extreme for the committee to not even be prepared to come and have a look.

I'll post a link to the paperwork for the meeting when it is available. 

The link is here.

Update on planning applications in our area

Along with the Greenhill Road/Booker Avenue shop application (see previous post), there are a couple of others people might want to know about.

There are plans to put housing on the site of the old Garston Market. The details are at this link and you can comment up to 10 March.

ASDA on St Mary's Road also wants to be able to open 24 hours a day.  The details are at this link and comments are on until 9 March.

The bulk of the info in each case is in a bit called "Related Documents".

Planning applications in our area

Liverpool's planning committee meets next week (Tuesday 10th) to decide on the application for a shop (and houses) on the plot of land at the junction of Greenhill Road and Booker Avenue (this is the bit that was a petrol station quite some time ago).

The council report to the meeting is at this link.

I sent in comments which were around the need for traffic measures at that junction as it can already be hard for vehicles to use it and for people to cross safely.  This is potentially more of a problem because of the new housing on the other side of the road.

It's taken a while for this to get to the committee because there were some changes in the plans which meant there had to be more opportunity for neighbours and others to comment.

The link to the whole agenda, which has time and venue and the other details is here.

Interested in Friends of Garston Park?

The Friends of Garston Park have  a meeting coming up this week.  If you want to get involved, or find out more, do pop along.  It's 6 30 in the Garston Leisure Centre on Friday 21st.  (We usually use a table in the women's gym bit which is closed then)

Garston Carnival committee setting up

I went to a meeting tonight to make some progress on bringing back the Garston Carnival.  Our idea is to have a procession which finishes at the Garston Fun Day.  It's not till June but there's quite a lot of planning to do before then.

Anyway, we got a committee group and sorted out some planning.  It's hard to picture a summer carnival when we are going into winter, but I am sure come June it'll all pay off with a great day.

We'll be setting up a separate Facebook Group so do watch out for it. Meanwhile, if you want to get involved and missed tonight's meeting, drop me an e mail so I can make sure someone gets in touch.

paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk

Planning applications in our area - updated Nov 18th 2014

The Council looks set to approve the plans for a skatepark at Dingle Bank in Garston.  The decision has not been published yet but the report at this link is recommending approval without any planning committee discussion.  (You need to look at the case officer report)

The National Trust is applying to make some changes to the opening hours at 20 Forthlin Road.  The full details aren't published yet, which means the comments function isn't enabled, but the info will be at this link (scroll down and click on Related Documents for the bulk of the info)

Comments are now open on the plans for a few flats on Beechwood Road. Once again the bulk of hte info is in Related Documents.  Here is the link to the first page.

ASDA at Hunts Cross is applying to change its licensing agreement to sell alcohol round the clock.  Very brief details, plus a feedback form, are on the Council website here.

More flowers for St Mary's Road

The Pocket Places people are going to be in St Mary's Road planting some bulbs on the bit of empty ground by James Street.

They'll be there this Friday (14th) between 10 and 2 and would welcome any company or help.

Planning applications in our area

There've been some changes to the plans for the proposed new shop building on the corner of Booker Avenue and Greenhill Road (where the petrol station used to be).  This means comments are open again with a deadline of 13 Nov.  The details are here (most of these are in the bit called Related Documents - scroll down and click!)

An application's come in for more houses on the former New Heys School site.  At the time of writing the details aren't on, but if you are interested in this you might like to bookmark the page and pop back later.  The page is at  this link.

A few flats for Beechwood Road.  Again the details aren't fully on but the link is here.

Bus lanes

The Council's Cabinet will now discuss, and decide on, the issue of bus lanes on 24th October.

They were meant to do so last week although the item didn't appear on the agenda.  Perhaps there was a delay with a report.

The paperwork for the meeting should be published by 9 am on Friday (17th) at the latest.

Update:  The paperwork is now published as part of the Cabinet Agenda.  You can link to it (its about half way down the list) .here

Carnival meeting - 19 November

Some time ago it became clear that there was a demand for bringing back part of the Garston Carnival.

Obviously we already have the Garston Fun Day in June, but we don't have the parade/procession element.

A small group of us have been looking at what needs to be done if this is to come back.  There is lots of tedious organisational stuff, and money also needs to be raised.

But most importantly at this stage, we need to know if there are enough people out there who are not just prepared to say they want it, but to take on jobs between now and June to make it a reality.

We still have some official hoops to jump through re permissions etc, but we are keen to gague enthusiasm and get more people on board in an organising/helping way.

The idea is for a procession to be on the same day as the Fun Day on Garston Park and to link up with it.  (We still however have to go through permissions etc with police and Council so a lot is up in the air right now).

So, if you want to get involved, particularly in doing stuff before the day, do come along to our meeting.

We've booked the big room at the Garston Urban Village Hall on 19th November at 7pm.  There we'll be looking to discuss ideas and progress so far, and sign people up for things.  We need thoughts, and committee members, and creative people and.. well everyone really.  Big thanks so far to Tina Ford who has been chatting to huge numbers of people and getting the interest going.

We will at some point set up a separate Facebook Group for the organisational/build up side of things.  But for now, we have an e mail list and if you want to go on it, please e mail paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk with your details.

Planning applications in our area - October 2

I put details of planning applications in my e mail bulletins ( let me know if you want to get these by e mailing me at paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk).  However there are a couple that are very new or have changed recently , so I am highlighting them here too.

The first is an application to demolish the Garston Gas holders.  This popped up on line a while ago but today the details are all available on line and you can comment there too.  The material does not include any proposals of what could go on that land once the gasholders are gone.  It does make the point though that they have to be gone before anything can be considered.  Details are at this link.  The bulk of the stuff is in the Related Documents section (near bottom of the front page).

The second is a proposal to use Dingle Bank for a skatepark.  I have mentioned this before so this mention is really by way of reminder that the comment deadline is 16th October. Details are .here  Again its the Related Documents you need to look at.

St Mary's Road - Pocket Places event this week

The Pocket Places team are holding a "Design Workshop" on St Mary's Road on Friday (26th) It's part of them getting out and about talking to local people about what could be done to improve the shared space on St Mary's Road.  As luck would have it,Friday is market day so there should be a fair few people around.

The event takes place outside the Co op between 10 and 2 so do pop along if you are free.

There will be other events, not just later this year but into next year so don't worry if you can't make it to this one.

Decision coming on bus lanes

The City Council's Cabinet is due to decide what to do about Liverpool's bus lanes when it meets on 10 October.

Before then there'll be a meeting for further comments and discussion.  You can see the paperwork for the earlier meeting , which takes place on 22 Sept, at this link.

I sent in a comment about the bus lane suspension when it first happened.  I felt, and still do, that some bus lanes are needed to make sure that those relying on public transport can get around as quickly as possible.  Clearly some lanes were pointless.  The one at Horrocks Avenue springs to mind.  But others were doing a job.  I felt that the Council should have looked at bus lanes in groups rather than closing the lot of them down all at once like that.  However we are where we are.

Two things spring to mind from reading the papers available.  Firstly, the officers writing the paper seem very keen to rebut points made by some.  Their response to points made about cycling is a good example of this.  Cyclists know the bus lanes were not ideal, but there is no guarantee that better provision is near and with cycling being encouraged more in Liverpool, the bus lanes at least would have provided some feeling of protection. (I have, I will admit, gone onto the pavement in a couple of places recently because of the level of traffic in what was the bus lane). The report talks about the width of the bus lanes not meeting the Council's aspirations for cyclists.  Fair enough but this is only meaningful if those aspirations are about to become a reality and it is the bus lanes preventing them doing that.

Secondly, there has been some work done which will result in a second report.  For some bizarre reason this report is secret until October (ie until after people have a chance to speak at the 22 September meeting).  The reason for this secrecy revolves around people making up their mind before the Cabinet meets.  I will be amazed if many of the Cabinet haven't already made up their mind but it seems very odd for a report paid for by the public purse and as part of a decision making process is withheld from part of that process.  It will be interesting to see if anyone challenges this.

Looking at the paperwork, more comments were received complaining about the removal of bus lanes than saying it was a good idea.  Because names and addresses are blanked out though it's impossible to see how many of these comments are from organisations (and therefore representing more people) and how many are from individuals.

Planning applications in our area - update 11 September

There's a proposal to create two skateparks in South Liverpool - one at Otterspool and one at Dingle Bank in Garston.

The Otterspool application is now open for comments with all the plans and other paperwork on line  The deadline is 1 October and you can see the info at this link.  (Please bear in mind that the bulk of the info is in a bit called Related Documents - scroll down and click)

The Dingle Bank paperwork isn't on line yet.  When it is, you should find it at this link.

UPDATE: Dingle Bank paperwork is now in and the comments section is open.

Let us have your words!

The nice people at Pocket Places, the project looking at how we can impove St Mary's Road, are doing a temporary art activity this weekend (13th).

This will include stencilling some parts of poetry or quotes about Garston and/.or St Mary's Road (I want to stress the word temporary at this point!!)

They are busy contacting local poets and looking at things already written, but are keen for some other sentences.

So, if you know Garston and/or St Mary's Road and want to send a sentence in , please do.

I said I would collect in some and pass them on.  All you need to do is let me have a sentence about your thoughts about Garston, an aspect of Garston or St Mary's Road.  Tell me your name too (and tell me if you prefer anonymity).  And then e mail this to me at paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk by Thursday (11th).

I can't guarantee which ones will be used, but it would be great to give the artists lots of material.

And if you want to go along to the event... it's outside the TSB from 10 till 2.  Annoyingly I can't go but hopefully the sun will shine!

Planning applications in our area

I blogged ages ago about a plan to turn the unused building on Wellington Street in Garston into flats.This is the building that was used for the "Garston Embassy" and was the Tochy Tech a long time before that.  After a huge delay the plans are now about to go to the planning committee for a decision.  The committee meets on 16th September .  You'll find the details at this link (scroll down for the agenda item, it's towards the bottom). 

16th September also sees a licensing committee meeting.  This will make a decision on whether to let the proposed new Tesco on Booker Avenue sell alcohol.  (This isn't the same as a decision on whether a shop can be built there in the first place - legally these alcohol sales decisions are separate).  You can see the agenda at this link.

Greenhill nursery planning application - comments now open

The planning application for housing on the old Greenhill nursery site is on the Council website and the comments function is now on.  The on line comment deadline is 2 October.  All the info, including plans, is in a bit of the section called Related documents.  You can link to the info here
here.