Bin service communications - do they know who they're talking to?

I had a mailing yesterday from the Council about the bin service.

It was a standard letter from the Mayor about the changes.

It explained that people with  wheelie bins would have their purple bin emptied just once a fortnight instead of once a week.  It went on to make some points about recycling and landfill.

Ok, you'd think.  It's good they're keeping people informed.

Except in my area (traditional terraces in Garston) nothing is changing.  We are not having our frequency changed and the day stays the same.

In other words the Council is telling people for whom there is no change that there is a change.

(You can imagine how many people have read the letter and thought the collections were changing for them)

Now it's true that there are enclosures and if you go on and refer to the calendar, you can work out that Canterbury Street and those nearby will have no change.

But my point is this.  If there is literally no change, why spend money writing to people?

If the Council wants to promote more recycling and composting by those in terraced properties, surely it would be better to do this as a separate project with the right messages for those people
 (which would need to major quite heavily on storage).

Instead money has been spent on, frankly, spreading confusion.

I had thought they were paying rather a lot of money to a "comms expert" at the moment.

I sincerely hope they're not as if they are they are not getting what they pay for.

New ( and free) training programme for young people.

I've just come across this information (pasted below) which sounds like a good thing for 16 to 19 year olds in Liverpool who are not in work and not quite sure what they want to do or should be doing.  The contact details are at the end. The organisation is based at STEC which is on Speke Boulevard.
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Employability Solutions Ltd is currently recruiting for an exciting new programme aimed at 16 – 19 year olds.

“AMBITION”

The programme is individually tailored to meet the needs and interests of the young people will improve a young person’s employability by providing new practical skills, access to the world of work and enterprise alongside coaching and mentoring from highly skilled professionals.

During the course young people will have a unique insight into their chosen pathway and will be offered work tasters, project visits and will meet with a range of guest speakers.

The places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. Access to the programme is FREE for young people who meet certain eligibility criteria. We can also provide out of pocket expenses including travel, childcare and nourishment for those that need it.

For more information or to make a referral contact Nadia on 07955028530 or email Nadia@employabilitysolutions.com

Beechwood area residents

I'm just back from a really good first meeting of a potential residents association.

Big thanks to those who came and particularly to the lady who took the notes and so spared us my handwriting.

Lots of great idea which we'll now be following up.

I'll e mail everyone who was there, and who sent apologies, with an update

Get news about South Liverpool

With my colleague Councillor Richard Oglethorpe, I pubish an e mail bulletin roughly once a fortnight with news and information about South Liverpool.

It's mainly L19 and L18 although we do sometimes report about a wider area.

If you want to start getting the bulletin, you can subscribe at this link.

http://garstonld.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=39ec59cd41a5d13e15b9fe6a7&id=1e667198e9

Beechwood residents

Thanks to everyone who's been in touch re the first meeting of the potential new residents association.

You should have had a letter or an e mail by now if you were in touch.  If you haven't heard  anything back however, drop me an e mail at paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk.

I'm looking forward to meeting (or re meeting!) everyone.

New plans for former Bankfield House site.

Liverpool's planning committee is next week to decide on whether or not to give the go ahead to a new set of plans for the former Bankfield House site.

The site, on the corner of Banks Road and Brunswick Street has been vacant for a while now.

A few years ago, plans for housing did go through, but the company involved is no longer trading so nothing happened.

These new plans are still for housing, but it'll be mainly social housing for rent rather than for purchase (although a few will be shared ownership)

The committee's report, with some of the background, is available at this link.

The link also includes the other items at the meeting, which is 29th October.

You'll see from the report that the local councillors covering Banks Road didn't bother to comment on the plans.  This is sadly very common in Speke/Garston and makes you wonder whether councillors see it as their jobs to have a view on local developments.

Garston Library events - will you be at the next one?

 

The Friends of Garston Library held another successful evening as part of a season of literary events.

The picture shows local author Mike Axworthy talking about local history books and his love of local history.

Friends of Garston Library secretary, Michelle Knox, is "in the chair"

I love being Chair of the Friends as there's so much we can do.

Our next event is on 21 November at the library with the theme of poetry.

We do have some guest speakers but we want your poems too.  So if you are a budding poet, do let us have a copy. 

Well be asking some people to read out their work

If  you've got a poem to send in, please e mail it to us at friends-of-Garston-library@hotmail.co.uk

But even if you are not a poet, you're welcome to come and listen to the others.

The event starts at six with a drink and takes place at Garston Library on Bowden Road. It's completely free.