Bankfield House site

I've been doing some work to find out what's going on at the former Bankfield House site on Banks Road.

Since the building was demolished it's become a bit of a tip and the fencing has been damaged several times.

I've spoken to several residents who were worried that it was giving a bad impression of the neighbourhood. People have obviously felt free to lob cans and other rubbish over the fence! Others have felt it OK to paint offensive slogans on the fencing.

So I've been in touch with the agents for the land owners to see what can be done.

Anyway, the upshot is that I hope to have some good news soon on this. So watch this space!

Brodie Avenue phone mast update

The planning application for the new mast plus extra cabinets on Brodie Avenue has been turned down. Some local people may be aware of this but in case not here are some of the details. Firstly it would look bad. The extra cabinets and the height of the mast would all have "a significant adverse effect in terms of visual amenity"
What's more, the mast wouldn't have achieved the improved coverage supposedly required.

The three Cressington Councillors opposed this application when it came in. One of my main concerns was the plan to add more cabinets in the central reservation when we have actually just allocated money to plant trees by the existing mast!

Off license application - deadline looms

I've just sent off my comments on the application to sell alcohol at the Grassendale Service Station on Aigburth Road.

This is the garage that applied before, back in 2008. At the time they were turned down after a day long committee meeting.

I can't see that much has changed quite frankly so I am opposing this again. The only difference is that a law change means that Councillors now can object (the previous rules meant that we could only really read out comments from other people which was frustrating to say the least)

We (the three Lib Dem Councillors in Cressington) wrote to people living in the neighbouring streets a while ago to let them know about the application and the system for sending in comments. The deadline for sending anything in is 2 April and given that that means Good Friday it's important to get comments in by Thursday.

Information is available at www.liverpool.gov.uk (look for the licensing section)

The Power Pledge

Yesterday I joined campaigners from Power 2010 in the City Centre. We were collecting signatures in support of the Power Pledge five reforms and giving out leaflets about the campaign.

Power 2010 has drawn up a list of five reforms that would help clean up politics, make the UK more democratic and protect civil liberties.

The pledges come from a longer list and were chosen after a vote which people (including me) took part in on line.

The campaign is hoping to organise events in different constituencies nearer the General Election. They seem keen to come back and do more in Liverpool.

You can get information about the Power Pledges here

The pledges in brief are

* introduce a proportional voting system
* scrap ID cards and roll back the database state
* replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber
* allow only English MPs to vote on English laws
* draw up a written constitution

Campaigning in Halewood

Spent part of the weekend campaigning with Lib Dem Councillors in Halewood. They've had quite a few campaigning successes although frustration with the Labour run Knowsley Council runs quite deep and there certainly seems to have been quite a bit of "foot dragging".

People who use buses a lot will recognise the name Ravencourt as one of the main bus stops or the end of the route. What you see if you get off the bus there though is a derelict shopping centre with one poor shop open.

It actually reminds me of some of the derelict centres in Liverpool in previous years. Lib Dem Councillors tell me that there has been huge amounts of delay on this and you do wonder why the Labour Council hasn't got its act together by now.
(In fact even my Labour opponent has criticised her own side for this - and she is right to)

Anyway, here is a picture of me canvassing in another part of Halewood, a rather interesting mobile home park.

Bus change campaign!

Just back from the Merseytravel Advisory Panel which is a committee which brings together community reps, people from Merseytravel, people from the bus companies and Councillors. I represent Liverpool City Council on the committee.

I took the opportunity to raise the issue of bus drivers not having a float and so not giving change. When people try to pay and the driver has no change one of two things are likely to happen (and I have seen this). The first is that the driver makes you pay too much for your ticket. The second is that you get thrown off. (In fact another Councillor said this had happened to his 18 year old daughter)

Anyway it turns out that while the Stagecoach bus company gives drivers a set float as a matter of policy, it is Arriva's policy not to do this.

I challenged this as I find it amazing that an operation which is basically a form of retail would find it acceptable to not have a starting float. I got some support from the meeting so hopefully we'll be able to get this changed if we keep pushing.

Celebrating Success in South Liverpool

Off to Speke last night for a great event to celebrate the success of children and young people across South Liverpool. A series of awards ranging from young entrepreneurs to awards for school attendance. The young people from the Valley Community Theatre performed a short piece about diversity and there were two great singers called Attitude.

I'm getting some pictures so I'll post those when I can.

I was there as a Councillor for Cressington ward, but also as a representative from Edge Hill University. Edge Hill sponsored three of the awards.

I made a resolution to see if we can get some entries from Gilmour Infants next year (I am one of the school governors)

Among the schools with pupils winning awards were Gateacre Comprehensive, Garston C of E and New Heys.

Well done to everyone.