Category Archives: Local Politics

Edge Hill University, Local Politics, Ormskirk

Noise nuisance – the gulf between the tories and the people

Last year I stepped down as a Skelmersdale councillor having moved to Ormskirk, so attending tonight’s Full Council as a member of the public was an eye opener. I don’t know if things have got worse or if one just becomes immune to the behaviour of Council members after four years, but the level of disrespect and contempt between the two groups seems to be plumbing new depths.

Cllr Ainscough who chaired the meeting seemed intent to make matters worse. Tearing up the constitution and running the meeting to a set of rules that he hadn’t had the courtesy to let anyone else know just led to frustration and anger on the Labour side and casual contempt from the Tories – talking to each other in full voice while Labour members tried to speak (without being stopped by the Chair).

However, I wasn’t there to study the behaviour of the Tories, I was there to observe the debate regarding the provision of noise abatement officers during freshers week.

To start with, Cllr Ainscough (Con. Ormskirk Scott Ward) wouldn’t let Cllr Paul Cotterill introduce the resolution and insisted that instead Cllr Pendleton should speak first. This is important because it meant that Paul wasn’t able to sum up. When he queried the procedure it was dismissed, but then the Chair took all that procedural discussion out of Paul’s time to speak – leaving him with about 90 seconds to introduce and explain the resolution. All this done over a constant chatter of Tories who were not listening.

The portfolio holder, Cllr Fowler (Con, Scarisbrick) stood up to tell councillors that there were only a handful of complaints through the year and so 24 hour noise abatement officer coverage during freshers week was “disproportionate”.

We then got to hear Cllr Kay (Con, Tarleton) explain about how many years ago he was a bobby in Ormskirk long before Edge Hill (I think he meant long before the expansion started). From his age, I expect that this was some time in the late sixties, early seventies. He went on to explain that in his experience there was very little noise nuisance in Ormskirk and that there was no difference between freshers week and any other week of the year.

Really, in all seriousness this man addressed the other members of his group: said that forty years ago there wasn’t a problem and that therefore they should vote against the motion… and was taken seriously.

Apart from a sensible question from Cllr Greenhall (Con, Ormskirk Derby ward) regarding employment contracts and how such a measure would be paid for, that was the sum total of the debate.

Cllr Pendleton (Lab) summed up and quite rightly pointed out that there ought to be 24 hour noise abatement cover throughout the year, but that to ask for it for one week was quite reasonable. Of course, it was far too unreasonable for the Conservatives who overwhelmingly voted against the resolution leaving it defeated.

Sadly the vote wasn’t recorded, but I noted the voting for the Ormskirk councillors as follows:

  • Derby: Cllr David Swiffen (Con) – against
  • Derby: Cllr Adrian Owens (Con) – ABSTAIN
  • Derby: Cllr Paul Greenhall (Con) – ABSTAIN
  • Knowsley: Cllr Peter Lea (Con) – against
  • Knowsley: Cllr Rob Bailey (Con) – ABSTAIN
  • Knowsley: Cllr Val Hopley (Con) – against
  • Scott: Cllr Cyril Ainscough (Con) – chaired the meeting refused to give Cllr Cotterill time to move resolution
  • Scott: Cllr David Meadows (Con) – against
  • Scott: Cllr Geoff Hammond (Con) – against

You’ll see that all the councillors for Ormskirk are Conservatives and none of them supported the proposal of more noise abatement cover during freshers week. To be fair, Councillors Owens, Greenhall and Bailey abstained from the vote – i.e. they didn’t vote for or against. In Cllr Greenhall’s case I think he saw some merit in the motion but couldn’t vote against a group decision. At least he stood up to speak and ask a question.

I was disappointed, but not surprised by Owens and Bailey who chose to sit on their hands.

I know that Cllr Owens has been fully briefed by the same residents that I’ve spoken to and is aware of the problems. Yet he didn’t even speak to the resolution. This from the man who wants to be the next MP for West Lancs.

The debate showed that there is a reality gap between those residents affected by the impact of the University’s expansion and the Councillors who are supposed to represent them.

Everyone I speak to wants the University to thrive and succeed in the town. The economic benefits are understood by most people and the vast majority of students themselves are well behaved, a credit to the Uni and appear to enjoy studying in the town. When we talk about anti-social behaviour we are talking about a minority of students and non-students – some who travel into town for “student nights”.

However, many of those people who support the University also have genuine problems with the noise nuisance, litter, parking and loss of community that comes with a large number of multi-occupancy housing in a small area. The fact that Conservatives on the District Council absolutely refuse to acknowledge it demonstrates yet again that they are completely out of touch.

Local Politics, Ormskirk

Canvassing feedback – Student and multi-occupancy properties

The following is a letter that was delivered in the Burscough Street, Station Road and Scarisbrick Street parts of the ward over the weekend. When we canvassed the area there was a genuine concern about the unplanned growth of student accommodation in the area – particularly with the impact on community, house prices, parking and the appearance of the neighbourhood.

I am writing because I have received a number of complaints in this part of Ormskirk regarding the noisy and inappropriate behaviour of some students, a general decline in the upkeep of the area and parking problems, all resulting from the high proportion of multi-occupancy housing.

Understandably, some blame the University, but I believe that the root cause isn’t the expansion of the University, but the reluctance of the District Council to have a realistic and pragmatic response to its growth.

There are some long term policies that the Council could implement to mitigate the impact – in particular by allowing more accommodation on campus in exchange for tighter control of the planning rules in the town. However, such policies can’t be implemented overnight.

In the meantime there are concrete measures that the Council could put in place to improve matters for local residents.

As a small step towards this, I have asked the Labour Group to present a proposal at Full Council on the 22nd April asking that noise abatement officers should be employed throughout the night during Freshers Week instead of just office hours. This will tackle any noise nuisance during that first week of term – a time when students may be away from home for the first time.

It is important to stress that the overwhelming majority of students are law-abiding and courteous young people, and that the measures proposed are not some kind of anti-student witch-hunt, but a small short-term measure designed to promote harmonious relations in the longer term.

I am also aware that there is much concern about the proposed flats to be built at 198 Burscough Street.

I have asked that the plans for 198 Burscough Street be “called in” – this means that the Planning Committee will get an opportunity to debate the plans rather than it simply being rubber stamped. This will also give local residents the opportunity to address the planning committee directly with their concerns.

My long term aims are: that we try to control the growth of multi-occupancy housing in the town; that streets with high student populations are well looked after and free from anti-social behaviour; that everyone in the town benefits from the success of the University and that landlords pay their fair share towards the provision of local services through council tax. I hope you can support these small, but immediate steps towards these goals.

Local Politics

Why they / we blog

Great to see this post today – everything in it I agree with, and I’m sure that everyone that signed it genuinely believes it.

In the past, some of these people have indulged in the occasional bit of playing to the gallery – calling for fellow members of the labour party to be kicked out, etc. I hope that this means that everyone who signed this will refrain from such childish and corrosive behaviour in the future.

Local Politics

Ormskirk newsletter 29th March 2009

Below is a copy of this week’s Ormskirk Newsletter.

Rather than break it into parts, I’m going to post it verbatim on the blog. This practice may change depending on feedback and how practical it is.

Anyway, if you want to open up your inbox to future email newsletters you can subscribe at https://stevehanlon.co.uk/newsletter.

In this newsletter

  • Welcome from Steve
  • From the doorstep – issues you’ve been raising while canvassing
  • Meetings I’ve been to – and those I’ve missed!
  • Where next?
  • What’s on
  • Contact Information
  • Closing notes

Welcome from Steve

Welcome to this newsletter for 29th March. I had intended that this should be a quick update of what I’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks, but it’s a little longer than planned because I’ve picked up a lot of issues as I’m going around areas for the first time.

I expect that things will slow down and things can move from gathering what’s going on to trying to do something about them. I have never promised that I can sort everything out, but hopefully by talking to enough people, by raising petitions where necessary and by writing to those in power, I can help push things forward a bit and by working together we can try to improve things in Ormskirk.

This newsletter in both the leaflet and email format have come about because I decided to put my name forward as a candidate for the County Council elections. However, I will continue with this newsletter in some form or other after the election in June because I think it’s a good way to keep abreast of things that are happening locally.

I’d love to hear from you if you agree, or disagree with anything that I’ve written here. My contact details are at the end of this email and I’ll be happy to discuss and take on board your comments. If you want to do this in a more public forum, then I’ve posted this newsletter on my blog at https://stevehanlon.co.uk/index.php/2009/03/28/newsletter-29309newsletter-29309/ and you are welcome to comment there.

From the doorstep

With the election a couple of months away, I’ve been trying to meet as many people as possible.

The most regularly raised grumbles have been complaints about the roads, traffic, parking and inconsiderate driving. Our road system is simply not designed for modern volumes of traffic. Unfortunately for us, we share these problems with many other towns across the North West and have to fight to be considered alongside the large towns and cities that receive investment for transport infrastructure.

Historically the solution to these problems has been the proposed Ormskirk bypass, which has been on the drawing-board for well over 40 years, but I think that it misses the point because there are many other problems around the town too. Only a comprehensive look at all the traffic and all the public transport available in the town will give us the starting point to deal with the issue. The County Council has recently started a full traffic survey which will give one perspective, but we also need a proper review of public transport and other routes around the town including via Burscough and in Sefton.

It feels like many people are resigned to the traffic problems because they’ve been going for so long. In comparison, the problem that has really got people motivated on the doorstep is that of multi occupancy student accommodation in the town and is something that has dominated the past two weeks of what I’ve been doing.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that some communities in the town have been devastated by houses being snapped up by landlords and rented out to groups of students. There are real problems – anti-social behaviour, a lack of consideration for neighbours, noise at night and a deterioration of the area due to not taking care of the area; and then the isolation felt by some when Christmas or Summer comes and the students have moved away for the holidays.

The residents of these roads, and neighbouring streets, are starting to get more organised and that’s a good thing. I attended the New Way Residents Association AGM last week and I was impressed with their determination to face the problems head on and try to make things better in their streets.

There haven’t been any realistic answers coming from the Conservative councillors who have been in control of the town since 2001. One problem is that the councillors don’t seem to be reflecting the real voice of the community. I hope to change that and will write a bit more about it in my next update and on my blog.

However, in the meantime I’ve been trying to speak to as many people as possible about the problems. I have been to the University and spoken to staff there; I’ve spoken to students and most importantly I’ve been getting around talking to local residents who are affected by this.

There are plenty of other grumbles that have been raised. Many due to the way that the District Council do things, but I’ll try and broaden the issues in my next update.
 

Meetings I’ve been to… and those I’ve missed!

  • Lancashire Local – at the district council a couple of weeks ago now, the big news being the changes in the speed limits, and the allocation of some county funds towards the SPAD’s on Cottage Lane. Good work by the Cottage Lane Residents Association.
  • Knowsley ward PACT meeting
  • New Way Residents Association AGM on Thursday 19th March.
  • Inaugural lecture by Tanya Byron, Edge Hill, Tuesday 24th March.

 and I missed:

  •  "Face the people" at Edge Hill last Tuesday. To be fair, I was out canvassing. I’m guessing that the District Council have a 5 event contract with Dave Guest from the BBC and were obliged to hold some more public events after they scrapped the annual council meeting as an assembly. There are mixed reports, but I’ll link to my colleague Paul Cotterill’s blog for the review of the meeting: http://www.bickerstafferecord.org.uk/?p=572

Where next?

If you’re a subscriber to this newsletter then you may have seen my first leaflet that I’ve been putting out through March. We’re having a push to get this delivered through as many doors as possible over the next week so that we can start getting deeper into some of the issues in the next Ormskirk News. 

This week we’ll continue canvassing, specifically in the areas around Wimbrick Crescent, Halsall Lane and into Scott Estate.  With the clocks going forward and the evenings getting lighter we’ll be going out later. But I usually try to be at home between 6:45 and 7:30 when it’s the children’s bed time.

I’m grateful for the help from our small band of volunteers – they will be leafleting while I’m swanning around introducing myself. 

What’s on

PACT meetings are held by the local police to consult and work in partnership with the local community. The feedback that they get from these meetings feeds into setting their priorities and so is the best place to raise any concerns regarding policing and anti-social behaviour. The next meetings are on Wednesday 1st April:

  • SCOTT WARD:Wednesday, 1st April 2009 5.15pm-6pm, Ellerbrook House, Ellerbrook Drive Ormskirk.
  • TOWN CENTRE: Wednesday 1st April 2009 6pm-7pm, Ormskirk Police Station.

To find out more about the PACT meetings, go can visit the Lancashire Police website. Go to http://www.lancashire.police.uk/index.php?id=272 for information about Scott ward meetings and http://www.lancashire.police.uk/index.php?id=252 for information about the Knowsley meetings.

Contact information

I am always available if you want to call, text or email me. You can even follow me on twitter these days (if you don’t know what that means, then you’ve probably got more of a life than me!) Probably the best number to call is my mobile. If you call in the day you’ll either get me or a receptionist at work (that’s OK, just leave a message and I’ll call back).

Those contact details in full:

  • email: steve@hanlon.co.uk
  • mobile phone: 0797 006 7750
  • home phone: 01695 571818
  • letters: Highfield, High Lane, Ormskirk. L40 7SL. 

You can also see what I’m thinking and doing on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/stevehanlon) and on my blog at https://stevehanlon.co.uk

Closing Notes

It is my aim to keep this newsletter going beyond the election and not just have it as an electioneering tool. There are many things that go on in the town which we miss, and I hope that an email-based newsletter will be a good way of getting information out and keeping in touch.

If you know anyone who might be interested in this newsletter then please feel free to forward it to them.

If you have received this from a friend or colleague and would like to be added to the mailing list, then either drop me a note at steve@hanlon.co.uk, or sign up on my website: https://stevehanlon.co.uk/newsletter

Finally, if you have any feedback – good, bad or indifferent; or if you have any events or activities that you’d like me to include then please drop me an email at steve@hanlon.co.uk

Local Politics

I :heart: Blackburn Labour’s website

Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but it’s a fine site. It does all the things that a modern local political party should be doing – engaging through as many social networks as possible, using youtube, flickr and twitter (and facebook?) and they use joomla! for their content management (good choice).

If you think that I like the site because I’m a leftie techie – then you’d be right, but it’s also because they’re doing so many things _really_ well.

It’s not a Jack Straw MP site, but there are lots of contributions from him; it’s not a personal site (like this one) which suffers from the whims and changing interests of the author and it’s not a cheap aggregation of what’s going on locally. Instead it’s a straightforward campaigning local website which gives the residents of Blackburn a good idea of what Labour is doing and what it thinks about local issues.

There’s nothing like it in West Lancs, or I think, the rest of the county which is a great shame.

The past few years have seen an explosion of platforms for blogging and social interaction at virtually no cost to the publisher – it can be done locally where there is the will. Blackburn are doing a great job in exploiting all the platforms that they can lay their hands on, which I applaud.

Keep up the good work!

now… how do I add it to my blogroll…

Local Politics

Planning application for new flats on Burscough Street

I haven’t posted about it yet, but last Monday’s canvassing around Station Road was a genuine eye-opener. In particular the strong feelings about the student population and the effects it has on the rest of the community. I’ll go into this more at another time, but one specific issue was raised about a proposed development of apartments on Burscough Street.

Thanks to the power of the internet you can see the application and related documents here.

I haven’t come across anyone who is in favour of this application so far, but I’m sure there are some. I know that these items have to be taken individually, which can devalue the local context and concerns. Far too many times when I was on the planning committee we were told that each application has to be considered on its own merits and not on what it might lead to.

I would encourage anyone with an interest in Ormskirk and our community to review the plans carefully, particularly the three sets of drawings dated 16/3/09 since these are the ones that the planning officers and committee members will be considering.

For my part, I think that a 22 bedroom set of flats which are mainly bedrooms and very little other living space, placed on a site that already has student accomodation, seems like we have gone past the “thin end of the wedge”. If this application were to be granted, it would represent the systematic building of student and multi-occupancy flats in a part of Ormskirk that has already suffered a lot from the change of existing homes over to multi-occupancy.

The planning committee has to draw a line somewhere, and I believe that this application shows that it has to stop abandoning the communities in Ormskirk to “conservative free-market ideals” and should start showing some leadership in how it sees the town being developed in the future.

There is a new period of public consultation on this development and I would urge all people – those in favour and those against – to look at the plans and then send their comments to the planning department so that they hear the clear voice of the local community.

County 2009, Local Politics, Ormskirk

County Elections 2009

I should have posted something to this effect a few weeks ago, but I’ve been busy just getting on with things. Last month I was selected as Labour’s candidate for the Ormskirk West Lancashire County Council seat.

It’s an incredible honour to be given the opportunity to campaign on a Labour ticket in Ormskirk, especially in the obviously difficult times that we all face at the moment.

I’m told that the Conservative candidate lives somewhere over in Parbold, and so it’s doubly satisfying to know that I’m the only major party candidate who actually lives in the town.

It’s a short period of time between now and June 6th when the election will take place, and most of my spare time has been spent going out talking to people around the town about the issues that face them. I expect that I’ll be doing that right up until polling day.

I’ve been at it for about two weeks now and I’m pleased to say that most people have been extremely welcoming considering that for most I’m just a stranger knocking on the door. In many cases I speak to people who disagree with the Labour party and what they stand for. I can quite understand, particularly considering what we get in the media each day, that natural Conservative supporters will feel quite bitter towards the current government – and therefore me, on their doorstep.

However, it’s good to see that many people, of all backgrounds and points of view, are pleased just to have _anyone_ come around and talk to them.

There is a massive political disengagement in Ormskirk, which comes across when you talk to people about the things that really matter to them. People feel incredibly let down by those currently in control. Some of this is systematic in the way that they deal with “casework” and some of it is simply down to political dogma by those in charge. Either way, the net result is that there is no trust in those that look after the interests of the town.

Over time, I’ll write more on the specific issues that have been coming up while canvassing. However, there is a common thread across all the issues that are raised. People feel like they’re on their own – despite reaching out to local politicians and those who work at the Council, they still feel like there isn’t anyone on their side.

That’s something that I would try to change. But regardless of whether or not I win – for the sake of our town – we have to clear out the cynicism in our local politics.

Blogging, County 2009, Local Politics

Never enough time…

What with being out canvassing straight after work and then the occasional meeting afterward, I’ve not really had a chance to post anything here.

It was said recently that a politician who didn’t have time to blog or twitter is like the politician who doesn’t have time to make a speech. I think that there is a lot of truth in this, and I _really_ have to make the time to post stuff here.

I’m hoping to put more here over the next couple of months and onwards now that I’m back properly in the groove of talking to people and getting on with the work of local campaigning. The last couple of weeks has been a great opportunity to talk to residents across the town and I aim to report back here.

Local Politics, West Lancs

Baldock, new deputy mayor, looks forward to discovering world beyond front-door

At last week’s Council meeting it was agreed that Cllr Baldock should be the deputy Mayor of the new West Lancs Borough. Reported in the Southport Visitor he says:

As a North Meols councillor I have not seen many other wards in the district. In my new role I am looking forward to meeting more people from different parts of the area.

I’m sure he’s delighted to be the first deputy Mayor, but to state publically that in ten years as a Council member, a regular member of the planning committee and three years as cabinet member for waste management, he hasn’t seen many other wards in the district is disgraceful.

It’s no surprise though, because week after week, I would despair at Tory councillors who had no idea what was going on outside their own patch. This lack of understanding is why Skelmersdale is left misunderstood and ignored by the Tories and why parts of Ormskirk are left under-represented with semi-detached rural councillors with safe Ormskirk Tory seats.

This narrow-minded parochialism, particularly from an ex-cabinet member, should be alarming to all in West Lancs who want the district to be prosperous and successful.

I welcome the fact that Cllr Baldock is finally getting his head out of the sand, but it stinks that he’s needs the gold chain around his neck to do it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser
Blogging, Local Politics

Welcome back David Sudworth

Just noticed that David Sudworth has started blogging on local political issues again here.

It will be interesting to see how his blog unfolds over the next twelve months or so. There are so few contributions to the blogosphere in West Lancs. Paul Cotterill’s excellent and increasingly well renowned Bickerstaffe Record takes the lead in local political matters – particularly since I dropped out of the council (not that I ever really took the lead in the first place).

When David worked as a local journalist, he wrote the blog “Off the record” (now sadly gone, but you get a flavour from the archive here). During that time, he had both Tory and local Labour activists keen to get his ear. Since then, he has firmly nailed his colours to the Labour party mast taking on the job of Rosie Cooper’s “media and campaigns officer”. It will be interesting to see if his online work will be compromised or enhanced by this role as Rosie’s Alastair Campbell (another spin-doctor who has recently returned to blogging).

It’s great to see David back and it will only add colour and interest to local politics – particularly in the run up to the next general election.

Update 28th Feb
David tried posting a comment to the entry which didn’t work (I’ve had other reports of comments not working, so will fix soon). Thought it best to include it as an update:

Steve, firstly many thanks for your kind comments, it’s great to be back in blogland. Since leaving journalism and thus finishing Off The Record I’ve maintained a keen interest in local politics.

I would, however, like to clear up one point in relation to your post. I did indeed work for the Office of Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. However, I did not work for the Labour Party and am not a Labour Party member. I am, though, a fully paid up member of society and understand that sometimes administrations/parties have to have diffucult decisions or positions. Rarely does one party have a monopoly on good ideas. I know who I would plump for come election day but as a private citizen that is between me and the ballot box.

The reason I launched my blog at www.davidsudworth.wordpress.com (how is that for shameless self promotion?!) is because I want to provide some real analysis as to why some decisions or positions are taken by those in power. Sometimes I’ll take sides, sometime I’ll hold my hands up and say I just don’t know… maybe if politicians admitted this once in a while they would be held in higher esteem.

I’d welcome any feedback via my blog and I hope you enjoy my take on all things political.