Wirral’s Police Stations under threat?

Manor Road Police Station in Wallasey

Wirral’s police stations, including Manor Road Police Station, could close and be replaced by an Area Command Centre (ACC) under new plans to be considered by Merseyside Police Authority at their meeting this week.  Wirral has ten police stations which are all now under threat.

The Police Authority has been struggling for years with a lack of funding from the Government.  It seems highly likely that a new Area Command Centre in Wirral (Which would be a replacement for the Birkenhead station near the town hall) could be the starting point for the closure of stations around the borough.

What about community policing? by closing police stations and transferring to a new Area Command Centre, there will, no doubt, be a saving on running costs.  However, the true cost - to the communities which see their local stations close - cannot be found in a balance sheet.

Should the Authority decide to proceed with an Area Command Centre that leads to the closure of stations in Wallasey and Moreton then I’m afraid the Police Authority and the Government will have a fight on their hands and I would welcome the support of anyone and everyone in our community to prevent closure.

I shall be attending the public meeting which will take place this Thursday 14 August at 2pm on the 3rd Floor, West House, Mercury Court, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool.

To read more in today’s Daily Post click here.

Green Action Day Returns!

LHTA

Tonight was the Liscard House Tenants Association, a great group of residents who are pretty active in their community.  They’re organising a car boot sale and a bbq - when the weather gets better!

The biggest issue tonight was recycling.  Despite promises from Streetscene no programme has been put in place for high rise blocks - well certainly not in Liscard anyway.  They were promised twelve months ago that a scheme would be implemented, but, to date, nothing.  I shall be writing to David Green, Director of Streetscene first thing tomorrow to find out what’s going on (or what’s not going on).

On the positive side, a state of the art intercom system is to be fitted in September by Wirral Partnership Homes.

David Cameron coming to Liscard

On Thursday 14 August, David Cameron will be hosting his latest ‘Cameron Direct’ event.  This is open to anyone who lives in Wirral and entry is free.  The event takes place at Weatherhead High School, Breck Road at 6pm. 

If you would like attend, email wirral@northwestconservatives.com including your name and address. 

If you can’t attend or apply too late for a ticket you can watch the event live on www.conservatives.com

 

Mobile phone mast - latest

I’ve received a letter from ‘Mono’ the consultants hired by Vodafone.  They’ve noted my objections to the proposal for a phone mast at the corner of Marsden Close and Seabank Road and are ‘awaiting feedback from Vodafone with regards to the possibility of setting up a public meeting with the residents of Egremont to discuss the proposals‘, in the meantime the proposal and planning application has been put on hold.

I’m delighted that they’re listening and as soon as I hear more I’ll let everyone know.  In the meantime we’re continuing with our petition.

Conservatives calling…

Tonight we were calling on homes in Greenwood Road and all the roads off.  There’s great concern over the proposal by Vodafone to erect a phone mast at the junction of Trafalgar Road and Marsden Close.  There are already two masts in the immediate area and many people are deeply unhappy at the thought of a third.  We’ll be starting out petition this week against this.

We had a great reception and plenty of issues to keep me busy!  Thanks to Marg, Eve, Ian, Simon, Ian McK, Alex, Sue, James and Ann for coming out to help.

Another mast in Egremont?

Vodafone have written to us with a proposal for a base station and mast to be situated at the junction of Greenwood Lane and Seabank Road, (actually it’s either Marsden Close and Seabank Road OR could be described as the junction at Trafalgar Road and Seabank Road) either way they got it wrong!

You may remember the battle by local residents to keep Orange out of the Manor Church Centre, sadly without success in the end.  As we thought at the time, this may open the floodgates to other phone companies.

I believe that we have too many phone masts already in the area; one on King Street and Manor Church Centre as well as a number in Liscard Town Centre.

Residents should and must be allowed to give their views, through proper consultation, on whether or not they want a phone mast in ‘their back yard’.  I’ll be carrying out a petition over the next few weeks, if you’d like to help, please contact me at leahfraser@wirral.gov.uk

Liscard Hall

Last week, along with Councillor James Keeley, I attended a meeting, organised by the Council to discuss the ‘way forward’ for the site where Liscard Hall use to stand. 

The Council are still in talks with their insurers, English Heritage and the Fire Authority and there are still many questions unanswered, so it was agreed that a full, detailed report would be produced by mid September, when a further meeting of Liscard Councillors along with the Friends of Central Park would be held to consider the position and way forward for the site. 

Before any decisions are made to Cabinet, a full public consulation should take place with community groups and residents having a full say.

Bishop attends closing church

Cllr Tony Pritchard, Cllr Karen Hayes and me outside Ss Peter and Paul's Church

Tonight, along with Karen Hayes, I attended a Mass said by Bishop Brian Noble at St Peter and Pauls Church, New Brighton. 

The turnout at the mass was (as always) outstanding, which makes the decision to close the church much harder to understand. 

Members of local group S.O.U.L (Save Our Unique Landmark) remain determined fight the decision to close the church.

Tall Ships Success!

This afternoon I was lucky enough to watch the tall ships depart Liverpool en route to Norway.

It is believed that over 300,000 tourists visited Wirral to watch the ships depart.

There had been concerns that the sheer number of visitors would leave local roads gridlocked, however despite a few jams, traffic cleared quickly.

 (The view from Egremont prom was awe inspiring)