Recently in Wirral people Category

WIRRAL MPs rarely speak to us about matters of national - or dare I say, international - importance - preferring to stick strictly to the local stuff.

Bus services? Muddy fields? Derelict buildings? Allotments? Not a problem for some (in particular Wirral South's Ben Chapman).

And, while that might not be your cup of tea if you want investigative journalism and in-depth analysis of politics, it's bread and butter for a local, weekly newspaper.

But if you want an opinion on everything from agency workers to disaster relief in Haiti, Neston and Ellesmere Port's elected representative is your man.

This story appear to have ruffled feathers and (again) made me unpopular at Wirral Council.

Essentially, the story was about a report done done for the authority about retail in Wirral. To be able to compete against out of town centres such as Cheshire Oaks, along with Liverpool One and Chester, the borough needs more capacity.

The recommendation was to focus on Wiral Waters (and possibly Birkenhead too). However, today the council has issued the following statement:

WITH THAT story taking all the headlines this week, Hamilton Squared is declaring this blog post a strictly a lib**** free zone.

With just months to the General Election and the spotlight firmly on Steve Foulkes, Jeff Green, Simon Holbrook et all, Wirral's MPs are bound to be feeling a little bit left out by now.

So we thought it was time to redress the balance - here's a little look at what three of our five elected representatives are doing this week.

The leader of the Conservative opposition group has responded to the libraries report:

Cllr Jeff Green said the "public of Wirral owe Sue Charteris a huge debt of gratitude".

He added: "She has exposed the way this administration has treated the Wirral public and how they disregarded the needs of the most vulnerable in our community."

Lib-Dem leader Simon Holbrook has released a candid response to the report by Government-appointed library inspector Sue Charteris.

Cllr Holbrook said they withdrew their library closure plans because "having been unsuccessful in challenging Sue Charteris' interpretation of the 1964 Libraries Act, we simply considered the risk of being found in breach of the Act too high for the Council to take".

He reiterated the comments made after the council abandoned the library closure plans that the delays were also affecting setting Wirral's budget.

But Cllr Holbrook added: "In any event, we believe that many of the opinions of Sue Charteris expressed in her report will be superseded by the results of the national consultation on the future of libraries which we understand the DCMS will launch tomorrow. We hope that the Government's consultation on the future of libraries will provide the guidance on the Libraries Act which this inquiry has shown is sadly lacking."

This is the press statement in full from Cllr. Steve Foulkes, Leader of Wirral Council following announcement by the Secretary of State on the libraries public inquiry,

Wirral not in breach of their Statutory Duty

I welcome the fact that the Secretary of State recognises that we are not in breach of our statutory duty and I welcome too the fact that the statement recognises the autonomy of local authorities and the fact that they are well placed to decide on local needs.

2009 seems to be the year of the U-turn.

First it was Wirral Council and the libraries and yesterday, along came meat packaging firm Tulip International's decision to return to Bromborough.

Investing £12m into the plant to make it a "sausage production facility" will create 270 new jobs - but only seven months ago, Tulip said the Bromborough site didn't have a future, closed it and made 303 people redundant.

AS reported in today's (Thursday Nov 12) Daily Post, Birkenhead MP Frank Field proved himself somewhat spiky when he received an email he found unacceptable.
It was sent by the mother of a 12 year old boy at Ridgeway High School - one of those the council proposes closing to make way for two new academies in Birkenhead.
The mum in question, Hazel Birchall (who had also attended Ridgeway and holds the school in high regard) had contacted Mr Field following a council meeting to discuss the proposals, sending him an email via his website.

A windsurfer had to be rescued by a West Kirby lifeboat team today after becoming stranded on the marine lake.

FORGET the glitz and glamour of the Oscars.

Here in Wirral we have our very own ceremony celebrating the achivements of the borough's finest.

It's called the Wirral Tourism Awards and it took place last night at Thornton Hall Hotel.