As there are just a couple of days until the election, I thought I would publish the email below, received from a resident of Oakmere Close.  Someone who, as a trade unionist and Labour supporter, is clearly now as fed up as the rest of us…

Ian,
I felt that I had to contact you to show my support for you and your party something I never thought I would ever do or say!

I have always voted Labour since I was 18 (I’m 52) and I have been a trade unionist since 1975 and I’m sorry to say that I have become disillusioned and very disappointed with them both nationally and locally. 

What are on earth are they doing to our country? Income tax, cost of living, law and order, immigration, NHS cuts, transport, Iraq, Afghanistan the list goes on……  Local issues are not much better. Wirral is not such a nice place to live anymore.What are the council and its planning department doing allowing builders to erect apartment blocks everywhere most of which are partly vacant. People want houses with gardens. We want decent roads and pavements. We want more seating and waste bins in public areas.
We want  more public conveniences. We need to see more police officers actually on the beat to
deter crime.

I do however like the new bin collection service. We need an injection of money spent in Moreton and Leasowe as they are looking tired and neglected.  Plant more trees, shrubs and planters with flowers in public areas for a start,  they wouldn’t cost much as long as they were sourced locally and not to over the top and they won’t take up to much pavement area.   A study should be made on the traffic situation in Moreton Cross. What a nightmare the roundabout is at anytime of the day but peak hour is dreadful. You take your life in your hands trying to get onto it never mind round it and getting off it. Perhaps reduce the size of the roundabout and or erect traffic lights. It would be a shame to get rid of it.

I find your newsletters very informative and it’s good to be kept up to date on issues that concern the area. Well done for the roundabout at Gardenside and the central refuge further down Leasowe Road. As you know it’s a dangerous stretch of road between the traffic lights at Reeds Lane and the bottom of Leasowe Road and is fast becoming of an accident blackspot. Perhaps more could be done to deter the speeding traffic: a)continue the central reservation down this stretch of road: b) filter the traffic into one lane
from the traffic lights and or double white lines down the centre of the road. As a last resort install a dreaded speed camera I hate them but  they do deter people.

Thank you for bringing to our attention the ’secret’ plans for the field in Leasowe Road opposite my road Oakmere Close . Don Prout says that they have known about these plans for quite some time well it would have been nice if he had told us. I have spoken to neighbours and other residents in the close who like me bought from new and we were not aware of any plans for the field or incidentally for the 3 large apartment blocks that were built after we had bought our houses. Planning permission had been granted for these flats prior to Oakmere Close being built but we were kept in the dark over this and several people have said that they wouldn’t have bought a house here if they had of known. An inquiry took place a few years ago but nothing came of it. Why don’t the council want us to know? It does make you wonder………..

What has put the icing on the cake for me is the content of the Labour newsletter if you could call it that. I was appalled and angry when I read it as it was just a personal attack on yourself. Maybe if he spent less time doing this and saying what he was going to do for the community he’d get more votes but hey I don’t want to give him any ideas. I’m surprised that for a man of his age and experience that he is campaigning in this way but maybe he’s just out of touch with ‘new’ labour and has no fresh ideas of his own.

We need a council with vision!

My sister and a friend who both live locally are also changing their votes from labour to conservative, but
unfortunately they don’t live in this constituency.

Good luck in the local elections and keep up the good work.