‘Ponding’ is the term used when water collects on the highway due to the surface being uneven and preventing drainage to the gulleys. Grampian Way and the roads off now have ‘ponding’. I’ve reported this to the Streetscene Manager. I have also received an email from the Director of Technical Services to say he is now dealing with the whole issues. I await his call! In the meantime, there has still been no response from Cllr. Quinn to my questions to her…
I called the Streetscene Manager again today. Predictably, my letter to the Cabinet Member responsible for this botched job has not replied to the questions in my letter, let alone shared with me the report written by the contractor into what went wrong.
I understand the Director of the Department is now writing to the contractor, requesting remedial work to put it right. I have also asked for arrangements for residents who have suffered damage to property, as well as a copy of Cllr. Quinn’s secret report. I’ll let you know when I get them.
If you get the chance, call down to Leasowe Common and park up. The previous car park resembled a moon landing, on a good day.
Cllr. Chris Blakeley and I had asked for the Council to improve it - a popular spot for dog walkers, beach lovers and visitors to the Common (who can no longer drive on it).
Credit where credit is due. They’ve done a cracking job and the new disabled access point (which can be seen being ‘road tested’ by Leah Fraser (prospective Conservative MP for Wallasey and Moreton); myself and Chris.
After the photoshoot, it was off to the Millhouse for some more door-to-door surveys. Now, if only we could get the contractor here to visit Grampian Way…
Well, a miniature version of it! One of the children at Christchurch CE Primary School was a runner up in the BBC competition to design a superlambanana and this was the only school in Wirral to win one! It it proudly displayed in the school entrance hall and I hope to see it on Saturday when I attend their summer fair. For details of the superlambananas around the region, click here. The school also won a prize for the ‘healthy tuck shop’ on Friday afternoons.
At the governors meeting last night, we were also given a briefing by the Council on the need to answer 102 questions on our financial monitoring - every school is having to comply with this request by the Department for Schools, Children and Families. Is it any wonder that a report by Manchester University has this week said the ‘obsession’ with targets is hampering improvement in schools?
Remember the problems Ruby Wheatley was having with her bins? See the Globe. Well, now it seems the Council has no record of there ever being a problem with her missed bin collection! Their computer systems say there have been no missed collections! That’s in spite of Ruby phoning Streetscene every week and in the Globe a council official even says ‘we are aware of the problem’. Not now they’re not!
There’s a letter in last night’s Liverpool ECHO from Paul Wollaston at Wallasey Post Office. He’s written to Angela Eagle about the threat to our remaining branches from the loss of the Post Office Card Account.
The Government is making a decision in the summer on whether to renew the contract to run the account with the Post Office. The account is used by four million people every week to access their pensions and benefit payments. They are much easier to open than a bank account as they don’t need credit scoring, loads of ID or lengthy delays.
If the account is awarded to another organisation, a further 3,000 post offices will be at risk, says the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters. Until the Government makes a decision, you can read about the Post Office Action Plan by the Conservatives.
Yup, you guessed. Grampian Way and roads off. My letter to the Cabinet member in the Labour-led Cabinet brought the following response:
I have spoken to David Green, Director of Technical Services about your concern over Grampian Way today and he will personally do a site visit tonight. He will report back to you on his assessment and planned action.
Regards
Cllr. Jean Quinn,
Hardly a full and frank reply to my two page letter! So, I have replied as follows:
Dear Cllr. Quinn
With the greatest of respect, I could have asked the director to visit Grampian Way. However, as the Streetscene Manager for the area is well aware of my concerns and the views of residents and is acting upon them, I do not see what else a visit from the director will achieve.
You are obviously not aware, but the contractor is currently writing a report on what went wrong on this particular job. Until that is provided to the Department, I doubt if the Council will act in case this invalidates any work or is portrayed as an admission of liability.
My letter, and I presume your email is in response to my letter, was about YOUR role in this sorry saga and what you, as the elected, publically accountable portfolio holder will do about the longer-term issues of this kind of work with this particular contractor.
It’s also disappointing that you haven’t decided to ‘personally do a site visit’ tonight.
Ian Lewis
I’ve just spoken to the Streetscene Manager again about the Grampian Way and area surfacing botch. I understand a rep from the contractor has now been out and is writing a report for his senior management to consider. In the meantime…nothing is being done. I can imagine the report will have to make reference to human rights, health and safety, equal opportunities…Not had a reply from Cllr. Quinn yet either.
Oh dear. It seems the Liberal Democrat policy of propping up Labour in the Town Hall has claimed its first casualty. That’s assuming you don’t include the 37,925 people who voted Conservative but who were ignored in this grubby deal.
Rob Earl, a senior Liberal Democrat in the Borough has, tonight, joined the Conservatives. Rob was their candidate in Clatterbridge and, before that, in Upton. He was also a Constituency officer. Their loss is our gain! He’s not the first (Oliver Adam, Jeff Clarke and Sajj Karim have all made the same move) and hopefully won’t be the last! It’s proof again that only the Conservatives can beat Gordon Brown.
Tonight, I delivered around 200 letters to people living in Grampian Way and the roads off. It was a copy of the letter I’ve written to the councillor in the Labour-led Cabinet who has responsibility for streetscene. I’ve asked her a number of questions about the botched job they’ve done of resurfacing the roads. I’ll let you know when I’ve received a reply. In the meantime, I have contacted the Council again, wanting to know what the cowboys contractors are going to do about the situation.
Usually, I find myself frustrated with large public organisations that have forgotten who pays their wages and what they are there for. Not so the Environment Agency. I contacted them about a problem some residents of Birket Avenue were having with poor drainage in their back gardens. They sent someone out, identified the problem and fixed it. Excess water from the gardens was drained into the Birket and everyone seems happy. Thank you EA!
Tonight, the door-to-door survey team was at Moreton cross. We called on homes in Barnston Lane, Netherton Road, Digg Lane and others. Thanks to councillors Lesley Rennie, Karen Hayes, Simon Mountney and Paul Hayes along with Marg Kalil, Eve Sorrell and Alex Jones. Alex is new to the team, having just signed up but she’s taken to it like a duck to water and has a really natural, easy going style with residents. Some local issues, which the team in Moreton will take up, plus quite a few new pledges of support.
