And the answer is....

.....zero. That's the number of prosecutions for fly-tipping in Birkenhead and Tranmere over the past three years. Hope that reassures you.

There has also been a big decline in the number of penalties/prosecutions for littering across Wirral over the same period.

The information comes in a recent message I received from Wirral Council which is copied below:


Thank you for your request for information shown below which has been passed to me as the Information Manager.  Please see council’s response below which I trust you will find of use.

There have not been any successful prosecutions for fly tipping in Birkenhead & Tranmere in any of the last three financial years.

The Council does not hold littering figures by ward, but Borough wide figures are below:-.

Year            Fixed Penalty Notices s    No of successful prosecutions

07-08           474                                                     32

08-09           277                                                     15

09-10           176                                                       3

Activity Report for June

Welcome to another monthly update.

Details below on the dire state of our roads and pavements, Wirral’s cuts agenda and the usual Streets update.

A hole lot of bother

Something I receive regular complaints about is the state of our roads. As someone who gets around by bicycle some of the pot holes on our roads are frankly lethal.

I was therefore very keen to study the recently released planned maintenance programme for our roads and pavements over the coming year. Unfortunately, the list comes as a huge disappointment for residents in Birkenhead and Tranmere. If the total budget of £1.95m was allocated equally to each ward we would be receiving almost £90,000. However, the Council list only identifies three streets in Birkenhead and Tranmere earmarked for improvement totalling £27,000. Compare this with neighbouring Rock Ferry where over 20 streets and pavements are listed.

Are your Councillors taking this issue seriously? This is a question every resident in Birkenhead and Tranmere is entitled to ask.

You can view the planned programme in full via my web site.

Cuts: Are you affected?

If the monies available for road maintenance are hopelessly inadequate at the moment just wait until the full force of government cuts are unleashed. From a local perspective Wirral Council’s new Tory and Lib Dem coalition is right behind the cuts agenda and the one thing you can be sure of is that the poor will suffer most.

Leaving aside the fact that the banking sector which created this mess is effectively getting away with it, the worrying issue for me is that the agenda in Wirral is firmly aimed at cutting services. While nobody likes paying more in tax, slashing services will hit areas like Birkenhead and Tranmere very hard. The impact on more affluent areas will be far less. We will therefore see a further increase in the massive divide between rich and poor across Wirral.

You can read more about Labour’s legacy of debt and the new regime’s cuts agenda here. If you are directly affected by local authority cutbacks please do get in touch.

Streets update

• The damaged lamp post on Argyle Street South by the corner with Hinderton Road was quickly repaired following my report.
• New street signs for Warrington Street have been ordered following my alert. The previous ones disappeared during the recent housing development.
• I recently complained about the poor arrangements for bin and cycle storage for the proposed renovation of the Quarrybank site by the YMCA on Whetstone Lane. I’m glad to say that my complaint has been upheld and the developer will have to make adjustments to the plans.

Structural maintenance programme

Wirral Council has released its list of planned works to streets and pavements for the current financial year.

You can view the full list here.

Warrington Street

It was pointed out to me recently that the street signs on Warrington Street were removed during the recent development work there.

I've just had a call from Wirral Council to say new signs have been ordered and should be in place within the next few months.