Request for Litter bin, Church road.Mersey Park Primary School.

Dear Mr Cleary

Thank you for your request in reference to the above which was logged on 13 March 2012.

The cost of satisfying the demand for litter bins continually exceeds the financial resources allocated for this provision.  Therefore all requests to install litter bins are assessed by the Departments area managers who deal with the Street Cleansing service.  They will periodically, as and when requests are made for litter bins to be installed, consider the requests against a pre-determined set of criteria and recommends in what priority order the installations should be carried out.  When assessing litter bin instalation requests the department will assess the installation based on the locations need and relevant factors. This would entail large amounts of litter being discarded in the area, near to or at the specific location requested, ie Schools, Shops, Bus stops etc. 

The scheduled cleanse for Church road is carried out on a weekly basis, which is currently deemed adequate enough to deal with the amount of litter that may accumilate between the cleansing cycles for this residential area.  However, the location will be inspected based on the above criteria and if a litter bin is deemed necessary, one will be installed in due course.

Thank you for bringing this matter to the Departments attention.  Should you wish to discuss any aspect of this matter further, then please contact Streetscene on the telephone number below.

Yours sincerely

Assistant Contracts Manager
Through Streetscene
Technical Services

Coaches on Price Street

I've complained to National Express about their coaches parking on Price Street, sometimes at unsociable hours with engines running.

I've been promised an answer soon! Let's hope so.

A Green vote is the only alternative to the politics of despair

As recent events have clearly shown, mainstream politics is completely out of touch with the reality of day-to-day life for most people. It is quite simply a tragedy that every one of Wirral’s 66 councillors backs the shameful austerity measures that are crippling our society while doing nothing to repair our broken finances.

 

The Green Party stands for real fairness. We are not afraid to say that the very wealthy in our society are not paying their fair share. That has to be addressed through fairer taxation, both locally and nationally. Neither are we afraid to say that investment is crucial if we are to provide desperately needed jobs and desperately needed hope for our young people. A Green New Deal can transform our economy and our society.

 

The path pursued by Labour, Tory and Liberal is a road to nowhere. Wirral desperately needs a voice that will promote real fairness, for our people and our environment. The Green Party can be that voice and May 3^rd is the opportunity to reject austerity and embrace the politics of hope.

Free Cycle Training in Birkenhead Park

A fantastic opportunity for all new or returning cyclists. Please pass this on if you can! If you cannot attend this date but may be interested in future dates please let me know.

Free cycle training is available at Birkenhead Park on Monday 13th February from 10-12noon and from 1-3pm. Booking is essential either by calling Bikeright on 0151 482 5700 or from the following link

http://www.bikeright.co.uk/services2/cycle_training/adult_cycle_training/freewheeling2/mersey_dates1/

The link will show the dates and also gives information on the content of the course. There are 2 hour cycle training sessions at a range of levels. Bikeright deliver the three levels of the National Standards for Cycle Training . They run group sessions for Level 1 (basic preparation for on-road cycling – e.g. turning, signalling, looking behind etc but in an traffic-free environment) and Level 2 (an introduction to cycling on quiet roads, including road positions). This will be on offer at Birkenhead Park, perhaps with a Learn to Ride option too .

You can use your own bikes if you can bring  them on the day. Bikeright can also provide bikes if needed.

Please contact Bikeright directly with any enquiries.

The meeting point on the day will be the Visitor Centre.

Brown bins for Birkenhead

I get so many complaints from residents across Birkenhead & Tranmere who are unfairly excluded from the garden waste recycling scheme. Below is the latest comment from the Council which at least offers some hope that the scheme may be extended:

Dear Mr Cleary,

Re: Garden Waste Collection Service

Thank you for taking the time to contact Wirral Council to request information regarding the Garden Waste collection service.

The Waste and Recycling team have recently carried out a full analysis of the garden waste collection service.  This involved an assessment of the borough to identify areas and roads where the properties do have gardens but are not on the service. This piece of work was completed in September and this information was passed to our Garden Waste Collection Contractor, Biffa, to assess the additional operational requirements and work out the most efficient way of expanding the service to the additional properties.  It is highly likely that this will require Biffa to completely restructure the service, meaning many existing customers will have collection day changes and routes the trucks currently work to will change. 

After this work has been completed we can determine whether we are able to service all the additional properties with existing resources.  If we can expand the service at no additional revenue cost to the Council then we would expect to roll out brown garden waste bins to new and additional properties (Craven Close and surrounds included) towards the end of February, with a view to starting collections from 1^st April 2012.   We are hopeful that this will be the senario that will happen.

However, if there were an annual revenue cost to expanding the service, then the Council would consider the request for additional funding as part of the 2012/13 budget setting process, which would include public consultation.  Even if the funding was approved, this means that the earliest the scheme could be expanded would be Spring 2013.  In the event that additional revenue is required, Elected Members and Chief Officers involved in the decision making process will be informed of all complaints that have been made from residents waiting to join the scheme.

In the meamtime, garden waste can be put into your green refuse bin for collection.  If you or anyone living at your property has access to a vehicle, you can take also garden waste to any of the Household Waste Recycling Centres:

Bidston Moss, Wallasey Bridge Road, Birkenhead.
Greenbank Road, West Kirby.
Mount Road, Clatterbridge.

If you have any further queries regarding the waste and recycling service, please do not hesitate to contact Streetscene on 606-2004. 

letter to the press re strikes

The Con-LibDem coaltion's relentless attacks on public sector jobs and services must be resisted. The Green Party, unlike the Labour Party, supported Wednesday's strike action because the public sector provides services vital to a civilised society and a healthy economy.

Destroying jobs and services and reducing pay and pensions in the public sector damage rather than help the economy. This can be seen in the catastrophic unemployment figures and from every economic indicator--including a rising Government borrowing requirement, with tax receipts down and benefit payments up. Meanwhile the bankers and chief executives continue to "earn" obscene salaries and bonuses.

David Cameron's contemptuous"damp squib" remark is typically glib, insulting and inappropriate. His government's policies are similarly wrong-headed, worsening rather than improving the lives of millions, and deserve to be opposed.

REVIEW OF STREETSCENE ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY AND POLICIES

Wirral Council is conducting a review of its streetscene enforcement strategy and policies. I have submitted the following comments on fly-tipping:


I would like to submit some comments to this Review on the subject of fly-tipping.

Your notes point out that fly-tipping is mainly a problem in back entries. I believe this is correct. However, while this problem may be relatively isolated, for those affected it has a huge impact on their quality of life.

Over the past three years the Green Party has conducted regular door-to-door surveys in the Birkenhead and Tranmere ward. Without doubt, the number one complaint from residents relates to fly-tipping. It cannot be an understatement in my view to say that fly-tipping is endemic in this part of Wirral.

While residents are grateful that back entries are cleared of rubbish on a regular basis, there is widespread anger at Wirral Council's failure to prosecute those guilty of fly-tipping. Over recent years, not a single prosecution has been brought for fly-tipping in the Birkenhead and Tranmere area. It is therefore hardly surprising that irresponsible residents feel they can dump rubbish with impunity. The sad result is that the impacts of fly-tipping are now a routine part of life for most residents. This will never change until the relevant authorities take seriously their obligations to pursue fly-tippers and set an example for the wider community.

Currently, I do not believe that Wirral Council takes these obligations seriously. On many occasions I have been contacted by residents who can identify those responsible for fly-tipping and assume that Wirral Council will support them in this end. However, the response received is, in my view, quite the opposite. Warning residents of the need to appear in court and the resulting costs imposed on the authority is not a response that suggests that Wirral Council is eager to prosecute fly-tippers. Indeed, many residents take the view that Wirral Council has a policy of not pursuing prosecutions for fly-tipping.

People have a right to live in a clean environment and their local authority should be supportive of this. I would therefore suggest the following:

• that Wirral Council reassesses its approach to fly-tipping and implements a medium term strategy to significantly reduce the incidents of fly-tipping
• that, as part of this review, Wirral Council recognises that it already has sufficient statutory powers to prosecute fly-tippers
• that, instead of discouraging those residents who wish to see those guilty of fly-tipping prosecuted, Wirral Council begins to engage positively and support these residents
• that any short term costs associated with prosecuting fly-tipping will be more than repaid by a long term reduction in this anti-social behaviour

I hope that Wirral Council can recognise that fly-tipping is a really serious issue in certain areas and that it's current approach merely amounts to damage limitation rather than a robust, medium term strategy. I look forward to a revised approach and would be delighted to assist in any way I can in advancing this.