Good news for Hinderton Road

I've now spoken to a Council official about the overgrown alleyway behind Hinderton Road.

Vegetation is encroaching from the adjacant industrial estate.

I've been assured that the Council will act promptly to get the owners of the industrial estate to deal with this.

Sooner rather than later hopefully.

Green Clean

The Green Party is organising a big tidy-up day for Birkenhead and Tranmere on Sunday afternoon, September 13th.

The chosen sites are as follows:

Mersey Park,
(Seymour St. entrance) – 2pm
Fountain St/Whitford Road – 3pm
Quarrybank by the YMCA, Whetstone Lane – 4pm

Full equipment will be provided and there will be stickers and certificates for accompanied children.

Come and join us.

Survey

My resident's survey has now gone live. The survey only takes a minute or two to complete and helps me identify areas that need attention such as litter hotspots, graffiti, broken lights etc.

You can complete the survey at:

http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/82438DFE00ED7EE6/


.

Activity report for August

I was delighted to see that improvements have finally been made to the vacant site between Fountain Street and Whitford Road. The damaged wall has been removed and the site made secure with new fencing. Residents I spoke to seemed pleased with the outcome and it should help to reduce anti-social behaviour in the area.

If my inbox is anything to go by then flytipping is on the increase. This is an all too predictable result of the charge introduced in April for ERIC collections. In the past month, alleyways on Town Road and Castle Street have been cleared. The alleyway behind Rodney Street is due to be cleaned on August 12 and I have reported the jungle-like state behind Hinderton Road due to overgrowth from the adjacent industrial estate.

There was a real success story this month as I managed to persuade the Council to clear rubbish that had accumulated over several years on waste ground off Kinmel Close. Around the corner on Price Street Wirral Partnership Homes has agreed to conduct it’s own survey of residents following concerns expressed to me about its repair service. I’d also like to thank Pierhead Housing who carried out swift repairs in Gertrude Street following my alert. Meanwhile, United Utilities inform me that the water leak behind Rosedale Road should be fixed within the next week.

Kinmel Close before and after

Life begins at 20

This chart paints a shocking picture. It shows the pedestrian casualty statistics in Wirral compared with the national trend (2008 national data is yet to be released).

This country already has a poor record on pedestrian road safety compared with our European peers. However, Wirral is worse again and I find this completely unacceptable.

Our Council needs to do a lot more and has been rightly criticised by the government for not doing enough.

One simple and cost effective measure which is being introduced elsewhere is a 20 mph speed limit on residential roads. Below 20mph any collision is unlikely to result in a fatality but above this speed the risk of death increases exponentially.

What do you think? The poll top right is your chance to express a view.

Thanks to Living Streets Wirral for providing the data:
http://www.livingstreetswirralchester.org.uk/

Pierhead Housing

A recent survey highlighted some problems with the flats on Gertrude Street owned by Pierhead Housing.

I'm glad to say there has been a swift response to my enquiry and the necessary repairs have now been carried out.

Around the corner I have also reported the partly-blocked drains on Duncan Street to Streetscene.

flytipping on Castle Street

I'm glad to see that the flytipped rubbish pictured on Castle Street/Church Street has now been cleared.

It is hardly surprising but it seems clear to me that since ERIC charges were reintroduced in April, instances of flytipping have increased.

While everyone appreciates that Council finances are stretched, a policy that adds to overstretched clearly has cost implications that will at least partially offset any increase in revenues from ERIC charges. On top of that there is the increased aggravation for residents whose lives are blighted by flytipping.

A free to user ERIC service has got to be part of any sensible Council strategy to deal with bulky waste and the sooner it comes back the better.