Followers

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Dog Fouling - again

I was indirectly accosted by an irrate resident when I was out walking my dog today. An awful mess had been deposited by a dog owner on someones pavement and as I passed with my dog she shouted something like 'I wish they'd walk their dogs elsewhere'. I always feel a bit guilty in such situations even though I am a responsible dog owner.

We've been here with this one before and its a very annoying problem for most of us although I'm sure there are only a few offenders. We did contact the Dog wardens a couple of years ago and they stepped up their patrols at the time. But the problem remains and the incidents seem to be increasing.

So I've contacted the dog warden again with a question about the possibility of getting the community more involved with dealing with the problem - see below.

"There seems to have been an increase in dog fouling in the Barrows Green Lane and Moorfield Rd area. I wonder whether it would be possible for patrols to be increased.

Is there any such scheme as 'Dog Watch'? You could leaflet an area with a particularly high incident of fouling and get people to report incidents type of dog, description of owner date time of incident etc.

I'm sure you'd build up a picture of the offending owners which could be pursued by yourselves and the CPO's in the local community. Perhaps residents associations could help in the organising of such schemes".

What do you think - any (sensible) ideas? Don't forget that if the pavement outside your home is subjected to fouling contact the Highways Dept at the council (Council's general inquiry number - 0303 333 4300) and they should have it cleaned up. This will also act as a survey for the council in relation to fouling hotspots with such information being passed to the dog warden - hopefully!

Friday 19 February 2010

Housing Development on ‘Wildlife’ area

There’s a proposal to build up to five houses in Moorfield Rd Widnes on land that was understood by local residents to have had a covenant placed on it by the previous owner to ensure the site remained a wildlife and natural habitat area.

It seems that the housing planned will be private rather than social housing - so somebody will be making huge profits at the expense of this local amenity.

Letters of objection should be sent to Pauline Shearer, Planning Dept.,(Re Planning Application 10/00052FUL) Rutland House, Third Floor, Halton Lea, Runcorn. If you need any help with such letters please contact the Green Party.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Derby Rd Residents meeting

Attended the Derby Rd Residents meeting last night. The DRRA is now an official group but have changed their title to Widnes North Residents Association (WNRA) to broaden their catchment area. They elected a committee during the evening which is to be chaired by Peter Brewin.

There were about 40 people there - quite a few of them I hadn't seen before. Phil Drakely the Conservative councillor for Farnworth was present and he was eager to let residents know, as far as he was able, the up to date situation in terms of the council's position.

He stated that as the proposals had been passed by the council's planning committee and the work was to start in 12 days time that there was unfortunately little the group could do about the matter. This was unless the appeal that Friends of the Earth (FoE) are involved with actually went ahead. He thought it would be appropriate for the group to meet with the developers and the council to discuss the remediation process.

Peter Brewin and some other members of the newly formed committee were not too happy about this. They considered that not very much could be achieved at such meetings. It would be a case of the "wool being pulled over their eyes". A vote followed and it was agreed that residents would meet with council officials and the developers to discuss the remediation process. The consensus was that there would be no harm in having such a meeting to clarify issues.

There was a great deal of heated discussion about the fact that any movement of asbestos would carry risks and that although the developers and council would be following stringent health and safety procedures there was always the chance of dangerous particles escaping to the atmosphere. Linked to this was the matter that no environmental impact assessments had been produced by the developers.

Had a quick chat with Peter after the meeting and got the impression that an appeal would be mounted by FoE and that the planned work on the site wouldn't be commencing in 12 days.

We shall see. I remain uneasy about developers plans. As far as I'm aware the sort of specific plans proposed for the work are relatively new and there are few examples of such remedial work.

Check earlier blogs for further discussion about the issues involved.

Monday 8 February 2010

Nuclear Weapons - the Green response

There was a letter recently in one of the local papers asking for the general election candidates views on nuclear weapons, particularly the replacement of Britain's 'Trident' system.

I think the Green response to the issue would take as its starting point the reasons for certain nations in the world arming themselves with such devastating weapons. Putting it simply these seem to be linked to foreign policy agendas which invariably places the interests of the particular nations first and foremost.

Such interests do not directly relate to those of the average citizen but more to the differing vested interests groups within these nations, political or economic.

In terms of foreign policy the Green's stand is internationalist that is it starts from a position of cooperation between states rather than concentrating on national self interest, looking for equitable solutions to world problems. Considering that in the end only solutions that take into account the needs of all parties are viable and enduring.

Here's a quote from a recent Green Party policy document which sums this up:
"International organisations today reflect power rather than democracy. The Green Party will work towards democratising the international community, sharing power, influnce and wealth more fairly more widely. These are the foundations of peace and security for all. And secure peoples at ease with themselves seek peace rather than war".

Given this position the continuing possession of such expensive and immoral weapons is unacceptable. There would be no concievable circumstances in which they would be used.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Sure Start Challenges

I heard via the radio recently that Sure Start does not appear to be reaching the children and families it needs to be reaching.

Research is indicating that children accessing Sure Start programmes tend to have already received a 'sure start' owing to their family's encouragement.

Apparently it's ethnic minorities and families from low income/deprived groups who are loosing out. They are not taking up Sure Start provision because of low self esteem and not feeling comfortable in the percieved 'middle class' provision that Sure Start might represent. It's these particular groups though that such schemes were primarily designed for.

I know from personal experience that the different schemes in Halton have been beneficial to large numbers of children and families including low income/deprived groups. But perhaps now we ought to be looking at how we can target more the groups that are missing out - this might be happening in Halton I'm not sure.

I remember in the 1970's similar schemes ("Portage" and others) being run in the United States to improve educational attainment/access to community resources for particularly poor black families. They were quite succussful.

A main difference between our Sure Start programmes and these schemes was the focus in the Portage scheme for instance on providing educational and social support within the family's home. It was not so much the throwing of money in the direction of infra structure but more directing such funding to workers/teachers on the ground assisting directly with the family within the family home. Portage also tended to employ people from these communities directly in their programmes

I'm sure both centre focussed and work within families have a role to play but following this latest piece of research on accessibility to Sure Start schemes there seems to be a need for more emphasis to be placed on educational/social help within the family.

The other issue is income levels. If you are in relative poverty you have that much more of an uphill climb in all areas of living. It's obviously important to consider this factor in any attempt at improving educational attainments in low income/socially disadvantaged groups.

The Green Party X Factor

Just heard that residents at Hargreaves Court have received blue bins a few days ago.

This is great news. We wrote to the council (see previous blog) when the problem had been picked up from residents during recent leafleting of the area. Was it coincidence or was it the ever encroaching Green Party X factor effect!! The bins have been produced just like that!

It seems that whenever there is a whiff of the expression of Green Party's legitimate concerns about anything in Halton View ward weird things start happening like the council doing something right away. There have been other incidences, Fiddlers Ferry fallout a few years ago, HGV traffic etc

Although it could all be my wishful thinking - but it's great that its happening and I suspect that this particular X factor effect will become even more significant when we get our first Green councillor on the council and not just in Halton View ward.

Roll on that May day!!