"...local residents do not want a local councillor."

It is no secret that your local Lib Dem FOCUS team have coined the Labour Party in our area as "Bootle Labour". It went out on many of our FOCUS leaflets across the Ward. Indeed, this was the view shared by fellow local resident and former Manor Conservative Councillor, Martyn Barber.

Interestingly, this is clearly something that the majority of local Manor residents do not seem too worried about. For the past two local elections here in the Crosby, Thornton and Hightown areas there have been two successive Bootle Labour candidates elected to serve locally. I fully accept that, after all the Liberal Democrats have always stood on a platform of democracy - particularly at the most local level. Although it does raise questions about why local residents do not want a local councillor.

Even more interestingly perhaps, similar circumstances seem to be happening in the Maghull area also. Tony Robertson blogs:

In Maghull the Town Council (a large Parish Council) is now 13 Labour seats and 3 Lib Dem but most of the Labour members don’t even live in Maghull! The question is why do many electors in Maghull seemingly want their Parish Councillors to live elsewhere? They could have voted for Maghull residents but chose to pick councillors from other communities such as Bootle, Crosby and Aintree to run Maghull’s affairs. Bearing in mind that the taxes raised by Maghull Town Council will not be paid by those councillors who live outside of Maghull, is this not a odd state of affairs?

Crime-busting Car in Crosby and Thornton

A CRIME-busting vehicle has been out on the streets of Crosby warning people about thieves.
The crime prevention car has been used by Crosby Neighbourhood Police to teach people not to leave valuables on display in their vehicles.

It is part of a Merseyside-wide initiative aimed at stopping theft from cars.

The car, which was accompanied by signs with the slogan “If it’s on show it will go” was at Burbo Bank, Crosby Village and Crosby Leisure Centre on Tuesday.

PCSOs were giving people demonstrations and offering advice on how to thwart thieves.

It will also be out and about in the village, at Aldi in Thornton and on the beach today (Thursday).

To report a crime call Crosby Police Station on 0151 777 3634 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Story by Lyndsay Young, Crosby Herald

Keep Our Beach Tidy!

Sefton Council chief tells people to pick up their litter when they visit Crosby beach

SEFTON’S council chief is calling on everyone to keep Crosby beach clean.

Tonnes of rubbish are left behind on Sefton’s beaches each year
.
Despite there being 250 litter bins on the coastal sites, 33,000 bin bags of rubbish were emptied and 160 large skips of waste were taken to landfill last year.

Margaret Carney, Sefton Council’s chief executive is calling on residents to pick up their litter.

People are leaving cans, bottles, clothing, deck chairs and BBQ packs on the beach.

The Crosby Herald has the full story here.

With the summer about to come upon us it is vitally important that Crosby beech remains a destination that will bring in tourists from around the North West and further-a-field. Especially now with the introduction of the new Another Place road signage across the Crosby Area.

Thank You... and What Next.

May I belatedly thank all those electors of Sefton MBC Manor Ward (Crosby, Thornton and Hightown) who voted Liberal Democrat in this year's election. Unfortunately the result was not the one that we had hoped for.

What is next is best summed up by colleague and elected Lib Dem candidate for Park Ward, Tony Robertson:

"Today in Sefton we Lib Dems seemed to do better than in many other parts of the UK. We lost 5 seats, Labour gained 5 seats and the Tories stayed the same. This makes Labour the largest party on the balanced Council despite them behaving quite irresponsibly before the election over the Council’s finances. ...

...my thanks to all who fought under the Lib Dem flag; times are tough for the only national political party that really does believe in gaining power only to give it away to the communities that we represent. Clearly, 2011 has been a step backwards for the Lib Dems and the community based politics that we stand for but Liberals have been through tough times before and come through. Tories and Labour will always stand for vested interests as they always have done; we will continue to fight against vested interests."