A bid to re-instate committees representing each area of Sefton was defeated at last night’s Sefton Council meeting. Area Comittees like the Southport Area Committees were public opportunities for people to engage directly with all their local councillors and receive updates from other agencies like the police.Petitions could be presented and issues raised by the public.

Area Committees were originally proposed by the Boundary Commission as a way of addressing the fact that Sefton’s communities- Bootle ,Formby, Crosby, Southport and Maghull are all very different. They were in place for two decades until abolished recently by Sefton Labour bosses.

According to Lib Dem leader, John Pugh ,who tabled the proposal, matters like the spending of Town Deal Funds, the introduction of Blue Bins and Cycle Lanes need real time interaction with the public.

"Too many ordinary citizens are now feeling that things get done to them and nobody listens. 90% of the decisions rest entirely in the hands of a small group of 9 Labour councillors in the Sefton Cabinet.

We have a centralised system where not only do communities go unheard but their representatives are barred from meeting collectively to hear and express their concerns."

The proposal that the Area Committees should be reinstated was supported by Liberal Democrat,Conservative and Independent councillors.

"This isn’t just a Southport matter,” days Cllr Pugh, “whether its cycle routes, blue bins or dog orders there is a big gap in local Sefton democracy where things happen to an often puzzled and frustrated public whether they like it or not."
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Who pays for them, and what use are they?

Originally Posted by Nash

Who pays for them, and what use are they?

I must admit to being a little nonplussed - it appears that fat cat councillors have voted themselves out of a nailed on expenses windfall!

The last thing people want is to sit in a dusty room and have the likes of Pugh, Dawson and Shaw telling them what they think is best for them.

Far too many of the decisions which concern Southport are concluded behind closed doors by people who have no links nor any knowledge of the area. This has been highly detrimental to the town. Any meagre sum of money which has been allocated to Southport is, and has been, spent and wasted on unwanted modifications which prove to do nothing for the town.

A local committee is urgently needed to advise our local council, whose duty it is to improve local areas - to utilise this money wisely. Only local people know local needs. It is both petty and arrogant of the Council leaders to ignore this need.

Is it perhaps, that the Labour Council consisting of mainly inner city leaders find it too difficult to understand the needs of a seaside resort? In which case - Southport MUST come out of Sefton if we are to save Southport from deteriorating further.

NOTE: Crosby and Bootle are to receive huge investments. Is it not odd that both of these areas are in Sefton, with a Liverpool post code, but -

The strategy process has been supported by a Crosby Steering Group and incorporates the views of previous consultation events. The Steering Group was made up of retailers, residents and community sector representatives.

So where is the Steering Group for Southport?

Originally Posted by said

Far too many of the decisions which concern Southport are concluded behind closed doors by people who have no links nor any knowledge of the area. This has been highly detrimental to the town. Any meagre sum of money which has been allocated to Southport is, and has been, spent and wasted on unwanted modifications which prove to do nothing for the town.

Like the Atkinson or the sea wall?

Originally Posted by said

A local committee is urgently needed to advise our local council, whose duty it is to improve local areas - to utilise this money wisely. Only local people know local needs. It is both petty and arrogant of the Council leaders to ignore this need.

A committee that, as pointed out above, will just be an excuse for more expenses to be claimed, wasting more money!

Originally Posted by said

F Is it perhaps, that the Labour Council consisting of mainly inner city leaders find it too difficult to understand the needs of a seaside resort? In which case - Southport MUST come out of Sefton if we are to save Southport from deteriorating further.

Southport isn’t big enough to go it alone, so you leave Sefton and then what? West Lancs? People on here go on about how Southport’s a ‘cash cow’ for Sefton (ignoring the fact that a lot of Southport residents travel to the south of the borough for work). It would then be moaning and wailing how Southport had become a ‘cash cow’ for Lancs and all our money was being spent in Preston!

If the grass is greener on the other side, that’ll be because it’s fertilised with bull-sh*t!

Originally Posted by said

[/FONT][/COLOR]So where is the Steering Group for Southport?

Well there's the Town Deal Board and there's Southport BID. How many talking shops do you want?

Or, select one candidate from each ward
randomly from among eligible voters!
[Elect the other two in the usual fashion.]

Originally Posted by salus.populi

The last thing people want is to sit in a dusty room and have the likes of Pugh, Dawson and Shaw telling them what they think is best for them.

And the likes of windbag Watson, the last of the last Tories

Alongside the begging other councillors to join them, this is just another desperate Lib Dem attempt to stay relevant.

The Area committee was only really a Lib Dem gladiatorium in which they could be relevant and as reported berate residents and non-libs who challenge them.

Surely it’s time to give up on the likes of Dawson, Shaw and Pugh as if they were to do something of positive change for Southport they’d have done it by now.

•|• Big fish in a small pool?