Election Overview from Nick Coligan - Liverpool Echo Report 23rd April

All to play for in the fight for your vote

THIS year’s council elections in Liverpool are gearing up to be the most exciting for a long time. Not since all 90 seats went up for grabs in 2004 has so much been at stake, with both the Liberal Democrats and Labour confident of a string of victories. After a difficult year culminated in three lost seats and several close calls in May 2006, the Lib Dems believe they have ridden the storm and are looking forward to a ninth year in charge. But Labour can clearly smell blood and are fighting hard to seize more seats from their rivals, with the aim of wrestling power in Capital of Culture year. They will hope the national criticism of Tony Blair does not affect their chances, although it did no damage last year, when Labour held firm to its seats across Merseyside. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, have dismissed last year’s disappointments as “a blip” and have targeted Central ward, Croxteth and St Michael’s as gains. They believe the unrest caused by the very public fall-out between former council leader Mike Storey, up for re-election in Wavertree, and ex-chief executive Sir David Henshaw, has now settled. Peace ‘restored with our officers’ THE Lib Dems hold 55 of the council’s 90 seats, and defend 19 of the 30 up for grabs this time. Council leader Warren Bradley said: “The stability between councillors and officers has returned, and the public recognise we are working together for the good of the city. “There is a real feeling at the moment that Liverpool is a great place to live and work. “We had a blip last year, but if you look at the seats we lost, Princes Park and Speke-Garston are not naturally Lib Dem, and the Kensington result was a wake-up call we needed. “Over the next 12 months, we must deliver the best-ever Capital of Culture, as we promised. “We must use Capital of Culture to improve job prospects and skills training for people of all ages. “The big challenges are in housing and social care, but with housing, we will make massive inroads this year because tenants voted in favour of transferring to a new landlord.” Liberals and Greens look for a bigger say THE Liberal party will again try to break out of its three-seat Tuebrook stronghold and is campaigning on issues on which it believes the two main parties agree. Group leader Steve Radford, who is targeting seats in Clubmoor, Anfield and Picton, said: “We are fighting on our opposition to demolishing homes and building on parks. “We are the only party standing up for what residents believe in, regardless of whether they live in a regeneration area or not.” One result to watch will be St Michael’s, where Green councillor John Coyne, who won as a Lib Dem in 2004 before defecting, tries to defend the seat for his new party. If he succeeds, it will be a first win in Liverpool for the Greens, who are fielding candidates in 29 wards. Labour’s victory target is 15 seats TO seize power, Labour - who currently have 31 councillors - need to defend their nine available seats and win 15 others. They want to repeat their 2005 victories in Speke-Garston, where a massive Lib Dem majority was overturned, and Kensington/Fairfield. Group leader Joe Anderson said his party was highlighting the council’s financial situation, which has seen the Lib Dems battle a £29m budget gap. He said: “Capital of Culture is eight months away and we still do not know how it is going to be paid for, the council might have to borrow huge sums of money. “The Audit Commission has criticised the council’s financial performance, giving it only one star out of four. “We are campaigning on our pledges to protect services for the elderly and young people and providing value for money. “Ten years ago, Labour were kicked out of office because they were perceived as arrogant and out-of-touch. Now it is the Lib Dems who are viewed that way.” Best Tories’ result was shock second THE Conservatives still hold no city council seats, but managed second place in Woolton last year. This time, they are putting out 30 candidates - the highest number since 1992 - with the hope of gradually re-establishing themselves as an option for Liverpool voters and gaining a foothold in the town hall. There are also a handful of United Socialist, UK Independence, BNP, Independent and Socialist Labour nominations.

Daily Post Election Appeal

Vote for The Real Alternative

Over the last five years only the Liberal Party Group has tabled amendments to the councils budget seeking to cut waste on publicity and consultants , sell council owned derelict houses and land instead spending more on neighbourhood safety

Vote Liberal Party to Stop the Demolitions

Currently 4000 terraced homes are being empted and boarded up at enormous public cost, six out of seven of these houses are structurally sound. Councils advisors stated  a further 10,000 terraced houses are not needed. Every vote for Labour and Lib Dems threatens our terraced homes

Vote Liberal Party to Save our Parks and Playing Fields

The Lib Dems promised to save our Parks. All over the city the Lib Dems are recycling our Parks and Playing Fields into Building sites, examples include Stanley Park, Dixie Dean Fields, Tunnel Road, Newsham Park, Bankfield Playing Fields.
The Labour Party has totally supported the destruction of these parks and fields. Only the Liberal Party, not the Greens, have opposed this rolling programme of destruction.
Liverpool has one of the greatest provision of green space of any city vote Liberal Party to preserve it.

Improve Community Safety and Policing

The demolitions arebeing justified that the areas have declined with rampant criminality and anti-social behaviour. Demolishing homes and moving criminal families into new homes and communities to destroy solves nothing. We need closer co-operation between police and council. We need to employ professional witnesses to combat the worst families,we can not expect ordinary families to be in the firing line for intimidation. Other cities have more effective Community Support Officer prorgrammes ,we should listen to the Chief Constable and integrate our warden schemes with police teams.

Only the Liberal Party offers policies for Real Change and responsible opposition

Cllrs Steve Radford, Hazel Williams and Chris Lenton
Liberal Party Group
41 Sutton Street
Tuebrook
Liverpool
L13 7EG

0151 259 5935
07920090322

Dear Editor

The scandal of "just another"fire damaged house in Prescot Road and  Prescot Drive, Fairfield must put under the spotlight the utter futility of the Government and Council Pathfinder Project.

These houses have not become vacant and boarded up by market forces or even "By the hand of God", they are vacant because the council and partner housing association have deliberately been moving tenants out and refusing offers by private developers to buy them and running the area down knowingly. What has happened to Cllrs Bradley and Dorans press claim at last years local elections that plans are afoot

Yes ,tax payers money is being burnt to fund terraces becoming bilboards of dereliction all over our city.

This destructive policy is actually supported by both Lib Dem and Labour Councillors, partners in a dereliction  and demolition coalition.

On Thursday 3rd May every vote cast for Labour and Lib Dem Candidates will condemn more of Liverpool to be blighted by dereliction we can see in Anfield, Edge Hill and wavertree

On 3rd May we urge more residents to demand real change by voting for the Real Liberal Party , we are committed to open up the housing market to regeneration by private enterprise notcarry on with these local monopoly deals with a few selected national building companies which is strangling regeneration

Cllrs Steve Radford, Hazel Williams and Chris Lenton
The Liberal Party Opposition to Dereliction and Demolition

RESPONSE TO CLLR REID : LETTERS PAGE 20th April - Liverpool Echo Cllrs Steve Radford , Hazel Williams and Chris Lenton Liberal Party Group 41 Sutton Street Tuebrook Liverpool L13 7EG 0151 259 5935 07920090322 Dear Editor, In Cllr Reid's attack on the article by Lawrence Westgraph he states "Much progress has been made but people who do well and people with families will still move out unless they have choice. Not everyone wants to live in a small or larger terraced house. I do agree with Mr Westgaph that there should be more refurbishment and less demolition. Refurbishment is now a better option for more houses." We fear Cllr Reid's comments are designed to give a misleading impression of Lib Dem policy just prior to the local elections. The fact is at the last city council budgetary debate, we in the Liberal Party ,moved an amendment that in respect of the projected £110millions spend on the pathfinder project that more money be spent on renovation rather than demolition. Cllr Reid did not support us and nor did his Lib Dem Group, who along with the Labour Group voted against us. At the moment in Anfield three and a half times more money is being spent on buying people out of their homes and creating nothing more than a building site , than is spent on renovating properties. The Skerries Road and more recent Tancred road developments are much welcome exceptions, however they are rare exceptions to the rows of blighted streets In Anfield the regeneration cllr Reid has supported has resulted in the collapse of local shops and businesses. Over 60% of the people are moved out of the area altogether. The resulting depopulation is now resulting in the merger of local schools As for choice, the deliberate boarding up of properties followed by compulsory purchase orders shows the Lib Dem's contempt for choice. The reason for the decline in the area is often crime and inadequate housing management. Moving anti-social families from one area to another solves nothing, However it is making a few national building companies alot of money, Demolishing the homes of the poorest communities does not solve poverty but just forces the disposed into greater poverty. Lawrence Westgraph deserves praise for his article for exposing this blatant waste Cllrs Steve Radford, Hazel Williams and Chrs Lenton Opposition Liberal Party Group

Library shelved for 4 months

Apr 19 2007 by Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

A LIVERPOOL library has been closed for more than four months after a staff member was hurt in an accident. Lister Drive library in Tuebrook was shut down for health and safety reasons to enable a full survey of the 100-year-old building. No date was set for its reopening, and community leaders admit they are worried that it will remain closed. But leisure officials today insisted the library would reopen once it had been brought up to modern standards. The ECHO understands they were seriously concerned that more accidents could happen because of the building’s old-fashioned structure, which includes timber window frames and sandstone gate posts.   The library closed on December 19 after a staff member was injured by a falling gate.   Liberal party leader Steve Radford, who represents Tuebrook, today demanded a guarantee that the library would reopen.   “I was originally told the library was temporarily shut due to an accident, but that steps were being taken to reopen it.   “I want efforts made to meet this commitment. Residents in this area have as much right to a library as people living anywhere else.   “It is a beautiful old building, and the council should be looking at finding more uses for it, not closing it.”   The council has apologised to residents for the long closure and urged them to use other libraries in Old Swan and Clubmoor.   Lister Drive library was previously open five days a week.   A council spokesman said: “The library was closed so we could carry out a thorough check and make sure it is safe.   “We have completed extensive structural surveys and are now preparing a work programme of necessary repairs.”

LOTTERY cash is needed to kickstart a £5m dream of turning a rundown park into one of Liverpool’s most popular attractions.

Councillors have agreed a £50,000 bid to the lottery’s Parks For People fund so officials can start drawing up detailed plans for Newsham Park.

If successful, they will develop proposals for the troubled green space, including a children’s splash park with paddling pools and water jets, unveiled by the ECHO last year.

Liverpool council must first convince lottery bosses that the park is valued by the community.

 

Cllr Berni Turner, executive member for the environment, said: “Officers have been working on this project for some time and a lottery bid is the first major step.

 

“It would mean some of the early ideas can be worked on properly and we can plan exactly how we want to see Newsham Park’s problems addressed.

 

“I am passionate about this park because I spent a lot of my youth there, and if you walk from one side to the other, you can see how beautiful it is.

 

“It is the main park for Old Swan, Tuebrook and Kensington, and if we can get more people using it, the hooligans will leave.”

 

Newsham Park is one of Liverpool’s three original Victorian parks, created along with Sefton Park and Stanley Park.

 

It is Grade II-listed and is surrounded by various historic buildings.

 

But in recent years it has fallen into disrepair, becoming blighted by drug addicts, prostitutes and yobs riding quad bikes.

 

Some of the picturesque Victorian villas around the park are boarded up or burned out, and residents have demanded action.

 

Last year, the council revealed it was considering a number of residents’ ideas, including:

 

A tree-lined boulevard leading to a restored bandstand.

 

Fishing jetties next to the park’s lake, and relaid football pitches.

 

A community building, possibly including a cafe, changing rooms, sports equipment hire and toilets.

 

Liberal group leader Steve Radford, who represents the area, said: “I welcome this step, but it is too little, too late.”

 

Jonathan Brown, from Friends of Newsham Park, said: “This is only a small step but we would cautiously welcome it.”

 

 

Families wait on battle for homes

Apr 16 2007 Liverpool Echo

RESIDENTS will spend the next two weeks in limbo as they await a final decision on the future of their homes. Two terraced roads in the Picton area of Wavertree have been left out of a legal order forcing hundreds of Liverpool residents to sell their homes so they can be bulldozed and rebuilt. The compulsory purchase order (CPO), covering parts of Wavertree, Edge Hill and Anfield, was approved by government minister Ruth Kelly last week. But she asked the council for more information about Cantsfield Street and Tunstall Street, where many residents oppose demolition, before deciding whether they should be included. Liberal group leader Steve Radford, who led objections to the CPO at a public inquiry, said: “It just shows residents in other parts of the city that if your street sticks together and resists demolition, it is sometimes worth it.”

Liberal Party members in addition to sending out election appeals to various wards have now published an election appeal letter to the Gay and Lesbian community, if you would like a copy e mail your address to northwestliberalparty@hotmail.co.uk

This follows our high profile election appeal in polish which was attacked by the Tories and Daily Mail

Cllr Steve Radford has hit out at that a major piece of research showing extensive homophobia in Liverpool is being kept under wraps by Liverpool City Council. For both sides of debate see this months edition of Feelin Gay a Liverpool Gaty Publication at

http://www.feelingay.co.uk/current.html

Help defeat the BNP - Letter Printed Liverpool Echo Thursday 12th April

 

WITH respect, may I question the banner headlines given to the fact the BNP has 20 candidates across Merseyside.

 

The reality is there are more Liberal Party, Lib Dem, Green, Conservative and Labour across the city and the county.

 

In a democracy, unlike the society we might expect from the likes of the BNP, the rights of all to stand for election is protected.

 

Personally we look forward to defeating the hate policies of the BNP in the ballot box

 

I have every confidence the vast majority of decent Liverpool voters will vote for candidates committed to helping their neighbourhoods.

 

Clllr Steve Radford,
Leader, Liberal Party Group

Leaflet campaign to bring out Polish-speaking voters

Apr 10 2007

by Paula Owens, Liverpool Daily Post

POLITICAL campaign leaflets in Liverpool will be sent out in Polish as well as in English ahead of the May elections as parties seek to tap into the city’s booming Polish population. Steve Radford, leader of the minority Liberal group in Liverpool Town Hall, came up with the idea after visiting Polish constituents who were unaware they could register to vote. He said providing Polish residents with information about the May 3 election will encourage them to vote and give them a greater sense of community involvement. Cllr Radford, who represents Tuebrook, also hopes the Polish vote will help stop the assault of the far-right BNP, which has nine candidates in Liverpool. He has prepared the leaflets with the help of some Polish priests and is to start delivering them this week.   He said: “I decided to do this after visiting constituents last week. I realised that several Polish families who’d moved into the area were not registered to vote.   “The number of Polish residents in Liverpool has grown significantly. Many of them are relative newcomers and only speak limited English and perhaps don’t realise they have the right to vote and even if they do, they don’t know how to go about it.   “We will also target other ethnic communities but we are starting with the Polish as it’s such a large group.”   The Liberals are planning to send the information out by email as well as in leaflet form, and have engaged several mem- bers of the Polish community to help them translate the information into Polish.   Cllr Radford said: “We want to get the information out to as many of Liverpool’s Polish residents as possible. For a copy of the text of our leaflet see below on the blog - Vote for candidates to help your neighbourhood, not gas your neighbours

Liberal Party Candidates gor Liverpool 2007

Tuebrook and Stoneycroft Cllr Hazel Williams for re-election

Allerton         Chris Hulme
Anfield          Dennis Gaskill
Belle Vale      Damien Daly

Church          James Macgreggor

Central Ward  Lisa Gaskell 
Cressington - John Moore
Clubmoor      David Maher
Croxteth       Sue O'Brien
County         Roger Webb
Everton        Linda Roberts
Fazackerley    Jane Canning
Kirkdale        Irene Mayes
Greenbank    Karen Williams
Norris Green  Vera Phillips
Old Swan      Edith Bamford
Picton           Griff Parry
Riverside        Dave O'Brien
St Michaels     George Roberts
Wavertree     Charlie Mayes
West Derby    Pat Elmour
Yew Tree      Sam Hawksford
Knotty Ash       Terry Formby
Mossley Hill        David Wood
Princes Park       Neil King
Speke Garston      John Pagan
Woolton            Marie Langley

BNP plans poll push -

Apr 5 2007

by Sam Lister, Liverpool Daily Post

FAR-RIGHT party the BNP launched its biggest election assault on Merseyside yesterday, fielding 20 candidates for the May vote. In Liverpool, they have submitted nine nominations – eight more than last year – including one in Norris Green, where they came in second in 2006. In Sefton, five BNP candidates are standing, while Knowsley has two and St Helens four. None is being put up in Wirral. Anti-racism campaigners last night branded the party “modern- day fascists” and urged people to vote against them on May 3. Alec McFadden said: “Even in Mosley’s era, there weren’t as many can- didates as this. “The views they are peddling are sickening and we are doing everything we can to stop them. In the run-up to Capital of Culture, it is a real slap in the face to the city that so many candidates have been put forward for this party.” The BNP yesterday set out its pledges for the region if it was elected, which included stopping schools serving Halal meat and preventing mosques from being built. Its spokesman also explained the party believed Chinese people were “OK because they are hard-working” and “were not in the nefarious activities some ethnic groups are”.   Mr McFadden said “What is frightening is that they must have had 108 people backing them to get to this stage, as each nomination needs 12 signatures.   “The BNP has been targeting areas of deprivation and poverty across the city, picking places with problems and a lack of resources.   “We are urging candidates for parties that know they have got no hope of winning a seat to withdraw to ensure that they don’t split the vote in wards where the BNP is standing.   “We have also got 35,000 leaflets to send out to across the city informing people about the BNP.   “I would urge everyone to make sure they are registered to vote and to get out there on polling day.”   Cllr Steve Radford, Liberal group leader, said: “The BNP would have me gassed on three counts – I’m gay, I’m a Liberal and I’m a Methodist.   “But I would defend to the hilt their right to stand for election in a democracy and I look forward to beating them at the ballot boxes.”   The BNP has only fielded one Liverpool candidate in the past two local elections , both times in Norris Green.   John Edgar won 417 votes, more than the third and fourth parties, the Lib-Dems and the Greens, combined. Seven other candidates will stand against him next month.   Dr Phil Edwards said: “It is the largest number of candidates we have fielded in the region. We are growing in popularity.   “We are a party of nationalism and support the cultural identity of Britain. The Chinese are OK because they are a very small percentage of the community, and are hard-working.   “They don’t seem to be involved in the drug running and other nefarious activities that some ethnic groups are.   “It’s a questions of numbers. Our council candidates would serve all legal members of the community, whatever their colour.   “But we would use our position in the council chamber to bring about change gradually.   “Things like Halal meat being served in schools, we would stop it. White parents don’t like it. It is cruel to animals and we are a nation of animal lovers.   “We also don’t want homosexuality being taught in our schools.”   In Liverpool, Labour are standing in each of the 30 wards but the ruling Liberal Democrats have only fielded 29 candidates.   Labour have accused them of entering into a pact with the Liberal Party. They claim that both groups dropped one candidate to stop seats going to Labour where the vote might be split.   But the Liberal Party insists the reason the Lib-Dems are not fielding a full team is because one of the ruling party’s former candidates, Dennis Gaskell, has defected to them.   Council leader Warren Bradley said of the BNP’s campaign: “It is a sad day.   “I have always said that people who put members forward should make sure that the voters are aware of all their policies. I don’t believe that they do that.”   Cllr Bradley set out the party’s platforms for the election fight: “We have always fought on keeping the council tax low and delivering front line services to the people of this city,” he said.   “Over the last eight years we have turned the city round and council tax has stayed low.   “Inward investment is at an unprecedented level, unemployment is falling and the population is rising again.   “We listen to the people who tell us how important delivering front line services are and have prioritised looking after our parks, which when we came to power nobody could access as the grass was too long. We now have 11 green flag parks in the city.   “We came to power in ‘98 where we fought on council tax and education as key areas to secure the future prosperity of the city.   “Our young people are really attaining. Our schools and our employment policies are key to the council.”   Labour group leader Joe Anderson set out his party’s vision. He said: “Too many communities have been neglected after nearly 10 years of Liberal Democrat control.   “The Labour Party was viewed as arrogant and out of touch and was rightly kicked out. Now it’s the Liberal Democrats who are arrogant and out of touch.   “It is time for change, for a party that represents the entire city and its people, not just a few.”   For the first time in 15 years, the Conservative party is fielding candidates in each of the Liverpool’s 30 wards despite having no elected councillors.   MP Chris Grayling, the Tory “shadow minister” for Liverpool, said: “Liverpool is one of the key cities for us and we want to give everybody in the city the chance to vote Conservative.”   The Liberal Party, headed by Steve Radford is putting up 28 candidates, one fewer than last year.   Cllr Radford said: “We are running a high-profile campaign with three main issues, including saving the parks from further encroachment.   “We want to stop the demolition of affordable homes. We also want to cut council waste and keep taxes down.”

Demolition of 1,000 city homes gets go-ahead

This article was kindly published in our Daily Post by Sam Lister

We would like to express our best wishes on Sam wh is leaving the city to work in Westminster

THE Government yesterday backed controversial plans to bulldoze more than 1,000 homes in Liverpool. Secretary of State Ruth Kelly recommended three sets of Compulsory Purchase Orders should go ahead after a public inquiry. It paves the way for regeneration plans in Anfield, Breckfield and Edge Hill. But she asked for more information to be provided on the Picton plans and will rule on that within 21 days. The government report stated that while some individuals would suffer that was not a reason to stop the scheme Cllr Steve Radford, Liberal group leader who led the campaign against some of the CPOs, said: “We are appalled at the way this Government is treating working class people. “To say that the suffering of individuals is not a good enough reason is something you would expect from the Thatcher government. “Everyone living in a terraced house in the city should be worried because this could be them in the future. There has been a policy of deliberate dereliction in this city.” Objectors forced a government public inquiry over plans to demolish the houses and replace them with new ones. They claimed the multi-million pound project had been pushed through without proper consideration of alternative options such as renovating the houses. New Heartlands is the biggest housing clearance programme in the city since the 1950s and 1960s when massive areas such as Scotland Road were bulldozed.