The week that was....ended 24 June 2012

This week has seen a number of residents bring to my attention a number of issues.

I have had a couple of residents with regards mental health issues and one of those has been resolved with after care being agreed and a programme to help them being put in place. The other issue is on going as it is a case of discrimination against them so I will be dealing with that this week.

Other issues are drains flooding and 3 cases have been brought to me this week. Two are having some investigation work done this week and the third I have asked what we can do as it is a big problem and a quick fix is not something that is needed here as that has been done before and nothing works so a proper solution is needed and I have sent some emails off asking for meetings and what we can do to fix it once and for all.

A couple of tidy up programmes have been asked for and I will get the beat it team in next time they are in Standish.

I attended the Standish 4 Youth meeting this week and this was interesting seeing what they are planning over the next 10 months, including a bmx/ skateboard day. football events with Wigan latics attending and showing the kids some skills. I will update the blog with the dates once these have been agreed.

With the Full Council meeting next month I have started to look at what has been happening and see if there are any issues to bring up. Obviously Ashfield will play a large part of my involvement as this will be the first meeting after the elections. Also I intend to bring up the "Welcome to Wigan Council" signs asking these to be replaced with the old signs.

My surgery saw a large number of residents attending. Normally it is for one but this week I had to keep it open for 2 hours so that I dealt with all of them. I thank the people that came and thank them for their patients whilst I dealt with everyone

Last but certainly not least I would like to congratulate the pupils at Oakfield school that attended Lords where they won the table cricket competition. Many of these children attended Mere Oaks school which I tried to keep open. It is good to see after years of hard work and many years of getting to the finals this year saw them the victors, so a big well done to them.

The week that was...

Quite a bit going on this last week.

I had my first meeting with the Places Committee. The Committee is chaired by Labour's Cllr O'Brian, who I have got on with before but he has obviously been told to not deal with me and be a pain towards me so he can keep the chair and the money that goes with it. Well I give as much as I get and will have to work for every penny as I will be pushing hard on this committee holding the Council and Labour to account.

Also I have held talks with the Chief Executive of the Council and then another meeting with the legal dept over issues. I guess the Chief Executive was not to happy with my election campaign, could it be she backed the wrong horse?Oops! But going forward she says she wants to work together and my response is actions speak louder than words and she will now have to demonstrate this.

Ashfield is now a big back office issue at the moment as we have to verify all the questionnaires and then photocopy them and then we will be handing those completed into the Council this week.

I have a few outstanding issues and queries in with the Council at the moment and I am working with Cllr George Fairhurst on a couple of issues that we want to introduce into Standish, so some exciting times ahead.

If you have a query please get in touch.

The week that was

It has been a recently quite week. Success of week is the bus stop that I asked for on Rectory Lane opposite St Wildfrids school has been approved and this should be going in soon.

This bus stop was at the request of residents of the estate opposite the school saying that they can get off the bus at the school but going down Rectory Land they would have to walk to the Owls.

The new bus stop will help these residents plus also any parents going to or from the school.

One of the blights of the week is the Council will not switch on the BT phone line on. They want me to use a new system which takes phone calls over the Internet. I was all for this at first but when the system turned up it consisted off 3 units that would all have to be plug in and I would need 4 plugs plugged in all the time. This was crazy and I simply did not have the room for all these units and plugs so I asked the Council to switch the BT line back on that they had installed last time I was a Cllr. They refused and said that if I wanted this then I would have to pay for it myself. What they simply do not understand is simple maths. I have a Council Blackberry so using that phone will cost more than calls from a BT land line so with them arguing over £10 per month for the line rental will cost them more in mobile call charges. Calls over the Internet is a new thing and I am all for technology but not when it is not practical.

The week ahead sees me having meetings on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Town Hall. One of these is the Places Committee which I will sit on plus another one is a meeting with the Chief Executive.

I have worked on the next phrase of the Ashfield Campaign as I would think this will heat up after the 27th July 2012. That is the deadline for the Council to formally object to the Village Green application. I would guess they will leave it till the last minute.

New Bus Stop on Rectory Lane

I was contacted just a week after my election success and was asked to get a new bus stop opposite St Wildfids School on the direction of travelling towards the bleachworks. The residents that raised it were concerned that you could travel up to the school but when on the return journey you had to walk down to the Owls to get the bus stop.

I am please to announce that this has been agreed and we are now in a final consultation. This will give local residents an opportunity for their comments.

Great success in a short period of time.