The Week ending....16 Nov '14

What a big week this has been. So much going on this week.

Ashfield Campaign

The week started with the Ashfield Campaign meeting at the Unity Club on Tuesday. This was the first public meeting since the restart of the Village Green.

As we know the inspector overseeing the application has now given both parties, me - the Applicant and Wigan Council - as the objector, directions to how we proceed toward the public inquiry that will take place possibly in the early part of next year.

First of all if you feel that you want to help and you have or do use Ashfield Park then please fill in a witness statement. Here is one for you to download and print and complete.



Fill in the form as best you can and with as much detail as you can. Mark on the map on the last page where your house is or was also please sign the back of the map, as this is important. Once you have completed it please drop it in at our cllrs surgery or contact us and I wil arrange to collect it. Or you can send it to

Save Ashfield Park Campaign
31 Littleton Grove
Standish
Wigan
WN6 0LL

These witness statements will then all be put in the bundles that we will present to the inspector to demonstrate the wide use that people have used Ashfield for. This is crucial!

Also it is hard to understand what people want to do to help. so we have create a form that you can fill out and email it back to me. You can email it back to info@saveashfieldpark.co.uk .

Below is the form if you want to help in any way.



On the form you will see that we are asking for people to pledge to the fund. What we are not after at this time is the money just the pledge. That way should we fail to hit either of our targets then we will not have collected the money.

The first target is £1500 which is to pay for a barrister that specialises in these matter to put together our Legal Summary for the evidence bundles that again will be presented to the Village Green Public Inquiry. We currently at this point have over £300 so on our way.

The other target is people are asking for a barrister to represent us at the public inquiry. This will go on for several days, if not a week. Hiring a barrister for this amount of time is costly. The target is £10,000. I seriously didn't think this was even dreamable but people have put up some pledges already. One person kindly pledged £1,000. But then someone said that there are aprox 7000 houses in Standish and if 500 houses, less than 9% pledged just £20 then we would hit the target. when it is said like that it so is possible to hit that, I believe.

Wristbands

So there is a lot going on there and to try and raise the profile of the campaign we are selling wristbands for £1. These will show the support we have and also raise the profile of the campaign. If you want one of these please keep your eyes open for the posters in some of the shops or contact me and I will get one to you.

Full Council meeting

Wednesday night saw the meeting of the Full Council. As Wigan Town Hall had been deemed unsafe we had to use Leigh Town Hall chamber, which was a tight fit but proved workable. To be fair given that there was a large number of residents about the East Lancs Bus Lane there it was probably fitting that it was held that side of the borough.

Unfortunately the pantomime goes on with the Council making the rules as they go.  One Cllr for Hindley was deemed to have swore to another Labour Cllr was silenced for the rest of the meeting. that means he was no longer able to contribute to any debates- if we have any. However, the Cllr never swore and I was sat in front of him. Other Opposition Cllrs also did not heard him, in fact it was all the opposition who agreed that he did not. When I challenged the Mayor she said that she had been told that he had swore. So I guess if she had to be told she also did not hear him swear but she still did not allow him to speak again. That's democracy for you in Wigan.

I am absolutly shocked at how the residents of Tydlesley and Atherton are being treated over the lack of consultation and there is now a strong sense of if they will not listen then they will back a candidate in next year's local election. I have been contacted to ask if I would be willing to talk to them and help - which I am and I guess that meeting will take place in the coming week(s).The less Labour Cllrs then the better we have at stopping things like houses in Standish and guided bus lanes on the East Lancs Rd.

Surgery

This week surgery saw a couple of residents come in over issues them and we will be dealing with them and helping those residents. If you ever need us we are in the library between 10 - 11 am ever Saturday morning.