Do we have a democracy in the UK

We are told so often that we live in a democracy. I to thought this up until recently the last General Election. I say this because previously at the last USA election when it was Trump v Boden I thought, " My god out of all the Americans those two are the best you have to offer the American people?" 

Then at this General Election we had Rishi v Starmer. Really are these the two best the two main parties have to offer us? So when we are told that we live in a democracy what they are saying is you live in a society where we tell you who you can vote for - and that is what we are lead to believe is a democracy.

Meaning of Democracy

So the first thing we would need to understand is what is democracy? Isn't it a place where eligible members can vote for who they want to lead that Country, or that area? 

But we don't have that we have a system were we have to vote for who people tell us. But what about a new thought. What about if there was a system were the people had the choice to vote for who they wanted and if they didn't like anyone one the ballot they can say no to all. So if the majority say no to all then there has to be a re-run but the previous candidates couldn't stand on the re0run. The parties would have to get new candidates. Just a thought! After all if democracy is about the people getting the person they want, not a person they have to choose? 

Just a thought. 

Why Standish should be worried

After the result of Labour winning the General Election the new Labour Government have been announcing a number of new policies that they are looking to bring it quickly. 

One thing that Labour's Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, has said is they Labour are looking to change planning laws and 

1. Allow more building of houses
2. These new houses can be built on Green Belt
3. These houses can be ugly

Allow more house building

On the first point Labour has said they will bring in minimum targets for house buildings. This means that if the local council's do not get their sums right or allow enough houses to be built then Labour's planning inspector can do a number of things, including suspend the local authority to being able to pass their planning permission in their area. 

Obviously no council of either colour would not want to hit their target and get hit with some kind of sanctions and possibly lose power to control things in their areas, so they will now be under pressure to pass house building anywhere and everywhere. 

Why does this matter to Standish? Well when Labour had this policy in back in 2008 Wigan Council had their plan - called Core Strategy - suspended and they had to come back with a better plan, which in turn lead to 2,000 houses being built in Standish. It is obvious that developers would want to build in Standish and get a premium price for their houses. So we know where the developers will want to come and if the developers do not build in the other areas of Wigan in the numbers the Labour Government want then the Council and or the Labour Government will pass more houses in Standish.

We all know that the infrastructure cannot cope and we will need to be ready to fight a very up hill battle.

These Houses can be built on Green Belt

  

Another area of concern is that the Labour Government has said the houses can be built on Green Belt. This is very worrying but Labour are trying to spin - remember the Tony Blair Spin Docs? - this is because Labour are allowing the reclassification of Green Belt to something called Grey belt. Why? This is so Labour can say at elections we have not allowed building to be done on Green belt but Grey Belt is green belt that has been reclassified. Don't be fooled!!! 

The Houses can be Ugly

The final are of concern is that the Labour Government has said sod the houses even looking nice they can be ugly, they don't even want nice community's. 

All these areas are of concern for residents of Standish and as I say when the planning applications come in we know who are to blame - Labour!!! 

Bereavement Group meeting on Standish

Many will know that my late father - George Fairhurst - set up a bereavement group after the loss of his wife and our mum. We get asked many times about it and this is a reminder that they meet the first Tuesday in the month in the Lychgate Pub at 1:30 and it is an informal meeting where anyone can attend and get out and meet new friends and stop any isolation they may feel. 

Many go along with the son's or daughter's for the first meeting, if they feel any anxiety and this is perfectly fine. 

So don't forget about it and if you are feeling low do to bereavement why not pop along today at 1:30 in the Lychgate.

Bradley Lane Railway Bridge - Labour create a new danger and waste more money

Many residents of Standish will have been through, or know the Bradley Lane railway bridge. This is the road that goes under the West Coast main line and towards the crown when coming from Standish. 

It is a single car width and when cars get to the bridge they had to slow down to a snail's pace to see if there was any cars or pedestrians coming through from the other end. By slowing down it reduced the chances of any accidents as every one had to approach and go through with care. 

Now the Labour Cllrs have decided that they wanted to waste your money and putting traffic lights on there. This will stop traffic from one side by holding them back on a red traffic signal and allowing the other side through on a green light. But that is the first reason why in my opinion this now heightens the risk to an accident. I hope and pray I am proven wrong. 

Looking from the Crown Side and
where the Council may put
double yellow lines

The reason why I say the above is if the light is on a green light a car approaching will not slow down and will go through thinking that it is clear and they can proceed at the normal speed. But if there is someone walking through this will put them at a higher risk. Plus as we all have seen when a red light comes on cars very often try to put their foot down to get through. Again this heightens the risk if there is any one under or the other cars move off when their signal goes green on the other side. Don't forget about it before the traffic lights cars would slow down to a snail's pace or stop to look and this was, in my opinion, why we have never had any serious accidents that I know off. 

As a born Standisher, of 50 years, I have lived here more than the two Labour Cllrs together and you ask why do they want this scheme? In my opinion it is clear that they do not served the community and come up with these schemes that put lives at risk without knowing the history and why things work and why things don't. A risk I believe the council share with me as they have installed new crash barriers now as well. What does that say? The Council should come clean with their risk report in the area.

The Cost

But then we come to the cost- how much has cost you, the taxpayers? £250,000 is what Wigan Council's budget shows on their website, although the council now say it is £220,000. This is before the delays. Quick thought, where is the extra £30,000 going? But then we ask where has this money come from? The Council have confirmed to me that it is out of the pot called the Section 106 money (s.106). This pot of money is developers pay to put new facilities and amenities in the area. Things we could do with are new classrooms, new doctors, dentist and I could go on. I guess you could too but the Council are wasting a quarter of a million of pounds just so the Labour Cllrs can try and say look we do something for our £40,000 a year they get as your local Cllr's, (They get £15,000 each and Cllr Parkinson gets about £6,000 extra for the deputy Mayor. Source Wigan Council). 

Another sting in the tail - wait for it!

Surely there can be nothing else that makes this crazy idea any worse? O yes the council and Cllrs are not being truthful to the residents on the terraced properties that live on the Crown Side. They have to park their cars in front of their properties, which they have done for decades. But in busy periods when the traffic is bad the side coming from the Crown and held on a red signal will back up and when the cars that come through from Standish side they will not be able to pass due to the parked cars and cars held on a red traffic signal. What do you get? Mayhem! How will the council fix this? I bet they put double yellow lines outside the residents properties, so it keeps the flow of traffic moving, but they have nowhere else to park. 

Here are the reasons I say this is a crazy, ill thought out political scheme that not only wastes money but also put residents lives at risk, for the reasons I say. And why?Just so Labour Cllrs can say look what we have done! As I say I pray I am wrong but I fear they could have made a accident black spot and I pray no one gets hurt or worse. 

Labour waste £41m on cycle lanes - and over £20m in Standish

We all know that cycling is good for you. Not only that but is a great hobby too. I have always been a keen cyclist since a teenager, with my friends cycling all over the place inc to the leisure Lakes in Southport and doing the Manchester to Blackpool ride a number of times. So I am not anti cyclist. 

But for some reason this labour controlled council are obsessed with cycle lanes and now we can see it is going to stupid lengths. 

In Standish many know about the council spending £1m on a small section of cycle lane that serves no purpose on Preston Rd and has cut the width of the footpath as they have put, and are, putting cycle lanes now on the footpaths. This in turn means less footpaths for those with prams and walking. 

But we can see from the pic taken from Wigan Council's website that Labour has spent £41m on cycle lanes last year, inc £20m for one from Standish to Ashton. This is wholly disproportionate! Who will cycle from Standish to Ashton, or vice versa? It is not anywhere near close enough to be good value for money.  If the council wanted to help out cyclist  then fix the many huge pot holes on the roads that can cause serious damage. That would help motorists too. Why have the Cllrs not fought to stop this wholly disproportionate amount of money being wasted? Where are they calling it out? Why do Labour hate the motorists so much? 

It is about time this labour controlled council are held to account and Standish gets a Cllt that will look after Standish and it;s resident!  

Election campaign - Behind the scenes and can you help?

Each year we get Local Elections in May. Many think it is a case of just go to the polling station cast your votes and job done. And for voters it is but for candidates that are running campaigns to win many many hours go into the whole thing to get to that day.

In fact at the end of last month (Jan) and beginning of this month (Feb) parties will choose their candidates. they will start preparing for the campaigns. what will be involved? How will they deliver the whole campaign? Who will do what?

Just think when those election leaflets come through the door that they will have had to be 

• First thought out - what are the issues? what will the content be? Which story will go where?
• Put together for the printers to then
• Print the leaflets 
• then get them out. 

There are approx. 5,000 houses in each ward, so to get them out takes time. Plus you need to get them out before you do another one. Then start all over again for the second and third, if they do a third. No easy task for any party or candidate. 

But before that they have all the paper work to fill in and complete just to get on the ballot paper and work with the Town Hall to get everything in order first.

It is quote common to parties to over stretched themselves and that is why I just stick with Standish and Shevington. 

This year both the Standish and Shevington Independents will be fighting hard campaigns to win. So can you help? Does it mean hours and hours of commitment? 

The answer to the above is no and to be fair if we had say 50 people deliver 100 leaflets - which would take about an hour - then we could do a whole ward in one hour. 

If you want to help and deliver leaflets in your street or come out with us on the days we do them please get in touch and we can then include in the preparations and together we can beat Labour.

Accident waiting to happen - again at the main traffic lights.

Wigan Council are yet again putting lives at risk with their crazy schemes. The latest one is the lights for a crossing outside Domino's pizza, where there used to be a zebra crossing. 

Many have complained about the traffic chaos there, which itself is an inconvenience to people and could be dangerous to people, but I have seen a real big problem and this is at the main traffic lights cross roads, where, sadly, we have had two deaths already over the years.

The issue, which I witnessed last night, is when traffic signals on the School Lane are on green and traffic go straight across and towards the Church and the lights at the crossing. If those crossing lights are on red, which happened last night, then the traffic backs up and across the main lights cross roads and up School Lane. Then main cross roads lights from School lane turn red the green man then comes on for people to cross Market Street. At this point the main traffic is backed up over the cross roads - blocking it. 

But when people cross Market street as the green man is on and then  green light changes at the crossing at Domino's so the traffic starts moving at the same time as people cross the road - putting lives at risk. Which nearly happened last night. Unless Wigan Council address this immediately they are putting lives at risk. With the dark nights too this does not help. It's a death trap waiting to happen and if by highlighting this we can get it resolved asap then so much the better. I have have written a letter to Wigan Council on the matter and asked for immediate urgent action before we have any incidents there. Whether they do anything is another thing, but let's hope.

We must remember that Wigan Council have got nearly £30m from all the houses that have been built in and around Standish, and are still being built, but they have failed to make any improvements to the traffic infrastructure. They also get EXTRA £5m every year ( approx) from these new houses and Wigan Council needs to stop using Standish as a cash cow and taking millions from us and doing nothing to address issues or make any improvements.