Peter Taylor RIP

Peter Taylor worked for Maghull Town Council* for many years firstly as a maintenance engineer and then as head of its parks and gardens maintenance arm.

He was one of those people full of innovative engineering ideas that could come up with solutions to many problems but he was modest of nature and did not seek praise or recognition; a true behind the scenes man. However, give him some steel or wood and the appropriate tools and he could make virtually anything and he’d most likely enjoy every minute of the work too.

Here are a couple of postings of mine from quite a while back where Peter’s team at the Town Council got a positive mention:-

tonyrobertson.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/12/31/maghulls-meadows-leisure-centre-car-park/

tonyrobertson.mycouncillor.org.uk/2014/12/28/maghull-grafiti-covered-boundary-sign-cleaned-up/

And here’s some photos of Peter’s handiwork:-

Entrance to Dodds Park Maghull

Entrance to Mersey Avenue Park Maghull

Entrance to Balls Wood Park Maghull

Indeed, anywhere across Maghull’s 13 parks, gardens and play areas where you see blue metal fencing there’s a good chance that Peter Taylor made it. Sadly some of the work he did is very much in need of a rub down and a coat of paint or the rust will see the fencing off. Let’s hope that this is tackled soon.

I only found out about Peter’s passing yesterday from my old friend Roy Connell who had bumped into one of Peter’s neighbours who lived in Scarisbrick a couple of doors away from him. It seems Peter had died earlier this year, aged 64, from heart problems. Coincidentally, Roy was himself a former Maghull Town Councillor and as Chair of the Council’s then Personnel Committee back in the day he was a part of the panel which interviewed and appointed Peter. Roy, a lifelong trade unionist like myself, has often commented along the lines of it was probably the best appointment to a job he ever made. He shares this view of Peter with fellow former councillor Andrew Blackburn.

I liked Peter and recall how his eyes would light up when a technical problem was presented to him; he was a really nice helpful chap. He may not have ever lived in Maghull but the work he did across all of its parks and gardens, together with his team of course, is a tribute to him.

RIP Peter Taylor

My thanks to Les French for supplying the photo of Peter

* Peter ceased to work for the Town Council around 5 years ago

£175m (or even £2b) sounds a lot for cycling & walking BUT it’s not much really

To start off this posting please have a read of the article linked below from The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport as it sums up where government thinking is seemingly heading quite well:-

ciltuk.org.uk/News/Latest-News/ArtMID/6887/ArticleID/32879/163175-million-more-for-cycling-and-walking-as-research-shows-public-support?gator_td=%2beI1zBnIYuYG7%2bOgusqjWGu5ZZ3%2bV4keUCmq3%2feVfXUBQ1EUrl6iRYVbt8AMDZa8BuPYg2Qec9tbYFzDd%2bowb%2fmeXmxqN51hO%2bWqAMtRbYK5EFnIW%2bJZy%2b9Bbs2rbZFBkIYukuNJZwTa74yXG%2fFBsa%2bjmt1QPIrPybd7EcLO7FMQgicqJmz9PJ9zZ1EWozrzCiROVULmgTH4DSsQ8w1KBg%3d%3d

News that government is to invest more in cycling and walking has to be welcome but let’s be honest an extra £175M spread across the country is not going to produce much at all; it will address the tip of a very big and long under-invested in iceberg at best.

But stop grumbling Robertson and come up with ways it could best be spent in Sefton and West Lancashire where you do most of your cycling. Well my first and most important advice to highway officers at Sefton Borough and Lancashire County Council’s is DON’T use what little money you get from this fund to try to do big projects. If you do a small area will get a big improvement but most cyclists won’t benefit at all. Please, please look at the myriad of small things you can do to make cycling safer and try to connect up obvious places which real cyclists want to get to and from. Presently the cycle network, other than in places like York, is a hotch- potch of bits and bobs all over the place which rarely connect with anywhere at all.

Safe cycling routes to schools is an obvious one to tackle but so are safe routes to railway stations, shopping centres, museums, leisure centres etc. Oh and don’t forget that secure cycle storage facilities are required too at each destination.

This is of course a subject I’ve banged on about before – see links below:-

tonyrobertson.mycouncillor.org.uk/2020/09/03/maghull-lydiates-berlin-wall-the-bible-of-cycling-infrastructure/

tonyrobertson.mycouncillor.org.uk/2020/05/03/maghull-lydiate-melling-simple-cycling-fixes-for-sefton-council-to-undertake/

And I noticed another easy fix for Sefton Council only today on Maghull’s Liverpool Road North (the section with a service road from the Westway to Green Lane junctions) where a dropped kerb outside Cornmill Lodge would enable northbound cyclists to access safer cycling on that service road. Obviously suitable bollards would be required to stop vehicles following suit!

Yes of course the rather grandiose safe cycling project to connect up Maghull with Kirkby is welcome but it’s one hell of a big investment for not a huge benefit for the majority of local cyclists. And that’s my point here; get the small easy fixes out of the way first because they will make a big difference to safe cycling. Oh and make sure that all projects that go through highways departments are scrutinised by cyclists before they are approved or you end up creating new highway infrastructure that all but excludes cyclists like the terrible new Alt Junction on the A59 in Maghull.

Walking and cycling destinations from Rimrose Valley County Park Country Park.

By the way the reference to Councils having to consult (see 1st linked article above) on how the money is spent is both welcome and interesting as my understanding is that with the money released by government during Lockdown 1 there was an instruction from government to benefiting councils not to consult!

With thanks to Mike Perkins for the lead to this posting

Vaccine saves the day or does it?

The hopes that are being pinned on a new vaccine getting us out of the big pandemic hole that we are in are very high, probably far too high.

The dangers are that some folks will let their guard down thinking that all is now OK and they don’t need to take precautions much, if at all. The second danger is that some will think they’ll get a vaccination by the turn of the year when many will be waiting much longer.

Of course there’s also the issue of conspiracy theorists who are still taking to social media trying to persuade the gullible that the virus does not exist or that even if it does it harms few if any folk. Why some of them were even shouting outside a Liverpool school recently trying to stop children being tested! Yes I know, it’s beyond belief……

I was taken by this sober assessment of the situation by Jim Hancock – see link below

jimhancock.co.uk/hancocks-half-page/

As is often the case Jim’s assessment is realistic and well thought through. So don’t get carried away by being too unrealistic and think things through. Oh and don’t fall for quack theories on social media………

We might be able to see a possible glimmer of light at the end of the very long Covid tunnel we are all in presently, but we won’t be getting to the end of the tunnel soon.

Lydiate and its volunteer litter pickers

There’s a band of volunteer litter pickers in the community I live in and they go out regularly to try to keep Lydiate clean. They don’t ask for recognition and unless you see them doing their bit you might think our reasonably litter free community is being kept clean by ‘the council’.

Some impressive lengths of roads are litter picked by the volunteers and sadly they are always kept busy because a certain section of our society seems to think that chucking litter, bottles, dog poo bags etc. is a positive contribution to local life. They love throwing litter out of the windows of moving vehicles or picking up dog poo where they think they may be seen only to then deposit the very same bags anywhere they can’t be seen. The participants in these anti-social activities must feel they have a social duty to keep ‘the council’s’ street cleaners busy and in work. However, the reality is that councils do much less litter picking these days as they’ve cut back on such work to try to better fund other vital work such as paying for children in care and social care for the elderly. These two council activities cost an arm and a leg no matter which party runs ‘the council’.

I’m not trying to make excuses for ‘the council’ but having been a Borough Councillor for 16 years (1999 – 2015), 7 of those as a Council Leader, I know how desperately stretched nearly all councils are and why the likes of street cleaning has slipped down their list of priorities. It’s not a good situation but sadly it’s reality. Of course that’s why in so many communities volunteers can now often be the backbone of keeping our streets clean.

I have nothing but admiration for the work of Lydiate’s volunteer litter pickers many of whom do far more than my own very limited contribution.

I look after a footpath which connects Southport Road, Marshalls Close and Coppull Road and I litter pick it around once a month. I did it yesterday and despite only doing it around 3 weeks ago I still collected half a back bin bag of rubbish and litter. I know this path is well used but it’s also secluded so I’m guessing that a very small minority of its users chuck all the litter along it on the basis that with a quick look around to check no one can see them they can just drop whatever they want – and they do.

Whenever I see litter my mind goes back to my favourite author Bill Bryson and his book Notes from a Small Island. Bill, on travelling to Liverpool happened to do so whilst there was an industrial dispute on-going between refuse/street cleaners and the City Council. Liverpool was indeed a mess at that time and he dubbed it a ‘festival of litter’. Sadly, whilst that situation was subsequently resolved there are a small number in our society who have opted out of civic life to create work for those who really care about their community. I fear that the volunteer litter pickers will be doing their rounds for a long time to come because some in our society really can’t give a damn!

Lydiate – Sandy Lane Playing Field

My previous posting of a few days ago regarding this subject refers – see link below:-

tonyrobertson.mycouncillor.org.uk/2020/10/28/lydiate-progress-on-sporting-fitness-facilities/

The photos in this posting illustrate, I hope, what is happening. The lead photo shows where the outdoor fitness equipment (presently at LPC’s Lambshear Lane site) will be going i.e. along the line of the fence/hedge. The 2nd one shows the internal works starting to create a toilet facility within the old changing rooms. The last shot shows the land where the additional changing rooms will be placed. This will facilitate women’s football being able to be played at Sandy Lane. A door into the present building will also be created on the gable end to provide access to the new toilet and refreshment facilities.

More news as things develop.

Click on the photos to enlarge them

Maghull – Public Inquiry to decide 1 planning application for Maghull’s vast urban extension

The vast Maghull East site seen from Poverty Lane presently used for growing crops but under Sefton Council’s Local Plan it is to be covered with housing.

Sefton Council has the article on its website – see link below:-

www.sefton.gov.uk/planning-building-control/land-east-of-maghull.aspx

Quote from Sefton website article – ‘Application (a) (reference DC/2017/01532) proposed the following:- Hybrid application seeking full planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings and the erection of 841 residential dwellings (C3), new vehicular accesses off Poverty Lane, public open space and ancillary infrastructure and outline planning permission for an older persons housing scheme (C2, C3) and ancillary infrastructure with all matters reserved.

This application is now subject to an appeal against non-determination [by Sefton Council] which was lodged on 5 August 2020. The appeal will now be heard at a Public Inquiry scheduled to commence on 15 December 2020.’

My own view is that this site has been nothing but trouble ever since Sefton Council close it to be developed. It truly is vast with @1600 house to be built there. Regular readers of this blog site will know how much I opposed Sefton’s determination to build on this high grade agricultural land. Indeed, with fellow campaigners we beat them in round 1 back in 1998 but sadly lost round 2 more recently.

For all the hand wringing by Sefton Council what is happening now is a consequence of their designating this former Green Belt site for building.

The large red area is the ‘Maghull East’ urban extension to the Town. The M58 Junction 1 is in grey – top right with Prescot Road running north to south on the far right of the map.