I have just sent out an email to all those on the contact list for the Ledsham & Manor Action Group about our newsletter that is here and needs delivering.

If you have not received it, please let me know asap and I will forward it to you. Likewise if you can help deliver it, get in touch!

TTFN
Gareth.

Please take a look at this link for more details http://t.co/EnV347Ol

TTFN
Gareth

Over the next month the council has granted permission for basic site investigatory work to be carried out on the site of the former Gorsthills school. This follows the decision of the council’s Executive to go forward with proposals to develop an Extra Care Housing scheme on this site.

This is the information I have received with regards to the site investigation and the following consultation process on the development of the site:

This licence is to allow access to the site to undertake some topographical studies and initial site investigations. The commencement date of the licence is Monday 21^st November, for a period of four weeks, and terminates on 16^th December.

Access to the site is only available Monday-Friday during normal office hours, and a condition of the licence is that the land is kept in a clean and tidy condition during the licence period.  These investigations will involve minimal ground disturbance, no alterations can be made to any part of the land and any damage will be made good.

A consultation plan is currently being developed which will detail how and when we intend to inform, consult with and engage local communities regarding the proposals for these sites prior to full planning applications being submitted. I will send further details  of the consultation plan in the next couple of weeks, and we will of course keep your fully briefed  on progress with the project.

I will post any further information I receive on this website. In the meantime I have made it clear at Executive that the proposals will need to take into account the scale of any development for it to be acceptable to local residents. if you have any further comments, please let me know.

TTFN
Gareth.

It has been a busy few weeks at work so I have been unable to post much on here in that time but things have been happening still so here are two issues I would like to update you on!

The investigation into the proposed transit site for gypsies and travellers at Oakwood Farm was removed from the list after early development proposals concluded the site could not be altered to work without adversely affecting neighbours. This was a good decision, taken in the full glare of a passionate local population, with the option being openly announced from the moment it appeared and its removal from the list brought forward as soon as was possible. However, I feel that, for the first time in Cheshire history, the Labour Party tried to politicise the issue. Watch the debate at Executive here and let me know what you think.

The Ledsham & Manor Action Group has been formed, the Team Leaders have met and much action is underway, including a newsletter to be printed and delivered soon. If you can help, please let me know, especially with deliveries or the door-to-door petition we will be shortly organising.

Finally, on an unrelated note, I am taking part in the Movembercharity month. This is where men “donate” their faces and grow a moustache (and flash if desired, which is what I am doing) for the whole month of November. We do this to highlight men’s health issues, in particular the fact that thousands of men die every year in the UK of testicular or prostate cancer.

I would be very grateful if you could support the cause and sponsor me any amount you can afford, by going to http://mobro.co/GarethAnderson where I am also posting regular updates of how it is going.

My team at work are running it with a “cele’bro’ty” theme. Can you guess who I am aiming to be?

TTFN and thanks especially if you are able to sponsor me.

Gareth.

My Movember efforts after 12 days. Please donate at http://mobro.co/GarethAnderson

Following what I believed to be an interesting discussion on Twitter about Libya, I was directed to wards my fellow tweep’s blog on the subject (which you can find by clicking here) and felt the need to post a longer, more considered response than Twitter allows. And seeing as most of my blog entires here have been purely local for a long time, I felt like changing that by posting my comments here too.

TTFN
Gareth.

ON LIBYA.

There are several reasons why I disagree with your concerns here.

Libya and Afghanistan are worlds apart, and this is reflected in both the nature of their opposition/dictatorships and our involvement. AFG is deprived to an extent we can barely imagine over here. It has little infrastructure, a very poorly educated people, has rarely been governed effectively including by the Taliban, has little in the way of meaningful economic activity internally or externally other than heroin production, and indeed there was little support for or planning of nation-building for after the conflict.

In Libya you have a country that is almost the mirror opposite in terms of wealth creation, population education, infrastructure (including communications), and the opposition is d=both more defined and purposeful than anything we have seen in Afghanistan, even today.

A big mistake in iraq was dismantling the entire state from law enforcement to education in order to clear out all Ba’athist elements. This is not a mistake that will be made in Libya. There IS an opposition in Libya, which cannot be said of Afghanistan which was always a vastly under-developed feudal/tribal society. Yes, Libya has tribes, but they are of far less importance in this well educated society than in Afghanistan or the importance that Islamic factions played in iraq for example.

The international presence, and therefore interest, in Libya is also much greater than it ever has been in Afghanistan. This is reflected not only in the number of international companies who have been operating in Libya but also the international workforce AND the international governmental support given to the NTC since these events began. All of these things are as far from Afghanistan as you can imagine, and in fact bear closer inspection to Iraq. yet even in comparison with Iraq the positions in Libya are a huge improvement over that country under Saddam or since and our intervention has learned many lessons from that sorry failure.

So I believe your comparison with Afghanistan is wide of the mark, and even the closer one with Iraq gives us much more cause for hope than you probably believe.

And as for the coalition that is the NTC falling apart, of course it will. That is what we call democracy, with different parties and groups presenting themselves to Libyans in the coming months in advance of their first elections.

If that coalition turned out to be nothing but a single alternative power base, installing a new dictatorship, elective or otherwise, we would rightfully bemoan the situation.

As one regular Tweeter on this subject noted, “For those worrying about Libya’s future: it might get worse, but it has never had a better chance to get better.”

Yes you disliked our intervention, but instead of looking for reasons for it to fail, why not seek to give advice and support as 6 million Libyans stand on the edge of what could be achieving freedom and democracy for the first time, at the cost of the blood of their sons and daughters.

Ellesmere Port Railways Station has won a Level 4 Certificate from North West In Bloom in the “It’s Your Neighbourhood” section of the competition. Following work done by the Friends of the Station and some of our excellent officers it is great to see it being seen as a “thriving” station in these awards.

I gave money from my member budget towards an art project which was created by students at the Academy and they have really helped improve the environment at the station.

TTFN
Gareth

Information community members could consider reporting:-
·        People or vehicles behaving in a suspicious manner
·        callers offering property and garden maintenance
·        men who say they are from the ‘waterboard’ – there’s no such thing!
·        Requests for assistance – to find a dog, use the phone, etc
Take a note of the time, place, any description you can give and what they were doing – that made you suspicious

Try to note the vehicle registration, colour, make, or type of vehicle.

·        STOP          KEEP YOUR FRONT AND BACK DOORS LOCKED
·        LOOK          CHECK THROUGH YOUR WINDOW OR DOOR VIEWER
·        BE SURE          IF IN DOUBT KEEP THEM OUT!

Cheshire Constabulary Western Watch Office supports Home Watch Schemes across Chester, Ellesmere Port, Neston and Vale Royal, and is based in the Western Partnership Office, Northwich Police Station.     E-mail  western.watch@cheshire.pnn.police.uk

TO CONTACT THE POLICE CALL 0845 458 0000  

I have organised a community meeting to start our campaign over the 2,000 houses Redrow want to build in Ledsham and Manor ward.

SATURDAY 22ND OCTOBER

10AM-1PM

ELLESMERE PORT CIVIC HALL

I know this is short notice but there are few dates and few venues available for what I hope will be the large number of people who want to get involved. Also time IS very short and we have to get started as quickly as possible.

Some work has already begun and we will start the meeting with a briefing session on that work, on the current planning situation and our current campaign thoughts.

We hope to then organise everyone into smaller task groups so that we can all get involved in one small part of the campaign. We have a lot to do in a short space of time so if we all do a little we can achieve a huge amount.

HELP!

In order to publicise this meeting as widely as possible I need your help. I hope there will be a story in this week’s local newspapers inviting people to attend, and everybody on the mailing list has received notification too. However please could you help with following:

*Forward this story onto your friends and family and neighbours who live in the area.

*Talk to your friends, neighbours, colleagues etc who live in the area and invite them along.

*If you are able to print out and/or deliver some leaflets door to door please let me know.

Many thanks once again for your interest, support and help. Together we can make a real difference.

TTFN
Gareth.

(P.S. many thanks to local resident and campaign supporter Phil Jackson for the photograph below of the farmland where Redrow wish to build.)

Below are details of a firework display in Ellesmere Port on 4th November organised by the Lions.

I had the honour of starting them off last year when I was Mayor and they did a fantastic job, presenting a great display for the community and raising a substantial amount of money too.

This year I have donated to wards the costs from my councillor budget and I would encourage as many of you as possible to go along as there is a huge array of things to do as well as enjoy what should be a great firework display.

TTFN
Gareth