Too many chiefs at Lancashire Police?

It is well documented that Lancashire Constabulary is proposing to close the front desk at Ormskirk Police Station.

The force’s top brass claim they need to make these cuts and that all areas have been looked at. But have they?

A quick look at the Constabulary’s own website will reveal that it has large senior management team, with a Chief Constable, a Deputy Chief Constable and three Assistant Chief Constables, as well as eight Chief Superintendents and a raft of Inspectors under them.

All this at a time when the police management themselves are proposing cutbacks.

Let me give this some context. Since 1997, Lancashire’s policing bill has more than tripled but that money was given for frontline policing, not more bureaucracy.

How can the police say they are trying to protect the frontline whilst having a system where managers manage managers who then in-turn manage some more managers and so on? The Borough Council recently reduced its senior management team and Cabinet, and it is obvious the police now need to look at their own arrangements.

My Derby Ward colleagues and I have called on the police to look at restructuring the senior management team.

As my colleague Cllr Paul Greenall said: “It is staggering that at a time when budgets are under pressure, Lancashire Police continue to have so many managers. As recent events have clearly shown, police officers are of more use to the community when they are out on our streets, not sat in an office somewhere dealing with paperwork”

And Cllr Adrian Owens said: “Lancashire Police Authority should undertake an immediate review of the amount of senior management posts at Lancashire Police. Taxpayers’ money should be spent on keeping our police stations open and our frontline officers on the beat, not on a bloated management structure which could be slimmed down to meet the challenges of the future.”

Will Lancashire Police rise to the challenge? We sincerely hope so…

First impressions of life on the Borough Council

It’s now two weeks since I was given the honour by Derby Ward residents of representing them in the council chamber, so I thought I’d give you a little update as to what I’ve been doing since then.

Having never been a councillor before, the first thing you notice is the sheer amount of reading you receive from the Borough Council, from council papers, procedures, protocol etc… it was quite daunting seeing massive packages being delivered, all of which are filled with important information which had to be read and, most importantly, understood. That last bit is crucial because, believe me, when it comes to council reports some of them have to be read 2 or 3 times before you can actually grasp what they mean, as they are written in councilspeak, complete with bits of jargon and acronyms. I must admit I have something of a head start on this as I used to have to read council reports for a living, but even so, some of it still baffled me at first.

Because of this, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to officers, the council’s civil servants, who are there to assist councillors and implement agreed policies. They have all, without exception, beeen very welcoming, friendly and professional, taking time explain certain things and also briefing you on individual plans or policies.

Wednesday night saw my first Borough Council meeting which was the annual meeting of council where councillors vote in a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor as well as agree the appointments to committees, spokesman roles etc. It was particularly pleasing to see my Ormskirk colleagues Cllr Rob Bailey (Knowsley Ward) and my fellow Derby Ward colleague Cllr Paul Greenall elected to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively. Both of them brought their young children to the meeting and many people commented to me how nice it was to see them there.

One thing the local elections has done is seen a number of younger councillors elected. After the meeting, I was speaking to some of the newly elected councillors in both the Conservative and Labour Groups, and it was agreed that having younger members is a good thing as it helps balance the chamber and make it more representative. The council now has a few councillors who are now in their 30s and I think that, at 31, I’m possibly the youngest councillor this year.

But apart from the official council engagements, I’ve also continued having a steady stream of Derby Ward residents contacting me on a variety issues and this has seen me getting action on their behalf. This is the part I particularly enjoy and, in the past, I have received many cards, letters and emails of thanks for little bits and bobs I have managed to get sorted for residents.

So two weeks in, I know I have a lot to learn but I am determined to enjoy the next four years and do my very best to make Derby Ward, and West Lancashire as a whole, a great place to live and work.

As ever, if I can be of assistance, do not hesitate to get in touch. My contact details can be found here.

West Lancs Labour vote against calls for extra PCSO powers

Last night I attended the meeting of Full Council in Ormskirk to hear the debate regarding my call for extra powers for Police Community Support Officers.

My Derby Ward colleague, and Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Cllr Paul Greenall, placed the following Motion on the agenda:

“This Council notes that under various legislation, 22 powers are available to be granted to Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) at the discretion of Chief Constables but that in Lancashire, only one of these powers (i.e. the power to issue fixed penalty notices for dog fouling) has so far been granted to our PCSOs. This Council also notes that locally, West Lancashire Conservatives have been lobbying Lancashire Constabulary to increase the number of discretionary powers available to PCSOs. Accordingly, this Council supports the actions of West Lancashire Conservatives and formally calls on the Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary to provide PCSOs with more discretionary powers.”

Fairly straightforward… so much so that I was hoping it would get cross-party support so the Council could go to the Chief Constable and urge him to think again.

The issue has been well documented in the local press and on this blog since I launched my campaign last month, and it has attracted a lot of support, most notably with local residents.

While out and about earlier this week, I called on a gentleman who, having explained I was a local council candidate, gave me a “you’re all the same – I’m not voting for anyone” response, something which candidates, councillors etc of all parties, (and even those of none), get from time to time on the doorstep. I politely thanked him for his time and moved on. About 1 minute later, having finished speaking to his neighbour, he came back out and wanted to speak about the leaflet I’d handed him a minute earlier which talked about my PCSO powers campaign. This had caught his attention, and indeed he told me that it was a topic of conversation among his friends. I explained the unfairness between PCSO powers in Lancashire and Manchester, and we then chatted for a more few minutes. It ended with him saying that as a result of my campaign, he may support me.

So it was with great hope I entered the Council Chamber last night, but the West Lancs Labour Group on the council had other ideas. Right from the start of the debate on PCSOs, it was clear Labour were against it.

The excuses they gave for voting against Paul’s Motion were very weak – ranging from the sentiment that we shouldn’t be bothering the Chief Constable on this, (let’s leave the small matter that his wages are paid by the taxpayer to one side) to the bizarre notion that Police Community Support Officers weren’t brought in to support the police!

So Labour’s position was simple; never mind that local residents want it, never mind that a Labour-affiliated union (Unison) wants it, never mind the fact that PCSOs themselves want it, and never mind that Labour MPs leglislated to bring in discretionaty powers for PCSOs. we’re going to vote against it.

I must admit I was surprised at Labour’s stance, after all it was a Labour Government which brought in PCSOs and, as I say above, legislated to allow them to have extra discretionary powers. The local Labour Group now appear to be condemning what their own Government did when it was in power.

Labour’s refusal to support our campaign means they are backing a two-tier policing system which sees Constables having to be diverted from more serious incidents because they do not trust PCSOs their own Government brought in to use the extra powers their own MPs legislated for.

It is a shame they appear uninterested in helping to make our local communities safer. Labour are completely out of touch and isolated on this issue, which has support from trade unionists, councillors, PCSOs themselves and residents.

After voting against more powers for PCSOs, Labour have shown themselves to be a party which is soft on crime.

Councillors to debate my calls for extra PCSO powers

Borough councillors are set to formally debate my calls for extra PCSO powers next week.

A motion on the subject has been placed on next Wednesday’s agenda by my Derby Ward colleague Cllr Paul Greenall, who is also the Borough Council’s Conservative Cabinet member for Community Safety.

You may remember I launched a campaign last month calling on the Chief Constable of Lancashire to hand down more discretionary powers to his frontline Community Support Officers. Since then, my campaign has been backed by leading councillors and residents.

I’m delighted this important issue will be debated publicly by councillors next week.

At present, out of 22 discretionary powers available to the Chief Constable, just one has been issued – the power to hand out fixed penalty notices for dog fouling. We have a situation where 95% of discretionary powers are not used in Lancashire, whereas in neighbouring Wigan, PCSOs there use 67% of the discretionary powers available to them.

This is having a real effect on the frontline as streets on the West Lancshire/Wigan border are getting a two tier policing service, depending on whether you live on the Wigan side of the road or the West Lancashire side.

I’ve also been told of incidents where a PCSO has attended an incident and wanted to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice but didn’t have the power, so had to radio back to the station for a PC to come out and do it for them. This is a ridiculous waste of precious resources.

I hope councillors support my calls for the Chief Constable of Lancashire to hand down more discretionary powers to our local PCSOs. My message is simple – it’s time to give PCSOs the extra powers they need to make our communities safer instead of expecting them to police with one hand tied behind their backs.

New restrictions now in place on Hall Brow Close

WHILE out delivering leaflets this morning in Hall Brow Close, I was pleased to see that the extended double yellow lines have now been installed.

I blogged about this issue last year, and once again would like to thank my colleagues Cllrs Paul Greenall and David Westley for pressing the County Council on this matter.

Hopefully, the new restrictions will now give residents some peace.

Knowsley Road student accommodation plan rejected

I am pleased to report that plans to create more student accommodation in Ormskirk has been refused by the Conservative-controlled West Lancashire Borough Council.

The plans to turn 22 Knowsley Road into a multiple occupancy home of 11 en suite bedrooms was refused by the Council’s Planning Department following formal objections from my Derby Ward colleagues, Councillors Adrian Owens and Paul Greenall, as well as local residents and West Lancashire Civic Trust.

The Planning Department quite rightly felt it represented an over-use of the property and would have had a negative impact on its neighbours. They also recognised the extra pressure it would put on parking spaces and increased traffic.

I’ve told the local media there’s no question that Ormskirk does need some student accommodation, but that needs to be balanced with the needs of local residents to ensure it doesn’t damage the town’s social fabric.

Cllr Adrian Owens said: “I worked closely with residents on this, and met with a group of local people to discuss how they could make their voices heard to the Borough Council.

“As local Conservatives, we are grasping the nettle on the issue of student housing, and have already brought forward plans to use new powers handed down from the Government to limit the amount of student accommodation.”

Cllr Paul Greenall said: “People are rightly concerned about the amount of student housing, and the pressure that puts on the local housing market, especially on first time buyers.

“This is a sensible decision from the Borough Council and one which will be applauded by local residents.”

Street surgery in Westhead Village

THIS morning Cllr Paul Greenall, one of my fellow Derby Ward colleagues, and I conducted a street surgery in Westhead.

Last week, we’d done the ‘Halton Castle & Prince Albert’ side of the village, so this week we did the other side, the Village Hall side – the same side which regular readers will know was the scene of the localised flooding 2 weeks ago.

During the surgery, we took time out to further inspect the part of the pavement which failed, causing the flooding, and were concerned to see that just a few inches away in the roadway, there was some cracking and it looks like part of the road has sunk.

The obvious conclusion is that the water build up a couple of weeks ago may have led to some of the earth underneath being washed away, causing the surface to start sinking. I’ve contacted Lancashire County Council about this, urging them to investigate this as soon as possible.

Crosshall Brow is part of the main route between Skelmersdale and Ormskirk, and is heavily used, so this needs to be sorted out quickly.

Afterwards, Paul also showed me another part of Crosshall Brow where flooding is an issue, just a bit further down on the footpath which runs to Vicarage Lane. It’s well known that the footpath looks like Niagara Falls in very wet weather with water coming down the slope. Taking a look at the fields, you could see straight away drainage is a problem. There is a similar problem in nearby Castle Lane, an issue my colleagues and I have been working on.

The problem with many flooding issues in Westhead is that it is a combination of things – a high water table, the fact it is on a hill, poor drainage in parts and land ownership issues. That’s not to say the problems are insurmountable, it’s just that it will take a bit of time.

Make no mistake though, I’m certainly up for the challenge!

Westhead children’s playing fields made safer

Well done to my Derby Ward colleague Cllr Paul Greenall for his hard work in helping to make the playing fields safer off School Lane, Westhead.

Paul, who lives in the village, successfully secured new gating and barriers for the field following reports that motorists were driving onto the grass in order to get closer to the play area, which is at the top of the field.

Paul acted upon these concerns by working with the Conservative-led West Lancashire Borough Council to have safety measures installed.

Cllr Greenall said: “I am delighted that these barriers have been installed to stop motorists driving onto the field. It’s important that children can play on these fields safely, so hopefully parents will welcome these improvements.”