Thank you for supporting us again at the local elections

A big, big thank you to all the 883 people who voted for my colleague Adrian Owens in the local elections on May 3rd.

The voters of Derby Ward have once again given a massive vote of confidence in the Derby Ward Conservative Councillor Team, which Adrian is part of along with myself and Cllr Paul Greenall. We had an increased year on year majority of 308 compared to 238 last year. For the second year running, we also secured more than 50% of the vote.

Turnout was down slightly on last year, mostly because of the AV referendum last year, but Labour’s performance was weaker, with 189 fewer votes this year (575) compared to last year (764).

As many of you may know, the Conservative performance in Derby Ward bucked the general national trend which saw many fine councillors, including in West Lancashire, lose their seats. It’s clear that in those particular seats, national issues were a major factor, which is regrettable considering it was a local election and was therefore about local issues.

Having seen some of the Labour literature, it’s clear they were focusing on the national picture but the voters of Derby Ward saw through this, recognised that local Conservatives work hard on local issues and at a local election duly came out to support us once again.

So once again, a big thank you to you all for your continued support – we promise to continue working hard on the issues that matter to you, your family and our fantastic communities.

The final result was as follows:

Adrian Owens: 883 (51.7%)
Labour: 575 (33.6%)
Green Party: 160 (9.4%)
UKIP: 91 (5.3%)

Full results from across West Lancashire can be found at http://online.westlancs.gov.uk/coins/elected_members.asp?electionname=Borough+Council+Elections+2012

Crosshall Brow residents see the light!

I’m pleased to report that the lighting columns on Crosshall Brow are now fixed after I raised the issue with Lancashire County Council.

More than 10 of the columns between Ormskirk School and Westhead Village were not working last week. I wrote to the highways authority pointing out the problem, and the fact that it had plunged this part of the road into darkness because of its rural nature.

My thanks to all concerned for a prompt response.

Graffiti removed on Wigan Road, Westhead

My thanks to BT for their very swift action in removing graffiti on one of their green cabinets at the junction of Wigan Road and Castle Lane, Westhead.

I noticed it when I was in the village on Saturday with Adrian doing one of our regular Street Surgeries. So I rang up BT to report the matter and within 2 hours a BT worker was onsite removing the graffiti – talk about a quick service!

Action over Crosshall Brow flooding after four months of campaigning

Well…. after almost four months of battling, repair works have now finally been carried out to tackle the flooding on Crosshall Brow, Westhead.

For those who have followed this story closely, you may remember that initially, it was thought United Utilities were responsible for tackling the issue.

But the harsh winter weather hampered investigations and it was only when the thaw took place that UU officials were able to discover that responsibility for repairs were in fact down to the local highways authority, Lancashire County Council.

United Utilities first thought the flooding was down to a fault with a public sewer, but when they were finally able to look into it they found it was actually to do with a culvert dating back many, many years and which didn’t appear on any of their maps.

At that point, it became the responsibility of Lancashire County Council, who worked very quickly and got contractors on site last Monday. They found the flooding was being caused by a damaged pipe on a surface water culvert that had, over time, become silted up and led to the flooding during heavy rain.

I’m pleased to report this has now been repaired and a new chamber has been built at this location to allow future access should the problem reoccur.

However, one side-effect over the prolonged flooding is that it has caused some damage to the actual road surface. I have pressed the County Council on this and they expect to carry out repairs in the new financial year.

I’m pleased this matter appears to have been sorted out for local residents, who have had to put up with this for months. I’m also grateful to Lancashire County Council for their speedy work in getting this issue sorted – hopefully for good!

Investigation begins on Crosshall Brow flooding

I was delighted to see that following months of pressing the authorities to act, workmen are now on site to investigate the flooding on Crosshall Brow, Westhead.

I spoke to the workmen this morning and they reckon they’ll be there for a few days, depending on what they find.

Regular readers will know I have been lobbying the authorities hard for three months now, since the initial flooding took place.

On Saturday, I inspected the site with my Derby Ward colleague, Cllr Paul Greenall, and water was pouring out of at least three separate parts of the public highway, and running fast downhill towards the drain.

I’ve had many calls and emails from residents about this and will continue pushing the County Council until this issue is sorted.

Update on Crosshall Brow flooding saga

IT’S fair to say that one of the more tricky issues I have been working on for local residents is that of flooding on Crosshall Brow, Westhead.

Flooding is – as I am quickly finding out – anything but straightforward, usually involving a number of agencies and interested parties. This saga is turning out to be no exception.

At first, United Utilities were accepting responsibility for it but they came up against a number of hurdles in order to find exactly what was causing the flooding. Things dragged on over Christmas and since the New Year I have been in constant contact the UU to basically try to chivvy them along, as anyone seeking to be a local Councillor should.

Fast forward to this weekend and the persistent rain on Saturday saw yet another flood.

As luck would have it, a team from United Utilities was on site at the time of the flood and as a result were able to diagnose the problem.

UU advises me the water was actually coming from a culverted watercourse and not a public sewer. I have been told that the culvert, which is not shown on UU’s plans, runs under some properties and was flooding heavily.

Apparently, the UU surface water sewer connects into the watercourse. When a member of the UU team lifted the surface water sewer manhole they found it to be running clear, which indicates that the source of the problem is indeed the culvert.
 
UU advise me that culverted water courses, usually dating back hundreds of years, cause flooding issues across the North West and they are always the responsibility of the riparian owner, which is whoever owns the land above the culvert.

UU have apologised to me for it taking so long for this diagnosis to be made, and have put it down to a number of issues – not least the bad weather before Christmas, some technical issues on site and the absence of the culvert on their plans which obviously hampered their investigations.
 
Lancashire County Council is now aware this is a culverting problem and will be looking into the issue.

I have told local residents I shall continue to press LCC to ensure they work speedily on this and hopefully there should be something to report soon.

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!

Investigations start into Crosshall Brow flooding

FURTHER to my last posting here, I’ve been able to provide residents with an update into the localised flooding on Crosshall Brow, Westhead.

United Utilities have informed the highways authority, Lancashire County Council that, according their records, they believe they have a surface water sewer beneath the footpath where the flood occurred.

In light of this, UU have instructed their contractors to investigate the sewer; firstly by cleaning the sewer and then sending a CCTV camera into the 12 inch pipe to check for any blockages or defects.

Once this is done, the relevant authority will have a clearer understanding of what caused this specific problem, and what steps need to be taken.

When I was in the area this evening, I noticed that water was still coming out of the pavement, albeit through a small join in the kerb rather than up through the pavement as was the case last week.

Rest assured, I am monitoring the situation very closely and am pressing for the matter to resolved as soon as possible.

Crosshall Brow pavement fixed following flood

I was out and about in Westhead doing a street surgery this morning and was pleased to see that repairs have taken place on the pavement which ‘burst’ open following the flood on Monday.

United Utilities and Lancashire County Council are still looking into how exactly the flood happened, and I am monitoring the situation very closely, and have exchange correspondence and phone calls with both authorities.

As soon as I get more information, I shall blog about it here and, of course, I shall be keeping residents fully informed.

Conservatives cracking down on student housing in Ormskirk

I am delighted that my fellow Conservative colleagues have this week announced plans to crack down on student housing in Ormskirk.

It is intended the new restrictions on HMOs (Homes in Multiple Occupation) will be in place by next year and cover Derby Ward, as well as other Ormskirk Wards, Scott Ward and Knowsley Ward. But to ensure the issue with student housing isn’t just pushed to neighbouring residential areas, the order is also set to cover Aughton Park and Aughton & Downholland.

This is fantastic news, as the amount of student housing which has appeared in recent years has caused a great amount of concern for residents. Some parts of Ormskirk, including Wigan Road/Chapel Street areas, have a high student population.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anyone objects to students per se, and the vast majority of them are very well behaved and a credit to themselves, their families and Edge Hill, but even so the amount of HMOs has led to an imbalance in some parts of town. This legislation will hopefully go some way to making for a more balanced town.

My Derby Ward colleague Adrian Owens told the press: “There are growing numbers of students currently at Edge Hill and many of them are living in multiple occupancy homes in the centre of Ormskirk.

“Whilst we recognise the valuable contribution Edge Hill makes to the local economy, we are also aware of the amount of disquiet among long-standing residents about the amount of previously single family homes which have been turned into student accomodation.

“This not only puts pressure on Ormskirk’s housing market, but has also brought with it issues such as anti social behaviour, pressure on parking spaces and started to change the social fabric of our town.

“As local Conservatives, we are grasping the nettle on this issue and taking measures which will enable us to control the amount of student homes in the area.”

Adrian also quite rightly points out that these proposals also pour cold water on yet another one of Labour’s General Election scare stories.

“They tried to claim local Conservatives were against restrictions on HMOs, but the action we are taking shows that as being complete fantasy, like so many of their claims,” says Adrian.

“They tried to scare people into voting for them, and should be ashamed of themselves.”

Cllr Martin Forshaw, our planning spokesman, also welcomed the news: “The previous Labour government forced local councils to use these orders across their areas whether they needed them or not.

“It was typical of Labour’s fixation with central control from Whitehall but in truth it was using a sledgehammer to crack a nut because there are parts of West Lancashire where, quite frankly, HMOs are not an issue.

“I am glad the Coaltion scrapped Labour’s top-down ‘we know best’ approach and given local communities the freedom to choose.”