Bryanston Road Area Traffic Calming Scheme
How the Lib Dems killed it.
What can be salvaged and what do we learn?
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TWO LEAFLETS: ONE GARDEN FESTIVAL
SITE
The Garden Festival Site in St. Michael's has been derelict and a source for concern for a long time. Now the North West Development Agency has granted 2.1 million pounds for its regeneration. Great news, but unfortunately the LibDems have used it as another opportunity to smear the Green Party. See the two leaflets below (click to enlarge).
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Needless to say that the LibDem accusations are completely untrue...... We have asked various councillors about the source of the 'undeliverable eco-village', and they are as baffled as we are....
At the Executive Board meeting of September 11 Cllr John Coyne has expressed the Green Party's support for the scheme, but has asked for openness about contamination and related risk management on the site.
Executive Board meeting, Item 63D
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A holiday postcard from the LibDems
This month residents of St. Michael's ward received a holiday
postcard, allegedly from Dave and Nichola in sunny Spain, addressed
to "All the family St. Michael's". In it they claim that if the Greens have
their way, they will add £100 Air Passenger Duty to every air ticket.
If the LibDems mean that the Green Party wants to see the REAL cost of flying
reflected in the price of the ticket - pollution, global warming, in
short, the bill that future generations will have to foot for our
binge flying habits - yes, they have a point. But they are working
on outdated information. The latest Green Party budget statement
(March 2009) included a £20 air passenger duty - considerably less
than the LibDems suggest - in fact, five times less...
The other accusation, that the Green Party thinks flying is as bad
as stabbing somebody in street, is a gross misrepresentation of what
Caroline Lucas actually said. There is
of course no comparison between flying on holiday and stabbing
someone - but the fact is that flying is the fastest-growing source
of greenhouse gases, and climate change is killing people. But the
problem is not with people flying every year or two. The problem is
with a relatively small proportion of the population flying a lot,
subsidised by massive tax breaks." See also our comments on
the
Fantasy Focus
of May 2009...
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LEGAL FUND LAUNCHED TO FIGHT LIB DEM LIBEL
Donations and pledges are coming in to raise the £2,000 target needed to instruct barristers against the Lib Dems in Liverpool.
The Lib Dems have refused to apologise since accusing the two Green councillors of forcing homeless people to sleep in the snow.
Details here.
The facts are well documented and we need to put them in front of a judge, probably in late summer this year.
To help, send cheques payable to Liverpool Green Party to 19 Cheltenham Avenue L17 2AR.
Or telephone 727 7779.
Related stories:
Lib Dems' dodgy election manual,
Lib Dem councillor's criminal election fraud.
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Focus Smear campaign May 2009
10 May 2009The Liverpool Liberal Democrats have stepped up their smear campaign against the Green Party. This month's Focus for St. Michael's Ward is packed with lies about Green Party politics in an effort to blacken our name. The LibDems seem desperate to hold on to their last seat in the Ward and apparently believe that the only way to do so is by smearing the Greens....
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Taking the LibDems to court?
The Green Party are planning to take the Liberal Democrats to court for defamation, over an article in the February issue of their local newsletter Focus, in which the LibDems accused the Green Party councillors of leaving homeless people to sleep in the snow. See here...
The LibDems have never tried to defend or explain their
accusations, and
they refuse to withdraw and apologise. Many local residents in
St Michaels are shocked at the arrogance shown. The Lib Dems
appear to believe they cannot be held to account.
Smear campaigns seem to have become
the preferred campaign strategy among the main political parties,
but the Greens, who have the majority in St.Michael's have proven
that good government and integrity are stronger arguments.
The next step for the Green Party will involve expensive legal
costs, but we should be able to recover those when we win at trial.
We are confident that if the facts are put before a judge she or he
will be able to bring the Lib Dems to account.
We shall be opening a special legal fighting fund and we aim to
raise £2,000 from donations to take the matter to trial. We
anticipate that the trial would take place in late summer, August or
September.
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Lollipops, Children and Cold Shelters:
Liverpool
LibDems attack on the Green Party rebutted
In February 2009 a leaflet, Focus, was distributed by the Liberal Democrats in
St. Michael's Ward, in which the LibDems accused the Green Party of
'plans to limit parents to two children in a bid to curb population growth
and save the planet', and of refusing to allow a community building to be
used for cold weather shelter. Both accusations, needless to say, are
completely unfounded.They also claimed sole credit for the 'saving' of lollipops at potentially dangerous school crossings - conveniently forgetting that as a council they had supported axing them all along. It was not until after a motion by the Green Party councillors to save at least two crossings at Greenbank, that they changed their mind.
LibDems have been given numerous opportunities to either defend their allegations, or apologize, but so far they have not done so.
Green Party Councillors John Coyne and Sarah Jennings have now sought legal
advice about the allegation made by the Liberal Democrats, that they condemned homeless people to sleep
outside during freezing winter spells. They expect a full apology, in writing and on the LibDem website, as well as damages to cover costs and a donation to an appropriate charity. To read the letter click on the picture on the right. |
10 March 2009
Yesterday, Monday 9 March, Peter Allen, LibDem councillor for St. Michael's Ward, failed to show up at a meeting organized especially for him, and so missed a chance to defend his Party's allegations against his Green Party colleagues, made in a Focus leaflet distributed in his ward.
Perhaps Peter Allen realized that his claims would never stand up and his defending them could only weaken his position in his Ward. On the other hand, a fair apology might have worked in his favour. As it is, the councillor seems to prefer to keep a low profile.....
22 February 2009
Green Party has challenged Lib Dems to attend a public meeting to
defend some incredible, false claims in a "Focus" leaflet circulated this
month in St Michaels.
Greens are confident that the Lib Dems have seriously underestimated the
intelligence of voters this time.
There is no doubt that the Lib Dem leadership were fully behind their proposal to save £200,000 from the school crossing budget.
Watch Deputy Leader Cllr Flo Clucas interviewed on BBC TV here one week before the Budget decision. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7843549.stm
Below is a timeline of events.
The proposals were agreed by the Lib Dem "cabinet" or Executive Board on 16th January
9.00 a.m. Executive Board 16/01
including the Budget Motion - Budget Motion, item 118.
The proposals were controversial and Deputy Leader Flo Clucas defended them by saying the school crossing patrols were not reliable. See report in the Liverpool Echo of 21 January.
Full story at Liverpool Echo website - click here
The proposals were considered again at select committee on 21 January
5.00 p.m. Corporate Services Select Committee 21/01
If you look at the attendance details for that meeting, St Michaels Lib Dem Councillor Peter Allen was expected to attend and that would have been an opportunity to challenge Flo Clucas on the loss of school crossing patrols if he really had wanted to do so. Unfortunately he was absent - see Attendance Details
At the Council Meeting on 28th January, the Lib Dem Leader of Council, Warren Bradley proposed the Budget motion which still included the proposal to cut £200,000 from the school crossing patrols. 5.00 p.m. City Council Meeting 28/01
If you read it, you will see the Lib Dem Leader's motion includes the following saving
"Realignment of school crossing provision - £200,000
To reflect changes implemented following the ongoing installation of new controlled crossings and speed reduction measures through the Local Transport Plan. The service will continue to be provided above national standards and take account of new provision funded by the ongoing Transport Capital Programme."
The Executive Member for Assets and Development, Lib Dem Cllr Peter Millea, had to defend the cuts in the debate as it falls within his portfolio.
The Lib Dems did accept one of the Green Party amendments (the Fourth Amendment, as described in the Minutes) which saved the school crossing patrols for Greenbank Primary school, with the balance of £20,000 to be applied for covering absences.
But the Lib Dems voted down the final amendment which would have reinstated the whole of the £200,000 cut to the service. The recorded vote shows all the Lib Dem councillors, including Peter Allen, following the party line on that.
Since then the Lib Dems have changed their minds but it is outrageous that they pretend to have been against the cuts all along and to seek to blame "Town Hall officials" for putting our city's children at risk. Do they want us to believe they had no idea what those officials were up to until after the vote on the council Budget?
See the report in the Liverpool Daily Post, 3 February Full story at Liverpool Daily Post website - click here
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One minor point. The Lib Dems Focus also says "St Michael's Ward Liberal Democrat Councillors have safeguarded your lollipop patrols .." Do they not even know how many councillors they have? (It's just one - scroll down the list on the Council's web site to check List councillors by ward and you'll see two Green and one Lib Dem for St Michaels Ward.)
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POPULATION
In the same issue of FocusThere is no doubt that the growth of the world's population adds to the challenges of living within the resources of one small planet. There are some politicians who try to engage seriously with the difficult issues of population growth.
One of them, actually, is the Liberal Democrat MEP who represents Liverpool as part of the North West England Euro constituency.
Sometimes he doesn't get reported very sympathetically
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2007/11/13/kids-risk-to-climate-89520-20099218/
It would be fairer to read his own words
http://www.winwithchris.org.uk/news/2009/Feb/religious_dogma_population.htm
Unfortunately, the St Michaels Lib Dem Focus leaflet is not trying to be fair or accurate in reflecting Green Party policy on population.
Our full policy is at http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/mfsspp.html
Crucially it includes "PP106 The Green Party holds that the number of children people have should be a matter of free choice."
We agree with Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies that there should be no coercion on family size. The Focus Fantasy "Greens demand 2 child legal limit" is untrue.
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The final LibDem attack on the Green Party concerns the care for homeless people during the recent cold weather spell. Read here....The preposterous idea that "Green councillors refused to allow a local community building to be used" for cold weather shelter is not only untrue - it is impossible. Local councillors do not have that kind of authority.
So what really did happen?
The committee at St Michaels and Lark Lane Community Centre (SMLLCA) had been the only organisation which had offered to provide a room that could be used as an emergency cold weather shelter for homeless people in Liverpool.
Using the building at night, required a planning application for change of use. Green councillors were in touch with the centre and considered the proposal was reasonable in principle, but that a planning application would allow local residents to raise any concerns.
The application was not advertised very widely and that was one factor which caused some residents to be suspicious. Those residents who objected to the proposal were very clear that they did not want to see homeless people prevented from having shelter. They believed the city council should try harder to find a more suitable building.
There was one well attended public meeting held in the hall of St Michaels primary school on October 7th. Both Green Party councillors were present. The emerging Lark Lane Neighbourhood Association took the leading role. There were also smaller meetings.
It was clear to the Greens that the proposed contract was precarious. The contract with SMLLCA was intended to be subject to no disturbance arising from the rough sleepers. If SMLLCA had to terminate the contract then the rough sleepers would have had nowhere to go. Clearly it was up to the city council to provide at least one other building as a fall-back, or overspill if the number of rough sleepers got too high.
We applied pressure to make that happen, for example a letter to the council's chief executive
Letter to Colin Hilton
and put down a formal question to the city council meeting on 15th October 2008
7. Provisions for rough sleepers by Cllr J Coyne, item 44. PDF 43 KB We were not prepared to risk homeless people sleeping in the snow - we would have wished them to be allowed into the Town Hall as a last resort, if necessary.
Cllr Sarah Jennings identified another location in St Michaels that might have been suitable, but in the mean time the Homeless Service had settled on another location closer to the city centre.
The planning application for SMLLCA was withdrawn before it was determined. Green councillors did not lodge an objection, but we asked for residents' objections to be given full consideration and we asked for conditions to be applied so that there was a limit on numbers - Letter to Planning.
We were satisfied that the council's Homeless Service had found a better alternative and did not need to pursue the planning application for SMLLCA in Lark Lane.
We are shocked to read in the Lib Dem Focus that people have been forced to sleep in the snow this year. If true, this would show the council is failing in its statutory duty.
As far as we know, Lib Dem councillor Peter Allen has so far done nothing to help with this problem. We look forward to hearing from him on why he did not attend any meetings with Lark Lane residents and if he made any comment on the planning application or made any other representations at all of any kind to anybody.
Invitation to Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Allen
Press release March 1 2009: Greens Demand Apology over LibDem "Sex, Lies and Videotape"
Read our leaflet rebutting the 'Fantasy Focus' for St. Michael's...
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