Church Street

Whilst crossing the road to go to the doctors I noticed what a state the road surface is on Church Street. I’ll be reporting it when I get home. But really, what are Kirkham’s councillors doing about it? I remember one dressing up in caving gear a few years back. They must have lost interest.

Calder Close

I was in contact with a resident of Calder Close yesterday.  He brought to my attention the state of the pavement there.  I had a trip round and saw for myself the years of neglect.  I have today written to the county highways engineer bringing this to his attention.  With pavements in that state, can we really afford in Kirkham of 4 more years of Labour neglect?

Michael Gove MP in Kirkham

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Pear Tree school with Michael Gove MP.  Michael is the Shadow Schools Minister.  We were shown round by long time teacher – Alison Jack – our MP’s wife.  We met lots of the children and students at the school and learnt about the children’s centre.  The dedication of the staff is amazing and all the children looked so happy.

Michael Gove MP at Pear Tree School.

First view of the new Barnfield

This is what the £80,000 that Fylde Conservatives are investing into Barnfield, Kirkham will look like.  This teenzone will be a great addition to the local area and will allow local teens to burn their energy in sporty activities.

A great step forward.

Lib Dems just can’t win here

It’s official the Lib Dems have thrown in the towel in Fylde East.  They have given in in Kirkham, Wesham, Newton, Clifton, Treales, Roseacre, Wharles and Salwick.  They saw they way the political wind was going and that they had no answers to the issues that affect Fylde so they are not even standing a candidate.

So this makes it official, Lib Dems can’t win here and the only people who can beat Labour are the Conservatives.  Voting any other way will let Labour hang on in Lancashire for another 4 years.

Action on Orders Lane

Following a number of complaints regarding the condition and flooding on Orders Lane while conducting the door step surveys in the area, action seems to be happening.

The county engineer has sent his superintendent to take a look, some gullies and drains have been cleared and they are hoping that’ll sort the flooding out.  But the superintendent will also pop down to take a look when it is raining!  It’s just a shame money was taken out of the drain cleaning budget by Labour and supported by the Independent Councillor for Orders Lane.

Teenzone – all go!

The £80,000 TeenZone at Barnfield is set to be started on 10th May.  This investment into Kirkham’s young people by Fylde Council, lead by the Conservatives, will be a great boost to the area.  It will complement the £250,000 refurbishment and renovation of Memorial Gardens completed last year.

The chosen design will be revealed shortly and I’ll post about it when I see it, hopefully also post a picture.

Station Road

I saw that the bollard in the middle of Station Road had been crashed in to.  I’ve got the county engineers coming out and repair it.  Also, following an email from a local resident there will be some work down on the wall that seems to have trees growing out of it!

Memorial Park

Last week I visited the memorial park.  I was impressed at how well the plants are bedding in and since it was a sunny day I enjoyed looking at the newly refurbished memorial.  I was however, upset to see how many bottles and cans were splashed about the place. 

The morning after the night before

And it’s not just my visit that has brought attention to this problem.  I have been having several email complaints for local residents.  This is an issue that needs dealing with and as such I’m going to sort the following out.

• Have an on site meeting with the police.
• Check with the council on the clean schedule and make sure enough attention is given
• See if the mobile CCTV camera van can pay a Friday or Saturday night visit

There is another serious point here.  Conservatives at County Hall wanted to increase the Trading Standard’s budget to get more staff to check on under age sales.  This idea was knocked back by Labour and the Independents. 

CCTV comes to Kirkham

Thanks go to the hard work of Councillor Patricia Fieldhouse, a Conservative Councillor from St Annes, for getting hard wired and manned CCTV cameras in Kirkham.  This has also been supported by Fylde Council, The Crime Reduction Partnership and Safe Lancashire.  A partnership brought together by Patricia for the benefit of the Fylde – a similar scheme is going in to St Annes.

This is great news for Kirkham.  These CCTV camera will have someone watching all the time and any trouble can be reacted to.  And now we have the start of a network, it will make it easier to roll out to other areas in Fylde, perhaps Wesham, Newton and Clifton.  Fylde is one of the safest places to live in the country, but it does not mean we don’t have to be vigilant at all times and to crack down on low level stuff to stop bigger things happening.  The cameras should also help combat the fear of crime.