Harry Cohen
Environment
I conducted a survey in Fairfield just before Christmas and since the New Year have called on people in Burtonwood, Birchwood, Cinnamon Brow, Woolston and Orford on my regular mobile surgeries. In each area people expressed concerns about the environment in which they live. Things like litter in the streets, graffiti and abandoned cars were high on their list of concerns and rightly so because they mean a lower quality of life for everyone.
I hope people who are concerned about these issues will be pleased to hear that the government is tackling them. A new bill is going through parliament called the Cleaner Neighbourhoods Bill which will bring in new measures to make a real difference to our communities.
There will be on-the-spot, fixed penalty fines for anti-social offences like fly-posting, graffiti and vandalism but we need to make these powers easily enforceable. That is why I’m backing the proposal to give our local community support officers the power to issue on the spot fines to litter louts and vandals.
I was also glad to see proposals to allow local authorities to remove abandoned cars quickly without having to wait weeks to do so. This was a problem that residents of Elaine Street raised with me when I did a mobile surgery there the other week. I am sure most people would agree that it is ridiculous that, if you put your car in the wrong space, you can be towed away within 24 hours but if a car is abandoned in a residential street, it has to be judged a risk to public health before the council can take it away. The new bill will put an end to this daft situation.
It will also give more powers to local councils to tackle excessive noise, which I know is also a concern to many people.
We hear much about the need to preserve our environment, and rightly so, but this bill recognises that the environment starts at your front door. It should do a great deal to make our community cleaner, safer and more secure.
I am compiling a list of ‘hot spot’ areas in Warrington North where these problems are at their worst and would appreciate you letting me know if there is a litter, graffiti or abandoned car problem near where you live. Contact me and let me know :
- by letter to Gilbert Wakefield House, 67 Bewsey Street, WA2 7JQ;
- by fax on 01925 232 239;
- by phone on 01925 232 480;
- or by e-mail at jonesh@parliament.uk
