NEWS FLASH
School to be demolished?
MEMBERS of Warrington Borough Council’s Executive Board tonight agreed to make a new planning application for the demolition of Stockton Heath Primary School to make way for a new school on the same site.
One member of the Lib Dem-Tory board – Conservative Fiona Bruce – was ineligible to vote but the others all voted in favour of the proposal. Full report on the debate tomorrow.
“Major concerns” over
mental health beds cut
by David Skentelbery
CONTROVERSIAL proposals for cutting the number of mental health in-patient beds in Warrington by 50 per cent are causing the borough council ?major concerns.?
They could have potentially significant implications for the council to fund more rehabilitation, long term nursing home beds and more domiciliary care as people are discharged sooner and cannot be admitted to hospital, according to a report to be considered by the council?s executive board tonight (Monday).
The proposals are contained in the document ?Change for the Better? produced by the 5 Borough Partnership NHS Trust, which provides mental health care to Warrington and four other neighbouring local authorities.
A number of local organisations have complained about a lack of consultation on the proposals in recent months.
Now the borough council has added its voice to the chorus of concerns ? emphasising that the level of real participation and information allowed by the Trust for the council has been minimal.
Executive members will tonight be recommended not to accept the proposals put forward by the Trust but to defer a decision to a future meeting once clear agreements are in place with the NHS locally and regionally.
The Trust?s proposals are aimed at achieving ?financial balance? for the Trust, which is currently in a ?7 million deficit situation.
The borough council spends around ?4 million a year on adult mental health services and a further ?8 million on the mental health needs for older people and any reduction in Trust provision potentally impacts in a major way on the council?s budgets, the report states.
Trust chiefs want to reduce the number of in-patient beds from 66 to 33 and place more emphasis on community services.
While some progress has been made in discussions between the council and the Trust, no clear agreements have been reached and there remain very significant concerns as to the impact of the proposed changes.
Residents’ anger over
mobile phone mast
by Terry Johnson
NEIGHBOURS have delivered a hostile response to a planned 60ft telecommunications pole close to a children’s play area.
Protesting to Warrington Council, they state: “We are fed up with persistent applications for masts. We want the interests of the town and its residents to be safeguarded”.
Anger spilled over when Hutchinson 3G revealed plans for a mast on a footpath at Widnes Road, Penketh, Warrington.
The site adjoins a children’s play area and also homes.
Residents say they are concerned about the impact of 3G technology on health and also the number of existing masts. They are backed by Penketh Parish Council, which is worried over the site’s closeness to Oaks Nursery.
Warrington planners are being asked to agree the scheme as Hutchinson needs a ?denser siting? of masts in the area.
Snapper Martin in frame
to win national contest
by Terry Johnson
PHOTOGRAPHER Martin O’Neill, from Culcheth, Warrington, is in the frame to win a national photo competition.
His image, ?Happy Birthday!?, takes him to the final of the competition, sponsored by Seeds of Change and the Observer Food Monthly magazine, which offers a ?10,000 first prize.
Elaine Frankland, one of the judges, said: “Martin’s photograph captured our imaginations. It really reflected what the comp is about – celebrating our every day love of all things foodie”.
Martin’s snapshot will be displayed at London’s Oxo Tower art gallery until September 18 ? with 30 others picked out by the judges.
The best images and overall winner will be published on August 20.
Ideas man walks out
on TV “Dragon’s den”
by staff reporter
LYMM ideas-man Gary Taylor stepped into BBC-2’s ?Dragon’s Den? and asked some of the sharpest business brains to invest ?200,000 of their money in him.
Gary, 38, succeeded where many before him had failed. He had the ?Dragons? fighting among themselves to put cash into his venture of setting up lorry-wash machines at motorway services up and down the country.
He wowed the ?Dragons? with the prospect of a fast-growth business with a potential turnover of ?400m-a-year. But the hard-nosed wealth creators wanted a 40 per cent cut of Alpine Cleaning Services, while Gary offered 20 per cent.
The would-be investors rubbed their hands and chortled among themselves as Gary walked from their ?Den?. But we can reveal that Gary has now WALKED on their TV hand-shake deal.
He said: “I was unhappy about giving away a 40 per cent stake in my business and settled for a better return from the bank. The ‘Dragons’ wanted too much.”
Gary started a bin-cleaning business in Lymm 10 years ago – selling it on to an employee and launching Alpine Cleaning Services with the aim of exploiting the HGV cleaning market from strategic motorway services.
“We have set up equipment at Stafford South Services on the M6, with another nine sites under construction”, he said. “By the end of next year, we hope to roll out 26 sites.
“HGV’s need to be washed, on average, every 10 days, if only to maintain advertising logos. This market has huge potential”.
Gary and his wife, Lisa, operate from company offices at The Cross, Lymm.
Hooligans blamed
for kiosk blaze
by John Hendon
YOUNG hooligans are being blamed for a fire which virtually destroyed the refreshments kiosk in Victoria Park, Warrington last night.
Fire crews were called to the scene but were unable to save much of the building.
A spokesman said: “I’m afraid it won’t be open for business for some time.”
A fire engine returning from the incident was diverted to a road accident in Orford Lane, Warrington involving two vehicles. Two elderly women were trapped in a saloon car and had to be released.
They were taken to Warrington Hospital for a check-up but were not seriously hurt.
Holiday home plan
rejected by inspector
by staff reporter
A PLAN to convert outbuildings in a leafy part of Lymm into a holiday let has been thrown out by a planning inspector.
But he has no objection to the appellant converting part of the property in Cliff Lane into a double garage.
Warrington planner rejected the plan to convert the buildings into a holiday let with garage earlier this year ? although they indicated they would have no objection to the garage.
The applicant went to appeal ? and the government appointed inspector came to the same conclusion as the council: no objection to the garage but ?no? to the holiday let.
He decided the development would encroach on open countryside and be inappropriate in the green belt.
Warrington director of environmental services, Alan Stephenson, commented: ?The decision is entirely consistent with the view expressed by officers in refusing the application.?
