Labour walk-out in
coat-of-arms row
by David Skentelbery
ANGRY Labour councillors staged a walk-out during an extraordinary meeting of Warrington Borough Council called to debate a controversial decision to replace the borough?s historic coat of arms with a modern logo.
The three hour meeting ? which had started with the Mayor?s chaplain, Canon Michael Findlay, introducing prayers with a lament to the ?death of common sense? ? descended into chaos on several occasions and was twice adjourned while senior councillors and officers retired to discuss legal points, procedure and the council?s constitution.
Labour leader Coun Terry O?Neill accused the controlling Lib Dem-Tory alliance of pushing the decision through without consultation.
He said the new logo had been introduced on council notepaper and was to be phased in on buildings and vehicles without the issue ever having been discussed by the executive board.
?This is illegal ? and it is despicable. There has been no consultation with any interested parties.?
He moved a resolution calling for use of the new logo to be suspended pending an audit of the process which led to the decision to make the changes.
Labour deputy leader Coun Mike Hannon said: ?If we are defeated on this we will be making a legal challenge and referring this to the Standards Board and also the Local Government Ombudsman because I believe there has been maladministration.”
The Labour motion was defeated by 31 votes to 20 but a Lib Dem-Tory motion instructing officers to continue to phase in the new logo was not put to the meeting after Coun O?Neill moved a point of order and said: ?We cannot instruct officers to do something that is illegal.”
Mayor Coun Linda Dirir conferred with officers and announced: ?I am told there is some merit in the point of order.?
Council leader Ian Marks offered to amend the motion to include a reference to the executive board but Coun O?Neill said: ?This is an attempt to subvert the normal procedure of the council to spare embarrassment to whoever has brought this chaos on us.”
Labour?s Coun John Morris said if the issue was referred to the executive board it could then be called-in by the scrutiny committee. But by taking part in the debate, members of the scrutiny committee were prejudicing their position.
He and two other Labour members left the meeting ? to be followed by the rest of the Labour group when Coun Marks started to move his amended resolution.
Freeman of the borough Mrs Ivy Edwards ? a former Mayor ? also walked out shouting: ?I was a member of this council for 27 years and I have never heard such rubbish.?
She had handed in a petition signed by more than 300 people opposed to scrapping the coat of arms.
In the absence of the opposition, Lib Dem and Tory councillors voted unanimously in support of a resolution that further work on the roll-out of the logo be suspended pending consideration by the executive board, which would be requested to ask councillors to carry out the planned implementation of the new logo.
After the meeting, Coun Marks said Labour had initiated a review of communications when they controlled the council some two years ago which included looking at options for a new logo. They had made money available for this to take place.
?There is no proposal to do away with the coat of arms which we agree embodies the history, culture and identity of Warrington. The proposal is just to change the way it is used.
?We want to portray this council as forward looking, ambitious and businesslike. Many other councils have introduced logos.?
He added the new logo had been designed in-house for ?a few hundred pounds.?
Gunman didn’t care
about victims’ safety
by staff reporter
A GUNMAN who burst into a Warrington post office and convenience store showed a complete disregard for the safety of anyone on the premises, police said today.
It was an extremely frightening experience for staff at the Spar shop in Gorse Covert Road, Birchwood, said DC Stephen Hopkins.
The man made off with a substantial amount of cash after threatening a security guard who was collecting cash from the post office counter inside the shop.
He escaped in a white car, possibly a Nissan, driven by a second man, which had been parked on the car park at the nearby Poacher public house.
The incident occurred at about 5pm on Friday night (April 27) and was exclusively reported by Warrington-Worldwide the following morning.
Now police have issued a CCTV image of the offender, who has been described as aged about 50, of slim build with a round face with pock marks and dark eyes. He was wearing a high visibility yellow jacket and black hat.
During the raid he brandished what appeared to be a black handgun.
DC Hopkins said: ?Incidents involving firearms are rare, but any incident involving any kind of firearm is extremely frightening for anyone present. In this case, the offender showed a complete disregard for the safety of anyone on the premises, although fortunately no-one was hurt.
Police would like anyone who witnessed the raid, or saw anything suspicious near the shop between 4.50pm and 5.10pm last Friday to call police on 0845 458 0000.
MP calls on health
chiefs to resign
by David Skentelbery
MP Helen Jones has called for the resignation of the entire board of Warrington Primary Care Trust following controversial proposals to change the way health care is delivered in the town.
The Warrington North MP says the PCT board has embarked on a “slash and burn” policy which has no support locally.
She said: “They are appointed by the NHS Appointments Commission and are not responsible to local people. We cannot remove them but having made such a hash of it they should do the honourable thing and resign.”
The PCT is currently consulting the public on proposals to open five “super health centres” or “mini-hospitals” across the borough.
These would be staffed by GPs, nurses, physiotherapists, dentists, etc., offering a much wider service than existing GP surgeries.
But most of the existing surgeries would close – leading to fears than many people, particularly the elderly, would find it difficult to see their own GP.
Doctors themselves are opposed to the scheme and have accused the PCT of producing the plan without any consultation with them.
They say the board of the PCT was appointed only six months ago yet seem to believe they know the health needs of Warrington better than doctors and nurses who have been serving the town for years.
Helen Jones (pictured)said: “These non-elected and unaccountable people have embarked on a slash and burn policy which has no support locally.
“For years I have been arguing for better representation for north Warrington on the PCT board. Time and time again the Commission have promised to do this but have failed to deliver. The result is that areas with the greatest health need are not represented.
“We now have a group of people who are simply doing what their acting chief executive tells them. They had an obligation to stop this nonsense. They failed to do so. Enough is enough. They should go.”
Ms Jones said she believed any changes to health provision had to be made by negotiation and with the consent of the people involved.
PCT acting chief executive Jon Tomlinson said 29 GP services had been visited as part of the consultation.
“I think the suggestion is we should have talked about the proposals with GPs behind closed doors.
“In a democracy we believe it’s far better to have the debate openly, and include the 200,000 people who use the service.”
He said he had invited GPs to share the platform at a major public meeting at the Parr Hall, Warrington, tonight (Tuesday) but to date no-one had agreed to take part.
Meanwhile, the PCT has announced that because of the public interest in the proposals, the consultation period
is being extended by one week to May 16.
Father Michael set to
swim with sharks!
by Lianne Mckeown
LYMM parish priest Father Michael Burgess will be saying his prayers when he swims with sharks at the Blue Planet Aquarium to help raise funds for the Mothers Union.
Rev Burgess, who parish priest at St Peter’s, Oughtrington and Warburton and also a governor at Lymm High School, chaplain at Dunham Hall and chaplain at Chester University Padgate campus, has volunteered to dive into the tank to help raise the profile of the Mothers Union.
The tank, which is 8 inches thick to control the 4 million litres of Caribbean Sea water, is made of acrylic so spectators are able to catch a clear view of whoever swims inside among the many species of sharks, stingrays, and fish.
“I’m not scared or concerned at the moment, but by June I will probably be at the doctors asking for medication!” Father Michael joked about swimming among the tiger sharks in the tank.
The Mothers Union is a worldwide organisation with 3.6 million members, helping to raise funds for families all over the world who have been affected by conflict or natural disasters through projects and emergency relief work, and approached the Rev. Burgess about volunteering to take part in the ‘Discover Scuba’ dive.
“I think it is quite an unusual thing to sponsor so it will probably be quite a popular event,” he said.
Other people have previously swam in the tank and claimed it had been one of the best experiences of their life.
The dive will take place on Monday June 11. To help sponsor the event or become involved with the Mothers Union, you can either contact Father Michael directly on 01925 752388 or visit the Mothers Union website.
College students’ chance
to work on major brand
by staff reporter
ART and design students at Warrington?s Priestley College were offered the chance to work in partnership with a major brand on a live brief.
The Body Shop is currently re-branding some of its UK stores and the students were able to contribute to the process by working with the chain?s Warrington outlet in Golden Square.
Students were asked to complete their assignments based on the theme of multi-culturalism which ties in perfectly with Body Shop’s own core values.
During the process they were able to come up with a range of colourful solutions across a number of products which included paintings and banners to be hung behind cash desks.
Upon completion the group displayed their work in an exhibition at the college, which was visited by Nicola Stange, manager of the Warrington store, who was pleased with the outcome.
She said: “It has been a very enjoyable and worthwhile project to work with the students at Priestley and it was great to see how their ideas became a reality.”
Head of Art and Design Andrea Marren said: “The opportunity to work with the Body Shop in Warrington came at an ideal time for our students. It is imperative that those wishing to pursue careers in a related field get these kind of opportunities for the future, when they will be placed in similar situations.”
Planners ignore road
safety warnings
by John Hendon
COUNCILLORS at Warrington have given the green light for an extension to the car park at a busy community centre ? despite warnings on safety grounds from highways chiefs.
The borough council?s development control committee visited Winwick Leisure Centre, off Myddleton Lane, before reaching their decision.
Local councillor John Joyce had argued that the extension, to provide 40 extra places on the car park, would not only provide extra space for car parking users of the community centre but would also be tremendous aid to the very dangerous parking and traffic movements at the starting and finishing times at nearby Winwick Primary School.
Officers said the key issues were highway safety and urban green space.
They said there would be an unacceptable loss of green space. Although the site had minimal nature conservation significance, it was considered to have landscape value.
The car park could only be accessed by a narrow, single width track and additional traffic would worsen access problems with the potential to have traffic blocking Myddleton Lane.
School closed
STOCKTON Heath Primary School is closed today following an outbreak of gastro-enteritis among members of the staff.
Pupils were sent home shortly after arriving at the school yesterday.
A borough council spokeswoman said it had been considered advisable to close the school because of the outbreak.
?We are hoping the school will be able to reopen tomorrow,? she added.
Police meeting
THE police are to hold a Community Action Meeting at Woolston, near Warrington on Monday, May 14.
Residents will be able to quiz local officers on local policing issues at the meeting at St Peter?s Catholic Primary School at 7pm.
They will also be asked to vote on their policing priorities for the area over the next nine weeks.
