Meeting with Margaret Carney confirmed for 15/2/11

SACC are pleased to announce that we have confirmed a public meeting with Council Chief Executive Margaret Carney. A background can be found on the Sefton MBC website here.

We have now confirmed that the venue will be The Royal Clifton Hotel on the Promenade Southport. 

The meeting is designed to facilitate public consultation, as you may imagine with feelings running high it is necessary to structure the meeting so that it will be productive for everyone who attends. For this reason we are requesting that people submit their questions in advance of the meeting. There will be a right of reply but no shouting out. This is to give Ms Carney an opportunity to give considered and relevant answers but also make sure that the meeting isn't taken over by any particularly vocal or passionate groups and as many people as possible are able to have input.

The meeting is scheduled for 15th February 2011 and will begin at 8pm and run until 9.30pm.

The final date for submissions is 11th February 2011.

If you want to attend the meeting it will be necessary to have a ticket so that we are able to judge the numbers of people attending and manage the meeting safely. The tickets cost £2 - this will be specifically to cover the cost of the venue and will not be funding our group or our contributors in anyway.

If there is a surplus in collections for tickets the extra will be shared between Sefton Women's and Children's Aid and Parenting 2000.

If you would like to submit a question (and/or read it at the meeting) please e-mail - southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk with "Question 15/2/11" in the subject box

Alternatively you can post one to:
19 Gordon Street,
Southport,
PR9 0BG

Remember to leave your contact details too.

If you would like a ticket please call; 01704 531613 or email; southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk there are a good number of tickets available but these are likely to sell out fast. Anyone from Sefton is welcome, not just people from Southport.

Demonstrations against the cuts.

In addition to the march organised by "Save Our Children's Centres" a demonstration was held outside Southport Town Hall on Thursday Evening - targeting the Full Council meeting.

Blyth and I were out in the (cold) morning with the SACC banner handing out leaflets to the councillors as they arrived for the Cabinet Meeting and to passers by. We seemed to be very well recieved and several people came back in the evening for the protest.

The demonstration in the evening was well attended and made local and national news on Granada Reports and Daybreak. There are some pictures, videos and a write up on Southport forums and it made the front page of the local papers.

The Southport Forums page reports:

 "At the Council meeting held at Southport Town Hall on 27th Jan 2011 it was decided that 7 Centre based Youth Clubs would be closed. The clubs affected are Stanley, Meols Cop, Birkdale, Formby, Maghull, Crosby and Aintree. That mens that there is no Youth Service facility until you get to Bootle.

The Labour Party proposed useing "one off funding" to keep them open for a further 12 months. This was voted down by the combined vote of the Conservatives and Lib Dems. The 2 exceptions to this were Cllr Lord Fearn and Cllr Anne Ibbs from Formby. Lord Fearn spoke strongly about how valuable this service was and the huge loss it would be if it was withdrawn.

Cllr Weavers and Cllr Sumner absented themselves from the debate as they declared that they had an interest, in that they sat on the Management Committee of Meols Cop Youth Club. This line of arguement was thrown into doubt however by the presence of the Lib Dem leader Tony Robertson who himself took part in the debate, voted and who himself is a member of a Youth Club Committee.

The Duke of Edinburgh scheme provided by the Youth Service was also axed.

Other services that were cut that affect Southport are as follows

Southport YMCA £50,000 CUT

Parenting 2000 £57,000 CUT

Sefton Women &
Chidrens Aid £49,900 CUT

KGV Gym
Club £7,595 CUT

11th Southport
Scouts £1008 CUT
Kew Woods

Home Start £2000 CUT

Sefton CVS £2,131,207 CUT

Sefton CAB £169,858 CUT"

UKUncut were undeterred from their peaceful anti-tax avoidance protest on Sunday. Despite police outnumbering protestors 4 to 1 and some would be protestors being frightened off the peaceful protest bravely went ahead. The protestors were highlighting Boots' Swiss PO Box scam which allows them to avoid £86m in tax each year. Boots, as a provider of private health care in the UK also stands to benefit from the NHS Bill which sees a shift towards "competitiveness"within the NHS - another way of saying that services are going to be outsourced to private companies. If in any doubt about the effect of doing this with healthcare you just need to look at what happened when hospital cleaning was outsourced - MRSA and C. Difficile. We don't want the cheapest service provider, we want the best quality care.

On Saturday 5th Feb there are national read-ins being planned in threatened libraries across the country. All of Southport's permanently accommodated libraries are threatened with closure - Birkdale, Ainsdale and Churchtown. As far as I am aware there are no read ins planned for Southport but if you would like to organise one in your local library or have organised one and want me to publicise it or would like some help please contact me, also look at http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com

TUSC looking for local candidates and standing as an independent.

The Trade Union and Socialist coalition are looking for candidates to stand in the local council elections. They say; 

"We need hundreds of challenges to job-cutting,

services-axing councillors"

email: TUSCbulletin@yahoo.co.uk

What you can do to support the TUSC challenge: 

•We need people to stand as TUSC candidates in the local elections. Get in touch if you want to stand.

•Make sure that the TUSC election challenge is raised inside your anti-cuts group to see if there are others who want to stand candidates.

 •Circulate this Bulletin as widely as possible. We want to spread our message.

If you think their idea is a good one but don't support their party you may want to consider standing for another party or as an independent. Information on standing as an independent can be found here: http://www.picx.co.uk/frame.html

Full Council meeting

The Save Our Children's Centres group are reporting that the council has deferred the decision on children's centres pending a full costing review and consultation.

The councillors voted 36 to 22 against keeping the centres unconditionally.

Also that 3 out of 9 jobs at Botanic Nursery will be kept - we are unsure what this means or who will stay and it is not yet known whether these staff will be retained to grow flowers or sell them or whether, if they are outsourcing flowers still, where they will come from. The main draw of the Botanic Nursery is that the flowers are grown locally, I believe there isn't really a market for foreign flowers being sold in this context - there are numerous chain stores where these flowers can already be appropriated and the draw of the shops in Churchtown Village near to Botanic is that they are independent local proprietors - that is what people expect and why they come.

Southport UKUncut

Southport UKUncut are targeting Boots this weekend as part of a National Day of Action highlighting tax avoidance and evasion.

They are asking people to:

"Meet at Southport train station - 1300. Bring placards / kids / whatever you think will draw peoples' attention to Boots and their evasion of UK tax."

 The action taken will depend on the participants who come.

SSCCN Success!

Yesterday I went to support the Save Our Children's Centres march. It was a resounding success with over 1500 signatures for the petition being collected over 2 hours in a mammoth effort by many mums in the rain with plenty of children in tow!

The final count was 3042 signatures enabling the group to speak in support of the Children's Centres at the Full Council Meeting tomorrow.

Useful information about Childrens Centre provision and the Council's responsibilities can be found here:

http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-00280-2010.pdf

The SSCCN facebook group is here:

 http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_102158533195070&ap=1

There is a lot of useful information and many knowledgeable people on there.

Nina's Minutes 24/1/11

SACC Meeting 24 January 2011.

Planning meeting for demo on Thursday 27 January 2011.

1.   1. Leaflets have been printed out and will be given out in Southport on Thursday morning, targeting the Cabinet meeting. Celia, Blyth and Kat volunteered to hand out leaflets. Demo to start at 5.30pm. Kat will speak. TUC and unions will be there protesting too. Kat has had a banner made and we will display it to make our presence known. People were asked to bring placards with slogans such as ‘No mandate, no cuts’. We’ll meet outside the town hall, make lots of noise, chants such as ‘Listen; talk to us’

2.   2. A question was asked about whether we should lobby local political parties and counsellors. It was felt it would be beneficial to ask as many councillors face to face about the cuts and why they are not consulting with the public. We also could write to heads of department at the council and request meetings with council officers. The council has set up a new section of the website to give comments about the cuts, so we all need to go on there and give our opinions. Other councils have set up forums to consult with the public so we need to press for something similar. We need to ask whether they have considered the deeper implications of the Botanic Gardens closure eg cost of benefits to those made redundant and the negative impact on spending in the town due to the redundancies and the possible loss of visitors to the area. We need to find out if, when and where the councillors hold surgeries and go to them. Birkdale councillors are available at Birkdale library on first Saturday of each month. Nina will contact the council to see if they can give us a comprehensive list.

3.   3. John  thought he might be able to push for a judicial review of the cuts decisions via his carers charity. He will investigate and report back. Lillian said she would push the council for a list of cuts and it was thought if as many of us as possible can keep going into the council offices asking for info about the cuts that are decided on on Thursday (if they are slow to publish) then that would be beneficial. Also if we can all ring the council to ask to attend the council meeting on Thursday, if we are told no we can claim that is undemocratic and is not giving us access to the council.

4.   4. The SACC will meet on the second Monday of each month and more often if necessary.

What you can do.

Coming to SACC meetings isn't the only way you can get involved.

Please call the Town Hall ahead of the Full Council meeting to request a seat at the meeting on Thursday. The number is 0151 934 2049. If you cannot get one please report back to me @ southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk and ask for this to be confirmed in writing if you can. It is undemocratic to refuse the public access to the council meetings. I have one ticket after calling this morning, let me know if you have any success.

We are calling on the people to hold the council to account.

People can go to their local councillors monthly surgeries and ask them how they are implementing the cuts, what alternatives have been investigated and whether they are challenging central government about the necessity of cutting Sefton's budget in the way they have. Ask them also what they are doing to make sure people are being consulted about where and how the cuts are being made and that the implications of each cut are fully investigated. Also to report when or if councillors fail to attend their monthly surgeries.

People can request face to face meetings with their councillors. Make sure you get things confirmed in writing if you agree anything with them. Also report back to us so that we can get a picture of what people are doing and asking and whether the councillors are actually meeting with the public.

People can go into the Town Hall and ask the committee clerk for a list of proposed cuts. If that cannot be provided ask again and keep asking until it is provided. This will make it obvious that people are concerned with the cuts.

People can write to their councillors and to the council's heads of department who are responsible for reporting on where savings should be made asking for consultation of the public and making the case for the things they want to save.

People can also use the Council's newly set up "Transforming Sefton" cuts feedback page to let them know exactly what we think.


Use the List of Councillors by ward to locate your local councillors. Try to get things confirmed in writing.

Also, come to our demonstration on Thursday 27th outside Southport Town Hall from 5.30pm. We need to make the council listen.

Also, write to your MP to ask what they are doing on behalf of Sefton as a result of the cuts to the Local Authority Budgets which are the root cause of this.

Not forgetting e-mail/write to national government departments and the prime minister as often as you can. These letters are better when they are personal but I will work on some templates.

Here's a letter I wrote to Eric Pickles this morning:

"Dear Sir,

I am writing in my capacity as the Chair of the Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition. Our local council, Sefton MBC, believe they will be asked to make almost £70m in cuts due to the reduction in their annual budget caused by reduction of their annual grant from central government and set out by your department.

As a result our council has set out proposals which may leave our town, a town with almost 100,000 residents, without access to a children's centre or library, with reduced Crown Green Bowling facilities, reduced access to leisure facilities, removal of services and funds that charities and other organisations require; such as the removal of the £22k grant to the world famous Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, reduced holiday childcare, removal of after school and holiday clubs, significantly reduced budgets for park repairs and maintenance and street sweeping/maintenance which will likely impact on the health and safety of our playgrounds, parks and roads, pay cuts to public sector staff of 5% in addition to possible redundancies, reduction of overtime for the street cleansing team which will affect the lowest paid staff, closure of our nationally famous Botanic Gardens Nursery with nine redundancies and no promises about whether the money will be taken not only out of the local economy but out of the national economy. Many, many more - the cut handed down from central government is such that nothing is safe. The cuts are of such high levels and because they are front loaded the council seems to have no option but to fail to uphold some of its legal responsibilities such as the requirement to provide adequate provision of Children's centres and consideration of residents views when closing them. We support the council and the Chief Executive Margaret Carney in making the case for Sefton nationally. We are calling on them for better consultation during the decision process but we also recognise the source of their problem.

I would like to invite Mr Pickles to attend a public meeting organised by our group to explain how and why the council's budget is being cut. Sefton is one of the worst affected Councils nationally - it is only right that Mr Pickles visits residents to explain why the Government is choosing to target our area to shoulder a higher than average burden. We understand Mr Pickles has written to the council ahead of the Full Council meeting tomorrow but we believe the voting public have a right to be consulted also, and for the Minister to be held to account over the decisions his department makes by the people who are being directly affected. A lack of explanation and/or consultation makes it seem as though Mr Pickles is concerned only with dictats and not with implementation and we have many understandably worried and angry residents. 

Kat Sumner

Chair of SACC"

If you would like to call/write to Mr Pickles to show you support for my request for a meeting please use these details:

Eric Pickles
House of Commons
SW1A 0AA

020 7219 4428

 eric.pickles@communities.gsi.gov.uk

BBC Radio Merseyside

Here is a link to the BBC Radio Merseyside show on which we were featured.

John Pugh voted to support the reform of EMA

Enough said really:

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2011-01-19&number=177&mpn=John_Pugh&mpc=Southport&house=commons

Agenda Published for Full Council meeting on 27th and a march organised to "Save our Children's Centres" by concerned parents.

The Council has published the details of the Full Council Meeting on 27th January 2011. All the details can be found here.


A group of Southport parents have organised a march to save our Children's Centres. They also have a facebook group. The March begins at Southport Train Station at 10.30am on Tuesday 25th January 2011. They are urging people to bring placards, make banners e.t.c.

They are also asking for people to write a short paragraph about how children's centres have benefitted people:

"If you have some time in the next couple of days, could you please write out a short paragraph (or a long one!) on how the children's centres have benefitted you. What have they done for you and your children? How would life be different if you were no longer able to access one? 
I thought that instead of a petition, a pile of testimonies might be more meaningful and compelling. You can leave it anonymous if you want, but if you are happy to put your name on it and would be happy to relate your story to the media, just add your name and a short note to that effect at the bottom. Send them to me as soon as you get a chance. Thank you! x"

If you email me at southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk I will pass them on.

Jessica from BBC Radio Merseyside is also attending the march and is looking for people who are willing to be interviewed.

EMA

Yesterday Parliament voted to scrap EMA. It is due to be replaced but unfortunately by a much smaller scheme of only £100million. I notice the Government are only concerned about keeping children in education as reported in The Independent. Surely one of the main benefits of EMA is that enables students that are in education to focus more easily on their studies rather than trying to work in their free time to earn money for travel/books e.t.c.? Have they considered this element at all? It is not just about staying on but the quality of the results the pupils get which is directly related to their ability to focus on A-level work.

In contrast Goldman Sachs have announced bonus payouts of £10bn. Alistair Darling's "city bonus tax" I'm sure would potentially pay for EMA several times over. The future looks bleak for young people with the scrapping of the uniform grant, funding for school sports in question, scrapping of EMA, Uni fee increases and to cap it all it has also been announce that not only has youth unemployment risen (1in5 are now unemployed), Unemployment in the public sector has risen between september and november with no private sector compensation.

Response To Nina's letter to Council Chief Margaret Carney

We are very glad to receive the following response from Margaret Carney today. It goes some way to explaining why some of the cuts are being made. I note the council have considered the cost of outsourcing the flowers but have the council considered the potential loss in income from the nine redundancies and the costs of supporting these nine people through unemployment in their calculations? Also the loss of the income generated through tourism? The prize winning Nursery is a particular attraction and has been featured in national media more than once.


We are also glad to hear there is some hope for the museum building but would like to know what will happen to the exhibitions?
"Dear Ms Killen,

I refer to your e-mail dated 11 January and note its contents. In
response to your direct questions I would make the following
comments:-

The decision in respect of Botanic Gardens and the museum was made by
the Council in the light of the need to identify £44 million of
savings next year with a further £20 million the year after. The
decision was made on the basis of the relative priority of these
activities. In respect of the museum the Council does not have the
capital monies to undertake the necessary repairs and improvements and
therefore the building will be mothballed until such time as resources
become available. In terms of the Nursery, this was a value for money
decision on the basis that the plants produced by the nursery could be
procured elsewhere for £100k less.

I can assure you that the Council has taken into account the staffing
implications of all the savings that have been approved. It is
impossible to make the level of savings we need to make and for it not
to affect jobs. I can assure you we are doing everything possible to
minimise the implications on staff.

Members allowances and the terms and conditions of staff including my
own are part of the options being considered

There is a review of the Capita and Arvato contracts underway to which
the trade unions have been invited to participate

We are in regular dialogue with neighbouring Councils regarding their position.

Your sincerely


Margaret Carney,
Chief Executive,
Sefton Council."

Demonstration Poster

If you would like a pdf copy of the poster below to print out and display at home please e-mail southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk. We need help to distribute leaflets and posters. If you are interested please e-mail and come to the planning meeting at The Windmill at 8pm.

Planning Meeting on Monday 24th January 2011!

Monday's meeting is a planning meeting for the demonstration on 27th January 2011. As such there is no formal agenda. Anyone concerned is welcome to attend both the meeting from 8pm on 24th at The Windmill and the demonstration from 5.30pm on 27th onwards.

Please come along if you plan to attend the demonstration which is titled "SACC Demonstration For Accountability And Public Consultation".

• We want Sefton Council to take the lead on consulting with the public about where cuts should be made as other Local Authorities have.
• We want to know the Council has fully considered the implications of the cuts it is proposing and voting on, and for this information to be made public. For example: last month the council decided to close Botanic Gardens Nursery and outsource the flowers. Have they considered the effect on the local economy as well as the outlay for the outsourced flowers? Is outsourcing the flowers really cheaper? What effect will closing attractions have on an economy dependent on tourism? Where are the new flowers going to be sourced from? Will the money be kept within the local economy or even the country? Have they considered the immediate effect on the local economy of supporting those made redundant and also the reduction in input into the local economy as a result?
• We understand the Council grant has been cut by Central government but we believe as council taxpayers and residents we have a right to be consulted during the process of making cuts and savings. The council has identified that low paid workers will be affected by cuts to the cleansing team - have they looked at ways to save money that will affect higher paid workers?

We plan to circulate leaflets in the week before the Council Meeting. If you can help with this please contact me on 01704 531613 or southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk

Minutes from the meeting 17/1/11

Minutes taken by Nina:

Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition meeting minutes

17 January 2011

Apologies were received from Sefton TUC’s Danny McGowan.

There was a brief introduction from people who had not been at the last meeting.

1.  Minutes from last meeting read and accepted

2.  A Treasurer was appointed. Celia Watson volunteered. She was proposed by Nina Killen, seconded by Paul Glendenning and voted through unanimously. The group agreed that Kat Sumner should be appointed chair and Nina Killen secretary.

3.  Nina sent a letter to Sefton council cheif executive Margaret Carney asking her to justify the way the council were making cuts. She has not had a reply but will chase it up. A letter was also written to the Southport Visiter but it was not published last week. The Southport Party petition to save the Botanic Gardens has received more than 3,000 signatures and the museum petition more than 500, taking it past the 2,500 necessary to get the council to consider it.

4.  Kat and Celia have designed a leaflet to give out prior to the 27 January demonstration outside Southport Town Hall. It will be A5 and can be given out to the public on the night and in the days leading up to it to raise the profile of the demo and the SACC. Nina will contact UNISON to see if the unions are organising their own demo for the meeting or if they could send people to support ours. We will meet at 5.30pm outside the town hall on Thursday 27 January. The leaflet was approved and a poster will be drawn up for people to put in their windows and ask local shops to display. It was suggested we email the poster to children’s centres to see if they would print it out and display it. Paul said he may also be able to make announcements about the group at Southport FC home games. Kat said she may be able to get a banner made at her own cost.

5.  A list of known Sefton Council cuts was read out which is available on the council website. It includes cuts to librarires, street cleaning, park maintenance, bowling greens, the LGA and grants for childcare provision. Councillors’ expenses/numbers not under threat. We will need to hold the council to account using the Localism Bill, which will devolve greater powers to councils. We discussed which cuts the group oppose – is it all cuts? Kat said it was up to individuals to decide what they support and what they oppose. Are we Sefton or Southport Anti-Cuts? We are Southport to give the town a group which represents the area specifically, but it is not exclusive of people or groups from other areas. It was proposed that the Visiter should follow a councillor for a week and a public sector worker to see what they actually do but Tom Bristow from the Visiter said that wasn’t feasible due to  a shortage of reporters. Paul Glendenning gave a brief outline of UKUncut, He said it was a loose coalition of people opposed to companies and individuals avoiding and evading tax. Kat pointed out that £75bn will be lost through tax evasion over the course of the current Parliament, almost equal to the £80bn in cuts the government wants to make. Locally we want the council to consult with the public rather than bulldozing through proposals.

6.  There was a debate about whether we should affiliate to the national movement The Coalition Of Resistance. It would cost £25 a year. Some felt it would take the group too far away from the local issues and would make it too political, but it was explained that the Coalition Of Resistance was an umbrella organisation with aims and ambitions similar to our own group’s, and that it was apolitical just like the SACC. It would provide support for our cuts protests rather than take our fight national, although it was felt that the national picture had to be taken into account along with the local and the two were not exclusive. The affiliation was voted through 13 for, 3 against and 4 undecided.

7.  Any other business: UKUncut are organising protests around the self-assesment deadline of Jan 31. Paul will organise an Uncut protest for Southport for Saturday 29 January but it would not be under the SACC banner. Celia is attending an education cuts meeting in Liverpool and will report back if there are any EMA cuts protests locally that we can support. 14 said they would attend the demo on 27 January.

8.  £25.21 was collected to pay for the Coalition of Resistance affiliation.

9.  The next meeting will be Monday 24 January 2011.

"Great Swapathon" vouchers "...of little benefit to consumers' pockets or health"

Christine Haigh of The Children's Food Campaign said the scheme was "insulting" to customers in The Guardian today. She also said:

"This analysis exposes the 'Great Swapathon' for what it really is – a great marketing opportunity for the companies involved, but of little benefit to consumers' pockets or health."

"Sadly, this attempt at promoting healthier products is dwarfed by advertising for junk food. Until the government takes steps to address this, such as by protecting children from unhealthy food marketing, we're unlikely to see the UK shift from its unenviable position at the top of Europe's obesity league table."

The Department of health said:

"Every Swapathon booklet offers over £50 of swap vouchers, including £19 worth of savings at Asda, over £30 off WeightWatchers online and £5 off footwear at JJB Sports. There is no minimum spend, no strings attached, significant cost savings – they do what they say. This initiative will make it that bit easier to try healthier alternatives at lower cost."

But the rest of the article demonstrates how it is often cheaper and healthier to buy none branded alternatives and criticises the Weight Watchers discount saying it is available on their website without the voucher.

Should the Government be promoting businesses like Kelloggs, Weight Watchers and JJB sports? Is this the first proof of a conflict of interest as a result of Andrew Lansley's "responsibility deal"?

In November the BBC reported that the "Great Swapathon" vouchers would be exchanged for "...healthy pursuits such as free swimming and gym membership." Weight watchers, JJB sportswear and Asda discounts off the price of branded products seem a long way from this.

Radio Merseyside

Radio Merseyside called me this morning. They are coming to speak to Nina and I on Tuesday 18th January so we will be discussing this at the Monday meeting. Anyone else who wants to either attend or put their views forward should make sure they attend the meeting on Monday evening or contact me via e-mail: southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk

Also, Tom Bristow from The Southport Visiter has published an excellent article today about our last meeting.

Agenda - 17th January 2011

Agenda For The Second SACC Meeting

8pm The Windmill Seabank Road Southport 17th January 2011

Chairperson: Kat Sumner

Secretary: Nina Killen

A brief welcome and recording of apologies  - 8pm (5mins)

1. Minutes of the last meeting submitted for approval - 8.05pm (5 mins)

2. Matters arising from the minutes - 8.10pm

2.1 Appointing a treasurer with regard to point 2 of the minutes. (5 mins)

2.2 With regard to point 3 we will hear from Nina about the letter she sent to Margaret Carney (and the Visiter) and the progress of the Southport Party petition. (5 mins)

2.3 With regard to point 4 Kat and Celia to circulate the leaflet and/or poster to the group for approval (5 mins)

2.4 Discussion of options for printing and distribution of leaflets and posters. (5 mins)

2.5 Formalisation of arrangements for a demonstration and/or presence at the Council Meeting on 27th January 2011 (15 mins)

3. Submission of a list of known Sefton Council cuts and job losses which have either been made or approved for approval by the group with additions to be made when necessary - 8.45pm (10 mins)

3.1 Submission of ideas for SACC coordinated action (10 mins)

4. Submission of the SACC Founding statement for approval and additions 9.05pm (5 mins)

5. Further to Celia's suggestion at the last meeting about working at 3 levels; A submission from Kat about the possibility of affiliating to the Coalition of Resistance Against Privatisations and Cuts group to enable work on a National level against central Government Cuts as well as local Sefton Cuts. - 9.10pm (5 mins)

6. Any other business 9.15pm (10 mins)

7. The Next Meeting. - 9.25pm (5 mins)

List of Cuts

There is a list of Sefton Cuts implemented at the meeting on 16/12/10 in this public document pack:

http://modgov.sefton.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=13945&T=9




Yesterday Caroline Lucas tweeted about the vote on Royal Mail:

"CarolineLucas Commons just voted to sell off Royal Mail - sad day for post offices, since no assurance that privatised Royal Mail will use PO for business"

 The BBC reported:

"The Postal Services Bill, which could see 90% of the firm end up in foreign hands, was approved by the Commons with a government majority of 81."



According to the Save EMA website:

"We can announce they the Labour party have listened to our calls for a vote to take place on the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA). And are using a their parliamentary backbench business day next week to pass a motion in the house to make a vote essential."

More information about EMA and why it is important, to help poorer students with books, travel and prevent then having to get Saturday jobs that interfere with the ability to study to name but a few very important reasons, can be found on the Save EMA website.

Celia Watson student spokesperson and SACC contributor posted the following on the SACC Facebook page:

"Update on EMA: announcement that there is now a Vote on EMA next week - wed 19th. They weren't bothering with an actual vote before. NUS has called day of action for Tues 18th and lobbying 19th. I'll let you know as soon as I know what is happening in the region. But I think it would be great if people could be persuaded to support students who do something - whether it's just walking alongside those who may walkout (even if you can't condone them walking out). If you are a teacher and pupils leave - please - little things like marking them as present (if threat of losing their current EMA is an issue etc). Or making sure school gates are not illegally closed to prevent people going." 

Crown Green Bowling:

I have invited representatives from Southport Parks Bowling to come to the Monday meeting. At the 16th December Council Meeting the Council voted to reduce the numbers of Sefton Council bowling greens from 22 to 16. Although the council has promised to speak to bowlers (see minutes of 16th Dec meeting) about which these might be, Southport Parks Bowling say they have not been consulted up until now despite 11 of the 22 falling within wards covered by the Southport Area Committee. This has lead to many rumours and speculations about which may be lost and much uncertainty for the many people who use them.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra:


Sefton Council voted to cease their grant of over £22,000 to the Philharmonic Orchestra. This is in addition to the Arts Council Cuts in which the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society have already lost over £11,000.



Prison Closures Announced:

The Government announced today that three prisons will be closed (by March) and the inmates transfered to more "modern facilities".

The BBC reported:

"Ashwell prison, a former Army camp, is a facility for medium-risk males with a capacity of 214. It will close by the end of March.

Lancaster Castle is leased from Lancashire County Council while the land itself is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. It has a capacity of 238 and will also close by the end of March.

And Morton Hall, a former RAF base used to house female prisoners, has a capacity of 392. The government said it would be operational as an immigration centre by some time next year."

All these prisons are North of Birmingham. The people employed by the Prison Service at Ashwell and Lancaster will be offered transfers or voluntary redundancy packages and all inmates will be transferred according to The Guardian. Although they do not state where.


Regional Prisons are important so that relatives of prisoners are able to visit. Moving prisoners away from their families punishes the children, parents, siblings e.t.c. of prisoners by geographically denying them access to their imprisoned relative. Stable family relationships have been identified as important for rehabilitation and demonstrated to influence re-offending rates as is referenced in this British Society of Criminology paper. Is the Government going to guarantee that prisoners are offered alternative local prison places and likewise the staff are offered local employment? 

Nina's Letters

Nina has also made a freedom of information request regarding what services Sefton Council are legally obliged to provide.

Nina's letter to The Chief Executive:
"Dear Mrs Carney
I am writing as secretary of the Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition. The
Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition is a group of people who oppose cuts to
vital jobs and services and we want the council to be held to account
over the budget cuts they have announced.
Please can you explain how the council came to a decision about the
closure of the Botanic Gardens nursery and museum? It seems to me to
be very short-sighted to close a successful nursery and museum in
order to save money, but then to pay contractors to grow and plant
flowers around the town in future. What are the savings and costs
involved? Has the council taken into account the personal situation of
the staff who are being made redundant? It is a personal tragedy for
anyone losing their jobs in the current economic climate.
Council leader Tony Robertson says there is no alternative to savage
cuts - has the council really investigated the alternatives? Have
council members looked at their own costs, whether the number of
councillors could be cut or their expenses scaled back? Have you
looked at your own salary package - are you willing to lose some of
your salary like you are expecting the dedicated public servants of
Sefton to lose theirs? Has there been value for money from the
contracts with Capita and Arvato, and what is the council doing about
those organisations failing to create jobs?
Has the council looked at the ways that other councils are managing
their cuts? Other councils seem to going a lot further to protect jobs
and services.
Vulnerable people in Sefton should not have to pay for the economic
situation the country and the council finds itself in. The Southport
Anti-Cuts Coalition will do all we can to fight cuts and hold the
council to account for the decisions they make.
Yours sincerely
Nina Killen
Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition"
Nina's Letter to The Visiter:



"Sefton Council leader Tony Robertson says there is no alternative to
savage cuts in frontline services, jobs and support for the area’s
most vulnerable people, but has the council really investigated the
alternatives? 
Have council members looked at their own costs, whether the number of
councillors could be cut or their expenses scaled back? Has the chief
executive Margaret Carney looked at her own salary package – is she
willing to lose some of her salary as she is expecting the dedicated
public servants of Sefton to lose theirs?
How did the council come to a decision about the closure of the
Botanic Gardens nursery and museum? It seems to me to be very
short-sighted to close a successful nursery and museum in order to
save money, but then to pay contractors to grow and plant flowers
around the town in future. What are the savings and costs involved?
Has the council taken into account the personal situation of the staff
who are being made redundant? It is a personal tragedy for anyone
losing their jobs in the current economic climate.
Other councils seem to going a lot further to protect jobs and
services. Has the council looked at how other councils are making
cuts? I have written to the chief executive Margaret Carney to ask
these questions and look forward to her reply.
Vulnerable people in Sefton should not have to pay for the economic
situation the country and the council finds itself in. A new group has
been formed called the Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition – we are an open
group and urge the people of Southport and the wider area to join us.
We will do all we can to fight cuts and hold the council to account
for the decisions they make. Our next meeting is at the Windmill Pub
on Seabank Road on Monday January 17 at 8pm.
Nina Killen, Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition"

An encouraging first meeting! 10th January 2011

Minutes taken by Nina:

Southport Anti-Cuts Coalition inaugural meeting

10 January 2011

1. Introduction

The meeting began with each person in attendance introducing

themselves and giving a little detail about why they were there. There

were representatives from the Green Party, Southport Party, Labour,

UNISON, NASUWT, the student movement plus Alan Foxhall from the

Botanic Gardens.

2. Funding

The TUC had offered to provide funds to pay for a room, but many felt

that that would compromise the group’s independence. Some went as far

as to say they would refuse to be involved if the TUC were involved in

funding, To maintain independence it is important to fund ourselves.

It was thought a room in a Southport pub for a Monday would cost

around £20. At the next meeting a contribution of £1 or £2 per person

was suggested to meet the cost.

3. Ambitions of the group

Kat appealed for people within the group to keep her informed of cuts

that they were aware of. Plans are already being drawn up for

education redundancies, for example, even though education was

supposed to be ring-fenced. Alan Foxhall said there was never any

discussion with him or his staff with regards to how they might be

able to save money at the Botanic Gardens – they were just handed

their redundancy notices. Because they are planning to pay contractors

to grow the plants in future, has that cost been taken into account?

Alan felt we should be trying to make Southport look great in this

time of economic instability. The Southport Party have more than 4,000

signatures on their petition against the closure and they will present

this to the council meeting at Southport Town Hall on 27 January.

Other cuts mentioned were to bowling greens, lollipop ladies and the

Education Maintenance Allowance. We should hold our MP John Pugh to

account as well. It was suggested we write to the council to get them

to set out what services they are obliged by law to provide and hold

them to account over whether they are providing them. Nina Killen will

write a letter to the council leader Margaret Carney, to challenge her

about protecting public services and about councillors’ expenses.

Jonathon Allan from UNISON spoke about the council finances – he said

they was no surplus unlike with many other councils, and investments

they did make they were getting poor returns on after the banking

crisis. £27m of cuts have already been identified and in April 2010

many public servants agreed to a cut in terms and conditions.

Government-based grants were pulled straight after the general

election last May. 1,000 jobs could go at the council and perhaps a 5%

pay cut asked of remaining staff this year. The economic viability of

the area will suffer because there will be less money in people’s

pockets.

4. Next step

The group needs to give out leaflets to raise the profile of the

group, but this could be expensive unless a sympathetic printer is

found. Kat and Celia will design a leaflet this week. Posters to be put

up in local shops could be a cheaper way to spread the word. There

were some volunteers for handing out leaflets. Nina to keep in touch

with local press.

We should have a presence at the Council meeting on the 27th January to protest

about the Botanic Gardens closure.

5. Next meeting

January 17 at the Windmill Pub, Seabank Road, Southport at 8pm.

I felt the response was very encouraging. Almost thirty people attended and some good points were raised. The meeting went very well and despite there being a good mix of different views the discussions were all productive and respectful which I feel is very encouraging for the future of the group. I'd like to thank everybody for attending particularly those who had travelled from out of town or who had come after many years of feeling disaffected with local politics. I was pleased to see so many individuals there too. I hope you will all be involved at future meetings and bring other people! 

This week, as is mentioned in the minutes I am going to write the leaflet with Celia. Also, the Agenda for the next meeting which will be published on here and handed out at the beginning of the meeting. Nina has written letters to the visiter and to Margaret Carney. The Visiter and the Formby Times will be featuring a write up of our first meeting this week too.

Keep sending information and perspectives to southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk

Inside Perspectives - Libraries

Please bear in mind when reading insider perspectives that they are opinions expressed by people involved in the sector concerned. I will always take time to try and provide references to support information provided but the views themselves are opinions. Many Thanks!

I have received the following insider perspective from Ian Anstice who runs a blog in defence of Britain's libraries. Ian works in libraries in the North West and produces the blog in his free time, he doesn't claim to represent his local authority through the views he expresses there. His blog provides information about library closures and funding as well as information about protests and actions against cuts and a map of library closures – publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com. 

Ian says:

"The outlook for public libraries in the UK over the next year or two is the worst it ever has been since their creation in 1850.  After about half of library authorities have announced their plans, around 370 libraries are currently under threat of closure in the UK.  These are often the small community libraries that local people rely on such as that in the deprived Blackbird Leys area of Oxfordshire or in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.  They can also be quite large libraries that just happen to be relatively close to another library (close, that is, if you have a car) such as Glastonbury in Somerset. 

Councils are facing great cuts in funding at the moment and many are deciding to close libraries... but libraries don't cost a lot of money (0.08% of GDP) and have a disproportionately high impact on their communities.  Libraries promote literacy, freedom of information and knowledge, social interaction and, often, free online access which can be most useful when looking for work.  It is up to communities to make this known to councillors if a local library is closing down.  It will be in your hands to save."

Churchtown, Ainsdale and Birkdale libraries are threatened with closure (as reported by the Formby Times 10th November 2010 formby times) and Southport Town Centre library is currently without a permanent home. If Birkdale, Ainsdale and Churchtown libraries go, not only will we lose the books, but in Churchtown's case the beautiful building, and also all of the valuable and local community services the libraries provide. 

You can find a list of closures and other cuts at Ian's blog.  You can also find reasons to defend libraries here - www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/

Ian also sent the following quote:

“Today’s economic challenge means people need library services more than ever, to help them back to work, to access learning and as a central plank of community cohesion” Mr Vaizey, Culture Minster (July 2010)

which forms part of this DCMS media release

Agenda for the First Meeting 10th January 2011

Tomorrow's Meeting will be fairly informal as it is intended to be an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves and for us all to set the agendas for further actions as well as to assess what is actually happening in Southport at the moment. The extent of the cuts may not be clear until we have information from a variety of people and sources, so the first step is to gather information.

The Windmill will be concurrently holding a darts match on the other side of the pub (from the dining room) - please respect the other pub users. The pub environment may prove to be difficult if a lot of people come but we need to start somewhere, so please be prepared to be accommodating and patient as we get organised! Please also do speak to me if you have any concerns.I would like the group to be run as democratically and fairly as possible and transparency is very important so please do ask anything you would like to know about Nina and I or SACC.

I intend to hear briefly from everybody who attends, if possible, and collect contact details for a mailing list as well as a brief outline of people's interests, skills and experiences.

There are few main points which will need discussing and decisions making:

1. The TUC have suggested the possibility of funding for a meeting room. I would like people to have input into the contributions made to the group and not feel as though the group is being run by any other organisation.The independence is fundamentally important. Some people may feel uncomfortable with taking union associated funds and prefer to remain entirely independent. If this is the case we need to discuss options for funding a room ourselves - the windmill may not be an ideal environment for future meetings. Unfortunately Danny McGowan from TUC cant make the meeting and sends his apologies but I will liase with him if we decide to enquire further about the funding.

2. The dates and regularity of future meetings.

3. What goals do we have for the next month? Also, setting the Agenda for the next meeting.

Some important points to remember are that this meeting, and the group, is not about slinging mud at political figures, opposing political parties e.t.c. It welcomes involvement from anybody of any political view and will not get involved in telling people or groups what they should think or should get involved with. Conversely please feel comfortable in representing yourself and your views honestly. There is no requirement for a consensus and I believe despite possible difficulties the group will benefit greatly from having a wide range of contributors with different skills and agendas.

SACC is designed to be impartial and apolitical and to provide information, support and networking for anybody working against cuts and privatisations that are not in the interests of the people of Southport. My intention is to try and get everybody united and working together, instead of separately in unco-ordinated efforts. Also, to connect people who would not otherwise be connected.

Everybody must offer respect to everybody else. It is possible you will encounter views which you may not agree with which may be difficult for people who feel passionately. If this is the case please remember the aim of SACC is not to get everybody to agree just to get people to form connections and involvements with people on things on which you DO agree. I hope local councillors and politicians will get involved too. We should have representatives from Southport Conservatives, Lib Dems, Labour, the Greens and the Southport Party as well as local business owners, individuals, carers forum, various unions, the NHS, education and ordinary individuals.

Many thanks for getting through all that, with nervousness and excitement, we will see you tomorrow evening!

In the meantime and if you cannot make the meeting, please get involved by sending contridutions to the blog. We need links to relevant information, websites e.t.c. as well as, and possibly most importantly, inside perspectives on what is happening in Southport and how people will be affected. I intend to publish these perspectives, you can remain anonymous if you wish, on the blog to help build a picture of what is happening from the inside. Information is key - email anything relevant, big or small to southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk

We need you!

Happy New Year! The first meeting of SACC is on Monday (in the Windmill at 8pm). We need everyone interested to come!

Also, please anybody who has a good understanding of a particular issue - libraries, schools, sports, parks etc email me at Southportanticuts@hotmail.co.uk with your story about what is happening, why it matters and what people are doing about it. I will add the stories to the blog. A very important part of this is people who know about things sharing information with everybody, so that more people can understand what exactly is happening and what is being done about it.

There are some links that have been posted on the SACC Facebook page :

The Merseyside network against fees and cuts:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=373996114454

A campaign to save public libraries run by a local(ish :)) with information about the future of funding for libraries:
publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com

And a Facebook page organising a national walkout to save EMA on 26th January:
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176843452345159&ref=mf