Dave's Knowsley diary

Sunday 31st July 2005 - Many local residents have been shocked by the horrific murder of Huyton student Anthony Walker on Friday night. Let us hope the animals who committed this crime are caught quickly.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Anthony's family and friends this weekend.

Thursday 28th July 2005 - Litter and the quality of street cleaning was high on our agenda yesterday when the new Chief Executive of Knowsley visited Halewood North ward as part of her induction into the new post. We also highlighted areas of anti-social behaviour and traffic problems while also looking at how the rural areas of the ward are often overlooked. Hopefully we will see some improvements in these areas soon.

Tuesday 26th July 2005 - I have been spending a lot of time looking around my ward and the Halewood area in general in recent weeks and am very disappointed with the amount of litter on the streets and fly tipping going on. The Knowsley Pride campaign was designed to address these problems but so far I am yet to be convinced that the extra investment has made any real impact, something I will raise with the Chief Executive during her ward visit tomorrow.

Saturday 16th July 2005 - A petition in Knowsley against the Boundary Commission's proposals for the reorganisation of Parliamentary boundaries on Merseyside is growing daily. Both political parties on the Council have supported the objections to the plans to split our Borough with Halewood joining Garston while Whiston and parts of Prescot go to St Helens South. It is a barmy scheme which will split communities and produce a huge imbalance in the value of votes across Merseyside.

Friday 15th july 2005 - Mark Hunter - the new MP for Cheadle - and myself thanking party workers for their help during the election.

Friday 15th July 2005 - All the hard work has paid off and the people of Cheadle have given a big thumbs down to the negative Tory campaign when Mark Hunter was elected as the new MP for Cheadle in yesterday's by-election! Oh and Labour even managed to loose their deposit!!

Thursday 14th July 2005 - It has been busy week so far, as well as helping out in Cheadle where I could we had a Council meeting last night where we supported the oppositoin to the Boundary Commission's proposals to carve up Knowsley's Parliamentary seats and gave our backing in principal to supporting the Merseytram project.

However, despite all political parties across Merseyside working together to support the Merseytram scheme I fear the Government are not as committed to it and will eventually scupper the plans.

Thursday 14th July 2005 - Today is polling day in the Parliamentary by-election in Cheadle and like many of my colleagues from around the region I will be going to help out as much as I can before and after work. It is vital for the Party we hold this seat and see off the threat from the Tories who have been running a very nasty and negative personal campaign, let's hope it backfires on them!!

Sunday 10th July 2005 - Another glorious day in Cheadle and still plenty of work to be done with only four days to polling day to ensure Mark Hunter wins on Thursday. If ever anyone needed motivating to work in a by-election the latest examples of Tory dirty tricks are enough to make the laziest person want to work all day to get Mark elected!! They really have stooped to an all time low in Cheadle they are so desperate to win but their negative campaign is turning off large swathes of the electorate who will now definately vote Lib Dem- keep it up Steve!!

Friday 8th July 2005 - Another wonderful evening of musical talent at the Knowsley Summer Concert in the Huyton Suite where the Knowsley Youth Orchestra was joined by children from Knowsley Concert Band, St Margaret Mary junior band, St Thomas Beckett Steel Pan group and Y11 GSCE group and St Jospeh Primary and Sylvester Primary joint band. As usual everyone heard some great music and enjoyed a terrific peformance and the hospitality at the interval was very pleasant as well!!

Party Leader Charles Kennedy visited Cheadle on Thursday only hours after the horrific attacks in London. Charles joined Lib Dem candidate Mark Hunter and myself to meet and thank the many activists and members working in the campaign HQ for all their hard work, although the mood was slightly more sombre than had been anticipated due to the tragic events in London earlier in the day.

Wednesday 6th July 2005 - After watching another hilarious PMQ's with John Prescott deputising for the Prime Minister I headed to Cheadle this afternoon, my 3rd visit in 5 days, and was delighted to see so many people at the campaign HQ working hard.

Every time I see a new Tory leaflet here in Cheadle, there's an extra reason to make sure we hold Patsy's seat in the by-election in 8 days time.It's a really nasty campaign. Without knowing who their leader will be, I understand why they might find it difficult to talk about their future plans - but that's no excuse for crude dishonesty.We really should be talking about the issues, what's important to local residents and the best future for our community.The Tory negative, aggressive American-style campaigning doesn't help improve our health services, give our teachers the support they need or aid the fight against crime.There's only one way to stop these Conservative smears against Mark Hunter and that is to stand up for what we believe in and deliver the extra leaflet, knock on the extra door and make the extra phone call.With your help, we will win in 8 days time.

Monday 4th July 2005 - Halewood Community Radio started broadcasting live this morning at 8am for 2 weeks from Asda in Hunts Cross. Run by the community for the community this project has been in the planning for over 2 months and I have been listening to the young people presenting the breakfast show this morning, tune in they are doing a great job!! 87.7 FM HCR

Sunday 3rd July 2005 - poster sites have been popping up all over the constituency and from my last visit I would estimate we are winning by about 3 to 1!! Let's hope that is a sign for July 14th, but we still have a lot of work to be done, hope to see many more familiar faces in the coming week!!

Sunday 3rd July 2005 - Very funny joke in the Sunday Times today, how many Conservative leadership candidates does it take to change a light bulb? None, until they recognise the bulb needs changing it looks set to remain in the darkness for another five years!!

Saturday 2nd July 2005 - A beautiful day for the Halewood Festival yesterday where Dave met Max the Tiger!! Lots of people attended despite the competition from Hyde Park and it was terrific to see so many local community and voluntary groups involved.