Political Viewpoint by Coun Peter Wexham
by
AS I write this, everything is shut down because of Coronavirus. I just hope we can all come out the other side safely and try to get our town up and running again.
Someone said to me that private care homes should buy their own safety equipment for the staff.
These care homes take people paid for by the Council, as well as privately and years of Government austerity cuts mean that the Council has had to squeeze the costs to the care homes. When the epidemic broke out, suppliers to the care homes had the Government requisition everything for the NHS, cutting off the supply to other regular businesses. The failure to recognise the risk and reality of Covid19 in care homes, until much too, late has put the staff`s lives at risk as well as those of the residents.
But let’s look now at a different subject – the environmental issues that haven’t gone away while we are all concentrating on the pandemic.
As someone who has been working on environmental issues most of my life, I find it great at last to be part of the cross-Party group (Lib Dems, Labour and Independents) running the Council. We have made sure that the natural environment, climate change and the council’s own carbon footprint are now well up the agenda, across the whole town.
We will be monitoring air quality starting with the hot spots around the town. These are mainly at busy junctions and a lot of these have schools close to these junctions, where the pollution is highest. Once we know how big the problem is we can then tackle Government to allow us, as a town, to do something about it.
Locally in Leigh I am still working to raise the funds for improving the Old Town landing facilities and clearing the creek of silt, to keep the fishing industries alive in Leigh, for many years to come.
It has been strange, though, to see Conservative Councillors trying to wriggle out of all that has gone before, while they ran the Council. They vote against everything, including all the commitments they made themselves when in office, and the massive schemes where they signed contracts with developers. I wish they would take a constructive approach instead of playing these political games.
In the centre of Leigh there are just too many cars for the spaces available. Almost everywhere, there is too little off street parking. The new administration at Southend is looking at the possibility of a proper car park where visitors can park and enjoy the benefits of Leigh, for shopping and the old town. Also a proper parking strategy for the whole of Southend, including Leigh, for residents and visitors to our seaside town.
Hopefully this can ease the problems. We do need to reduce car use, but this has to be a country-wide plan from Government. Electric cars will not solve the congestion on our roads; also, if all the cars are electric, the country would need to build many more power stations to supply the electricity needed. I believe that Hydrogen & fuel cells will be the future, but that is a good few years away.
Some years ago I found that rubbish from landfill sites on Two Tree Island and Leigh Marshes were leaching poisons and pollutants into the sea. I had to force the Tory-controlled Council to repair the seawalls that contain the rubbish, and this has worked well in containing the polluted liquids from getting out.
Now, a potential Tory Council candidate is claiming that this leakage is happening again. If there is still a problem then this candidate should inform the Council where the problem is, so that something can be done about it, not just say it is happening and walk away from it.
If anyone out walking sees this sort of problem, please report it to me or the Council, so that action can be taken.
Finally, please remember there are safety and support schemes for residents and businesses whilst the Covid-19 emergency is happening, so if you need help or know someone who does, contact the Council helpline on 01702 212497.
Please stay safe and well.
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