MERSEYSIDE TRANSPORT PARTNERSHIP APPOINTS CLIMATE CHANGE SPECIALIST A climate change officer has been appointed to help Merseyside reach its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 31% by 2022.
Sarah Jolly, who lives in Halewood and has a masters degree in Environmental Management, has started her role at the Merseyside Transport Partnership (MTP) following a two year spell at Envirolink Northwest. She will support existing work taking place across the region to address climate change by helping reduce the impact of transport on carbon emissions.
Her particular focus will be the preparation of the climate change strategy for the next Local Transport Plan (LTP3), which will run from 2011. Working in partnership with local, regional, national and European bodies, she will develop integrated, low-carbon transport solutions for the region. As part of the Liverpool City Region (LCR), Sarah will help Merseyside to meet national climate change targets and become the UK’s biggest low carbon goods and services city-region economy.
Sarah is already working hard to establish relationships with partner organisations across Merseyside. She said:- “Climate change is a very topical issue and an exciting area to be involved in. MTP is already placing climate change at the heart of its work to support the continuing regeneration of the City Region, which is fantastic news. My focus is on preparing a strategy for the submission of the next draft Local Transport Plan (LTP3) in March 2011 – it’s really satisfying to know that my work will have a clear influence of the future direction of climate change policy for Merseyside.”
Neil Scales, Chair of Merseyside Transport Partnership and Chief Executive of Merseytravel, said:- “We’re delighted to have Sarah onboard. The need for climate change action overall, and from the transport sector in particular, has been growing in recent years. Work taking place at a local level across the region is helping Merseyside work towards its targets for climate change and carbon reduction and is already playing an important part in shaping national and regional policies.”
To find out more about climate change strategy and work on the next Local Transport Plan (LTP3) for Merseyside, visit:- transportmerseyside.org.
WITNESS APPEAL - CONFRONTATIONAL BURGLARY, BROADGREEN MERSEYSIDE Police Detectives are appealing for information about a confrontational burglary at a flat in Broadgreen earlier this month. Officers were called to Broadgreen Court in Broadgreen Road on 15 February 2010 following reports that a 79 year old man had been confronted inside his flat by a masked burglar who assaulted the victim and stole cash and a set of keys from him. The incident happened at around 6am last Monday morning and the victim, who is deaf, suffered injuries to his back, believed to have been caused by a punch, which required hospital treatment. The offender is described as white, of a big or stocky build, and was wearing a mask or scarf to conceal his face. At this stage it is unclear how the offender got inside the property, which is part of a block of residential flats for the elderly. Due to the time of day that the burglary occurred, detectives are particularly keen to speak to anyone who was out in the area early that morning, such as people on their way to start an early shift at work, delivery drivers, dog-walkers and joggers, who may have seen someone acting suspiciously outside the flats. Detector Inspector Neil Clark of St Anne Street CID, said:- "This was a despicable and callous attack on a vulnerable, elderly man in his own home. The offender has left this man with serious injuries to his back after launching a completely unnecessary and unprovoked assault on him, all for a small amount of money and a relatively worthless set of keys. We are absolutely determined to find this man so that he cannot commit further crimes but we need the public's help in piecing together what happened before and after he broke into the flat. There would not have been many people around at that time of the morning so anyone who was loitering in Broadgreen Road or running away from the flats may have attracted someone else's attention. I'd also like to reassure people that incidents like this are thankfully very rare and neighbourhood officers will be patrolling this area. I would appeal for people to cast..." ...continued... | ...continued... "...their minds back to last Monday and if they were out and about at that time and think they saw anything that in hindsight seems suspicious, to contact us with that information. Information that seems trivial to them may turn out to be crucial for us in catching this man." Anyone with information is asked to call St Anne Street CID on:- 0151 777 4808 or leave information anonymously at Crimestoppers on:- 0800 555 111.
Offenders help cut crime on housing estate CRIME has been slashed on a Liverpool housing estate since offenders carrying out Community Payback began transforming the area.
Work began last September on environmental improvements on the Westminster Estate in Kirkdale by people who had been sentenced at the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre.
Trees and bushes which were a magnet for anti social behaviour have been cut back, rubbish and fly tipping removed, pathways weeded and fences improved.
The project is led by Merseyside Probation Trust working in partnership with Liverpool City Council, Merseyside Police and Liverpool Mutual Homes.
The offenders have been working in small teams supervised by Merseyside Probation Trust and have also been refurbishing St Lawrence’s Church on Barlow Lane at weekends.
Since the start of the project:-
• Theft and criminal damage has halved
• Anti social behaviour has become virtually non existent
• Burglary has fallen 70%
A celebration event to mark the completion of the project is taking place on Friday, 26 February 2010.
Councillor Marilyn Fielding, executive member for safer, stronger communities, said:- “This scheme has been a tremendous success and has completely transformed the area. Residents have been able to see offenders paying for their crimes by carrying out improvement works, and the knock on effect is that the area is now much safer.”
A total of 3,125 hours of work have been carried out worth almost £18,000 in labour costs.
Neighbourhood Inspector Jonathan Davies from Merseyside Police said:- “The Community Payback teams have had a huge impact on the Westminster Estate and the work they have done have led to significant reductions in crime and anti social behaviour.
The estate is a more pleasant place to visit and the residents have told us it has improved their quality of life. It had a similar impact on the Fountains and Woodhouse Estate and I have no doubt it will also be a success in every area it is rolled out in.”
Since Community Payback was introduced last year, 57 offenders or 97% of those sentenced - have successfully completed the order.
Elaine Doolan from Westminster Estate Tenants and Residents Association said:- “We have had loads of our tenants and residents telling us what a brilliant job the Community Payback team are doing on our estate. They feel a lot safer as there are no gangs of young people hiding in the bushes and it is much brighter.”
Judge David Fletcher, from the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre, said:- “I’m delighted with the success of this scheme which has made a real difference to the area. The offenders have seen how crime can affect communities, and their work will make a real difference to people living here."
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