Mark Bigley is Helping Southport Communities to Fight Crime

Speaking at conference in Bournemouth  during the 'Importance Debate on Crime', on the 9th October 2002,  Mark Bigley Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Southport's Conservative Party said:-

"Crime destroys communities. It undermines the spirit and morale of all people who live in them.
There is a need to restore civic pride and public confidence in law and order. The Conservative Party is the only party that can truly achieve this.

We all know that there needs to be a balance in our criminal justice system, but at the moment the scales are tipped in favour of the criminal at the expense of the victim ! That needs to change.

Crime and the fear of crime wrecks lives. Many pensioners who live in Southport have told me how they are regularly spat at, threatened, intimidated and are now afraid to go outside of their homes. They are effectively prisoners in their own homes. This is unacceptable in any society

We need our police service to engage with young people in our communities, on the street, on the beat, not in a police car, but actually, tangibly and positively engaging in our communities. We need to free our police service from the current over administration it faces and free up valuable time to achieve the necessary success on the ground for them to be more effective all round.

Most of all we need to ensure that parents take a degree of responsibility for their children's actions, and if that means parents helping to repay some of the damage inflicted on a community by the actions of their child then so be it ! If all parents share in the responsibility of their children's actions then we will start to make tangible in roads to restoring the true values and benefits that a community offers. Most do but some don't. We need to ensure that we can help children to leave a life of crime. Parents have a key role to play in achieving this.

In Southport we have a residents group that feel let down by the local authority and through their own efforts within that local community they have started to clean their own streets, engaged with their young people, this has led to a reduction in apathy and a restoration of pride, and crime has fallen dramatically as a result. All they want now is a Community Centre to help consolidate their work and this is being resisted by the local council.

The Conservative Party needs to support and facilitate actions on the ground that help communities to help themselves, and if this requires investing small resources for big gains for our local community groups then we should endorse and embrace this action. It will pay significant future dividends

Communities are our bedrock and they are crying out for our support. We won't let them down to do so is not an option.

Thank you "

 

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Swing Shift Big Band

 

As part of the West Lancashire Community Arts celebrations Swing Shift Big Band directed by Phil Shotton, will be appearing in concert in the Rose Theatre, Edge Hill College, Ormskirk, on the evening of Friday October 11.

The theatre is located in the Edge Hill College complex. This is situated on the A570 St Helens road just on the outskirts of Ormskirk town.

Performance starts at 7.30pm (doors open 7.00pm) and admission is just £2.50 on the door.

Swing Shift Big Band are proud to be involved with this community arts project which is hosting a wide programme of events through to the middle of October.

Information regarding The Swing Swift Big Band can be had from secretary Rod Cotter (01695 576371) or musical director Phil Shotton on 07949 679 162.

 

Southport Reporter is Trade Mark of Patrick Trollope.   Copyright © Patrick Trollope 2002.